A Roux of Revenge (16 page)

“I can’t do that.”

“Oh, you have too
much pride, I suppose? Well, it’s a better idea than imagining the worst and suffering in silence.”

“But what if it is true? What is there to say? I’m in love with Elias, have been for months, maybe my whole life, and he’s falling for somebody else? Sophie, she’s a doctor! She’s probably brilliant. She’s gorgeous. How could I ever compete with that? What do I do? I run a restaurant for heaven’s
sake!” Lucky felt her face burning.

“Don’t you
dare
put yourself down!” Sophie shouted. “I’ll slap you silly. I swear I will. You’re an amazing person. You’re beautiful too, just in a different way. You have a heart as big as the world. You’ve helped so many people, and you have so much to offer as a person.” Sophie heaved a great sigh. “And if it’s true, I’ll kick his butt and tell him exactly
what an idiot I think he is.”

Lucky snuffled back tears. “I have to get back to work. Jack’ll be wondering what happened to me.” She reached down and lifted the heavy pumpkin onto her lap.

“Don’t forget what I just said. Otherwise, I’ll have to paint it on the front window of the Spoonful so you’ll see it every day and not forget.”

Lucky laughed in spite of herself. “Thanks for saying
all that. I appreciate it. I really do, but I have to get back.” She leaned over and hugged Sophie. Fighting off a heavy feeling of misery, Lucky climbed out of the car and waved as Sophie drove away.

Chapter 22

“I
WASN’T TRYING
to keep you out of the loop, Jack.” The Spoonful was closed for the night, and Lucky wanted to fill her grandfather in on everything she knew. She had no desire to betray
Miriam or Janie, but Jack had certainly noticed the changes in Janie’s behavior, and it was obvious to him that Miriam and Janie were not on good terms. He needed to hear everything, if only to be on the alert. Lucky wasn’t entirely sure that the man who watched the restaurant was really Janie’s father. Miriam had never identified him. It was only Janie’s opinion that the man in her mother’s photo
was the same man who had been watching from across the street. Miriam had received a forget-me-not in her mailbox, but that wasn’t actual proof that the person who left it and the man who was watching Janie was Eamon MacDougal. And if he wasn’t Eamon, what was his motive for hanging around and keeping the restaurant under observation?

“Janie is upset. I guess she’s angry and ashamed. And Miriam
told me everything in confidence. She’s the one I worry about more; she’s a complete wreck right now.” Lucky passed the sugar bowl to Jack and watched as he stirred a tiny spoonful into his mug of tea. “So now you know everything I know.”

“I’m glad you’re not keeping any secrets. That could be dangerous.”

“And I am worried about Janie. She doesn’t seem to be handling this any better. I
thought after a few days she’d calm down and reconcile with her mother, but she just seems to be more entrenched in her anger. Besides . . .” Lucky smiled. “I sure would like to get my apartment back to normal.”

“She’s young. She’ll get over it. Don’t forget, she’s just lost her father. I mean the man she thought was her father, so that’s a part of it too.”

“You’re right.”

“I do have
a question though,” Jack said. “Is Miriam sure that man we’ve seen across the street is Janie’s father?”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been wondering. Miriam seems sure. But what evidence does she have? She says when she found the flower in her mailbox, she knew right away he was here in Snowflake. It was something very significant to them when they were young. So to answer your question, unless
Miriam actually sees him and talks to him, which she doesn’t want to do, we won’t know for sure that the man hanging around
is
Janie’s father. Although there is a resemblance between him and Janie. By the way, his name is Eamon MacDougal.”

“Might be a relative of his?” Jack speculated.

“Could be. Even assuming the guy we’ve seen is Eamon, we still don’t know anything about him. The man
Miriam knew when she was young could have changed. How do we know he isn’t the killer of our mystery man?”

“We don’t. We don’t know anything. I’m not willing to trust him, even if he fesses up to being Janie’s father,” Jack said. “Not until Miriam sees him and says it’s him.”

“Too bad he wasn’t hanging around when Miriam came in a couple of days ago to talk to Janie. We know he’s working
at the festival, he’s a musician and he’s a traveler, but I have a sneaky suspicion he’s around a lot more than we realize. If he really is Janie’s father, then I can understand it at least. If he’s not, then in my opinion, his motives are definitely sinister.”

Lucky nervously fidgeted with the salt and pepper shakers on the table. “And the man who was shot to death may have no connection
to the group that’s here now. Just because he has a false ID, doesn’t mean he’s a traveler. He could be on the run. He could have been the inside man at that robbery, the one who disappeared. And whoever shot him could be the guy who took off with the cash.”

“Or the other way around. If one guy took off with the cash, maybe he didn’t share the loot. And maybe the guy on the inside was after
him. We could guess till the cows come home, but it’s all speculation. Why don’t we talk about what’s really been on your mind these last few days?”

Lucky blushed furiously. “You don’t miss much, do you?”

“Nope,” Jack replied. “Keepin’ watch from the fo’castle is part of my job. Where’s Elias been?”

Lucky shrugged. “I don’t really know. I haven’t heard from him.”

Jack waited while
Lucky struggled with how much to tell her grandfather. “We had an argument, I guess you’d call it. You know he hired a new doctor?”

Jack nodded. “I heard.”

“She . . . I met her at the Clinic. She’s very beautiful, and I think she’s making a play for Elias.”

“So? The world’s full of beautiful women. I’m sure lots of ’em have been taken with him. And by the way go have a look in the
mirror if you’re feelin’ wobbly.”

“I don’t feel wobbly!” she exclaimed.

Jack raised an eyebrow. “Coulda fooled me.”

“All right.” Lucky sulked. “I feel wobbly. I feel threatened. I feel jealous. Happy now that I’ve admitted it?” she replied grumpily.

“That’s a start.”

Lucky took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to bite your head off. I know you’re just trying to help.
It’s just . . . Elias was worried that I would be upset. He wanted to tell me that he had had a relationship with this Paula . . . whatever her name is . . . years ago. He wanted me to know, and he
said
he didn’t want it to interfere with our relationship.”

“That sounds pretty straight to me.” Jack took a sip of his tea. “But you don’t buy it.”

“It’s not that. I think he meant what he
said at the time. But I got really upset because he had never mentioned this relationship before. And then to go and hire her to work at the Clinic. I just don’t get it. They split up because she didn’t want a small town practice, and now she’s supposedly changed her mind? I kinda lost my temper and wanted to storm out of the Pub.”

“Hmmm.” Jack ruminated for a moment. “Hope you didn’t give
him a right hook.” Jack was referring to the time she had broken the nose of an elementary school bully. Jack had nicknamed her Lucky after his favorite Navy boxer, Virgil Lukorsky. The nickname immediately stuck until eventually only her mother called her Letitia, her given name. Jack had always been very proud of her pugilistic abilities. “Sounds like he just wanted to clear the decks and be honest
with you. And he must’ve meant what he said—that he didn’t want anything to come between the two of you.”

“Sometimes I feel stupid that I reacted like I did. But to make matters worse, she’s staying at his place until she can find something on her own, and the night I was looking for Janie I saw a strange car parked in his driveway.”

“He told you this? Or are you just jumping to conclusions?”

“He did. He told me himself.”

“If that’s the case, I can see why that’d make you uncomfortable. So what happened after that night at the Pub?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I think he’s angry at me, and he thinks I’m an idiot. He couldn’t make it to Sophie’s with me. I just found out he was out to dinner with Paula.”

“Then it’s time to go after him. Fight for what you want, my girl.”

“Easier said than done, Jack. I have no idea how to do that.”

Chapter 23

N
ATE
E
DGERTON LEAFED
slowly through the haphazard stack of papers piled in front of him, his glasses resting at the end of his nose. “Well, Ernie, I appreciate you bringing in all this information.
I do see you’ve got liability insurance and agreements with the owner of the field. What I don’t see is any information about your employees. I don’t see tax withholding information; I don’t see employment records with social security numbers; I don’t see any of that.”

“Uh, well, I haven’t had any time, Nate. You didn’t give me much time to gather up all my records. And,” Ernie started to
bluster, “I need to get back out there to the festival. The day’s starting, and I need to be there.”

“Uh-huh,” Nate agreed. “Well, when do you think you can get me that information, Ernie?” Nate asked patiently but with a hint of a threat in his voice.

Ernie frowned. “Aw, come on, Nate. Let’s stop kidding each other here. A lot of this is casual employment, just an agreement between friends,
a handshake, a little cash under the table. I don’t have time for all that record keeping. You know that.” Ernie ran a finger around his shirt collar. His expensive suit looked a little more rumpled this morning.

“So you’re tellin’ me you have no employment records? How many people you got out there, Ernie?”

“Well, not many. There’s the guy who runs the pony rides, and the stupid kid who’s
taken off now, after I went to the trouble to pick him up, but he’s with the band anyway. I got a few day laborers who’ve done odd jobs, settin’ up and stuff like that, and a guy who runs the little kiddie carousel. The mechanic who takes care of the ride works for the company, not me. The farmers are on their own. My bookkeeper in Lincoln Falls keeps track of them; they have to sign up for their
spots.”

“What kind of records do you have for the Gaelic band?”

“Nothing. Why should I? They’re independent contractors. I pay them in cash.”

“No 1099s for them either?” Nate asked quietly.

“No,” Ernie sulked. “Why should I? They’re happy to get paid in cash, and I’m happy not to have to do all that paperwork or report to the government.”

Nate nodded. “Nice little setup you
got, Ernie. You declaring income tax on the proceeds? Or is that too much for you and your bookkeeper?”

Ernie flushed a deep red. “You’d have to talk to my accountant.”

“Ah, good idea,” Nate said, a dark tone in his voice. “Maybe I will do just that. You make sure you leave his information with my deputy on your way out, will ya?”

A vein throbbed in Ernie’s forehead. “Why are you hassling
me, Nate? I don’t get it. Here I am,” a whining tone crept into his voice, “bringing people into Snowflake, putting this du . . . putting the town on the map and making money for businesses here. It’s a win-win situation.”

“I’m sure the village of Snowflake deeply appreciates your efforts on its behalf,” Nate replied sarcastically. “But there’s something else I’d like you to have a look at.”
Nate slid the photo of the dead man across the table.

Ernie glanced down. His complexion had lost all its color. “What the hell . . . ?”

“You tell me. You recognize this man?”

Ernie’s jaw tightened. He didn’t look up. Finally he said, “Never seen him before. Who is he?”

“He’s the victim of a shooting. He’s the man we found in a van in a ditch outside of town.”

Ernie looked
up, his expression closed. “Why would you ever think I knew him, then?”

“Just a hunch.” Nate leaned back in his chair. “You see, we found a pretty good footprint out there. And we found it behind the van. Now, obviously our dead guy didn’t rise from the dead and walk behind his van after he went into that ditch.” Nate waited, studying Ernie’s face. “So, it’s reasonable to assume that somebody
else was there after the van went off the road.”