Corpse in the Crystal Ball (5 page)

“I think it’s best we keep things formal, considering you didn’t want to pursue our relationship past friends.” He held his sunglasses in his hand as he mounted his bike.

“Even friends aren’t
that
formal,” I responded quietly. I still didn’t know what we were, but I
did
know I didn’t like the way Isabel Gonzales looked at him one bit. “Anyway, I just thought I’d see if you wanted to have lunch today. Gotta eat, right?”

His face clouded over at the word
lunch
.

“We don’t have to go to Nikko’s,” I quickly added. “We could always go to Papas. I like Greek better than Italian, anyway.” Papas was a Greek restaurant with an ancient Athens theme.

“Can’t. I’m headed out of town for a couple days.” He fired up his bike and revved the throttle.

I placed my hand on his arm. “Mitch, I really want to talk.”

“About what?” He didn’t look at me.

I hesitated, then finally took a breath and said, “Us.”

His eyes met mine, and he stared at me for a long minute. “You serious?”

I poured all the sincerity I had into my gaze and nodded slowly. “I’m not sure what we are, but maybe you were right. Maybe we should find out.”

“Even though I still don’t believe in all that hocus-pocus stuff?” He studied me with the kind of focus I used on Moonbeam.

“I’m just asking you to keep an open mind. Can you do that?”

“I can try, but I’m not making any promises, Tink.” His lips twitched.

“God forbid, Grumpy Pants.” I laughed.

He smiled a little and tweaked my nose, then slid his sunglasses on. “We’ll talk when I get back in a couple days, hopefully with a clear head. Right now I just need a break. You okay with that?”

“Take all the time you need. Just be careful.” I squeezed his hand, and he squeezed mine back. A connection had been formed, and it was a start. Now, if only I could interpret its true meaning, I’d feel more confident. I hated not knowing what the future had in store.

“I’m always careful.” He let go of my hand, waved, and drove off, leaving me wondering where he was going. As long as I knew he was alone and hopefully thinking of me, then I was more than okay.

“All right, Granny Gert, the first thing you do is turn the key to start the car.” The previous owner had replaced the engine. This one was still old and barely worked, but at least it had an automatic transmission. I shuddered picturing Granny driving a standard. I knew she had taken lessons before, but
something obviously hadn’t worked. I decided it was best to start at the very beginning. I sat in the passenger’s seat of my beloved bug and clenched my hands in my lap.

The clouds had dispersed, leaving behind azure blue skies with no sign of rain, yet Granny had tied the plastic rain cap she always carried in her purse tightly around her head. “Come on, Buggy.” She turned the key but held it too long. My bug made a horrible noise, and Granny let go with an “Oh my word, did I do that?”

“Try to be gentle. You passed your permit with less trouble than it takes to connect the dots on a constellation chart. It’s a sign, Granny. You can do this.”

“I understand it logically in my head, but executing what I’ve read is hard. Buggy’s cute and all, but driving a two-ton deadly weapon around is a little intimidating to me. What if I kill us both? I could never forgive myself.”

It wouldn’t matter because we’d be dead
, I wanted to say, feeling my palms begin to sweat. “It’s okay, just try to relax. Nothing’s going to happen,” I said more to reassure myself.

I’d decided to spend my lunch break teaching Granny how to drive, since I’d been unsuccessful in enticing Mitch with an offer of food and conversation. It took a lot of convincing to get her to take a break from her laundry, but she finally did.

She knew all there was to know about driving. The problem was she panicked when faced with the actual task. It was like she had two personalities when it came to driving, and Granny the Spaz took over whenever she slid behind the wheel.

“Okay, now put the car in drive and slowly pull out of my driveway.”

Granny yanked the gearshift into drive and then yelped when the car started to move. She panicked once more and tried to stop by slamming her foot on the pedal.

The
gas
pedal!

My tires spun wildly, squealing on the blacktop and kicking up dirt as she fishtailed over my lawn and miraculously landed on the road somehow.

“There, right as rain,” she said with a proud smile. “How was that?”

My hands gripped my door and the center console, my knuckles white and eyes wide open. “Th-That was something,” I answered truthfully. “Try to keep her on the pavement and between the lines, ’kay?” I managed to get out.

“Okeydokey, boss. Where to?”

“You can drive around the block, and I’ll let you know.” Right now I needed my heartbeat to return to normal, thank you very much. I closed my eyes for a mere second and felt the car swerve as Granny turned down a side road.

“Well, my stars, the people of Divinity are so friendly. Look at all of them waving at me.”

This can’t be good.
I opened my eyes, and my heart jumped into my throat as I shrieked, “Granny, they’re not waving at you to be friendly. You’re going down the wrong way on a one-way street!”

“Oh, dear me,” she said, swerving off the road and onto the sidewalk to avoid a car headed right for us.

She avoided the car but nearly took out Sam the baker as he carried fresh loaves of bread out to his delivery truck. He dropped the whole load and dove into the bushes. The tires bounced, and my head nearly hit the ceiling.

I peeked through the rearview mirror and saw Sam
emerge and shake a loaf of squashed French bread at me. I turned around and waved at him apologetically, but he just scowled and then disappeared back inside the bakery.

It wasn’t like I could hide my identity, since no one else in town had a car like mine. I had a feeling I’d have some major damage control to do with my fellow Divinians before Granny got her license.

Back on the main road, Granny had a hard time keeping the bug between the lines. She barely missed several more cars in the other lane and more pedestrians on the sidewalk.

“Turn left up here and head for the park. I think that’s enough for one day, Granny. You’re doing great.” I wiped away the beads of sweat popping out on my forehead.

Granny took the turn on two wheels, none the wiser that there was anything wrong with that, and then she gasped as she pointed out my window. “Look, swans! How lovely.”

The steering wheel turned the way she pointed, and my poor bug jumped the curb. After going airborne for a nanosecond that felt like an eternity, we landed in the park with a front-row view of the swan pond, my hubcaps buried deep in mud.

“Oh my goodness, Sunny. I swear Buggy has a mind of her own. How in Heaven’s name did that happen?” Granny covered her mouth with both of her frail-looking spotted, wrinkled hands.

I didn’t have the heart to be cross with her. “It’s okay. My car’s fine. We’re fine. It’s okay,” I said out loud and repeated mentally several more times. “I’ll just call Big Don. He’ll give us a tow. You sit tight and watch the swans.” I climbed out of the car on shaky legs and walked away to call Big
Don in private, but he didn’t answer. I tried again and finally got through.

“Big Don’s Auto, can I help you?” Lulubelle answered.

Belle was the resident Bunco Babe and busybody who knew everything about everyone. She lived next door to the town doctor and was retired but had always had a thing for Big Don. She was a large woman with a huge head of teased blond hair, triple chins that jiggled when she spoke, and a heart that was her biggest part of all. Don was an even bigger man, standing at six foot six. He might know a lot about cars, but when it came to women, he was mentally challenged.

“Hi, Belle, I didn’t know you worked for Don now.”

“I sure do, sugar, and it’s all because of the hints you dropped for me. That big ole lug finally noticed I’m alive. I’m just helping him out while his daughter, Sissy, is on maternity leave.”

“Aw, I’m so glad it all worked out for you. Things aren’t working out so well for me right now. I need a tow.”

“Land sakes, child, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just teaching my granny how to drive. We wound up in the park—literally—and I’m stuck in the mud.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll get right on it. Don’s just finishing up with that new gal, Ms. Gonzales. She’s renting a car. Got a call from some man. Guess she’s planning on taking a little trip somewhere today because she brought an overnight bag with her. I say good riddance. I hope she leaves town for good. That little hot tamale has been nothing but trouble.”

“Really?” My breath hitched. “Did she say who the man was?”

“No. She said she had to call Detective Stone, but then
her phone rang. I assumed it was him. She was doing a lot of whispering, the hussy. Looks like she just left. I’ll send Don on his way, sweetie.”

“Great.” My stomach sank.

So much for Mitch being alone and thinking of me. Apparently he and Isabel had made up and were spending a couple days together. The lying jerk. He could forget talking. I planned to shout exactly what I thought of him the second we were face-to-face again. I was about to head back to my car when Kevin Brown’s mail truck pulled alongside the curb.

He climbed out and strode over to me, looking concerned. “Everything all right, Sunny?”

“Oh, everything’s fine. Granny just got a little carried away with the swans.”

He looked past me to my bug, which had nearly taken a swim in the pond. Granny cooed out the window to the swans, obviously mistaking their squawking at having their pond disturbed as pleasure, judging by the look on her face.

Kevin chuckled. “She’s quite a character, isn’t she?”

“You have no idea,” I said on a sigh.

“How about you let me buy you dinner tonight. Give your granny a break from all that cooking and baking. I think you could use a night out.”

I thought about the talk I was supposed to have with Mitch when he got back, and how he probably planned to do a whole lot more than talk with a long-legged brunette this very evening. Anger and hurt swept over me. Changing my mind about our friendship status had been a stupid thing to do.

Kevin touched my hand. “You sure you’re okay? You
look a little flushed. We can do dinner some other time if you want.”

“No,” I ground out, and he blinked. I relaxed my features and tried for a smile. “Dinner tonight sounds like just what I need. Thank you. You’re very sweet.”

“Dinner it is.” He looked pleased. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

“Seven sounds great.”

“It’s a date, then.”

“Yes,” I said, and my smile was genuine this time, if a little bit sad. Once again Mitch and I were ending before we’d even had a chance to get started.

But it was all
his
fault this time.

“I can’t believe he stood me up,” I said to Jo the next morning over coffee and hot chocolate at the Warm Beginnings & Cozy Endings Café on New Hope Avenue. Warm, yeasty pastries lined the display case, and the smell of cinnamon filled the room, but I’d lost my appetite. In typical spring fashion, it was damp and chilly with a light misty rain outside.

A miserable day that matched my mood perfectly.

“There has to be an explanation. Kevin’s too nice a guy to do something like that,” Jo responded, sipping her espresso.

I stirred raspberry syrup into my white hot chocolate and took a therapeutic sip. “I don’t know. He could have at least called. I’m beginning to think something’s wrong with me. I give up on men.”

“Oh, please. There is nothing wrong with you. I’m telling you, there has to be an explanation.”

“There is,” said a familiar male voice from the small, wrought-iron table in the far corner by the window.

I hadn’t realized anyone else had come into the café since Jo and I had arrived. I hadn’t been able to sleep, and I couldn’t take any more of Granny’s relentless speculation as to why Kevin hadn’t shown last night for dinner. So I’d told Granny I was going to the gym, but then I hauled Jo out of bed and dragged her for coffee instead. Dr. Wilcox must have come in while we were deep in conversation.

“Hi, Doc. I didn’t see you,” I said, lifting my hot chocolate in salute. “Don’t you have office hours this morning?”

“I took the day off. With winter over and spring here, things are a bit slow. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but when I heard you mention Kevin, I thought I should speak up.”

“Okay, so what’s his excuse?” I asked. “I can’t wait to hear this one. Forgive me, but my faith in the male species has dwindled drastically. Short of his death, there isn’t much else I’m willing to accept at the moment.”

“How about his being mauled by a dog yesterday afternoon?” He studied me with those serious green eyes and puckered his sandy blond brows in disapproval, reminding me of my father.

Then his words penetrated my not-quite-awake brain. “Except maybe that,” I said, feeling like a heel. “What happened?” Genuine concern filled my senses like slow-burning incense.

“I guess he was delivering the mail yesterday on the outskirts of town when some stray dog attacked him. Damn near chewed his hand right off.”

“That’s horrible,” Jo spoke up. “Did he need surgery?”

“Sure did, and a boatload of stitches, too. He was on the border of Divinity and the next town over. He knows a doctor in Salvation, and since it was closer, he went there. My guess is he took pain meds and slept through your dinner date, Miss Meadows. I just ran into him this morning before I came here. I’m sure he wasn’t cleared to drive yet. He was out walking to your house in this nasty weather, so I gave him a ride.”

“Oh, no.” I bit my lip and looked at Jo. “I should probably head home. Do you mind?”

“Are you kidding? Get out of here, woman. No wonder he didn’t call. That man needs some TLC if you ask me. Poor baby.”

“Oh, trust me. I’m sure Granny Gert is giving him plenty of coddling, and you can bet she has a cookie for what ever ails him as well.” I laughed. “See ya. And thanks, Doc. You made my day.”