If Fried Chicken Could Fly (25 page)

“Nothing.”

“Miz, what do you want to do?” Verna said.

Gram paused and then turned to look at Jerome. She must have communicated some question to him with her eyes, because he pulled himself away from the wall and took the short two steps to her side. He crouched down and said, “Miz, if anyone found the treasure, I would want it to be you.” He glanced at me and back to Gram. “My memory’s starting to come back, but I still don’t remember it all yet. I would love nothing more than for you to find it. Look, if Everett was killed because of it, the authorities need to know. You have to tell the truth now. Someone already thinks Betts and Jake know something they shouldn’t. Maybe that ‘something’ has to do with the treasure, maybe not, but you need to tell Mrs. Oldenmeyer what you know. She’ll help.”

I’d never seen anyone talk to my gram the way Jerome just had. There was something between the two of them that must have been formed over the many years they’d known each other. I wasn’t jealous, but a part of me wanted to hug Gram and tell her that Jerome was right and more than
anything I hoped to someday be as trustful a companion to her as he seemed to be.

“Miz?” Verna said. “What’s going on?”

Gram turned to Verna. “Yes, we were searching for the treasure the legend says Jerome Cowbender hid all those years ago. It’s why Everett moved here. It’s why he bought the Jasper. We didn’t tell his wife because she would have thought he was on one of his foolish quests. He wanted to find the treasure and surprise her. I didn’t want to talk to Betts or you about it because I was concerned someone else would get hurt.”

“Do you have any idea who killed Everett?” I asked. “Was someone onto you two?

“Not really,” Gram said after a long pause.

Verna and I were suddenly on the same team. We looked at each other with matching raised eyebrows. Jerome straightened.

“Gram,” I said.

“Miz,” Jerome and Verna said together.

“Gram,” I repeated, “if you know something, you have to tell us. Or tell Verna or the police. You can’t keep a murderer’s identity to yourself.” I turned to Verna. “She still thinks she’s protecting us.”

“I don’t actually know who the killer is. I might have some ideas as to who it might be, but I truly don’t know.”

“Who?” Verna said.

Gram thought about it a long minute and then said, “It’s not much of anything. I promise I will tell you and tell Jim if I think I know for sure. I promise.”

We were silent. I looked at Verna and Jerome. Jerome looked at me. Verna looked at me and the general direction
of Jerome. She grumbled something but didn’t again ask what I was looking at.

Finally, Verna spoke. “As your attorney, I must advise you against keeping anything to yourself, Miz. I don’t even care if you choose not to tell me. Tell Jim. Tell the authorities so they may protect you if they feel you need it.”

“Pish. I don’t need protection. I’m fine. I’m safe. I would speak up if I felt like I should. Don’t worry. I’m sorry I didn’t mention the treasure and Everett’s real reason for moving to Broken Rope before today. I didn’t mean to worry any of you. It seemed like I should keep it to myself, that’s all.”

“Gram…”

“Isabelle, enough,” Gram said.

Gram wasn’t stern very often, and when she was it was rarely directed at me. A sudden rush of concern rocked my gut. I didn’t want her either hurt by or angry with me. It was a childish response, but I couldn’t help it.

“I guess we’re done, then,” Verna said, an edge of irritation to her voice. Verna wasn’t known for her patience or love for suffering fools.

“Good. I’ve got to get back to the school. In case everyone has forgotten, there’s an important event tomorrow that my school is a pretty big part of.”

“I’ll be there later, Gram,” I said.

“Fine.” She stood and left Verna’s office.

I sat still for a moment.

“I’ll find you later, Isabelle,” Jerome said, and he was gone, too.

“Betts, I’d appreciate it if you told me what’s going on, if you know,” Verna said. “I’m here to protect your grandmother and I promise you that it does no good to keep
secrets from your attorney. She didn’t tell me about the treasure. Those types of things can be quite dangerous. Greed is a wicked master.”

“I know that. I wish I knew what else Gram claims to know, but I don’t. I will, however, continue to try to figure it out.”

“Call me if you do.”

We confirmed that we had each other’s cell phone number, but I didn’t think I’d learn any more from Gram, not tonight. Maybe after tomorrow, after the winner was declared and the hanging platform cleared away, Gram would give up the rest of her secrets. Until then, I just had to hope something else would appear in front of me, but the likelihood of that happening seemed pretty small.

I had to remember, however, that this was Broken Rope. Unlikely stuff happened all the time.

“I don’t like the look of these tomatoes. Do we have time to run to Springfield?” Teddy asked.

It was 9:45 p.m., and we were in the one and only Broken Rope full-service grocery store. As with previous years, we hadn’t ordered enough food for the cook-off. Usually, though, we had a good half day to round up what we’d missed, but since Gram and Teddy had had to teach champagne cookies
and
allow the students to ready themselves for the big day tomorrow, we got to the last-minute shopping extra last-minute. The grocery store was only open another fifteen minutes and we had a half-full cart. We still needed several more items.

“No, we don’t,” I said.

Teddy had fought his role as Gram’s assistant, but at some point during the day, he’d taken over, and now he suddenly
felt responsible for the cook-off’s success. It was rare that Teddy felt responsible for anything, so I let him roll with it.

“Then these will have to do.” Teddy bagged the tomatoes and put them in the cart.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Teddy Winston,” a voice I knew very well said from behind us. “And, Betts, of course.”

“Of course, Opie,” I said. “Hello.”

Opie wasn’t in her Sally Swarthmore getup but instead was wearing an old T-shirt and some faded and tightly fitting jeans. Everything she owned fit her just a little more tightly than my clothes fit me. I had to admit, though, she pulled off the look well. She was always on the verge of slutty but never quite there. Tonight she was more subdued than usual, her face mostly devoid of makeup. Her toes were her most colorful part. They were painted a bright red and matched her flip-flops.

“Hello.” Opie gave me a brief nod and then pasted her eyes back on my brother. “You get better and better looking all the time, Teddy.”

“Thanks, Ophelia. You’re looking pretty good yourself.” His tone was far too smooth.

Ugh,
I thought. This was not something I wanted to witness, but there was nowhere to go. We had only a few more minutes before the store closed.

“Well, excuse us, Opie, but we’ve got lots more to get before we’re kicked out of here.” I pulled on the cart. Teddy pushed it and smiled apologetically at my rival.

“No problem. I’ll walk with you.”

Seriously?
“Sure,” I said.

“You know, I don’t think Missouri killed that man,” Opie said. She gave her full attention to Teddy, but something
told me she wanted me to hear the words, too. I was suddenly baffled. The only time Opie had cared what I thought was when she wanted to make me angry about something. I pretended not to be too interested.

“Of course not,” Teddy said. “Gram would only kill if someone deserved it. I can’t imagine Everett’s death was justified.”

I stopped the cart and looked at him. If Gram was put on trial for murder, I hoped he’d never be called to testify on her behalf.

Without warning, Jerome appeared directly in the path of the moving cart. Even though it wouldn’t have hurt him, I stopped it abruptly.

“Ask her about the woman named Jenna,” Jerome said.

“Ask what?” I said.

“What’s that?” Opie said.

“Who’re you talking to?” Teddy said.

“Ask her if she knows about Jenna being related to Everett.”

I blinked. Jenna? Related to Everett?

“Opie, do you know Jenna Hopper?” I asked.

“The bartender? Sure.”

“Do you know anything about her maybe being related to Everett?” I asked, suspicious of my own question.

Opie’s eyes got big. “Oh my, I had no idea it was common knowledge. You already know?”

I could pretend that I knew what we were talking about and hope Opie gave me more than the nothing I really did know. But even though Opie had been a pain in my backside for all our lives, she wasn’t stupid. Honesty was the best way to go about it.

I sighed. “I don’t know anything, Opie. I just heard their names mentioned together in conversation and I think there’s more to it. What’s it about?”

“Oh, Isabelle, I can’t tell you. That would be the wrong thing for me to do.”

I’d chosen wrong. I wouldn’t say “please” to Opie no matter how much I needed information from her. I bit at my lip as I thought about what else I could say to get her to give up what she knew. I had nothing.

“Okay,” I said, defeated. I looked at Jerome.

“Sorry about that, Betts, but it’s pretty typical that you’re the last to know. Look at Cliff. He’s back and you didn’t even know he was divorced. I suppose if you two had any chance of becoming an item again, he would have let you know first thing,” Opie said.

I didn’t think I could ever truly kill someone unless it was in self-defense or in defense of someone I loved, but Opie certainly gave me homicidal thoughts. Fortunately, Jerome distracted me.

“She’s a fine jug of rum,” he said as he ran his thumb and finger over his long mustache. “She was just talking to Jake. That’s how I know she knows something. I didn’t catch their whole conversation but enough to know that Jake will tell you if she won’t. Jake was too talkative and I could tell he wished he hadn’t told her as much as he did.”

“Betts?” Teddy said. I’d been silent as I listened to Jerome.

“Oh, sorry. Whatever you say, Opie,” I said as I pulled the cart again, this time with more vigor. I wished Jerome had mentioned that he’d overheard Jake and Opie talking before he’d had me ask her anything.

Teddy and Opie froze in place and watched as I turned the corner around end shelves that were full of green beans. They both probably expected Opie and me to get into a verbal battle. We’d been known to do as much a time or two before. But if Jake had some new information, I’d find out shortly.

“I’ll catch up in just a second,” Teddy said.

“Fine. Whatever,” I said, and then I lowered my voice and said to Jerome, “What’s up?”

“I only happened upon Jake and that woman. I don’t know exactly, but it has something to do with Jenna and Everett.”

Again and despite the fact that Jerome had mentioned “related,” my mind grabbed on to the most extreme idea, the most salacious. Was there something romantic going on between Everett and Jenna? Besides the fact that he was significantly older than she was, from first glance neither of them seemed to be the other’s type. Jenna was a partier/bartender. She was gruff and kind of tough when she had to be. Everett had been quiet, most likely a shy gentleman from what I could tell.

“Hey, I got the info,” Teddy said as he came up behind me.

“You…? Oh, you took her number or something,” I said, meaning to sound more sarcastic than serious.

“No, I have her number. I just asked nicely.”

“Right.”

“She’s not all bad, and she’s looking pretty good.”

I put my fingers in my ears. “La, la, la, la.” I took my fingers out. “Teddy, I will hurt you if you attempt to give me details about any sort of…thing you have with Opie. Got it?”

“Sure.”

“So what’d she say?” I asked.

“It’s good.”

“Teddy.”

“Jenna is Everett’s daughter.”

“What?” I practically shrieked. I looked at Jerome who shrugged.

“I know. Far out, huh?” Teddy said.

“Way. Far. Out. I don’t understand.”

“That’s all I know. That’s all she told me.”

I’d have to get the rest from Jake. Suddenly, out of the corner of my vision I noticed the security mirror at the end of the aisle. Both Teddy and I were reflected in its convex curve, but we were the only two. Jerome stood in front of me but he was noticeably absent in the reflection. And when I turned to look at him again, he was gone. I had an urge to call out for him, but I held back.

“Come on, let’s get this done,” I said, telling myself to worry about one mystery at a time.

We rolled through the aisles and checked out only five minutes after the store was supposed to close. The clerk wasn’t happy at having to stay one second longer than she was supposed to, but Teddy helped her bag, which seemed to lessen our rudeness.

We hurried back to the school and put the groceries away. Gram was still there, too. As distracted as I was, for an hour we focused on the one thing we were supposed to focus on: the cook-off. This was our students’ chance to shine. It was our responsibility to do whatever we could to make sure they were given the tools, the knowledge, and the best ingredients to perform. Gram and I both felt like we’d neglected
our responsibility. And Teddy, somehow having magically matured without us noticing, took on the cause with enthusiasm and excitement.