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Emma sat in her usual booth at the back of Susie's diner, waiting for Kim to arrive. On the table, she had spread out a few sheets of paper, and she was busy doodling the names of her suspects and how they interconnected with each other. It made for an interesting thought process, but she didn't accomplish very much. Each connection brought with it another set of questions, and Emma felt like she was simply going in circles, not eliminating anyone.
"Thanks, Susie."
Susie, the diner's owner, smiled at the absent-minded response to her filling Emma's cup for the second time. She could remember Emma's mother, Megan, sitting in that same booth doing almost the same thing. Megan's notes were always more straightforward, and Susie couldn't help but notice as she looked over Emma's shoulder. Like Emma, the notes seemed to have a way of their own.
"You getting any closer to figuring out who murdered that poor girl?" Susie said, causing Emma to look up, startled out of her thoughts.
"Oh, I have plenty of ideas, but I'm a little short on facts. Just when I think I have it figured out, something is said or happens, and the answer points in a different direction." Emma moaned.
Susie patted her on the shoulder. "It'll come to you. Just let your mind be open to the possibilities," she suggested, before moving away to refill the next table's coffee cups.
As Susie made her way around the diner, refilling her customers' cups, she looked up when the door opened and waved.
"Hey, Kim. Emma's in the back booth. I'll bring you a cup of coffee."
"That would be wonderful. Any of your homemade pumpkin pie left?" Kim answered with a grin.
"You betcha. I'll bring two pieces of pie over along with your coffee. Give me a second."
Kim left her order in Susie's capable hands and hurried back to the booth where Emma sat.
"No Jake?" Sliding into the booth opposite Emma, Kim asked.
"No, he said he had something to do and would catch up with us later." Emma hesitated for a moment and then gave Kim a conspiratorial smirk. "How did it go with Wendy?"
Kim's grimace said it all, and Emma chuckled. Kim rolled her eyes, making Emma laugh even harder, grateful she hadn't been the one to undertake an interview with Wendy.
"It took most of the time that I was with her before she answered my questions. She was too busy telling me all about her family and her accomplishments. She seemed to think I cared about all the status nonsense." Kim caught Emma's pointed look and cleared her throat self-consciously. "Okay, I know I used to be the same way. Promise to slap me the minute I act like that again."
"No danger of that. I haven't seen or heard you say anything like your old self since I got back."
"Well, I laid it on pretty thick with Wendy. I finally figured out that the only way I was going to get her to open up was to show her that my status in the town was better than hers. I rarely drop my grandfather's real name in conversations with people I barely know. We just refer to him as the Colonel. When she heard his full name, Colonel David James Heart, she dropped the show of trying to establish her status and suddenly wanted to be my best friend."
"Oh no. So, will the two of you be hanging out all the time and planning special activities?" Emma couldn't help but tease Kim.
"I don't think so. Wendy made it perfectly clear she wouldn't stoop to attend any of the town activities. She only goes to the club activities and private parties that she is invited to. And there was a big hint that if I was going to have a private party, she'd love to be on my guest list. As if."
Susie interrupted the conversation, placing the pie and coffee in front of them. As she started to leave, she looked at Kim and Emma and offered a bit of advice.
"Just remember, everybody needs a friend, even Wendy Anderson."
Susie didn't wait to hear if the two girls would respond. Instead, she hurried over to another table, ready to take an order. Emma and Kim exchanged guilty looks.
"Susie's right. As usual, she always hits things right on the head. Who was I to be so judgmental when, just a little while ago, I was in the same position? Thankfully, you and Jake accepted me and have taken me under your wing." Kim was the first to speak.
Emma hesitated before she answered. "She might need a friend, but until this murder is solved, I don't trust her. I hope for Travis and Midge's sake that she's not a murderer, but she is still on my suspect list."
"I agree. And she had a few things to add to our investigation." Kim picked up her cup of coffee, took a tentative sip of the hot liquid, then grinned and loaded a huge piece of pie and whipped cream on her fork. After enjoying her bite, she put the fork down and looked at Emma, ready to tell her what she had discovered.
"The one obvious thing was Wendy is infatuated with Joe. Consequently, all her statements regarding him are biased. The man is wonderful, he would never do anything wrong, he's got a heart of gold, etc., etc. To be honest, I was getting close to gagging."
"Yeah, I noticed her hanging on him at the house. He just seems to lap it up while he's flirting with another woman and staying in Nancy's cottage. He's like a hound dog when it comes to women, sniffing around and being obnoxious." Emma nodded as she added, remembering her own experience with Joe.
"One thing that Wendy said, and I tend to believe her, is that Joe is not romantically involved with Nancy. He's an old acquaintance from high school who seemed to find out she was staying on the Anderson property and wheedled his way into having an invitation to spend a weekend. Which turned into a couple of weeks."
"Now that sounds like Joe."
"Another thing that Wendy said about Cindy that seemed interesting was Wendy had to be careful what she said around her. She said more than once something she had said had been used against her by Cindy to receive a favor. Wendy said that Cindy was so nice that you didn't even realize it was happening until afterward. Cindy seemed to get along with everybody except for Marianne, which seems odd since Cindy was Marianne's assistant."
"Cook said about the same thing. Cindy and Marianne didn't seem to get along. She also seemed to indicate that Cindy had something she held over Marianne which kept her position secure."
"That makes sense." Kim paused long enough to take another tasty bite of pie and wash it down with coffee before she continued.
"One thing that Wendy said that took me by surprise was that Cindy had a secret crush on Travis. She went out of her way as soon as he came home to be there, and she seemed jealous of how Travis and Nancy got along."
"Do you think he reciprocated her feelings?" Emma couldn't help but ask, not only for the investigation but for her curiosity.
Kim smiled at Emma's question even as she shook her head. "No, Wendy seemed to take great delight that Cindy's feelings weren't reciprocated. She said something to the effect of Cindy trying to make her way above her position."
Emma visibly relaxed. She hadn't realized how much the idea of Travis dating the murdered victim had bothered her.
"The thing is, even as she was putting Cindy down, she seemed to have a fear of the girl as well."
"That would follow along with what we have heard about Cindy holding something over your head. She must've found out something about Wendy, don't you think, Kim?"
"You're right, that would make perfect sense."
Then Kim was silent for a moment, enjoying the last bit of the pie. As she finished, Emma looked expectantly at Kim and asked if there was anything more she had learned.
"She seemed to think that Kevin was more involved with the disappearance of the ornaments than anybody realized. She also hinted that there were some irregular dealings with the Anderson finances. Although how she would know anything about that is anybody's guess."
"That seemed to be her specialty, finding out things most people wouldn't have an inkling about. What do you think about Kevin?"
"I've met him a time or two at different charity events and he seems nice, but very standoffish. The type of person who's more interested in observing what's going on than partaking in what's going on. Kevin always seemed to be in the background. The only time I ever saw him open up and be a real person was when he was around Mr. Anderson. Before the man died, they were great friends, not just employer and employee."
"And that kind of friendship gives you access to all sorts of information. As well as access to things you might not normally be able to get hold of."
"Like missing ornaments and cash?"
Emma nodded, and after a second, so did Kim. It made sense. Then she snapped her fingers as she remembered one last thing.
"Wendy said she was surprised that Cindy thought she was going to the party as a guest rather than as a staff member. She seemed rather put out about it."
"I wonder what she knew, and about whom, that she managed to finagle an invitation?" Emma replied.
Before she could answer, Kim's phone rang and within a millisecond, so did Emma's. The two women exchanged looks and instinctively knew something was going on, something that could pertain to the murder. They each answered, listened without commenting, and after a few moments, hung up. Kim was the first to speak.
"That was Jake. He wants us to sit here and wait for him. He wouldn't go into detail, but something is happening at the Andersons'."
"That's pretty much what Sean said, too. And he was adamant that we stay where we are. I don't know what's going on, but he sounded pretty upset."
"I guess we have to wait for Jake's arrival to find out what's going on. Judging by the sound of his voice, it won't be good."