I parked and then hustled in the front door of the restaurant, smiling at Mirabelle and Spy on the way in. I loved coming in the front of Cast Iron Creations. I loved to imagine what it must be like as a customer. The sun was shining through the front windows, everything was neat and clean and bustling with happy customers eating tasty food.
The dining room smelled amazing. The tea and cookies that Meiser had served me at his house were delicious—almost as delicious as that kiss—but had not filled me up, and the thought of a real meal made my stomach rumble. The specials sign said “Mexican Polenta Bowl” and the side dish was listed as Spicy Skillet Peaches. Carlos had been working his magic again!
Ava and Delilah sat at a four-top in the corner. As soon as I saw Delilah, my chest felt a little tight. I had agreed to keep Delilah’s secret about Nestle owning a share in her gallery but wasn’t comfortable keeping something from Ava. I concentrated hard on keeping a casual expression as I sauntered over to the table.
“What’s wrong with your face?” Ava demanded immediately. “You look like you do when you have a wedgie.”
I was really bad at this. I managed to roll my eyes and sit down. I snuck a look at Delilah, but she was looking at Ava. At that moment, Magda showed up at our table to take our order. Her hair had grown out a bit and she had shaved it off on one side since the last time I had worked with her. The long side swept over her forehead, creating a bold contrast to the shaved side. She could pull off the coolest looks.
“Are you guys hungry or just hanging out?” she asked, smiling.
“I want whatever I smell,” I announced.
“That would be the polenta bowl,” replied Magda. “It is selling like crazy. I had it on my lunch break and it is out of this world. Beans, fresh veggies, and cilantro on top with some avocado. Mmm! And definitely get the skillet peaches with it. They are sweet and spicy at the same time.”
My jaw dropped and my stomach growled even more. “We should give you a sales bonus if you do that routine at every table. Wow!”
“Yeah, seriously.” Delilah nodded. “I wasn’t planning on eating but now I want the same thing.”
“Make that three!” added Ava.
“Wise choices,” grinned Magda. “I’ll be back with waters in a second.”
I found myself looking out of the windows to keep myself from looking at Ava and Delilah. I could keep my guilt under control if I was around each separately, but together was too much. I resolved to find out what Nestle was up to as soon as possible. Madga dropped off three glasses of water and a pitcher of more ice water. I smiled thanks and took a sip, then turned back to the window.
Lydia drove past in her car. It was just a split-second sighting, but just enough to get me thinking about her. Meiser had said that she didn’t hate me as much as I thought. That she didn’t have any friends. I felt a weird pang.
But … she had told basically the entire town that she had slept with my on-again-off-again boyfriend. That was clearly intended to hurt me specifically. Although I know better than anyone that being in pain makes you act out in ways you normally wouldn’t. I shook my head. I was staring out the window to try to clear my head, not make it even more muddled.
“Earth to Jolie,” said Delilah.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore you guys,” I apologized. “I think my brain is still foggy from our all-nighter.”
“Duly noted,” Ava said. “Try to keep up because this is important PI intel.”
Suddenly, I was all ears. “What did you find out?”
Ava waggled her eyebrows. "Well, it is more of an idea. We want to know more about the members of the art commune, right?”
“Yeah, that would be great!”
“We were thinking … if only we had someone who knew a lot about art … who could maybe pass as an art student … who was interested in joining the Sanctuary for Creative Minds …” Ava had a pretend contemplative look on her face.
“Oh wow! That would be ideal!” I practically yelled.
“Jolie,” declared Ava, “I would like you to meet Dee, former business major, who is switching to a fine arts painting major at Triopolis University.” Delilah beamed at me.
I gasped and looked at Ava, who nodded. “She’s willing to go undercover and try to find out as much as she can about those art students.”
Magda arrived with a huge tray and began distributing the steaming dishes to the three of us. We abruptly abandoned our discussion of the plan to dig into the delicious food. Both dishes were immaculately seasoned, the flavors perfectly balanced. Carlos had a gift. I wondered for a moment if Carlos’ loyalty to us was holding him back. Maybe he belonged in his own restaurant in some big city, drinking in fame and making a mint. But that was a train of thought for another day. Between the murder and Nestle and Meiser and Lydia, I have enough on my plate right now.
“I have my whole backstory completely planned out,” said Delilah, when we all came up for air from devouring the incredible food. “Childhood, education, hobbies, interests … I even have the beginnings of a portfolio of paintings that I could be working on. ‘Dee’ is really into Surrealism.”
“I’m so lucky that my lovely lady is so darn talented,” said Ava, gazing in adoration at Delilah.
I smiled. Those two were such a good couple. And they had been through so much together. At the same time, though, a part of me was cringing as I watched Ava flirt with her girlfriend because I knew Delilah wasn’t being totally honest. And I was helping her. But Delilah was taking time out of her busy life, and putting herself in harm’s way to help us out—again! Now I felt like I somehow owed both of them a debt of guilt they didn’t even know about.
I sighed. Tabitha was going to get an earful next session.
One way to make myself feel better, I knew for sure, was to make some headway on the mystery of why Nestle was so interested in owning a piece of Delilah’s family’s property. I couldn’t prove it, but I was sure he was involved in organized crime.
Ava’s family knew what it was like to be pressured by the mafia. I suddenly had a flashback to the many times I had enjoyed hanging out in the Martinezes’ beautiful, cozy kitchen in the Dominican Republic with that delightful family. What would Thiago, Ava’s dad, do in this situation?
In my mind, I imagined all of the mafias in the world as spiderwebs, stretched across their various areas of influence, all trying to draw people into their net, where they could keep them trapped and controlled. I thought of Meiser yanking himself free from the Sicilian mafia and all that it had cost him. I wondered how many delicate silver strands had stretched into Leavensport. And if so, which spiders had spun them, and what did they want?
I shook myself. My mind was wandering to strange places for sure. I looked around. Ava and Delilah hadn’t seemed to notice, both shoveling the last few bites of the exquisite meal into their mouths and talking over the details of the plan.
“She’s going to go over to the commune sometime in the next few days,” Ava was explaining. “Gemma knows someone in the registration office at the college who will make her a student ID. You know, just in case.”
Delilah nodded. “I’ll start by just talking to people. I wouldn’t mind flying under the radar for a few days, picking up some information before whoever is in charge knows I’m there. I have a portfolio, some clothes packed in a suitcase, and my art supplies bag that I used in college.”
“Wow.” I was in awe. It was a really good plan.
“We are thinking that if she acts like she has nowhere to stay, eventually someone might let her crash on their couch,” Ava said excitedly. “Then she could really snoop!”
“We sure owe you one for this,” I said, smiling at Delilah. She gave me an odd smile back. Was she doing this out of guilt?
I grabbed the check out of Magda’s hand and paid for everyone’s meal. Maybe I had some guilt issues, too.
We parted ways after we ate. Ava and Delilah declared they were going to Ava’s place to watch a movie and finish the details of their plan.
I waved goodbye and walked down the sidewalk toward my car. Suddenly, Aunt Fern appeared in my path.
“Aunt Fern! How are you?”
“Jolie, dear, I’m just fine. I was actually coming to see you.” She patted my shoulder. I noticed she had new earrings dangling from her ears. Interesting. “Do you still have any of that perfume I got you for Christmas?” she asked.
“Yes, but it’s at my house,” I replied. “Why?”
“Can I come by tonight and spritz some on myself? I used all of my perfume and I’ve got a date. A blind date! I finally get to find out who has been sending me gifts and things. Whoever he is, he left these earrings in my mailbox,” she tilted one ear toward me, “with a note and his phone number. We’ve been texting. We’re going to meet at M&M for dinner.” Aunt Fern blushed pink and grinned.
“You know, Aunt Fern, if you have his phone number, you can find out who is texting you.”
“Oh, Jolie,” she rolled her eyes at me. “You don’t know the first thing about romance. The mystery is what makes it tantalizing!”
I almost warned her to be careful, but I was fairly certain the man she was meeting was our mayor, who had purchased those earrings at Gemma’s shop just a few days ago. I kept my mouth shut, but smiled to myself.
I went to my car and drove around and found myself heading toward the outskirts of town. I went over to the land that was for sale and parked.
I remembered being so sleepy as I rode in the car to the airport with Ava, on the way to solve a mystery in Santo Domingo. I was sure I had seen someone digging a hole in one of the fields that were for sale. So many things had happened at the time to pull my mind away from that image, but I was there now, looking at the field where the figure had been. I got out and walked through the tall grass.
Now, in broad daylight, it seemed less ominous. The “phantom” was likely a prankster, a vandal, a hobbyist with a metal detector, looking for old coins. A fresh breeze blew. I walked slowly through the field, enjoying nature. A startled rabbit bounced away from me. A fly buzzed near my ear.
I crisscrossed the field, and eventually came across the spot that had been dug up. It was several weeks old, but there was evidence of about twelve holes dug in a cluster of maybe fifteen feet square. Rain and time had filled most of the holes in, but judging from the size of the dirt piles beside them, none of the holes were terribly deep. Whoever had been digging had known that what they were looking for was buried close to the surface. Interesting.
My detective senses sprang to life. I scanned the surrounding vegetation. There was no path of crushed grass and plants, no ruts gashed in the earth leading away, so no large truck or equipment had been brought in. Chances were, whoever had dug here had NOT found what they were looking for.
Maybe I would invest in a metal detector myself.
Bea had said people were connecting Nestle to all of this. What could be buried in a field in the outskirts of the tiny village of Leavensport that could interest someone like Nestle? He seemed to have his hand in everything. And he was always so cool and confident, like he knew something everyone else didn’t.
Secrets and lies, that’s how the mafia functioned. Secrets and lies and power and pressure. Making good people do things they didn’t want to do so they could make money or get power or stay out of prison. It was disgusting. That feeling had been creeping into our village. That sense of things done behind the scenes, of people being pressured to act or to not act.
I wished Meiser wasn’t so vehement in his refusal to discuss his knowledge of organized crime with me. There was so much I wanted to know. I would give anything to find out for sure if Nestle was involved in the Italian Mafia, like Mick and his family, or some other mafia. If he would answer one simple question, I would know if I was barking up the wrong tree or not. But it didn’t seem like that was how our relationship worked. So, I would figure it out on my own.
The breeze lifted my curly hair off of my neck. A monarch butterfly settled on a flower nearby. Suddenly, I felt angry and defensive. This is my village, my people. No one will use us for whatever corrupt purpose they have planned. I nodded fiercely at the butterfly, and marched back toward my car.
On the way, I saw a piece of paper caught in the grass. It was a receipt from Costello’s Grocery Store for the purchase of “unisex sunglasses, black, $12.99.” Of course, the wind could have blown it there from far away, or out of someone’s car window. I noticed curly writing in black pen on the back. “Skip class or camera off so one can see.” What on earth did that mean? I tucked it in my pocket.
My afternoon walk infused me with vigor. I came home and wrote out lesson plans for our next online class—introducing how to cook the perfect steak. I planned out the menu for the next week at Cast Iron Creations, sending a few text messages to Carlos asking for his input. I looked through my folder of written notes on the murder case to see if anything new jumped out at me. Teddy still had my laptop, and Ava had hers at her house, so I would have to organize my secret investigation on Nestle the old-fashioned way.
I dug through my drawers until I found an old spiral-bound notebook to use as my secret file on Nestle. It had a dark blue cover with a puffy cat sticker on it. I needed to keep it separate from the I Spy Slides I worked with Ava on, for obvious reasons. Everything about this seemed wrong, but I doubted that betraying Delilah’s trust by telling Ava what had happened would make me feel any better or do anyone any good. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and the only means of escape was solving the mystery.
The sun was beginning to set as I made myself two eggs over-easy and a piece of toast. I settled onto the couch with a book as I ate. Tabitha always reminded me to take care of myself, to allow myself to step away from my responsibilities to rejuvenate myself. She seemed to sense how difficult it was for me to do.
Considering the sweat and mud that had accumulated on my body from the adventures of the day, a hot bath seemed in order. I filled the tub, adding salts and aromatic oil. I turned on some nature sounds on my phone and lit some scented candles.
I was about to climb in when I heard a knock on the door. Aunt Fern! I forgot! I wrapped myself in a towel and answered the door.
“Oh, Jolie, you should never come to the door like that!” Aunt Fern chided, walking past me and into my bathroom. “What if I had been a murderer? Or worse, Mick? What would he think of you?” I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from chuckling. Wait until I tell Meiser that he outranked a murderer in terms of the worst person to appear at my door. I heard her rustling around in my bathroom closet. “Here it is,” she said. She reappeared, sniffing her own wrist rapturously. “Thanks, dear! Now, it looks like you have a relaxing evening planned for yourself. I’ll let you get back to it.”
“Well, text me and tell me how your date goes—.” I waved at her retreating back.
“Sure, kid, but don’t wait up!” she purred, gliding out the door. The second it closed, I cracked up. She was something else. I walked back into the bathroom and climbed into the tub. Still blazing hot, very relaxing. My muscles unclenched. Ahhhh. I had been reading the book Tabitha gave me and I was now over halfway done with it. I loved reading in the tub.
My phone buzzed. Ava, sending a picture of “Dee” in her “undergraduate art major” disguise. I laughed quietly. My phone buzzed again. Meiser.
It was wonderful seeing you today.
Thanks, I texted back. It was good to see you, too. We had a real conversation, finally.
Finally, he replied. Nice.
Well? We have a bad habit of avoiding talking about what is important.
Yeah, we are a lot better at just flirting and kissing. I was already rosy from the bath, but this comment made me flush even more.
It has gotten us by so far, I suppose, I admitted.
It has been pretty fun, he agreed. Did I interrupt bedtime?
No, just taking a bath. I got a little muddy today. I sent the message and then yelped, realizing how it sounded.
A bath, you say? Oh crap.
Yes.
Do you need help washing your back? I can be there in five minutes.
Shut up, Mick.
Yes, ma’am. I giggled and flushed even more.
Good night, Meiser.
Good night, Jolie.
I had been home for barely an hour after work the next day. I had fed the cats and was flipping through the channels when my cell vibrated on the coffee table.
Can I come over? asked Ava.
Of course! I typed. Less than a minute later, my front door opened.
“What’s up?” I asked.
Ava shook her head and wandered over to the counter, filling my kettle at the sink and putting it on the stove. She pulled out two mugs and two tea bags from the tin on the shelf. Why wasn’t she answering me?
I stood up and walked over to my friend, putting my hand on her arm. Her shoulders slumped.
“Delilah decided to start her undercover investigation today,” Ava said. “She just drove over to the commune.”
“That’s great!” I replied. “What’s wrong?” I went over to the table and pulled out a chair for her. She absentmindedly walked over and sat on it. I joined her.
“She was so excited to do it,” Ava whispered. “And it seemed like such a good idea while we were planning, but now that she’s over there, all I can think about is the fact that I sent the woman that I love to a house where a murder took place and the killer is still at large, possibly even living at that very house!”
“Delilah can handle it,” I reassured her. “Remember Santo Domingo?” Delilah had rescued us from being held captive by kidnappers. She was a force to be reckoned with.
Ava nodded but still looked worried. The kettle whistled, and I hopped up and filled both of the mugs. I stirred in milk and sugar and brought both mugs to the table.
“I think I just need something else to think about to keep my mind off of it.”
“Hey!” I said. “Meiser and I have been talking a little.” Normally I am not one to offer up such an emotionally sensitive topic, but my best friend needed something to distract her from her worries.
“Oh really!” Ava’s eyebrows shot up and a half-smile bloomed on her face. A juicy story on someone’s love life is the best antidote for anxiety. I decided to play up the drama.
“Yeah, girl. I went over to his house!” She was leaning in to hear all the details. “We hung out alone together for a really long time. We talked and talked.”
“Yeah? Did you do anything else?”
“Oh, baby, did we. He gave me the most wonderful—” I stopped abruptly to take a loud slurp from my mug.
“The most wonderful what?” Ava demanded. I grinned.
“—the most wonderful cup of tea!” I cackled.
“WHAT?” Ava looked ready to blow a gasket.
I sat up straight and laced my fingers together on the tabletop. I looked at her primly. “Yes. It was very flavorful.”
Ava rolled her eyes. “You’re the absolute worst, you know that?”
I sighed. “Sorry. We did kiss, though.”
“There it is!” Ava hooted triumphantly. “I knew it!”
“I don’t know what to think,” I said, dropping the act. “It seems like we really care about each other. We just have so much to work through if we are going to be a functional couple, though.”
“What about that whole mess with Lydia?”
“According to him, she’s making it up. They were never together. I believe him. And you know what that means? Keith is the only one left who can be the baby daddy!”
“If that is true, Lydia has more issues than we thought. Why on earth would anyone sleep with Keith?”
“Hey, we all have done things to other people that we shouldn’t have.” I shrugged and grinned at her. We both knew Keith and I were once an item. At that moment, I heard Ava’s phone chime.
“I never thought I’d hear you take her side,” she commented, digging her phone out of her pocket. “Hey, it’s Delilah!” She read the message and her face changed. She passed the phone to me.
Going even better than expected. Already made friends with two of them. Told them I don’t have anywhere to stay so they are letting me crash on their couch tonight. Love you, sweetie! Don’t text back, you’ll blow my cover. Love, Dee