‘So that’s the ex, huh?’ Laura said as we watched the big dope shuffle off, hands in his pockets.
‘Yep. Sorry you had to see that.’
Laura took my elbow. ‘So,’ she wriggled her eyebrows, ‘anybody new on the horizon? Like Brad Smith, maybe?’ She filled the napkin dispenser. ‘What’s with the two of you, anyway?’
‘Nothing,’ I said. At least, I thought it was nothing. ‘I mean, we’re sort of friends, is all. Not even that really.’
‘If you say so.’
‘I don’t have time for romance right now.’ I filled the second napkin dispenser a little more ruthlessly than she had the other.
Laura wasn’t letting up. ‘No? That’s not what folks are saying who saw that big strong detective carrying you in his arms and making out with you in the middle of the street.’
The heat rose in a whoosh to my face. My cheeks were redder than a couple of sunburned red beets. Thank goodness the sun was barely up. If folks noticed, they would think I’d developed some hideous disease.
‘But-but …’ I spluttered. Talk about exaggeration! What had people been saying? And how long would it be before VV Vargas found out and sought revenge on me? My pulse quickened. ‘Making out with me? Is that really what you heard?’ I dropped my voice as I glanced furtively around.
Laura nodded. ‘Afraid so.’ She squeezed my wrist. ‘You mean it’s true?’
‘What’s true?’ Aubrey stood on the other side of the folding table. She tossed my visor at my chest. It thunked and fell to the ground. Laura picked it up and handed it back to me. ‘What’s true?’ Aubrey repeated, looking from me to Laura and back again.
My mouth was too dry for words.
‘About that detective and Maggie,’ Laura answered. ‘Making out in the street.’
‘Oh, yeah,’ Aubrey waved her hand, ‘that. No wonder they call it Smile Street.’
‘You knew?’ I blushed all over again.
‘Sure, everybody’s talking about it.’
I pushed my hands against my hips. ‘Well, it’s not what any of you think!’ Everybody. That meant Mom. That meant Donna and Andy. Did it mean my nephews too?
‘If you say so,’ Aubrey said, tying on her apron. ‘Oh, hey, good morning, Mr and Mrs Gregory!’ She gave a princess-like turn of the hand.
The Gregorys barely acknowledged her. If looks could kill, poor, sweet Aubrey would be a smudge on the ground right about now. It seemed the Gregorys held a grudge.
‘What about Brad?’ Aubrey asked, batting her lashes all innocent-like.
I narrowed my eyes at her. ‘What about Brad?’
‘What does he think about you and the detective smooching in the street?’ Aubrey’s hand flew to her lips as she suppressed a giggle.
‘Oh, there’s absolutely nothing going on between Brad and our Maggie,’ Laura said. ‘So I’m sure he didn’t mind at all.’
How I wished to be an ostrich and bury my head in the ground.
‘That’s funny,’ Aubrey replied. ‘I thought he was sort of sweet on you.’
‘Well,’ I said out of the side of my mouth as I kicked the dirt, ‘Brad did say he was going to be here today.’ I ran my fingers through my hair. ‘We sort of agreed to meet up.’
‘Ooh,’ chorused Laura and Aubrey.
I tossed a beignet at them. They dodged left and right and the beignet hit Trish Gregory on the bridge of her nose. ‘Sorry!’ I cried, trying hard not to laugh. ‘Should have ducked,’ I muttered under my breath as I averted my eyes.
‘How’s it going, ladies?’ Cosmic Ray, Table Rock’s own visitor center greeter – and possible visitor from another planet – appeared before my eyes. ‘Beautiful day for a little love, isn’t it?’
I agreed. Cosmic was dressed conservatively in a tie-dye Woodstock Summer Of Love T-shirt and baggy, olive-green cargo shorts. Birkenstocks kept his feet from touching the ground. A raspberry beret sat atop his domed skull. If this was San Francisco and the Summer of ’69, he’d blend in perfectly. Heck, he’d probably be taken for a member of the Grateful Dead. In fact, some Table Rockers swear Jerry Garcia is hanging out here in Table Rock in his Eternal Afterlife. And I’m not talking about inside pint ice-cream containers.
Laura bade hello to Cosmic and goodbye to us. ‘Time to get to the store.’
Cosmic Ray turned his head toward the center of the square for a moment. Just long enough for me to notice his pigtails wrapped in raspberry-colored scrunchies. Now pigtails are not ponytails, but would Houston Willoughby and Irwin Acheson know the difference? Possibly not. They were men, after all. Probably didn’t know a beehive from a blowout.
Could what Irwin described as a ponytail have been Cosmic and his tight pigtails? And just because I’d only seen him in pigtails didn’t mean he sometimes might not sport a solitary ponytail instead.
‘I’ll take an order of beignets and a large coffee.’ He whipped out a worn brown leather wallet, wet his thumb and plucked out a few bills.
‘Coming right up, sir.’ Aubrey set the money in the cashbox and counted out his change.
I got busy on the beignets, keeping one eye on the pastry, the other on Cosmic. ‘Say,’ I began, turning the dough over in the oil as they reached the golden brown I was looking for, ‘you’ve lived here a long time, right?’
‘Yep.’ He nodded.
‘Did you grow up in this area?’ Or on Venus, maybe?
‘Casa Grande, down near Phoenix. I moved up here after I graduated. Went to college a couple of years in Flagstaff and sort of drifted this way.’
I nodded. I knew Casa Grande; it lies east of the Sonoran Desert and I’d been there on a couple of occasions. Maybe that was where his flying saucer had landed. There’s not a lot of folks out in the Sonoran Desert. Flying saucer pilots must love it.
He certainly didn’t look Hispanic, but still … ‘Your folks grow up in the Southwest?’
Aubrey shot me a look. I shot her one back that said to mind her own business as I tossed Cosmic Ray’s beignets onto a paper plate.
‘Mom and Pop were from Illinois. Mom’s health was poor so they moved out to the desert when I was but a young ’un.’
‘Probably learned to speak Spanish then.’
He chuckled. ‘Enough to order a cerveza.’
I smiled back to set him at ease and keep his guard down. I was slick. ‘I suppose you knew Lisa Willoughby?’
He hesitated for a moment before replying. ‘You mean the young girl who was murdered?’ Cosmic blinked and rubbed his wrist. ‘Can’t say that I did.’ He blinked once more. ‘Well, you ladies enjoy your day. I hope you like the tent I picked specially for you.’
I glanced at the Gregorys’ tent. They seemed to be raking in the orders with a line twice as long as ours. Who was I kidding? They had a line. Maggie’s Beignet Café’s temporary stand had none.
On the other side, the Salon de Belezza was pulling in a steady stream of customers, too. Caitie’d pulled down a canvas divider between our tents. I wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t want to see me or if she simply felt her clients expected a certain amount of privacy while getting clipped.
And getting clipped was exactly what they were getting at the prices Caitie Conklin charges. I’d let her cut my hair once and was still digging myself out of debt. I blew a strand of hair from my face. Maybe I’d give myself a trim later. I was pretty sure I hadn’t lost my touch. Of course, I could always practice on the cat first, or Mom.
Fortunately, once the day warmed up and the crowds filled the square, we managed to hold our own in the beignet versus pastry and muffin wars. I’d even managed to snatch one of those Heaven’s Building Block muffins off the Karma Koffee table when the Gregorys weren’t looking.
A girl can’t live on beignets alone.
Aubrey elbowed me and I placed several dollar bills under their cream pitcher to cover the cost. I told her I was going to do it anyway.
During a late-afternoon break in the action, Aubrey pulled me aside. ‘What was that all about before?’ she demanded.
‘What was what all about?’
‘Why were you grilling Cosmic Ray earlier?’
‘Grilling?’
‘Yeah, like he was a criminal or an illegal alien or something.’
I took a seat in one of the folding chairs and motioned for Aubrey to do the same. It had been a long day and my feet were practically screaming to be let out of their misery. I explained how some Hispanic male had purportedly broken into Lisa Willoughby’s condo looking for something the night before and been caught in the act by her brother, Houston. ‘From what Houston and Irwin said, the guy was about Cosmic Ray’s age too.’ I pulled off my sandals and rubbed my aching feet.
‘Sounds to me like there’s a lot of dangerous activity going on around town, Maggie.’ Aubrey dropped her voice. ‘If you don’t mind me saying so, I think you should truly, truly stay out of it. Let the police do their job.’
‘I’m not sure they’re all that competent, to tell you the truth.’ I gestured with my head toward the bandstand. Detective Highsmith had his arms wrapped around VV Vargas. A group of teenagers and several adults were setting up on the stage. The Hitching Post’s bridal fashion show had run there earlier. ‘Look at him,’ I complained. ‘Instead of out trying to solve a murder, Table Rock’s lone detective is playing lovey-dovey with the prosecuting attorney.’
‘Yeah, there’s some serious PDA going on there.’
I watched them move slowly hip to hip as the Table Rock High School band started banging out a Broadway show tune. ‘What?’
‘PDA – public display of affection,’ Aubrey explained.
I didn’t mind the explanation but did she have to make me sound so ancient? ‘I see.’ I slapped the lid of the cashbox down. There was definitely too much PDA going on.
‘Not jealous, are you?’ Aubrey teased. The red sun set off the highlights in her strawberry-blonde hair.
‘Of course not.’ I snatched a towel and viciously wiped the tabletop. ‘I just don’t want to see innocent people get hurt.’ I huffed. ‘Or killers go free.’
Mom pedaled up on my pink beauty and parked it behind the tent. ‘The café is closed for the day so I thought I’d come and help out here.’ She planted her hands on her hips. ‘It was slow over there anyway. This seems to be where all the action is today.’
I pecked her on the cheek. ‘Thanks, Mom.’
Keith showed up next with a keyboard under his arm. I knew he was there to see Aubrey but I got to him first. ‘Hi, Keith,’ I said, gifting him my biggest smile.
‘Hello, Ms Miller.’ He looked around me to Aubrey.
‘In the band, eh?’
He nodded and shifted the keyboard from one arm to the other. ‘That’s right. We’re on later. You’re going to be there, right?’ He was looking at Aubrey again.
‘I wouldn’t miss it,’ she said.
‘What do you know about Cody Ryan? He’s in the band with you, right?’
‘Yep.’ Keith leaned the keyboard against the table. ‘Cody’s a good guy. Comes from money but acts like a regular guy, you know?’
Aubrey pulled Keith out of my grasp before I could ask any more questions. She loaded him up with beignets and coffee and sent him on his way. ‘Why were you giving Keith the third degree?’
‘I was not giving the young man the third degree. I was simply trying to find out what insight he might have into Cody Ryan. I don’t know why you’re being so protective of him,’ I said. ‘Just because you’re smitten with the boy.’
Aubrey pulled a face. ‘Smitten? Who says that?’ She grinned wickedly. ‘How old did you say you were, Maggie?’
I growled and turned to our next customer, saving Aubrey from what would, no doubt, have been my barbed and witty reply. And dealing with the customer would give me time to compose one.
A little later, I was coming back from the portable restrooms the town had set up on the edge of the square when I caught the sound of furtive voices, one of which I recognized. I froze in my tracks. The voice belonged to Cody Ryan. But who was the other guy? The voices were coming from the other side of a pickup with a faded yellow camper shell. I tried peering at them through the windows but dirty beige curtains blocked the view. I crept around the side, stooped over and peeked around the rust-pitted chrome front bumper.
It was Cody Ryan all right and I still hadn’t forgotten how he might or might not have accidently on purpose tried to push me down a flight of stairs. ‘Don’t worry,’ he was saying. ‘My band gets off around ten-thirty. I’ll take care of things then. You’ll get your money.’
‘I’d better,’ snarled the other man. He was short, squat and hairy. I suspected he contained an orangutan gene or two. ‘What about Miller?’
Cody smiled, a determined look on his face. ‘Don’t worry.’ His hand landed on the other man’s shoulder. ‘After tonight, Miller is not going to be a problem.’
A chill ran up my spine. Jiminy freaking cricket! Cody Ryan was seriously going to try to kill me!
The two men shook hands and I tiptoed away before I was discovered. No point getting killed now and putting him off his timetable. And mine!
I had a long life planned. I had to do something. I had to tell somebody!