I spent about an hour going through my inventory for Jenni. Luckily, I was able to get her everything she needed except for one flower, which she said she could work around. She left happy. All this made me hungry, so I had the salad I had brought for lunch, all while alternating feeding Bella and Topknot vegetables from it. Luckily, I knew how greedy they were when it came to cucumbers and carrots and always brought extra. I figured there could be much worse things that they could snack on. After lunch they went over to the dog bed that I had behind the cash register, and Bella lay down with Topknot snuggled up right beside her.
"Those two never fail to crack me up," Cynthia said.
"I know. No matter how often I see them together, it still strikes me as a weird kind of friendship."
"It was nice what you did for Jenni."
"Listen, I don't have any illusions that a first placement is going happen for me. But even so, I'm not about to not help a competitor just to give myself an advantage."
"I wouldn't do that either. But it sure seems like Jenni thinks Josie would."
While I had been checking if I could get the flowers Jenni needed, she had stayed on the sales floor to help Cynthia, which I thought was very nice of her, and she had talked the ear off her about Josie MacArthur.
"It sure doesn't seem like Josie has a very good reputation," I said. "I wonder where she is staying."
"Why? You want to go talk to her?"
"Yeah, actually, I would. I would like to find out where she was in the last twenty-four hours, when the flowers were left unattended."
"There can't be that many places for her to stay. I guess she could be staying with a friend or something, but we’ve only got one motel and two bed-and-breakfasts."
"I like the way you're thinking."
"It's slow out here. Why don’t you go back and make some phone calls," Cynthia said to me.
I wasn't going to make her ask me twice.
I went to the office and googled the numbers I needed for the two bed-and-breakfasts and the hotel in town. I decided to start with the bed-and-breakfasts, mainly because my friend Abigail worked at one of them, Willow Chateau, and she would be more inclined to tell me if Josie was staying there, and if she wasn't, at least I could rule one of the three out.
I dialed the number and waited for someone to pick up.
"Thank you for calling Willow’s Chateau. This is Abigail. How can I help you?”
"Hi, Abigail. It’s Presley," I said.
"Hey, Presley. It's been a long time. What have you been up to?"
"Not much. Sorry I haven't been around recently. Things have just been crazy at the flower shop."
"Oh, I can imagine. I admit I had to laugh when I heard that you were taking over from your mom."
"Excuse me," I said, pretending to be offended, but she had been my friend for a long time, so I knew what she was getting at.
"Not trying to offend you, but I just never thought you would be back here to live permanently."
"Me neither. But Cooper and I decided it was the right thing to do, and I'll tell you we love it here."
"I heard you bought a house. And how is your husband, the mayor?" Abigail said, making small talk.
"He's doing great. I never see him because he's always busy, but he seems to love his new job."
"That's awesome. We need to get together for coffee soon."
"Definitely! I promise I won't let months go without calling this time. But I do have a question."
"Shoot. I didn't figure you called me just to chat. I’m sorry, that sounded bad," she added.
I laughed. "No, it's fine. I get it. You don't happen to have someone by the name of Josie MacArthur staying with you, do you?" I said and heard Abigail grumble over the line. "So you do have a Josie MacArthur staying with you."
"No, ma’am. Not this year. That woman is a piece of work. High maintenance doesn't even begin to cover what that woman is," she said, and went off into a mini rant of how Josie had stayed there last year while not even competing in the contest and had done nothing but complain the whole time. That she found fault with everything, from the linens to the brand of bottled water they provided. "And she even complained about Ruthanne's cooking."
Now my rant began. Ruthanne Lilyhammer was hands-down the best chef in Hunter's Hollow. Heck, I would say the county, and probably the entire state of Illinois. She had worked for five-star Michelin restaurants in Chicago for twenty years, until she came back to Hunter's Hollow to take care of her mother when her dad had passed away. Abigail had told me—and I'd heard it from my parents over the last couple years too—that on the weekends, and especially Sunday brunch, there was usually a line out the door of people who weren't even staying at the bed-and-breakfast wanting to eat at the restaurant on the premises because of Ruthanne’s cooking.
"How could anyone find fault with Ruthanne?"
"Exactly my point. Last year when she checked out and wanted to make a reservation for this year, I told her thanks but no, thanks."
I sat there for a second then, wondering at which of the other two places she was staying, or whether she wasn’t even staying in town.
"If you're trying to track her down, I can tell you she’s not staying at the Cozy Haven Inn either. I told Molly last year before I told Josie I wouldn't rent her a room that it wasn't worth it, even if she had an unoccupied room that wasn’t bringing in revenue."
"If she’s staying in town, then she must be staying at the Holiday Inn?"
"Yep, and since they’re a corporate-run business, I bet even if they wanted to, they can't kick her out for being annoying."
"Thanks, Abigail."
"Sure. Why do you want to know where she is staying?"
"I just want to talk to her about the contest and details for the weekend. She stopped into Petal Pushers to chat, and I forgot to get her number."
I didn't want to say anything to Abigail or bad-mouth about Josie and that she was on my suspect list for Susan's murder. I didn't want to be too much of a gossip, especially because if it ever got back to Sheriff Blackford, my goose would really be cooked. Abigail accepted my explanation, and we made plans to get together soon. After we hung up, I sat there for a second, wondering what my next course of action should be. I guessed I shouldn't assume that she was staying at the Holiday Inn. I needed to call and confirm.
"Holiday Inn. How may I help you?"
"Yes, can you put me through to the room of Josie MacArthur, please?"
"Just a second. Please hold." A few seconds went by, and the man came back online. "Connecting now."
My heart sped up with excitement. At least I knew where she was staying. I hung up before anyone picked up. It was the middle of the afternoon and, honestly, I had no idea if she'd be at the hotel or not, but the best thing to do was to go see for myself.
I went back up to the front, thinking I would finish out the day and then see if I could track down Josie. It had been slow and steady for the afternoon, but not too busy. We made quick work of the closing duties and soon I was waving goodbye to Cynthia as I locked the front door behind her, and then snapped my fingers for Bella and Topknot to join me as we walked out the back.
Opening the back of the car and picking Topknot up, putting him in his dreaded cat carrier before shutting it and opening the passenger door for Bella, I was surprised when he only squawked twice. He was getting better at riding in that thing. He was a smart duck and I thought he was finally understanding it was what had to happen in order to go in the car.
I got in and snapped the seatbelt for Bella and then myself before starting my car and heading to Betty's. I needed to fortify myself with a latte before confronting Josie. In no time at all I made it to Betty's, and not for the first time was I thankful she didn't close until eight p.m. during the week. I was sure the high schoolers were too. Betty's Baked Goods was a popular date spot, something that I knew tickled Betty to no end. She loved the young ’uns, as she put it.
Stepping out of the car, I grabbed Topknot’s pet carrier and walked around to open the passenger door, snapping the leash on Bella’s collar as she jumped out of the car. Betty didn't have an issue with me bringing Bella and Topknot in. In fact, she was welcoming to all animals, even though I wasn't so sure how the health department felt about that. But after one time when Topknot had gone a little crazy on the sugar cookie he’d snatched from the sample table and started quacking at the top of his lungs going around to every table begging for treats, I only brought him in if he was contained. As I walked up the stairs and into Betty's, I felt my phone buzz and I fished it out of my purse. It was a text from Trevor.
“Sheriff just brought Dale in for questioning.”
As I slid my phone back in my purse, I wondered if now that he was a suspect, Dale would be more willing to talk to me. I guess visiting Josie would have to wait.