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hursday morning was off to a good start. Traffic among the diners was steady, but we weren’t so busy we couldn’t chat with our favorite patrons. Dilly and Walter had come into the café in high spirits and were wondering where to go on their next day trip. Despite several good suggestions, they didn’t settle on a destination. However, Jackie and I both decided we needed to take a day trip soon ourselves. Homer’s hero was some obscure German poet, and Luis and Scott had good-naturedly argued all morning about which teams were going to make it to the World Series this year.
At around eleven-thirty, Jackie was serving a group of travelers who were on their way to visit Monticello, the historic home of Thomas Jefferson.
“Monticello,” she said, upon delivering the group’s orders to the kitchen. “That’s somewhere we didn’t think of to tell Dilly and Walter. Wonder if they’ve ever been?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t,” I said. “Have you?”
“No. We should check it out sometime.” She noticed my eyes widen, and she turned to see what I was looking at through the window between the kitchen and the dining room. She groaned softly when she saw Harry, Nadine, and HJ Ostermann coming through the door.
We both gasped when we saw that Malcolm Pridemore was with them.
“What’s up with that?” I asked quietly.
“No idea. Maybe they’re going to sell the property to Mr. Pridemore after all.” She saw that Scott was seating them and said, “Good. I’ll let him deal with them.”
Still, I had a hard time letting it go. When Scott came to the window with the orders, I motioned for him to come inside the kitchen.
“That’s weird,” I said.
“What is?”
“The Ostermanns having brunch with Malcolm Pridemore.” I peeped out the window at the animated group. “I thought they didn’t like each other.”
“Beats me. But they all seem to be getting along.” He smiled. “And that’s good...right?”
“That’s great.” Either Scott was a master of deception, or he was even more naïve that I was.
Scott went back out to wait on his customers, and I resumed cooking. It wasn’t but a few minutes after my conversation with Scott that Jackie came into the kitchen.
“Hi. Ryan is here to see you. I’ll take over the grill.”
“Okay. Thanks.” I took off my plastic gloves. “I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”
“Take your time.”
I went out into the dining room. Ryan was standing by the door, and the two of us went outside. He put his arm around me and walked me to the edge of the parking lot where we wouldn’t easily be observed by the diners.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah. I just wanted to let you know that we had an expert enlarge and examine the picture of the weedy lot that was in the cookbook. We’re fairly certain it shows a large marijuana crop.”
I gaped. “Are you kidding? Maybe they have one of those medical marijuana licenses or something.”
“We checked with the DEA, and they don’t. We’re sending drones over there to take aerial photos of the fields, and then we’ll take action based on what we find.”
I hugged him. “Be careful.”
“Hmm...this is nice, but you know, I might be putting my life on the line...” He tried to suppress a grin but couldn’t.
I gave him a kiss that was on par with the one he’d given me at the police station the day before. “Better?”
“Best. I might have to take the rest of the day off to recover.”
I laughed. “Seriously, be careful, all right?”
“I will. I’d like for you to exercise some caution today too. I don’t know what our actions might set into motion.”
“Uh...yeah. That’s why I’m concerned about you.”
He dropped a light kiss on my lips. “I’ll be fine.”
When I walked back into the café alone, I felt as if every person in the place was staring a hole through me. My cheeks burned as I walked through the dining room and wished I’d taken the back door into the kitchen.
“Well, that must’ve been interesting,” Jackie said when she glanced up at me. “Your face is redder than mine, and I’m standing in front of a hot grill.”
“Please swap back with me. I don’t want to have to go out there in front of those people again with all of them gawking at me.”
She chuckled. “All right. But you owe me.”
“Cancel the Ostermanns’ and Pridemore’s orders please,” Scott said from the window. “Pridemore got a call, said a matter of utmost importance had arisen, and left.”
“But their meals are done,” Jackie said. “See if you can get the Ostermanns, at least, to stay.”
“No can do, Jackie. They’re already gone.” He lifted his palms. “How about Luis and I eat their food, and I’ll pay for it?”
“You don’t have to pay,” I said. “I just don’t want good food to go to waste.”
I slipped on gloves, and Jackie handed me the spatula.
“A matter of utmost importance calls me to the dining room,” she said.
I rolled my eyes.
Scott laughed. “Good one, Jack-rocks.”
“One time,” she told him, putting her index finger in front of his face. “You get a one-time pass. Call me that again and see what happens.”
He winked at me before following her into the dining room.
Their actions seemed so relaxed that I smiled. I desperately wanted things to be normal around here, but I knew that just wishing wouldn’t make it so.
I WAS CLEANING THE grill after the café closed for the day when I heard Scott and another man arguing. I knew it wasn’t Luis because he’d just gone out back to take the trash to the Dumpster. I stepped over to the door between the kitchen and the dining room and opened it slightly.
HJ was pleading with Scott. “Come on, man, I need your help.”
“Sorry, dude. I can’t this evening. I promised my sister I’d come over to her house.”
“This is urgent,” HJ said.
“I can’t do it.”
HJ raised his hands to Scott’s chest and shoved him backward. Scott stumbled, but he didn’t fall.
“Don’t bother coming back to work at the corn maze either.” HJ stormed out of the café.
I hurried out of the kitchen to check on Scott. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah. HJ is being a jerk. No big deal.”
“What’s his problem?” I asked.
“He wanted me to work tonight, but I’ve already made plans with my sister.”
Jackie came in from the patio where she’d been cleaning the tables and chairs. “What’s up with HJ Ostermann? He just scratched off and threw gravels all over the parking lot. I hope everyone’s car is all right.”
Scott gave us a lopsided smile. “A few pockmarks might improve the looks of my ride.”
“HJ wanted Scott to work tonight,” I told Jackie, although I remembered that HJ’s parting words were don’t bother coming back to work at the corn maze either. I turned back to Scott. “What kind of work did he want you to do?”
“Farming.”
“Farming? Tonight?” I was confused. “Who farms at night?”
“People who have something to hide,” Scott said. “That’s why I made up the excuse about my sister. I don’t want to be involved in HJ’s shady business.”
“Well, that...that’s good thinking,” I said. I hadn’t told anyone—not even Jackie—what Ryan had shared with me. But I took the fact that Scott had made up an excuse in order to avoid helping HJ as a good sign. He wasn’t involved in HJ’s illegal business, and he could still work for the Down South Café. I patted his arm. “I’m sure you’re making the right choice.”
“Me, too.” Jackie patted Scott’s other arm. “Apparently, we’re your moms now. Make good choices, kid.”
“I’m as old as you guys are,” he said.
“Doesn’t matter. Amy mothers everybody, including Homer. I’m going out to finish work on that patio furniture.”
“I’ll mop the dining room,” Scott said.
Luis came through from the kitchen. “Jackie, I’ll help you with the patio.”
“Don’t you need to pick up your sister from school?” she asked.
“She’ll be fine waiting a few extra minutes.”
“Go get her.” Jackie acted as if she were shooing him out the door. “The furniture isn’t that dirty.”
I went back to the kitchen and resumed work on the grill. I’d been listening to an interesting audiobook, so I put in Bluetooth earbuds and listened to the book as I worked. Half an hour later, I’d cleaned the grill and wiped down the other appliances.
I turned off the audiobook and dropped the earbuds in my apron pocket. It was awfully quiet out there. Had everyone gone already?
“Hello!” I called, as I stepped out of the kitchen.
Jackie’s purse still sat next to mine behind the counter. I immediately went to the patio to help her finish cleaning the furniture. She wasn’t there, but two of the chairs were overturned.
Could she be in the bathroom?
I stepped back into the dining room. “Jackie!” No answer. I hurried to the bathroom door and knocked. “Jackie, are you in there?”
Nothing.
I took my phone from my apron pocket so I could call Ryan. I’d received a text from a caller whose number had been blocked. It said:
Have your boyfriend call off the investigation of the Pridemore property if you ever want to see your cousin in one piece again.
Well, way to go hiding your number, HJ, I thought. I’d have never guessed it was you.
I called Ryan.
“Hey, sweetheart,” he answered.
“We’ve got a problem,” I said. “HJ Ostermann has Jackie.”
“I don’t think so. I’m sitting here looking at HJ Ostermann. He’s talking with Sheriff Billings.”
“He’s what? Then he’s done something with her...he’s...How long has he been there?”
“About twenty minutes. Calm down and tell me what’s going on.”
I took a shaky breath and told Ryan about the text.
“Stay where you are,” he said. “I’ll head over to the Pridemore house.”
“All right.” My hands were trembling as I ended the call. I hoped Ryan realized that I meant all right about him heading over to the Pridemore house, not all right about me staying where I was. No way would Jackie stay here at the café if she thought my life was in danger. And there was no way I wasn’t going after her.
As I drove, I mulled everything over in my head. Scott was gone. Jackie was gone. Had everything Scott said to us been a lie? Was he involved in the marijuana operation on the Pridemore property? Was he trying to help HJ “farm” before the Winter Garden Police Department raided the place? Why was HJ talking with Sheriff Billings?
Nothing made sense to me. All I knew was that I had to get to Jackie as quickly as I could.
I drove to the Pridemore property and headed straight to the Ostermann’s mobile home. I got out, killed the engine, and pounded on the door.
“Hello! It’s Amy Flowers!”
I pounded on the door again. When I still didn’t get a response, I tried to open the door. It was locked.
I ran around to the other side and rained my fists on the back door, but again, there was no response. I peeped through the window, cupping my hands around my face, to see if maybe Jackie was inside tied to a chair or something, but all I could see was the clutter that filled nearly every square inch of Nadine Ostermann’s kitchen.
“Jackie!” I yelled. I was quiet as I pressed my ear against the window, but I couldn’t hear anything over the beating of my own heart.
I turned and looked out over the fields. From my vantage point, I could see much of the property. Maybe they were in the marijuana fields, but I didn’t even know where that was. I needed Gladys Pridemore’s binoculars...and they were in Nadine’s kitchen.
A charge at the door with my left shoulder showed me right away that I was not superhero material. Other than causing me pain in my shoulder and nearly making me fall back onto the grass, that feat accomplished nothing.
I closed my eyes, listened, and thought. Where would Scott take Jackie?
The corn maze!
I ran through the fields. I approached the maze from the side, but I remembered Scott telling me that he went in and out of the maze through the corn stalks. He didn’t need to navigate the maze every time.
Fighting my way over stalks of corn that were taller than my head was harder than I’d anticipated. I started to call out to Jackie, but I was suddenly afraid. What if my calling to her made him hit her to keep her from answering?
I made it through one row of corn and was inside the maze. Still, I didn’t know where I was with regard to the rest of the maze or the surrounding area. I stood and tried to get my bearings. In the distance, I heard a siren. Help was on the way. I felt my pockets for my phone and realized I’d left it in the car.
I scrambled through another row of corn. Still, I couldn’t see anything except cornstalks and hay. But this time, I heard a muffled cry.
Jackie.
Still afraid she wasn’t alone and that I’d cause some harm to come to her, I remained silent and tried to concentrate on the location of that scream. I carefully made my way to the left and saw a dead end where there was a creature covered with a tarp. Before I could turn and go in the opposite direction, the creature moved. It was still likely an animatronic character, but I wasn’t going to leave any stone—or tarp—unturned.
I walked over and ripped off the tarp. “Jackie!”
Her hands and feet were bound and there was duct tape over her mouth, and she was furious.
“Sorry,” I said. “This’ll probably hurt.” I quickly ripped the tape off. “Where’s Scott?”
“Scott? No, it’s—”
Before she could finish her sentence, she headbutted me and knocked me to the ground. Almost immediately, I realized she’d done that to keep Harry Ostermann from hitting me on the back of the head. When Jackie crashed into me, I fell into Harry and caused him to stumble. Before he could right himself, I grabbed him by the ankle and pulled. He started falling like a giant oak, and I rolled to the side to keep from getting smushed.
Of course, Harry rolled onto his side and seized me before I could get out of his reach. He hauled me back toward him and drew back a meaty fist.
I raised my knees to my chest and kicked as hard as I could. Harry let out a raspy breath, and I managed to clamber out from under him. He was now lying face down on the ground in front of me. I dove onto his back.
Unfortunately, I underestimated Big Harry Ostermann. He was able to pull himself into a standing position with me clinging to his back. As he stood, I had to wrap my arms around his neck, afraid I’d fall. And, then, he tried to shake me off. I held on for dear life, but I wasn’t sure how long I could keep it up.
“Ryan, where are you?” I yelled as loudly as I could.
“Right behind you.”
A quick look to my right ensured that I wasn’t hallucinating. There was my gorgeous boyfriend standing beside me in his uniform with his gun drawn. It was the sexiest sight I’d ever seen.
“I love you,” I said.
“Ostermann, I have a Glock 22 pointed at the back of your head loaded with fifteen rounds,” Ryan said. “I want you to slowly raise your hands and, after Amy drops off your back, get on your knees.”
I let go and slid onto the ground. I stepped to the side and allowed Ryan to handcuff Harry. Then I went to help Jackie with her restraints.
“Is this where the credits roll, and you and Ryan ride into the sunset on a horse with no name?” she asked wryly.
“Don’t be ridiculous. The horse is named Butterbean.”
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