Three Treats Too Many

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Despite not having gotten home until late, and only then because she had two pets to take care of, Sarah was at her desk by eight a.m. Knowing she would be working as the backup hostess during the Thursday night dinner rush at Southwind, she hoped if she got everything done, Harlan wouldn’t mind if she left a little before five. She figured that would give her time to feed RahRah and Fluffy and change into her one simple black dress.

Marcus and Emily thought that from the moment a guest arrived, they should be met with the ambience of the evening. The usual slacks and sweater she wore to the office wouldn’t cut it.

As Sarah typed the last words on a letter Harlan wanted to get out today, the office doorbell rang. She checked the monitor and saw Jacob standing outside the door, holding a folder.

Sarah buzzed him in. “Hi! What are you doing here so early?”

“When Harlan asked me about my martial arts moves yesterday, it got me thinking.”

“Thinking is always a good thing to do.” After the words left her mouth, she hoped Jacob would take what she’d just said as sister-brother teasing as opposed to being a commentary on his behavior. When he made a quick retort and grinned impishly, like the Jacob she was used to, Sarah was relieved, but the good feeling lasted only a moment as a cloud came over his face again.

“Harlan is in court this morning. Jacob, is there something I can help you with?”

“Actually, yes. My sister told me Eloise and she asked you to investigate to prove my innocence and that you agreed.”

“I agreed to help, but I warned them they needed to let the professionals handle things.”

Jacob’s face tightened as he seemed to suck in the air from the room. “If I do that, we all know how things are going to go.”

He laid the folder he clutched on the counter that separated her reception area from the general waiting room. “If you’re not willing to help me, will you at least give this to Harlan?”

“Jacob, I didn’t say I wouldn’t help. I said I’d poke around and see what I could find, but, Jacob, there are lots of things in your case I don’t have access to. Plus there are a lot of people out there who had dealings with Riley.”

“Well, maybe we can narrow down some of those people. Last night I racked my brain trying to remember who she knew who had some type of martial arts training besides me. I made a list of the people I could think of for Harlan.” He tapped on the folder.

“May I see it?”

Jacob slid the folder to Sarah. She opened it and scanned the first page.

Instead of turning to the second page, she looked up at Jacob. “How many more names are there?”

“In total, I came up with fifty-seven, including me.”

“Are you telling me we have a walking militia in Wheaton?”

“No. I was brainstorming people who have some type of martial training, so I included anyone I knew who was a Wildcat or knew Riley through school or the restaurant. Some of the folks, like Botts, the vets, and me served in the military. Others, like Mandy or Officer Robinson, have law related jobs.”

“Officer Robinson is on the Wheaton police force, but Mandy?”

“She’s a paralegal for a personal injury law firm and also teaches self-defense classes for women.”

Sarah tapped the list. “And the others?”

“Most are people who took classes in self-defense, jujitsu, or something similar. As you can see, there are plenty of names. Not all of them could possibly have killed Riley, but it’s a start.”

“That it is.”

Scanning the first page again, Sarah saw there were a few names she could immediately delete like Cliff and his uncle George. She pointed to George Rogers’s name. “Between his surgery and recovery, I think we can safely rule him out. Here’s another one like that. Why don’t I hold on to this and look over the entire list? I might be able to think of a few more who could be scratched.”

“That would be great.”

“And don’t worry, I’ll give the folder to Harlan the minute he comes back from the courthouse.”

“Tell him to call me if he wants to talk about any of the other names.”