Authors: Jessica Beck
“I’m one step ahead of you,” Moose said as he hurried past me. The sheriff finished taking down every name, and as he closed his notebook, he announced, “I have one question for each of you, and then you’re all free to go. Did anyone see anything unusual at the diner this morning?”
Most folks shook their heads, but Francie Humphries, the woman who owned the only bakery in town, spoke up. “Do you mean
besides
the man who tripped on a chair and nearly landed in that poor man’s lap a minute before he died?”
“I saw that, too,” I said. “Did you get a good look at his face, Francie? I couldn’t see it behind that hooded sweatshirt he was wearing.”
“I’ll ask the questions here, if you don’t mind,” the sheriff told me, and then he turned to Francie. “Can you describe him?”
“I was in the same position that Victoria was in; I only saw him from behind, and I didn’t give him more than a moment’s thought. I couldn’t even guess about how old he was or what he looked like. Like I said, it all happened so fast that I barely knew what was happening.”
“Did anyone else see this incident?” the sheriff asked.
The Reverend Mercer said haltingly, “I don’t mean to contradict you, Francie, but I saw it, too, and I was certain that it was a woman.”
“It was a man, Father,” she said, and then she added a little uncertainly, “At least I think it was a man. Maybe. I’m not sure.”
I shook my head as I realized that I hadn’t been able to tell, either. So, either a man or a woman had stumbled into Curtis’s booth just before he’d died. Since I doubted that it had scared him and given him a heart attack, I wasn’t at all sure what good the information would do the sheriff, at any rate.
Sheriff Croft nodded, jotted a few lines into his book, and then he asked, “Is there anything else anyone wants to add?”
When no one else spoke up, the sheriff closed his notebook once more. “Okay. You’re all free to go. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Now it was my diners’ turn to ask questions. “Who was that man in the booth?”
“Was he really murdered?” someone else asked.
“I thought he looked kind of sickly when he walked in,” another diner said.
“Folks, I don’t have any answers for you right now. I’m just collecting information.”
That seemed to satisfy no one, and as the sheriff started to leave, I asked, “Can we resume business now, Sheriff Croft?”
“I don’t see why not,” he said. “I’ve got samples of his food and drink, and I’ve had the scene thoroughly photographed and filmed. I’m not sure that I’d use that booth until you can give it a proper scrubbing, but other than that, carry on.”
“Thanks,” I said. I decided that we’d clean it indeed, but not with everyone watching us. I blocked the booth with a pair of chairs, and then I turned to our customers. “Folks, listen up. I’m sorry about what happened and that you had to be here to witness it. Your meals this morning are on the house, but we’re going to have to close the place for an hour now so we can get things ready for lunch. I hope you all have a great day, and come back to The Charming Moose again soon. Thanks again.”
As they filed out, each and every one of them glancing toward the booth where Curtis had died, I did my best to smile at them all, despite the sadness in my heart. After the front door was locked tight and the OPEN sign flipped to CLOSED, I turned to Moose. “I’m willing to bet that you think I was too extravagant just now giving everyone a free meal, don’t you?”
“On the contrary, it was exactly the right thing to do,” Moose said. “I heartily approve. It won’t keep folks from talking about the diner and what happened here, but it might give us a little positive publicity, which couldn’t be a bad thing right now.”
Mom came out of the kitchen with a bucket, a scrub brush, and a rag.
“I’ll take that, Mom,” I said as I reached for her little cleaning kit.
“Nonsense. I don’t mind doing it,” she said.
“I know, but I’m sure that you’ve got your hands full in the kitchen right now,” I insisted. I didn’t want my mother to have to deal with that booth, not while I was ready and able to handle it myself.
“I’ll do it,” Moose said. “This place was mine from the start. That makes it my responsibility.”
I thought about fighting him over it since
I
was the one who ran The Charming Moose now, but did I really want to win that particular argument? “Thanks,” I said. “You win.”
He raised one eyebrow as he looked at me. “Victoria, you gave up surprisingly easy just then.”
“What can I say?” I asked with a grin. “Growing up, I was always taught to respect my elders.”
He just laughed, and I was happy to see my mother willingly giving up the cleaning supplies to her father-in-law.
“Ellen,” my mother said, “if you bus the tables, I’ll get things started in back. We should easily be ready to reopen in under an hour.” Mom looked back at me as she added, “If that’s still the plan.”
“I don’t see why not,” I said. “What do you think, Moose?”
“The quicker we’re open again, the less time rumors have to spread that we killed somebody here today,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Do you honestly think that anyone’s going to say that?” I asked him.
“You’re naïve if you think for one second that they’re not,” he said. “Don’t worry, Victoria. This too shall pass.”
“I hope you’re right,” I said, but I suspected that my grandfather was wrong.
I just didn’t know
how
wrong at the time.
Chapter 2
“He didn’t make it,” Jeffrey said solemnly as he walked back into The Charming Moose two hours later. He looked as though he’d just lost his best friend, and I didn’t doubt that it was true. I knew from past experience that the two of them had been very close.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I said as I touched his shoulder lightly.
“Thanks. I appreciate that,” he said. “You know, Curtis hired me away from his sister, Charlotte, and brought me here three years ago. I’ve been an orphan most of my life, and that man ended up being the only family that I ever really had.”
“How did that all come about?” I asked. Clearly the man needed to talk to someone, and I would have to do.
“Charlotte hired me out of high school to drive for her in San Francisco,” he said. “The odd thing was, she was only at the house for a month or two each year. The rest of time, the staff just tried to entertain ourselves waiting for her to come back. Three years ago though, her brother showed up unexpectedly, and Curtis and I hit it off from the start. He asked me to come work for him back here on a full-time basis, and I jumped at the chance.” Jeffrey let out a deep sigh, and then he added, “That was a long time ago, though. I still can’t believe that he’s gone.”
“What are you going to do with yourself now?” I asked him.
“I’m not quite sure, but I know one thing: I’m not going back to work for Charlotte.”
“Was she that bad as an employer?”
“I don’t know if I can say that, but once I worked for Curtis, I knew that she and I were finished. I suppose I’ll find something, but I saved my money, so I don’t have to do anything drastic right away.” He looked back at the limo, and then Jeffrey added, “After I take that back to the house, I suppose my work is done. You don’t happen to know of any places around here for rent, do you? I don’t need much, just a one bedroom apartment.”
“Let me call a real estate agent I know,” I said. “If you can wait, I’ll see if she’s free right now.”
“Don’t go to any trouble on my account,” Jeffrey said.
“It’s no trouble at all. She’s a customer here.” I dialed Diane Meadows’s number.
She picked up on the first ring. “Meadows Properties,” she said automatically.
“Diane, it’s Victoria Nelson. I need a favor. Do you have any one-bedroom apartments available?”
“Oh, no. I can’t believe this,” she said. Diane was clearly upset about something.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
“You and Greg are splitting up. Victoria, how can you be so calm about it?”
“What? No. We’re not. Where did you even get that idea?”
“You just asked me for a one-bedroom apartment, Victoria. It doesn’t take a leap in logic to know what that means.”
“You need to get that imagination of yours in check,” I said with a laugh. “Greg and I are fine. It’s for a friend of mine, a man named Jeffrey…” I held the phone to my shoulder as I asked the chauffeur, “What’s your last name?”
“Graham,” he said.
I put the phone off my shoulder. “Jeffrey Graham. I’ll vouch for him personally, Diane. He’s a good guy.”
“I’ve got two places at the moment, depending on how much he has to spend. If he’s loaded, I’ve got a real beauty that just came on the market.”
“That sounds good, but let’s go in the other direction,” I said. I didn’t want to come right out and say that Jeffrey wasn’t rich, but then again, I didn’t want Diane trying to set him up with something well beyond his budget.
“Got it,” she said. “If he doesn’t mind Spartan surroundings, I’ve got a real deal for him.”
“Let me check,” I said, and then I asked Jeffrey, “How do you feel about a simple place?”
He grinned broadly. “I love it.”
“He’d like to see it,” I told Diane.
“Have him come by my office at three this afternoon, and I’ll show it to him. Thanks for the lead, Victoria.”
“Thank you,” I said.
As I jotted Diane’s address and phone number down on a napkin, I told Jeffrey, “I assume that you’ll be free by three this afternoon.”
“I’ll be there,” he said as he took the note from me. “Wow, I thought stories about small towns were all lies.”
“What do you mean?”
“You hardly know me, and yet look at all that you’ve done for me already.”
I smiled. “I like the way you looked after your boss,” I said. “That makes you a good guy in my book. Don’t let me down, okay? I vouched for you, after all.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said. “Well, I’d better get moving if I’m going to get everything done in time for my meeting with Ms. Meadows.”
“If you need a different appointment time, I can always call her back.”
“No, I should be fine. There’s really not all that much left for me to do. Thanks again.”
“You’re most welcome,” I said. “Jeffrey, would you do me a favor?”
“Anything,” he said.
“Be careful what you promise,” I said with a smile. “This shouldn’t be too difficult, though. Will you drop by and tell me when the funeral’s scheduled? I’d like to go.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
I was a little hurt by his outright refusal. “Why, is it for family only?”
“That’s not it. You see, there isn’t going to be one. Curtis didn’t believe in them. He
never
focused on his death while he was alive, and he didn’t want us to after he left us. He’ll be cremated within the hour, and his ashes will be spread under his favorite oak tree on his property. It’s the way that he wanted it—no fuss and no muss.”
“I can understand that,” I said. “I’ll miss him and the tiny plastic pickles he used to leave behind.”
“If you’d like some, I have three boxes of them in the limo,” Jeffrey said. “He never wanted to run out. I guess in the end, he didn’t.”
A tear started tracking down his cheek, and Jeffrey left the diner quickly before he lost it completely.
Ellen came over and joined me after he was gone. “It’s so sad, isn’t it?”
“I’m surprised by how hard it hit me. It’s not like it was a big secret that Curtis was dying, but I hate that it happened here at the diner.”
“Me, too,” she said as she looked over at the booth where he’d died. “Am I crazy, or is there a white shadow hanging over that booth?”
I looked where she was pointing, and sure enough, it appeared that a ghostly image was hovering above the surface of the table. Feeling a little shaky, I started walking toward it, determined to see what was causing it. My hand went right through it, and I looked down at the napkin dispenser. The stainless steel surface was reflecting sunlight off the tabletop and into the air. I moved it a quarter turn, and the spectral image suddenly disappeared.
“It’s gone!” Ellen said loudly.
“Take it easy. It was just a reflection.”
She shivered noticeably. “It still gives me the creeps. I’m glad that my shift’s about over. Thanks for letting me take off an hour early today.” Ellen usually worked until two, but she’d asked for permission to duck out early today, and I hadn’t seen any reason not to accommodate her.
“You can take off now, if you’d like.”
“No, I’ll wait it out,” Ellen replied.
Wayne, the mechanic who was sweet on her, came by the diner ten minutes later to pick her up. Ellen still had five minutes left on her abbreviated shift, but I told her, “Go on. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” she said as she put her arm through Wayne’s. They had gone through some tough times lately, but it was finally starting to look like they just might make it.
Greg came out of the kitchen as they left and smiled at me. “It’s just the two of us now,” he said. “Care for a quick bite to eat before things get crazy again? I know for a fact that your lunch was interrupted twice by customers, and you ended up throwing most of it away, so you’ve got to be starving.”
“I could eat,” I said, answering his smile with one of my own. “What did you have in mind?”
“Would grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken soup be too plain for you?”
“Not if you’re the one who makes them,” I said. Greg had a knack for taking the most mundane ingredients and turning them into the most delightful meals.
“Two of each, coming right up.”
As he ducked back to the grill to make our food, I looked around the diner. There were fewer customers than I’d hoped for at that time of day, but it might not have been because of what had happened at the diner earlier. It could just be part of the lull we usually experienced between the lunch and dinner crowds. I just hoped they found their way back to us, and quickly. We couldn’t afford to have too many customers leaving us, not if we were going to keep The Charming Moose afloat.