Fudge-Laced Felonies (15 page)

I stomped my foot. Ethan told on me. Now I’d have no leverage against the crooks. Was there nothing sacred between friends?

“Summer? Everything okay?” Nate strolled toward me. “What are you doing at the funeral home?”

“Seeing an old friend.” My gaze followed Joe’s car from the parking lot. He steered back toward the Ruperts’ house.

“It’s great running into you.” Nate leaned forward for a kiss, only connecting with my cheek as I turned my head. “I hoped we could get together tonight.”

“I can’t. My aunt’s having people over for dinner.”

“Great. I’m free. What time?”

What time? I turned to stare at him. Did he invite himself over? From the smile on his face, I’d say he’d done just that. I thought about telling him no but caved. I was too tired to argue. “Oh. Uh. Okay. Five o’clock?”

“Great. I’ll be a little late.” Another misplaced kiss and Nate went on his way.

I glanced at my watch. Aunt Eunice would be angry if I was late for dinner. With constant glances in my rearview mirror, I sped home.

Aunt Eunice cast me a cold look over her shoulder when I entered the kitchen and started mashing potatoes.

“Sorry I’m late. I visited Mrs. Rupert.”

“Why? You never hung out there when you were younger.”

“Just some questions I hoped she could answer.” Aunt Eunice frowned at my evasiveness. I couldn’t tell her I wanted to confront Terri Lee about saying she was dating Ethan. That would set the conversation off in a direction I didn’t want to go. Thankfully, Aunt Eunice took the hint.

“How is Mrs. Rupert?”

“Not very friendly.” To put it mildly. I lit the burner on the gas stove. “Joe showed up as I was leaving. Seems he needed Mrs. Rupert to identify a body.”

That got my aunt’s attention. She loosened her folded arms and dropped them to her sides. “Who was it? Terri Lee?”

“No. Doris Ingram, but Terri Lee hadn’t been home all night. Her mother doesn’t know where she is. Oh, and Joe, April, Ethan, and Nate are coming for dinner.”

“How tragic about Doris. I didn’t know the woman well, but—” She turned back to her work. “Why is Nate coming?”

“Your fine cooking.”

“Don’t hogwash me.” The arms folded again.

I imitated one of my cousin’s sighs then spewed out the information. “Last night Ethan and I found a box of money. Hidden in my old tree house.” I dumped freshly snapped beans into a pan. “Joe’s coming over tonight to retrieve it, and he’s bringing April. Nate invited himself.”

Aunt Eunice paused. “We can’t talk about the case with him here. He’s not family.”

“Neither are Ethan or April.”

“They might as well be. At least Ethan is involved. He’s the one who found the diamonds, after all.” She went back to her work. “I’d better make a bigger meat loaf. If I were you, I’d try to butter up your cousin somehow. He’s going to be mad you didn’t call him right away. Why didn’t you?”

“Ethan was going to, but he left in a huff. I’d hoped he forget about the box.”

Joe whistled between his teeth when he lifted the lid on the box. “There’s got to be tens of thousands of dollars in here.”

“Before I called you, I debated about whether or not I should turn it in.” Ethan held up a hand when Joe opened his mouth to protest. “I know, but Summer wondered what she’d do when the thief discovers it’s missing. Obviously, we’re dealing with more than one, and they’re playing against each other. I tend to agree with her.”

“Regardless, Ethan. We have to obey—” The ringing of the doorbell interrupted Joe.

“That’ll be Nate.” I rose from my chair.

“Summer.” Joe reached out to stop me. “Not that it’s any of my business, but don’t go getting too involved with Nate. You don’t know anything about him, and he’s new to town.”

I snatched my arm away. “I can take care of myself. Instead of focusing on one person, you ought to be investigating everyone in this town.”

“I am. Everyone on the list you made. Aunt Eunice told me—”

“Good grief, Joe. At least you’re doing something.”

The door bell rang again.

“Hide the money.” Aunt Eunice snatched the box from the table and stashed it in the pantry.

“Fingerprints, Aunt Eunice.” Joe grabbed a nearby dish towel and wrapped it around the box before pulling it from the shelf. “I’m running this to the station. Officer Wayne is going to be helping quite a bit with the investigation. Be back in half an hour.” He planted a kiss on April’s forehead then disappeared out the back door.

I left the kitchen and dragged my feet to the front door. You’d think I’d be more excited about having male company. Maybe it was the company. I would have to find a way to discourage Nate’s attention, regardless of my wisecrack to Joe. Nate didn’t cause my heart to beat faster. No violins played. No waves crashed. Aunt Eunice would say my expectations were too high.

“Hello, Nate.” I pushed open the door and turned my face, avoiding another of his kisses. What was with this man and kissing?

A frown crossed his face for the briefest second, which he replaced with a smile. “Smells good.”

I led him into the kitchen and introduced him to everyone. He greeted Ethan, laid the charm on April thick enough to make my stomach queasy, and dismissed my aunt and uncle, which made my temper flare.

“Pull up a chair, young man,” Uncle Roy told him, waving an arm to his right. “We’re waiting for one more.”

“I’ll fix him a plate and keep it warm.”

Aunt Eunice had prepared a feast. A four-pound meat loaf sat in the center of the table along with all the fixings.

“How do you like the church, Nate?” Aunt Eunice plopped a pile of mashed potatoes on his plate.

“The people are real friendly.” Nate reached across the table for the salt. “I’ve been the blessed one.” I handed out bowls for the salad.

“Would you have ketchup, by any chance?”

The rest of us froze and stared at Nate. None of us dared ask for ketchup while eating Aunt Eunice’s meat loaf.

Aunt Eunice didn’t say a word. Instead, with her nose in the air, she went to the pantry. She reached for the shelf above her head. Things happened in slow motion as her elbow hit the can containing her cruise money. The can fell to the floor, spilling bills across the linoleum.

“That’s a lot of dough,” Nate remarked, his eyes wide.

“Uh, it’s our cruise money.” Aunt Eunice dropped to her knees and scooped the cash into her apron. I wished for a larger house. One with a formal dining area where we couldn’t view the pantry from our dinner table.

Joe entered to the sight of Aunt Eunice rising from the floor with her apron full of money. His face turned such a bright shade of red that I feared for his heart. It must be difficult trying to be an upstanding lawman in a family like ours. He’d warned my aunt and uncle many times to keep their money in the bank.

Ethan and April sat frozen. April’s lips twitched as she managed to control herself. A muscle ticked in Ethan’s jaw. Uncle Roy sat silent, his mouth opening and closing like a beached fish.

A fit of the giggles overtook me. Soon I was snorting and trying to control myself. “Sorry. Sorry.” I fell into a chair. Only in the Meadows home would something this absurd happen.

Nate took another bite of his ketchup-covered meat loaf, chewed, and swallowed. “What did y’all do? Rob a bank?”

Twelve

Aunt Eunice stood, her hands gathering the apron around the cash. “Oh, you. You’re such a funny guy. Rob a bank, indeed.” She elbowed me in the back of the head as she passed. The knock effectively halted my snorting. Ouch!

She dumped the money on the counter and tried stuffing it back in the can. Bills stuck out every which way, several floating like feathers to the kitchen floor. “It came out of the can; it should go back in.”

“You’ve got to rubber-band it together.” Uncle Roy joined her beside the sink. Several of the bills fluttered from the countertop and landed in the sudsy dishwater.

Joe looked close to tears by this point, and from the expression on Ethan’s face, he’d be joining me in the snorting section. April hid her grinning face behind a napkin. Nate seemed frozen in shock. He still held a forkful of mashed potatoes halfway to his mouth.

“Stop it, Roy. Look what you’re doing.” Aunt Eunice slapped his hands.

“I can’t take this anymore.” Joe rose from the table and headed to the pantry. He emerged with a brown paper sack. “Excuse me.” He pushed Eunice and Roy aside and scraped the cash into the sack, which he then deposited beneath his chair. “I’m putting this in the bank where it belongs. Can I eat now?”

“Gee, Joe, you act like this is the money you took to the po-lice station.” Aunt Eunice frowned. “You can’t tell us what to do with our own things.” Aunt Eunice lowered her bulk back in her chair.

The redness increased in Joe’s face as he sat down. “Next time anyone in this family finds any evidence, give it to me immediately. Night or day, I don’t care. And please don’t touch anything. I’m going to have to start arresting y’all for obstruction of justice and tampering with a crime scene. Do I make myself clear?”

The potatoes finally made it into Nate’s mouth. He closed his eyes in an expression of ecstasy before swallowing. “I’ve got to admit. Coming here for dinner sure beats watching TV.”

“Yeah, we’re a regular riot.” I poured sweetened iced tea into everyone’s glasses. “Never a dull moment.” I met Ethan’s gaze across the table. He smiled and winked, sending a flood of warmth through me.

The bag beneath Joe’s chair crackled whenever he moved his feet, the only sound during the remainder of dinner. Its presence made me uncomfortable, serving as a constant reminder that a crook and murderer ran the streets. I shook it off. The stolen cash, if that’s what we’d found, sat at the police station, safely locked up. My aunt and uncle’s cruise fund wasn’t large enough to attract unwanted attention, was it?

Of course, the condition of my wrecked bedroom didn’t help my nervousness. Someone had violated my personal space. I still hadn’t had time to put it back in order, and stepping inside made me shiver.

After we finished eating, Ethan and I cleared off the table as we’d done numerous times over the years. Old habits die hard. My heart constricted as our hands brushed reaching for a stack of plates. My face flamed, and I jerked my hand back.

We usually chattered like a couple of magpies while I washed and he dried. I searched my brain for a safe topic of discussion. I didn’t think “I love you” would suffice.

“Looks like you and Nate are getting serious.” Ethan dried a dish and set it on the counter.

I shrugged. “Not really. I think he’d like it to be.”

“And you?”

“I don’t know.” I glanced at him. “Why all the questions?”

“I miss our talks, Summer. We used to have such fun.”

“We argued a lot.”

“But it was fun arguing.”

“What? You didn’t enjoy our midnight tree climb?” I needed to steer the subject away from serious matters. “Immensely. Felt like old times. Look.” He turned to face me. “I knew if I waited too long, you’d. . . I mean you’re not the type of—”

My heart stilled. I held my breath waiting for him to continue. Was he finally going to declare himself? Something I’d waited half my life for?

“Summer.” Nate walked up behind us. “Would you like to take a walk?”

“Well, I, uh—” I wanted to wring Nate’s neck. What had Ethan been about to say?

“Go ahead.” Ethan took the dishrag from my hands. “I’ll finish up here.”

Nate clapped him on the shoulder. “Great.” He grasped me by the elbow and almost pushed me out the back door.

“Hey. A little rough, Nate.”

“Sorry.” His hand fell to hold mine. “Isn’t it beautiful out here? I wanted to share it with you.”

What a lovely evening. The time when locusts sang and fireflies flitted. Living on the outskirts of town, our road didn’t have streetlamps, and it got really, really dark after sunset. I tilted my head, staring at the sky. The stars sparkled like the diamonds we’d found, complete with their own black velvet pouch.

“You’ve got stars in your eyes, Summer.”

Oh brother. What a way to ruin a perfectly good evening. Somehow, mushy endearments sounded practiced when Nate spoke them.

“Show me where you and Ethan went last night.” That stopped me in my tracks. “Why?”

“Just curious. Exciting things are happening around here.”

I strained to see his face, unable to make out his features. “You haven’t been here long enough to know. Exciting things happen all the time.”

“All small towns are the same. Are you going to show me or not?”

“I’ll have to get a flashlight. It’ll be impossible to see in those thick trees.”

Nate released my hand long enough to pull a small keychain light from his pocket. “Always be prepared. That’s my motto.”

“Uh.” I gnawed my lip, searching my mind for a new plan. “I still don’t know why it’s so important for you to see the tree house.”

“Something to do. It’ll be fun.” He tugged at my hand.

Despite my misgivings, I led the sugar-talking Boy Scout through the woods to my tree house. “I spent a lot of time here as a child. Ethan and I were reliving old times.”

“Really?” He muttered something else under his breath

I didn’t catch. Nate shone the beam through the door. When he moved to climb the ladder, I stopped him.

“I wouldn’t. The planks aren’t very strong. I would have fallen if Ethan hadn’t caught me.”

“I would’ve saved you.” Nate clicked off his flashlight. “I’d like to save you from this small-town life.” His arms snaked around my middle and yanked me to him.

“You’re too close.” I pushed against his chest. His laughter rumbled.

“Stop being a tease, Summer.” He twisted his hand in my hair. “You’re asking for trouble. In more ways than one.”

“Aren’t you going up?” I said. My blood ran cold. “Your prudish attitude’s ruined the idea.” He pulled me closer. “Why can’t you and I have a little fun?” Something told me he’d be returning on his own. My instincts told me I needed to get away from him. Now.

Nate released my hair and slung an arm around my shoulders. His lips stretched into a thin smile. “Are you ready to head to the house?”