Muffins & Murder (Sweet Bites Book 3) (Sweet Bites Mysteries) (8 page)

He studied the picture for a minute. “Seems I remember an older guy and his grandson in the area that night. He’s a regular; He’s been coming here since I was a kid, so I know him. Over on the other side, we had a couple of teens I had to send home when things got too hot and heavy, you know? But I don’t think I saw this guy. He looks familiar, though. I’ve seen him a time or two. He might’ve ended up somewhere else.”

“Maybe. I guess I’ll have to bug him for better details about where he was that night. I’d really like to get that lantern back.” I made my voice wistful.

“Good luck.” The ranger tried to return the bag of cookies—or what was left of them.

“You keep them. I’ve got plenty back at the bakery,” I said and Jack and I headed off.

Jack took my hand, pulling me close, and spoke low in my ear. “So he has no verifiable alibi?”

“Why didn’t Tingey figure that out?” I asked.

“Maybe he did,” Jack suggested.

“Then why didn’t the ranger recognize the picture or get suspicious when we asked about someone—the same someone, the same night as the detective was asking about?”

“Good question. Maybe Tingey’s been focusing on other suspects. Maybe he has a lead he hasn’t told you about.”

“Well, he
wouldn’t
tell me about it, if he has a lead. He always wants me to share stuff, but he never does.” I felt more than a little disgruntled about this fact, despite the news about Francine’s real last name and the existence of a possible stalker.

Jack chuckled and gave my hand a squeeze. “That’s kind of his job, you know?”

“Yeah. Whatever. I wonder if Cole is at work tonight. I’ve been thinking about getting a new laptop. We could swing by and check some out.” I smiled up at him, widening my eyes and all but batting my lashes at him in invitation.

“You don’t need a new computer. You upgraded to a new system when you opened business last spring. Isn’t the desktop brand new?”

“Mine is working just fine,” I admitted. “And if I needed something new, I’d send Lenny, not go myself. He’s way smarter about computers than I am. But that doesn’t mean I can’t check.” I gave him a big grin. “Can you spare another half an hour or so?”

“To keep you out of trouble? You bet.” He opened the car door for me and waited until I was seated to close it.

I loved that he was old fashioned enough to get my door for me. My hand was still warm and tingly from being in his. Or was that my imagination? Either way, I was glad for an excuse to stretch out our time together.

Cole wasn’t at work when we stopped into the electronics store. Jack bought me a turkey sandwich at a nearby deli and after we ate, we went for a walk in the park. It was getting chilly, but I shrugged into my hoody, glad I’d remembered it so we didn’t have to go home yet.

“Thanks for coming with me,” I said as we turned back toward the car a while later.

“I’m glad I could. It was nice having an evening just to talk.”

“Without you trying to poke needles in me,” I teased.

“Or you pretending gunshot wounds are just scratches,” he returned.

I shifted my shoulder a little where I’d taken a bullet earlier that year. The wound had healed but I felt stiff sometimes. I wasn’t sure if the sensation was all in my mind or not. “So I’m not a wimp.”

“You’re the opposite of a wimp,” he said carefully. “Sometimes I think maybe you’re too brave.”

I wondered what that was supposed to mean. “You think I’m reckless?”

It took him a long moment before he answered. “Not reckless, exactly. Well, maybe a little,” he corrected. “But mostly I think you need to take a few extra precautions. This amateur detective stuff has turned dangerous several times. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

The sincere concern was so strong in his voice that I couldn’t help but accept the words at face value despite the implied criticism. “I’ll try to be more careful. Getting shot’s no good at all. I’d really rather not have to go through
that
again.”

We stopped when we reached his car and he turned me to face him. “If you need someone to go with you when you investigate and I’m not at work, I’ll do my best to be available. You’re kinda growing on me, Tess.”

I smiled, embarrassed but very pleased. “I like you too, Jack. You’ve become a really good friend.”

He looked disappointed. “Just a friend?”

His insecurity had a burst of happiness soaring in my chest. My lips tugged upward despite my desire to act unruffled. “Maybe more than that.”

“Good.” The word was barely more than a whisper as we watched each other, mesmerized for a long moment. I felt myself swaying toward him as his cologne swirled around us. His head lowered and he set a hand on my shoulder. For a few seconds I thought he was going to kiss me and for the first time in a long time, I wanted it, desperately. But he looked away, reaching around to unlock the door for me instead.

On the way home, I tried to decide whether I was more relieved or disappointed that he was taking things with us so slowly. Then I decided to go with the flow. That approach seemed to be working fine at the moment and would leave me far less confused.

I was only upstairs in my apartment for a few minutes after Jack dropped me off before I pulled out my phone to call Tingey. It went straight to voice mail, and I considered leaving him a message about Cole, but decided instead that it would be easier to pump him for information if we were face to face. “Hey, this is Tess. I had an interesting chat with someone about Cole’s alibi this afternoon. I’ll be at the bakery until late this evening, or all day tomorrow if you want to drop in to talk about it.”

I ended the call feeling a little smug. He would be on my doorstep within five minutes of getting the message. He’d probably be irritated, but I could live with that. I changed back into my chef’s jacket and comfy shoes, then headed down to join Lenny. We had wedding cakes and cookies to make.

“So you did come back,” Lenny said in greeting when he looked up from the cakes he was frosting.

“Of course I did. You really think I’m going to leave you to flounder on your wedding cake? Besides, I have cookie dough to mix for tomorrow’s baking.”

“Flounder? Like I can’t handle it alone. I’m not a newbie anymore, you know.”

We settled into a comfortable silence for several minutes while I creamed sugar, butter and eggs. I knew the quiet wouldn’t last long, and I was right.

“So, did you have a nice date with Jack?” Lenny asked.

“It wasn’t a date,” I said, even as I smiled at the memory of that almost-kiss. “We just checked out Cole’s non-existent alibi and then tried to track him down at work. But he wasn’t there.”

“You didn’t get dinner?” His brows lifted.

I started measuring out milk. “We grabbed some sandwiches, but it wasn’t a big deal. Not really.”

Lenny shook his head. “I don’t know why you’re dragging your feet when it’s obvious you like each other. You and Bronson moved way faster than this and he was a jerk.”

Bronson was my former fiancé, whom Lenny had known when we lived in Chicago. “We didn’t move fast, it just seemed like it to you. And he didn’t act like a jerk to me. Not until the end. We knew each other a long time before either of us made a move. I guess I’m the cautious type.”

He snorted. “You couldn’t prove that by your relationship with Shawn. Compared to you and Jack, you and Shawn moved at lightning speed.”

I shifted to put my back to Lenny so he wouldn’t see my smile at the mention of the gorgeous border patrol officer I’d gone out with a few times. I hadn’t heard from him for a couple of weeks—he lived in Nogales, four hours away—but we were still in touch now and then. We’d definitely had our moments on the two previous times he’d been in town, but he wasn’t a serious option, and I didn’t see that changing without one of us moving.

The fire didn’t burn as hot between Jack and me, but something about him was steadier, more comfortable and familiar. After our conversation earlier, I could no longer deny that the attraction was reciprocal. Maybe it was finally time to see if whatever this was between us would be enough to turn into more than friendship. 

“Fine. Ignore me,” he said. “This is coming along. I’m going to work on the modeling chocolate pieces for my cake in a bit. I might use up most of the copper dust. Do you have more on order?”

“I figured you’d run through my metallic colors. Refills will arrive Wednesday.”

There was a knock at the front glass door and I shifted to look through the customer area to see who it was. “Tingey. I knew he’d show up tonight.” I added the last of the flour and spices to my bowl and turned the stand mixer on before I let him in.

“Hello, Detective. I’m so surprised to see you here,” I greeted him.

“You’re really funny.” He adjusted his cowboy hat as he walked through the door, locking it behind him. “You called? What’s the news?”

“I’m fine, and you? I’m glad you could stop in for this friendly hello.” I led him toward the back of the store.

He grunted—his only acknowledgment that he’d been abrupt with me. I decided to accept that as close enough to an apology to count.

I turned off the mixer and pulled out a bowl for the dough.

“You’re baking at this time of night?” Tingey asked from the window that was cut in the wall between the customer area and the kitchen.

“No, this dough is best when it’s chilled for a few hours. I’m mixing it for tomorrow.” I put on gloves to keep from getting gunk under my fingernails, then started scooping the contents from one bowl to the next.

Tingey looked impatient. “You called me for a reason, didn’t you? I could swear you said something about Cole’s alibi,”

“Right. Jack and I went out and spoke to the ranger who was on duty that night. He said he never saw the truck at either of the places where Cole might’ve put in his boat. He remembered several other people specifically, and he recognized Cole from his picture, but said he never saw him that night.”

“Interesting.” He didn’t look like the information surprised him, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. He hadn’t spoken to the ranger, after all.

“What have you come up with? Any good leads?” I asked.

“Not really. It seems to be all dead ends. Mary Ellen’s still looking like a possibility.”

I paused what I was doing and looked at him. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Mary Ellen would never do something like that. You don’t know her at all.”

He studied me. “I guess not, because I don’t think anyone’s above killing someone else if they feel like they’re pushed hard enough.”

“I think the inducement would have to be more before she’d stoop that low. And seriously, why would she implicate herself with the quilted whatever-it-was around Francine’s neck? That would just be stupid. And it wouldn’t exactly be a heat-of-the-moment issue, considering she had to bring the murder weapon with her, and she doesn’t have kids, so she didn’t have a reason to be there in the first place.”

“It was a quilted table runner,” Tingey said. “But that doesn’t leave this room. Not even to share with Honey Anderson, you understand?”

I couldn’t believe he’d told me that, but I readily nodded. I realized Tingey was really looking at Lenny.

“What?” Lenny asked. “You think I care who killed her? All I know is it’s been good for business, which would normally be great, but I have a wedding cake to finish decorating and the wedding is creeping up on me and this place is hopping.”

“You can trust him to keep his mouth closed,” I said. “Lenny’s secret-keeping ability is legendary.” I knew that Detective Tingey was a little distrustful of Lenny due to Lenny’s arrest record, but it had been several years since he’d been in any trouble, and I couldn’t imagine him slipping back into former activities when his life was going so well right now.

“If you say so.”

“I do.” I pulled off a long piece of plastic wrap and covered the bowl with the cookie dough before depositing it in the walk-in cooler.

He stared at me. “Tess, if you know anything that will help with the investigation—”

“I don’t.” I cut him off, not wanting to hear the whole lecture, yet again. “I’ll tell you if I know anything I think is important. I always have in the past, haven’t I? And you don’t even have to sic Shawn on me to keep me in line this time.”