If Fried Chicken Could Fly (18 page)

The outside of Bunny’s was done in alternating chrome and big windows. Inside, booths filled the areas next to the windows, a half-circle bar counter sat in the middle of the eating area, and extra tables and chairs filled both sides. Chrome and pink were the colors of choice.

Bunny was almost sixty, and had been almost sixty ever since I could remember. She was stocky with short, straight, unruly gray hair and a mustache that could rival Tom Selleck’s when she forgot to shave. When her mouth was closed, her lips were pinched tightly. But when she was talking, the world
forgot about the mustache and the unruly hair because she was friendly, funny, and had a laugh that sounded like the boom of a gun. The diner was her life, so much so that she lived in a trailer set up behind it. She never acted as though she disliked what she did. In fact, she acted as though she thought she was the luckiest person alive to be able to work ungodly hours and never be too far from having to wait on a customer.

“Betts, come on in. Sit anywhere,” she said as I entered the diner. There was a small spattering of customers throughout the restaurant. That would change in two short days. Tourists would fill the place very soon.

I’d already seen Cliff sitting in a booth next to the window. He had changed back into civilian clothes and was already sipping from a mug of coffee. I’d arrived at exactly eight o’clock. I wondered how long he’d been there.

He waved me over.

A pretty brunette exited the bathroom and seemed to be walking directly to Cliff’s table.

She was pretty, just in case I hadn’t mentioned that yet.

Damn.

She didn’t even look at Cliff as she walked past him and toward the far end of the diner where she took a seat at a table with two other women.

I tried to hide the sigh of relief.

I’m being ridiculous,
I told myself.

“Hi,” I said as I sat across from Cliff.

“Thanks for coming, Betts,” Cliff said. “Coffee?”

“Well, lookee here, it’s just like the old days.” Bunny was at the table, coffeepot in hand, before I could nod in the affirmative. “You two an item again?”

“I’d love a cup, thank you, Bunny,” I said as I held up the blue plastic diner-issue mug.

Bunny’s laugh boomed. “Sure, honey. The more things change, the more they stay the same,” she muttered as she filled the mug. “Anything else? Pie?”

“I bet you haven’t had dinner either,” Cliff said to me.

“I, uh. No,” I said.

“Burgers?”

“Yeah, okay, burgers.” I turned to Bunny.

“I remember: both well done, both with extra cheese, and both with a side order of sour cream.”

I smiled and nodded. Actually, I’d cut back on the cheese and sour cream, but she was having so much fun reliving the past that I didn’t want to spoil it.

Coffee poured and dinner ordered, I looked at Cliff. I didn’t know who was supposed to go first. Though I hadn’t acknowledged it, Bunny had a point. Sometimes the more things did change, the more they stayed the same. Sort of. Cliff and I had probably sat in this booth or another one hundreds of times. We were certainly two different people than we were years earlier, but we still went by the same names.

“Betts, I’m sorry I didn’t let you know I was coming back to town,” Cliff began.

“You didn’t owe me any explanation.” Maybe he didn’t, but I was pleased he thought he might have.

“No, but it would have been polite. So many things happened at once that I became selfish and did what I needed to do to get through.”

I nodded, but I wasn’t sure what I was nodding about or
how much I should ask. I sighed. I was tired of being concerned I would do or say something wrong.

“Cliff, I have no idea what you’re talking about. You quit your job and moved back to Broken Rope and became a police officer. Were there other things to go along with the ‘so many things’?”

“Well, yes, the career change, but there was also the divorce. Leaving the life I’d built wasn’t easy even if it was something I wanted to do.”

“Divorce? You’re divorced?” I asked not because I wanted to date Cliff again. I might have, but I couldn’t be sure of that until all the haze of seeing him again cleared. I asked because the best news I’d received in a couple days would be if I didn’t have to pretend to be friendly to someone I didn’t want to be friendly to. I wanted to make sure I’d heard him right.

“Yes. I thought you knew that.”

“How would I? You’re wearing a wedding band.”

Cliff looked at the ring on his finger. “I know. It’s like I have to get used to one thing at a time.”

“You’re still not over your wife?”

His eyes pinched but not in pain, in thought. Finally he said, “No, I’ve been over my wife for a long time. I’m not over the fact that I couldn’t help create a successful marriage. I’ll take the ring off soon, just not yet.”

“No kids, right?” I took a gulp of coffee.

“No. Two golden retrievers, though. I miss them.”

“More than you miss your ex-wife?” It was a nasty question.

I was surprised when Cliff laughed. “Lots more, Betts, lots more. Do you want me to tell you about my marriage?”

“No,” I said too quickly. Oh God, no! I wasn’t prepared to have that personal a conversation with him, though I was now warming to the thought that he wasn’t married. “Instead, tell me why you had coffee with Opie yesterday morning.”

He looked genuinely surprised. “I didn’t…Oh, she was here the other morning when I was having breakfast. We said hi to each other, but we didn’t sit together or talk about my golden retrievers or anything. I didn’t tell her I was divorced.”

Bunny brought us the burgers and we both dug in. It didn’t take long before almost all resentment from whatever each of us thought we needed to be resentful about began to dissipate. We weren’t back to our old selves, but that would be impossible anyway. Thankfully.

We talked about family and what everyone was doing now. We talked about the upcoming cook-off. We talked about the wonderful job Jake had done with the archives and the Historical Society. We talked about how brave and amazing he’d been during the attack.

Finally, the conversation came around to the shooting.

“You’re okay, really?” Cliff asked.

“I am. I’ve concluded that the shooter wasn’t seriously intent on harming Jake or me. I think he or she was just trying to scare us away.”

“Scare you away from what, the treasure you and Jake talked about?”

I used my fingertip to pick up a few crust crumbs on my plate. “Actually, more the Jasper,” I said.

“Everett’s place of business? Why?”

I shrugged. I couldn’t tell him the real reason. “Did you and Jim search it?”

“Sure.”

“What did you find?”

“Nothing at all. In fact, we were talking about how important it is to get it open before the cook-off. There’ll be lots of people looking for something to do in the evenings very soon around here. We need to find someone to run it before the day after tomorrow.”

“How would you feel about searching it again? Want to—unofficially, of course?”

“Clearly you do. What’re you looking for?”

I’d like to point out the blood on the roof
, I thought. “Nothing, I just want to look around.”

“I suppose one dinner isn’t going to make you trust that I can do this job.”

“You’re a police officer, Cliff. I trust you to protect and serve. I even trust you to find Everett’s killer, unless you think it’s Gram. Then I don’t trust you as much. I’m just curious. Really.”

“I don’t think Miz killed anyone. You know that don’t you?”

“Not fully until this second, but I’m happy to hear it.”

Cliff looked doubtful a moment. I thought I’d lost him, but then he said, “The theater isn’t a crime scene. Jim and I have already searched it. I have access to the keys. I suppose it wouldn’t be illegal, though I don’t think it’s a good decision.”

“It’s
not
illegal,” I said.

It wasn’t, technically. I was counting on our newfound friendliness toward each other to make him bend to my wish. Old times’ sake and stuff. And I really hoped the urge I felt to touch his hair would go away. I swallowed and silently told myself to shape up.

“I suppose, but I don’t believe you’re just curious. Something to do with the treasure? If you find what you’re looking for, will you point it out to me?”

“Sure,” I said. I’d planned on pointing out the blood, but I’d never admit that’s what I was looking for.

“Let’s go.”

“Really? Great.”

As we stood and he dropped some bills on the table, his phone buzzed. He answered it and his face sobered quickly. “I’ll be right there.”

“Change of plans, B,” he said. “I’m sorry. I have an urgent matter.”

“Something to do with Everett’s murder?” I asked hopefully.

“Dunno,” Cliff said unconvincingly. “Tomorrow midmorning, say, ten o’clock, I’ll meet you at the Jasper, okay?”

“Sure, yeah. Great,” I said. I had the cook-off meeting tomorrow morning, but it wouldn’t take long and Teddy had already committed to teaching.

Cliff left with a distracted wave. I sat down in the booth again and held the cup up for Bunny to refill.

“Duty calls, right, honey?” Bunny said as she poured.

I nodded.

As Bunny walked away, another figure slid into the booth across from me.

“Hello, Isabelle,” Jerome said.

“Jerome,” I said quietly. No one was paying me a bit of attention. We could converse without hiding if I kept it quiet. “Anything new?”

“I heard you talking to the young man. I’ll go with you into the Jasper tomorrow. I can point out the blood and the
piece of paper and there’s something…well, there’s something else there. I keep looking around and it’s like I almost remember something but never quite do.”

“Maybe it’s just because Everett owned it? Could you be—I don’t know—sensing him because he’s dead now, too?”

“I don’t think that’s it. Maybe Everett purchased the Jasper because of me, something that had to do with me.”

“Like what? The treasure?”

“Maybe. I just don’t know, but I feel like I’m close to remembering.”

I tried to think of something to push his memory. “Did you work there? Did you own it?”

“I don’t think so. That sounds like too big a commitment for the fella I was. I was a loner, that much I’m pretty certain of.”

“You left Boston because you thought you would be convicted of murder. Do you remember that?”

“I remember Miz telling me about it one time.”

“Did you know you were cleared?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I was cleared?”

“Yes, totally. I don’t have the details but if we round up the stuff that was taken from Jake, I bet I can tell you exactly what happened.”

“What happened to that fella, Jake?”

I told him about the attack and Jake’s insistence that he’d be fine at his own home.

“What about you, Isabelle?”

“What do you mean?”

“Where will you stay tonight? You should stay with your parents or your brother. Or even stay with Jake.”

“I’m not concerned.”

“You were shot at, too. Perhaps you should remember that.”

I ignored his comment as something else occurred to me. “Oh! Jerome!” I said. “Go to Cliff. Go see what he’s doing. You could spy on him. He might be doing something that has to do with the murder.”

“Where did he go?”

“I don’t know.”

Jerome laughed. “It doesn’t work that way, Isabelle. I can’t just wish my way to someone. I have to have a destination, a place not a person, in mind.”

“I should have had you follow him. Shoot.”

“I bet he’ll give you more details tomorrow. Come on, let’s go to your house. I’m not much protection, but you can hear me, so if someone tries anything I can at least wake you up.”

“You’re staying at my house?”

“Unless you go to your parents’ or your brother’s.”

Like Jake, I didn’t want to go anywhere but my own home. I shrugged and said, “Come on, then. When I was a kid, we used to try to summon ghosts at slumber parties, but this will be the real deal.”

“I remember when you did that,” Jerome said.

“Uh, you do?”

Jerome laughed. “No, I’m pulling your leg, but the look on your face was worth it.”

A ghost with a bad memory and a slightly twisted sense of humor. Lucky me.

I wasn’t used to much company at night. I thought it would be strange to have Jerome in the house, but by the time we got there I was so exhausted I fell into bed and into one of the deepest sleeps I’d ever experienced. Having a watch-ghost made me relax completely. If someone tried to break in or anything else suspicious occurred, Jerome would wake me and I would call 911.

I slept like the dead while the dead watched over me.

I woke extra-early the next morning, right before 6:00 A.M., refreshed and more than ready for whatever the day had in store. The cook-off and opening of the tourist season was only a day away and suddenly the excitement of the coming events overshadowed everything else.

Jerome said that no one attempted to disturb me or the
house. This only added to my positive attitude. My car was still at the school, so we took Gram’s Volvo and parked it just as the sun was coming up. Teddy’s truck was there, parked in a different spot than the day before, so I knew he’d left for at least a little while.