Death by Coffee (19 page)

23

An
OUT TO LUNCH
sign hung on the door to Tessa’s Dresses. I tried the door, anyway, but found it to be locked up tight.

“Drat,” I said, glancing up and down the sidewalk, hoping to catch a glimpse of Tessa. I couldn’t have missed her by much more than a few minutes. It felt awfully early for lunch. There were a few people out and about, strolling casually up and down the sidewalk, but there was no sign of Tessa.

I checked my watch and was surprised to see it was just after twelve. Where had the time gone? It felt like only an hour ago that I’d rolled out of bed and had headed to work. I guess time actually does fly by when you are focused on your job, instead of wanting to be somewhere else.

I figured Tessa wouldn’t be gone for more than a half hour, maybe forty-five minutes at the most. Actually, she might be sitting inside, snacking away on a burrito even now. I tried to peer in through the window, but couldn’t see anything. The store looked dark and empty, as if Tessa hadn’t been there at all.

The coffee in my hand was still hot and would be for a little longer, but not for thirty more minutes. I scanned the street one last time, but Tessa was nowhere to be seen.

My eyes fell on a store a little ways down the block. Bright pink lettering scattered with candy and chocolate hung above a door that was decorated like a gingerbread house. The windows were frosted, but I could still read the colorful lettering, even from as far away as I was:
PHANTASTIC CANDIES
.

Not wanting to wait around for Tessa, or worse, slink back to Death by Coffee without accomplishing anything, I headed for Jules Phan’s candy store. If nothing else, I could give him the coffee and hope it would add one more customer to our meager regulars.

As I entered, the door made a strange crinkling sound that reminded me of a really large piece of candy being unwrapped from plastic. The smell of sugar and sweets was nearly overpowering. My eyes watered and my stomach grumbled at the assault on my nose. I hadn’t craved a piece of chocolate-covered caramel so badly in my life.

Jules was in the middle of the store, dancing for a little girl whose mom was watching him with just as much adoration as the child. His tap shoes made a pleasing sound on the floor and I found myself wanting to join him, though I’d probably end up tripping over my own two feet and ruining the whole dance. He was wearing one of his bright suits—this one blue—and had on a striped top hat, which would have looked outlandish anywhere else.

Jules spun, clicked his shoes together, and landed in a crouch in front of the girl, a sucker in his hand. She took it with a giggle.

The girl’s mother clapped and thanked Jules warmly before leading the girl away. She’d already removed the wrapper and was sucking happily on the sucker as they left the shop.

“That was wonderful,” I said, approaching.

“It was nothing,” Jules said with a wide smile. “It’s so good to see you, Krissy.” He removed his hat, wiped the sweat from his brow with a polka-dotted handkerchief, and then replaced his top hat. “What brings you my way today?”

“I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by. I brought you this.” I held out the coffee.

Jules took it with a grin. “Thank you,” he said. “I was thinking of stopping down there when I got a moment. Always so busy, but you know how that is.”

Oh, how I wished I did. “Sure,” I said, handing over the creamer and sugar. He took them and set them on the counter beside some taffy.

As Jules went about adding his condiments to his coffee, I looked around the shop in something akin to wonder. Candy in bins lined every wall all the way to the ceiling. Glass chutes gave the kids a view of the candy as it rolled and tumbled down, once they put in their quarters. Wrapped candies sat in boxes on shelves in the middle of the room. Just looking at all of the candy made my teeth ache.

“It’s a bit much when you first see it, isn’t it?” Jules said, stirring his coffee. “Lance and I weren’t sure if we should go so extravagant, but then when I thought of the kiddies, I realized they would love it. It might be garish for you or me, but to see the smiles on their faces”—he somehow managed to clasp both hands over his heart without spilling his coffee—“is worth it.”

It might be worth it to Jules, who was slim and fit. Me? I would be toothless within a month of working in a place like this. I didn’t even want to think what would happen to my waistline. The coffee and the cookies were bad enough.

“It’s nice,” I said, and I meant it. Just because I wouldn’t want to work here didn’t mean I didn’t like the atmosphere. If I had a son, I’d definitely bring him here once a week for a little candy. The place was too fun not to visit.

The door opened and about a dozen kids swarmed inside, led by a harried-looking teenager. She smiled at me as she breezed past, calling after a little boy named Joey, who was busy trying to shove his arm up a chute to reach the bubble gum there.

“I best get back to work,” Jules said. He took a sip of his coffee. “Thank you for this. It’s very good.” He snatched a sucker that was bigger than my fist from the counter. “Take this,” he said before rushing off after the kids.

I looked at the sucker and considered putting it back. There was no way I was going to even attempt that thing. The bellyache would put me down for days if I tried.

Thankfully, the thing was wrapped, meaning I could shove it in my purse and worry about it later. I didn’t want to insult Jules by declining his gift. Maybe sometime later I’d need the comforts of sugar.

I turned toward the door, sucker in hand, and stepped outside without paying attention to where I was going. Someone bumped into me, but didn’t slow down to apologize in the rush past me.

“Excuse me,” I grumbled, righting myself. I’d very nearly dropped the sucker. I looked up to find Tessa walking briskly away.

I stood there a moment, frozen in surprise, before I gathered myself and called after her. “Tessa!” I hurried away from Phantastic Candies, toward the retreating woman.

Tessa hesitated and glanced back when I called to her the second time. I caught a glimpse of wide-eyed worry and maybe a little guilt before she realized who I was. Her face then morphed to an irritated scowl.

“What do you want?”

Boy, did it seem like I was getting asked that a lot these days or what?

“I just wanted to ask you a couple of quick questions.” I looked at the sucker in my hand and then held it out to her as a sort of peace offering.

She looked at it like it was poison on a stick. “No, thank you,” she said. “I’ve got to get back to work.” She made as if to turn away.

“Please,” I said. “Just one minute?”

She heaved a sigh, and then glanced past my shoulder. She looked worried that someone might be coming down the walk at any moment and would see us together. Was my reputation really that bad?

“Can we at least get inside?” she asked, eyes flickering to me. “I might have customers waiting.”

I somehow doubted it, but I agreed.

I followed Tessa to her shop. She unlocked the door and slipped inside after one more look over her shoulder. She was definitely worried about something. Could she have just come from a meeting with someone, perhaps Mason Lawyer? Or was she really that worried about being caught talking to me?

“So, what is this about?” she asked once we were inside. She relaxed visibly as the door closed and no one came bursting in. She tossed her purse behind the counter before removing the
OUT TO LUNCH
sign.

I watched her silently as she went through the routine. Tessa’s hair was a mess and she kept running her fingers through it as if to tame it. Her lips were a bright red, telling me she’d either had a cherry smoothie for lunch, or had been doing something that involved pressing her lips firmly against something else. It wasn’t too hard to figure out what that might be.

“Is everything all right?” I asked, glancing toward the door. She was staring at it again. I half expected it to burst inward and the police to come rushing in to arrest her. She appeared
that
nervous.

“What do you mean? I’m fine.”

“You seem worried about something.” I took a chance that she would just clam up and went on. “Are you hiding from someone?”

“Hiding?” She snorted. “As if.”

“Then why were you so anxious to get inside?”

“I have a business to run,” she said. Her face was darkening in what I took to be anger. “I needed to get back.”

“There was more to it than that.” I moved closer to the counter and she backed up a step. “Where were you?”

“It’s personal.”

I took in her mussed hair, the way her dress hung on her body slightly askew, as if she’d gotten into a fight or perhaps put it on in a hurry.

“Who were you with?”

Her jaw clenched. “That’s none of your business.”

I took a stab in the dark. “Was it Mason Lawyer?”

“What?” She sounded genuinely shocked. “No. Why would I be with him?” She heaved a sigh. “If you must know, I was meeting with a friend.”

“A close friend.”

“What should it matter?”

“I don’t know, should it?”

She gave me a flat stare. “Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? I’m not in the habit of sharing every detail of my personal life with people, strangers especially.”

“So you weren’t seeing Mason then?”

“God!” She threw up her hands in frustration. “I really wish you people would stop asking me about the Lawyer family. I’m done with them. Brendon is dead. I had nothing to do with it. I want to be left alone, okay?”

“Who else has been asking you about him?” Vague thoughts about the killer coming in and milking her for information floated to mind.

“The police, you nitwit. Who else?”

I reddened. Of course.

Tessa huffed and opened her purse. I tensed, but all she pulled out was a mirror. She checked her hair and makeup, doing her best to fix it. She did a reasonably good job of it and I wondered if she learned to do that after many tumultuous lunch breaks with Brendon.

I decided to press on, knowing she was probably going to yell at me for not dropping it. I knew, just
knew,
she knew more than she was letting on.

“The last time we met, you said something about cheating running in the Lawyer family,” I said. “Were you talking about Mason? Do you think he could have slept with Heidi?”

Tessa actually laughed. “Mason? God, no. That man is far too conservative for something like that.” She gave herself one last look-over and then snapped the mirror closed and shoved it back into her purse.

“Were you referring to Raymond, then? Another family member?” And then I asked what I’d been thinking the entire time. “Or were you referring to Heidi?”

Tessa’s eyes narrowed and she looked at her watch. “I really should be working right now,” she said.

I wondered what she could possibly be doing without customers. Rearranging the racks? There didn’t appear to be a place for new stock. Unless she was dusting the shelves, there really wasn’t much else she could do.

Which told me she was hiding something. It was obvious she didn’t like me asking these questions. She wanted to get rid of me. Why would she do that if she had nothing to hide?

Of course, I had to ignore the fact I was poking my nose where it didn’t belong, and it was probably irritating to no end, but darn it, I was positive she knew more than she was saying.

“Just tell me who you meant,” I said. “Who’s the cheater? That’s all I want to know. I’ll leave you alone afterward. I promise.”

Tessa glared at me. I could hear her foot tapping behind the counter. I didn’t know if she was considering her answer carefully or if she was contemplating calling the police.

“Raymond,” she said after a long moment. “I was talking about Raymond.”

The gears in my head started spinning. “You don’t think Heidi could have cheated on her husband with his
father,
do you?” It actually made my stomach twist to think such a thing. I mean,
ew!

Tessa shrugged it off. “Who knows?” she said. “I honestly wouldn’t put it past the old letch to try. He thinks he can get anything he wants just because he pretends to be a big shot around town.” She shuddered. “I wouldn’t touch the man myself. I have more dignity than that.”

I seriously wondered about that, but I didn’t say it out loud.

Tessa sighed and leaned onto the counter, visibly softening. “Look,” she said. “Heidi is a good woman. I doubt she ever would do anything with someone like Raymond. She would have better taste than that.” She straightened. “I really do have stuff to do. So if you would . . .” She motioned toward the door.

“Yeah,” I said absently. “Okay.” I turned and walked out of Tessa’s Dresses in a daze, sucker still clutched in my hand.

Raymond Lawyer. How could I never have considered him when I was trying to come up with people Heidi might have slept with? He’d been right there in front of me this entire time, yelling at me to stop poking around. He had all the opportunity in the world—not only to sleep with Heidi, but to kill Brendon when things didn’t work out the way he hoped.

But to sleep with his son’s wife? That was low. I couldn’t imagine someone stooping to that level, even if he didn’t much care for his son. It was just so . . . icky.

I knew I’d never get the truth from Raymond Lawyer himself. The guy would probably have me arrested for even thinking about walking into his building. I tried to imagine Heidi with Raymond and just about puked on my shoes.

I just didn’t see it. No matter how many ways I looked at it, I couldn’t imagine a young woman like Heidi doing such a thing, especially with her husband’s father. The guy was a total ass, much like his son.

But then again, revenge did make people do strange things.