Reservations for Murder - Tim Myers [53]
Alex found Shantara behind the counter selling Jake Trush a pound of sixteen-penny nails.
“I should have bought an inn instead of a farm,” Jake said, smiling when he saw Alex. “It must be nice goofing off in the middle of the day.”
Alex knew the man was just trying to be neighborly, but he wasn’t in the mood for light banter. Still, he had to hold up his end of the exchange, or the word would go out that Alex was in a “bad way,” no doubt attributed to Elise’s absence.
He said as lightly as he could manage, “Yeah, it probably is nice not to be working, but I wouldn’t know a thing about it. If I find somebody who is goofing off, I’ll be sure to give him a pat on the back.”
Jake smiled. “Give him a rap for me, too, will you? See you later, Shantara. You know what they say: Every new project takes three trips to the store before it’s done.”
“You’ve got one more coming then, Jake.”
After he was gone, Shantara said, “What brings you over here in the middle of the day, Alex? Not that I’m not glad for your company.”
“I thought you might like to know. Marilynn Baxter just died.”
“I found out an hour ago. Alex, from what I’ve heard, she never really had a chance.”
“Is there anything you don’t know, Shantara?”
“It’s part and parcel to running a general store. Everybody and his brother shows up sooner or later, and it’s a rare customer who doesn’t have a bit of gossip to share over this counter.” Shantara lowered her voice as she added, “I just wish I knew who killed Jefferson Lee. Alex, I won’t feel safe until they arrest someone.”
“Have you heard anything at all about that?”
Shantara shook her head. “Nobody’s talking. Dave Jeffries came by when he got off work, but all I could get out of him was that they were still following leads. I got the impression the sheriff was about to arrest Bill Yadkin, though.”
“I know. Rachel’s worried sick about it.” Alex was about to tell Shantara his suspicions about the other suspects on his list when a young woman came in with three overactive kids.
“Sorry, Alex, I can’t really talk right now.”
“I’ll see you later.” As Alex left the store, he headed for Buck’s Grill on foot.
Even if he didn’t make any progress in his investigation, at least he’d get something to eat.
Chapter 20
“Alex, are you following me?”
He was approaching the counter at Buck’s Grill when he heard Sandra’s voice coming from one of the nearby booths.
“No, I just dropped in for a quick bite.”
Alex was just about to slide onto a stool when she said, “I just got here myself. Why don’t you join me?” Sandra lowered her voice as she added, “You can pay for your own meal, I promise.”
Alex wasn’t all that fond of eating by himself either, though he’d grown more or less used to it over the years before Elise came onto the scene. He slid into the booth and noticed Sally Anne’s eyebrows shoot up when she saw him hesitate at the counter before joining his ex-girlfriend.
She stopped at the table, sliding a glass of iced tea in front of Alex. “The usual?”
“Sounds good to me.”
After Sally Anne left to deliver the order to her father, Sandra said, “So, you still have your standing order here. Some things never change, Alex.”
“And some things do,” he replied.
“Hi, Alex,” Jenny Harris said brightly as she stopped by their table on her way out the door. “If I’d known you were coming here later, we could have had lunch together.”
Sandra said, “Sorry, Jenny, but he’s already got a lunch date.”
Jenny smiled as she said, “I sincerely doubt that.”
“Easy, ladies, I’m not on a date with anyone. Jenny, Sandra and I just ran into each other, it’s that simple. You’re more than welcome to join us if you’d like.”
“No thanks, I’m on my way out,” Jenny said as she twisted her purse strap in her hands. She smiled as she added, “Besides, it would probably look like a meeting of the Alex Winston Ex-girlfriends