Snuffed Out - Tim Myers [5]
Millie Nelson ran The Crocked Pot, River’s Edge’s answer to Starbucks, and she was also quickly becoming my best friend.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” Millie said cheerfully as I took a seat at her long counter. There was a display of pumpkin doughnuts on hand, something I’d first tasted recently but had quickly found addicting. As I started to reach for one, she said, “If you can wait two minutes, I’ll have a fresh batch ready.”
“I can wait. Coffee,” I grunted, and Millie laughed.
“Harrison Black, did you tie one on last night?” She was too cheerful to have heard about Aaron Gaston, and I dreaded having to break the news to her.
“You haven’t heard,” I said as I took a grateful sip of the coffee. It was hot enough to scald, but I barely noticed. The older I get, the harder it is for me to deal with sleep deprivation. And for me, anything short of eight hours is just not enough.
“Heard what?” she asked as two golden pumpkin doughnuts suddenly appear before me.
“Aaron Gaston. He died in his shop last night.”
Millie dropped the mug she was holding, and it shattered on the hardwood floor.
“Millie? Are you all right?”
She nodded. “Heather doesn’t know yet, does she?”
“She found out last night. The second I told her, she tore out of here like River’s Edge was on fire. She even left Esmeralda with me. What’s going on?”
Millie ignored my question and retrieved a dustpan and broom from the kitchen. As she swept up the shards of pottery, I asked again. “Why did Heather react like she did?”
“I’m not one to spread idle stories,” she said, chasing the last fragment with her broom.
“There’s nothing idle about this. A man died here last night.”
Millie blanched slightly, then asked, “How did it happen?”
“I’ll answer your question if you answer mine,” I said.
“You first,” Millie insisted.
I nodded. “It was an accident. It appears that a bucket of water spilled on a frayed power cord while he was working.”
Millie looked somehow relieved by the news. “Okay then. Heather and Aaron used to go out together.”
“How long ago was this?” I couldn’t imagine Heather and Aaron together. She’d treated him with frost the few times they’d bumped into each other when I’d been around them both.
“They broke it off just before you came to River’s Edge,” Millie said evenly. “Evidently it was Aaron’s idea. Something about his wife. His ex-wife, I guess I should say.”
“Heather must have taken it pretty hard,” I said.
“You could say that. Harrison, you should know that Aaron Gaston was a nice enough man most of the time, but he could be a real jerk when it came to his love life. The second his precious ex came back into his life, he dropped Heather in a heartbeat. Of course the reconciliation didn’t last, not with that woman’s history, but Aaron couldn’t even manage to be cordial to Heather after that. It was as if he somehow blamed her for his wife leaving him again.”
“Funny, the last time I talked to Aaron, he told me there was a new woman in his life. Then he chuckled and said that he wasn’t sure you could call her exactly new. I wonder if it’s possible he was talking about his ex-wife? Who knows, he could have even meant Heather.”
I took a bite of doughnut, then Millie said, “Are you eating those exclusively, or would you like to branch out a little?”
“What did you have in mind?” I asked. “I’m always open to new things, but you’re going to have to go quite a ways to top these.”
“The recipe’s not quite there yet, but I’m getting close. Maybe you can be my guinea pig tomorrow if I’m ready.”
“I’m your man,” I said, “But if you keep feeding me like this, I’m going to have start exercising more than just a walk every now and then.”
“You can join my health club,” Millie said, “Though I confess, all I seem to do lately is pay the monthly fee.”
“Thanks, but I think I’ll stick with walking for now.”
She said, “Then you might want to add an extra lap or two today. This treat