Lorna Barrett - Chapter & Hearse

“I order plenty of other things.”

“Such as?”

“The spinach salad. The tuna plate. . . .”

“Why don’t you order dessert? In fact, why don’t you order two of them?”

“Life is short—eat dessert first, because you never know what might happen?” she asked, trying not to smile.

Baker grinned. “Something like that.”

Tricia glanced up at the window. Still no Russ. She turned her gaze back to the menu. Too bad she wasn’t a fan of sweets. Then again, she didn’t want Baker to think he could read her mind.

Janice, the weekend night waitress, came over to the table, her order pad at the ready. “What can I get you folks?”

Baker nodded in Tricia’s direction. She gave him a chagrined smile, and looked up at the waitress. “I think I’d like—”

But before she could finish the sentence, a blur at the edge of her peripheral vision shouted, “Is this what we pay our taxes for? Public servants dithering in diners while a killer is on the loose?”

Tricia looked up, and there, not five feet from their table, stood Russ Smith, his face twisted into an ugly snarl. She hadn’t noticed him enter. The diner had gone deadly quiet, with all eyes on their table. Janice backed up a few steps, looking uneasy.

Tricia’s gaze darted to Baker’s face. For a moment he seemed oblivious of the interruption, his expression a study in tranquillity. Then he turned to Russ and said in a low voice, “Excuse me?”

“You’re in charge of the Jim Roth murder investigation. Why aren’t you out there looking for his killer—keeping the citizens of Stoneham safe?”

“I’m off duty. My men are following every lead. Now, if you’ll excuse me. . . .”

“No, I won’t. What the hell are you doing here with my girl?”

“Russ!” Tricia admonished with a scowl.

Baker didn’t bother to look up. “I’m attempting to order my dinner. You’re making that extremely difficult. I suggest you leave before you embarrass yourself any more.”

“Russ, please!” Tricia implored, but before she could say more, Russ launched himself at Baker, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, yanking him up and out of the booth. Baker’s eyes blazed and his arms came up, smashing at Russ’s, and the two of them went tumbling to the floor.

Tricia struggled to get out of the booth. “Stop it! Stop it!”

“I’m calling 9-1-1,” Janice hollered, and ran up the aisle.

“I am 9-1-1!” Baker yelled, or tried to, as he dodged Russ’s ineffective blows. Giving up, he hauled off and slugged Russ, sending him sprawling backward. “Pal, you made a big mistake coming here tonight.” Baker got to his feet and then bent down to grab a groggy Russ by his shirt, pulling him onto his feet. Russ’s legs were rubbery, and he had a hard time standing.

“You picked the wrong person to hassle, pal. You’re going down for assault and battery,” Baker said.

“Grant, please don’t press charges. It was just Russ being”—she sighed, frustrated—“Russ.”

“Yes, I will press charges. Look, Tricia, I’ve seen this happen far too often. No charges leveled, and the next thing you know, you’re a statistic of domestic violence.”

Tricia met Baker’s level green gaze. She knew he was right. How many true crime books had she read chronicling the same pattern of abuse, stalking, and murder? But this was Russ Smith they were talking about.

“Besides,” Baker continued, “it’s me who’ll be pressing charges, not you. That way he’s more likely to take his spite out on me instead of you.”

A Sheriff’s Department cruiser pulled up outside the diner—again beating the twenty-minute response time—and a uniformed deputy got out, putting on his flat-brimmed hat. Tricia recognized the man: Deputy Placer. He came into the diner and eyed the three of them still standing there, with the rest of the patrons staring. “What have we got here, Captain?”

“Mr. Smith attacked me. I’ve got a diner full of witnesses.” Several people nodded in agreement. “He’ll be taking a trip down to the county lockup. Assault and battery. I’m sure you can take care of him until I can get there to finish the paperwork.”

“Not a problem,” Placer said, while Tricia ground her teeth. Placer had already taken out his handcuffs. Seconds later, he had locked them around Russ’s wrists, grabbed the now-submissive man by the arm, and hauled him out of the diner. Everyone watched as he loaded Russ into the cruiser’s backseat, climbed into the driver’s seat, and drove off.

Tricia and Baker resumed their seats. It took a few moments for the low murmur of voices to fill the diner once again. Tricia was afraid to look up and see the number of faces she’d recognize. This wasn’t how she’d expected the evening to turn out.

Baker picked up his menu once again, turning back to the picture of crispy chicken and whipped potatoes.

Tricia was the first to speak. “I don’t understand why Russ is acting like this. He dumped me ,” she hissed. “And it’s not as if you and I even have a relationship.”

Baker didn’t take his eyes off the menu. “I think of friendship as a relationship. And who knows what the future will bring?”

Tricia felt a flush creeping up her neck to burn her cheeks. Did Baker expect her to put her life on hold while she waited for him to make up his mind to leave his ex-wife behind and make a new life? And wasn’t that more or less what Jim Roth had expected of Frannie?

It wasn’t a question Tricia was willing to ask, at least not in front of a diner full of people.

Janice came back to the table. “Do you want to try ordering now?” If she was trying to be funny, she’d missed the mark.

“I think I’ve lost my appetite,” Tricia said.

“I’ll have the fried chicken, the salad with poppy seed dressing, and a Geary’s.” Baker closed his menu. “My friend here will have a glass of chardonnay and a hot fudge sundae, heavy on the fudge.”

“Grant,” Tricia protested.

“Better keep one waiting in the wings, too. Just in case,” he said, handed Janice his menu, and winked.

“Got it,” Janice said with a smile, collected Tricia’s menu, and turned away.

“I don’t even like hot fudge sundaes,” Tricia said.

“Of course you do. That is, you would if you’d let yourself like them. I’m sure there are lots of other good things in life you’d enjoy if you’d only let yourself.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Have you ever noticed all the nice things you do for people? How many of them do nice things in return?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re collecting money for the dead guy’s mother. You pay your employees almost double what the other shopkeepers pay theirs—”

“How do you know—?”

“You’ve been playing nursemaid to a man you can’t stand.”

“You know perfectly well I’m only doing it because Bob is my sister’s boyfriend.”

“Tricia,” he said softly, and reached across the table to take her hands in his. “You’ve been especially kind to me, letting me put this stuff with Mandy behind me. I don’t think I’ve met another woman who would’ve done that.”

“I’m not pining for you, if that’s what you think.”

He shook his head. “Not at all. If you met someone you cared about, I wouldn’t stand in your way. Not like Mr. Smith. For now I’ll take friendship. It’s all I can expect, and more than I deserve.”

Tricia was afraid to look up at him, to get caught up in those mesmerizing green eyes. And this subject was getting far too uncomfortable to talk about. “What am I going to do about Russ? The last few days he’s gotten more and more possessive.”