Софи Райан - The Whole Cat Аnd Caboodle

“I’m not going to lecture you,” I said, keeping my voice and face as neutral as possible and holding up my hands like I was about to surrender. “I just want to ask you a question without everybody listening.”

“What’s the question?”

I took a step closer to him. “What the heck are you thinking?” I said. “Do you really think telling your mother, Rose and Liz to stay out of Maddie’s case is going to work?”

He made a face. “You think they should just start poking around in a murder investigation?”

I fought my first impulse, which was to roll my eyes at him. I took a deep breath and then a second one when the first one didn’t get rid of much of my aggravation. “Of course I don’t. But they aren’t going to sit around and do nothing. They’re three of the most loyal people I know. You’re lucky my grandmother isn’t here. There’d be four of them to deal with.”

He had the same stubborn look I’d seen dozens of times on his mother’s face.

“Nick, let me see what I can do.”

He took another sip from his coffee. “You think you can talk them out of this ridiculous idea?” He sounded skeptical.

“Maybe. Or at least convince them there’s really nothing they can do.”

He looked past me for a moment and I stayed silent while he weighed my words. “Okay,” he said, finally. “But they’re your responsibility, Sarah. My mother, Liz, and Rose.”

I nodded. “That’s fine.” Surely I could find a way to talk them out of the idea of playing detective.

“So, was this a long enough walk for you?” Nick asked teasingly.

We started back toward the building across the bit of lawn in the front. “You should come running with me sometime,” I said.

“Running? You mean like jogging around the block?”

I laughed. “No. I mean putting in some miles and getting sweaty and stronger.”

“I don’t know,” Nick said, grinning and shaking his head. “I think I’m busy.”

“I haven’t named a time,” I said.

“I know,” he said. “I’m still busy.”

I mock frowned at him. “I have a feeling that if I were suggesting lunch, suddenly you wouldn’t be so busy.”

Still smiling, he held up a hand. “I’m not going to answer that, on the grounds that it will probably get me in trouble.”

There were two customers in the store. Mac and Liz had both disappeared. I was guessing they were in the storage room and upstairs, respectively. Rose was at the cash register and Charlotte was arranging a set of wineglasses and an ice bucket on the table that she and Rose and Liz had been sitting at earlier.

She walked over to us. “How was your walk?” she asked.

“It was . . . helpful,” Nick said, glancing sideways at me. “But I need to get to work.”

“No lecture?” Charlotte asked, raising an eyebrow.

He smiled. “No lecture.” Then he leaned forward and kissed his mother on the cheek. “I’ll talk to you soon.” He turned to me. “Thank you for the walk, Sarah,” he said. Then he handed me his empty coffee cup and was gone.

Charlotte leaned sideways so she was in my direct line of sight. “What did you say to Nicolas?” she asked.

I linked my arm through hers and we started for the storage room. “I just reminded him that you’re a smart woman and you and Rose and Liz aren’t going to do anything stupid.” I leaned my cheek against her shoulder and smiled oh, so sweetly at her.

Charlotte smiled back at me. “I knew you’d understand, sweetie,” she said. “And we aren’t going to do anything stupid. I give you my word on that.”

I felt myself relax. Problem solved.

“We’re just going to find out who killed Arthur Fenety,” she said.

Or not.

Chapter 11

I didn’t argue with Charlotte. I’d seen how well that had worked for Nick. I bit my tongue—literally—and left her unpacking the rest of the wineglasses. I cut through the storeroom and walked out to the back to see how Mac was doing with the table. Maybe once Charlotte and the others talked a little more to Maddie, they’d realize that they needed to leave it to the police and Josh to figure out who’d killed Arthur Fenety.

I was wrong about that, too.

Josh dropped off Maddie at about eleven thirty. I’d ordered sandwiches for lunch from Lily’s Bakery . There wasn’t enough space for a table and chairs in the tiny cubbyhole we used as a staff room, so Mac and I set up a folding teak table that we’d gotten from our last Saturday morning yard sale run in the storage room. It had been painted an ill-advised shade of highlighter yellow. I carried over the chairs I’d mentioned to Mac earlier.

“You know, I think you’re right,” he said, standing back and studying them, his arms folded over his chest. “I think they would work with my table.”

“Are you going to join us for lunch?” I asked.

“Thank you, but I think I’ll man the cash register,” Mac said.

I grinned. “Are you sure?”

He smoothed a hand back over his close-cropped dark hair and smiled. “Very.”

“Oh, Sarah, you didn’t have to go to so much trouble,” Maddie said when she walked in with Charlotte.

“All I did was put out mismatched plates and paper napkins,” I said, inclining my head in the direction of the table, which, because of the color, looked like it was glowing a little. “And don’t worry; I didn’t cook.”

“We should teach you how to cook,” Charlotte said, taking off the apron she wore in the store and draping it over the back of one of the chairs.

I reached for the teapot to pour her a cup of tea. “It’s a lost cause. Just ask Gram. I set off her smoke detector so many times I ruined it.”

“You’re not serious,” Maddie said.

“Yes, I am,” I said. “Would you like a cup of tea?” I gestured at the teapot. It was sitting on top of an old sewing-machine table that I’d repurposed as a small buffet table.

She nodded.

“Rose, we need to teach Sarah how to cook,” Charlotte said, as her friend bustled into the room. Rose was wearing her own store apron and carrying a large plate of sandwiches. Liz was behind her with a second one.

“That’s a lovely idea,” Rose said. She smiled as she moved past me and set the large blue bubble-glass plate on the table. “When do you want to start, dear?”

“Rose, I’m a terrible cook,” I said, as I handed Maddie her cup of tea. “I made a cake once and it was so awful I buried it in Gram’s backyard.”

Rose laughed. “No, you didn’t,” she said, coming around the table and picking up a cup for herself.

“Sadly, I did.” I reached for the teapot. “Mom tried to teach me and Gram tried to teach me and I just can’t cook. I’m hopeless.”

“Nonsense,” she said, turning around to hand the cup of tea I’d just poured to Liz. “You just haven’t had the right teacher.”

I reached for another cup, poured and handed it to her. “Julia Child couldn’t make me into a cook,” I said. “The only thing I know how to make is scrambled eggs.”

She pushed her glasses up her nose. “Julia Child couldn’t make anyone into a cook. She’s dead. You’ll do just fine.” She moved around the table and took the chair at the far end. Liz was on her right and Charlotte on her left, next to Maddie.

Rose reached up and touched my arm as I went by her. “You’ll be hosting dinner parties before you know it.”

“As long as they’re not for the fire department,” I said, grinning at her and taking the chair next to Liz.

“As soon as we figure out who killed Arthur we’ll start your lessons,” Rose said, adding milk to her cup.

I opened my mouth to explain to her that tracking down a murderer wasn’t quite the same as teaching me how to make meat loaf, but Maddie spoke before I could.