Heather Webber - Digging Up Trouble

Yuck!

I glanced up at the menu. It was divided into three sec-tions. Soups, salads, entrées. The soups made me shudder.

Stuff like Asparagus Delight, which was an oxymoron if I ever heard one, Lentil Stew, Split Pea, Mushroom Barley, Forest Mushroom. I shuddered.

I’m sorry, but anything grown in a forest should stay in a forest. My gaze moved onto the salad menu. If I were a salad person, it wouldn’t be too bad. There was Dandelion Green Salad, Mandarin Spinach Salad, Portabella Mushroom Salad, and Vegetarian Antipasto. Unfortunately, I was a cookie dough kind of person.

The entrées ranged from burgers—Tofu Mushroom, Super Soy, Black Bean, and Turkey—to wraps such as the Five Mushroom, Hummus Leek, and Turkey Spinach. There were other dishes such as the Tofu Taco, Mushroom Pot Pie, Tuna Mushroom Melt, and Mushroom Ragout.

This explained why I never ate here.

The cost was amazingly affordable, most items under five dollars. I could see why the place was so popular to healthy eaters.

There was a lot of money to be made here.

And a lot to be stolen . . .

Behind Riley there was a pass-through to the kitchen, where I could only see hands working quickly and lettuce flying. No sign of Bill.

Down a long hall in front of me, just beyond the restrooms, a door was marked employees only. I assumed Bill’s office was back there . . .

136

Heather Webber

I looked up as someone came out of the swinging door at the end of the hall, pushing a mop bucket. As she came closer I realized I recognized her.

“Noreen?”

Dark circles hovered under her Sally Jesse glasses. Her eyes narrowed while she apparently searched to put my name to my face, then widened in recognition.

“I didn’t know you worked here,” I said, inanely. How would I know?

A small gold tag on her black shirt read noreen, manager. “Nepotism at its best,” she said with no inflection at all.

Ahh. I remembered what Bill had said when I’d first met Noreen. What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at wo —

Work.

That’s how Bill had known Noreen.

She looked me up and down. “Not eating?”

“Picking up my son.” Technically he wasn’t mine, but I couldn’t quite get my heart to accept that. “Riley.”

“Oh, Bill’s nephew.” There was a look on her face I couldn’t quite place.

I smiled. “Nepotism at its best.”

I thought I saw the corner of her mouth lift into a small smile, but it could have been my imagination.

“Good kid,” she said.

“Thanks. How’s Greta holding up?” Maybe this was my way into seeing her. Noreen seemed to be the reasonable sort. And if she could get me in with Greta, I silently promised not to call her Mrs. Potato Head anymore. I’d even make it a commandment and everything.

“Still refuses to see anyone.” Blunt cut bangs swung as she shook her head. “Shouldn’t be alone at a time like this. It ain’t right.”

Digging Up Trouble

137

“Grief does funny things to people.”

“She should be celebrating.” She twirled the mop in the bucket. She must have seen my startled look. “No, I’m not sad he’s gone. None of us here are. Especially Bill.”

I perked up. “Oh?”

“He and Russ have differing management styles. There was constant staff turnover on the days Russ managed.

Everyone loves working for Bill.”

“Including you?”

She shrugged. “Better than Russ. Made me manager.

Can’t argue with that. After a year of working for Russ, I was still on the registers.”

It seemed to me that pushing a mop around wasn’t a step up from the registers.

“What made Russ want to start a restaurant? He was a little old for a middle-age crisis, wasn’t he?”

Water sloshed out of the bucket. The scent of sautéed onions wafted through the pass-through, making my stomach growl despite itself.

Growl.

Ah. I finally understood the name. Sometimes I’m a little slow on the uptake.

Noreen pursed her lips. “Russ’s always been a health nut.

When that McDonald’s documentary came out he’d finally had enough. He wanted to open a restaurant here in Freedom where people could have healthy options.”

“Did Greta have a say?”

“Greta rarely had a say.”

I thought about how sad that was, then said, “Why go in with Bill?”

She shot me a look that said she didn’t know why she was talking to me, or telling me so much. I didn’t quite understand it myself, but gift horses and all.

I swore under my breath.

138

Heather Webber

“Something wrong?”

“My mother.”

“Something’s wrong with your mother?”

“No, no,” I reassured. “Only that I’m the only one who got the defective cliché gene.”

One dark bushy eyebrow arched over a squinty eye. I had the uneasy feeling she was trying to determine whether I was crazy.

If she figured it out, I wished she’d let me know.

The bucket got another glance from behind the Sally Jesse glasses, then she looked up at me again and picked up where we’d left off. “Bill had the know-how.”

Apparently I rated over mopping. Good to know.

“Right. He’d managed previous places.”

Noreen nodded, sloshed more water over the side of the bucket. At this rate the place would be flooded soon. “They both put in some money, Russ more than Bill. He was a miser, that Russ. Saved every penny.”

“Well, it seems to have paid off. This place is doing well.”

“Thanks to Bill. Without him, the place would have folded by now. Don’t think Russ didn’t know it. Originally he’d had plans to cut Bill loose after a year, but realized he couldn’t run the place without him. Bill threatened to walk unless he was allowed to become a full co-owner. It’s been tense around here ever since. With Russ wanting the place to himself and Bill thinking he deserves it all.”

That wasn’t quite the flowery version Lindsey had told me. Again I thought of my suspicions about Bill skimming from the business and pressed my luck. “Do you know why Russ brought Growl’s accounting books home? Was he suspicious?”

“Suspicious of what?” Noreen asked. “The business is fine.”

Digging Up Trouble

139

“That’s right, it is,” a male voice said.

It was Bill, and clearly he’d been eavesdropping. “The floor isn’t going to mop itself, Noreen.”

She looked like she wanted to give Bill a piece of her mind, but thought better of it. The wheels on the bucket squeaked as she pushed it toward the rear of the dining area.

She didn’t look back.

“Just picking up Riley,” I said by way of explanation.

“He’ll be out in a minute. Why are you so curious about the accounting books, Nina?”

“Curious? Me?” I laughed, desperately looked around for Riley.

“You’ve heard about curiosity and the cat, right?”

“Have you been hanging out with my mother?”

Flustered, he crossed his arms, unfolded them again.

“What? Your mother? No, why?”

“Hey.” Riley dropped a duffel bag at my feet. He’d changed from his black uniform to shorts and a tee. “I’m ready.”

“Riley! Good to see you,” I said, throwing an arm around him.

He shrugged out of the semihug, looked at me like I was crazy.

Scary. I was actually becoming accustomed to seeing that look from people.

“Gotta go.” I fairly pushed Riley toward the door.

“What’s with you?” he asked.

You’ve heard about curiosity and the cat, right?

Sounded suspiciously like a threat to me. What exactly could those accounting books reveal?

And how far would Bill go to conceal it?