Kelly, Sofie - Sleight of Paw

“Every time I let you two in my car, things end up going south,” she said. “Every single time.”

I realized she was thinking about the time Maggie sort of hijacked Roma and her SUV because we were trying to follow someone.

At the end of the table, beyond Officer Craig and his girlfriend, was a family I had seen in the library a few times, lots of Dr. Seuss and Max and Ruby books. Dad and the four-year-old were doing patty-cake, the girl’s blond curls bouncing.

“Patty-cake, patty-cake,” the little one chanted, her high, clear voice carrying down the table. But instead of saying, “bake me a man,” she said, “make me a man.”

Maggie looked at Roma and said, “I did.” Then she put her head on the table and collapsed in laughter. Roma whacked her with a paper napkin and went back to eating.

I decided this would be a great time to go in search of coffee, even though I knew it would make me restless this late in the day. “I’ll be right back,” I said.

The coffee and tea table was over by the kitchen. I wound my way around tables, smiling and saying hello to everyone I knew. Rebecca and Mary, both in the same long white aprons that all the servers seemed to be wearing, were deep in conversation at the tea table.

I picked up a mug, added sugar and reached for the stainless-steel coffee carafe.

Mary noticed me then. “I’ll get that for you,” she said, taking the cup from my hand. “Would you like regular, decaf or chocolate hazelnut?”

I wasn’t much of a fan of flavored coffee, but maybe just this once.

“Chocolate hazelnut,” I said. “Please.”

Rebecca lightly touched my arm. “Kathleen, is Justin Anders the young man Ruby’s been seeing?”

“Yes, he is,” I said, taking my cup back from Mary. “Why?”

“You haven’t heard?” Mary asked. “Turns out it wasn’t a rumor after all.”

“What?” I asked, wondering what new piece of town news they had.

Mary shrugged. “Agatha left Ruby’s boyfriend half a million dollars.”

11

Iglanced from Rebecca, who looked apologetic, to Mary, who could be described only as smug. I set the coffee on the edge of the table. I was afraid I was going to drop it.

“Agatha left money to Ruby’s boyfriend?”

“Yes.” Mary grabbed the carafe to pour a cup of coffee for one of the servers.

I was dumbfounded. Then I thought about the rumor going around that Roma was seeing an NHL hockey player ten years her junior. “You certain?” I asked. “I didn’t realize he even knew her.”

Mary handed the cup over to the young server. “Yes, I am.”

Rebecca brushed the front of her apron. “The information came from Bridget,” she said.

I had forgotten that Mary’s daughter, Bridget, was the publisher of the Mayville Heights Chronicle. “But half a million dollars? Where would Agatha get half a million dollars?” I remembered the tiny, spare house.

“Agatha was very frugal,” Mary said, smiling at another server on her way to the kitchen.

“What about her son? Why would she leave money to someone she didn’t know instead of him?”

Mary shrugged. “All I know is some lawyer from Red Wing did a new will for Agatha. She signed it the day before she died.”

I shook my head slowly. “That doesn’t make any sense. Peter Lundgren was Agatha’s lawyer.”

“Apparently not anymore.” Mary swept a few crumbs off the table.

It couldn’t be true. But it was going to hurt Ruby. “This is getting messy,” I said to Rebecca.

She patted my arm. “I know.”

I picked up my coffee and wound my way back to the table. Maggie glanced over at me as she scraped the last few baked beans from her plate. Something in my face made her take a second look. “What is it?” she asked.

Roma turned to look at me, as well. I pointed toward the tea table.

“According to Rebecca and Mary, Agatha left half a million dollars to Justin.”

“Of course she did,” Roma said. “And I’m dating Eddie Sweeney.” She shot a quick look at Maggie, who blushed just a little. “First of all, Agatha didn’t have half a million dollars. She had a teacher’s pension and from her day that wasn’t a lot of money. And second, if she did have a little money she wouldn’t leave it to someone she hardly knew.”

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Maggie agreed.

“The story came from Bridget.”

Roma waved her hand like she was chasing away a bug. “Well, Bridget got it wrong or Mary did. Agatha didn’t have that much money. She didn’t have any money.” She pushed her plate away. “It’s just a rumor and it’s wrong.”

“It has to be,” Maggie said. “You saw her. Did Agatha look like someone who had a lot of money?”

Actually she had looked like someone who didn’t spend a lot of money. She wasn’t buying clothes or things for her house. Maybe she’d amassed a small fortune and no one knew about it. Luckily I didn’t have to answer because the Kings were back to collect our plates and deliver slices of apple pie.

I picked up my fork. The pie was better than promised. There was a hint of tartness to the apples, and I could taste the cinnamon and nutmeg. I actually made little groaning sounds as I took a second bite.

Maggie grinned at me over her plate. “I told you it was good,” she said.

I licked apple off the back of my fork. “Good?” I said. “I think I know how Owen feels about catnip.” I’d had Mary’s pie before, but this was warm, with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on top. It was a party in my mouth.

We ate without talking, the pie was that good. I thought about swiping my finger over the plate to catch the last flakes of pastry, but those kind of manners belonged at the home, where only Owen and Hercules could see me. I pushed back my chair so I could stretch my legs.

“I ate too much,” Maggie said, patting her midsection.

“Me, too.” Roma pulled at the front of her sweater.

“Want to walk over to the Winterfest site and take a look at things?” Maggie asked.

“I can’t,” Roma said, getting to her feet. “I’m on the cleanup crew.”

“Kath?” Maggie looked at me.

“Sure,” I said. I was kind of curious to see the sliding hill, the dogsled track and the outdoor rink.

Maggie looked over her shoulder at the back wall. There were dozens of people checking out Eddie and the various photo collages. “Roma just wants to ditch us so she can spend some time with Eddie,” she stagewhispered.

Roma rolled her eyes and headed for the kitchen.

We put on our coats, tugged on hats and mittens and headed for the door. There were still people arriving. “You weren’t kidding when you said the whole town comes to this thing,” I said.

“It’s a social event of the season,” Maggie said as we made our way down the stairs. “Heck, it’s the social event of the year , not to mention Mary makes the best freaking pie in the universe.” She stopped on the last step to wind her scarf around her neck. “There should be a community supper as part of the library centennial,” she said.

“You know, that’s a good idea,” I said. “I’ll mention it to Everett and Rebecca.”

We pushed our way out into the cold night air and I was glad to be outside. It had been getting warm and stuffy in the community center. The parking lot was full of cars and trucks and they were also parked down both sides of the street.

We started toward the marina, where all the outdoor Winterfest activities were taking place.

“Are you really going to give Eddie to Roma when Winterfest is over?” I asked.

Maggie laughed. “I don’t know. It would be kind of funny to stick him in the waiting room at the clinic for a few days and see what kind of rumors that starts.”