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Kelley was already seated at a table toward the front and motioned for me to join her. She stood when I arrived and motioned between me and her mother, a dour-looking woman who was so thin, her cheeks appeared sunken in. “Gracie, this is my mom. Mom, Gracie.”
Kelley’s mother remained seated but extended her hand for a limp shake. I couldn’t tell whether I disliked her or whether I simply had a bad reaction to believing she didn’t like me. Whatever the case, I immediately became very uncomfortable. The only saving grace was that the noisy revelry of the other diners was enough to drown out the sounds my singing stomach.
Nobody said anything until the waitress arrived to take my drink order. Kelley and her mom had already settled in with a couple Arnold Palmers, so I ordered the same.
When it became clear that Kelley still didn’t know what to say and her mother had no desire to start a conversation herself, I folded my hands in front of me and did the deed myself. “So what do you think of Elderberry Heights, Mrs.…?” Shoot, I didn’t even know Kelley’s last name.
“Carmine,” my friend supplied with a tight grin.
“And it’s Miss, thank you very much. I never married after a certain boyfriend turned me off of love and marriage forever.” She sniffed and grabbed the small mesh container that housed packets of multi-colored sugars and artificial sweeteners.
“Mom,” Kelley whined, kicking her heels back against her chair with a thump that resonated through the table. “You promised you wouldn’t talk about Dad anymore.
“Well, it’s not my fault, your friend brought him up. Also don’t call him ‘Dad.’ that man was never a father to you.”
“I didn’t… I mean, I’m sorry if—”
“No, no. Don’t apologize,” Kelley said gently to me, then turned her head to glare at her mother. “Stop trash-talking him. I get that what happened between you wasn’t great, but the man is dead. Just let it go.”
Ms. Carmine snorted and dumped two packets of Splenda into her cold drink, taking care to stir them vigorously with her straw.
Seeing as things were already tense, I decided to prod a little. “What did happen between you?”
Kelley’s eyes widened and her lips puckered, but she made no move to argue. The look on her face said it all, though. I’d betrayed her in the worst possible way.
I hated that I’d hurt my new friend, but I could apologize for that later. She’d thank me once I helped to bring her father’s murderer to justice—even if that murderer ended up being her own mother.
“What happened between us?” Ms. Carmine repeated, her voice pitchy and agitated. “What happened between us?”
Kelley placed a hand on her mother’s shoulder and mouthed something I couldn’t decode. “Same old girl loves boy, boy cheats on girl, and they lived unhappily ever after story,” she told me, then raised an arm and shouted, “Waitress! I think we’re ready to order.”
“He didn’t just cheat on me,” Ms. Carmine bit out. “He did it with my roommate who also happened to be my very best friend. I had nowhere else to go, so I left town. I vowed if he ever turned up at my door again, I’d kill him with my bare hands.”
“Mom!” Kelley cried, jumping to her feet. “Enough!”
Ms. Carmine silently sipped at her tea. To her credit, she was in a much better mood for the remainder of our meal after she’d gotten whatever that was off her chest.
And the whole time we ate and made small talk, I kept on wondering: Had Kelley’s mom just confessed to Harold’s murder?
And if so, what should I do next?
19
When I returned home from my lunch outing, I found my cat waiting for me by the front door.
“Where were you?” he demanded with an angry flick of his tail.
“Something came up, and I had to help a friend,” I explained as I crossed the room and flopped down on the couch.
“You smell like barbecue sauce,” Merlin accused. His nose twitched unhappily.
“That help involved taking her out to lunch. But that’s not what’s important here.” I leaned forward and steepled my fingers. “I think I know who killed Harold.”
Merlin jumped up onto the sofa beside me and allowed me to run my fingers through his thick double coat. “So you’ve got it all figured out, do you? Enlighten me, then.”
“It was Ms. Carmine. She’s the mother of one of the other baristas, Kelley. And Harold was Kelley’s father. There was no love lost between them, let me tell you. Add in the fact that Harold was poisoned with gas line antifreeze and that Officer Dash is convinced someone from out of state did the deed, and the fact she all but confessed over lunch, and there you have it.”
“Interesting,” Merlin said from his place beside me. “One hundred percent wrong, but interesting, nonetheless.”
