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She ushered me to a side table. “Please wait here. I’ll get him. Can I bring you a cup of tea?”
I wasn’t much on tea, but said, “Do you have lemonade?”
“Of course. Coming right up.” As she hustled back into what appeared to be the kitchen, I took a closer look around the room.
The walls were decorated in a floral wallpaper that was subtle and refined, and pictures hung all over the walls. I leaned closer, trying to make them out. They appeared to be of Moonshadow Bay, probably in the 1950s. There was also a built-in bookshelf with some of the classics on it, and floral decorative plates hanging on the walls.
“Ms. Jaxson?” A tall, stately man entered the dining room. I was the only customer here at this point, and I wondered how well the shop did.
“Yes,” I said, standing to offer my hand. “I’m January Jaxson. Thank you for meeting me, Mr. Barker.”
He shook hands and I felt nothing more than a friendly but reserved energy as his hand took mine. He let go and bade me to sit as he settled in across from me.
“Your call came as quite a shock,” he said.
“I imagine it did. I wasn’t at all sure how to begin.” I paused, then added, “First, I have to ask: Do you believe me about Janet’s spirit? Because if not, then I’m wasting my time and yours.”
He sat back in his chair, pressing his lips together. “I do believe you, yes. My family’s history is steeped in the lore of spirits and ghosts, and we never discount stories without checking them out. The fact that you have Janet’s wedding dress says a lot.” He motioned to the waitress. “Bring me a lemonade, if you would, and if you’d bring us some tea cakes.”
I started to tell him I wasn’t hungry but decided that would be rude. Besides, I always had room for cake. “Thank you. You have a lovely restaurant here—”
“Tea shop. It’s just a tea shop. But we do all right. We serve lunch—sandwiches and soup, fish and chips, hamburgers, but mostly we cater to tea parties.” He was a handsome devil, and had that feline energy that made him seem overly graceful. Most feline shifters, regardless of the cat type, were extremely charismatic.
“How long have you had the shop?” I asked, toying with my lemonade.
“I opened it about ten years ago, when I met my wife—well,currentwife.” He shrugged. “Her name is Violet, so I named it after her.”
I watched him out of the corner of my eye. Something felt odd about his statement. “Were you married before? I know your marriage to Janet didn’t…take place.”
“Sadly, no. It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly sixty years since I was standing at the altar, waiting for her.” He sighed again. “Yes, I got married about a year after I lost Janet. To a woman named Candy.”
I kept myself from reacting.Candy, the stripper?
In my earpiece, I heard Millie say, “Ask him when he married Violet.”
“You’re divorced? So am I,” I said, trying to establish some sort of rapport.
He laughed, but there was no mirth behind it. “I seem to be challenged in the romantic department. Candy died, about four years after we married. I left town for a while, and returned to Moonshadow Bay twenty years later.”
I froze. His second wife had died, as well? Well,firstwife, technically. Janet had been his fiancée. “I’m so sorry. Was she sick?”
He met my gaze and held it for a moment. “No, she died abruptly. She walked in front of a car.” For a moment, I thought he was going to say goodbye, but then he finally said, “I believe Candy killed herself. I can’t prove it, and the official determination was ‘accidental death,’ but I think she took her own life.”
The waitress brought the tea cakes then, and I ate one, amazed by how good it was. “This is excellent,” I said, pointing to the cakes. “Do you make them here?”
“During my twenty-year time away from here, I went to Paris, where I attended cooking school for two years at Le Cordon Bleu. I specialized in patisserie and received my diploma from there. Then I went to work at several major restaurants as a pastry chef. But I grew homesick and so, I finally decided to return to the United States, to Moonshadow Bay.”
“Did you meet Violet here?” I asked.
“Yes. Well, in Bellingham. I spent a couple years cooking for the Le Grand Hotel as their dessert chef, and Violet was working there as well. She and I both shared the dream of opening our own shop and—we decided to get married and go for it.”
I wanted to ask if Violet was still alive, but that would be pushing matters.
“So, you talked to Janet? Is she… I don’t know how to ask this, but…” There was a longing in his voice that made me want to cry.
“If you want to know whether she’s all right, then yes, she seems to be. Well, other than being stuck to her wedding dress. By the way, I originally thought I was buying a vintage wedding dress. I had no idea Janet was murdered in it.”
“That must have been a shock. Who gave her dress to the shop?”
