AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Come on, I could use a beer.”
They walked the block down to the sports bar. The snow from a couple of days before had melted, but it was cold and crisp. Some of the shop fronts were decorated for Christmas now, and the buildings decorated with colored lights. All the trees on both sides of Mass Street were strung with white lights. Christmas. Theo shook her head. It would be Christmas soon and all she was thinking about was murder.
“Good grief, why did they bother?” Mac muttered as they passed a shop front displaying an undecorated tree, a couple of poorly wrapped bricks, and a handwritten sign taped to the glass that said “Happy Holidays.”
Theo laughed. “It has a certain minimalist charm.”
“Nonsense…it says, I hate Christmas and am only decorating under duress…possibly at gunpoint.”
After that, they critiqued each storefront and display they passed, giving points for effort and originality. Mac was harsh, pointing out decorations that carried greetings for the wrong year, or that had clearly been recycled from Easter, Halloween, or Thanksgiving displays. “I’m sorry, there is no such thing as the Yuletide Bunny, and while Dickens might have given us the ghosts of Christmas, I really can’t buy a festive zombie.”
Theo called him unfairly traditional and defended the less conventional displays on principle. By the time they reached Mayberger’s they were laughing, and Theo felt a little less devoid of Christmas spirit. And she was holding Mac’s hand, though she couldn’t remember quite when she’d taken it.
They went in to find a table or a couple of spare stools. A Jayhawks game was in progress so there was already a press of people in the bar. It was a more diverse crowd than the kind that patronized Benders. Graying ponytails and beards, and plaid flannel, the occasional pierced youngster, as well as frat boys and their elaborately dressed dates. The more devoted Jayhawk fans wore stripes. Mayberger’s was expansive, designed to accommodate even larger crowds. The bar was long polished wood with “Mayberger’s” inlaid in brass on the top. Jayhawks memorabilia, signed play photographs, and a collection of basketballs decorated the wall behind the bar, which also sported a formerly used basketball hoop from Allen Fieldhouse, complete with net. A number of large television screens were fixed to the upper wall and angled so that there was nowhere in the venue where one could not see a screen. They found a gap at the bar and ordered drinks, which the bartender delivered without taking his eyes off the closest screen.
The Jayhawks were winning and so every now and then the bar would erupt into cheers and chants, but otherwise it was relaxed. It reminded Theo of the country pubs back home…the ones that had not given in to the demand for a bistro and poker machines. Mayberger’s was a watering hole, frequented by regulars but not hostile to those who wandered in.
She and Mac drank their beers and talked and raised their glasses to the chants of “Rock chalk, Jayhawk, KU!” Theo had no idea what it meant, but it was fun. To Theo it felt like years since she’d had fun.
“Does your father come here to watch the games?” she asked.
“Only if he can’t get tickets to the actual game.” Mac brought his head close to hers so they could hear each other over the noise of the television and the bar.
“Today?” Theo glanced around the bar for the man she’d seen in the paddock.
Mac looked up at the television. “He’s at the Fieldhouse… We might see him if the camera pans to the crowd.”
Theo swallowed. They had to return to reality sometime. It might as well be now. “Do you think someone took the key from the bar at Benders?”
“It seems more likely than Laura or the owner doing it. I don’t know this Joe guy—he could be an idiot, I suppose. But he would have to be, to kill Mary Cowell and leave the body in the back of his own bar.”
Theo agreed. “It had to be one of the regulars…otherwise how would they know about the key?” She shuddered. “I know those people, Mac. To think that any of them could cut a girl’s throat—”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Mac cautioned. “The person who killed Mary may not be the person who took the key. One of the regulars may have lent the key to the murderer or to Mary herself. The murderer may have taken the key from Mary’s body.”
“Oh, God, poor Mary.” Theo paused as she thought of the ambitious young journalist. “We have to try and figure out who took that key. I could make a list of the regulars…”
Mac considered that. “You only know the daytime crowd, Theo. There’s probably a whole different shift that comes in after five, who you might never have laid eyes on.”
Theo’s face fell. He was right. Benders was open till midnight. She had no idea who came in or looked after the bar at night.
Mac touched her arm. “But it makes more sense that it would be someone who hung out at Benders when you and Dan, not to mention Mary, did. Make that list, and I’ll have Bernie do some background checks.”
Theo looked at him. “Thank you, Mac. I know you say you owe Gus, and maybe you do…so do I…but if you hadn’t—” Theo was only aware she’d decided to kiss him when her lips were on his. She decided to pull away long before he did.
CHAPTER 28
Theo gasped, mortified, unable to do anything but stare at Mac. He was clearly surprised, and for a moment they were both unsure what to do next. Then Mac kissed her. It was less impulsive and therefore less hurried, and when he pulled away, it seemed they were lost for words once again.
Mac spoke first. “So…”
Theo smiled. In fact, she grinned. Not particularly at him but because she couldn’t help it.
He laughed and kissed her again.
A three-pointer incited celebration and cheering while their gazes were still locked. It was when the cheers died suddenly that they looked away from each other. Some of the patrons were still glued to the game; others were looking at their phones. But something had changed.
Theo looked up at the television. The game hadn’t finished, but a banner was flashing across the bottom of the screen. Shooting on Mass Street in Lawrence, Kansas.
