CHAPTER SEVEN
Penny and I made it to the neighboring town of Rose Lake in record time. Saying nothing about Justin's murder, or Chris being in jail, Penny talked about the upcoming vacation she and Jack were planning for spring break. As a high school teacher, Penny liked to say spring break was the only thing that kept her alive between Christmas break and summer break.
It might have seemed bizarre in light of what was happening around us, but I was grateful for the hint of normalcy, even if it wasn't going to last forever.
Not much bigger than Star Junction, Rose Lake offered a change of scenery from the same old restaurants, not to mention the same people we ran into every day. Dos Gringos was our favorite place. Run by Jose and Maria Ramirez, a couple originally from Mexico City, it was a breath of authentic Mexican cuisine in the center of America's heartland.
The server stopped by with a large bowl of chips and two smaller bowls of salsa. She took our orders and walked back toward the kitchen.
Penny leaned across the table, her hazel eyes twinkling. "Now, I know we need to talk about Chris and the mess he's gotten himself into, but first we're going to talk about Detective Hottie and exactly what you're going to do to get a date with him."
I pulled a chip from the pile. "Detective Hottie?" I said, complete with an eyeroll.
"You don't think he's hot?" she asked in shock. She shook her head, her black hair swinging around her shoulders. Her signature hot-pink lipstick matched her equally hot-pink sweater tonight. "I saw him at the Piggly Wiggly this morning. He was in a suit. A well-fitted suit," she added, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. "Who wears a suit in Star Junction?"
"Plenty of people. The mayor wears a suit," I said.
"Fine," Penny said as she scoffed. "Who wears a suit and is young and handsome? And what do we think about that beard?"
She had me there. I definitely had a thing for that beard.
I shifted in my chair and scanned the room, pretending to search for our server. "Excuse me," I finally said when it became obvious no well-timed interruption was coming to change the subject, "but I was too focused on answering questions about finding a dead body to pay much attention to Finn's suit or his hotness."
It was a lie. I'd definitely noticed both, but the lie worked. Sort of.
Penny looked ready to apologize before her eyes narrowed. "Did you just call him Finn?"
I was at a loss as to how this was news, but from Penny's tone, I could tell she was building up to something. "I did."
"Not Detective Butler. But Finn. Getting pretty familiar with the hot new detective."
It was time to redirect the conversation. Again. "If I can figure out who would want Justin dead, the police would let Chris go and focus on arresting the real killer. Once he's in the clear, we can talk all you want about my nonexistent love life."
"If you can figure out who killed Justin? Are you crazy? You'll get yourself killed. You'll end up on Dateline. Maybe even a true-crime podcast. When you turn up dead, I'll try to avoid watching the media coverage because it'll be too painful to hear all about how you got yourself killed by meddling in this investigation, but the story will be everywhere. Unavoidable. Do you really want to do that to me?" she asked, verging on hysterics.
I stared at Penny. She'd lost her mind.
The server dropped off our food, and I rearranged some things on the table to make room for a small plate where I could assemble my fajitas. I unwrapped the foil holding the tortillas, flattened one out on my plate, and dropped a generous dollop of guacamole in the center.
Penny ignored her enchilada. "Last time I checked, florists aren't also forensic experts," she said.
I took a bite and let out a contented sigh. "I'm not a forensic expert, but I am a Star Junction expert," I pointed out.
Penny cut off a bite of her enchilada. "That might be true, but where would you even start?" she asked.
I took another bite, using the time it took me to chew and swallow to come up with an answer. I waved my hand through the air. "I'll just ask around. I already started making a list."
"You'll just ask around?" Penny said skeptically.
"I'll just talk to people who knew Justin," I said.
"So, everyone in town. You're going to talk to five thousand people?" Penny challenged.
I supported her harebrained schemes all the time. The one time I have one, and she's suddenly Miss Logical? "Just the ones who knew him well. I already heard he broke up with Samantha, when Donna came into the flower shop this morning. I followed up with Derek to see if he knew anything about it," I said.
"And…" Penny prompted.
"Hey, ladies, got out of town tonight, huh?" Mitch said as he sauntered toward our table, adjusting his beat-up Texaco baseball cap on his head.
So much for leaving town for some privacy, but this was the perfect opportunity to show Penny what I was capable of. I turned to Mitch and explained, "We needed a change of scenery from Bucky's. What are you doing in Rose Lake?"
"I have a job over here for the next several months," he said. "The guys and I stopped for dinner before heading back to town." Mitch had started a construction business a few years ago. From the looks of things, it had really taken off. He'd bought a nice house on the edge of town on Star Lake last summer.
Penny grabbed her napkin and wiped her mouth. "What are you working on? Please say building a spa," she said, her hazel eyes pleading for it to be true.
Mitch chuckled and said, "Unfortunately, no spa, although I heard Lucille's Clip and Curl back in town added some kind of acupuncture."
Penny scrunched up her nose in disgust. "I heard she took a weekend class through a brochure she found on her last cruise. No way am I letting that woman stick needles in my face," she said.
Mitch laughed and said, "I wouldn't either." He turned to me, his smile slipping. "I'm sorry about Chris. How's he holding up?"
I shot Penny a smug look. See? I didn't even need to bring it up. People were going to be falling all over themselves to talk to me about the murder. "I got to see him today," I said. "He's hanging in there."
Mitch leaned in a little closer and his bushy, caterpillar-inspired eyebrows pulled together. "I hope he gets a good lawyer. I had to tell that new detective about how angry Justin was when he was looking for Chris at Bucky's that night." He grimaced. "It doesn't look good."
"Chris is innocent," I snapped, feeling the betrayal of Mitch's comment deep in my gut. Chris was his friend. How dare he think Chris would murder Justin?
Mitch leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. "Then who do you think did it?" he asked.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," I said defiantly.
"You?" Mitch chuckled. "Good luck with that."
"Speaking of Justin's murder," I said, not willing to lose the opportunity to add to my motives list no matter how frustrated I was with Mitch, "do you have any theories?"
"Besides Justin finding Chris at the center Saturday night, their fight escalating, and Chris killing Justin in a of fit of rage?" Mitch asked.
"Yes, besides that," I gritted out through clenched teeth.
Mitch stared off into the distance, his dusty work boot tapping on the wooden floor. He lifted his cap, ran his hand through his dark hair, and resettled the faded thing back on his head. "I don't know. Justin was a likable guy."
"He was also a screw-up," Penny said emphatically.
I grimaced. It was true, but it felt wrong to speak ill of the dead. At least I hadn't been the one to say it.
"I don't know what to tell you," Mitch said. "I know you think Chris is innocent, but people do all sorts of things in the heat of the moment. If I hear anything different, I'll let you know. Have a nice dinner." He rejoined the group of guys sitting at a high top next to the bar.
Mitch's insistence that Chris was guilty grated on my nerves, but it was clear I wasn't going to convince him otherwise. I turned to Penny and said, "See? Finding out information about Justin won't be hard."
"But did you really learn anything useful?" she asked skeptically.
She had a point.
"I think you should let Detective Hottie handle it," Penny said, turning back to her enchilada.
"If I let Detective Hot—seriously, you've got to stop calling him that. If I let Finn handle it, Chris will end up in jail for the rest of his life. He's already decided he's guilty," I said glumly.
Penny took a sip of her Dr. Pepper and sighed dramatically. "Finn Butler. A name straight out of a soap opera."
"You need to focus," I said, although I couldn't help but laugh.
"I am focused. I'm focused on getting you a date." Penny stared off into space, her expression dreamy. "I bet it's Irish. You know what they say about Irish boys."
"That they're a little too attached to their mamas?" I deadpanned.
"No, that they like their women feisty." Penny narrowed her eyes at me as if eyeing a choice cut of meat. "I bet you're right up his alley."
Heat flooded my cheeks. We needed a change of subject. Now. "Let's figure out who else I can talk to about Justin so we can get Chris out of jail," I said.
"We're not going to get Chris out of jail." Penny gestured between the two of us. "I'm sure his parents will send him a lawyer, and that person will get him out of jail."
"I don't know," I said slowly. "You know what his dad is like."
Penny gave me a pained look. "Yeah, I do." She gazed down at her food for a moment before looking up and saying, "Finding out who really killed Justin can be plan B in case his parents don't send a lawyer." She pointed her fork at me. "A dangerous plan B." Her expression brightened as she said, "What about the pie social? Lots of people all in one place. I bet you could learn all sorts of things to add to whatever list you've got going."
The pie social. Without Chris there, who would serve as a buffer between me and my mother's well-meaning friends intent on setting me up with someone? "You have to agree to protect me though. I can't end up with Derek, who thinks if he asks me out one thousand times, I'll eventually say yes, winning my pie. Even when I talked to him this afternoon at the gym, he was a total creep."
"Jack will bid on it," Penny reassured me. "Believe me, he won't mind taking home two pies."
The server dropped off our check, and I scooped it up. "Ah, the pie social. Star Junction—" I started.
"Tradition," we finished together.
We dissolved into a fit of giggles. Star Junction tradition was code for anything you didn't want to do but you had to because the town expected it. I'd come to peace with it a long time ago, but it didn't mean I couldn't complain about it.
The month of January was the coldest, grayest, longest month of the winter. The Friends of the Library had started the pie social when Penny and I were in high school as a way to raise money for the summer reading program and provide a social remedy for the winter blues. It was actually a pretty fun night. There was always good-natured arguing during the pie auction, and the spread of food was amazing.
As I approached thirty years old, it became less fun as my mom's friends made it their mission to use the pie social to set me up with their sons, nephews, or any other man with a pulse. Every woman brought a pie to be auctioned off. Whoever won my pie would get the pleasure of sitting down and sharing a slice of it with me. It was old-fashioned, and some might even say sexist, but it was all in good fun.
Unless one of us happened to be dating someone, Chris had always bid on and won my pie. We'd sneak away and spend the rest of the night laughing about what other matchmaking was going on in the church hall. The smile slipped off my face and my heart sank at the thought of Chris not being there this year.
"Let me show you my list," I said as I dug through my purse to find my phone. I opened the note I'd started earlier that day.
Penny leaned over to see the list, shaking her head when she saw Samantha's name.
"What?" I said, maybe a little defensively.
"How're you going to talk to Samantha without making it seem like you think she killed Justin?" Penny asked.
"Who's to say she didn't?" I challenged.
Penny's hazel eyes widened, the shock clear on her face. "Listen, I'm all for helping Chris. Do I think he killed Justin? No way, but you need to be careful. You have to live with these people long after this mess with Justin is over. The fine residents of Star Junction are not known to be quick to forgive," she said.
Penny's words gave me pause. I hated to admit she was right, but I was wading into a minefield. If Chris didn't kill Justin, then someone else did. Probably someone I knew. Maybe even someone I trusted.