Chapter 12 #2
“Okay, fine, you’ve caught me. I’m also wondering what my life would look like without meaningful work. Jim wants me to what, stay home and clean? Or worse, get hooked on soap operas? I need to work to keep my mind active.”
“I’m supposed to tell you to call him, by the way. Greg’s worried he’ll waste his money coming out to see if you’re okay.” I didn’t meet Beth’s gaze. “Don’t kill the messenger.”
“I’ll call him while you go in to see Greg. I can watch Emma for you.”
I shrugged as we passed by the almost empty motorcycle parking lot set up in front of Chip’s Bar.
There were several three-wheelers and an older couple climbed off their bikes and smiled at us as we walked by.
Chip and Lille’s insistence on an exemption to the town driving ban for motorcycles was at least being used, if not by the types they’d set it up for.
“I’m not your babysitter. I’m just passing on a message. ”
Beth changed the subject. “I don’t understand why there’s a separate parking lot for motorcycles. Especially one past the barriers blocking off the street.” She waved at the woman, who was now taking off her helmet.
“I’m not sure about the reasoning, but the mayor and council were already on the edge of being tarred and feathered by the business community.
This exception almost pushed them over the edge.
” Emma got stuck on a scent near an art gallery and I paused to let her explore.
Which put the slow group in front of us again.
Beth rolled her eyes as she took in the street, which had been filled with people.
“I guess having the street closed makes the foot traffic easier.” She stepped over to the jewelry shop window.
It was Matty Leaven’s shop, and according to her signs, she didn’t open until ten. The place looked closed down. She took the jewelry out of the windows at night, not wanting someone to be tempted to break in and see what they could grab.
“I guess if the baubles are out of sight, no one’s tempted?
” Beth walked back to where Emma was now waiting for us to continue our walk.
She stopped and picked up a patch from the lawn and held it up to me.
“One of the Demon Dogs has lost their tag. Will they kick them out for not being properly decorated?”
I giggled at the idea. “We can stop by Diamond Lille’s on the way back and drop it off with her. She can give it to Dom.”
“Men and their associations. Jim’s just as bad with the church group he goes to.
They have breakfast together once a week, I think mostly to grumble about their wives.
I bet these guys spend their weekends riding their motorcycles on the coastal road.
I’d do it all the time if I rode a bike.
And lived here,” she added, a wistful tone to her voice.
I looked over at her, but I didn’t have time to dig into that emotion. We’d arrived at the station and Greg was just coming out. He smiled in surprise as he turned away from heading to the parking lot to join us. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“We have a gift for you.” I pulled the journal out of my tote. I explained our early morning visit from Carrie and Chris and what she thought the journal meant. “She also has some personal items that she kept. We can talk about those later, but I asked her not to burn them.”
He looked up from the journal. “Personal items. Like pictures?”
“How did you know? Or was that a guess?” My face felt hot.
“Honey, let’s just say if it’s something the surviving member of the couple wants to burn, it’s usually letters or pictures.
I was heading into Bakerstown, but I’ll swing by Chris’s house first. Thanks for bringing this.
” He knelt and rubbed Emma’s head, bringing her into a hug.
“And were you guarding the humans as they walked the journal to me?”
“She was too busy sniffing all the smells to be a good guard dog.” Beth teased her and gave her a rub.
Greg noticed the patch in her hand. “Don’t tell me you’re buying a bike and joining our motorcycle club. Jim will kill me.”
“No, I found this in front of that jewelry store. I didn’t even get a good look at the pretty things. They’d put everything up for the night,” Beth admitted. She handed him the patch. “It would look good on my pink puffer though, don’t you think?”
“The jewelry store is being cautious now. Of course, it’s an example of closing the barn door after the cow got out.” When he saw our confused look, he added, “They had a break-in on Thanksgiving. A lot of their high-end stuff was targeted.”
I felt blindsided. “I hadn’t heard about that. Why weren’t you called out?”
“I was called out. Toby and I went for a few minutes, but then the Bakerstown guys showed up and handled it. I was off for the weekend, as was all of my staff. The mayor was upset at the extra cost, but the council approved it. When I got back to work, we had the murder to deal with. I thought I told you this. It’s one of the reasons I’ve basically been sleeping at the station.
” He rubbed his chin where a five-o’clock shadow was showing through.
“I’m running home for a shower and shave before heading out. I came in early to do paperwork.”
“Oh, Deek thought he heard it was a domestic disturbance.” I realized I hadn’t followed up when Greg came back so early. I’d been lost in the whole Thanksgiving holiday thing.
Beth’s phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and sighed. “It’s Jim. I needed to call him anyway. I’ll be over on that bench.”
As she walked away, Greg looked at the patch. Then he held it up on his police shirt. “We should get new city patches for our uniforms. What do you think?”
“I think you need more sleep. Are you sure you want to drive to Bakerstown alone?” I rubbed his arm and Emma leaned against his leg. She missed him when he was on a case. And I worried.
“I’ll be fine after a shower. Did you guys leave me any breakfast?” He tucked the patch into his pocket.
“Beth baked.” I hugged him. “I’ll wait for her to be off the phone. Do you want to take Emma with you? She’s been missing you.”
“I can do that, but I’ve got to go now. Thanks for bringing this up and for the patch. I can’t believe the Bakerstown guys missed seeing this. Of course, it could have been lost after the break-in, but it gives me a reason to chat with Dom again.” He took Emma’s leash.
“Great, another reason for Lille to hate me.” I hadn’t thought about it being a clue to a crime when Beth found the patch.
I watched Greg and Emma jog down the street toward home.
Even without a full eight hours of sleep, Greg had more energy than I did.
Especially in the morning. I sank onto a bench, waiting for Beth to finish her call.
From the tone of her voice, I didn’t think it was going well. But I tried not to focus on the words.
A lady came up and stood in front of me. “You run the bookstore, don’t you?”
I stood up and smiled. “Yes, I’m Jill King.”
“I came over last night but your store was already closed. Now the sign says you’re closed on Mondays too? When are you open?” The woman glared at me. “I only brought one book with me thinking that you’d be open. Especially with the holidays coming up.”
“I’ll be open at six tomorrow.” I tried not to remind the woman that the store wasn’t open twenty-four seven. That we had lives too.
“In the morning?” Her eyes widened. “Does anyone come in that early?”
“Yes, a lot of people stop in for coffee on their way to work. The store will be open until nine at night, but we have book club tomorrow at seven. You may want to come.” I tried not to laugh as I told her about the book we were reading and she shook her head.
“I’m not much for people. I just like books. I’ll be over sometime tomorrow. But not at six.” She walked away, still grumbling about my early open hours.
Beth walked up next to me and watched the woman leave. “Someone you know?”
“Nope. A customer dissatisfied with the hours the store is open. I guess she’s staying at one of the bed-and-breakfasts in town.” I tried to push the nagging feeling that I should be open on Mondays out of my head. I couldn’t be all things to all people. Even as much as I tried.
“Jill, the store hours are fine. You have a good mix of people working for you. Don’t stress about it.” Beth turned off her phone. “Jim wasn’t happy when I told him I was working at the bookstore. He said if I had time for that, I should just come home to my real job.”
“I’m thinking he was talking about the one at the church?” I nodded toward the other end of Main Street. “Have you seen the whole town yet? I’d love to check out all the holiday decorations.”
“I need the walk to burn off some of this annoyance. Why can’t he just love me as I am?”
I thought about her comment, and as we came up on the winery, I finally responded, “I think he loves who he thinks you are. Jim did the same thing to me. I was a home-wrecker in his eyes and he couldn’t get past that, even though Greg and Sherry were divorced before we started dating.
He needs to understand that people grow and develop.
Maybe he’s scared that you’ll outgrow him.
Which is pretty insightful on his part since I think you already have. But don’t tell him that. Love is love.”
Beth giggled. “You are so bad. But I think you’re right. When I call him tonight, I’ll just tell him what I’m doing. And I’m scheduling a counseling appointment. He can be there, or we’re done. I’m willing to see him as the head of our family, but he needs to see me as a helpmate, not an employee.”
“You’ll still talk to Sadie on Wednesday, right?” I didn’t want to be the only voice in Beth’s head. Sadie would be able to understand Jim’s side much better than I could. I would have dumped him the first time he told me I couldn’t do or be something.
Beth nodded. “Don’t worry about it. I’m getting good counsel from all sides. I’ll make an informed decision.”
That was what I was worried about. But it wasn’t my place to say. We headed home to get the car so we could start our day.