A Burned Out Baker: Classic Diner Mystery #7 (The Classic Diner Mysteries) (3 page)

BOOK: A Burned Out Baker: Classic Diner Mystery #7 (The Classic Diner Mysteries)
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“Happy to do it,” Moose said as he winked at me. “Besides, I haven’t slept more than six hours in one night for thirty years. This gives me something to do.”

“Well, we’re happy to have you,” I said. “Right, Ellen?”

She smiled. “With you two here working the front, I might as well go on home.” We both shouted NO at the same time, and Ellen laughed. “Okay, okay. I’ll stay.”

As the three of us worked on taking our customers’ orders, I was lost in the work until Greg came out of the kitchen wearing his jacket and carrying two large aluminum pans covered in foil. “Victoria, are you ready to make this delivery?”

“Give me one second to wrap things up here,” I said. “Are you coming with me?”

“I thought I might,” he said.

Moose stepped in at that moment. “Greg, do you mind if I do it? There are some things that Victoria and I need to discuss on the way.”

Bless his heart, my husband looked disappointed for just a second before he smiled broadly. As he put the food down on an empty table, he said, “That’s fine with me, Moose. If you go with Victoria, that means that I can go back home and go to bed.”

“For at least a few hours, anyway,” I said as I glanced at the clock. It was just past seven, and my husband wasn’t due back to work his regular shift until eleven.

“Hey, I’ll take whatever I can get,” he said as he kissed my cheek and left.

“We’re not going to have enough coffee,” I said as I looked at the nearly empty pots up front.

“Don’t forget the extra coffee for the firefighters,” Mom said as she pushed a large urn on a rolling table up front. “I cranked up the old equipment in back to cover what you’ll need.”

“That’s great,” I said.

“Are you going with her?” my mother asked her father-in-law.

“I thought I might,” he replied.

“Look out for her, Moose,” she said simply.

“I always do.”

“And you look out for him,” Mom said to me.

“It’s a dirty job, but I suppose somebody has to do it.”

Moose grinned at me instead of taking offense. “You bet your socks it is. Come on, granddaughter, let’s get this all delivered before it gets cold.”

I turned to Ellen as I grabbed my coat. “Are you going to be all right here on your own?”

“I’ll be fine. I’d tell you to give Wayne a kiss for me, but he might like the attention too much.”

“How about if I do it?” Moose asked with a laugh.

“I know for a fact that he wouldn’t like that,” Ellen said, returning his laugh with one of her own.

“Then we’ll both be better off if I skip it,” Moose said as he grabbed the urn. Sometimes I forgot just how strong my grandfather really was; I knew that I couldn’t have lifted it. That urn gave me trouble when it was empty, and now it was filled to the brim with coffee. I grabbed the food instead, and Ellen held the door open for us as we left. Once we had everything situated in the back of Moose’s truck, he drove to the burned-out bakery in the beginning light of dawn.

Chapter 3

“Is it possible that Barry could have burned down the bakery himself?” Moose asked me as he drove.

“Why would he do that? Last night, he told us that he was expanding the business and that he even had a backer to finance his plans.”

“Victoria, think about it for one second. It would be the perfect insurance dodge, wouldn’t it?” Moose asked me. “What better way to allay any suspicion that he torched the place himself than to come to the diner last night and pick a fight with me. He had no evidence that I tore down a single flyer of his, and yet he marched in there and shouted my guilt to anyone who would listen. It was a pretty spectacular way to get noticed in a crowded diner, don’t you think?”

I started to dismiss the idea out of hand, but then I began to consider it in earnest. I had wondered about Barry’s display of anger and why it had been directed at us. Moose’s explanation made sense if I looked at it from his point of view.

“Well, what do you think?” Moose asked me as we neared the cordoned-off area.

“To be honest with you, I’m a little troubled by the fact that you’re making so much sense,” I said.

Moose frowned at my statement. “What’s that supposed to mean, granddaughter?”

“Maybe we’re both getting just a little too paranoid for our own good. Is it possible that we’ve been investigating murder for so long that we’re actually looking for evidence of trouble without having any basis in fact for our suspicions?”

“I suppose it’s possible,” my grandfather said a little grudgingly, “but you’re right more times than you’re wrong when you take away the benefit of the doubt with most folks.”

“Cynical much, Moose?” I asked.

“I’m just being realistic,” my grandfather said. “Tell you what. I’m going to run my theory past the sheriff.”

“We both know that he’s going to think that we’re just trying to downplay Barry’s slip at the diner last night.”

Moose pulled off to the side of the road when he got as far as he could before the barriers and shut off the engine. Before he got out, he turned to me and said, “Victoria, we both know that fall last night was staged. Neither one of us pushed the man down.”

“I realize that, Moose. I’m just saying that’s how it’s going to look to some folks who weren’t there.”

“Well, I’m not too worried about that. Barry isn’t going to get away with the fire or the extortion attempt. I’ll see him dead first.”

“Moose, you shouldn’t keep saying that. Somebody might actually believe you.”

He laughed, but there was a hollow ring to it. “Nobody who knows me would take that kind of talk seriously. I’m just frustrated by the whole mess, and I’m blowing off a little steam. There’s no harm in it.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” I said as I got out of the truck.

“What do you mean?” Moose asked as he grabbed the urn of coffee and the extra paper cups.

As I got the food, I said, “I know that you don’t mean it, but it’s something entirely different if someone else overhears you say something like that. You need to tone down your words a little.”

He put the urn back down on the tailgate and looked hard at me. “Victoria, I’m not about to change my ways at my age. I’ve gotten through my entire life speaking what’s on my mind, and I’m not going to stop doing it now. If other people have a problem with it, then that’s just too bad, isn’t it?”

“It might be,” I said. “Do what you want, Moose. I’m just saying, it might make sense to calm down a little until we find out if Barry’s really going to sue us or not.”

“I guess I can see what you’re saying,” he said grudgingly as he picked up the urn again. “Maybe I’ll do as you suggest.”

What? Had I actually won an argument with my grandfather? If I had, it was a red-letter day. Moose might not always be right, but he was rarely unsure of himself. Maybe he was a little more worried about this mess than I’d realized.

“How much food did Greg make?” I asked as I struggled with the aluminum serving trays. “There’s enough here to feed an army.”

“Those volunteers have been working hard putting out a big fire,” Moose said. “They’re going to be hungry.”

“You don’t have a problem with me squandering our profits on this, do you?”

My grandfather shook his head. “Victoria, I’ve never been one to turn away a good cause. As far as I’m concerned, this is a part of what The Charming Moose is all about. Sure, I’ve always liked to see a profit as much as the next guy, but if we can’t do something good for someone just because we can, then I don’t want to be any part of it. Do you know what I mean?”

“I do, and I agree with you one thousand percent,” I said.

Chief Yates spotted us, and he walked over in our direction. “Wow, you didn’t have to do all this,” he said as he relieved me of my burden.

“Happy to do it, Luke,” Moose said. “How’s it going?”

“It’s mostly out now. We’re hitting any hot spots we find, but truth be told, it’s over.” He looked down at the trays he was carrying. “This is all going to be greatly appreciated. Thank you both.”

“You’re most welcome,” I said as I spotted a man walking alone among the ruins of the bakery. What had once been a fine old wooden building was now reduced to black charred rubble. The man standing directly in the center of the soggy mess wore a hard hat and sported a clipboard, and I noticed him bending down checking something out. “Who’s that?”

“Fire inspector from the county,” the chief said. “We were told to stand by, so that’s what we’re doing. Let’s get our people fed.” We all walked over to the men and women from the volunteer departments, and it didn’t take them long to scoop up the coffee and biscuits.

Wayne, his face smudged a little from the fire, said, “If you see Ellen, tell her I’m okay. She worries about me.” He added the last bit with a sheepish grin.

“I will. She wanted to come herself, but I needed her back at the diner,” I explained.

“Understood,” he said as one of his fellow volunteers called him over.

I overheard Moose starting to talk to the fire chief, and I listened to what they were saying.

“I can’t say, Moose,” the chief said. “I’m no expert. That’s why we have him out there,” he added as he gestured to the man inspecting what was left of the building.

“I’m not asking you to go on the record or anything,” Moose said. “I just want to know what you think.”

“And you won’t tell anyone what I tell you?” the chief asked.

“Luke, you have my word,” Moose said solemnly. That alone was good enough for anybody who knew my grandfather. His word was his bond, and he’d sooner rip off his own right arm than he would break a promise.

“It was intentional,” the fire chief said softly. “There’s no way this wasn’t set by someone hoping to burn this place to the ground. That’s my unofficial opinion, but I’d be stunned if the official one doesn’t match it, and that’s the truth. I’ve been doing this too long not to be able to spot such an amateur arson.”

“Thanks,” Moose said. “I appreciate that.”

“Just remember, you didn’t hear it from me,” the chief replied.

Moose pretended to look puzzled. “Hear what?”

“Exactly,” the chief said as he took a sip of his coffee. “Here we go. Now we hear the official version,” he added as the inspector walked over to him in a hurry.

“Chief, I need you over here.”

“What’s up? Did you find the accelerant?” he asked.

“Something more than that,” the man said. “Call the sheriff, would you?”

“So, it’s arson after all,” Chief Yates said smugly.

“More than that, I’m afraid. I just found a body.”

The inspector looked shaken by the discovery, and the chief dropped his paper cup of coffee as he said, “You’re kidding.”

“Not about something like that. It looks as though we might have a homicide on our hands, as well as arson.”

“I’ll call Sheriff Croft right now,” the fire chief said as he took out his cell phone.

“Is there any way to tell if it was Barry Jackson?” Moose asked the inspector.

The man looked surprised to find Moose and me standing there. “There’s no way any identification will be made without dental records.” He looked sick as he said it, and I had to wonder if this was his first body.

Chief Yates hung up. “He was at a hit-and-run on Mulberry, but he’s on his way now.”

“Good. Until he gets here, we need to secure the crime scene.” The inspector was getting a little color back in his face, and it appeared that he was beginning to come to terms about what he’d found.

“Will do,” Chief Yates said, and then he walked over to his crew.

The inspector turned to us and said, “I’m afraid you’ll both have to back up a hundred yards. This is now an active crime scene.”

“So, you don’t think it could have been an accident?” Moose asked him.

“I’m afraid that’s restricted information,” the man said.

Moose and I faded into the background, and my grandfather tugged at my arm. “Let’s go back to the diner, Victoria.”

“Don’t you want to hang around and see what the sheriff finds out?”

“No, as a matter of fact, I don’t want either one of us here when he shows up.”

“Why on earth not?” I asked.

“Do you really want him putting us and the crime scene together in his mind?”

“No, not really,” I said as we walked back to Moose’s truck. “He’s still going to know that we were here, though.”

“How’s that?”

“The coffee and biscuits didn’t come from the bakery, and we’re the only other place in town that serves them,” I said.

“Then let him come to us, but why make it any easier on him?”

“You’re right,” I said as we got into the truck and headed back to The Charming Moose. “This isn’t good for us if that really was Barry Jackson in there.”

“I don’t see it being in our favor no matter who it was,” Moose said, “but you’re right. If it is Barry, we need to find out who did it. Otherwise, we both might be going to jail.”

“I’m all for avoiding that,” I said. “But how do we go about doing that?”

“We do what we always do,” Moose said. “We start digging and see what we turn up.”

BOOK: A Burned Out Baker: Classic Diner Mystery #7 (The Classic Diner Mysteries)
8.36Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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