A Deadly Encounter (A Seagrove Cozy Mystery Book 3) (6 page)

Justin was already in the living room window when they got there, his face pinched and pale, and he looked as if he might be sick. Likewise, Justin’s mom looked worried, and she still wasn’t meeting anyone’s eyes. Chief Woodstone looked at the two of them and threw up his hands in exasperation.

“For heaven sake,” he said. “I told you both everything was okay. Neither of you is a murderer. Not Justin, and not Justin’s mom. So please stop looking like the world is coming to an end.”

Justin’s mom burst into tears. Justin got up off the couch and put his arms around her. “It’s okay, mom,” he said. “I understand now why you wouldn’t look me in the face. You thought I did it.”

“No,” she said, “that’s wrong. It’s not that I thought you did it, but I know how tough things have been for you at the college. I was hoping that you hadn’t had a psychotic break, and I didn’t want you to see me wondering if you had.”

“Mom, that doesn’t make one bit of sense,” Justin said.

“It makes as much sense as you thinking I’d done it,” she said. “How could you even imagine such a thing?”

“You got so upset when you heard Rumsfeld was after my job. And you always protect me like you’re a mother bear or something.”

“You thought I might have had a psychotic break,” she said.

“Something like that,” Justin said. “I didn’t want to believe it, but I was worried.”

Sadie and the chief saw themselves out.

“You think they’ll be okay?” Sadie asked.

“People are remarkably resilient,” the chief said. “They’ll be back to normal within a week or so.”

“I hope so,” Sadie said. “That kind of suspicion can be awfully destructive.”

“The suspicion is gone now,” he said. “They’ll be fine.”

He dropped Sadie and Mr. Bradshaw on the sidewalk outside her shop with a reminder that he would pick her up early because he was the best man.

Betty had the music turned up and was dancing around the shop with a web buster in her hand. “Take that, Mr. Spider,” she said as Sadie and Mr. B entered. Then she shimmied over to another shelf and attacked again. “Take that, and that!”

“I’m sure the spiders are shaking in their boots,” Sadie said, but Betty couldn’t hear her over the music. She walked over to the iPod speaker and turned it down. Betty jumped.

“Oh my gosh!” she said. “You scared me. I didn’t see you come in.”

“Driving the spiders out with pop music?” Sadie asked.

“Alternative rock,” Betty said. “And a web buster. Never underestimate the power of a good web buster.” She brandished the bristly tool in the air.

“Like I said, spiders must be shaking in their boots. Are you coming to visiting hours for Rumsfeld?” Sadie asked.

“No.” Betty shook her head vigorously. “I didn’t know him, so there’s no reason for me to really go. I can go and people watch, I suppose, but everyone would know that’s why I was there.”

“So no then?” Sadie asked.

“Yeah, no. I’m not going.” Betty stabbed her web buster into the space between the shelves and the ceiling.

Sadie turned the music back up and went into her office to think. Her suspect list had been reduced to Tony Benetti, and somehow she didn’t want it to be him. She liked him, but she also knew that going to war changed people. She remembered Mr. B sitting on his lap while he drank coffee. Could Mr. B be wrong about Tony? She hoped not. Maybe he was wrong about everybody. But how could that be?

Sadie was ready when Zack came to pick her up. She wore her favorite little red dress and black heels—which made her a good three inches taller than normal. Not that even three inches got her anywhere near Zack’s height. Well, she reminded herself, there were sometimes benefits to being short.

Sadie pasted a smile on her face and did her best to pretend she was enjoying herself, but truly, there was nothing more awkward than being at a wedding where you don’t know the bride and groom. She hadn’t been thinking when Zack told her he was the best man. Bells should have gone off in her head. No, not bells, alarms. Huge, noisy fire alarms. She thought the best man probably always sat at the head table, and it should have occurred to her that they wouldn’t be sitting together. She began feeling resentful of the people at the table that she didn’t know from Adam

She chided herself. She was a big girl, and it wouldn’t hurt her to be social with people she’d only just met. She should be honored that Zack wanted to bring her with him. She made an effort to relax and smile at the people around her. No point in ruining the wedding for everyone else.

The DJ announced the best man’s speech, and Zack smiled at Sadie as he headed out onto the dance floor. Under his arm he held an old-fashioned police radio in a leather case. It was the size of a two-pound block of cheese, and she wondered what he was going to do with it. You could bash an assailant over the head with that thing and do serious damage.

“Are you sure I’m supposed to make a toast?” Zack’ voice came over the speakers. “Because I’m pretty sure I heard Jon say roast.” Laughter fluttered through the room.

“Jon may be my older brother, but I’m amazed he made it to the alter before me. I’ve always been ahead of the game when it came to girls. In fact, when we were in high school, Jon was dating a young lady who shall remain nameless but who happens to be in this room.” Zack paused to take a drink, and I watched as heads swiveled as the guests speculated on who Zack was talking about.

“Anyway, Jon brought her home, and as soon as his back was turned she came up to me and said, ‘I only dated Jon so I could meet you, Zack.’ So—” Zack paused to let the laughter die down. “So, I need to ask Barbara one question.” He turned to face the bride. “Is there anything you need to tell me?”

Laughter erupted in the room. Barbara blushed and shook her head. Jon and Zack’s dad was wiping tears from his eyes, and the bride’s sisters were holding each other and howling.

“As most of you know,” Zack continued, “Jon and I come from a long line of cops.” The crowd of buzz cuts in the room cheered. The place must have been three quarters peace officers. “My dad and Gramps are both here. And before them were four generations of men who have sworn to uphold the law in one form or another. And it was clear from the very beginning that Jon would follow in my father’s footsteps.” Zack pulled the radio from the leather holster. “This is Jon’s very first police radio, created by him at age five.” The ‘radio’ was a block of wood with a leather strap stapled to the back. Knobs and dials were painted on the front. The crowd cheered and laughed, and Zack went back to his seat, cuffing his brother on the head as he went by. He paused to kiss the bride on the cheek, and they exchanged a few words.

A minute later he slid into the seat next to Sadie.

“The bride released me from my duties. She figured she’s in charge of Jon now and it was only fitting that I join my guest.” He slid his arm around her shoulder. “How did you like my speech?”

“It made everyone laugh. That’s good, right? And it had the added bonus of being short and to the point. So I’ll give you a nine on a scale of one to ten. Where did you get that old toy?” Sadie asked.

“My dad kept it. He was already a cop back then. When Jon stopped playing with it he took it to work and used it as a paper weight. It’s been there ever since,” Zack said, smiling.

“Nice. Your dad seems like a good father. Both his sons wanted to be like him when they grew up.” Sadie took a sip of wine. It was a lovely, fruity white, and she relaxed a little more.

“Yeah.” Zack’s eyes flicked to something behind Sadie. “Let me introduce you to the bride.”

She turned to find Barbara standing behind her.

“Thank you so much for coming to my wedding,” the smiling woman said. “I’m Barbara, and this is Zack’s brother, Jon. It was kind of you to come with Zack. If you hadn’t he’d be surrounded by half the women in the room. Because they agree with him, he should have been married by now!” She laughed.

“Happy to help,” Sadie said. “You seem very relaxed for a bride on her wedding day. I’m glad you’re enjoying your day.”

“She’s not the uptight type,” Jon said. “I wouldn’t have been able to marry her if she’d been a nervous nelly. Barbara never gets her panties in a twist. It’s one of the things I love about her.” He slid his arm around her waist and kissed her. She felt a pang of something akin to jealously that surprised her. Did she really want to be married? She hadn’t thought so. Perhaps it was just because she was at a wedding.

Barbara touched her on the shoulder. “Not everyone would come to a wedding if they knew they wouldn’t be able to sit next to their date. Thank you. Zack is very dear to me, not as dear as Jon, obviously, but I’m glad he’s not here alone.”

The bride and groom moved off. Sadie turned to Zack.

“Did she come to see me before anyone else?” she asked. “Wow. That was kind of her.”

“She wanted you to feel comfortable. She was watching you during dinner and commented on how well you were holding up talking to strangers. I wouldn’t let her sit you with a group of cops, so she picked her nicer cousins.” Zack brushed a stray red curl from her face.

“Why didn’t you want me to sit with cops?” she asked.

“Are you kidding? I’m not letting one of those leaches snatch you out from under my eye.”

“The nicer cousins were perfectly agreeable, but the cops might have been more fun. It wouldn’t hurt you to worry about me once in a while.” Sadie grinned at him.

“You have got to be kidding. I’m getting gray hair over you. Come dance with me.”

A bunch of dances later they were standing in the gazebo by the pond cooling off. Lights shimmered on the water and a cool breeze cooled the back of her neck. She stood shoulder to shoulder with Zack, leaning against the rail and watching a group from the wedding race paddle boats. They had reached the far end of the pond, but their laughter echoed back. A figure stood on one of the boats, silhouetted by the fairy lights hung in the bushes. The boat lurched, and there was a splash and raucous laughing from the group.

“Someone just ruined his fancy clothes,” she said. “He’ll be kicking himself in the morning.”

“I think that was Saunders. He’s got on his best wash and wear. He’ll be all right.” Suppressed laughter colored Zack’s voice.

“So do you think the girl he was with will be impressed or put off by a soaking wet date?”

“He’s married and Darla is used to it. Doubt if it fazes her. If it did she wouldn’t be out on the water with him. He’ll be back in the reception in an hour, dripping all over the floor.” Zack paused for a moment. “So what do you think of all this?” he asked me. “True love, marital bliss and sharing the toothpaste tube?”

Swallows swooped over the water in the fading light.

“I think I’m a little old for marriage,” Sadie said. “Set in my ways. But true love is always attractive.”

“You won’t ever get married?” he asked, and there was something that sounded like worry in his voice.

“Never say never,” Sadie said. “I supposed I might get married again if the person I love really wants to for some reason. But my first go round was a little off-putting.”

“You were married? Why don’t I remember that you were married?” he asked.

“Because it only lasted about five days,” she said. “Thank goodness we eloped. Can you imagine what my parents would have said if they’d paid for a wedding and then we were only married for five days? They would have killed me.” She laughed. “As it was, they didn’t even know about it until it was all over and I needed a lawyer to untangle me.”

“So, not a nice guy then,” Zack said.

“He was very handsome, charming as hell, but not a sincere bone in his body. I should have known better,” she said. “That’s what happens when you fall for a stranger from out of town. You don’t have the history to know what they are really like.”