Red Velvet Revenge (17 page)

Mel glanced over at Oz. His back had gone ramrod straight, and he looked like he was about to say something.

She hurriedly elbowed him out of the way and plastered a pleasant smile on her face.

“Here you go,” she said, quickly boxing the six cupcakes and handing them out the window.

Then she spun around and arched her left eyebrow at Oz. “Do not get into it with the customers, or I’ll put you down.”

Oz bobbed his shaggy head, and Mel reached out to lift his bangs and make sure he understood her with some good old-fashioned eye contact.

“I mean it,” she said.

“All right, I won’t say anything,” he said. “But the bull is innocent. He’s just seriously misunderstood.”

“So long as I’m not,” Mel warned him.

Marty and Oz exchanged a look, and Mel got the feeling they were a little afraid of her. Normally, she was the easy one at the bakery, but maybe it wasn’t so bad to be the heavy in a time of crisis.

“So where is Tate?” Angie asked. Her voice was scathing, as if she expected him to be rolling in the hay with Lily Hazard. Mel rolled her eyes. If they all survived this rodeo without being stomped by a bull or strangling one another, it would be a miracle.

“Tate was talking to the Hazards,” Mel said. “I think he was trying to help them keep the rodeo open.”

She hopped out of the truck with Angie on her heels. They were passing the barbecue pit when she heard Billy laugh. Instinctively, Mel grabbed Angie’s elbow to keep her on course and prevent her from launching herself at the two hayseeds.

“We don’t have time for a smackdown right now,” Mel said.

“Fine. I’ll give up on the battle so long as we win the war.”

“The only way we’re going to win the war is if you make nice with Lily Hazard,” Mel said.

Angie stopped walking and glared at her.

“Oh, no,” Mel said. “I do not have time for this. I’ve had it with you and Tate and Roach and the whole stupid thing. Now, you are going to help me find a car and you’re going to help me make cake pops and put your personal life on hold. Period. Am I clear?”

Angie raised her eyebrows in surprise. “So, you’re channeling my mother now?”

“Did it work?” Mel asked.

“Yeah,” Angie said, and then nodded. “I’m good.”

Mel released a pent-up breath.

“Excellent. Then let’s go.”

They ran into Tate when they were halfway to the main gate. He was wearing his hat and boots and had developed a rolling strut just as if he actually spent time in a saddle.

Mel gave Angie a quick glance out of the corner of her eye, but Angie’s face was blank, giving no indication of her thoughts.

“Tate!” Mel shouted, then waved.

He glanced over and saw them and returned Mel’s greeting.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“We have a situation,” Mel said. “Something happened with the truck’s freezer, and all of our cupcakes are defrosted. I need to drive to the nearest big town to buy some supplies if I’m going to turn this fiasco around.”

“Talk and walk.” Tate gestured for them to follow as he started walking toward the stables.

Mel explained her plan, and Tate nodded. He looked pretty impressed with her idea, and Mel had to admit she was impressed with herself.

“Okay, we need a vehicle and a place for you to work because there is no way you’re going to have enough room in the cupcake truck,” he said. “Also, we’re going to have to start keeping watch at night. Once you get these cake popsicles…”

“Cake pops, as in lollipop,” Mel corrected him.

Tate nodded. “Cake pops, got it. Are you sure they’ll be as popular as cupcakes?”

“Am I ever wrong about desserts?” Mel asked.

“No.”

“Then trust me.”

“Once you get them made, we’re going to need to keep an eye on the truck and make sure we don’t have another incident.”

“Agreed,” Mel said. “We’ll have to take turns keeping watch. I don’t want anyone touching my cake pops.”

They entered the big barn and slammed into Jake Morgan. He looked surprised to see them there, and Mel imagined that they were quite a sight. Two women and one man all obviously very stressed. Mel forced her lips into a smile, trying not to look as freaked out as she felt.

“Hey, there,” Jake said. He shuffled back around a bale
of hay to give them some space. “Can I help you with something?”

“I hope so,” Tate said. He explained about the cupcake situation, and Jake nodded while he listened.

“I can loan you my truck,” he said. “It’s not pretty to look at, but it will get you where you need to go, and I’m pretty sure Tammy won’t mind if you use the kitchen at the ranch house.”

“Really?” Mel asked. She’d been afraid to hope for so much help, but now it looked as if she wasn’t going to lose the bet and be forced into the Daisy Dukes, after all.

“I don’t see why not,” Jake said. “We’re all on the rodeo grounds pretty much twenty-four/seven right now, so it’s not like you’d be in anyone’s way at the house.”

He fished a hand into his pants pocket and pulled out a simple key ring with three keys on it.

“Tate, can you go help at the cupcake van?” Mel asked. “If we get hit as hard as yesterday, Marty and Oz are going to need backup.”

“Sure,” he said. “Thanks, Jake.”

The two men nodded at each other, and Tate left. Angie watched him go, but her face remained impassive, for which Mel was grateful.

Jake led them outside to the back of the stable. He stopped at an old-style Ford pickup that had more paint missing than it had on it.

“I need a craft store, like a Jo-Ann’s or a Michael’s,” Mel said. “Any idea where the closest would be?”

“A what?” Jake asked.

“Craft store,” Angie repeated.

Jake looked perplexed. “I pretty much only shop at the Feed and Tack store myself.”

“Why, Jake, you’ve given up your sewing?” a snide voice asked. “Or is it that you’re only interested in hemming yourself into my daddy’s life—or would that be his fortune?”

Jake spun around, and Mel glanced over his shoulder to see Shelby coming around the back side of the truck. She was smoking a cigarette and didn’t have her usual health-girl sparkle. There were bags under her eyes, and her hair was scraped away from her face and held back with a wide white hair band.

“Shelby, you shouldn’t be smoking,” Jake said. “You know how Slim feels about that around the barns.”

Shelby made a disgusted face. “Could you be more of a kiss-ass?”

Mel glanced at Jake and saw his jaw clench and unclench, as if he were keeping his temper by sheer force of will.

“You know, I’ll just head into town and see if someone can give me some directions,” Mel said. She took the keys from Jake and slid into the driver’s seat as Angie made her way around to the passenger’s side.

“Good luck,” Jake said. He tipped his hat and stalked away as if he couldn’t put enough distance between himself and Shelby fast enough.

Mel turned the key in the ignition, and the engine purred. Whatever was under the hood was certainly in better condition than the outside, and Mel relaxed. She’d had visions of
them stranded in the outlying area waiting for the cupcake van to come and save them.

Before she could move the steering column shifter into reverse, Shelby stepped forward and rested her elbow on Mel’s open window.

“I like your cupcake boy,” she said, and she blew a smoke ring up into the air. “He’s cute.”

Mel felt Angie grow tense beside her. She glanced up to see the smoke ring drift away, breaking apart on the breeze.

“He’s underage,” Mel said.

Shelby gave her a sultry look that said louder than words that there was no man she couldn’t have if she decided she wanted him. Mel wanted to slap the conceit right out of her, but then something clicked in her head and she turned to face the sultry blond.

“I’m sorry, Shelby; maybe I’m mistaken, but I thought I’d heard that you were with Ty right before he died?” she asked. “Is that true?”

Nineteen

Shelby’s expression faltered with a flicker of unease before she regained her composure.

“Yeah, so? What’s your point?”

“Does Sheriff Dolan know you were with him?” Mel asked.

“Yes, I already explained it to him, and he’s fine with it,” Shelby said. “Ty and I are old friends, and we were just catching up. I didn’t kill him.”

“Hmm,” Mel said. “An animal-rights advocate and a rodeo star is an interesting combo. Seems to me an animal-rights person might be just the sort to murder a rodeo star.”

“Oh, please,” Shelby said. “I couldn’t care less about these dumb animals. It’s just the Hollywood thing to do, to help my career, you know?”

“I’d rethink, if I were you,” Angie said, leaning around
Mel to glare at Shelby. “Since it doesn’t seem to be doing much for your career, and it does seem to be affecting a friend of ours.”

“Are you threatening me?” Shelby asked. She crushed the tip of her cigarette between her fingers before flinging it away.

“Oh, that’s such an unpleasant word,” Angie said. “Let’s go with warning. Stay away from Oz.”

Shelby tipped her head back and laughed without humor. “Even if I did, how can you make him stay away from me?”

She turned and sauntered away from the pickup with her hips swinging in a come-hither way that was completely wasted on Mel and Angie.

“So, backing over her would be a bad thing, right?” Angie asked.

“Sadly, yes.”

Mel reversed the pickup out of its space and then put it in drive to head to the dirt road that would take them to town.

Not knowing anyone in town, she figured her best bet would be Ruth at the diner. They had the foodie thing in common, and Ruth seemed like the sort who would know where to hunt down unusual ingredients at a bargain.

They parked beside the Stardust, which looked to be in the midst of its morning lull.

The bells on the door jangled when they walked in. There was one customer at the counter and a family at a booth, but that was it. Ruth was refilling the ceramic mug for the man at the counter, but she smiled at Mel and Angie in recognition.

“Hey, there,” she said. “Don’t tell me you’ve come for
the strawberry rhubarb. I’ve been cleaned out, but I have a nice peach pie if you’re interested.”

“I’m always interested in pie,” Mel said. She took an empty seat at the counter.

“Make it two,” Angie said. “With coffee.”

“I didn’t see you when we came in for breakfast this morning,” Mel said.

“No, Hadley was up most of the night because of, well, you know,” Ruth said. She
tsk
ed and shook her head while she got two fresh cups and poured them each a coffee. “I didn’t get much sleep, either, and this morning, I slept right through my alarm. First time I’ve missed a morning shift in forever.”

“Is there any word on…you know?” Mel asked. “Do they know what happened yet?”

Ruth shook her head. “Nasty business.”

“But they know it wasn’t the bull,” Angie said.

“Yeah, but honestly, I don’t find the alternative that comforting,” Ruth said.

“Murder,” Mel said. “No, I don’t suppose that is a pleasant option.”

“Ty Stokes was a miserable, greedy, mean little man,” the man sitting down the counter said. “You ask me, he got what was coming to him.”

Angie lifted her eyebrows as she met Mel’s interested gaze.

“Hush, Whitley,” Ruth said. “The man is dead. There’s no need to talk badly about him.”

“Oh, I’m not saying anything that folks don’t already know.” The man called Whitley took a big gulp of his coffee and didn’t look at all repentant.

He was a large man who used the counter to prop up his middle while he balanced himself with an elbow on each side. He had a plate in front of him that looked to have been licked clean.

“I mean, do you really think it’s a coincidence that Slim was shot at the opening parade?” Whitley asked.

“They say it was just random gunfire,” Ruth said. She had turned her back on them and was taking a pie out of the display case.

“Huh,” Whitley grunted. “There was nothing random about Slim getting winged like a duck in flight.”

“You can’t prove that,” Ruth said. “Besides, who would want to harm Slim? He’s the life of Juniper Pass.”