Town in a Lobster Stew

Twenty-Eight

Juanita Perez set a steaming cup of hot coffee and a thick slice of fresh-baked apple pie down in front of Candy. “This one’s on the house,” she said quietly, leaning in toward her. “Just let me know if you need anything else.”

She winked, patted Candy on the shoulder, and turned away, practically floating on air as she set off to tend to her other customers.

“Hey, where’d that come from? How’d you rate that?” Doc asked hungrily, nudging her in the side. He was sitting beside her in the corner booth at Duffy’s Main Street Diner. Wilma Mae and Maggie had squeezed into the booth on the opposite side, next to Artie and Bumpy. Finn was off in a corner by the counter, talking quietly to someone on his cell phone.

Mystified, Candy shook her head, staring down at the cup of coffee and the slice of pie on the table before her. “I really don’t know, Dad. I haven’t ordered anything yet.”

“It’s simple,” Bumpy told her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You were a judge at the cook-off. She’s letting you know she’s grateful she won.”

“Well, yes, but I wasn’t the only one who made the final decision. And I certainly didn’t expect a free cup of coffee.”

Artie grinned at her. “Hey, enjoy it. It’s probably not your last one. Who knows — maybe there is such a thing as a free lunch.”

He elbowed Bumpy, who gave Candy a wink as Finn walked over to their table, slapping shut his cell phone. “They’re keeping it low-key until today’s events are over,” he informed everyone at the table in a quiet voice meant just for them, “but they’re moving quickly on it. The crime van’s already at the scene.”

“Where did it happen?” Doc asked.

“Upriver. It’s that picnic area about a mile or two from town, with the boat dock.”

“Oh yeah, I know the place,” Artie said. “There’s good fishing from that dock.”

“Yeah, been there a few times myself.” Finn scratched his head. “Caught a pretty-good-sized striped bass there last year. Anyway, some fisherman almost tripped over her body this morning just after dawn. Apparently he thought it was a dead animal at first. Got quite a shock when he realized what it was. According to early reports, she’d been dead several hours.”

“So it happened sometime overnight,” Doc said thoughtfully.

Candy scrunched up her face. “What was she doing out there in the middle of the night?”

Finn shrugged. “That’s what they’re trying to figure out.”

“Meeting someone,” Bumpy surmised.

“Makes sense,” Artie added. “A midnight rendezvous. They argued. Things got out of control. It happens, you know.”

“I know,” Candy said, remembering a similar incident up at Mount Desert Island the previous year.

“A crime of passion, huh?” Finn considered that. “Could be.”

“Except,” Candy said, “she just doesn’t seem like the outdoorsy, midnight-rendezvous type. I had her pegged for a more cerebral, museum-loving, wine-and-cheese, sitting-in-front-of-the-fireplace-reading-a-good-book type.”

“Sometimes love knows no bounds.” Wilma Mae spoke up in a high, clear voice, surprising all of them. “If she found someone she fell for, she would follow him wherever he went, to the highest mountain or the lowest valley, or even to a riverbank. I’ve found love in the strangest of places.”

Everyone sitting around the table fell silent for a moment. It was, Candy thought as she glanced at the faces around her, a somewhat awkward silence. Obviously the conversation had taken a turn the boys were unaccustomed to, and they didn’t know how to respond.

Candy decided it was up to her to get the conversation moving again. And she knew just how to do it. For better or worse, it was time to reveal a few cards in her hand.

She cleared her throat. “Well, I suppose it’s possible she was there for some romantic rendezvous. Or,” she said, trying not to sound too ominous, “maybe she was just involved in something she shouldn’t have been involved in.”

Now that caught everyone’s attention, she thought, slightly amused, as all heads turned in her direction. Maggie’s head had tilted quizzically, while Finn’s expression was stern and Doc’s was concerned. But Bumpy was grinning. “Ooh. Now what’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re not hiding something from us, are you?” Finn added suspiciously. “Remember, we’ve had two murders in this town in the past few days. If you’ve got something to say, you’d better tell us.”

“And you’ve got to go to the police,” Artie added, looking nervous.

“I know all that,” Candy said, “and yes, I am going to go to the police.”

“Today,” Doc said, emphasizing the word.

Candy turned to him. “Yes, Dad, today. I promise.”

“They’ve got a lot going on right now,” Finn said, “but I’ve got a number you can call.”

Candy thought about it a moment, then nodded, and Finn and the boys dug in their pockets to find a piece of paper he could write on. Artie turned up a business card he didn’t need, so Finn scratched a number on the back of that. He handed the card to Candy.

“So,” he said, “before you give them a call, anything you’d care to share with us?” Almost as an afterthought, he added, “Does this have anything to do with that Cinnamon Girl character — the person you met up with yesterday at the opera house?”

“It does.”

“Who’s Cinnamon Girl?” Doc asked.

Finn ignored him, his eyes holding steady on Candy. “Did she give you a few clues?”

“She did.”

His gaze sharpened. “Come to think of it, you never did tell me who Cinnamon Girl was.”

“No, I didn’t,” she agreed, and found herself strangely hesitant to share her information with him. Why is that? she wondered curiously. Could it be that I really do enjoy detective work, and I want to solve this mystery all by myself?

She had to admit, there was some truth to that. Then she reminded herself that two people were dead, and this was no time for games. Lives were at stake.

“It’s Wanda Boyle,” she finally said out loud, before she could change her mind.

That revelation drew gasps from around the table, but Wilma Mae’s was the loudest. “You met with that horrid woman?”

Candy looked around at the elderly woman. “Yes, I did — twice in fact. But yesterday’s meeting was the most recent.” And, briefly, she told everyone at the table about her meeting with Wanda at the opera house the previous day, although she left out certain parts, including a few small details concerning Charlotte Depew. She’d decided to save those tidbits for the police.

“I didn’t know who she was at first,” she added, referring to Cinnamon Girl. “She sent me an anonymous e-mail. I could have been meeting up with just about anyone.”

“You went alone?” Doc asked, concerned.

“No. Finn backed me up.”

“Finn!” The word erupted from several mouths at once, as all eyes turned toward the retired cop.

He sat stoically with his arms crossed, looking from one to the other. “Well, someone had to do it,” he said finally. “I couldn’t let her go in there alone.”

Artie leveled a long finger at him. “You been holding out on us,” he accused.

Doc studied both his daughter and Finn with an appraising eye. “It seems they’ve both been holding out on us.”

“It’s like it’s a conspiracy or something,” Bumpy said in a hushed voice, and after a moment they all smiled, breaking the small amount of tension that had built around the table. They were, after all, friends, which trumped everything else.

“So what does Wanda Boyle have to do with all this?” Doc asked after a few moments, bringing the conversation back on track.

Wilma Mae put a hand on the table and leaned toward Candy. “Did she steal my recipe?” the elderly woman asked.

Candy shook her head. “I don’t think so.” But before she could say anything else, her cell phone rang. She checked the number but didn’t recognize it. Turning away from the others momentarily, she flipped open the phone. “Hello.”

“Is this Candy Holliday?”

“Yes. Who’s this?” She had to stick a finger in her other ear, as Doc and the boys were chattering again, discussing the latest developments.

“It’s Captain Mike,” the voice at the other end of the line said. “You remember me?”

“Yes, of course. From the museum.” As she spoke, she rose and walked away from the booth, to a quieter spot at the rear of the diner.

“That’s right. I work there Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. And sometimes Sundays. I saw you come in the other day.”

“Yes, I remember meeting you,” Candy said.

“Well, I want to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“I’ll tell you when you get here.”

“Get here? Where am I going?”

“I’m over at the Rusty Moose Tavern. You know where that’s at?”

“Sure, Doc and the boys go there all the time. I’m just around the corner at the diner.”

“Well, this time,” Captain Mike said, “tell Doc and the boys to stay right where they are and have another round of donuts and coffee. I want to talk to you only. In private. I’ll be in the back booth. How soon can you get here?”