Birthday Cake and a Murder Read online

  “I guess we’ll get some rain soon,” I said.

  He snorted again but didn’t answer. I was sure he thought I was an idiot, but I didn’t care.

  “So, did you hear about the most recent murder? I don’t know what’s happening to Sparrow these days.”

  Now he turned toward me. “Doesn’t surprise me a bit. That fool Silas had it coming. The only surprise is, why didn’t it happen sooner?”

  “Oh? You knew Silas?” I asked.

  He gave me another look that said he thought I was an idiot. “We both work for the newspaper.”

  I nodded. “Of course. I knew that. But, why doesn’t it surprise you that he was killed?” Sue had one thing right. Harry was grumpy.

  “Because he was always sticking his nose into other people’s business. He was nothing but a troublemaker.”

  “What sort of trouble did he cause?” I asked, hoping he wouldn’t get irritated with my questions. But he sounded like he wanted to complain about Silas, so I was going to be a listening ear.

  “Told Sue Hester I was stealing from him. Is it my fault he misplaced his belongings? If he was responsible, he would have put them away to begin with,” he said bitterly. “Like I would want his junk. I have no use for a journal or a cell phone. I lived all my years without them and I don’t need them now.”

  “Silas’s cell phone turned up missing?” I asked, thinking about the raincoat with the cell phone in its pocket.

  He shrugged. “According to him and Sue Hester. I don’t believe it though. He just wanted me kicked out of the boardinghouse. I never touched his junk.”

  “That sounds like an unpleasant place to live.”

  “Unpleasant isn’t the half of it. He was always arguing with everyone. And then that idiot Charlie Rhoades moved in. after that, there was never any peace. Not to mention Silas was always playing that stupid guitar late into the night. With that racket going, no one got any sleep around there.”

  “Charlie Rhoades?” I asked. “Why did that cause problems?” I wanted to get his opinion on the trouble between Silas and Charlie.

  “Because Silas wrote a nasty article about him a few years ago and he lost the election for city council.” He gave me a sideways glance as he sprayed more window cleaner onto the glass. “Why do you care?”

  I shrugged. “I guess I don’t, but you know how it is in a small town. Everyone has a story about what happened. I bet it caused a lot of trouble if Silas wrote a negative article about Charlie and he lost the election.”

  He gave one curt nod of his head. “You better believe it. I told Sue not to let him move in. I also told her to get rid of Silas while she had the chance, but that woman had googly eyes for him so there was no convincing her.”

  This was news to me. “Googly eyes? What do you mean?”

  He waved a hand. “Nothin’. That woman don’t have good sense. Silas and Charlie Rhoades are cousins, you know.”

  “I had no idea,” I lied. I knew Charlie from when he worked at the bookstore across the street from the diner. In a small town, we didn’t have professional political candidates. They were usually regular citizens that wanted to hold office.

  He nodded again and straightened up. “Yup. That woman don’t have good sense.” He walked away without another word and disappeared behind a closed door.

  I wondered what he meant by Sue having googly eyes for Silas. Was there a relationship between them or was it all in her mind? I also wondered how bad things must have gotten with both Silas and his cousin Charlie, who had a grudge against him, living there. Add Harry and it sounded to me like that boardinghouse was probably a horrible place to live.

  Another door opened and a young woman stepped out. When she saw me she smiled. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t hear anyone come in.” She hurried to the front counter and picked up a pen. “What can I help you with?”

  “It’s okay, I know I’m coming in here at the last minute. I just wanted to get a subscription started for delivery of the newspaper,” I said, walking up to the front counter. The woman looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure where I knew her. Sometimes you saw the same people over and over in a small town and trying to place them was a job.

  “Well, let me have you fill out this short form and we’ll get that started.” She handed me a form and a pen and I began filling it in with my name and address.

  “I think I’ll sign up for six months,” I said. “I guess you all must be going through a difficult time around here.” I kept one eye on her as I wrote.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Silas?” I said.

  “Oh, my gosh, yes. It was such a tragedy. I don’t know who would have wanted to kill him.” She shook her head sadly.

  “I don’t understand it, either,” I said. “He seemed like such a nice guy. I work over at Sam’s Diner and he would stop in sometimes.”

  “Oh, that’s where I’ve seen you,” she said, smiling again. “I knew you looked familiar. I stop in there when I can. Yes, Silas was a nice guy. Sometimes he could get crabby, but I guess we all have our days.”

  “We sure do,” I agreed. “Did Silas only cover the local sports? Didn’t he sometimes write other articles?”

  “Sure, he filled in at other times, but mostly it was sports.”

  I nodded and signed the bottom of the form. “I guess you’ll have to hire a new reporter?” It had suddenly occurred to me that I had writing experience and if there was an opening, it would help me pay for my house. Covering sports might be a challenge, but it would help me be less dependent on my mother. It might have been tacky so soon after Silas’s death, but I was going to apply for a job.

  “I think Bruce is going to fill his spot,” she said.

  “Oh, that’s too bad. I was hoping you all were hiring. Not that that was the reason I was asking about Silas,” I said, realizing that now I probably did sound tacky.

  She smiled. “I think they’re going to hire someone to write lifestyle articles, but just as a fill-in position, not a regular position. Did you want to submit an application?”

  “That would be great!” I said too enthusiastically. “I’ve written several cookbooks and I’m in the middle of writing a new one now.”

  “That sounds great,” she said reaching beneath the counter for a pad of applications. She pulled one off. “Sorry. We aren’t fancy here. We still do it the old-fashioned, generic way.” She laughed as she handed me the application.

  “I don’t mind at all,” I said and paid for my subscription.

  I left the newspaper office hoping for a new job and with just a little more information about Silas’s life before he was murdered.

  Chapter Ten

  After working my shift at the diner and stopping by the newspaper office, I decided that a great big latte was in order. My friend Agatha Broome owned the British Tea and Coffee Company and sold the best coffee, tea, chocolate, and imported jams, jellies, and candies. She was a transplant from Britain and since it had been awhile since I had had the time to visit with her, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. The boardinghouse would have to wait for now.

  “Hey Agatha,” I said when I got to the front counter.

  “Rainey! How are you today? Need a fill up with a latte and some chocolate?” she asked, her grin spreading across her face.

  “You know I do. I think I want a pumpkin spice latte since we’re almost into fall, and I’ll skip the chocolate for now. I’ve been trying out cake recipes, and the testing has been showing up on my hips.”

  She laughed. “Nonsense! But I know how it is when you’ve got good food around. It’s hard to stop,” she said and began making my coffee. “I’ll sit with you if you’re going to stay awhile.”

  “That sounds great,” I said. “How has business been?”

  “It’s been bustling, what with Labor Day weekend upon us.”

  The Snake River wound its way through our part of Idaho not far from Sparrow and we had a booming tourist business during the summer months. Wi
th Labor Day weekend beginning tomorrow, we would see a slowdown in tourists come Tuesday, but it wouldn’t become dramatic until after it snowed. Even then, we would get people who rented the cabins on the far side of the river throughout the snowy months.

  “I know, I have to work all weekend at the diner. I don’t mind. It will be so busy I won’t get a chance to wish I was off.”

  She finished making my latte and refused my payment. We went to a corner table to catch up. Agatha had short, curly white hair and wore gold-framed glasses. She looked like everyone’s favorite grandma, but she wasn’t as old as that.

  “Now then, tell me what you’re up to? How’s the cookbook coming?” She stirred the cup of tea she had made for herself and looked at me expectantly.

  “The cookbook is going great. I’ve been working on cake recipes this week.”

  “And don’t you and Stormy have a birthday coming up soon?” she asked.

  “We certainly do. We’ll be having a small get together on the fifteenth and we would love for you to attend,” I said and took a sip of my latte. “Mmm. Perfect, as always.”

  “Thank you, love. I would love to come to your party. I suppose our handsome and fearless Detective Cade Starkey will be attending?” she asked with a grin. “That lad’s a keeper, I tell you.”

  I felt my cheeks go pink. I couldn’t help it. She just might be right about Cade. “I’m sure he will be, but he might be late. He’s working on another case. Did you hear about Silas Mills?”

  She nodded. “I did. It’s not that big of a surprise if you want to know the truth.”

  “Seriously? Why do you say that?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “There was just something about him. He looked like a rough character and if I hadn’t known he worked for the paper, I would have kept an eye on him when he came in here to get a coffee.”

  She had a point. Silas did look like he had lived a rough life, but I couldn’t say that I had heard much about him. Like Karen, he seemed to keep to himself. “Do you know anything specific?”

  “I don’t know anything specific, exactly. He just had a way about him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cade discovers he was up to no good and someone got tired of it and took care of him. But I do know he was two-timing Karen Forrest.” We looked toward the door when it opened. A young couple walked in and went to the front counter. “Susie will take care of them.”

  “Who was he with?” I whispered.

  “Sue Hester.”

  “Seriously? Sue Hester?” That explained why she had practically swooned when I spoke to her about Silas the other day. But she had failed to mention the fact that she had been dating Silas. “Do you know that for a fact?”

  She nodded. “I saw them out together myself. Over in Boise. It’s been about six months ago, so who knows if they were still seeing one another more recently.”

  “It’s funny she forgot to mention that when I talked to her the other day. She said they were friends. He had lived at her boardinghouse for more than ten years.”

  “Doesn’t surprise me. I don’t mean to say anything unkind about Karen, but she was a fool for staying with him so long. I think he wouldn’t marry her because of Sue. Although, I do wonder if he knew how much older Sue is. She likes to pretend she isn’t as old as she is.”

  I nodded. “She does look much younger than she is. I guess if you can make people think you’re younger, then go for it.”

  She giggled. “You’ve got a point there. I wish I could do it myself, but these wrinkles are getting deeper by the day.”

  “Oh, stop it. Those are laugh lines and they make you beautiful,” I said. I meant it. Agatha had the prettiest skin of anyone I knew.

  She laughed harder. “I need you to stick around. You’re good for my ego.”

  We both laughed.

  “Rainey?”

  I looked up to see my ex-husband, Craig Strong, standing at our table. How had he come in without us noticing him? He looked at me, and then at Agatha. Agatha’s eyes went to mine, expectantly.

  “Craig,” I said and looked at Agatha. “Agatha, this is my ex-husband, Craig Strong.” I didn’t really want to introduce them, but it was rude not to.

  “Oh, so this is the infamous Craig Strong,” Agatha said, sitting back in her chair and looking him up and down.

  Craig’s eyes went wide. He glanced at me, then turned to her. “Yeah, it’s me,” he said weakly. “Nice to meet you.”

  She laughed. “Don’t mind me. I’m giving you a hard time. I better get behind the counter. Susie’s getting a bit of a line.” She got up and glanced over her shoulder at Craig before going to help her assistant.

  Craig sat down without asking. “How are you doing, Rainey?”

  I sighed. “I’m doing great, Craig. What do you want?” I wasn’t trying to be rude to Craig. I was just done with him hanging out in Sparrow. It had been a nasty divorce, and I had hoped to leave him and all my troubles behind in New York City, but he had followed me here with the news that he had an inoperable brain tumor. As much as I hated to hear he was dying, I hoped he would find some place else to go soon.

  He forced a smile. “I’m doing well. I just thought I’d stop in and get some coffee and I happened to see you here at the table.” He shrugged as if that was explanation enough.

  “Okay. Well, I need to be getting home. I’m bushed. My feet ache and I’m ready to take my shoes off.” I made a move to stand up, but he stopped me.

  “Rainey, I really was hoping we could get along better,” he said, sounding hopeful.

  Craig had nearly destroyed me in the divorce and he had destroyed my career. Forgiving him was going to take some time, but one good thing came out of his appearing in Sparrow. I had been able to leave the past behind and move forward with a relationship with Cade.

  “I don’t want to be cruel, Craig. But I don’t want to be friends. I meant it when I said I was sorry you’re dying. I really did. But, I think that has to be the end of it.”

  He was quiet, taking this in. “I guess I don’t blame you. Will you forgive me? I mean, really forgive me?”

  “With time, I will. When are you going back to New York?” I asked.

  “I have a doctor’s appointment next week, so I guess I’ll be leaving then.”

  I nodded. I wanted to say more, and I hated myself for feeling like I owed it to him just because he was dying. I didn’t owe him anything. I sighed.

  “I do hope for the best for you.” And when I said it, I realized that I meant it.

  Chapter Eleven

  I filled Cade in on what I had found out regarding Silas’s murder the previous evening and he did what he usually did. He told me almost nothing that he knew. To be sure, he appreciated what I found out, but when I asked for details, all I got was a grin. He did say he had interviewed Karen Forrest and Sue Hester, but he didn’t elaborate. That’s what I got for dating a detective. He kept things to himself.

  I was undaunted though. I would find out who killed and dumped Silas Mills behind my house on my own. My alley was not going to be a dumping ground for dead bodies. Or at least, I didn’t want it to become one.

  I had spent a sleepless night going over everything I had heard about the murder and one of the things that stood out was the fact that Silas had written that article about his cousin Charlie Rhoades and it cost him a seat on the city council. After working the morning shift at Sam’s, I stopped in at Charlie’s Hobby Shop. Charlie Rhoades had opened the shop up about six months earlier and I was hoping to get some information out of him about his relationship with Silas.

  “Good morning, Rainey,” Charlie said when I walked in the door.

  I hesitated for a moment, not recognizing Charlie. He had put on weight since I last saw him and the long, full beard he was sporting surprised me. He didn’t seem the type to grow one. “Hi Charlie, how are you?”

  “Can’t complain,” he said with a grin and came out from behind the counter. “What brings you to my little shop?”

/>   “I’ve been intending to stop in and see what all you carried,” I said. The shop walls were lined with shelves that looked homemade and they were sparsely filled with an assortment of merchandise.

  “I’ve got all kinds of things. Games, puzzles, models, collectibles and accessories, and radio controlled cars and trains. I try to stay away from the video games since I was going for more of a retro-type hobby shop. But I do carry all sorts of collectible characters from video games.”

  There were swords and daggers on one wall and a shelf full of comic books on another. “You sure do have a variety of merchandise in here,” I said, looking around. Although there was a variety of merchandise, there wasn’t a lot of it and I wondered if he would be able to compete with larger stores.

  “I do try to keep a lot of items in stock,” he said proudly. Charlie wore a blue plaid shirt that opened further down in front than was necessary and wiry gray chest hair poked out of the front of the shirt.

  “It’s good to see new businesses open up in Sparrow. How has it been going?” I asked, walking over to a shelf that held small figurines and action figures. My nephews played video games all the time, but now that I was standing in front of the action figures, I couldn’t remember exactly which games they were into.

  “I guess you could say things are going okay,” he said hesitantly. “Are you interested in any of these?” He picked up a Harry Potter figurine. “I just got these in. People are still really into Harry Potter.”

  “I’m sure Harry is destined to become a classic,” I said. “I know my nephews like playing video games, but I forget which ones.”

  He nodded. “There’s a lot out there. Maybe it’s Halo or Tour of Duty?” He held up some action figures but they didn’t look familiar.

  “I’ll probably get into trouble if I pick something up without them being here to tell me exactly which they want. They are very particular about their collectibles.”

  “Most people are. Let me tell you, trying to sell someone something that isn’t what they are into is almost impossible.”