Page 50 of Merry Murder Season
“Thank you, Professor Evie,” Darla teased. “Maybe you should give a presentation at the next business meeting.”
“I was just—” Evie realized Darla was teasing her. “What? Too much information for this early in the morning?”
Darla was already walking out and didn’t even look back as she waved. I laughed as my phone beeped. Amy was at work and had the information I’d asked for. “Are you serious about not needing me for the rest of my shift?”
“I’m putting them both through a trial by fire. How else will we know if they can do a shift on their own?” Evie groaned when Beth came into the bookstore. “And I forgot to call you. Unless you need the money, we don’t need you to work today or tomorrow.”
“I was working to stay busy and help out, not for the money. Jill and I can do some Christmas shopping, or I could just work on my book,” Beth added as she looked over at me. My face must have been reacting to the idea of shopping. Not my favorite activity.
“I’m heading over to see Amy now, then we can shop here or go to Bakerstown or wherever. I’m your personal tour guide until you take off on Monday.” I was glad that we’d have a couple of days together. Beth and I had been so busy the last few days that we hadn’t talked about what she was going to do when she went back to Nebraska. I knew she was taking the job, butwhat about Jim?
“Okay, let me just grab a book for the flight and I’ll be ready.” Beth disappeared into the bookshelves as I took off my apron.
“Thanks for taking over the training, Evie.”
“No problem. I have a vested interest in seeing them succeed since I recommended them. I don’t want you to think I hang out with flakes.” She took the end-of-shift clipboard off the counter. “We’ll take care of this too.”
“I’m beginning to think I’m not needed here,” I teased. Kind of. First Deek was making me feel like he had it all under control. Now Evie was showing the same maturity with the job.
“That will never happen. None of us like working the early shift and you’ve developed a huge customer base who like their coffee at the crack of dawn.” She glanced over at Beth, who was deciding between two books. “She fits into the team. Too bad she lives in Nebraska.”
“Believe me, I’ve thought the same thing several times since I met her.” I took the book that Beth tried to hand to Evie to buy and gave it back to Beth. “Put that on my account. It’s my little thank-you for stepping in when wewere swamped.”
“It wasn’t a problem at all,” Beth protested, but then she put the book in her tote. “Thank you.”
“Let’s go see what Amy has before she leaves for the day. She said she was only working until noon.” I made sure one more time that Evie was set and didn’t need me. Then we headed outside tothe sunny day.
Beth stopped to admire the Christmas display in front of City Hall. “This is beautiful at night because of the lights, but during the day, it’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit when so many people are wearing shorts.”
“Not a winter wonderland.” I reached out and turned over theSanta Is Insign to itsSanta Went Back to the North Poleside. The man playing Santa only did weekend appearances until the last week before Christmas, and then he was here through New Year’s. Except for Christmas Day. South Cove would be a ghost town that day, except for the beach, if it was nice. “Are youfrom Nebraska?”
“Oh, no. I grew up in Oregon. Probably why the New Hope cult drew me in as a study case. I went to college in Omaha and never left. Yet, that is.” She lifted her face to the sun. “If Jim and I break up, I may just come here to work after I finish this degree. Of course, it’s all going to hinge on who’s willing to hire me.”
“A professor with cult knowledge should be a slam dunk here in California. The whole country thinks we’re wacka-doodles here anyway.” I held open the door. “We’re filled with surfers and people who use alternative medicine instead of going to normal doctors.”
“Are you trying to sell South Cove to Beth or warn her away?” Amy stood and came around her desk to greet us. “We’re also big on being outdoors and living healthy. And we get more sunny days than Omaha. I can look it up if you want. There’s a website that can compare the weather of two cities. Hold on and I can tell you what the temperature is in Omaha.”
“It’s a balmy thirty-two with snow expected this evening.” Beth held her phone up. “I have the weather app. I’m not thinking about moving. Yet.”
“But I keep tempting her,” I added. “So did you find Matty’sbusiness application?”
Chapter 20
Amy handed me an envelope. I opened it and pulled out a copy of Matty’s business application. Amy summarized the report as I read the details. “She’s moved around a lot. And when she leaves a place, it’s always, in her words, a bad neighborhood. I hoped that she’d reconsider moving to South Cove, because I knew as soon as she left, she’d be badmouthing everyone. One of her references even told me good luck when I asked if he’d recommend her to join our community. He said she was disruptive and justnot very nice.”
“I can’t believe she got approved to open her shop.” Beth stood near Amy’s desk. “When you leave one troubled environment for another, the one thing you take with you is you.”
“It was a close vote, but I guess she’s friends with Tina, the mayor’s wife, so she was approved. Besides, we look more at your ability to finance and upkeep your business. And whether you’re going to be too much competition for the other stores. No one sold fine jewelry here before she moved into town.” Amy filled us in on the way the council made their decisions.
“She was a pain in her last community and she’s a pain now.” I wasn’t going to betray Mandy’s revelation to me but Amy’s information made me like Matty even less. Nothing I’d heard this morning was evidence that she’d killed Chip but I wasn’t about to trust her with anything important in the next business council meeting. “Thanks for this. It helps for me to know a little more about our business council members.”
As we walked out, I knew I couldn’t just kick her out of the business council, but the next time she snarked off, I was going to give her a warning. Then I was going to write a formal complaint to the city council. Bill Sullivan, who ran South Cove Bed and Breakfast with his wife, Mary, was my liaison and he’d keep the reports confidential. Once I hadissued enough of the warnings and filed the paperwork, I could disinvite her to meetings. She’d get the minutes but wouldn’t be allowed to come in person and bring down the group. It was a painful process, at least for me, but I thought it was about time to deal with thisNegative Nancy.
I’d never even thought of disinviting Josh from the council because, with all his complaining, he wanted to make South Cove better. Matty just wanted to stir up trouble.
“Do you want to grab lunch in town or wherever we’re going?” Beth asked, breaking into my mental planning.
“Your choice. Where do you want to go?” We window-shopped for a few minutes as we planned our day. “There are some places that won’t beopen tomorrow.”
