Greg kissed me at the door, and as he left, I watched him walk toward his truck. Typically, the role of lead detective for South Cove fit Greg like a glove. Tonight it looked like he was dragging a ball and chain.
I called Sasha and asked her to work my shift tomorrow so I could focus on the meeting. Whatever the mayor and council had planned, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be an easy sell. I e-mailed a quick order of three dozen brownies to Sadie, knowing she was already probably asleep. And if she wasn’t, I really didn’t want to call her and risk blurting out Greg’s mission to go question her son.
I closed up the house and trudged up to my bedroom, where I lay in the dark, not sleeping and thinking about how things had gotten all jumbled around. Sadie and Nick were solid people. No way would they do anything that even approached the line to illegal. And yet, the recipes were back in her possession.
The morning commuter rush over, Sasha helped me move tables to get ready. I’d called Aunt Jackie that morning to let her know about the impromptu meeting, but as usual, the news had already reached her.
“I’ll be down at nine thirty. Did you call in Sasha or Toby?” I could hear my aunt lowering the volume on her television; she loved her morning talk shows.
“Sasha’s already here.” I wanted to say, Duh, I already thought of that, but I didn’t think my aunt would appreciate my sass this morning.
“Be sure to make a fresh pot of coffee and fill the carafes before people start arriving.” She hung up the phone before I could respond.
I put the receiver down. “I wish I would have thought of that.”
Sasha wiped down the last carafe filled with fresh coffee. “Thought of what?”
“Jackie wants to make sure we have coffee available.” I waved my hand at the tables set up for the meeting with coffee, cups, and a couple of plates of Sadie’s brownies. She’d called that morning to tell me she would bring extras to the meeting when she came.
“She likes to make sure the t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted. That’s for sure. She reminds me of my grandmother. That woman runs a tight ship.” I thought that was one comparison Sasha should keep to herself. Even though my aunt had ignored her last birthday, the woman was pushing her seventies—and didn’t like to be reminded of it. Sasha glanced around the shop. She leaned under the counter and pulled out a novel. “You think I’ll have some time to finish reading this? My after-school group meets this afternoon, and I’d like to be done before they come in.”
Sasha had taken over our teen and young adult book clubs as part of her duties. She’d also redesigned our website and put in an online ordering system for both coffee drinks and books. Sales were increasing daily as customers found out about the service. I was going to have to increase her salary soon just to make sure we kept her around.
“I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time during the meeting. If you don’t fall asleep from boredom.” I considered my upcoming conversation with Sadie. “Why don’t you just stay on the clock through Toby’s shift, that way you can be ready.”
“You sure? I hate to have you pay me for just reading.” Sasha ducked her head. “I could run home after Toby gets here and then drive back.”
Her reaction surprised me a bit. There were lots of times when the job was really all about reading, when the walk-ins dwindled down to nothing. “No need to waste gas or your time. Besides, if he gets busy, you’ll be here to help.”
She shrugged. Before I could ask her if there was a problem, Bill and Mary arrived, followed by Sadie and Josh. The Business-to-Business regulars were starting to show up. I made a mental note to talk to Sasha later and went to greet the new arrivals.
Ten minutes later, the table was filled with committee members and Bill was calling the meeting to order. “Thanks, everyone, for coming on such short notice.” Bill shot a look at Mayor Baylor, who was sitting next to him and ignoring his pointed look. “The council felt that we needed to act on the mayor’s special committee request as soon as possible, so I guess I’ll turn the floor over to Marvin and he can fill you in on the new project.”
Bill sat down and Mayor Baylor stood. This time it was Bill’s turn to ignore the glare from our mayor, probably due to the use of his first name rather than his title. “Thank you, Bill, for arranging this get-together.” Mayor Baylor smiled down on the rest of us.
Uh-oh, we’re in trouble now. I felt tingles all over the top of my head. The last time Mayor Baylor had shown up at a meeting with a special request, he’d put his wife, Tina, in charge of our holiday planning. Which was a disaster before she dropped the ball and Mary picked it up at the last minute.