“Sure.” Now I was curious. What would Austin have to say to my aunt?
He pointed outside and toward his shop. “Tell her that I’m interested in selling the food truck, for the right price that is. Just because you’ll have to repaint it doesn’t mean I’m going to take any lowball offer.”
“Why do you want to tell Aunt Jackie this?” I pointed to my chest. “You know I’m the owner of the store, right?”
Austin smirked as I gave him his coffee. “Give me a break. Everyone knows that your aunt runs things around here. You may hold the purse strings, but she’s the decision maker.”
“Nice to know what people think, but it’s not true.” I rang up his coffee. “Two fifty.”
He gave me the exact change and then stood. “Just tell her I’m willing to talk about a fair price. I know you and Diamond Lille’s were both interested in the truck when I bought it off of Homer. I’m coming to you first, as I promised him I wouldn’t sell it to Lille, no matter what. I guess they aren’t on the best speaking terms.”
I thought about Lille kicking Homer Bell out of her restaurant when he’d told her he’d sold the truck without even allowing her to make a better offer. If she’d had a gun, Homer would have been dead that day. “I’d say that was an understatement.”
Austin tapped a finger on the counter. “Just say I’m motivated for you guys to be the buyer.” He turned toward the door.
“Hey, Austin? Who was Kacey friends with?” The pain that shot through his eyes told me I hadn’t been as delicate as I could have been. “I mean, who did she pal around with? Go out on girls’ nights with?” Cry on their shoulder when you left her was one friendship task I didn’t list out for the grieving widower. Who said I couldn’t be sensitive if I tried?
“Kacey had a lot of friends. Everyone loved her.” He paused and I could tell he was thinking about the past. “After we separated, she started with that stupid GPS club. I don’t think she’d hung with anyone who wasn’t part of the club in years.”
“She was the president.” I thought about the people we’d met on our first outing. Maybe someone there hated Kacey enough to kill her? Over what? Finding too many geocaches? I wondered if this would be another wild goose chase.
“She loved that stupid club. I kept telling her just to quit, that we had enough going on without spending time tramping around the woods.” He walked toward the door. “Call Ginny over at the bathroom place. She and Kacey were close.”
Ginny, the woman who worked for Jen. Well, maybe she still worked for Jen. The last time I’d visited, Ginny had been late, again. I’d heard the sigh in my friend’s voice when she talked to her about her hours. Too committed to the geo club to make sure she got to work on time or sometimes at all. I made a mental note to visit Linens and Loots tomorrow. Austin was almost to the door, so I called out, “Anyone else you can think of?”
He turned and stared at me. “I may not know a lot of my wife’s friends, but I do know she didn’t like that man who kept trying to get her to step down as president.” He smiled a little sadly. “She said he would be president of the club over her dead body. I guess she got her wish.”
I watched Austin leave the shop and shuffle down the street. I knew he was only in his fifties, but right now, he looked older than Aunt Jackie, Harrold, or even Josh. I took out my notebook and put a note in to talk to Taylor on Sunday. With Greg and Justin around, maybe he wouldn’t seem as creepy and they could help me decipher his cryptic answers. Of course, I’d have to be a little cryptic myself or I’d show my hand to Greg and get a lecture about staying out of his investigations. I also put visiting Linens and Loots on my to-do list for tomorrow.
That done, I put the notebook away and glanced at the clock. Seven thirty. Technically, I had an hour and a half before I could close the doors, but I might just fudge the closing hours since my traffic had been little to none all night. I went over to the sideboard in the dining room where Toby had set up a water station. I’d have to mention that it wasn’t our policy to have a water station again. Sometimes being a boss was like being a kindergarten teacher. You had to keep saying the same things, over and over, until the kids got it and stopped running in the halls. Or setting up water stations for the customers.
I took the half-full pitcher, and after filling a glass for myself, poured it out into the sink, setting the empty container way back in the cabinet where maybe Toby wouldn’t see it tomorrow. My mind turned to my aunt and her night out.