“Maybe seeing it parked in front of his rental shop brings back bad memories. I didn’t ask.” I stood and let Emma into the kitchen. “I was too annoyed about him thinking he needed to talk to Jackie instead of me. Sometimes I think everyone believes it’s her shop.”
His eyebrows raised. “It’s not? She hired me, not you. She runs most of the staff meetings, and she’s always making changes in what we’re doing.”
“That reminds me, I saw you set up the water station yesterday.” I waited to hear his response before bringing down the hammer. I could be the bad cop in the business relationship, not just Aunt Jackie.
Toby shrugged. “I had a lot of kids in yesterday doing homework before the weekend started. They kept asking for water, so I set up a station. I was too busy to wait on them all the time.”
“I get it, I do. But until this drought is over, we’ve committed to doing our part to conserve, and I dumped a half of a pitcher down the drain last night.” I smiled. “I’ll let Aunt Jackie give you the next warning.”
“I’m so scared.” Toby polished off the last of his muffin. “Enough of the small talk. I want to know what you found out from Austin, or was it just about the food truck?”
I told him about asking about Kacey’s friends and getting Ginny’s name. “I’m heading in to Bakerstown to Linens and Loots to try to talk to the woman. At least, I should be able to get her address or phone number out of Jen.”
“Sounds like a good lead.” Toby sipped his coffee as he considered my information. “Greg told me they went to the nursing home and interviewed MJ.”
“How did that go?”
“Apparently not well. The woman has early onset Alzheimer’s, so most of what she talked about was how her Quaker family had disowned her due to her radical views against the war. She really railed about their hypocrisy. She told Greg that change doesn’t come from speaking out against an immoral war, change comes from destruction and blood.” Toby let that statement hang in the air.
“So the story Austin told Sadie was probably true. Mary Jane was the driving force behind the bombings on campus and he was just trying to keep her safe.” I scribbled some notes on a new page in my notebook.
“She told Greg that she duped some guy who was in love with her into driving the getaway car. She seemed pretty proud of the way she used him.” He shook his head. “I even felt for the guy. Here he’s gone into hiding for the woman, dedicating his future to her, and she’s just not that into him.”
“No wonder women like Kacey and Sadie were attractive to him. They’re both kind and attentive.” I focused on Toby. “Do you think he killed Kacey?”
“Austin?” He shook his head. “The guy’s a lover, not a killer. I don’t even think he knew about the bombings until after they happened.”
“That’s what I think, too.” I darkened the line through Austin’s name. “But now, the only other suspect we have is Sadie. And I know she couldn’t kill anyone.”
“No, Sadie’s just the only one we know about right now. Nothing’s ever done until someone is in jail.” He pointed to my notebook. “Anyway, you have a great lead. Women tell their best friends everything. Maybe someone was bothering Kacey.”
“Austin said something about Taylor being upset when she kept getting elected to run that geo club.” I stared at Toby. “You don’t think he was really that upset, do you?”
Toby stood, refilled his coffee cup, and put the last muffin on the table in front of me. He threw away the bag and the muffin wrappers. “I’ve heard of people killed for stupid reasons. This could be the reason.”
“Seems petty.” I didn’t like Taylor, but I didn’t think anyone would kill to get control over a group of hobbyists. That was like killing the winner of the blue ribbon in quilting so your creation would stop taking second place every year.
“See what Ginny has to say. Maybe she’s got some insight we haven’t thought of.” Toby opened the back door. “And Greg hasn’t gotten any information about Kacey’s friends, so we’re ahead of the investigation with this lead.”
Somehow that didn’t make me feel any better.
After Toby left, I made my shopping list. The cupboard was bare, and Greg had already made our plans for Sunday. Besides, I needed a good excuse to go to Bakerstown besides talking to Ginny. After the list was complete, I started a load of laundry, changed into my running clothes and took a long run, trying not to think about anything but the way the salt air tasted in my mouth and the sound of the seagulls as they flew over the waves.