Nina Wright - Whiskey Mattimoe 04 - Whiskey and Water by Nina Wright

Author:Nina Wright [Wright, Nina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery: Cozy - Real Estate Broker - Michigan
ISBN: 0738712167
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Published: 2008-05-03T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Ordinarily I enjoy eating lunch away from my office. But not today. After the ordeal at the police station, I didn’t think I could bear one more accusatory or even curious glance. So I hunkered down at my desk and dispatched my part-time receptionist to bring me back my usual from the Goh Cup.

When I heard a knock, I was deep into a spreadsheet and didn’t bother to lift my eyes from the computer screen.

“Just set it on my desk,” I said.

It wasn’t my receptionist at the door, after all. And what was set on my desk turned out not to be lunch but a tush. A very nice tush belonging to the man I had just been drafted to investigate.

“Could I buy you lunch?” MacArthur said. “While we eat, we can talk about real estate. And how I’m going to sell lots of it.”

I had been planning to put off doing him—I mean interviewing him—until after I ate, but sometimes Fate hands you other plans. Besides, he was offering to buy. So I closed down the spreadsheet, grabbed my purse, and informed the just-returning receptionist to put my lunch in my mini-fridge.

MacArthur suggested we go to Mother Tucker’s. Only the best for the cleaner and his friends. I liked that idea, not only because I knew we’d have a splendid meal with a fine view of the water, but also because people would see me there. Some of the same people, no doubt, who had seen me last night with Fenton. Given how gossip works in Magnet Springs, two contradictory sightings within twenty-four hours would cancel each other out. Ergo, my dinner with Fenton followed by my lunch with MacArthur would yield me a big fat zero on the local social radar. Two men at two more or less consecutive meals meant I had friends and/or clients but no lover. In everybody’s busy little mind, I would be still be Whiskey the lonely widow.

Things didn’t go quite according to plan.

First, as we passed through the bar on our way to my favorite table by the window, Walter St. Mary intercepted us.

“Fenton was just here looking for you, Whiskey. I sent him to the Goh Cup because that’s where you usually have lunch. Unless you’re going to start dining twice a day with us again? Wouldn’t that be nice.”

Walter was referring to my basket-case days just after Leo had died, when he and Jonny kept me fed and calmed with the best local meals and vino. Back then, I’d even eaten the occasional breakfast at Mother Tucker’s, and they’re not open for breakfast.

“Hello, hello!” he called. “Out to break some more hearts? Who knew you could. You go, girl.”

Rico made an elaborate show of checking out MacArthur and then punctuated his response with a low whistle. Fortunately, my lunch companion seemed oblivious. Maybe we were a good match. MacArthur seemed as into denial as I was.

“I’m taking my licensing exam Friday,” he said when we were seated. “Any last-minute tips?”

“Cram till you think your head will explode, and then do your best.

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