Town in a Blueberry Jam by B. B. Haywood

Author:B. B. Haywood [Haywood, B. B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Murder, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Maine, Festivals
ISBN: 9780425232651
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2010-02-02T07:00:00+00:00

NINETEEN

Doc and his buddies were gone. The corner booth at Duffy’s where they usually held court was occupied by a suburbanite family, obviously tourists, with three bouncing children, one of whom had climbed on top of the leatherette booth seatback and was riding it like a horsey. Dolores the waitress, looking exasperated, was trying to coax the young boy back down into a normal sitting position. The parents seemed more annoyed at Dolores than at their own child.

“Hey, Dolores,” Candy called as the waitress approached her after having had little success with the family in the corner booth. “Have you seen Doc?”

“He left awhile ago with his posse.”

“Do you know where they went?”

Dolores shrugged. “Don’t know, honey. Sorry.”

As the harried waitress rushed away to deal with her demanding customers, another voice nearby spoke up. “Excuse me, but they said they were headed over to the Rusty Moose to play some pool.”

Candy turned. “Sorry?”

Sebastian J. Quinn sat in a nearby booth, alone. He had almost finished what looked like a hot turkey sandwich and mashed potatoes swamped in a river of brown gravy.

“I heard them talking,” Sebastian went on, pointing with a thumb to the corner booth behind him, “before they left.”

Candy nodded gratefully. “Oh, okay. Thanks, um, Mr. Quinn.”

“Please, call me Sebastian.” He motioned to the seat opposite him. “I believe they said they’d be back fairly quickly. You’re welcome to sit and wait for them, if you’d like.”

“Oh! Well . . .” Candy glanced around at the clock on the wall behind the counter. Twenty after twelve. She was to meet Maggie for lunch at twelve thirty. “I’m supposed to be meeting someone. . . .”

“Wait with me then,” Sebastian said without a hint of desperation. “We can keep each other company. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.”

Candy allowed herself a smile. “To tell you the truth, that does sound pretty good.” And despite her reservations, she slid into the booth across the table from Sebastian as he summoned Dolores.

After Candy had ordered, Sebastian said, “So, who are you meeting, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Oh, just a friend of mine. Maggie Tremont.”

“Tremont?” Sebastian’s fork perched above his plate. “Any relation to Amanda?”

“Her mother.”

“Ahh.” He scooped up a forkful of mashed potatoes, dripping gravy, which he shoveled into his mouth. “Amanda did a good job Saturday night. She seems like a delightful young lady.”

“She’s a good kid. She worked really hard to prepare for the pageant. All the girls did. It was a wonderful show, though it ended strangely.”

“Yes it did.”

“It’s too bad,” Candy went on, giving Dolores a nod of thanks as her coffee arrived, “because everything that’s happened since then has overshadowed the efforts of those girls up on the stage that night.”

“I suppose everyone’s in shock over the news of Sapphire’s death.”

“That’s putting it mildly.” Candy ripped open a packet of Equal and stirred it into her coffee. “Nothing like that has ever happened in this little town before, at least as far as I know.

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