August Moon (Murder by Month Mystery) by Jess Lourey

Author:Jess Lourey [Lourey, Jess]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2024-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Guided by Sid’s words, I spent the rest of Thursday evening making amends to my vegetable garden. I bought lettuce and radish seeds and three overgrown tomato plants on my way home, though it made me sad that Johnny wasn’t the one selling them to me. Had he started a window garden in Madison? Was he making new friends? Did he ever think about me and what could have been? I tossed my head. There was no point in hauling those thoughts around.

Under Luna’s watchful eyes, I planted the quick-growing vegetables and the gnarly, overgrown potted tomatoes in the garden’s empty patches. I’d be long gone by the time my repairs came to fruition, but it felt good to be down on my hands and knees in the dirt, visibly making amends. When I was done, my garden didn’t look great, but it looked better, and when I watered the plot early the next morning, I whispered an apology.

I wasn’t used to gardening before dawn, and I was amazed at the freshness of the day. The sun wasn’t yet pinking the horizon, and nature had set aside her August cotton mouth to sparkle the grass with dew. After I watered my vegetable and flower gardens and fed and watered my kitty and dog, I stretched. I would bike to town today. The three-mile trip was hilly, but I didn’t want to interrupt the blanketing stillness of dawn by cranking up my car.

As I cruised the gravel on my ten-speed mountain bike, rocks crunching like cornflakes under my tires, I mulled over the people I’d be leaving Battle Lake to. The Mealys were religious fanatics and had a daughter with questionable ethics. Pastor Winter seemed like a stand-up guy, though he was a little too generous in his judgments for my taste.

Sarah Ruth fit well in the library and the town. Tina at 4Ts was going through a bad patch, but I could help her deal with her embezzler, if not her husband. Weston, the tick curator, was just passing through, but that was one thing about Battle Lake that I’d really miss—how it attracted all types from all corners. Between the odd tourists and the odder locals, like Mrs. Berns and Kennie, I could honestly say I’d never been bored in this town.

My plan was to start packing tonight after opening the Fortune Café for Sid and Nancy and putting in my shift at the library. I could get a couple rooms bundled up and still have time to run out to Naomi Mealy’s sister’s house on Hancock Lake to see if she really was the chick I had seen at the Creation Science Fair. Something about the intensity in her eyes drew me, and I figured the more activities I did away from home, the easier it’d be to avoid drinking.

Nothing like spying on strangers to keep a gal distracted.

I coasted down the last big hill on Whiskey Road before I hit Battle Lake. My hair flew behind me like wings, and I closed my eyes.

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