Pastries and Peril (The Mad Egg Diner Mystery Series Book 2) by Constance Barker

Author:Constance Barker [Barker, Constance]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Constance Barker
Published: 2021-12-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

“Well, that explains his reaction to you. For a minute, I thought he was just being very rude without any reason.” Melody walked to Gideon.

“It wasn’t my fault he landed in prison. So, he was being rude without a reason. It wasn’t personal. You do the crime...” he said, shrugging.

“You do the time. You’re right,” she agreed. “Hey, Gideon, how did Rumford know you would be here, anyway?”

“Everybody in town knows this diner is my office, Melody,” Gideon said.

“Well, then give me details about your date.” She leaned on the counter and grimaced as her wounded elbow scraped the edge.

“Either Amanda doesn’t like me, or she’s just uncomfortable going out with me alone. I can’t blame her, I guess. Can’t be too careful these days. Pretty woman all alone in a botanical garden with a man. Might not be safe under other circumstances. That’s all right, though. She’ll get to know me; she’ll see I’m harmless.”

“Oh, good! That means you’re going to ask her out again, right?” Melody smiled, happy that Gideon was resilient to rejection whether real or perceived. He’d had a lot of practice in how to handle rejection over the years with Sadie, she supposed.

“For sure! I’m not letting a beautiful and intriguing young woman like her get away if I can help it at all.”

“That’s great, Gideon. I’m sure she’ll see you’re about as safe as they get.”

“Yep. Before I forget, I’m going to eat lunch and then go see if I can talk with Preacher Murray for a while.”

“That would be awesome. Thank you.”

“Any time, Melody.”

Melody turned to Gabe and nodded toward the back door. “Want to go sit at the picnic table out back?”

He nodded and followed her, petting Boochy as they went outside.

“I interviewed Patrick,” she said, feeling more relaxed than she had in days. Gabe seemed to have that effect on her, and she didn’t mind. His presence just made her feel better somehow, even though he didn’t go out of his way to make her feel that way.

“What did he have to say? Anything useful about Anya or who she might have been involved with?” His attention shifted from Boochy to her.

“Brian Mather and Anya were good friends from school, apparently. And, Maria Coots and Anya were lifelong friends. Other than them, though, Anya didn’t seem to have any social connections that Patrick saw. He said she started out being a good worker. Strong. Went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure the customers were satisfied.”

“But something happened?”

She nodded. “He wasn’t sure what happened, but she started being nervous, anxious, distracted, and she would call out, leaving him in the lurch for her shifts. He did say that she and Maria fell out, and that he thought it had been over Sly Carrera.” She raised her eyebrows at him, waiting for his next question.

“They fell out over Sly? As in, one or both of them were dating him?”

“That’s what I thought, too, but I also interviewed Maria today.

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