Murder in Waiting - Lynn Cahoon Page 0,12
he’s gone. He was just talking to me, then he got hit by a truck? What is going on?”
“Probably a drunk driver. Someone who was still partying from last night.” My aunt went over to the counter and poured a cup of coffee. “Here, drink this. It’s been a crazy morning.”
“That’s for sure.” I eyed one of the brownies sitting in the case.
“Fine, have a brownie too.” She glanced at the clock. “Your shift is almost over and Deek’s already here. Why don’t you go to Lille’s and grab some lunch instead of feeding a sugar high?”
“Greg wants to talk to me. So I’ll stay here until he comes in. He’s probably going to be too busy to eat too.” I rubbed my temples, trying to will away the headache I knew was coming.
“Well, keep yourself busy instead of just sitting there, freaking out.” My aunt nodded to the back room. “We have new books that just came in this morning. You could put them into inventory and then stock the shelves.”
“I was going to do that on my shift.” Deek closed his computer. When he saw the look my aunt gave him, he stopped short, laptop under his arm. “Of course, I could do something else.”
“I’ll put them into inventory and you can stock the shelves. I think we had a pretty big order this week. You might have to change up some of the shelves to make room.” I ate my brownie in two bites. Then I stood with my coffee and went around the counter. “Let me know when Greg comes in.”
Aunt Jackie put her hand on my arm as I passed her. “You couldn’t have changed anything. You weren’t close enough to stop that guy.”
“I know. And what could I do against that large a truck anyway?” I gave her a quick hug. “But thanks for checking on me.”
Back in the office, I grabbed some scissors and started opening boxes. We had a large trash can we put the box stuffing in when we unpacked. Most of the stuff got reused; we sent out a good number of mail orders. Or we did since we’d hired Deek. The guy had a knack with online marketing. If we ever taught him the accounting system or signed over the bank account for his use, he’d be the one employee Coffee, Books, and More couldn’t do without. So we kept him out of the long-term planning as well as the accounting. We had to have some secrets, right? I’d unpacked all the boxes and was about halfway through keying the books into our inventory when Greg walked into the office.
“Glad to see you keeping busy, but shouldn’t you have left hours ago? I called your cell to see if you were at Lille’s or home. When I didn’t get an answer, I came here.”
I pushed back my hair out of my face and blew off a line of stuffing that hadn’t wanted to leave when I’d picked up the book. “You said to stay nearby.”
“I didn’t mean—” Greg pulled off his baseball hat and put it over his head backward. “Anyway, sorry if I wasn’t clear. Come have lunch with me. I can take your statement and eat. And I’m starving.”
“You really should eat more than doughnuts for breakfast. You need solid food.” I grabbed my purse and walked out toward the coffee shop area. “You need to take better care of yourself.”
“I have a girlfriend to gripe at me for these things. Why would I change?” He picked up my tote and groaned at the weight. “How many books are you taking home? Thank God we have built-in bookshelves.”
I smiled at his mention of our home. Our bookshelves. Our lives. “Let’s go, then, before your other girlfriend finds out about me.”
Chapter 4
We were halfway through lunch when I realized Greg hadn’t asked me anything about the truck or what I’d seen.
“We really need to see a show while we’re there. There are a lot of stars that retire to the Strip and just do shows for the bigger casinos. I can’t blame them. It must be hell living out of a suitcase most of the year to tour the new album.” He finished off his mashed potatoes. I’d noticed that he typically ate those first, then his meat, and, finally, his veggies. Greg belonged to the Clean Plate Club, but the way he got there was totally different from my eating process.
I set down my fork and