scene I’d watched while at dinner the other night. Had it just been a sister comforting her older brother? I wanted to scream. She had been at the top of my suspect pool. Mostly because I felt like she was hiding something. Because she was. She was hiding the fact she was Steve’s sister. Now I felt like a fool.
“Yep. So can we go eat? Or do you want me to arrest someone else who didn’t have a hand in Nan Gunter’s murder?”
He just stood there, waiting for my answer. Candice was still going through the shelves. Looking at her face now, I could see the resemblance even through the window glass. “You must be hungry; you’re grumpy.”
He paused a minute, then chuckled and took my arm. “I love you, Jill Gardner. Yes, I am hungry. Sorry about snapping at you.”
“And in front of my staff.” I put the back of my hand on my forehead. “How will I ever recover their respect?”
Now Deek was laughing too. He called after us, “See you in the morning.”
I just waved and kept going. Josh and Kyle were busy talking to shoppers as we walked by and I glanced over at the Drunken Art Studio. Meredith was handing out a flyer to someone, but her gaze was on us. When she saw me notice she turned away and started chatting to the person in front of her.
“That’s weird,” I muttered as we strolled through the dwindling crowd.
Greg’s gaze scanned the area around us. “I don’t see anything. What are you talking about?”
I kept my gaze forward and pointed toward Austin’s Bike Shop. “Don’t look back, but Meredith was watching us.”
“Are you sure? When I looked over there she was talking to a tourist.” He didn’t look back, but I felt his body tense beside me.
“Positive. Maybe Neal told her about his slip and she’s worried I’m going to tell you.” I shook my head. “I don’t know how she stays married to him. From what I see, he’s kind of a screwup.”
“But she loves him,” Greg said with a sarcastic laugh. “Maybe people should start thinking about who they fall in love with before the emotion takes over their brain.”
“Like you and me.” I poked him. “You were on the fence about us for a long time.”
He squeezed me. “Not true. I fell in love with you as soon as I was sure you hadn’t killed Miss Emily for her money and after your background check came back clean.”
“Maybe that’s the new dating matchup. You sign up and the system runs a credit and background check on you. Then your potential suitors can check out your stats before seeing if the two of you have chemistry.” I pointed to Diamond Lille’s. The street had been closed for the weekend, so Lille had set up picnic tables outside in her parking lot. “That’s fun.”
“It’s smart. It doubles her customer space. Do you want to eat inside or out?”
We crossed the street as I considered our options. The weather was spot-on perfect. We had about an hour before the sun set and the town’s streetlights would turn on. “Let’s eat out here. That way we can enjoy the festival too.”
“Sounds great.” Greg steered me toward a table on the edge where he could watch the street along with the diners. We passed by Tim and Toby, who were sharing a table and already destroying a couple of Tiny’s three-patty hamburgers. We waved but didn’t stop. The guys needed their downtime, and besides, they both were eating like they’d missed their last thirty meals.
We settled into a table and a young waitress came by and filled our water glasses and gave us silverware and a menu. Her name tag said Ariel, and I knew I hadn’t met her before. But Lille went through servers like a glass of water poured into a strainer. I was surprised that Tiny and Carrie had stayed with her so long. As a boss, Lille was known to be harsh and demanding. I left that to my aunt. I was a good boss; she was the disciplinarian.
“Did I tell you that Aunt Jackie’s talking about stepping out of shift work and just doing the management side of the business?” I asked Greg after we’d put in our orders. He’d gotten the pot roast, but I’d gone with a grilled fish dinner with veggies and a side salad. Amy’s wedding was next weekend.
“It’s about time. I’ve been meaning to talk to you