Breakfast and Bedlam Read online

  “I’m Ashley. I was hoping you could answer a question or two for me.”

  Joss sat down across from Ashley. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Listen, I know this is going to sound really weird, but is it true that Becky Crawford works here?”

  Joss wasn’t sure where this was going or who Ashley was, but she was willing to entertain the conversation.

  “I’m not so sure she still works here, but she used to,” Joss answered honestly.

  “So, you know her, then? What kind of person is she?” Ashley asked.

  “What is this about, exactly?” Joss asked, hoping she wasn’t talking to a reporter or something.

  Ashley leaned down, whispering, “I think there’s something wrong. My friend Jane just started working for her, and I don’t know if you heard or not, but… but…” Ashley’s eyes began to well with tears.

  “I heard,” Joss said, not making Ashley say the words. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  “Thanks.” Ashley wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “I heard that she worked here, and I don’t know… From what Jane told me, Becky wasn’t that easy to work for and was maybe a little mean. I wanted to see if that was true.”

  Joss thought for a moment, something occurring to her. “Ashley, are you dating Garth?”

  Ashley’s face flushed. “How did you know that? Please don’t tell him I came here!”

  “That was my next question. Why can’t you talk to Garth about these things?” Joss asked.

  “I don’t want him to know I’m even looking into it at all. Garth doesn’t even know I was that close to Jane. He’d be so worried about me. I know Becky worked here, and I know what she did to you guys. He told me about all of that, and I’m sorry I didn’t just say it to begin with. It’s really not fair what she did to you guys.”

  Joss nodded. “Thanks for that. Why do you want to know about Becky?”

  “Garth also told me a few stories about you. He says all good things, I promise.” Ashley held out her hands.

  “I don’t think I can help,” Joss said, realizing what was going on.

  Garth had told Ashley about how Joss had gotten involved with a few murders in the past, and she thought Joss could help now.

  “Please. Just one question,” Ashley pleaded.

  “Fine. One,” Joss agreed, seeing the look on Ashley’s face.

  “Do you think it’s possible that Becky killed Jane?”

  That was the question Joss had been afraid of. Becky was a lot of things, but she wasn’t sure a killer was one of them. Although, until recently, she didn’t consider Becky a liar either and definitely not someone that would open a restaurant to compete with the one she’d been working at with coworkers that had been so good to her over the years. From everything that Joss had heard on the news, Jane’s death had been officially ruled as murder. She was found under the bridge, in water less than six inches deep with a stab wound in her back. Joss wanted answers just like Ashely did, but not only did Joss not have any to offer, she knew it would be wrong of her to hide anything from Garth.

  “I don’t think I can answer that. I thought I knew Becky, but it turns out I was wrong. I will say, though, that it doesn’t make much sense to hire an employee for your new business only to kill them before you actually open.”

  “True,” Ashley agreed. “Everyone loved Jane. She was so kind and honest and good. I’m really going to miss her.”

  “Why don’t you tell me a little about her? I’m a great listener.”

  Joss wasn’t going to involve Ashley in anything, because she’d never forgive herself if something happened to Garth’s girlfriend, but if Ashley was willing to share some things about Jane, maybe Joss would be able to learn enough to find someone who did have motive to kill her. Ashley may think that person was Becky, but short of hiring Jane to do the work, and then killing her so Becky didn’t need to pay her, there really wasn’t a very solid motive.

  Joss listened to Ashley as she told her funny stories about her and Jane, but so far, nothing was of any importance.

  “Oh, no!” Ashley said, ducking.

  “What?” Joss turned around.

  “Mrs. Krispin is here. She told me she wasn’t working today!”

  “You still talk to her?” Joss asked. “I thought she had her dryer fixed so she could quit having to go to the laundromat.”

  Ashley gave a small shrug. “I don’t know about all that, but yes, she still goes there. We hang out a lot and talk. I think she only comes in when it’s my shift. She’s so sweet. I think she loves working here but misses being able to sit at her window and watch her neighborhood happenings. I think that’s why she comes to see me so often. We chat, listen to all the conversations between the people at the laundromat, and we watch Becky. It’s kinda fun. I can’t let her see me, though!”

  Joss began to respond, planning on telling Ashley that it was possible for her to just tell Mrs. Krispin that she was there to eat food; after all, it was a diner when she watched Ashley all but melt away. Ashley was hiding under the table. Joss shook her head, trying to hide her laughter. Mrs. Krispin wasn’t a frightening person, but Ashley was young, maybe not even twenty. It seemed to Joss that Ashley was struggling with having Mrs. Krispin as her newfound bestie.

  Leaving the table, Joss called to Mrs. Krispin. “Hi!! I’m so happy you’re here. Can you come into the office and help me price a cake that someone ordered?”

  Thankfully, this was the truth. Someone really had ordered a birthday cake, so she didn’t have to worry about telling a lie. There were enough of those going around already.

  “Someone ordered a cake!?” Mrs. Krispin replied gleefully.

  “They did! Having you here is getting even better by the minute. Everyone loves a good baker,” Joss said, ushering Mrs. Krispin to the office so Ashley could sneak away unseen.

  Chapter Seven

  Joss had already been sitting in her car for fifteen minutes, just watching, waiting for something to happen. The idea of talking to Becky was bad enough, never mind having to do it at what was eventually going to become Becky’s Bistro. She was half hoping that there was going to be a big crashing sign coming down from the Universe, telling her to go away and leave everything be. Unfortunately, she wasn’t so lucky.

  “Is there a reason you’re here?” Becky asked, marching up to Joss’s car.

  “Yes. There is,” Joss said, wishing she’d parked farther away and kept her windows rolled up.

  “Oh, good. I was hoping you had a reason for stalking me.” Becky smirked.

  “Stalking you? I’m not stalking you. I only wanted to talk,” Joss said, taken aback by Becky’s harsh tone. It wasn’t like she had any room to be rude.

  “I get it. You’re mad, and probably for good reason. I’ll admit I shouldn’t have done what I did the way that I did it, but do you really think you are being any more professional by coming here and causing all your drama? You have no right, no matter what I did, to cause my business harm.”

  Joss had no idea what Becky was talking about. She’d done nothing to cause Becky or her business any harm, and never would. She wasn’t the sort of person that wished ill will on anyone, even if they sometimes deserved it.

  “I’m not mad. I’m surprised, disappointed, and maybe even a little fascinated that you were able to so easily hide something this big from us. It’s impressive, really. You had us believing that you needed our help.” Joss opened her car door, still not positive she even wanted to get out.

  “I did need your help, and like I said before, I went about it in the wrong way. Everyone at the diner was very good to me. When this opportunity popped up, there was no way I couldn’t act on it. I wasn’t lying about having family troubles. My daughter is struggling in college, and my husband was out of work, that’s why this meant so much. Owning my own place, of course I had to see where this could go. I needed to provide for my family, and I wasn’t about to let anything get in the way. I knew that if I said anythi
ng to anyone at the diner that I would have just ended up feeling guilty and then found a way to talk myself out of what I was doing.” Becky explained her story, but Joss wasn’t buying it.

  “Maybe that’s what the problem is. First, you assume that we wouldn’t support you, then you have a feeling you’d want to talk yourself out of what you were doing. Perhaps that was a good thing. You should have been honest.” Joss stood, facing Becky, not wanting to cause a fight, but feeling like she needed to get her point across.

  “So, your way of retaliation for my mistake is graffitiing my business, supergluing my door locks, posting on the Internet about meals we aren’t even serving, I mean, come on, Joss. You guys even made flyers and posted them around saying we were having an early opening. People flocked here, which was exciting, but we aren’t open, as you can clearly see. We disappointed people even before we opened. I guess that’s karma, right? You feel disappointed, so making my future customers feel the same way makes it all okay, is that it?” Becky’s voice was getting louder.

  “Becky. No.” Joss shook her head. “I didn’t do any of those things.”

  “I’m supposed to believe that?” Becky challenged.

  Joss had had enough. “Fine, you don’t believe me, that’s okay. How about this? Are you the one sending people into the diner to say that our food made them sick?”

  “What?!” Becky exclaimed. “Why would I do that? Oh,” Becky said, finally realizing Joss’ point.

  “I know it makes sense that we’d go after you, and you’d go after us considering everything that is going on but did you ever think that someone else was responsible for this?” Joss asked.

  It was true, Joss hadn’t done anything that Becky had mentioned, and since Luke and Lorraine were out of town, they hadn’t either. Other than Tyla, who she one hundred percent knew did not do anything to Becky, the only other people were Garth and Dina. She’d like to think they hadn’t done anything either, but Joss wasn’t stupid. Dina had come into the diner the other morning, admitting to being at Becky’s new place, and was afraid Verona was going to come after her. As if all of that wasn’t weird enough, she was frantically trying to hide superglue. Had Dina superglued the locks on Becky’s door? Joss didn’t know it for a fact, of course, but it wasn’t hard to guess. However, it wasn’t her place, nor the time, to tell Becky about it. Dina, on the other hand, was going to get an earful.

  “I suppose you’re right.” Becky nodded. “I don’t see who would do that to me, though, or even you guys. I’m not open yet, who could I have possibly made angry? I hate to ask this, but is it possible you guys really did serve food that made someone sick?”

  Joss sighed. “Anything is possible, but you know how diligent we are. Mixed with the stuff happening to you, it just doesn’t add up.”

  “What if there is another restaurant in town opening up or one that is closing down because we might take their business?” Becky mused.

  Joss didn’t know the answer, but she did know that she was still upset with Becky, and was positive that Luke would be as well. Not only that, but Ashley coming in and asking if Becky could have killed Jane was more than enough to make Joss leery of Becky. If everything that happened with the diner and the bistro hadn’t occurred, maybe she’d just automatically stick up for her friend, but since it was clear Joss hadn’t really known Becky very well at all, she wasn’t there to make friends with her, or apologize, or to even find common ground. She just wanted to know what Becky was thinking.

  “I don’t know if that’s the case. If things have been happening here and at the diner, then it’s something that should be looked into.” Joss was getting frustrated. She wanted to believe Becky, but couldn’t manage. “Aside from that, it’s pretty obvious that you no longer work at the diner, so please, come in and get anything you may have left there and your last paycheck.”

  “That was abrupt. Jeez,” Becky commented, looking annoyed.

  “Luke’s still out of town, we are short-staffed as it is, and now you’re gone,” Joss began.

  “Luke’s not out of town. I just saw him a couple of days ago.” Becky raised a brow.

  “You must be mistaken,” Joss said.

  “I’m not. You don’t think I’m paying attention? The moment I saw him, I panicked.”

  Becky had to be mistaken. Luke was out of town, and if he was back, she’d have known about it. Not only would he have come back to the diner, but Joss was housesitting for him. Surely, if Luke was home, Joss would be aware.

  “I guess you’re right. I must have gotten my days confused,” Joss said, getting back in her car.

  As she drove away, she gave Becky a polite wave and tried to hide any look of concern that might have been showing on her face. Joss suddenly felt like she couldn’t trust anyone who worked at the diner.

  Chapter Eight

  “Woooo, boy, is Luke fired up.” Dina whistled, pulling some orange juice from the fridge.

  “I bet,” Joss said, still reeling from when Becky said she’d seen Luke in town. “Do you think we could talk for a second?”

  “Uh-oh. Am I in trouble with the boss?” Dina asked, cracking herself up. “Wanna sit out front?”

  “There aren’t too many customers right now, and Tyla just got here, so we should be able to take a few minutes in the office,” Joss said, already on her way.

  “Did I do something wrong? I was just teasing when I called you the boss. I know Luke put you in charge,” Dina said, entering the office a minute behind Joss.

  Joss was impressed with how down to earth Dina was becoming. Slowly, very slowly, but she was coming around. It wasn’t about who was in charge, in fact, Joss wished she wasn’t.

  “Regarding your job performance, no. You’ve done nothing wrong. That’s not what this is about.” Joss frowned, unsure how to bring up the issue at hand. “Dina, can you be honest with me?”

  “Yikes.” Dina leaned against the wall.

  “Pretty much.” Joss took a breath. “What did you do to Becky’s new place?”

  “I…” Dina hesitated.

  “Don’t forget I was here when you raced in like a crazy person worried the cops were after you,” Joss reminded her.

  “I went there and looked around. I wanted to see if she was copying us. I already told you, Joss, she stole my idea.” Dina slid down the wall.

  “The sign? It couldn’t have been that similar.” Joss hoped she was right.

  “It was almost the same as the one I created. I know I must have been acting strangely that day and probably not making a ton of sense, but I know what I saw. She has this nice wooden sign with the name of her place on it. It’s blue and white, and exactly what I told her I had in mind for the diner. I was going to have something made for Luke and Lorraine for Christmas. I already ordered it. How could she do that?”

  “Wow. I’m sorry, Dina. I’d say I can’t believe she’d do something like that, but…” Joss felt bad for Dina but still needed to know what she’d done. If she had vandalized Becky’s building, it wasn’t okay. “Did you maybe do something to try to get back at her for that?”

  “I guess.” Dina nodded slowly, looking like a little kid.

  “Did you put flyers out saying she was open, did you graffiti her walls? Did you…” Joss rapid fired the questions.

  “What?! Of course not. What kind of monster do you think I am? I just put a little superglue in her door lock. Thought it would jam her up a bit,” Dina admitted.

  Joss, for just a second, understood where Dina had come from. She didn’t agree, and wouldn’t have done it herself, but she understood.

  “You can’t do things like that to people, no matter how mad you get. You have to take responsibility for what you did.”

  “What about all that other stuff you just mentioned? That wasn’t me. If I admit to one thing, I’ll be blamed for the rest,” Dina pointed out, knowing she was right. “The guy who owns the grocery store saw me lurking around and asked what I was doing. The minute he said so
mething, I ran away. Not only would I not do such heinous stuff, even if I tried, I’d have gotten caught.”

  Joss knew that was probably the truth. Dina wasn’t exactly the most subtle in anything that she did, so multiple means of vandalism, and hanging flyers around town was something Dina wouldn’t have been able to execute without drawing attention to herself.

  “I believe you, and maybe you are right, but once all of this blows over, I think you should tell Becky what you did,” Joss suggested, hoping Dina would agree.

  “I will. I’ll even pay for whatever it cost her to fix the lock,.” Dina agreed, getting up from the floor.

  “Thanks. We should probably get back out there and check on Tyla,” Joss said.