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  Sean stared at her with a serious look on his face.

  “Look, Sean, maybe I’m more than a little bit interested. After all, it happened where I work. In our town. Maybe I can figure something out, you know? Plus, it’s not fair that the wrong man could be sitting in jail for murder right now.”

  “How do you know he’s the wrong man?” Sean asked.

  “I don’t know for sure. But like I said, I feel that the killer is still out there.”

  “Whoa. Heavy stuff. Just promise me you’ll stay out of trouble,” Sean said.

  “Of course,” she smiled. She didn’t want him or anyone else to worry about her.

  Sean switched gears, gazing at her adoringly.

  “Are we still on for the movie on Thursday?”

  “Unless anything else this dramatic happens, sure.”

  Ashley gave him a big smile. She liked him so much. Just not “that way,” as they said. She hoped he didn’t think she was leading him on if she went to the movies with him. She couldn’t bear to hurt his feelings.

  “Great!” he said. “And stop back in tomorrow. I’m making cherry strudel.”

  Ashley groaned. She shouldn’t, but she knew she would. She smiled at him.

  “Save me a piece.”

  As she drove off, she started to think about Darren’s wife, Julia. It sounded like she was a very hurt woman. And that hurt could lead to a desire for revenge. But could she really be so upset with her husband as to murder him? Ashley couldn’t wait to run into her and get a feel about what kind of person she was. She had a hunch that Darren’s wife would show up in the bakery sooner than later.

  “What a strange day,” she mused.

  Chapter Seven

  The minute she walked in her door of her apartment, Ashley noticed Charlie had vomited on the floor.

  “Probably a hairball again,” she thought. When she went to clean it up, she noticed he was on the other end of the living room floor looking listless. His eyes were glassy, and he looked sad.

  “What’s wrong, little boy?” She stroked his fur, but he didn’t purr as usual. She immediately felt guilty again. He could just have an upset stomach, or he could need a visit to the vet, or he could still be mourning the loss of his former furry companion.

  Emily had been the sweetest cat and a perfect companion to him, but, unfortunately, cancer had taken her life. It had been a tough time. With Emily gone, Charlie lay around all day alone.

  “Time to go to the vet and get everything checked out. Then I promise that we will go get a new friend for you.”

  She stroked him again, and he seemed to say, “Thanks, Mom. I don’t like being alone,” and put his paw on her hand.

  A new kitty could never replace Emily, but having a friend in his life again to hang out with when she was gone would make him happier. She had heard him yowling as he walked through the house some nights. Just like a person crying.

  ***

  With that thought in mind, Ashley immediately got on the phone and called her mom. Her mother picked up with her usual chipper demeanor.

  “Hello, sweetheart! How are you doing with all this murder stuff? I was so sorry to hear about it. Who could imagine this in our nice little town? Are you going to be okay? Is the restaurant going to open again? What about a new job? Do you think you’ll find one? If not, your father and I can help you for a while,” April Crane said.

  Ashley smiled to herself. Her mom always asked a million questions at once. She was always fussing over her daughter and checking up on her. Even though Ashley was an adult and had been on her own for quite some time, she really would always be a baby in her mom’s eyes.

  Sometimes Ashley got annoyed with it, but she knew her mom meant well. Besides, it was better than the alternative. She had heard stories of parents who didn’t care from some of her friends, and she always felt lucky that she was the center of her mom’s universe. Besides, her mom always had the last word on everything anyway by saying just one sentence.

  “Just wait till you have a child, you’ll see. You never stop worrying.”

  “Copy that,” Burt Crane added.

  That’s what Ashley’s dad always said. Sometimes she felt her parents were a comedy team without knowing it. They couldn’t be goofier. Her mom was like an I Love Lucy caricature, and her dad walked around looking clueless but yet always managed to slip in a word or phrase that meant he had been listening all the time.

  “Come on over for dinner tonight, honey. We will make you feel all better,” April suggested.

  “Thanks, Mom, but the reason I called is that I need to go to the shelter and get a kitty friend for Charlie and thought you might come with me. He’s been getting sadder and sadder since Emily died, and I can’t put off getting him a companion any longer,” Ashley explained.

  “Oh, honey! My neighbor’s cat had kittens, and they’re trying to find homes for them when they’re weaned! Why don’t you come over and get one of them?” April asked.

  “Mom, I think a little kitten might be too much for Charlie. I was thinking of a more mature cat that wouldn’t annoy him with too much energy.”

  “Don’t be silly. These little kittens are so cute. And they all need homes. So come over for dinner tonight and take a look at them. I’ll let the neighbor know. Have to go, honey, your father has put on a sweater that’s too tight for him, and he’s struggling to get it over his head at the moment.”

  She heard her mom yelling at her dad to calm down and that she would help him, and the phone stayed on as she heard muffled cussing sounds coming from her father in the background.

  “Burt, let me turn you around and pull the sweater down. Stop struggling!” April shouted.

  There was no use. The conversation was over, and she was going to her parents’ for dinner. The image of her dad struggling to get the sweater on and her mom probably spinning him around and around was too much. She started to chuckle as she hung up the phone.

  “Well, Charlie, looks like we might bring home a kitten for you. I hope you’ll get along.”

  Charlie gave her a look that seemed to say, “I’ll get along with anybody as long as they recognize that I’m the boss” as he started to purr. Ashley smiled to herself. He was the boss, all right.

  ***

  Speaking of bosses, Ashley’s was dead, and she wasn’t sure if she would still have a job, so she opened up her laptop and went to the job sites. Just before she started to search, her phone rang.

  Ashley was distracted on her computer and didn’t look at the caller ID.

  “Hello?”

  “Ashley?” It was a deep male voice that was unrecognizable to her.

  “Hi. Who’s this?” Ashley asked.

  “I’m a friend of Chris Durst. He’s left town and wanted me to tell you not to repeat what he told you in the kitchen about Darren the other day. Did you hear that? Don’t repeat it to anyone.”

  Ashley started to ask a question, but the man hung up. She looked at the caller ID, and it said “private number.” Of course.

  Her mind started to spin. Why did Chris leave town? In investigations, you weren’t supposed to do that. She had seen him talking to the police the day after the murder. Surely they had told him to stick around. And why would he have a stranger call her? Was he involved in some way with Darren’s murder and was trying to frighten her into not disclosing what he had said in the kitchen?

  Ashley instantly felt sick. He did have that awful look on his face the day of the murder. And now she was also afraid that he could get very angry with her if she divulged that information.

  She felt even more strongly that Jimmy the dishwasher wasn’t the right suspect after all. At that moment, she reaffirmed to herself that any sleuthing she could do to help solve the case was totally necessary.

  “Ordinary people like me can really help,” she thought to herself. “I may only be a cook, but I’m going to follow my instincts and see what I turn up.”

  She then reminded herself that she h
adn’t called Detective Thompson yet to tell him what had happened the other day with Jimmy roaring back into the restaurant parking lot. And now she had to tell him about this call.

  She picked up the phone and dialed the number he had given her. It went to voicemail.

  “Detective Thompson, this is Ashley Crane. Please call me soon. Important. Thank you.”

  Suddenly, she realized how hungry she was. Time to get to her parents’ place for a home-cooked meal.

  Chapter Eight

  After the threatening call, Ashley had never been so happy to see her parents for dinner.

  Ashley’s mother April flung open the door and gave her daughter a big hug.

  “Oh, honey, you look like you’re starving! I’ve made a big dinner with all your favorites. Now you just sit and relax and talk to your dad in the living room while I finish up,” April said.

  Ashley smiled to herself. Her mom’s cooking was not gourmet by any means, but she did a great job with comfort foods, and that was what Ashley craved at the moment. She could smell the mac and cheese and meatloaf as she walked into the living room, and her stomach started to rumble.

  Her dad Burt sat in his favorite chair yelling at the TV.

  “Block him, you bum! What’s wrong with you?” Burt said.

  “Hi, Dad,” Ashley remarked.

  “Hi, honey. Oh my word, he’s not going to catch the ball. Come on, left, left, left. That’s it, get it, get it, and get it. Oooohhhhh nooooo! Numbskull. I knew he’d drop it.” Burt sighed. “My team is worthless.”

  “Well, Dad, there’s always the next game.”

  “Aww, who cares? Bunch of lightweights. They’re going to miss the playoffs anyway. You heard it here. Burt Crane says so.” He let out a long sigh and tossed his team hat on the floor.

  “How about watching some news?” Ashley said.

  “News is all bad. I can’t stand it. How about our favorite game show?” he grinned.

  Ashley smiled. “Sure, that sounds good.”

  While her dad changed the channel, she noticed he looked more tired than usual and wondered if he was getting proper sleep or if he wasn’t feeling well. He only worked part time now at a garden center, but maybe that was getting to be too much for him.

  “How are you feeling, Dad? Getting enough sleep? Is your job tiring you out? Have you been to the doctor for a checkup recently?”

  “You sound like your mother,” he grumbled.

  “Hey, just checking.”

  She gave him a pat on his back.

  “Doc is an idiot too. Said I need more prescriptions for my heart. I’m darn full of medicine already. Those drug companies are making a killing by slowly killing us,” he groused.

  Her mom shouted as she breezed into the living room. “Dinner!”

  “Copy that!” her father said.

  Everyone sat in silence at the table for a few minutes as they eagerly ate their food. Savory meatloaf, creamy mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, buttery green beans, warm and soft bread rolls. Ashley was in heaven. It was a carbohydrate delight, and she loved every bite. Tonight, it was all about the comfort food.

  “Delicious, Mom,” Ashley said as she shoveled in another mouthful.

  “Copy that,” Burt added, as he reached for another spoonful of mashed potatoes.

  “Thank you. It’s just simple food,” April replied.

  Burt grinned at his wife. “April, simple is best.”

  “Yeah, Mom, your ingredients are so fresh,” Ashley said.

  “Well, you’re the real cook. You should know. You make all that fancy stuff. I’m always happy when you love my simple cooking.” April beamed.

  “Sure, I can make some fancy stuff, but you know, we have home-style family dinners at the restaurant every week, and they’re always packed. I think everyone loves comfort food the best.”

  “So then, you still have a job there after that awful murder?” April asked, wide-eyed.

  “I thought they’d shut down the place while they investigated that bum of a dishwasher for knocking off the owner,” Burt said.

  “First, it is shut down at the moment. Second, why does everyone automatically think the dishwasher did it? Because the news says so?” Ashley frowned.

  “Well, dear, they seemed to make a good case as to his motives,” April stated.

  “He sounded like a bum the moment I read about him. PTTA or something like that.”

  “PTSD, Dad,” Ashley said.

  “Bunch of malarkey. Fancy term for just being an angry bum. So he had it tough when he was at war. Who didn’t?” Her father took another spoonful of mac and cheese.

  “Burt, aren’t you eating too much? Remember what the doctor said about your cholesterol.”

  “If you want me to watch my cholesterol, don’t set out mac and cheese in front of me, woman. Right, Ashley?”

  “Sorry, Mom, but he’s right. I’m having more myself. After all that’s happened, I don’t care about a few extra pounds anyway,” Ashley said.

  “Honey, why are you so hard on yourself about your weight? You’re just curvy, that’s all. Men love a little meat on the bones.”

  “Roger!” her father said. “Look at your mom, she’s never been skinny. Who needs skinny?”

  April glared at her husband. “So you’re saying I’m fat?”

  Burt glared back. “Good Lord, woman, did you just hear me?”

  Ashley sighed. “Uhhh, don’t forget Ray said that one of the reasons he dumped me was because I had put on weight.”

  “Oh my goodness, that boy was a fool,” April declared.

  “No joking,” Burt grumbled. “Hope I don’t run into him, ‘cause I’ll give him a piece of my mind.”

  April reached over the table and patted her daughter’s hand.

  “You know you’re pretty, don’t you? Everyone has always said so. And if it wasn’t for those silly fashion magazines advertising size-zero bodies, I don’t think you’d ever have any doubt about yourself.”

  “Thanks, Mom. I know you both think I’m great. I hope I find another man who thinks so too,” Ashley said.

  “You listen to me, young lady. A woman who is kind and has a sense of humor and can cook is number one in a man’s book, let me tell you.” Her father jabbed his fork out as he made his point.

  “Burt, put down that fork before you take someone’s eye out,” April said.

  Just then, they heard the smashing of glass coming from the living room. Burt jumped up and grabbed an antique sword from his collector’s cabinet in the hallway and ran toward the living room.

  “Stay here!” Burt yelled.

  The women froze in their chairs.

  “What the…?” he shouted.

  “Dad, what is it?” Ashley asked.

  Ashley and her mom ran towards the living room to find their father shock still and looking at the floor. A huge rock was on the carpet, and pieces of the shattered glass window were everywhere.

  “Stop! Don’t move closer! There’s glass all over the floor. I’m going to call the police,” Burt said.

  Burt backed out and made the call from the kitchen.

  Ashley just kept staring at the broken window and the huge rock that was on the floor.

  Who would do this to her parents? They were a nice couple who didn’t have any enemies. What could possibly be a motive?

  Then she froze. Oh no! Someone must’ve followed her here tonight and done this. It must be connected to the phone call from that stranger. She hadn’t brought it up with her parents, as she didn’t want to frighten them, but she knew she’d have to come clean with them about it now. She dreaded having her parents worrying about her. Not to mention she worried about her dad’s heart with all this news.

  Ashley’s fright turned to anger. If they had been sitting in the living room when that rock came through the window, one of them could have gotten really hurt. The thought of her parents being in danger made her blood boil. She was more determined than ever to get to the bottom of all of
this.

  Between the animosity at work between the coworkers, then Darren’s murder, then the threatening phone call, and now the rock through the window tonight, she’d had enough. She was never more ready to talk to the detective and made a mental note to call him again in the morning.

  ***

  After Ashley’s parents filed a police report and the cops left, Burt cleaned up the glass and patched the window with a wood panel he had in the garage.

  After that, Ashley told her parents about the strange phone call and that she thought it was connected to what had happened that night.

  “I didn’t want to tell you when I got here for dinner because I didn’t want to worry you. I’m going to the detective tomorrow and talk to him about everything,” Ashley said.

  “Honey, you can tell us anything. Of course we will worry, but please just tell us in the future,” April said.

  “Roger,” Burt added. He looked very tense.

  “I’m sorry. I will from now on. I better get back to my apartment and check up on Charlie and get to bed early. I’ll call you tomorrow,” Ashley said.

  April completely freaked out.

  “You can’t go back to your apartment alone after what happened! Now that you’ve told us what’s going on, it’s not safe. You’re staying with your father and me until all of this gets resolved.”

  “Copy that!” Burt said.

  Ashley looked at her dad’s face and noticed a twitch underneath his glare.

  “But I’ve got Charlie at my apartment, and my computer and all my clothes. I have to go home. I have to be up early tomorrow and start job hunting and…” her voice then trailed off.

  “And what?” Burt stared at her.

  “I’m going to get to the bottom of this. I’m going to try to figure out whatever I can. I can’t have us being threatened like this,” Ashley declared.

  “Ashley, leave it to the police. After what happened tonight, do you really want to put yourself in more danger by snooping around?” Burt’s voice was firm.