nodded, then left the shop without another word.
“Have you lost your mind?” Maddy asked. “I thought for a minute there he was going to shoot you.”
“No, Kevin would never do that,” I said, shaking from the confrontation. I was like that, calm in the actual battle, but full of nerves afterward. I guess it was the best order for things to happen, come to think of it.
Maddy asked, “What makes you so sure? I saw the fire in his eyes.”
“Too much paperwork,” I said as I gathered up Sheila’s dirty dishes. “Where do you suppose she ran off to?”
“I have no idea, especially with a free dessert on its way.”
I looked at the bag, then asked, “What did you get?”
“Paul had just finished icing freshly baked brownies when I walked in, so I got two of them.”
“Perfect. I’ll take mine now.”
Maddy held the bag away from me. “Not so fast. I didn’t think you could bring yourself to eat anything.”
“What can I say? Sheila was a good influence on me. My appetite’s suddenly returned.”
“Okay,” Maddy said reluctantly. “I guess I can share, but I get first pick.”
“I can live with that,” I said.
The brownie, just like everything else Paul made, was delicious. It was a huge square, and I doubted I’d be able to finish it, but much to my surprise, I managed just fine. I regretted the calories, but only for a split second. After all, there were times of stress that demanded I spoil myself a little, and if being openly regarded as a murderer wasn’t one of them, I didn’t want to come face-to-face with what might rank as worse.
“Now that you’ve gorged on sweets, what do we do?” Maddy asked.
“I can see you didn’t have any trouble with yours, either,” I said.
“That’s beside the point,” she said as she wadded up the wrapper of her own late, great brownie. “You know me—I have a high metabolism.”
“And I’ve got a sweet tooth the size of the Smoky Mountains,” I said. “It’s great having an excuse to give in once in a while, isn’t it?”
“Be that as it may,” Maddy said, “we can’t just sit here and wait for the killer to fall into our laps.”
“You’re right,” I said as I looked around the empty pizzeria. “There’s no sense staying open if no one comes in. Let’s make a sign for the door. Then we can head into town and see what we can find out about Richard Olsen.”
“Shouldn’t we look for his sister first?” Maddy asked as she wiped down the table we’d been using.
“I wouldn’t know where to start looking, would you?”
“We could try Richard’s house,” Maddy said.
I thought about it and quickly decided that it was as good a plan as any. “Okay, then that’s what we should do.”
Maddy smiled. “Do you mean the great and powerful Oz is actually taking one of my suggestions now?”
“When it makes sense, I do,” I said as I scrawled out a note on the inside of a new pizza box. I couldn’t think of what to write, so I just put, “Back later,” and held it out for her inspection.
Maddy read it, and as I taped the cardboard to the glass, she said, “You’ve got the heart of a poet, Sis.”
“Hey, it gets the point across, doesn’t it? Now, are you going to stand there criticizing my signage skills, or are we going to do something a little more productive?”
“Let’s go,” she said.
I turned off the lights and locked the front door, something I hated doing during our usual working hours. But if I wanted to stay open on a long-term basis, I was going to have to forgo some cash flow temporarily, no matter what my late husband might have thought about it. I hoped he would have understood, but since he’d never been accused of murder himself, I couldn’t be positive. Sometimes my dear husband could have tunnel vision when it came to the bottom line. I’d seen it as my job to give him some perspective from time to time.
At the moment, I would have traded having his arms around me for ten seconds
“Have you lost your mind?” Maddy asked. “I thought for a minute there he was going to shoot you.”
“No, Kevin would never do that,” I said, shaking from the confrontation. I was like that, calm in the actual battle, but full of nerves afterward. I guess it was the best order for things to happen, come to think of it.
Maddy asked, “What makes you so sure? I saw the fire in his eyes.”
“Too much paperwork,” I said as I gathered up Sheila’s dirty dishes. “Where do you suppose she ran off to?”
“I have no idea, especially with a free dessert on its way.”
I looked at the bag, then asked, “What did you get?”
“Paul had just finished icing freshly baked brownies when I walked in, so I got two of them.”
“Perfect. I’ll take mine now.”
Maddy held the bag away from me. “Not so fast. I didn’t think you could bring yourself to eat anything.”
“What can I say? Sheila was a good influence on me. My appetite’s suddenly returned.”
“Okay,” Maddy said reluctantly. “I guess I can share, but I get first pick.”
“I can live with that,” I said.
The brownie, just like everything else Paul made, was delicious. It was a huge square, and I doubted I’d be able to finish it, but much to my surprise, I managed just fine. I regretted the calories, but only for a split second. After all, there were times of stress that demanded I spoil myself a little, and if being openly regarded as a murderer wasn’t one of them, I didn’t want to come face-to-face with what might rank as worse.
“Now that you’ve gorged on sweets, what do we do?” Maddy asked.
“I can see you didn’t have any trouble with yours, either,” I said.
“That’s beside the point,” she said as she wadded up the wrapper of her own late, great brownie. “You know me—I have a high metabolism.”
“And I’ve got a sweet tooth the size of the Smoky Mountains,” I said. “It’s great having an excuse to give in once in a while, isn’t it?”
“Be that as it may,” Maddy said, “we can’t just sit here and wait for the killer to fall into our laps.”
“You’re right,” I said as I looked around the empty pizzeria. “There’s no sense staying open if no one comes in. Let’s make a sign for the door. Then we can head into town and see what we can find out about Richard Olsen.”
“Shouldn’t we look for his sister first?” Maddy asked as she wiped down the table we’d been using.
“I wouldn’t know where to start looking, would you?”
“We could try Richard’s house,” Maddy said.
I thought about it and quickly decided that it was as good a plan as any. “Okay, then that’s what we should do.”
Maddy smiled. “Do you mean the great and powerful Oz is actually taking one of my suggestions now?”
“When it makes sense, I do,” I said as I scrawled out a note on the inside of a new pizza box. I couldn’t think of what to write, so I just put, “Back later,” and held it out for her inspection.
Maddy read it, and as I taped the cardboard to the glass, she said, “You’ve got the heart of a poet, Sis.”
“Hey, it gets the point across, doesn’t it? Now, are you going to stand there criticizing my signage skills, or are we going to do something a little more productive?”
“Let’s go,” she said.
I turned off the lights and locked the front door, something I hated doing during our usual working hours. But if I wanted to stay open on a long-term basis, I was going to have to forgo some cash flow temporarily, no matter what my late husband might have thought about it. I hoped he would have understood, but since he’d never been accused of murder himself, I couldn’t be positive. Sometimes my dear husband could have tunnel vision when it came to the bottom line. I’d seen it as my job to give him some perspective from time to time.
At the moment, I would have traded having his arms around me for ten seconds
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