1 Murder on Sugar Creek Read online

Maggie laughed nervously. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “The interviews. You said you interviewed Mac’s wife and his cousin to help me. But that story in the paper just talked about what a great man he was. It didn’t say nothing about me, about how I’m innocent.”

  Maggie couldn’t bear to look at Joe and had almost as difficult a time facing Kevin. “Kevin, the column was supposed to focus on Mac and the people who loved him. Even if it wasn’t you, somebody killed him.”

  “What do you mean ‘if’ it wasn’t me? I didn’t do it.” Kevin leaned his head back and looked toward the sky. “I know a man is dead and I ain’t saying that’s right. Believe me, I want the killer captured as much as anybody else. No, more than anybody else. But I’m a victim, too. I don’t have many people on my side. Mom ran out years ago, my brother split a few months ago, and even my mammaw thinks I’m guilty, so it’s just Dad. And you. At least that’s what I thought. But you’re just telling me what I want to hear.”

  Maggie tried to reason with Kevin, but he turned his back and walked away.

  “He’s not the only person you’re just telling what you think they want to hear,” Joe said.

  “I’m sorry,” Maggie said as she forced herself to meet Joe’s gaze.

  “You should be. This will not happen again.” Joe stared at Maggie with the same intensity she usually saw him direct at Tyler. “You will not allow your personal agenda to dictate copy. Do you understand?”

  “All too well,” Maggie said.

  Chapter Eight

  Maggie’s Mexican lunch only served to compound her guilt. She didn’t indulge in sugar-filled snacks, but the fatty meal left her bloated. She needed to relieve stress and work off some of the extra calories she had been consuming, so she joined Edie at the gym. Maggie completed five miles on the elliptical machine before her physical exhaustion matched her mental state.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Edie asked as they sat on a bench outside the cardio room.

  “I’ve behaved badly.”

  “You?” Edie asked.

  Just as Maggie prepared to unload on Edie, a man approached the bench.

  “Hey, Edie,” he said.

  “Oh, hi,” Edie answered.

  “Ben said you guys worked out here. Is he with you?”

  “No, I’m here with my BFF. Maggie, this is Luke Anderson.”

  Luke extended a hand. “The newspaper reporter. Good to meet you.”

  “It’s good to meet you, too,” Maggie answered as she shook Luke’s hand.

  “Luke works at the bank with us,” Edie explained. “Actually, he works in the same department as Ben.”

  “Speaking of Ben,” Luke said, “where is that slacker?”

  “He usually works out in the mornings, but I am not a morning person, so I work out with my girl here as often as I can,” Edie said as she patted Maggie’s hand.

  As Edie and Luke talked shop, Maggie sized up Luke with a series of discreet glances. Although not traditionally handsome, he possessed the kind of features that prompted a second or even a third look. His oblong face contained no sharp angles or jagged edges and his captivating blue eyes appeared serious as he listened to Edie’s monologue and mischievous when he grinned.

  “Hey, Luke, what are you doing tomorrow evening?” Edie clutched Maggie’s arm in what Maggie supposed was a blatant attempt to grab her attention.

  “Not much.”

  “How about you stop by the house for dinner?” Still, holding Maggie’s arm, Edie continued, “Maggie’s coming. If we sweet talk her, she might make some apple dumplings for us.”

  Luke nodded. “That sounds good. What time?”

  “Hmm. We decided on seven, right Maggie?”

  “Uh, yeah, I think that’s right.”

  Edie beamed. “It’s settled.”

  As he passed Maggie on the way to the weight room, Luke said, “I look forward to sampling those apple dumplings.”

  When Luke was out of earshot, Edie said, “Oh, my God. That’s the guy I’ve been telling you about. But before you say anything, this wasn’t planned. It was just … kismet. Still, once I decided to put my plan into motion, I wasn’t sure if you would go along with it.”

  “I went along with it because I’m too tired to fight you,” Maggie answered. “And because he’s easy on the eyes.”

  Maggie secured the glass dish of hot apple dumplings into an insulated food carrier and checked her reflection in the hallway mirror. She had decided on black slacks and a red blouse and matching lipstick. Otherwise, she hadn’t spent much time on her appearance. She figured that if she could catch Luke’s eye with sweaty hair and in an exhaustive state then she didn’t need to waltz into Edie’s looking like she had just received a transformation at a department store makeup counter.

  Although nothing official had been decided between Maggie and Luke, she regarded the evening as a trial first date. First dates usually made her sick to her stomach, but she hoped Edie’s presence would mitigate the anxiety. From what Edie had told her about Luke, Maggie admitted that he seemed promising. He had recently relocated to Jasper after receiving a transfer, he was the same age as Maggie, and had grown up on a small farm in the heart of Kentucky’s Bluegrass region. And he was devoted to his golden retriever.

  As Maggie left her house, she inhaled and said to herself, “You will enjoy the dinner, you will concentrate on Luke, and you will expel the Mac Honaker murder investigation from your mind.”

  Ever since Edie had suggested Maggie make dumplings, Maggie had been wondering how her friend would bridge her fondness for theme meals and her reliance on crockpots or casseroles with apples. Edie did not disappoint.

  “Voila.” Edie lifted the lid off the pot to reveal a simmering stew.

  Maggie peeked inside the pot and sniffed. “What is it?”

  “Apple cider beef stew.”

  “Apples and beef? Together?”

  “Yes, along with a few other ingredients. Apples aren’t just for dessert, snacks, and horses, Maggie. You should broaden your palate’s horizon.”

  “Okay,” Maggie answered. “My palate and I will withhold judgment until the first bite.”

  Although Maggie considered the stew a little on the sweet side, after devouring half a bowl, she had to concede that Edie was onto something.

  “That was quite tasty, Edie,” Maggie said.

  “Yes,” Ben winked at his wife, “The queen of the crockpot and casseroles comes through again.”

  “This is very good,” Luke joined the chorus of compliments. “I could eat the whole stew.”

  “Oh, no, you don’t. You can’t fill up on the main course at the expense of the dessert,” Edie rose from her chair. “Ben, help me clear the table and serve the dumplings. Maggie, I know better than to offer you coffee, but would you like a cup, Luke?”

  “Yes,” he said. “With a drop of cream, please.”

  Edie and Ben went to the kitchen and left their guests to make small talk.

  “Why don’t you like coffee?” Luke asked Maggie.

  “It’s too bitter. It reminds me of dark chocolate.”

  “I think dark chocolate always tastes stale,” Luke noted.

  “I do, too. One of the ladies in our composing department brought her leftover Halloween candy to work. I didn’t want to be rude, so I helped myself to a couple pieces of candy. I popped a miniature Hershey’s into my mouth and immediately spat it out. I assumed I had gotten hold of an old piece of chocolate until I noticed the wrapper. It was one of those special dark Hershey’s.” Maggie shook her head. “I won’t make that mistake again.”

  “They say dark chocolate is better for our health, but I’d rather be sick.”

  “I feel the same way about coffee,” Maggie said. “Supposedly, one cup a day can prevent you from getting everything from a cold to cancer, but I’ll take my chances.”

  Ben returned carrying the apple dumplings and Edie followed with the coffee.

  �
��This is fantastic,” Luke proclaimed after taking his first bite of the dumplings. “Where did you get the recipe?”

  “From my mom.”

  “Is it a family recipe?”

  “Oh, no. I think she found it in a magazine.”

  “Well, it really is good.”

  “It is,” Edie said.

  “Unh-huh,” Ben offered before addressing Luke. “Speaking of Maggie’s family, did she tell you she lives in her grandparents’ house?”

  Luke looked at Maggie. “No, she didn’t. Is it an old house?”

  “It was built in the ’40s, but it’s been renovated.”

  “Where do you live?”

  “Maggie lives in the sticks,” Edie answered for her friend.

  “No, I don’t,” Maggie said to Luke. “I live out in the county. To Edie, that’s the sticks.”

  “I know she loves that house and she likes being close to her parents, but we keep encouraging her to join us in civilization.”

  “It’s not that far away,” Maggie assured Luke. “She’s exaggerating. I can be in town in fifteen to twenty minutes.”

  “Did you hear that?” Edie directed her question to Luke. “She doesn’t realize how sad that sounds.”

  “And to make matters worse, she used to live in Jasper. But she moved back to Sugar Creek the first chance she got,” Ben explained.

  “She doesn’t even have cell service out there,” Edie continued. “She has to depend on a land line. That’s so primitive.”

  Luke looked from Edie to Ben before focusing his attention on Maggie. “Are you happy there?”

  “Yes.”

  “There you go. And I know where you’re coming from. I grew up about twenty-five miles from Lexington, which is like fifty times bigger than Jasper.”

  “Hey –”

  Luke smiled. “It’s the truth, Ben. But my hometown is about a fifth the size of Jasper. We had a gas station, a small grocery, and a hardware. It’s small and nothing ever happens, but there’s nowhere in the world I’d rather be.”

  “Exactly,” Maggie agreed. “And, besides, it’s not like I’m missing out on that much. I love it, but we’re talking about Jasper, not Manhattan.”

  “Jasper has a lot going for it,” Edie protested. “It’s the region’s economic and financial center and it offers many of the same restaurants and department stores you find in bigger cities.”

  “Then why do you do most of your shopping online?” Maggie asked.

  Luke laughed. “She’s got you there.”

  “Let’s be honest. Every eastern Kentucky community could be considered remote. Not just neighborhoods like Sugar Creek, but even towns like Jasper. That’s one of the reasons we measure distance in time instead of miles. And when someone asks us where we’re from, we give the name of our county because odds are they haven’t heard of places like Sugar Creek or Caldonia Road or even Jasper.” Maggie addressed Edie as she spoke, but when she turned her attention to Luke, she was happy to see him smiling.

  Chapter Nine

  Maggie went to the movies with Luke the following evening. She didn’t find the movie, a horror flick, scary or memorable, but she had a splendid time. Luke didn’t like the movie, either, and his running commentary on its most outrageous plotlines kept her entertained. At least it did until Maggie’s laughter provoked a group of teenagers to shush her and Luke. Maggie returned to work Monday morning feeling refreshed. She had enjoyed two days in which she hadn’t given so much as a thought to the Mac Honaker murder or the fallout from the columns. But she realized she couldn’t hide from reality forever. When Joe arrived at work, she marched into his office before he had a chance to turn on his computer.

  “I think we need to talk,” she said.

  “Good morning to you, too, Maggie.”

  “Sorry to ambush you like this, but I wanted to make sure we were all right.”

  “Is this about those columns?” Joe motioned for Maggie to take a seat.

  “Yeah,” she averted her eyes while she searched for the right words. “I think I need to explain my behavior.”

  “Explain or explain away?”

  “Just explain. I’m not making excuses.”

  “In that case, continue.”

  “I was trying to help Kevin and it was wrong to use my job to do so, but I couldn’t think of another way to get an in with Mac’s inner circle. I didn’t share my true intentions with you because I knew you wouldn’t approve.”

  “You’re right, I wouldn’t have.” Joe tapped a pencil on his desk blotter. “This behavior is uncharacteristic of you, Maggie. To be honest, that’s the only reason I’m not angry with you. I am disappointed. And puzzled. And worried. Is there something more going on between you and Kevin Mullins?”

  Maggie puckered her lips like she had just then popped a Lemon Head candy into her mouth. “Oh, Lord, no. Kevin’s four years younger than me, addicted to drugs, and a petty thief. Is that what you think I’m attracted to? Is that what people think of me?”

  “No, no. I meant, in the past tense.”

  “Absolutely not. I’ve always thought of him as a kid chasing chickens or trying to catch pigs with my brother. I’ve never had designs on him.”

  “That’s good to know,” Joe admitted. “And I understand you possess a strong sense of justice, but why do you feel you need to save Kevin? And what did you think you’d learn from those interviews that would help him?”

  Try as she might, Maggie couldn’t answer Joe’s questions.

  Seth was the next name on Maggie’s apology to-do list. She took a chance he would be working day shift and tracked him down at the Dinner Bucket Diner.

  Opened in 1952, the Dinner Bucket, as locals called it, was named in honor of the black lunch buckets used by coal miners. The diner’s founder, the daughter of a coal miner, placed the lunch bucket carried by her late father in the diner’s glass counter display case. Although the lady sold the diner in the 1990s and died a couple years later, her father’s lunch bucket remained the centerpiece of the display. Maggie frequented the diner for its fried pork chops and potato salad, both of which she considered the best she had ever eaten, and for its nostalgia. During childhood trips to Jasper, there was never a question of where to eat lunch. On those visits, Maggie always sat in a booth beside her dad and opposite her mom and Mark. The sight of the old lunch bucket evoked other memories for Maggie. With just one glance at it, she could smell the coal dust and taste the 3 Musketeer bars and Atomic Fireballs her dad brought her and Mark every evening when he came home from his shift at the mines.

  These memories and others swirled in Maggie’s mind, but once she spotted Seth sitting with a few of his fellow police officers at a table near the back of the diner, she tried to concentrate on the task at hand. As she approached Seth’s table, she said, “I knew I’d find you here. Do you have a minute?”

  She caught Seth in the middle of chewing, so he held up one finger to indicate he needed a moment. While he finished his bite of club sandwich, one of his dining companions teased Maggie.

  “Watch what you’re saying, boys, we have a reporter in our midst,” the officer said.

  “That’s right,” Maggie countered, “I’ll quote every one of you on the piece I’m writing about the town’s fodder shock contest.”

  Maggie’s quip elicited laughter from each of the table’s inhabitants including Seth, who had risen from his chair. “I’ll be right back,” he said. “No one touch my food or spit in my Pepsi.”

  Maggie and Seth walked outside the diner to talk.

  “The days are getting colder,” Seth noted as he zipped his windbreaker. “Listen, Maggie, I’m sorry about the phone call. I was out of line.”

  “No, you weren’t. That’s why I’m here. I want to apologize for lying to you. Of course, when I promised you I would let it go, I had every intention of letting it go, so I didn’t lie to you at the time. That doesn’t change the facts, though.”

  “It’s just,” Seth winced
, “that I’m worried about you, Maggie. I don’t know why you’ve designated yourself Kevin Mullins’ savior. Or what you thought you’d accomplish by talking to those people.”

  “Wow,” Maggie jerked her head back. “Have you been talking to Joe? He said almost the same thing to me this morning.”

  “At the very least, I hope we’re giving you something to think about.”

  “You are.”

  “Good. Because I have to ask, what were you going to do if you had uncovered something during those interviews?”

  “That’s easy. I would have gone to the police.”

  “That’s what I want to hear.” Seth looked at the diner’s lunch bucket-shaped sign, which hung overhead. “I don’t know if you remember –”

  “This is where we had our first date.”

  Seth tilted his head. “Do you still eat here?”

  “Of course, I do. I’ve eaten here most of my life.”

  “Fried pork chops and potato salad?”

  “Right.”

  “Why don’t you join us? Me and the guys will make room for you.”

  “That’s okay. I’m meeting someone for lunch.”

  “Maybe another time then.”

  As Maggie walked down the street to join Luke for lunch at the sub shop, she couldn’t help but wonder what Seth had meant by extending that invitation.

  After a pleasant lunch with Luke, Maggie returned to work, finished the fodder shock story, and proofed copy for Joe and the sports editor. When she completed her tasks, she decided to check her email one more time before turning off her computer and closing up shop for the day. Her inbox contained three new messages – one obit, one news release from Jasper tourism, and one message that appeared to be spam. She clicked on the latter message, which read, “Saw your stories about Mac Honaker. He was not a good person. Just ask anyone who worked with him. I’m surprised it took this long for somebody to kill him.”

  Chapter Ten

  “This pizza is great, but I cannot eat one more bite,” Maggie said as she pushed the pan toward Edie.

  “No way,” Edie said as she pushed the pan toward Ben, who grabbed another slice. “I’m going to have to fling myself to the floor and crawl to the car as it is.”