Murder And Salutations Part 10

"We're doing a little snooping," I admitted. I'd considered lying to him, but Jack Hurley had a strange effect on me. Whenever I was around him, I felt like an awkward teenaged girl again. It was all I could do not to giggle every time he talked to me, and I wasn't in any position to lie to him.

"Good for you," Jack said to my surprise.

"You're not mad that we're using your restaurant for our scheming?" I asked.

"Now, why on earth should I be mad? If you can find out what happened to Eliza Glade, I'll give you both free desserts for a year. It's amazing to me how someone could stab her in my kitchen during a banquet and not a soul witnessed it. If your brother doesn't solve her murder soon, I may be out of business."

"Is it really that bad?"

"Jennifer, I do well enough with the tourist trade, but it's the folks who live in Rebel Forge year-round who keep me going. I like my friends to feel welcome here, and right now it's as if there's a pall of death hanging over the place that's killing its spirit."

"I'm so sorry," I said. "I never even thought about how it would hit you."

He touched my hand lightly, and I felt it tingle, despite the fact that I knew the man had more children than I had cats. "You've grown into a sweet and kind woman, you know that?"

Before I could stop myself, a giggle escaped. "Thanks," I managed to mutter before completely embarra.s.sing myself.

Jack smiled, but to his credit he didn't laugh. "Now let me see about that salad."

He headed off to the kitchen, and I was studying the furnishings when someone slid across from me at my table.

It was my ex-fiance. "Greg, you can't sit there."

Greg Langston looked around. "Why? Is your date in the bathroom, or did he stand you up?"

"My, aren't you charming."

He scowled. "Come on, Jennifer, you're by yourself. There's only one place setting."

"I never claimed I was eating with anyone else. All I said was that you couldn't sit there."

At that moment, Lillian walked in with Luke Penwright. She looked surprised to see Greg sitting with me. Well, she couldn't have been any more surprised than I was. Jack came out of the kitchen, and if he noticed that Greg had joined me, he didn't show it. He led Lillian and Luke to their table, then handed Greg a menu.

"He's not staying," I said.

"Actually, I am." Greg yanked the menu out of Jack's hands.

"Jennifer, would you like me to reseat this gentleman?"

I saw Greg tense up, and it was pretty clear that Jack was ready for a little distraction from his slow business. "It's fine," I said, trying my best to defuse the situation.

Jack shrugged. "Then it's all right with me. What can I get you?"

"I'll have whatever she's having," Greg said. I knew he hated salads, but out of sheer meanness, I kept my mouth shut.

Jack nodded and left. I could tell that Lillian and Luke were talking about something, but I couldn't hear much of what they were saying.

Greg kept trying to talk to me, when all I wanted to do was eavesdrop on my aunt's conversation. I had to brush him off if I was going to learn anything. "So how is Stephanie going to react when she hears we're having lunch together?"

"She'll just have to get over it," he said. "I've wanted to talk to you for a while now, but we never seem to get the chance to have a simple conversation."

"This isn't a good time, either," I said. "Can't we do it later?"

"We need to do it now," he said. "Jennifer, I thought Stephanie might be the one, but every time I'm with her, I keep thinking about you. We've got to resolve what's between us, so we can both move on."

There was a serious undertone to his words that was rare for him. "How do you propose we do that?"

"We need to go out on a date together, one last time, so we can put this behind us forever."

I was so startled by his suggestion that I nearly choked on my water.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I said, trying to catch my breath. "Do you honestly think a date will help us get past our situation?"

He smiled at me, and I felt my resolve weaken.

After all, how bad could it be, going out with him again? He'd always made me laugh, and when his hand brushed against mine, I could still feel the charge down to my toes.

"No," I said as emphatically as I could. "I can't do that anymore. Greg, we don't fit. Isn't that obvious by now?"

"So grant me this last favor. We go out, revisit our past, and then maybe we can both move on."

I looked at him intently. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

His words tumbled out. "I'm just talking about dinner. You don't even have to kiss me good night if you don't want to."

"Where?"

He met my gaze and said, "I was thinking we could go to The Chateau."

He'd named the most expensive restaurant in town. "Can you honestly afford that?"

Greg shrugged. "Why not go out in style, since it's our last date?"

Every ounce of my being was screaming no, so why did I say, "Okay. That sounds just crazy enough to work. When do you want to go out?"

"How about tonight?" he asked.

"Tonight is fine with me, but what is Stephanie going to say?"

Greg looked sheepish as he admitted, "To be honest with you, this was actually her idea. She thinks I'm still hung up on you, but Steph is under the impression that a date will clear it up once and for all."

"That's a first," I said. "I can't say I've ever had a date arranged by a man's girlfriend."

"So, should I pick you up at seven?"

"Why don't we just meet at the restaurant," I suggested.

"No," Greg said as he shook his head. "This is going to be a date, from start to finish. No cheating, okay?"

"Just as long as you remember that, too."

He had the decency to blush, but he was saved when our salads arrived.

"You ordered rabbit food?" he asked me.

"Try it. It's delicious."

Greg shook his head and spoke to Jack. "Can I get this to go?"

"No problem," Jack said as he took the salad away. He was back a minute later with a Styrofoam box, and after he handed it to Greg, he gave him the check as well. Greg paid and left, and I found myself watching him walk out the door, wondering exactly what I had agreed to tonight.

I was about to take a bite of my salad when I noticed that Lillian and Luke were gone.

"Can I get this to go, too?" I said after I waved Jack over to my table.

"Is it something I said?" Jack asked.

"No, but I've got to find Lillian. Did you happen to notice when she left?"

Jack scratched his chin. "She's been gone about five minutes. Luke looked like he was going to cry. What in the world was she thinking, bringing him here?"

"It was his idea," I said.

Jack put my salad into a container like he'd given Greg, and I asked for my check.

"I can't give it to you," he said, not even trying to hide his smile.

"And why not?"

"Your lunch date already covered it. What is it with you two, Jennifer? Are you on again?"

"Just for tonight," I said as I grabbed my salad and headed for the door.

I had the satisfaction of seeing the puzzled look on Jack's face as I left. He could join the club. I didn't have any more idea what I was doing than he did.

I found Lillian back at the card shop, and was surprised to see that she'd opened the place back up for business.

"Where did you run off to?" I asked her as I put my salad on the counter.

"I thought Luke was going to fall apart right on the spot. I had to get him out of there. I'm not surprised you didn't notice us, though. What was that all about?"

I wasn't ready to get into my social life with my aunt at the moment. "We can talk about it later. Did you get anything out of Luke?"

"Not in the restaurant, but out on the sidewalk he admitted that he was leaving town. He said being in Rebel Forge made him think about Eliza too much. My heart went out to the poor boy."

There was something about the man's behavior that I just didn't buy. "Lillian, did you ever consider the possibility that he's crying out of remorse for killing her? If he stabbed his ex-wife, leaving town might be his escape."

"I don't know," Lillian said. "I truly believe he loved her."

"You're nothing but a softie deep down inside, aren't you?"

She shrugged. "What can I say? I'd like to believe that all of my ex-husbands still carry torches for me. Why is it so hard to believe that Luke loved Eliza to k the end?"

"Because she was fooling around with my brother-in-law, remember? I wonder if Bradford's had any luck tracking him down."

"I can't honestly imagine Bailey being that elusive, can you? We really should spend more time with Sara Lynn. It's not good for her to be alone right now."

I nodded. "Why don't you go over to Forever Memories this afternoon? I can handle things here."

"I wasn't talking about right now. Honestly, she's surrounded by the things she loves in her shop. Tonight is when she'll need us the most. What do you think? Should we make it another girls' night out?"

There was no way I was going to be able to keep from telling her the truth, so I decided to get it out of the way. But first, I wanted a little diversion. "I got a salad from Hurley's, and there's more there than I could ever eat. Why don't we split it?"

"That sounds wonderful," she said, "but you didn't answer my question."

"Why don't we eat first, then we can talk?"

It was obvious that Lillian thought I was up to something, but she didn't have a clue what it was yet. She retrieved plates and cutlery from the back room while I grabbed a couple of bottled waters from the refrigerator. After splitting the salad between the two plates, I realized that I still probably had more than I could handle.

I had to give Lillian credit. She managed to hold her tongue ten minutes into the meal before she started grilling me.

"So why can't you go out with us tonight?"

"I've got a date," I said, hoping she'd drop it, but knowing she never would.

"Is it the mysterious stranger from last night?" Lillian asked.

"No, it's Greg," I said. Maybe if I gave her short and simple answers to her questions, it would go quicker.

"You and Greg are dating again?" She sounded surprised by the notion. "I thought you'd written him off for good."

"I have," I said. "But his girlfriend thinks it will do us both some good if we go out on one more date so we can get it out of our systems."

"That is one understanding young woman," Lillian said.

"It's just dinner. Nothing more."

Lillian didn't look as though she believed it for a second. "And where is this dinner taking place?"

I mumbled the name of the restaurant, again hoping she'd let it go.

No such luck.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. Where are you going?"

"The Chateau," I said, louder than I'd meant to. "He's taking me to the fanciest restaurant in Rebel Forge. There, are you happy?"