Revenge Is Sweet Page 8

  * * * **

  As soon as Tally got to work the next morning, she looked up the job applications. It was exactly as she’d remembered it: If Mart had ever had a job before this one, it wasn’t mentioned on her application. The section for experience was blank.

  Around lunchtime, Andrea was in the kitchen eating and Tally and Mart were working in front with a full room of customers when Cole came in.

  The sparks that flew between him and Mart were not the same type that had flown between Andrea and Gene. Tally saw thunder on both of their brows.

  “Come on, I’ll take you to lunch,” Cole said. “You wanted to meet, right?”

  Mart turned her head away from him. “Not right now. Maybe tonight. I can’t leave.”

  “Sure, go ahead,” Tally said, stirring up trouble, she knew. “I’m sure Andrea’s almost done eating. We’ll be fine.” Tally felt devil’s horns sprouting on her forehead as she acted all innocent, countering Mart’s excuses to Cole. She wanted her brother to get his money back.

  Mart drew in and let out a huge breath. “I can’t. I don’t want to. You can’t make me.” She even stuck out her lower lip, like a pouting toddler. It was almost comical. Tally was surprised at her childish behavior.

  Cole stepped closer to Mart. Now the customers were starting to stare at them. “You don’t have to do anything except return the money you got from me under false pretenses. Or I’ll go to the police.”

  “It’s not false pretenses! I really am pregnant!”

  A collective gasp came from Tally and the fascinated customers. Tally grabbed Cole and Mart’s upper arms and pulled them into the kitchen.

  “Andrea,” she called, bursting into the room with Cole and Mart in tow. “Please cover the sales floor for a few minutes. I’ll explain later.”

  Andrea glanced at them, full of curiosity, and trotted out of the room.

  “Okay,” Tally said, wanting to shake both of them, but dropping her grasp on their arms instead. “What exactly is going on?”

  “This doesn’t concern you,” Mart said, rubbing her arm and still pouting.

  Tally started to flare up, but settled herself down. “You’re right. It doesn’t. It concerns my brother and the money he gave to you. If you repay him the money you owe him, it’s no concern of mine. If you don’t, you’ll have to look for work somewhere else. I suspect you’ve been stealing money from the cash drawer, too.”

  Mart gaped at Tally. “How did you…”

  That had been a shot in the dark, but it had hit the target. Mart was dipping into the till. “Were you and Gene pulling the same pranks? Were you both getting money from unsuspecting dupes and stealing from me? Why do you have such a need for money? You have a place to live and an income.” Tally stopped for breath, realizing she had been shouting. She hoped the customers hadn’t been paying attention.

  “Tally,” Cole said. “Leave us and let us talk this out.”

  Tally could see that her attacks were making Mart more stubborn. She had to admit she had gone overboard. Was Mart really pregnant? With Gene’s baby? And was she trying to get money for…the baby? An abortion? She decided that she didn’t want to know. As softly as she could, she said, “Fine, you two talk about it. I need to get back to work.”

  She felt Mart’s angry eyes boring into her back as she left.

  The sound of their raised voices soon drifted out to the salesroom. An amused expression crossed Andrea’s face when she heard Mart’s words coming from the kitchen: “It wasn’t Gene. Okay, I’m not sure. It might have been Gene. He said he’d marry me, but then, at the last minute, he dumped me!”

  Mart’s voice sounded frantic to Tally. Maybe Gene had preyed upon her. After all, she was barely out of high school and Gene was older, and a veteran of the juvenile justice system with several stays in the detention center. It was an uneven match from the get-go. But now she had to decide whether or not she should fire Mart.

  Cole’s voice reached her. “I don’t care what you need. I need my money back or you’ll be sorry you ever met me. When people lie to me, it makes me—”

  “I didn’t lie!”

  “So you did repay me yesterday? When was that? Where was that? I don’t remember it. Watch it, little woman, or you’ll end up like your buddy Gene.”

  Tally heard the back door squeak, then slam shut, and she went to check on Mart.

  Mart stood in the middle of the room, her arms rigid at her sides and her fists clenched. The murderous expression on her usually sweet, young face made the hair on the back of Tally’s neck stand up. What would this young woman be capable of? she wondered. And what did Cole’s parting words imply? She pushed them aside, unable to think about that right now.

  The back door swung open, and Yolanda walked in, a questioning look on her face. “What was that?”

  “What was what?” Mart asked. “I have to get back to work.” She hurried through the doorway into the salesroom.

  “Tally?”

  Shaking her head to clear the nasty flare-up from her mind, Tally looked at her friend and tried to get Mart’s hostile expression out of her memory. She was pleased to see Yolanda in a caftan of bright greens, blues, and aquas, set off with large pieces of turquoise jewelry. She hoped her friend was feeling better. Somebody should be in a good mood. There were too many negative vibes floating around.

  Chapter 8

  “Is Cole all right?” Yolanda asked when she got inside Tally’s kitchen. She had passed him in the alley on her way to the back door and he hadn’t even noticed her. Not that it was unusual for Cole to ignore her. His reappearance in Fredericksburg was dredging up all the bad memories of their younger years from the depths of her mind. She had had a crush on the handsome, blond, dimpled god. He, however, had never seemed to know she existed, even though she was his sister’s best friend. Walking past him, saying hi, and having him stare straight ahead was nothing new. The humiliation that bubbled up within her was the same old feeling, too.

  Tally was standing in the kitchen, staring at the back door when Yolanda came through it. The room was redolent with the lingering scents of some candy Tally had probably made in the morning. Something sweet, maybe with chocolate and brown sugar. “I heard shouting from outside,” Yolanda said.

  “They really got into it, didn’t they?”

  “Who was arguing? Was it Mart and Cole?”

  “Yes, they were beginning to be an item, but it seems like that’s over.”

  “Ooo, nasty breakup. Sorry.” Maybe that would serve Cole right. She shook off her bad feelings, pulled a stool out from beneath the island counter, and climbed on, hitching up her caftan. She spread some papers on the countertop. “Here’s what I found.”

  Tally sat next to her friend, and Yolanda shoved one of the papers in front of her. “Something like this should be doable.”

  Yolanda didn’t think Tally was actually seeing any of the illustrations. She put a finger on one. “How about this? Doesn’t it look like your own Truffle Fudge?”

  Tally finally looked down and focused on the paper, a printout from Yolanda’s computer. “I guess. But how hard can it be to make a square piece of plastic and color it brown?”

  “That’s beside the point. We’re not going to make plastic fudge. This company does.”

  “How much do they charge for that?”

  “Not much.” Yolanda moved her finger so Tally could see the price. She glanced at the offensive wound on Tally’s knuckle, but it was covered nicely with a bandage and she was relieved to see that it was clean and dry.

  “Oh, not bad,” Tally said. “And you get two dozen pieces?”

  “Right. We could put a few in each basket to give the idea. Scatter them around.”

  “Wouldn’t it look like you don’t get much fudge in each basket?”

  “The other pieces could be hidden under lots and lot
s of ribbons and flowers and stuff, for all they know.”

  “What else do they have that we could use?”

  Yolanda fanned out the other printouts and they went over them, agreeing on some and rejecting others. Yolanda had been amazed to see that the company had Whoopie Pie replicas, even a Clark Bar in its distinctive red wrapper. She got a smile out of Tally when she showed it to her.

  “I’d sure like to see these in real life,” Tally said.

  “Me too. Maybe we could order one or two to see how nice they are—how realistic they look and feel.” Yolanda paused a moment, not wanting to spoil Tally’s mood any further. “But seriously, tell me what’s going on with Cole. Something between him and Mart?”

  Tally explained to her that they had been out together a few times. And that Mart had borrowed a lot of money from her brother.

  “Really? Just like Gene did with me? That’s strange. Do you think they were coordinating it?”

  “I’ve thought of that, but I really don’t know,” Tally said. “Mart was seeing Gene, I’m pretty sure, before he died. Maybe she learned from the master.”

  “The master criminal. You sure were right about him. At the risk of speaking ill of the dead, Gene wasn’t a good person.” She shook her head slowly.

  Tally leaned over and hugged her friend around the shoulders as they sat side by side. “I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t know him very well.”

  “You knew him well enough. You’re good at reading people, Tally. Did you know about his father?”

  “The mayor? That he adopted him as a teenage kid who was going off the rails?”

  “No, not that. Everyone who lives here knows that. Did you know that the mayor, his own father, threatened to annul the adoption a year ago when Gene got caught shoplifting some things in Dallas? At least that’s what Gene told me.”

  That must have been what Mrs. Faust had been yelling about at her front door when the mayor was there. “Annul the adoption? That’s pretty cold.”

  “I thought so too. Now, though, I wonder if it was true or if he was trying to make me feel sorry for him.”

  “I believe it,” Tally said. “I saw both his parents yesterday. Neither one of them are a bit broken up about his death. His mother almost seems to be glad he’s gone. She shouted something about him and an annulment when I was there. His father isn’t much better. He’s putting on an act of being sorry Gene is dead, but I’ll bet he’s not. His campaign for reelection will be a lot easier without Gene around stirring up trouble.”

  “It’s a mess, isn’t it? The way the police talk to me, it feels like they suspect I killed him. I’m sure they don’t, though—I mean, how could they? But they badger and hound me, like they think I’m going to confess or something.”

  “Of course they don’t think that,” Tally said, but her words rang hollow, even to Yolanda.

  * * * *

  They decided to buy the package of plastic fudge and a couple of Clark Bars, which were individually priced, and Yolanda left to put the order into her own computer at Bella’s Baskets. She paused outside the door, seeing Cole at the end of the alley, behind the hat shop on the corner. She couldn’t help but notice him, the way the sun gleamed off his blond hair. He was with a woman, but it couldn’t possibly be Mart, since she was inside Tally’s store. Yolanda walked toward her own back door, in their direction, trying to get a good look at the woman who was behind Cole. They were talking earnestly, gesturing, but not in anger.

  Neither of them noticed her, concentrating only on each other. Yolanda could hear their words now as she drew closer.

  The woman said, “You were with her day before yesterday, weren’t you?”

  “We broke up today, Dorella. I’m not attached to anyone.”

  Now that Yolanda was closer, the woman sounded distraught. Yolanda saw Cole reach for her and decided to make her presence known so she wouldn’t embarrass them. “Hi, Cole! Who’s this?”

  Cole turned, not embarrassed at all. “Yolanda! This is Dorella Diggs. She’s offered to show me around Fredericksburg. There are some new wineries she knows about.” He cocked his head toward Dorella.

  “I thought it would be fun to pop into some of them,” Dorella said. “The ones in town and the ones close by. Nice to meet you.” She smiled slightly. “You have that basket store, don’t you?”

  Yolanda nodded.

  “I’ve seen you around town, I’m sure.” Dorella had a pretty face and softly curling blond hair. She had to be much younger than Cole.

  “Good to meet you, too. Gotta get to work.” Yolanda walked to her back door and left them, marveling that Cole was a fast rebounder. It had been minutes since he’d had the dustup with Mart.

  * * * *

  Tally kicked off her shoes and wiggled her toes in the carpeting as she came in the front door of her house at the end of her workday. Nigel greeted her at the door by crashing into her legs with the side of his body.

  “Hey, that’s not a gentle rub, big guy,” Tally said, reaching down to pick him up. “Oof! Are you heavier than you were this morning?”

  By the time she’d carried him into the kitchen, she decided he probably was. Especially when she saw what had happened there. An empty box of crackers that had been on top of the refrigerator lay overturned on the floor with a few lonely crumbs spilling from it.

  “You ate all of these?” Tally was amazed. The box had been nearly full. “What’s wrong with these last crumbs? Why didn’t you clean those up?” She decided they shouldn’t feed Nigel that night. Maybe not tomorrow morning either. Letting Nigel jump down with a thud, she picked up the empty box, threw it into the recycle bin, and swept up the crumbs.

  She heard the front door open and it startled her until she remembered that Cole was staying with her. Still, she was relieved when he sang out, “You home, Sis?”

  “In the kitchen.” She put the broom and dustpan in the closet. “You hungry?”

  “No, just had dinner.”

  Tally shot him an incredulous look, her eyes opened wide. “You’re with Mart again already?”

  “Oh no, we’re quits. And I’ll probably never get my money back.”

  “I hope you learned something.”

  “Yes, Mother. I will be more careful after this. She told me she was never pregnant after all.”

  “She lied to you about that?”

  “To everyone, I assume. She can’t be trusted in the slightest.”

  Tally took a container of cottage cheese from the fridge and scooped some into a dish, topping it with applesauce for her own meal. “Where did you eat?”

  Cole flashed his dimples at her. “Don’t you mean, ‘who did you eat with?’”

  Tally cocked her head. “Not Mart? You’ve moved on already?” So Mart had dumped him, but it hadn’t had the effect Tally thought it would. He wasn’t broken up at all.

  “I met her a couple of days ago stopping for lunch. She works at Burger Burger.”

  “So I probably don’t know her. I’ve seen it, but I haven’t been there. What’s her name?” She sat and started in on her bowl of cottagey applesauce while Cole fetched a beer from her fridge.

  “Dorella. She’s local, lived here all her life.”

  Tally wondered what that would be like, to live in the same place your whole life. Wait, that name rang a bell. “Dorella? Dorella…Diggs?”

  “You know her?”

  “Not really. But she came into the store a few days ago. It was the day…”

  “What? The day what?”

  “Never mind. It was a few days ago.” She wanted to process this before she blurted out that Dorella had been involved with Gene, and that she had been in the shop near the time he had died. “So, Mart isn’t returning the money she borrowed?”

  “No, and I don’t believe she ever intended to. It’s gone.” He shrugged
and tipped the beer bottle up to his lips.

  “I’m so sorry about that. She admitted that she has taken money from me, too.”

  Cole slammed the bottle onto the table. “No! Are you going to press charges?”

  “I don’t know. I have to decide. Cole, she scared me today. She gave me a look that made me cringe. It made me wonder if she could kill someone. Do you think she killed Gene?”

  “I thought she wasn’t there.” He tore off a paper towel and wiped up the froth that had spilled over when he banged the bottle down.

  “I don’t know if she was or not, when I think about it. She can be cold-blooded. I saw her kiss Gene in front of Andrea, which made Andrea furious. That was mean. And I heard her say that she might be pregnant with Gene’s baby and Gene had said he’d marry her. He can’t when he’s dead, but maybe he told her he wouldn’t and that set her off. If she got angry enough, she might be capable of murder.”

  “I have to agree with you there. He probably did tell her he wouldn’t marry her, because she told me she wanted to abort the baby before she admitted she wasn’t pregnant. That’s what the money was for. I’m sure she was trying to trap Gene into marrying her. She does have a hard side to her.”

  Tally thought he might be saying that because she’d had the audacity to break up with him, but maybe he was right. “What should we do?”