Chapter 47

CHAPTER 47

W hen I came downstairs in the morning, I asked Poppy if it was okay if I took Maggs for a walk, and she looked surprised. "I thought you were going to do that every day," she said. "Oh, are you worried about Harvey?"

"Maggs can take care of him. But Max is still asleep, so if Harvey shows up here, yell really loud to wake Max up."

"No." Poppy said, a notepad full of ideas in front of her. "He needs the rest. I'll be fine. Marley's coming by in a bit to help me figure out the shop. Do something for you. Selfish Day."

"Right," I said. "Selfish Day. I'll be back to check on Max."

"He's fine," Poppy said. "He's Max." She frowned. "You know, Max might go after Harvey when he wakes up."

"That will be bad for Harvey," I said. The fact that he hadn't been in the Wok Inn last night, and Bea had said he hadn't come home, made me hope Harvey had decided running was the better option than having Max come calling.

Poppy shooed me toward the door. "Go. Go. Everything is fine here."

Well, everything wasn't fine, we had a serial killer lurking somewhere, but I doubted he would strike in broad daylight.

I told Poppy, "Have a good day working on the store and be careful and text me when Max gets up." Then I got a tote bag and two thermoses from the kitchen and took Maggs with me next door to Coral's, passing Marley on his way into Oddities as I left.

Yes, I was curious about that, too, but I wasn't going to step into the middle of anything. She was safer if Marley was with her; I could figure the rest of it out later. Or even better, she could.

Once inside Coral's, the first thing I noticed was Lian and Rowan being pretty much a spectacle at the window table in Ecstasy , gazing into each other's eyes and laughing quietly, feeding each other bites of Coral's pastry. So he probably wasn't spending the night on Lian's couch. I wondered if Max and I looked like that, then remembered Max's limited range of public expression and shoved that thought aside. PDA wasn't his style. And I'd bite his fingers off if he tried shoving pastry in my mouth. I was beginning to worry that Lian's judgment might be impaired by her libido; she looked besotted with him. She didn't even notice me coming in because both of them had their backs to the door. Really, she'd thrown caution to the winds here.

Luke was sitting around the side of the counter, chatting with Coral. Pike was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Max?" Luke asked as I sat down.

"Resting. Twice into the river caught up to him. He's sick as a dog." I looked down at Maggs. "No offense."

Luke nodded. "Can happen to the best of us." But he was looking at Lian and Rowan.

"She deserves some fun. Right?" I looked at Coral for support, but the sisterhood only went so far.

"He is a problem," Coral said. "Men like that. Smooth operators. They can be fun, but they are also dangerous if not handled correctly."

"He gave us good information on our killer," I said.

Luke nodded. "Coral filled me in. But this Director doesn't ring any bells for someone here in Rocky Start. So, really, not much help."

It seemed Luke was in Max's I'm-not-fond-of-Rowan camp and I was outnumbered. "What about Rowan's car?"

"That thing ?" Luke said. "We got it out of the river just before dark last night. I was busy doing that while apparently there was quite the show at the Wok Inn. I had to call a big wrecker in from Bearton. Then the guy wouldn't go in the water to hook it up. Said he'd get electrocuted by the batteries. So I had to get wet."

That explained why Luke was grumpy.

"After we got it out, he towed it away," Luke said. "Hopefully, never to be seen again. Along with its owner soon." He shook his head. "Did Max have any suggestions as to suspects before he succumbed?"

"Harvey," I said.

Luke snorted in derision but then turned serious. "He went after you yesterday?"

I nodded. "But he wasn't at the Wok Inn last night and Bea said he didn't come home yesterday. The hope is he's gone for good from Rocky Start."

"If he's smart, he is," Luke said. "Who else?

"The Ferrells."

He didn't buy that either. "They'd kill each other before they'd kill someone else."

I shrugged. "Maybe it's all over?"

"An optimist," Luke said. "Good for you, Rose." He looked down at Maggs and the tote bag and two thermoses. "Going somewhere?"

"Picnic in the woods," I said.

"Serial killer," Luke said.

"I have Maggs," I said. "And then there's Fernanda. She took Harvey out very neatly the last time."

Luke nodded. "Good. But be careful."

"Story of my life."

Coral reached across the counter, and I passed the tote and thermoses over to her and watched while she packed the bag with two of those little meat pies she made and butterkuchen and dog cookies, plus a Franzbr?tchen for Max. Then she filled one thermos with water and the other with Lemon Zinger tea.

"Maybe I'll come with you," Luke said, looking at the bag with envy.

"Be careful," Coral said to me.

"Maggs will protect her," Luke said. "I think the dog is smarter than Max. At least she hasn't fallen in the river twice."

So he'd caught Max's bad mood. I guess a serial killer can have that effect. I paid Coral for my brunch, said my goodbyes, waved at Lian as I went out (she didn't notice), and headed for the bridge accompanied by my good dog. I was going to the place I wanted to be, the place I was determined to go back to and not let a bad man and bad memories spoil.

It had been a long time since I could choose a place where I wanted to be.