“Gossip sure does travel fast,” Cordelia muttered.
“Sweetie, this is Sarsaparilla Falls. Not even the wind can move as fast as small-town gossip.” She looped her arm through Cordelia’s. “What did Honey Stevens want? I’m assuming she was hanging all over Archer like cockleburs on a mule.”
“She’s the one who told me the sheriff was heading out here to make arrests.”
Daisy snorted. “Of course she did. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d called that tip in herself. She’s the kind of woman who’d eat up that half-cocked lie Edna fed the papers.”
“Could be.”
Cordelia didn’t elaborate because she knew how quick Daisy was to latch on to Honey as a suspect, but it felt more like Honey had been throwing personal barbs outside Archer’s office rather than just being her usual unpleasant self. As if she wanted to get one over on Cordelia, and possibly anyone associated with the Chickadee in general. It was something she’d have to think on later, when she had time to catalog the entire interaction and piece together why it felt so off.
“The boys are about to leave,” Daisy said. “Why don’t you join us for cocktail hour?”
Cordelia patted her arm. “Why not? I can always go grocery shopping tomorrow.”
Cordelia didn’t recognize this free-wheeling version of herself who put off chores for poolside gossip, but she liked who she was becoming. Maybe this was who she could’ve been if she and her momma had been taken in by Great-Aunt Penelope when they were low. Or maybe she wasn’t ready to embrace this side of herself until she’d done things the opposite way first. Either way, forthe first time in her life, Cordelia was beginning to understand what it felt like to be comfortable in her own skin, and there was something very freeing in that.
Cordelia stepped into the Sarsaparilla Falls library and waved to Martina, someone she’d come to admire and respect. It wasn’t easy being a librarian in a small Texas town that had more backward thinkers than you could shake a stick at, but she handled the role with grace and class. The more visits Cordelia made to the library, the friendlier they became. It had been a long time since Cordelia had gone out of her way to make friends, and it filled an emptiness in her that had been so hollow she hadn’t even known something was missing.
The familiar scent of ink on paper and a hint of carpet cleaner still brought her comfort, but it no longer felt like a part of her. Now, when she thought about the scents that made up her world, it was Love’s Baby Soft and cheap tequila. Heavy musk perfume and makeup palettes. She was living on borrowed pizazz and redefining the word “home” for herself.
The sheriff hadn’t made any arrests in the last few days, but he’d also stopped tailing Cordelia around town, so she considered that a win. Since the H-E-B incident with Edna, the town had taken up sides, with most of them falling on the side of the Chickadee due to all the goodwill they’d built up over the years, and on account of Edna’s sour disposition. She wasn’t an easy woman to like. But business hadn’t picked back up yet. The men in town might’ve claimed they weren’t chickens, but they had their henhouse ways.
Added to that, Edna had a mean streak, and she didn’t like being bested by a bunch of women she thought were so far beneath her, they had to look up to see hell. Which meant she’d strike again, unless Cordelia could wrap up this investigationfirst and knock out the only leg she had to stand on right from underneath her.
Cordelia sat down at one of the computers near the back of the room and booted it to life. Belinda Sue had a tablet, but the fewer suspicious searches that showed up on her browser history, the better it was for all of them. The wine had been their best lead, but it wasn’t the only one. They could still try to track down the palytoxin.
“You have a real interest in coral, huh?” Cordelia jumped at the sound of Martina’s voice, biting the inside of her cheek and drawing blood.
“It’s something I’m thinking about getting into.” Cordelia closed her tabs with a shaky hand, grateful she hadn’t been looking up anything more incriminating than nearby pet stores that dealt in tropical saltwater aquariums.
“You should ask the hospital where they get their supplies from,” Martina said. “They’re not exactly in town like you asked before, but they’ve got a huge tank in their lobby, all kinds of seahorses and anemones and whatnot in there.”
“The hospital...” A prickling sensation tickled the back of Cordelia’s neck. Like all the synapses in her brain were firing at once. “The one between here and Three Oaks?”
“Sure.” Martina gave her a funny look. “It’s the only hospital you’re going to find around here for at least fifty miles in either direction.”
The hospital where Honey Stevens worked. Cordelia leaped to her feet so fast, Martina took a step back to avoid getting hit with the chair. “Thank you so much.” Cordelia pumped her hand, much to Martina’s bemusement. “You have no idea how helpful this has been.”
Cordelia rushed out of the library faster than a scaldedcat, not even bothering to reshelve the books, which definitely wasn’t like her. But if she could wrap this murder up by the end of the day, then she could get on with figuring what her new normal would look like and decide if she even wanted to go back to Dallas.
She took the steps at such a brisk pace, she didn’t see Archer until she was nearly chest to chest with him on the sidewalk. “Oh.” She halted, her bones rattling from the vibration of her sudden stop. “Hi. How are you?”
That could not be any more awkward. She hadn’t spoken to Archer since she lit out of his office parking lot. Since he’d asked her on a date and almost kissed her. Then nothing. He hadn’t stopped by or made any move to seek her out, and she wondered if he’d changed his mind about her, seeing as she’d ditched him twice now without a goodbye.
“I’m fine.” The glint in his dark eyes held a note of teasing. “And you?”
“Fine. You know.” She brushed her hands down her neat A-line skirt. “Staying busy.”
“I hadn’t heard about the sheriff making any arrests out at the Chickadee, so I assume all is well out there?” His mustache twitched, and she wondered why he always had to look at her like he was on the verge of laughing. Did he really find her that funny?
“Yes. Well. It turns out he had a nice time by the pool after he searched the property and didn’t find any arsenic. So. It appears the investigation has moved in another direction.”
“That’s good. Glad to hear it.”
“Are you?” If she’d had a wad of cotton in her hand, she would’ve stuffed it in her mouth just to shut herself up. What was it about Archer that got her tail up? One minute she was thinkingabout kissing him, the next she was thinking about shaving his mustache in his sleep just to get a reaction out of him. It was enough to tie her up in knots.
His brows pinched. “Of course I am. You can’t honestly think I want my inappropriate auntie to be responsible for my father’s death?”
