Traveling Town Mystery Boxset Page 11

  She realized she’d have to go more into depth about computers and servers and networking and the cloud. She poured a generous third cup of coffee, no longer having energy for the conversation. “It’s-It’s… magic!” She made jazz hands to emphasize her point. “No?”

  Neither seemed to buy the magic explanation, but neither belabored the point. Or they were just as tired with the topic as she was.

  After that, they chatted about various Keystone residents. It began to dawn on Ella that she’d been given a rare opportunity her colleagues would be jealous of, a chance to meet peoples from different time periods and different lands, a chance to brush up on a rusty language or learn a new one—maybe even an ancient language.

  While Ella stood at the sink, washing dishes, she approached the subject of renting her room from them for an indefinite period of time.

  Rose grabbed a sopping plate from Ella and began to dry it. “Of course! We’d be happy to have you here.”

  “I’m not sure when I’ll be able to pay you.” Ella frowned again at the thought of her anemic savings account sitting in Oregon in another era. She was poorer than a freshman in college. Again.

  “Don’t worry about it for now.” Rose grabbed another wet plate. “We like to help those new to the town get on their feet.”

  Suds climbed Ella’s arms and sloshed onto her sweatshirt, but she ignored the growing dampness. It was hard to believe people she had met only a few days before were so willing to help. Trust and leaning on others for support were two of her biggest weaknesses.

  “Okay, but I insist on helping out around here until I find work. Do you know anyone looking to hire?”

  “Not sure, but I’ll keep my ears open. Jimmy?”

  “Don’t know anyone off the top of my head. Maybe Gladys down at the greenhouse?”

  The washcloth in Ella’s hand paused mid-swipe of a fork. “Keystone has a greenhouse?”

  “Have to,” Jimmy said, leaning against the island counter. “We need a reliable, main source of food. Since our weather is so erratic, most of our crops are indoors. Without the greenhouses, we’d be up a creek.”

  Ella lapsed into silence, her hands working over bacon grease as she turned an idea over in her mind. When she finished with the dishes, she got directions to the greenhouses from Rose.

  “It’s a bit of a walk.”

  “Oh, I don’t mind. I could use the exercise.”

  “It’s a couple of miles one way.”

  Ella shrugged. “Sounds like a good walk.” Truth was, she could use the time to sort out her thoughts.

  A coy smile played at Rose’s lips. “I’m sure you could get a ride from a certain handsome inventor.”

  Ella smoothed an invisible wrinkle from her damp sweatshirt. “I don’t know who you’re referring to.”

  After changing into yoga pants, a sports bra, and a tank top, Ella strapped her phone into her armband and secured it around her bicep. Not only did it have a robust library of her favorite songs, but it also had her list of poisonous plants which she planned to access once she reached the greenhouses.

  Outside, a warm, dry breeze played across her face as she stepped onto Main Street. She turned right—which she considered north even though the sun was in the wrong place.

  It was still before nine o’clock, but she could already tell it was going to be a warm day. The sudden change in climate would definitely be something she’d have to adjust to.

  Ella clipped along at a brisk pace to warm her muscles. She passed Lou’s broken down sedan and sent it a withering glare that should’ve turned it to dust. Maybe on her way back, she’d pay Lou a special visit—the kind full of heated words and empty threats.

  When she reached the library, she broke into a jog until she passed the sheriff’s office and kept up the languid pace. She wasn’t sure how he’d take the news that she was in Keystone to stay, but she guessed it wouldn’t be the same as Rose’s reaction.

  As storefronts turned to houses, a side street broke off from Main Street and curved around the lake, narrower and with a trail for a sidewalk. Ella made note of it with the intention of circling the lake in the near future, but for now, she stuck to the main road.

  She hugged the shoulder as the road brushed the base of Twin Hills and disappeared over a gradual incline.

  Halfway up the slope, sweat rolled down her back and her forehead. Her breath came ragged, and she had yet to hit her second wind. Either Keystone was now at a higher elevation than she was acclimated to, or she was really out of shape. She leaned towards the latter.

  When it felt like her lungs would burst, she slowed her barely-a-jog to a walk, muttering under her breath about her decision not to catch a ride to the greenhouses.

  The exercise wouldn’t be as necessary if she just laid off Wink’s food. Of course, if any more meals consisted of gelatin molds, she wouldn’t have to worry about an expanding waistline.

  The rumble of a car sounded behind her. She turned in time to see a classic marine blue Chevy pickup straddle a pothole, swerving her way. Ella edged further onto the shoulder to give the driver more room, but the engine whined down as the vehicle slowed to a crawl beside her.

  “Want a lift?” a familiar, deep voice asked.

  Ella ducked out of the sun to peer through the open passenger-side window. Will drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and smiled.

  “Rose didn’t call you, did she?”

  He stopped drumming. “Maybe.”

  Ella withheld a sigh and tugged open the door, thanking him. As she was settling in, Will pulled away from the side of the road.

  “Sal says it’s going to be a hot one,” he said by way of hedging a conversation.

  “Sal?” Ella recalled one of the storefront’s painted windows with the same name. “The barber?”

  “Yeah. He’s sort of our unofficial weatherman, too.”

  “A regular renaissance man.” The vinyl seats stuck to Ella’s skin, and she rolled down the window. “Nice car.”

  “Thanks.”

  “It’d be nicer if it had air conditioning.”

  “Do all dames in the future complain so much?”

  Ella fought a smile. “Dames? Okay, old man.”

  He chuckled. “I guess they don’t say that where you’re from.”

  “Not unless you want to get punched.”

  He glanced sideways at her as if he couldn’t determine whether or not she was kidding. “They were still testing cooling systems in vehicles back in my day. Do all your cars have them?”

  She nodded. “The ones worth having do.”

  The car crested the hill. Large oak and fir trees lined the way. The previous snowfall had caused the leaves of the oaks to shrivel, but they still provided shade against a hot desert sun.

  Overnight, Ella had gone from snow and pumpkin spice lattes to the scent of sun heating dirt and oven roads. The wind whipped through the pickup’s open window, pulling loose strands from her ponytail.

  Will interrupted the silence. “Any particular reason you’re wanting to go to the greenhouses?”

  “Call it curiosity.”

  His eyes flitted from the road to her face, searching.

  “If this is going to be my home for a little while, I should probably learn where everything is.” The reasoning for her motive was mostly true.

  Will’s knuckles tightened over the steering wheel, and he fixed his gaze ahead.

  “What? You don’t agree?” She rotated to face him, trying not to stare at his strong jaw and lips.

  “No, I do. It’s just, you said, ‘a little while.’”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “It sounds like you aren’t going to stay.”

  She held back a snort, not wanting to sound cruel. “I’m not though. Not if I can help it.”

  “Do you want to know the probability of landing close to your time period again? It’s slim. I can give you the exact calculation if you like. And if you were to factor in location, as well, it’s
next to impossible.”

  “I’ll settle for close,” she said softly. She’d taken enough math classes to understand the variables involved, to know the probability was remote. The chances were slim to none she’d ever return home by sitting and waiting through each flash or time jump. Which was why she didn’t plan on waiting.

  Will sighed. “Look, Ella. I’m not trying to discourage you or dash your hopes. But I’ve seen it before. The first jump for a person’s always the worst.

  “In the years that followed the town’s first jump, people searched for answers to why this was happening, held out hope that if they could just figure out the how, they could get back to their own time. But with each flash, no answer came, and hope died.

  “In Keystone, there are two choices: either accept your fate and find some semblance of happiness living here or go crazy. Most of us chose the former because we had to to survive. But some chose the latter. They just couldn’t take it. They grew depressed and made rash decisions. There were a lot of suicides around that time. A lot of people going missing, wandering out of town and getting stuck wherever we were.” His voice dropped. “It was a dark time for Keystone.”

  The road dropped. The roofs of several large structures stood in sharp contrast to the sandy backdrop. Ella was momentarily distracted by the sight that would’ve made a nursery green with envy before shifting her gaze to Will.

  His face was a storm of emotions, his jaw flexing as he battled them. She could tell the memories of the early years still haunted him, but there was something else. The way his voice broke as he spoke, the far-off look in his eyes, suggested something more personal.

  “I’m sorry, Will.”

  He dipped his head in acknowledgment and lapsed into silence the rest of the cruise down the hill. Ella tried to count the many greenhouses but lost sight of them as they came eye level with the structures.

  The car rolled to a stop in an expansive, half-full gravel parking lot. Ella reached for the warm handle and thanked him for the ride.

  “Oh, no. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” His quick grin chased away the shadows that had been there a moment before.

  “You want to go with me?” Her mind warred with her emotions. The thought that she’d be spending more time with him made her stomach flutter, but it also made it harder for her to get the information she sought.

  “Unless you don’t want me to?” His hand, like hers, also froze on the door handle.

  Her mouth suddenly felt dry, and she found she could do little more than nod and squeak—which she quickly covered with a cough.

  As she climbed out of the car, Ella had to remind herself she was spending time with a man from her grandfather’s time and the ex-boyfriend of a murder victim. While she thought Will innocent in Kay’s death, when it came to men, she’d learned she was usually more wrong than right.

  CHAPTER 12

  THEY WANDERED FROM greenhouse to greenhouse. Despite the fans and open doors at both ends, the desert sun heated the humid air inside worse than a sauna.

  Ella was in the middle of inspecting what she hoped was a blueberry bush when Will’s voice filled her ear.

  “You want to tell me why you’re really here?”

  She jumped, not realizing he’d been standing a breath behind her. Ella put air between them, and her stomach tightened. “What do you mean?”

  His eyes pierced hers. “I mean, I’ve been watching you—”

  “Creepy.”

  “We’ve been here nearly an hour. That’s more than just a curious resident wanting to learn about the town. And you’ve been inspecting the plants like a horticulturist.”

  “Maybe I’m interested in becoming one.”

  “Is that why you keep checking that gadget of yours at the same time?”

  Ella glanced at the cell phone in her hand, opened to her notes on poisonous plants.

  “You’re searching for something,” he said. “If you tell me what it is, I can help. Otherwise, we’ll be here all day.” He looked up, his eyes roaming the walls. “And you know how many more buildings we have to get through.”

  Ella bit her lip. After a drawn-out pause of consideration, she gave in. “Okay, I had this thought. I know it’s crazy, but what if Kayline was poisoned by a plant?” She waited expectantly for his reaction.

  His eyebrows lowered in thought. “That’s not crazy. But how? Are you thinking she ingested it? And what plant?”

  “I don’t know.” She shook her head in frustration and put her phone between them so he could see too. As she showed him the suspicious plants, complete with pictures and descriptions, she explained, “These are the ones that would result in the same symptoms we saw.”

  The inventor’s eyes widened, a hunger burning in them. He ripped the device from her hand and turned it over and over. “This is amazing. One of the twentieth century guys who got stuck here let me play with his cellophane once before the battery died.”

  “Cellphone,” she corrected, but if Will had heard her, he didn’t acknowledge it.

  Will mashed his finger on the screen, pressing it like a button. The keyboard popped up, making his eyes grow even larger, then he squinted.

  “So small,” he muttered.

  As he inspected the exterior, his thumb depressed the power button, and the screen went dark.

  “Oh, no. I broke it.”

  Ella pressed her lips together to keep from laughing and showed him how he’d just powered down the screen. She stepped closer, their shoulders brushing, as she showed him how to use the smartphone.

  “I’m looking for any of these.” She pointed at the images she’d taken. She reached for the phone, but Will maneuvered it out of reach.

  “We could just ask Mrs. Faraday. She’s one of the horticulturists who runs this place,” he said absently.

  He held the phone at arm’s length and tipped it from side to side as he tried to scroll up the screen. He jabbed his finger at the screen.

  “It’s not a button. You don’t press it. Just touch—”

  “Yeah, I got it.” He shooed her hand away and accidentally opened the phone’s settings. “Uh, what do I do?”

  She managed to retrieve the phone, internally compared him to her parents, and pulled up the note she’d had opened. “It takes getting used to—”

  He swiped the device out of her hands. “Got it.”

  Ella rolled her eyes and continued to search the aisle. Tomato plants climbed cages on her right, while grapes vined on her left. “We can’t ask this Mrs. Faraday, anyway.”

  “Why not?” Will trailed several paces behind her, eyes on the screen, slowing with each step. Ella paused for him to catch up.

  “What would she think if we were asking her about poisonous plants and word got out that Kay died from poisoning?”

  “But it’s after the fact.”

  “Will Sheriff Chapman see it that way?”

  “Good point.” The flashlight on her phone flicked on. “Oops. Hey, that’s nifty.” He pointed it up at her, blinding her with the small light.

  Ella grabbed the device away again. “I’ll give this back after we’ve found any of these plants.” She froze, closed her eyes, and murmured curses. “I just sounded like my mother.”

  “Okay, I’m sorry. I’ll help.”

  They spent another hour exploring, covering five more greenhouses. Ella’s eyes burned with overstimulation by the time they’d finished, and she couldn’t hide her disappointment.

  They hadn’t located a single plant from her list. There were still at least a dozen more structures, but she was tired and hungry and cranky. Clearly, her hunch had been wrong.

  “Maybe we missed one,” Will suggested when they stepped outside.

  Ella shielded her eyes and swiped away the sweat that had become a permanent fixture on her forehead. “Or maybe I’m wrong.”

  “Or maybe it’s just not here. Why would the greenhouse keep a poisonous plant anyway?”

  She shrugged, her s
pirits buoying a little. “Good point.”

  Her running shoes crunched over the gravel as they headed back to his car. “Too bad we can’t get a look at the coroner’s report. Any chance you can ask Pauline more about the autopsy?”

  “We’re not that close. She’s pretty tight-lipped about things unless she’s been drinking. Then again, who isn’t? It’s one reason I don’t drink.” A few yards from the car, he said, “Hey, Barton, catch.” He tossed his keys at her.

  Ella caught them and arched an eyebrow. “You’re going to let me drive?”

  “Only if I can see that phone of yours again.”

  Ella pulled the pickup out of the gravel parking lot and onto the road, relishing the gentle breeze created through the open window. She couldn’t believe there’d been snow on the roads just yesterday. Several standing puddles of water dotted the shoulder and fields, the only sign of the recent accumulation.

  After a minute of listening to Will muttering, “astonishing” and “amazing,” Ella decided now would be a good time to broach a sensitive subject.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Shoot.”

  “You and Kay, what were you arguing about at the diner?”

  He looked up from her phone for the first time since they’d left, his face darkening. “Her house had been broken into a few nights before. I was worried about her. Told her she should stay with me until Sheriff Chapman caught whoever was responsible.”

  Her house had been broken into? Ella turned over this new bit of information and stored it away.

  “She told me she appreciated the thought, but she wasn’t my concern anymore,” he continued, his voice tinged with bitterness. “I told her that we didn’t have to be a couple for me to be concerned for her well-being.”

  They reached the town, and Ella let her foot off the gas. “Was anything taken?”

  “Not that she could tell. But they tore the place up pretty good.”

  She didn’t respond immediately as she wondered if there was a connection between Kay’s death and the break-in. After a while, she asked, “Did Kay have anything of value that would get her killed?”