At that moment Dana arrived at their table with his orders. She placed the soup in front of Lizzy and the burger and fries in front of Daniel. "Let me know if you need anything else," Dana said just before she hurried to tend to the needs of other diners.
"Murder is good business," Lizzy said as she looked around the café. "I've never seen this place so busy at this time of the day." He was pleased when she picked up her spoon and dipped it into the soup.
She ate several spoonfuls of soup and then set her spoon down to open a package of crackers. "I don't know what's drawing more attention, me for finding her body or you just sitting across from me right now." Her gaze held his steadily. "What are you doing sitting across from me right now?"
"I heard about the murder while I was in the hardware store. Leah, the store clerk who was working, didn't know who had been killed but knew it was somebody who lived in the cabins." His throat seemed to narrow a bit. "I was afraid it was you. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." He was surprised by how difficult it was for him to admit that not just to her, but to himself.
Her hand reached across the table and covered the back of his. He was pleased to realize her fingers had warmed up in the past few minutes.
"Thank you," she said simply. She glanced down at their hands for a long moment and then pulled hers away from his and once again leaned back as if in an attempt to get a little distance from him.
"I was going to give Mary my two-week notice this weekend, but I'm wondering if maybe this isn't a sign that it's time to move on from here right away."
"Surely Cameron is going to want you to stick around for a while," Daniel protested.
She looked at him in surprise. "I don't know why. I've told him everything I know about the whole situation. All I did was have the misfortune to be the first person to knock on her cabin door this morning."
"But, now isn't the time to leave." He glanced toward the counter and wondered what in the hell he was doing. He looked back at Lizzy. "Mary needs you right now. She's just lost one waitress, and she's looking pretty fragile."
As she turned to gaze at Mary, once again Daniel wondered why in the hell he was trying to talk any woman, but especially this woman, into staying in Grady Gulch.
Chapter 5
The day was hellish and Lizzy thought it would never end, but end it finally did. When Mary turned the sign in the door from Open to Closed at ten that night, all Lizzy wanted to do was curl up in a fetal ball and sleep for at least the next twenty-four hours.
The only people left in the café were Mary, Cameron, Lizzy and Courtney, who held her sleeping son in her arms. The sheriff looked as if he'd aged ten years throughout the day. They all sat around a table as Cameron sipped the last of the coffee before heading out for the night.
"We processed the scene and got every fingerprint, hair or fiber we could. Hopefully we've got something that will identify the killer," he said.
"Did you talk to Kevin Naperson?" Courtney asked.
Cameron nodded and expelled a weary sigh. "I've got to tell you, when I spoke to him he seemed shocked and genuinely broken up about her death."
"Yeah, but did he mention where he was between one and three last night?" Lizzy asked. She'd heard the town coroner had pinned Candy's death between those hours of the early morning.
"In bed at his house. According to what Kevin told me, he and Candy went to The Corral last night, but they had a big fight and he dropped Candy off at her cabin around ten. I've got dozens of witnesses that saw them arguing and then leave the bar around that time."
The Corral was a bar on the other end of town. Lizzy had been there a couple of times since arriving in Grady Gulch. It was a huge place with a large dance floor that on the weekends was filled with two-stepping or line-dancing cowboys and cowgirls.
"Anyway," Cameron continued, "according to Kevin, he went back home, where he said he and his father watched a couple of movies and then went to bed around one. Tom, Kevin's father, confirmed the story, and I have no reason to believe Tom would lie to cover for his son, but we're going to look at everything and everyone until we have an answer."
He took another sip of his coffee. "And Candy never talked about another man? Maybe somebody giving her trouble here at the café or around town?"
Almost in unison the others told him no. "And if there was anyone giving her problems, trust me, Candy would have said something about it," Lizzy said. "Candy wasn't one to hold things inside."
"Are we safe staying in the other cabins?" Courtney asked.
"There's no reason to believe you aren't," Cameron replied, his expression dark. "The method of the kill looked … personal. But, I'll have one of my deputies do hourly drive-bys all night long just to make you feel comfortable."
He drained his coffee cup and stood. "I've got to get out of here. I've got reports to write and a crime to solve."
Mary walked him to the door as Lizzy and Courtney remained seated at the table. "I don't want to sleep in my cabin tonight," Courtney said softly. "I'm just so creeped out about all this, and an hourly patrol doesn't make me feel any better."
Lizzy knew exactly how she felt. "Why don't we stay together tonight in my cabin? We can have a slumber party."
"Are you sure you wouldn't mind?" Courtney looked down at the sleeping little boy in her arms. "I can't guarantee that he'll be this quiet all night long."
"I don't mind at all, and if he wakes up and wants to play, then we'll play. Neither of us has to come in tomorrow morning, so it will be fine."
Lizzy realized she didn't want to be alone through the rest of the long night. She'd almost hoped that Daniel would have offered to stay with her, or would have invited her home with him when he'd left after dinnertime. But, a small part of her knew that either scenario would have been foolish for both of them.
He'd been right about one thing. There was no way she would tell Mary tonight that she was leaving town. As Mary returned to the table, Lizzy noticed how achingly fragile her boss looked, how her hands trembled as she picked up the cup Cameron had recently held.
"What a day," she said, her blue eyes still haunted.
"It's like a horrible nightmare," Courtney said. "Only when we all wake up tomorrow morning, we'll realize it wasn't just a bad dream."
"Hopefully by this time tomorrow night Cameron will have the person responsible in jail and we can all relax," Mary replied. "I can't imagine what Candy's parents are going through."
Her face paled and Lizzy knew she was probably thinking about her own son, Matt, who had gone to bed only minutes before. Mary got up from the table. "Either of you want anything from the kitchen before I call it a night?"
"Not me," Lizzy said. Courtney shook her head. "Courtney and I have decided to have a slumber party tonight and stay in my cabin together." Lizzy got up from the table and touched Courtney's slender shoulder. "Come on, girl, let's get out of here so Mary can go to bed."
It was nearly an hour later that Garrett slept peacefully in the playpen Courtney had set up next to the sofa sleeper in Lizzy's cabin and the two women sat on the pullout bed in their pajamas, talking in low tones so as not to disturb the little boy.
"I still can't believe she's gone," Courtney said. "And no matter what Sheriff Evans says, I think Kevin did it. It's the only thing that makes any kind of sense."
Lizzy nodded and desperately tried to keep her last vision of Candy out of her head. "Hopefully it will be like Mary said, by tomorrow night we'll know who killed her and whoever it is will be behind bars."
"I'm just glad we're staying together tonight," Courtney said with a glance at her son. "I was just too freaked out tonight to want to stay by myself."
Lizzy pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "Trust me, I wasn't looking forward to being here all alone tonight."
"If you'd played your cards right you might have had a handsome man here in this bed next to you instead of me," Courtney said teasingly. "Everyone who was in the café all day couldn't miss how Daniel and you were together."