“Charlee, Mr. Brooks,” Cole gestured with his hand for us to sit in the chairs on the other side of the desk. “I take it you’re here about Fern.”
“Yes,” Preston answered in his formal lawyer voice. “Due to Mrs. Bailey’s exemplary character, and no criminal record, I request that she be released on her own recognizance.”
“Sorry, I can’t do that.” Cole leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest.
“Why not?” I started to rise, but Preston put his hand on my leg, silently ordering me to stand down.
Cole’s nostrils flared. His fuse seemed awfully short, but then maybe it was just me. I needed to tone it down. I wanted Cole as an ally, not an enemy.
“Because Mrs. Bailey has been charged with a felony. She needs to be arraigned before a judge so bail can be set,” Cole explained.
“But it’s Sunday,” I blurted, my mind racing at what that meant. “You can’t keep Fern in jail overnight!”
Cole stared at me for several seconds before he spoke. I wondered if he was counting in his head to try and temper his annoyance. “I can.”
“Charlee,” Preston turned to me. “Why don’t you go wait in the lobby?” He was still using that lawyer voice, and I sensed he did not want to be argued with.
“All right,” I stood and looked at Cole. “I’m just worried about my aunt. I feel like this is just a big misunderstanding that has gotten out of hand. I’m sorry if I’ve made it worse.” Moving my gaze to the floor, I hurriedly strode to the door and down the hall to the lobby.
A while later, I’m not sure how long because I was lost in thought staring at the cracks in the floor tiles, I heard a door at the end of the hall open. I looked up and saw Fern and Preston walking toward me. Jumping up from the bench, I raced down the corridor and hugged my aunt.
“Oh, I’m so glad to see you! Are you okay?” I released my aunt and took a good look at her.
“I’m fine, Charlee,” Fern grinned. “But ready to be out of this place. I missed lunch, and I’m starving.”
“Perfect, I haven’t eaten either. Let’s go home and I’ll make you something.” For the first time that day, the boulder that had been pressing on my heart lifted. I knew this wasn’t over, but it was a good start. We continued walking, and I looked over at Preston.
“Preston, I don’t know what you said, but thank you,” I expressed sincerely, seeing the nerdy attorney in a different light. He still wasn’t the guy for me, but he was a good man.
“Just doing my job, Charlee,” he winked. “But if you’d like to thank me, maybe we could have dinner sometime.”
Okay, so he still had a crush on me. At the moment, I didn’t care.
Chapter Five
“W hat are you doing up so early?” Fern asked from behind a newspaper, where she sat at the kitchen table. Moose took that as his cue to leap on the antique oak table, and began kneading his paws on the paper.
As a chef, I winced at the thought of those filthy cat paws on any eating surface, but I held my tongue. It wasn’t my house. And after the ordeal yesterday, Moose’s contaminated mitts were the least of my worries.
“I couldn’t sleep,” I mumbled, heading straight for the coffee pot.
“Me either.” Fern gave up on reading the paper and opted to pet her chubby cat instead. “Do you have to head back today?”
“Actually, I took a few days off work.” I padded to the sink to fill the coffee pot. “I wasn’t sure if the police would have any other questions for me, and to be honest I’m worried about leaving you here in case they come back to arrest you again. Preston said you would still have to appear before a judge unless the charges are dropped, and I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“That’s very sweet of you, Charlee, but I’ll be fine.” The nervous edge in her tone wasn’t convincing me of anything. “Besides, my brother is the mayor. How bad could it get?”
“Now I know you’re lying.” I reached for a mug while my coffee was brewing. “My self-righteous father wouldn’t hesitate to throw any of us under the bus if it served his purpose.”
“Charlee,” my aunt’s hand flew over her heart dramatically. “I can’t believe you would say such a thing.”
I smirked. “You know I’m right.”
“Yeah, you are,” she agreed candidly. “So, what are we going to do to fix this?”
“Well, how I see it, we have two problems. First, we don’t know who killed Earl, and with all the circumstantial evidence pointing to you, I worry the cops may not search very hard to find any additional suspects. And second, the felony charge for the still, which I think is completely ridiculous. But I’m not optimistic the sheriff is going to budge on that.”
“Then it looks like we should focus on figuring out who killed Earl.” Fern gave Moose another pat, then took a sip of her tea. I had a feeling it might be “special” this morning. “Because other than bribing the sheriff, I’m not sure we have a lot of options there.”
I snorted. “Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. I’m beginning to think Cole might be the type that irons his underwear.”
Fern’s eyebrows raised. “Oh, so you’re thinking about the man in his underwear. Not that I blame you. He is—”
“No!” I denied vehemently, because I hadn’t been, at least not until Fern mentioned it. “I’m saying he’s uptight, anal, and a stickler for the rules.”
“I know,” Fern snickered. “I just like to tease you. Although, I bet he looks nice in his—”
“Fern! We need to focus.” I poured
