“Hi,” I said in my cheeriest voice. “It’s Lucy Richardson here. From the Lighthouse Library?”
“Not you again,” Tina Ledbetter said, in a not-cheery voice.
“Oh. Uh, yes, it’s me.”
“What do you want now?”
“As you’re moving soon and we haven’t had a chance to get to know each other, I was hoping to treat you to a mid-morning coffee break at Josie’s Cozy Bakery.”
“You’re assuming I want to get to know you better.”
“Uh. Yes. I guess I am.”
“Yeah. Okay. I doubt you want to know anything about me, but you’re interested in why someone would kill my sister. I told you we weren’t exactly close, and I didn’t know anything about her life. She might have had plenty of enemies I never knew about. I like the bakery and you’re paying, so I’ll bite. Pun intended.”
“Ten thirty?”
“Might as well.” She hung up.
Josie’s Cozy Bakery could get mighty busy in the summer, even at mid-morning on a Wednesday, so I arrived early. The lineup for takeout drinks and pastries was long, but a few seats were free, so I snagged a table for two in a back corner. One of her staff must have told Josie I was here, because she came out of the back rubbing her hands on an apron with the bakery logo of a croissant curling around a lighthouse.
Josie had worked extremely hard to make this place a success, and I was thrilled at how well she’d succeeded. I don’t have any sisters, being cursed with three older brothers, but Josie and I are as close as sisters. Closer than many sisters. Helena and Tina came to mind.
Josie had decorated her restaurant in “West Coast coffee culture meets Outer Banks fishing community.” The counter area was all gleaming stainless steel, white subway tiles, glass display cases, and hissing espresso machines, whereas the chairs and stools in the dining area were covered in nautical blue and white, and some of the tables were made of reclaimed tea chests or ships’ barrels. Framed prints of North Carolina lighthouses and ships at sea decorated the walls.
I jumped to my feet and gave my cousin a hug.
“Nice to see you,” she said. “Day off?”
“Yes, I’m meeting Tina Ledbetter. Do you know her?”
“I do. She’s a regular here. She likes my strawberry Danishes.”
“Did you know she’s Helena Sanchez’s sister?”
“Is she? I didn’t know that. Then again, I didn’t know Helena.”
“Can you take a break and join us?” I asked.
“I can. Breakfast rush is over. But why do you want me?”
“If she knows you, she might be more comfortable. Essentially, I am about to, discretely of course, ask her if she killed her sister.”
Josie raised one eyebrow. “Discretely?”
“I can be discreet.”
She smiled at me. Then she pulled off her hairnet (only Josie could still be beautiful in a hairnet) and shook out her long blonde hair. She grabbed an unoccupied chair from the next table and slid it over.
Blair, one of her assistants, appeared at our table so quickly he might have materialized in a puff of smoke. “Josie, can I get you something?”
“It’s on me,” I said. “We’re waiting for one more person, and then I’ll order at the counter.”
“Thanks, Blair,” Josie said. “I’m good for now.”
He walked away.
“He’s working out okay?” I asked.
Blair and Josie had clashed (to put it mildly) over the winter around the time of her wedding. Josie was a kind and generous woman, but she was also a small-business owner and boss. She’d been about to fire Blair, but they came to an understanding in time. He realized this job was just about his last chance, and he dropped the hard-done-by attitude and promised to try harder to get on with Josie and the rest of the staff.
“He’s coming along fine,” she said. “I’m considering giving him the opportunity to work behind the register when Alison leaves next week for her sister’s wedding in Rochester.”
“Here’s Tina now.” I got to my feet and waved.
I had to remind myself that the woman approaching me was not Helena Sanchez.
Tina scowled at me, but she allowed herself the slightest of smiles when she saw Josie seated at our table.
“I hope you don’t mind,” I said. “Josie needs a break, so I asked her to join us.”
“Don’t mind at all.” Tina sat down.
“What can I get you both?”
Tina asked for a strawberry Danish and a black coffee, and Josie ordered a bran muffin and coffee with cream. I went to the counter and joined the line. When it was my turn, I placed their order as well as one for a blueberry scone and a cup of hot tea for me. “We’ll bring everything over for you, Lucy,” Alison said.
“Thanks.”
When I got back to our table, Tina was telling Josie about her upcoming move to Florida. “I’m not hanging around here any longer than I have to. The police are being cagey about when I can plan Helena’s funeral.” She looked at me as I slipped into my seat. “Do you know anything about that, Lucy?”
“About Helena’s … uh … arrangements? Sorry, no.”
“I thought you were in with the police.”
We leaned back to allow Blair to place our food and drinks in front of us. “Thanks,” I said to him.
“Always a pleasure, Lucy,” he said with a smile.
They know how I take my tea here, and Blair had brought me a small jug of milk. Not cream. I poured a splash into the hot, fragrant liquid. “I wouldn’t exactly say I’m in with the police. They don’t tell me anything that’s not for the general public.”
“Whatever. If you are talking to them, you can tell them I didn’t kill Helena.”
I almost spat out my tea. I glanced at Josie. Her eyes
