Ah, self-proclaimed Harmony Grove historian. He accepted her handshake. “Shane Dalton.”
“Are you Jessica’s boyfriend? I noticed you two arrived around the same time.”
He cast a glance at Jessica before returning his attention to Carolyn. “I’m afraid that was purely coincidental. We never met till the night she arrived.”
“I see. Well, welcome to Harmony Grove.” She turned to face Jess. “You heard what happened to the Tandys, right?”
“No. What happened to the Tandys?” Jessica’s tone was flat, as if she’d had to answer one too many knock-knock jokes.
“Someone broke into their house last night. Roger got up, and this strange guy was there. He had a gun, hit Roger upside the head with it. Marge heard the commotion and got up to find the window open and Roger on the floor unconscious. Nearly scared her to death. They took him to Winter Haven Hospital. He’s back home now, but he has a concussion.”
“That’s awful.” BethAnn had made her way over to where they stood as soon as Carolyn began her story. “Do they have any idea who it was?”
“Not a clue. Roger said the guy had on one of those knit things that covers the face, except for eye holes and an opening for the mouth.”
Jess seemed to have grown a shade paler. “Was anything taken?”
“Not that they could tell. My guess is if Roger hadn’t gotten up when he did, the guy might have robbed them blind.”
“Pretty scary.” BethAnn shook her head. “We had a break-in at the store last night, too. They didn’t get anything here, either.”
Carolyn’s eyes widened. “Oh, my. I didn’t know about the store being broken into. Well, I’m not going to keep you. I know it’s quitting time.”
As soon as the door closed, Jess gave him a crooked grin. “You got to experience Carolyn firsthand.”
“Yeah. Since she didn’t purchase anything, I’m guessing her only reason for coming in was to fill us in on the latest.”
“You got it,” BethAnn said. “And she got a bonus, because I told her about the store being broken into. The only thing Carolyn enjoys more than being the first to know is being the first to tell.” She retrieved her purse from behind the counter and walked toward the front door. “6:05. Time to hit the road.”
Shane pushed open the door and turned to Jess. “You never answered my question.”
“I don’t believe you asked one.”
“Well, I sort of asked you to dinner.”
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
“Come on. It’s my treat.”
“I can’t keep letting you buy me dinner.”
She stalked out the door, then headed toward home. He had to hurry to catch up. “Why not?”
“Because I pay my own way. And since I’ve got to make my sister’s house payment next week and hope to have enough left over for groceries, that’s out of the question. So I’ll eat at home.”
“I’m tired of eating alone. Believe me, the cost of your dinner is a small price to pay for your company.”
“I feel like a charity case.”
“You’re not. You’re doing me a favor.”
She gave him a quirky smile. “So that makes you the charity case.”
“Absolutely.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Great.” I’ll think about it was better than no.
He slid her a sideways glance. For Jess, money was tight, no doubt. But getting to know her had pretty well stamped out any thoughts of her benefiting from her sister’s death. She was too independent, too set on making her own way. She had some stains on her record, but his gut told him she wasn’t any more involved in the shady side of Harmony Grove than he was. And his gut was usually right.
She twisted to look up at him. “Didn’t you say you had to get groceries? Harmony Produce and Meats is the other direction.”
“My shopping can wait.”
“Go ahead and get what you need. I have to take Buttons out and feed him. You can pick me up when you’re ready.”
He hurried through his shopping before she could change her mind, then made the trek back home. When he stepped onto her porch a short time later, the door swung open before he could knock. Fifteen minutes after that, they were seated at the Hometown Cafe, two iced teas in front of them and burgers and sweet potato fries ordered.
He smiled across the table at her. “Isn’t this a lot better than dinner alone?”
She shrugged. “I’m used to eating alone. A lot of times, it beats the alternative.”
“Sounds like you’re pretty soured on relationships.”
“Maybe I am.”
“You want to talk about it?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Which one do you want to hear about first, the one who ran my business into the ground or the one who set me up for some hefty jail time? And there were a couple of doozies in between. So dinner alone isn’t that bad.”
Her tone lacked the bitterness he would have expected. Instead, it held an odd sort of resignation. She’d mastered the art of accepting the past, no matter how ugly, and moving forward with her life. He might be able to learn a thing or two from her.
She took a long swig of her tea. “What about you? Why are you still single?”
He shrugged. “I’m a loner, move around a lot.”
She studied him so intently, he had to look away. He wasn’t fooling her. She recognized the flippant answer for what it was—a way to avoid the truth. That was one thing she wasn’t getting out of him.
He met her gaze again. “What do you think happened at the Tandys’?”
Two vertical creases formed between her eyebrows. “I don’t know what to think. Things like that don’t happen in Harmony Grove.” She leaned toward him and dropped her voice. “Of course, neither does murder.”
“Do you think everything’s related?”
“I don’t see how. I’m sure Prissy’s death and her house being ransacked are related. But I don’t see what BethAnn has to do with any of that. Or the Tandys.”
“What does Roger Tandy do?”
“He owns Tandy Hardware.”
“What about his wife?”
“Marge is a
