When I walked into the kitchen, I caught Tilly’s fearful expression. “You’re not leaving?”
“Wolf needs to speak to you privately. Don’t worry, he’s a nice guy.”
Behind me, Nina added, “Sophie dated him. She should know.”
Thank you, Nina.
“That’s reassuring. Sophie is probably very selective about the men she dates. Wesley told me this morning that I shouldn’t speak to the police without our lawyer present. I called him while you were outside with Wolf. He should be here any minute.”
“Oh? Who’s your lawyer?” asked Nina.
I braced myself. Please, just don’t let it be—
“Alex German. Do you know him?” asked Tilly.
Of course. In a town swimming with lawyers, it had to be the only lawyer in the world whom I had dated.
Nina burst out laughing.
“What?” Tilly froze. “Is he the worst lawyer in town?”
I took a deep breath. I might as well confess before Nina blabbed. “I dated him, too. It’s going to be like a conference of my old beaus here in a few minutes. I believe it’s time for me to take my leave. Thank you for the latte. It was fabulous. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
I didn’t wait a second longer. I waved at Tilly and hurried Daisy through the house and out the front door.
Nina was still laughing when she caught up to me. “I didn’t know you could move that fast.”
“So not funny,” I said drolly. “Let’s cut over this way,” I suggested, turning right blocks sooner than I normally would have.
“You’re going to run into Alex one of these days,” Nina pointed out.
“It doesn’t have to be today.” There wasn’t actually a good reason to avoid him. Alex was a genuinely nice guy. I was the one who had broken off the relationship, which, if I thought about it logically, meant I shouldn’t be avoiding him. But I wasn’t ready for that awkward meeting. And I certainly didn’t want to have it with Wolf sitting there watching. The mere thought of that gave me chill bumps.
“The glamorous social life of the single woman,” Nina quipped. “At least we got some exercise out of it.”
Nina peeled off at her house after making me promise to phone her the second anything exciting happened. I went home and did something Daisy did every day but I rarely had the opportunity to indulge in: I took a nap. In spite of all the coffee I had consumed, I drifted off and woke in the early afternoon.
The first thing I thought about was the cookbook and how I should have been working on it instead of snoozing. But that brought me back to Abby. By now Wolf had probably talked to her ex-husband. I wondered if he was a suspect yet.
Mochie yawned and stretched, and then the little stinker curled up again and went back to sleep. The luxuries of being a cat.
I took my notes from the morning and a recipe from Abby’s stack and retreated to my tiny home office. Following Abby’s format, I wrote out the recipe and added as though I were Tilly:
After I tried a pumpkin latte, I couldn’t get enough of them. I whip up this version when my girlfriends come over for a midmorning gabfest. Cold fall days are the perfect time to serve it with a slice of Grandma Peggy’s Pumpkin Bundt Cake and enjoy the company of friends.
I printed it out and carried it into the kitchen to add to the stack. That done, I put the kettle on for tea.
The two recipes I made from Tilly’s collection had been delicious. I grabbed a notepad and jotted a reminder to ask her if the cake had turned out to her liking. If it had, then the next steps would be to add the remaining recipes, organize them all, and come up with more notes as though Tilly had written them herself so the cookbook would feel authentically hers. That didn’t seem so difficult. There was probably a story behind most of the recipes, and that was what would make the cookbook special to her fans.
The only thing that disturbed me were those silly codes. I would have to come to terms with the fact that Abby was gone and I would never know what they meant. But I had become obsessed with them.
I browsed through the recipes for a dish to take to Eunice. Tilly’s Shortcut Chicken and Dumplings sounded interesting. Plus, it made a good amount, so Eunice could reheat leftovers another night. Tilly’s recipe used leftover rotisserie chicken, which I didn’t have on hand. I did have a whole chicken, though. I popped it into my Instant Pot to cook and wasted the next hour browsing bathroom ideas on Pinterest.
When the chicken had cooled a bit, I chopped up the meat and added thyme, sage, and minced garlic. Tilly used a lot of butter in her dumplings. She was a true Southern cook. I made them her way and dropped them into the liquid, then slid the pot into the oven and let it all bake for twenty minutes.
When I removed the lid, a fabulous aroma wafted out. I ladled most of the dish into an oven-to-table microwave-safe bowl to make things easy for Eunice. I packed it into a bag along with a third of the cake I had baked. Daisy eagerly waited at the door for me to help her into her halter.
I locked up, and we walked toward Eunice’s house. It was early for dinner, but she could stash it in the fridge and warm it up when she was ready to eat. On King Street, I saw the man who had pulled a soda can out of the trash. He was on the opposite side of the street. There was no reason for him to remember me, of course, yet I felt certain he noticed me. I was sorely tempted to follow him to find out what he was up to, but he was probably just going about his business.
I knocked on Eunice’s door but didn’t hear the thump-thump of her cane as she made her way to open it. To my total surprise, my neighbor Francie opened the door. Daisy, who was usually very polite, barged inside to greet her pal Duke, Francie’s golden retriever.
Francie had spent a lot of years birding and gardening in the sun, which had left her with a road map of lines in her face. I thought she was slightly younger than Eunice, but Eunice’s unlined skin helped her appear more youthful.
“I’m so glad Eunice called you.”
“Called me?” Francie frowned. “I saw her house on the news because of the murder next door and thought I’d better check on her.”
“I’m glad you did. I brought her some chicken and dumplings to try. And a little pumpkin cake for dessert. There’s enough for two.”
Francie smiled at me and whispered, “I had no idea she was having trouble getting around. This house has a lot of stairs. If I wanted to take her somewhere, I think both of us would fall just trying to get her out of the house.”
“Maybe it’s time for her to move to an apartment?”
“Lord have mercy! Don’t mention that to her. She nearly threw me out of the house for suggesting it. I’m going to call a contractor and see what we can do. She’s bound and determined to stay here.”
“That’s very thoughtful of you. Let me know if I can help.” I stepped inside.
“Is it Wolf?” called Eunice.
“Nope. It’s just Sophie. I brought dinner for you and Francie.”
Eunice leaned forward in her lounger. “How lovely! I need to move a chair to the front window. I’m missing all the action. Francie said she saw Wolf outside. I thought he might drop by to give us an update on Abby.”
I hurried into the kitchen and removed the contents from my bag. “If Francie will dish out the food, I’d be happy to track down Wolf for you.”