About three minutes later, the waitress came by once more, this time bearing a tray laden with our coffee and treats. Sophie and I dug in, obviously only because we had nothing to do until Chuck showed up. I had to admit, while Betty’s would always hold a special place in my heart, the red velvet cupcake I had settled on was absolutely delicious. It might not have been quite as good as what Betty cooked up—after all, people drove in from all over the state just to get some of her pastries—but this was easily the best café I had ever been to in Portland.
“Is your pie as good as my cupcake?” I asked Sophie, who quickly took the plate and covered it with her hand, baring her teeth at me. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Seriously, though, have a piece,” Sophie offered, removing her hand and motioning to the pie with her fork.
“I’m a little bit afraid to,” I laughed, reaching over and taking a small bite. I motioned for Sophie to do the same with my cupcake as I moved the fork to my mouth, and I had to admit this was a pretty darn good pie as well. I made a mental note to ask Betty to add bourbon pecan to her menu.
“We need to tell Charlotte this place is here,” Sophie said. “After all, she spends so much time in Portland that she needs a good place for pastries when she can’t get Betty’s.”
I nodded in agreement and looked up as the waitress made her way back over towards us. “The man that just came in, he’s the one you’re looking for. That’s Chuck,” she told us in a quiet voice.
“Thank you so much,” Sophie said, beaming at her. As soon as she left I got a better look at the man. He looked to be in his late fifties, maybe early sixties. His hair was completely gray and beginning to thin at the top of his head. His clothes were worn, but obviously good quality. They were a little bit old-fashioned as well; I imagined this man must’ve bought them maybe fifteen years ago and didn’t feel the need to replace them with new ones until they were truly worn out.
As soon as the man paid, he made his way towards Sophie and me and grabbed a chair from a nearby table before sitting down at ours. “I hear you ladies want to speak to me about Michael Carlton,” he said.
“Yes, please,” I said, getting a closer look at the man. He might have been a bit older than I initially suspected, but his glistening blue eyes and kind face told me that despite his years, this man was still very active mentally, if not physically. He had, after all, a little bit of a limp as he made his way towards us.
“What can I answer for you two young ladies today?”
“How well did you know Michael?” Sophie asked. “We’re trying to find a link between him and a lady named Gloria Romano, who lives in Willow Bay.”
“I’m afraid I didn’t know him all that well,” Chuck replied. “I only moved to Portland recently, a couple of months ago.”
“Oh,” I said, my shoulders slumping slightly. I had really hoped Chuck would have been a childhood friend or something, someone who would have known all of Michael’s deepest secrets.
“I know he worked as an accountant here in town,” Chuck continued. “He was retired, though.”
“That’s right,” Sophie nodded. “How did the two of you meet?”
“We were both playing a round of golf at Rose City. Ran into each other in the clubhouse after, sparked up a conversation and went from there. We met a couple of times after that for golf and had a coffee here the other day. Just to chat.”
“Did Michael mention anyone who had something against him, by any chance?” I asked. “Anyone who might have wanted to hurt him?”
Chuck thought about it for a minute, then shook his head. “No, I can’t say he did. He mentioned that he has a brother who lives in California, but that was it.”
“What about the name Gloria Romano?” Sophie asked, and Chuck’s eyebrows rose slightly.
“No, that doesn’t ring a bell either.”
Great. We were getting precisely nowhere with this.
“Alright,” I said. “Thanks for your time.”
“Not a problem, ladies,” Chuck replied. “Always nice to have a bit of a chat. I hope you find the answers you’re looking for.”
Sophie and I left the café and made our way into the cold air, which reflected my mood perfectly.
“So where do we go from here?” Sophie asked.
Wasn’t that the million-dollar question?
Chapter 11
It turned out the answer was: back home. Sophie and I walked back to the car, but about ten blocks away from where we were parked, Sophie suddenly grabbed me by the arm.
“Hold on,” she hissed, pulling me into a doorway. “Isn’t that Jason?”
I turned to look in the direction Sophie had indicated. Sure enough, my boyfriend was rushing past on the other side of the street, his face buried in his phone.
That was certainly strange; he had planned on staying home that day to work on his article and get something in for the deadline.
“We should follow him,” Sophie said, but I put a hand on her arm.
“We absolutely are not doing that,” I said.
“What? Why?”
“Because I’m sure there’s absolutely nothing out of the ordinary with what he’s doing,” I replied, turning my head as he passed right across the street from where we were.
“If you’re so sure that there was a good reason for him being here, why were you hiding?” Sophie asked, her hands on her hips.
“Fine,” I sighed. “I’ll text him.”
Hey, where are you?
I pressed send and gave Sophie a smug look as my phone made the sound indicating the text had gone off.
When thirty seconds later I hadn’t received a reply, however, Sophie’s eyebrows rose and my smug expression turned into a bit of a frown. He had his face right in his phone; why didn’t he answer my text straightaway?
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” I mumbled, but I couldn’t ignore the feeling of dread building in my stomach. Jason had never been the type to hide anything from me.
“Let’s go make sure it’s nothing,” Sophie said, poking her head back out into the street, but as I turned around to join her, she frowned. “Where did he go?”
Sure enough, Jason had disappeared somewhere in the twenty or so seconds that had passed since we’d last seen him. I had to admit, a part of me was pretty happy with that. No matter what he was doing, I really didn’t want to spy on my boyfriend. After all, I was supposed to trust him. And I did trust him. Even though deep down, I was pretty curious as to what he was doing here. Especially since he had told me he was spending the day in Willow Bay, and he still hadn’t answered my text.
“I’m sure he’ll tell me at home tonight,” I said, heading back out to the sidewalk and continuing back towards the car.
“I don’t know,” Sophie replied. “I’d like to think so, but you can’t really trust men.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Trouble in paradise between you and Taylor?”
“No, of course not. It’s just a general rule.”
“Well, if I had dated the train of absolute awful that you called boyfriends over the last few years, I suppose I wouldn’t be the most trusting either. Remember the guy who got drunk at a bar and called you to give him and the girl he picked up a ride back to her apartment?”
Sophie threw her head back in disgust while I laughed. “Ugh. I had almost managed to repress that memory. I think his name was Daryl or something.”
“Well, Jason isn’t at all like the train wreck that was your dating life before Taylor. So yes, I trust him. He can go to Portland if he wants. He’s a grown man and he doesn’t need me to peek over his shoulder at all hours.”
“Fine, well, if you change your mind, I’m happy to hunt him down for you,” Sophie said.
“I’m all good, thanks.”
I didn’t let Sophie know that deep down, however, my gut was starting to wonder if it was all good.