Hopscotch Homicide (Zoe Donovan Mystery Book 16) (8 page)

Zak and the boys got up early to go fishing, so Alex and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast on the patio next to the pool as we planned our day. It was nice that Zak had had the opportunity to do guy stuff with Scooter and Pi, leaving Alex and me free to have a girls’ day.

“How’s your book coming along?” I asked as I poured syrup over my pancakes.

“Really well. I’m close to being done. Phyllis thinks it’s good enough to publish, but I think she’s just being nice. Adults do that a lot. They say nice things to try to encourage kids.”

“I’ve only read the small part you showed me, but I don’t think Phyllis is just being nice. Your book is really good and I agree with Phyllis that you should publish it. It’s insightful and imaginative. I bet other girls your age would love to read about the adventures your characters have.”

“You really think so?” Alex asked.

“I really do. And I’m not just saying that to be a supportive adult. You have real talent. Phyllis has published her work in the past. I’m sure she wouldn’t encourage you if she didn’t think your book was good enough, and I bet she knows exactly what to do to help you get published. In my opinion you should let her help you.”

“Maybe. Although I bet she’ll be awful busy from now on with the school and the girls. She’s been so nice and helpful, but I hate to bother her.”

“Trust me,” I assured the dark-haired girl, “Phyllis will always have time for you. I think one of the main reasons she agreed to help with the school was to ensure that you would have the education you deserved.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Alex seemed satisfied with that response. She smiled and turned her attention back to her meal. There were times I felt a level of uncertainty about the huge choices Zak and I had made over the past few months, but when I thought about how much our choices would benefit kids like Alex, I knew it would be worth any hardships we might have to endure to make our dream a reality.

“What time would you like to leave?” Alex asked after a few minutes.

“I told Phyllis that I would meet her and Pepper at the Zoo at ten.”

“Pepper is really excited about having a cat of her own,” Alex shared. “She told me that she’s never had her own pet before even though she’s really, really wanted one. I hope it works out for her.”

I frowned. “Would you like to have a pet of your own?”

“No. Now that the house is so busy Marlow and Spade spend most of their time in my room, and they’ve been sleeping with me almost every night. I hope that’s okay. I know they’re really your cats, but they almost feel like they’re mine too.”

“It’s more than okay. Between Zak and Charlie, our bed is pretty crowded anyway. I’m very happy Marlow and Spade have found a safe and quiet place to hang out. How about if we make them our cats?” I suggested.

Alex smiled. “I’d like that. You should be warned, though, that Scooter keeps talking about getting a dog. I reminded him that we already have two dogs, but he said Charlie only wants to hang out with you and Bella is pretty content to hang out at the house and sleep all day. Tucker got a lab puppy that follows him everywhere and Scooter is feeling jealous.”

I smiled at Alex. “Thanks for the heads-up. I’m not sure a puppy would be the best idea at the moment, but I’ll keep an eye out for the perfect dog for Scooter. Now, did you go through your clothes to figure out what you need to start school?”

“I went through everything like you asked. I guess I grew since last year because all my pants and skirts are too short. I hate to have you buy new ones, though. Maybe I can just let down the hems on the skirts and wear them to school. I probably don’t need pants if I wear the skirts.”

“First of all, it snows here. A lot. It will be much too cold to wear skirts to school. Second of all, it’s our job as the women of the house to spend Zak’s money.”

Alex looked doubtful.

“Really. It’s in the wife-and-daughter handbook.”

Alex laughed.

“And finally, I love to go shopping with you. In a way, you’re doing me a favor by needing pants, because now I have an excuse to spend the whole day with one of my favorite people doing something I love.”

The truth of the matter is that pre-Alex, I hated shopping. It was amazing how things had changed.

“Okay.” Alex grinned. “If you’re sure Zak won’t mind that we’re spending his money.”

“He won’t mind. Now run upstairs and get dressed. We need to leave in about forty-five minutes to meet Phyllis and Pepper.”

Pepper absolutely loved Annabelle, and based on the loud purring that almost echoed throughout the building, Annabelle loved her as well. It always did my heart good to match animals to the perfect humans. Annabelle was a young cat and would be less apt to be set in her ways, and she was also a small and quiet cat, which I hoped would help with any dominance issues Charlotte might display.

After seeing Phyllis, Pepper, and Annabelle on their way, Alex and I headed into town to shop till we dropped. Alex approached the task much like she did the other aspects of her life: logically. When I asked her if she liked the jeans with the rhinestones or the unadorned ones, she compared the price to the durability and decided the plain jeans were a better buy. After we had purchased several pairs of inexpensive yet durable pants, I informed her that from that point forward she was not allowed to look at the price tags. I could tell she was uncomfortable with that, but she eventually agreed.

“Are you sure about this?” Alex asked when I showed her into a dressing room with a handful of sweaters and instructed her to try them all on. “My sweaters from last year seem to fit fine. I just got taller.”

“I’m sure. I want to buy you plenty of warm clothes. I’ll wait here, so why don’t you try each one on and then come out and show me how it fits?”

Alex shrugged. “Okay. If you say so.”

Alex tried to act like she didn’t care whether we bought her a new wardrobe or not, but I couldn’t help but notice the huge grin on her face the entire time we’d been shopping. The private school she had attended for her entire life had required that she wear the same uniform as everyone else. I know she had clothing of her own, but until she moved in with us, I didn’t realize how very limited her wardrobe really was. I guess her mom didn’t enjoy shopping any more than I had until now.

“Zoe,” Alex called from behind the closed door.

“Yeah?”

“I think I need a bigger size in the red and white one you picked out. This one is a little tight.”

“Okay, try another sweater on and I’ll see if I can find a larger size in the red and white.”

I exited the dressing room and began sorting through the rack of sweaters. It seemed that quite a few of the mothers in Ashton Falls had had the same idea because the shop was a lot more crowded than usual.

“It seems like all the larger sizes are picked over,” a woman said from beside me. “I really should have made the trip to the mall in Bryton Lake, but school seemed to sneak up on me this year.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “It’s hard to believe it starts up again next week.”

“Will your daughter be attending the elementary school?”

“Middle school,” I answered. I could have explained that Alex wasn’t actually my daughter, but what was the point?

“I guess you heard what happened to the lunch lady at the elementary school,” the woman said as she grabbed the last red and white sweater and placed it in her basket.

Darn. I was going to need to be faster.

“Yes. It really is a shame.”

“We just moved to Ashton Falls a year ago, and while I love the area, I did find the food at the school to be lacking. Of course I’m not happy about what happened to the woman, but I’m glad we’ll finally get a new cook. I really don’t know why the school kept her on. I was one of the parents who started the petition to have her replaced last year, but a fat lot of good it did us. Two hundred signatures from concerned parents and still the principal refused to ax her. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if one of the PTA moms didn’t take matters into her own hands.”

“Really?” I frowned.

“Of course not. I’m just teasing, but you must remember how bad the food was if your daughter attended the school when she was younger.”

“Yeah. I remember.”

I grabbed a purple sweater to replace the red and white one and returned to the dressing room. How bad had Mrs. Brown’s cooking become?

The woman’s comment, while intended as a joke, might actually bear consideration.
Had
one of the PTA moms finally decided to take matters into her own hands? I’d been witness to people killing other people for a lot less. I really did need to follow up with Yolanda when I got the chance.

We bought Alex a whole bagful of clothes and headed over to Ellie’s for lunch. I don’t know if it was luck or fate, but when we arrived at the Beach Hut Yolanda Snyder, the woman I’d decided to seek out, was just finishing up her lunch. It was going to be tricky to start a conversation about the lunch lady in this venue, especially because she was with her family, so I decided to use the Boy Scout angle.

“Yolanda, how fortunate to run into you,” I began with false gaiety.

“You needed to speak to me?”

“I ran into Virginia Wilson, who encouraged me to speak to you about Boy Scouts for Scooter. She mentioned you’re the coordinator for the area.”

“I am, and I’d be happy to provide you with all the information you need. I’m just leaving to catch a movie with my family; can you come by my realty office next week?”

“I’d be happy to. I was sorry to have missed the dinner on Wednesday. I could have saved you the trouble of having to meet with me privately.”

“The meeting was a bust. I had arranged for Evelyn Brown to provide the food, but I guess you heard she was murdered on the day of the dinner. It didn’t seem right to eat her meal after everything that had happened, so we ordered pizza. Discount pizza. It was bad. So bad that almost everyone left early and I only managed to complete a few applications.”

“Mrs. Brown was catering your affair?” I tried to act surprised.

“Yes. I know her food wouldn’t have been any better than the horrible pizza we ended up with, but I knew she had fallen on hard times and was in danger of losing her home. The committee felt sorry for her, so we decided to give her the catering job. I’m not sure how much it would have helped, but it was a gesture.”

I frowned. “I understand you started a petition to have her fired last year.”

“I did.” The woman lowered her voice. “But that was before Principal Bower explained about her husband. The poor woman. I can see why the man was so loyal to her. I felt bad for my part in the petition and wanted to help her out.”

“When I ran into Virginia she said the PTA was dead set on having the woman fired.”

“No,” Yolanda corrected. “Virginia was alone in her witch hunt. After I explained the entire circumstances to the PTA, we decided the woman’s food wasn’t really that bad. It’s not like kids were getting sick or anything. Virginia is very protective of Artie. Now that he was going to be attending the elementary school, she was determined to get rid of Mrs. Brown, but she was acting alone. Of course it won’t make much of a difference now.”

“Did Virginia know Mrs. Brown was going to be providing the food for the scouting event?” I asked.

“Sure. She’s on the committee too.”

I glanced at Alex, who was talking to one of Yolanda’s sons. The pair seemed to be connecting in record time. I was pretty sure this particular son was in middle school. I was going to have to keep an eye on her with the older boys she was going to be attending school with.

“I’ll let you get to your movie, but I’ll definitely catch up with you next week about the Scouts.”

“Please do. It’s a wonderful organization. I’m sure Scooter will get a lot out of it.”

I watched Yolanda and her family walk away.

“I see you know Mrs. Snyder’s oldest son,” I said to Alex.

“No. We just met. He seems nice, and he’s going to be going to my school. His name is Chris. Did you find out what you needed to for Scooter to do Scouts?”

“Yes, I believe I did. Let’s head in to see if Ellie can take a break and join us.”

The beautiful weather we’d had as recently as a few hours before had given way to increasing clouds and a drop in temperature. Those who had already ordered food were finishing up, but it didn’t look like any new customers had sat down at the mostly outdoor eatery in the past twenty minutes. During the winter Ellie served a limited menu indoors, but space was tight, so few patrons thought to dine in at the Hut during the warmer days of summer and fall.

“Do you have time for a break?” I asked.

“Thanks to the clouds I do. It looks like the wind is picking up as well. Let’s grab that table by the window. I hope the guys are back from fishing; otherwise, it’s going to be a bumpy ride back.”

I looked out toward the lake. The water had turned gray and white caps were beginning to appear. It really would be a bumpy ride back if they hadn’t been aware of the change in conditions. Zak and Levi were both experienced boaters who had lived on the lake long enough to watch for changing weather patterns, so I wasn’t too worried.