Death on a Deadline

another word.
    I sat on the bench for a minute longer thinking about what she’d said. Those words sounded strangely familiar. What big secret were the mayor of Lake View and his charming first lady hiding? And more importantly, had Amelia just threatened to kill me?

Nineteen

    During my Friday inspection of the weight room equipment, my cell phone vibrated. A text message from Alex appeared on the screen. Want to go car shopping this afternoon? A smile tilted my lips. Those words might not seem romantic to most people, but only someone who cared about me would realize how tired I was of driving Mama’s Buick and how much I needed my own wheels.
    Sure, I typed back. Pick me up at 4:30 at home, okay?
    See you then.
    With a lighter spirit, I went back to my inspection.
    Bob stuck his head in. “Jenna, can we talk in the office for a few minutes?”
    I’d been trying to have a private conversation with him ever since he got back from his cruise, but he’d avoided me like I was a persistent telemarketer. Now he wanted to talk to me ?
    In the office, he took one of the two chairs beside our desks and motioned me to the other. A good sign? If he’d wanted to make me feel inferior, he’d have surely sat in his own big leather chair and put me across from him in the job-applicant chair. Maybe he was finally ready to treat me as an equal and sell me the business.
    “The thing is. . .” He cleared his throat. “You know I’ve talked about selling the business.”
    Yes, you’ve talked about selling the business TO ME. How could I not know? I wanted to scream. But Mama always said you caught more flies with honey than vinegar. So I just said, “Yes, sir?”
    He studied the chair arm and picked a loose thread from between his fingers. “I still want to sell it.”
    Okay, good. And?
    “Remember my daughter, Lisa?”
    I nodded. She’d been behind me in school, but while we were in college, she’d married a very wealthy older man. I hardly ever saw her, but I’d been by their house a few times, a big mansion with black wrought-iron gates, not too far from town. According to Bob, she did all of her business in Little Rock or Memphis. I’d often wondered why they even settled here, but that wasn’t something you could just ask.
    “She’s. . .”—he cleared his throat again and picked harder at the thread—“. . .having some trouble.”
    “Trouble? Is it her health?” He looked positively gray.
    “Marriage trouble,” he whispered. “She’s moved back home with Wilma and me.”
    “Oh. I’m sorry.”
    “Me, too.” Bob shook his head. “The thing is. . .she wants to work here.”
    “Work here?” What little I remembered of Lisa made Amelia look like Ellie Mae Clampett.
    He nodded. “She needs something to do. A chance to get out of the house for a while. I was hoping you might train her to do your job, take her under your wing. Just until she gets her bearings.”
    “My job?” I’d become a parrot, but this conversation couldn’t have been further from what I’d expected.
    He looked at my face, no doubt seeing the shock there. “Oh, she won’t be taking your job. I just want her to know a little more about the family business.”
    “The family business?” Polly want a cracker? I could surely do better than that. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Bob, but didn’t you promise to sell me this business?”
    “Sure did, sure did. And I still will if you’ll just hang with me. But in the meantime this will keep Lisa busy. Give her a chance to feel good about herself.” He winked at me. Actually winked at me. “When she’s back on her feet, then we’ll get your name on the deed to this place.” He stood.
    I jumped up. “Bob, I—”
    I don’t know what I was going to say. Probably something closer to vinegar than to honey. But before I could speak he said, “I know you’re in a hurry to buy this place. And I aim to see that happen. But just to show you that I mean what I say, I’m giving you a raise effective Monday.”
    “A raise?” If he thought that raising my barely-above-poverty wage fifty cents more would make everything okay, he’d totally lost it.
    He named a figure.
    “Could you repeat that?”
    He did and I sat back down. The bottom line—he’d just raised my income level to that of my former teaching salary. I remembered what I told John the day of Brendan’s fire— If something looks too good to be true. . . “Why would you do this?”
    “You keep things going