Down Home and Deadly

know my new rule. I do not, under any circumstances, take out the garbage.” I twisted the tie and set the full bag by the door. “Just let me close this other bag , and you can carry them both out.”
    As I pulled the black bag out of the metal can , I noticed a flash of light. It almost looked like a flashlight had come on inside the bag. I donned some heavy cleaning gloves from under the sink and stuck my hand in to fish it out. When I reached for it, I saw it was my cell phone. It must have fallen out of my apron pocket when I was cleaning and landed in one of the garbage cans. I was thankful that when the side buttons get bumped, it lights up. Otherwise I’d have lost it forever. I wiped it off with a paper towel.
    “What do you think? Some of these are pretty sturdy.” I showed it to Carly. “Even though it looks like it’s on, I don’t want to mess with it while it’s so nasty. Do you think it will still work after I take it apart and clean it off? I was just learning how to use it.”
    “Not to mention all that music Zac said he put on it for you.” Carly hung her dish towel on the towel rack. “It might be worth cleaning it and trying it out .”
    Marco picked up the bags and headed out the back door while I took the back off the phone and cleaned the outside of it with a damp paper towel. The inside still looked good as new. I put the battery back in, hit the power button , and was rewarded with the little orange man doing cartwheels across the screen. “Y ea ! It still works.”
    I hit the envelope for text messages to see if Alex had messaged me while I was at work. The first received message said , “ W aiting for you out back. ”
    “ How in the world c ould he be waiting for me out back?” I held up the phone where Carly could read the message. “His plane left this morning.”
    “No idea.” She shrugged. It hit us both at the same time. The last time someone was waiting out back . . . Was a murderer waiting for me out back? But why would he warn me?
    We both jumped up. “ Marco !” we screamed in unison. I ran toward the back door with Carly on my heels. We screeched to a halt at the door and looked at each other. Would we find his body on the ground behind the diner?
    I pulled the door open and peeked out. “ Marco ? Are you okay?” No answer. Carly gave me a little shove.
    I held on to her sleeve and dragged her out on the back porch with me. “ Marco !” I yelled louder. “Where are you?”
    Marco strolled up from the side of the diner. “What is wrong, Jenna? You sound upset.”
    “Where were you? I was worried that something may have happened to you.” My voice trembled.
    “I went to get my phone out of my van. I forgot it there.” He held up a cell phone. “I was going to call Gail.”
    “Oh.” While the two of them were with me, I felt brave eno u gh to look all around the back alley that adjoined the diner parking lot—from the safety of the back porch, of course. As far as I could see, there wasn’t a car or another human in sight.
    Marco walked into the diner ahead of us. I tugged on Carly’s sleeve. “I don’t think this is my phone.”
    “Why?”
    I told her quickly about the phone mix - up with Debbie when we were remodeling. As soon as we got back into the light, I checked the outbox. There were several sent messages. None looked familiar. I occasionally sent texts , but I hadn’t sent these. The most recent ones said , “Did you leave?” and “Why won’t you answer?” There were several that sounded about the same. I hit the button to bring up the address book. Only one number. Very strange. It was listed as “Me.” The same thing the screen had said when I’d used her phone the last time I’d gotten it by mistake— “ Connected to Me. ”
    I waited until we finished up and Marco was in the break room gathering his things, then I showed the phone to Carly. “You think I should take it to her tonight?”
    No. She’ll be here tomorrow.” She carefully locked the front door. “Aren’t you working the noon shift?”
    I nodded.
    “Well, just give it to her then.”
    “See you both tomorrow,” Marco called as he left.
    Out in the parking lot, I stopped. “Car? Who do you think was waiting?”
    “What?” She hit the remote and opened her van door. “See you tomorrow.”
    “Wait.” I put out a hand to restrain her. “Who was waiting for Debbie in the back?”
    “The only person in the back was—” A look of comprehension