“You have to take a couple dozen zucchinis off our hands.”
He laughed. “I heard about that. More to the point, my mom heard, and she loves to make zucchini bread. I’ll take as many as you want to give me. She can freeze them or give them to neighbors or something.”
“I’ll drop a basket off for your mom on my way out to visit the boys. Maybe they’ve heard something.”
“Thanks so much!”
The guys that Tess had christened the swamp commandos were all former soldiers, mostly special forces. Most of them had been through some tough times while serving and now they lived out at the shop and ran a small company that gave airboat rides to tourists. They’d helped me more than once, and I trusted every single one of them.
Except maybe Mickey Young. The guy was dating a clown. An actual red-nose, funny-shoes clown. It was just weird.
“I’ll let you know what I find out.”
I hung up before he could thank me again and went to help Tess. “Success! I’ve got a taker for as many zucchinis as we can give them.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Andy says his mom—”
“Oh, no.” Tess frowned. “I’ve already sent some to her with one of her neighbors.”
“He said she really loves them.”
“Okay,” she said doubtfully. “I guess she can give them away if she decides she doesn’t want them.”
“Exactly!”
“Oh! Is the garage raising still on? Uncle Mike wants you to call him. He’s got his tools packed up and ready to go.”
I’d given Tess a garage for Christmas. Actually, I gave her the plans for a garage, so she could approve them before we built it. She’d asked for some minor changes, and we’d planned tonight for the garage raising party.
The building would be bigger than I’d originally envisioned. Two full bays for cars, a smaller one for my motorcycle, and a medium-sized one for a workshop. Uncle Mike had taught her quite a lot about carpentry, motors, and the like when she was growing up, and she wanted a space for projects.
“Definitely still on. Everybody’s looking forward to it, and I’ve got a slew of texts to prove it. If Henrietta or Ish show up, we’ll put them to work hammering nails.”
She laughed and hugged me, and then she handed me the larger pair of garden shears and putmeto work. We spent a good twenty minutes on zucchini duty, and then some customers came in that she needed to help. I took Andy’s mom’s zucchinis and headed for the door.
“Call me if you find out anything,” Tess called out from behind the counter, where she was ringing up a sale and pushing zucchini on the bewildered tourists.
Mutant zucchini plants, escaped bank robbers, and murder: typical life in a small town. It was good to be home.
28
Tess
Other than the zucchini problem, it was a perfectly ordinary day at Dead End Pawn.
Thank goodness.
Sometimes, a woman just wanted a peaceful day.
I got a lot of texts, though.
Susan: no sign of either Ish or Henrietta.
Me: darn.
Lizzie: thanks for keeping the story of her werewolf attack to myself.
