“The latter. I hope you didn’t play into her accusations.”
“Noooo, never.”
Jonas eyed her with skepticism.
Dee flushed. “Okay, for a minute. But don’t take it personally. I suspected everyone. For a brief moment, I wondered if Serena’s dog, Oscar, purposely tripped Michael.”
Jonas leaned into Dee, his brown eyes twinkling, “This party’s fine and all, but I’d like to personally show my appreciation for your amateur sleuthing with a one-on-one dinner date.”
Dee hid her surprise at the unexpected invitation. She hesitated. “Jonas, I’m going to be honest with you. Elmira said you’re an operator.”
To her surprise, he let out a guffaw. “Ha! She says that about everyone who tries to drag these sleepy old burgs into the twenty-first century. Watch.” He called out to his cousin. “Ellie, John Harvey from West Camp Office Systems has a new credit card system he wants you to try.”
Elmira made a face and called back, “John Harvey? Forget it. That guy’s an operator.”
Jonas crossed his arms in front of his chest and grinned at Dee, who grinned back.
“Point made. Dinner sounds great. Text me.” She gave him her number and gazed after him as he left the table to join the buffet line.
He really is a handsome man, she thought. Of course, he’s no Huck. But who is?
Dee’s stomach growled. She stood up and was about to visit the buffet, when she heard someone say, “Am I too late for the celebration?”
She glanced at the front door to see jeweler Owen enter. What happened next came as a shock.
“There’s my future son-in-law,” Ma’am cried out. She threw her arms around the jeweler.
“Owen sandwich!” This came from Mister, who embraced him from behind, to much laughter.
Owen noticed Dee gaping at him. “Like my granny used to say, close your mouth, you’ll catch flies.”
Mortified, Dee did so. “I’m just . . . I didn’t know.” Mister and Ma’am released him. “Huck and I are a couple,” Owen said. “We have been since high school. We started out dating in secret—”
“I bet,” Dee said, sympathetic to what they must have faced in such a rural area.
“It’s not what you think,” he said. “Huck was from Foundgold. I was from Goldsgone. As you know by now, the towns are archrivals. We were Romeo and Romeo. After high school, Huck got in with some bad characters. He dodged trouble for a while but it finally caught up with him. He’s been in jail for the last two years on a five-year sentence but he’s shortening his sentence by working on an inmate fire crew.” Owen shared this with pride. “Until he’s paroled, pretty much the only time I get to see him is when he’s on duty with the crew.”
Another box ticked off, Dee thought as she recalled the two times she’d seen Owen at the site of fires.
Mister gave Owen a fond clap on the back. “ ‘Get thee a good husband, and use him as he uses thee.’ ”
Dee gasped. “Yes. That’s it!” She bounced up and down with excitement. “I finally remembered where I know you from. You played the Shakespeare-quoting drunk preacher on an episode of On the John.”
“I was wondering when you’d remember,” Mister said with a sly smile. Then he grew serious. “The drunk part wasn’t acting. A few months after I shot that role, I came up here and went on the bender of all benders. I passed out in my car, figuring I’d never wake up. But I did. Being tended to at a handmade cabin in the woods by her and her son.”
He cast a lovestruck glance at Ma’am, who was shoveling rolls into a makeshift cross sack and chatting with Owen and Huck. “I truly found gold in Foundgold.” He winked at Dee, then went to join his family.
Jeff appeared holding two full plates. “Sorry for the delay. I was swamped by people congratulating me. Apparently, we’ve gone from pariahs to local heroes.” He couldn’t resist puffing out his chest as he set the plates on the table and took a seat.
Dee glanced out the window and saw Verity “Yes-that-Donner” Gillespie sneaking a peek into the café. Feeling magnanimous, Dee waved for her to join them. Verity pulled away from the window. She straightened her bonnet and marched off.
“I have a feeling we better enjoy being heroes while it lasts.” She sat down with Jeff and eyed his plate. “Wow, to speak in Goldsgonedian, you really tied on the feed bag.”
“I’m comfort eating,” Jeff said, biting into a pulled-pork sandwich. “Raul’s attached himself to Liza. I guess a ten-year age difference doesn’t bother him. From the looks she’s giving back to him, it doesn’t bother her either.”
“I told you.”
“I know. I’ll have to look elsewhere for love.” He washed down the bite of sandwich with a chug of beer. “What’s your take on the status of Serena and Callan’s marriage? Thumbs-up? Down?”
Dee wagged a finger at him. “Nuh-huh. Do not go there.”
“Got it. How are you feeling, by the way? All better?”
“Yup.” Dee speared a forkful of mac and cheese. “I’m at a hundred percent.”
“Good.” Jeff wiped barbeque sauce off his chin. “Because you may have forgotten, but we’ve still got one more mystery to solve.”
CHAPTER 33
Dee and Jeff collapsed onto her living-room couch. They’d spent hours searching every inch of the Golden to hunt down whatever Michael had been looking for when Dee caught him in her apartment.
Dee glanced down at her T-shirt. Grime and perspiration stains discolored the logo on it from a long-canceled show she’d worked on. “This shirt is cashed. I think it’s even too gross to turn into rags.” She sneezed. “I’ve turned into a giant human dust bunny.”
Jeff threw back his head and groaned. “This is driving me nuts. I know whatever he was looking for is here somewhere. But where? Where?”
He pulled a harmonica out of his back pocket and began blowing into it, trying without success to form a tune. He stopped. “These look easy to play, but I don’t get how they work at all. I need to find a tutorial.”
“Make sure it’s not in German.” Dee rose to her feet and stretched. “Time to do something useful. I only have two more Honestadt prints to clean; then we can hang them all back in the rooms.”
