Free 1 Murder on Sugar Creek by Michelle Goff

happens, but there’s
nowhere in the world I’d rather be.”
    “Exactly,” Maggie agreed. “And, besides,
it’s not like I’m missing out on that much. I love it, but we’re talking about
Jasper, not Manhattan.”
    “Jasper has a lot going for it,”
Edie protested. “It’s the region’s economic and financial center and it offers
many of the same restaurants and department stores you find in bigger cities.”
    “Then why do you do most of your
shopping online?” Maggie asked.
    Luke laughed. “She’s got you
there.”
    “Let’s be honest. Every eastern Kentucky community could be considered remote. Not just neighborhoods like Sugar Creek, but
even towns like Jasper. That’s one of the reasons we measure distance in time
instead of miles. And when someone asks us where we’re from, we give the name
of our county because odds are they haven’t heard of places like Sugar Creek or
Caldonia Road or even Jasper.” Maggie addressed Edie as she spoke, but when she
turned her attention to Luke, she was happy to see him smiling.

Chapter Nine
    Maggie went to the movies with Luke
the following evening. She didn’t find the movie, a horror flick, scary or
memorable, but she had a splendid time. Luke didn’t like the movie, either, and
his running commentary on its most outrageous plotlines kept her entertained.
At least it did until Maggie’s laughter provoked a group of teenagers to shush
her and Luke. Maggie returned to work Monday morning feeling refreshed. She had
enjoyed two days in which she hadn’t given so much as a thought to the Mac
Honaker murder or the fallout from the columns. But she realized she couldn’t
hide from reality forever. When Joe arrived at work, she marched into his
office before he had a chance to turn on his computer.
    “I think we need to talk,” she
said.
    “Good morning to you, too, Maggie.”
    “Sorry to ambush you like this, but
I wanted to make sure we were all right.”
    “Is this about those columns?” Joe
motioned for Maggie to take a seat.
    “Yeah,” she averted her eyes while
she searched for the right words. “I think I need to explain my behavior.”
    “Explain or explain away?”
    “Just explain. I’m not making
excuses.”
    “In that case, continue.”
    “I was trying to help Kevin and it
was wrong to use my job to do so, but I couldn’t think of another way to get an
in with Mac’s inner circle. I didn’t share my true intentions with you because
I knew you wouldn’t approve.”
    “You’re right, I wouldn’t have.” Joe
tapped a pencil on his desk blotter. “This behavior is uncharacteristic of you,
Maggie. To be honest, that’s the only reason I’m not angry with you. I am
disappointed. And puzzled. And worried.  Is there something more going on between
you and Kevin Mullins?”
    Maggie puckered her lips like she
had just then popped a Lemon Head candy into her mouth. “Oh, Lord, no. Kevin’s
four years younger than me, addicted to drugs, and a petty thief. Is that what
you think I’m attracted to? Is that what people think of me?”
    “No, no. I meant, in the past
tense.”
    “Absolutely not. I’ve always
thought of him as a kid chasing chickens or trying to catch pigs with my
brother. I’ve never had designs on him.”
    “That’s good to know,” Joe
admitted. “And I understand you possess a strong sense of justice, but why do
you feel you need to save Kevin? And what did you think you’d learn from those
interviews that would help him?”
    Try as she
might, Maggie couldn’t answer Joe’s questions.
    Seth was the next name on Maggie’s
apology to-do list. She took a chance he would be working day shift and tracked
him down at the Dinner Bucket Diner.
    Opened in 1952, the Dinner Bucket,
as locals called it, was named in honor of the black lunch buckets used by coal
miners. The diner’s founder, the daughter of a coal miner, placed the lunch
bucket carried by her late father in the diner’s glass counter display case.