Free Soup...Er...Myrtle!: A Myrtle Crumb Mystery (Myrtle Crumb Mystery Series) by Gayle Trent Page B

I
hoped she’d have some news for me. What if nobody else on Faye’s list was the
victim of identity theft? Did that mean that the fact that Opal Grady and Harry
Loomis were both victims who came to the food bank and soup kitchen was merely
a coincidence? That the i.d. thefts weren’t tied to someone who worked at or
frequented the food bank and soup kitchen after all? Would that put us back at
square one without a single suspect? I didn’t like that idea…not one bit. The
very thought made me so nervous that I’d cleaned the entire house and made two
batches of preacher cookies—one chocolate and one peanut butter—by the time
Faye called.
    Even though—or maybe because—I’d been waiting for the
phone to ring, I jumped like I was shot when it did.
    “Hello? Faye?”
    “Yes, Mother, it’s me.”
    “What’d you find out?”
    “I’m fine, thanks,” she said. “How are you?”
    “Impatient. Did you find anything or not?”
    “Yeah. Of the ten names I ran, three were likely victims
of identity theft,” said Faye. “None of the three had active bank accounts. One
was old, one was young, and one was deceased.”
    “Deceased? Oh, good grief!”
    “After I saw that, I got curious.” She took a deep
breath. “I ran Dad’s name through.”
    “Faye….”
    “Let’s just say I know for a fact that he didn’t buy a
jet ski for Christmas last month.”

Chapter Ten
     
     By the time Faye, Sunny, Melvia, and Cooper got to
my house for dinner, I had enough food fixed to feed half the population of
Backwater. I had chicken parmesan, salad, lasagna, chicken alfredo, and the
preacher cookies I’d made while waiting for Faye to call. I’d also thawed out
the cupcakes from the other day.
    Sunny was the first one to get to the kitchen. “Wow,
Mimi! Who all’s coming?”
    Faye, who was behind her, sighed when she saw that I’d
set the counter up like an all-you-can-eat Italian buffet. She turned and
hugged me. “I’m sorry, Mother. I shouldn’t have told you about Daddy over the
phone like that.”
    “It’s all right,” I said. “I needed to know.”
    “What about Granddad?” Sunny asked.
    “We’ll talk about it when everybody gets here,” Faye
said.
    Melvia was the next to arrive. She brought one of those
fudgy chocolate cakes that you ice while it’s still hot. They’re out of this
world good. I wondered if being out of sorts gave her the baking bug too. I
thanked her for the cake and put it on the counter next to the cookies.
    “I appreciate this, Melvia,” I said. “I got to making
the main dishes and almost plumb forgot about dessert except for these few
cookies and those store-bought cupcakes.”
    Melvia was only half paying attention to what I was saying.
She was frowning at all the food on the counter.
    “What’s happened?” she asked, her voice barely above a
whisper.
    The oven timer went off. “There’s our breadsticks,” I
said, grabbing the oven mitts.
    The doorbell rang just as I opened the oven door.
    “Sunny, darlin’, would you please go let Cooper in?” I
asked.
    “That’s all right, Crimson,” Faye said. “I’ll do it.”
    That worried me. Faye apparently wanted to speak with
Cooper privately. I was not about to have anything about my finances be kept
from me. I quickly transferred the breadsticks to a basket with a cloth napkin
lining, put the baking sheet into the sink, and hurried into the living room.
Sure enough, Faye was whispering to Cooper, and he was looking concerned.
    “Hi, Coop! Why don’t y’all come on into the kitchen and
fix yourselves a plate?” I asked.
    “Where’s my buddy?” Cooper gave me a peck on the cheek.
    “I thought Matlock should go outside while we’re
eating,” I said. “I’ll let him in when we’re finished.”
    He chuckled. “He loves this cold weather, doesn’t he?”
    “Yeah, he does.” I winked. “It’s good squirrel chasing
weather.”
    “He ever catch ‘em?” Coop asked.
    “Nah…but I don’t think he