Free 2 A Deadly Beef by Jessica Beck Page B

that Ron came back
later to finish telling me what he’d started to say.  Until then, I
was just going to have to live with the crushing curiosity.
    Ten
minutes later, a woman came into the diner that I barely recognized.  Only
her prominent nose gave away the fact that this was Jan Bain.  She’d
left town as a plain, gangly girl with buck teeth and acne, but here was a
woman of substance, pretty in her own way, but more commanding because of the
way she carried herself than anything else.  Only her signature way of
approaching someone with speed, as though she was attacking, hadn’t
changed.
    "Jan? 
Is that you?" I asked.
    "Hello,
Victoria," she said, offering me a slight smile.  "My, how
you’ve grown."
    "You
look wonderful," I said as I hugged her.  She resisted the contact,
and kept it at a minimum.  There was a handbag big enough to conceal a
stuffed turkey draped over one shoulder, and I wondered what she carried around
with her that she needed such a roomy bag.
    "As
do you.  I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m meeting
someone," she said as she looked around the diner.  That’s
when I noticed the sheriff stand and walk toward us. 
    "As
a matter of fact, he’s coming this way right now," I said.
    After
the two of them spoke briefly, they left me and returned to Sheriff
Croft’s booth.  I would have given anything to wait on them and try
to catch some of their conversation, but I’d promised to butt out, and I
was going to do just that, no matter how hard it might be.  They had a
rather short conversation, and as Jan stood, she was clearly unhappy about the
way things had gone.  Sheriff Croft didn’t look all that pleased
either, truth be told.  As Jan brushed past me, I thought about going
after her, but Moose chose that second to walk in the front door and all
thoughts of pursuing Jan were quickly gone.  Still, I had to at least try.
    "Stay
here one second," I told him as I tried to follow Jan outside.
    "Forget
that.  I know that look in your eyes.  You’re on to something, Victoria.  I’m coming with you," Moose said.
    "I
don’t have time to argue with you.  Moose, you’ll be helping
our cause a lot more if you go distract the sheriff and let me do what I need
to do by myself."
    "How
much time do you need?" Moose asked.  This was a task he could
handle with ease, and we both knew it.
    "Five
minutes," I said as I hurried out into the parking lot.
    But
I’d taken too long talking to Moose.
    Jan
was already gone by the time I got outside.
     
    "That
was quick," Moose said when I walked back in a moment later.
    "She
took off before I had a chance to talk to her," I said.
    "Sorry
about that," Moose answered.  "I hope it wasn’t my
fault."
    I
believed with all my heart that it was, but pointing that out to my grandfather
wouldn’t do either one of us any good.  "It’s
okay.  We’ll catch up with her later."
    "Who
exactly was that?" he asked me.
    "Didn’t
you recognize her?  That was Jan Bain.  She used to babysit
me," I said as the sheriff approached.  "Quiet."
    "Clearly
you didn’t have any more luck than I did with her," Sheriff Croft
said as he joined us and said hello to my grandfather.  "I just
don’t get it.  Something’s made that woman hard inside since
she left Jasper Fork."
    "I
almost didn’t recognize her when she walked in," I admitted. 
"She’s changed quite a bit since the last time I saw her."
    "Sure,
she looks different, but it’s even more noticeable when you talk to
her," the sheriff said.  "She insisted on seeing her
brother’s body immediately, and then she told me in no uncertain terms
that she’s going to sell everything he owned as soon as she can. 
Apparently she’s done with us here, and the last thing she wants to do is
hang around."
    "Are
you going to let her do that?" I asked.  "If she inherits
everything, surely that makes her a prime suspect in her brother’s
death."
    "That’s
what I just told her, in a roundabout way," the