Treachery on Tap Read online

  Cecil shrugged and looked at the recorder she held in front of him. “A little of both I think.”

  Guardrail stepped to one side to get a better shot and tripped on the power cable. Digger caught him. Dog yanked on the power cable and bellowed. “Careful. You go over I’m not sure we’re getting a guy as big as you and that hulk of a camera back upright.”

  Guardrail responded. “I’m fine. Keep that line from under my feet.”

  I cut them off. “Boys, this is not about you. Stop it. Now Cecil, tell me about your relationship with Zach. You worked for him for a while, so you must have known him well.”

  “Well, that’s kind of personal.”

  I tried to clarify and be more specific. “There are videos of Zach teasing you, being hard on you, all over Youtube. Was that all just in fun and did you have a good relationship?”

  Cecil scowled a little and shifted in his seat. “I’m not sure I want to get into that.”

  I pressed. “Everyone wants to know why he teased you and why those videos are on Youtube.”

  Cecil rubbed his chin then took a sip of his drink. “I know, but I don’t like to talk about that.” He paused just a second. “I guess. He could be a little tough on me. But I guess it was okay.”

  Piper jumped in. “What do you mean tough on you?”

  Cecil fidgeted slightly. “Well, he would tease me a lot. And his pranks went over the top sometimes.” He paused. “You know I’m not sure I am comfortable with this...”

  Piper resumed. “Can you tell me about a prank that went over the top, as you called it?”

  Cecil nodded. “I guess. Well one time...”

  The front door opened and I was hoping to see Aunt Mae. But a number of the TV crew poured into the pub, led by Scooter. They waved at Cecil sitting at the bar with us and went about their business.

  I cleared my throat. “You were saying?”

  Cecil continued. “Well one time, we were shooting...”

  The front door opened again and this time it was the Sheriff, followed by Aunt Mae and Deputy Wise. The Sheriff rested his hand on his holstered gun. Then Sheriff Morrison used his loud, official voice. “Cecil Page, freeze – don’t move. Everyone else, please move away from Mr. Page.”

  But Cecil didn’t freeze. He grabbed Piper around the neck with one arm and barked back at the Sheriff. “No, you stay right there or I will break her neck.”

  The Sheriff somehow stayed calm and continued. “There is no reason for anyone else to get hurt. Let Piper go and don’t make things worse for youself.”

  The rest of us backed away from Cecil, just a little. Then the impossible happened. The lights did their flickering trick and it went dark. Then I heard a ruckus that ended with a loud thump. The lights came back and I saw Cecil lying on the floor unconscious, covered in pickled eggs. The large jar sat on the floor next to him, unbroken for a change. Piper still stood where she was, trembling. I stepped over to her and took her hands in mine. “Are you alright.” Piper nodded yes in return.

  “Boss, I can’t take this plucking chicken ghost thing anymore. Are you kidding me! And don’t even think about blaming a fuse for this one.” I had to admit, Dixie had a way with words and the swear jar was going to take some time to refill with her new found language skills.

  Guardrail put down the camera and went over to Piper. He put his arm around her and pulled her tight to him. “We would never let that twit hurt you.” Piper replied to him with a little sniffle and some tears.

  Even though the jar knocked him out cold, the police handcuffed Cecil and called for an ambulance. Then we waited for the medics to come take the trash out of my pub.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Aunt Mae invited Dad and me to meet her in front of the police station. She mentioned she had a surprise for us. Mae directed us to be there at ten in the morning and wait on the bench out front. We sat watching the beautiful day come to life perched on the old wooden slats. Dad asked, “What do you think she wants?”

  “Probably some followup to Cecil’s arrest. I’m sure it’s nothing big.”

  “Ginger, you don’t know your Aunt Mae as well I as I thought. She is usually not this mysterious with things.”

  From behind the two of us, we heard Aunt Mae's voice. “You talking about lil ol’ me? I can be spontaneous when I want to be, you should know your sister better than that Tom!”

  “You haven’t been spontaneous since the Rubick’s cube was popular.”

  Mae chuckled. “You calling me old?”

  Dad might have blushed a little. “No, of course not. Just saying you like to plan things, no surprises.”

  Mae smiled. “Not today. I have a surprise for both of you. I think you earned it. The Sheriff agreed to let us use his horses for the morning. I packed a special picnic and thought we would head down to Bear’s Paw swamp. Well that field where the wild flowers grow overlooking the swamp.”

  “The one mom loved.” I had not been there many times since my mother passed.

  “The same, sweetie. Let’s get mounted up and head out.”

  Tom snorted. “I’m not sure this old body can ride anymore.”

  Mae laughed. “That is why you are riding Princess, she is easy to ride.”

  Dad did not like the sound of that. “And who are you going to ride, then?”

  “Trigger, or course.” Mae started off for the stalls.

  Sheriff Morrison kept three horses he owned, at his own expense, in the stalls with two police horses owned by the town. Potter's Mill encompassed a lot of country, much of which was not accessible by road. The police relied on the horses to get out and patrol many of those areas. The Sheriff loved all the horses and I was shocked Mae got to use them for the morning.

  “Ginger, this is Pigpen. He will be your friend for the day.” Mae patted the big, brown horse as she spoke.

  Dad laughed. “Now I don’t feel so bad about riding Princess.” Princess was a pretty white spotted beast. She may be a female, but she was bigger than Pigpen.

  Mae mounted Trigger and smiled and her whole face lighted up in a way I had not seen in a while. She said, “Now, go ahead, get on. We’re burning daylight.”

  So we put our foot in the stirrups, and rose up into our saddles. It felt good to be on a horse again. After a thirty minute ride, we were at the meadow. It was a beautiful field covered in wild flowers. It was one of my mom’s favorite places. It overlooked a stream feeding into the river and provided a clear view of Bear Paw’s swamp.

  Aunt Mae took a big basket with her and she now placed it on the ground. She took out a large blanket and picked a nice spot to spread it out. Then she moved the basket onto the blanket and opened it up. She took out a container of cornbread, a bowl with pulled pork, and another container with potato salad. She then removed a bag of sandwich rolls and a thermos of iced tea. “This was one of your mom's favs. Pulled pork and cornbread. No sandwich for her, she like to pile the meat on the cornbread and dig in. And the potato salad. She loved the potato salad on the side. She told me once it was her favorite picnic menu.”

  Dad sighed. “Mae, you shouldn’t have. You’re a dear lass to remember Jessica and do this. Jess loved this picnic because it was the first one she packed for us as a family. It was all we could afford to do at the time for fun. And we came here when Ginger was a lil sprig. I’m not sure how you knew that, but you clearly did.”

  Mae pinched her lips. She was touched to see Dad’s hard exterior softened, just a little. “Jessica told me that story more than once. And how she would come down here with you, with this same meal packed up, even after Ginger got older and didn’t want to be with her parents.”

  I felt a tear in my eye. I missed my mom and had not taken a moment to remember her in a while. I hugged Aunt Mae and whispered, “Thank you.”

  Mae patted my back. “I should be thanking you. Without your help we may still be trying to figure out how to arrest Cecil. And you would still have a closed kitchen.”

  Dad manag
ed to repair the soft spot in his hard shell and his loud, confident voice was back. “She’s a chip off the ol’ block. A real go getter.”

  Mae raised her ice tea. “I will second that. Ginger is a doer. And her Dad, well let's just say we love him.”

  Dad grumbled. “You trying to insult me?”

  Mae crinkled her nose. “Maybe more like tease you a little.”

  I laughed at the two of them. “I want to thank you Aunt Mae, the last couple of weeks have been, well, tough. This is nice of you to take us out here to relax, be with family. And most important, remember Mom.”

  Mae nodded. “You're welcome. If you can’t rely on family, who can you rely on?”

  Dad and I replied in unison. “No one.”

  Mae laughed and eyed me a moment. “I’m glad you got your kitchen back. And we’re both happy those protesters are gone.”

  Dad scratched his head. “You know, about all this murder business. How did Cecil know Zach was going to pull that prank? How did he know about the powder in the vial? And when to swap it?”

  Mae laid on her back and watched the clouds. “That was the one thing Ginger here didn’t figure out. Or us for that matter. But Cecil spilled his guts when we got him in an interrogation room. He used the sound meters that Tyler put all over the pub. Or wherever they were shooting. Zach had belittled Cecil so much he was self conscious and figured out how to eavesdrop on the crew using the sound meters. He tapped into them and listened to what others were saying about him.”

  I sighed. “Dixie was right. He was a little weasel. That is kind of creepy.”

  Mae put her hands behind her head. “You think that’s creepy. Get this, Cecil also kept a list of ways to kill Zach. Then he waited for the right moment. He loved the sodium polyarylate method ever since he saw it on 101 Unique Deaths. So when he heard Zach was going to snort seltzer powder, he jumped on the chance.”

  I added, “As proven by the DNA testing, and our jar video.”

  Mae went on. “Well the jar video is interesting. But I’m not sure it would be admissible. And the DA doesn’t need it. We have plenty of evidence without the jar video. And speaking of creepy, how on earth did that jar move, sweetie?”

  Tom beat me to the response. “It’s the chicken. Everyone knows it’s our grouchy spirit.”

  I laughed. “Always the chicken with you.”

  Dad did not miss a beat. “Then how do you explain the jar moving to one side, then rotating just a little, so that the jar captures the reflection just right? This time you can’t blame the cats.”

  I paused. “I can’t. Guess I will need more time to ponder that one.”

  Mae laughed. “And what about the flying jar! That is even weirder.”

  Dad huffed. “See, you’re ignoring the obvious. The pub is the grumpy chicken’s home and he was protecting it.”

  I laughed, a little. “I don’t know, Dad. But it is odd. I will give you that. Now enjoy some of that pulled pork and corn bread. We need to get back to work soon, so bask in the sun with your wonderful meal and grumpy chicken stories while you can.”

  Dad looked over to Aunt Mae who had closed her eyes and it looked like we might have bored her to sleep. “You need to go back to work?” Mae nodded no. “Neither do I. But Ginger might. Seems to me like you're the one who needs to soak this all up real quick and get back to work.”

  I hung my jaw. “That’s so mean. You’re the owner. Why do I have to go back?”

  Dad laughed. “Because I’m the owner still. And you’re the manager. I am telling you as the boss.”

  I eyed him while Aunt Mae laughed. “Dad!”

  Dad continued. “And can you put colcannon on the menu? I’ve had a hankering for that for the last few days. You don’t put that on the menu enough.”

  I snorted. “I don’t know. I’m just the help it seems. I’ll have to get permission to order the cabbage.”

  Mae intervened. “Don’t be like Cecil. He’s just joshing ya. It’s his way of letting you know you run that place without admitting it.”

  Dad laughed. “I wouldn’t let my little girl ride back alone. You know that. Mae’s right, I’m just teasing ya.”

  I leaned over to Dad and hugged him. “It’s nice to know I am loved.”

  Dad barked. “I didn’t say that!”

  Mae sat up a little to stare at Dad. “Now, be nice you ol’ dog. This is a nice moment. And, sweetie, that is as close as you’ll get to an ‘I love you’ from him. We both know it.”

  Dad nodded. “Glad that is cleared up.”

  All three of us laughed and went back to our food and drink. Aunt Mae made the best iced tea and I made a mental note to talk to her about it. A nice ice tea on our menu would not be a bad addition for a pub in a small southern town.

  Later as we saddled up and prepared to leave, I looked back at the wild flowers. Under my breath I said, “I miss you, Mom. And I promise I'll come back here more often.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The state labs completed work on the powder samples Mae took from Cecil’s fingers. And to no one's surprise, the white substance was slush powder, or as the police called it sodium polyacrylate. That combined with the DNA results from the paper bag were pretty solid. But the police combined that evidence with the order Cecil placed for the magician's kit and the pickled egg jar video to charge him. The district attorney in Atlanta said it was a strong case.

  The Ghost Hounds wrapped up their shoot and packed it up to move on to the next location – less a few crew members. Cecil was in custody; Zach was dead; and Ida was out of town with Scooter. The new minted couple decided a “vacation” was in order and headed out for a secluded cabin on the island of Tortola to relax. My computer oriented pain in the neck was not the only one to leave town with the TV show. The protesters were gone too. And to my satisfaction the town seemed to be close to normal again.

  I was behind the bar and glanced at the new monitor set up by Scooter as a parting present to us. It was a large, flat screen that looked nicer than I expected over the bar. On it, we currently looped the video shot by Guardrail during Cecil’s arrest.

  Dixe made some drinks and watched a little of the video. “Guardrail is lucky he’s good at custom motorcycles. He stinks as a cameraman. He cuts off your head in the first shot, trips at one point so we get a good look at the ceiling, and talks while shooting.”

  I looked up to watch again. I think I had seen it a hundred times by now. “You got to give him credit. He kept shooting right through the darkness, even though the power went out for a few seconds, and he got all the footage of the actual arrest. The shot of Cecil on the floor with all those pickled eggs and juice all over him, out cold, was pretty good.”

  “More like hilarious.” Dixie laughed.

  “I’m not sure any of this is funny to me, Dixie. It’s so sad that so many lives were turned upside down.”

  Dixie turned to me, losing her bartender demeanor. She put her arm around me. “I know. And that is why you need to enjoy Star’s concert tonight. I hear she wrote a song about all of this and it supposed to be pretty good.”

  “I hope so. The crowd is starting to gather, and it looks like we’re going to be packed.”

  Dixie let me go and clapped. “Great. I can use the tips.”

  “I’m glad to see you’re back to normal.”

  Time passed quickly as Dixie and Tom made drinks together. Then Star showed up early for her big performance and she was a ball of energy. And the crowd grew. It seems with the protesters gone, everyone wanted to be in The Grumpy Chicken for her show.

  I rested at a table with Piper, next to Lily and Edith’s table. This seemed to be the seating order now; Lily and Edith held court at their table with Piper and me at the next table, plus Ida when she wasn’t on vacation. The boys had reclaimed their seats at the bar, but came over to sit with Lily and Edith to be part of the current discussion.

  Piper was talking to Lily and Edith. “I thought he was going to kill me. But when
it went dark. Something hit him, I think it was the jar, and he just fell to the ground.”

  Guardrail added. “You were lucky you didn’t get hit by it.”

  Dog jumped in. “Not luck. It was the chicken ghost helping out.”

  Piper nodded. “I hate to say it, Dog. Even though the fancy camera Scooter lent us went out with the lights, the jar webcam caught the container flying off the counter even though it was dark. Ida said it ran on the laptop’s battery and it has low light sensing. You can see the jar just clearly flies off the counter, out of frame. We have to assume it hit Cecil just right in the head to knock him out. So, yeah, it’s beyond explanation. A chicken ghost is as good a guess as any.”

  I had to bite my tongue. There was no blaming a cat for this incident.

  Digger shook his head. “Who would have thought a clumsy, chubby guy like Cecil could be so devious.”

  Edith waved her hand, like she was turning a page. “Who knows what darkness lurks in the hearts of men. What a shame this all had to happen. But it’s all over now.”

  Dog raised his voice. “Hey, I was right again. It was a ghost hit man.”

  Guardrail scrunched up his face. “Not even close this time, Dog. The killer was Cecil. The flying jar may be because of the chicken ghost but it didn’t kill anyone.”

  Dog pulled back. “Yeah, I guess. But a ghost was involved.”

  Piper said, “I was trying to write up the story last night, but I’m not sure how to explain the flying jar. I’m not sure I believe it was the chicken ghost, but I haven’t ruled it out either.”

  Digger responded. “That’s a good summary, Piper. And that’s always the way with the chicken ghost. Kind of, maybe, but never certain.”

  Piper laughed. “I have to think about it some more, Digger, but you’re right about it being uncertain and I cannot write it up if I’m not sure. The one thing I do know, I am so glad it is over and no one else got hurt. Especially me!”