Wedding Waffle Murder Read online

  “You mean you aren’t going to start a search party?” she squeaked in protest.

  Sonja sighed sympathetically. She knew how scary it might be to have someone you love go unexpectedly missing, especially if it seemed out of character. However, she knew that Amanda was a good girl, but hadn’t refrained from sneaking off on several occasions—to go to the movies, a concert, or something similar.

  “If she still hasn’t shown up in forty-eight hours, I’ll start gathering up some men to do a search.”

  “Forty-eight hours?” she exclaimed.

  “That’s the best I can do,” he admitted.

  For the first time, he looked over at Sonja with a knowing smile.

  Trina had probably forgotten, but Sonja and Frank were getting married the next day. It was going to be a small ceremony held in the Waffle Diner and Eatery parking lot, planned at the last minute to keep it simple, but almost the entire town knew about it. It would be just their luck if a big missing person’s case came up the day before they were scheduled to tie the knot. It could very well push their plans back.

  However, that was the job of a police officer sometimes, and Sonja was well aware of it. In fact, with their history of murders and ghosts, she hadn’t pushed the possibility of having to change the date at the last minute out of her mind.

  “This is outrageous,” she gasped.

  “Trust me. I’m not trying to downplay your fears. They are valid. However, procedure says we still have to wait a little bit to see if the person shows up.”

  “I don’t care what the rules say. This is my daughter we’re talking about,” she begged.

  “I’ll keep my men on it until then, Trina, okay?” he reassured her. “They’ll be keeping their ear to the ground and their eyes peeled. If Amanda is anywhere in or around Haunted Falls, they’ll find her.”

  This didn’t satisfy Trina. Stiffening her upper lip, she narrowed her eyelids and pointed at the sheriff again. “If anything happens to my little girl, anything at all, I will hold you personally responsible.”

  “Don’t you worry. She’ll turn up,” Sonja said, inserting herself into the conversation. Sometimes, it took a womanly tone to help soothe a stressful situation.

  Looking from Sonja, and back to Frank, her anger didn’t abate. “You better hope so,” she said, her voice wavering with stress. Her eyes began to redden, but before any tears could form, she turned and marched out of the station, giving Sonja a glare as she walked past.

  “What did I do to deserve that?” she said once the woman was gone.

  “Good morning to you, too,” Frank laughed.

  “She seems really upset.”

  “Wouldn’t you if we had a daughter and she went missing?” he asked.

  “I wonder if Trina thinks you brushed her off because of the wedding.”

  “Well that simply isn’t true. I’m following procedure.” Leaning over, he shook his head. “But, it wouldn’t surprise me. Stress and trauma have a way of making people act in uncharacteristic ways. She loves Amanda and has every right to be upset,” he admitted.

  Sonja nodded, setting the coffee and waffles on the counter. “But I can’t blame you, either,” she smiled leaning across and kissing him.

  “I wouldn’t want anything to interrupt our big day,” he shrugged.

  “Oh, poo. You know you would drop everything if this turned out to be serious,” Marie chimed in with a hearty guffaw.

  “She’s right. You always put others first.”

  “And if something comes up that shows there is a real situation here, I won’t hesitate to push back the wedding.”

  “And I wouldn’t argue,” Sonja agreed. “But what about our honeymoon?” she asked, fluttering her eyes in a teasing manner, pretending to be the put-upon bride.

  “I’m sure we could move our hotel reservations if need be,” Frank noted. “Still, I’m going to wait to make any decisions like that. If Amanda hasn’t shown up by this evening, I’ll call on the forest rangers to start looking.” Walking out from behind the desk, he headed for his office across the hall and Sonja followed

  “Hey, where is my breakfast?” Marie joked, calling after them.

  “Sorry, Marie. I’ll remember to bring extra next time.”

  “You better,” she laughed.

  Once inside the office, Sonja shut the door behind her. “Do you really think that Amanda is okay? I mean, I know she isn’t the perfect angel her mom thinks she is, but it would be out of character for her to go on an overnight trip with Chance.”

  Frank took a seat behind his desk, loosening the top button of his uniform. “I’d bet money that those two kids are together.”

  “I want to believe that, too. It sounds like the most logical explanation,” Sonja agreed, setting the coffee and food down.

  “Smells great,” Frank praised her cooking, rubbing his hands together.

  “You know, the last time I talked to Amanda, she said that she wasn’t ready to get married. I guess Chance has been asking her about it again.”

  “Well, that’s nothing new. Everyone in town basically knows that.”

  “She’s a pretty traditional girl. Strong willed, too.”

  “But?”

  “But maybe she changed her mind?” she suggested.

  “You think they ran off to get married?” Frank asked, grabbing one of the coffees and taking a drink.

  “I’m just saying, it’s possible. Chance has been chipping away at her for over a year now. Heaven knows she loves him, no matter how much they disagree.”

  “Like I said, it’s the most logical explanation. Getting married or not, those two are most likely together. For all we know they could have gone stargazing in that convertible of his and fallen asleep.”

  Sliding one of the waffles onto a paper plate that Frank had in the office, she nudged the breakfast toward him. “Still,” she said in a hushed tone, thinking about her former employee.

  Using a plastic fork, Frank cut into the waffle, pockets of chocolate exploding from inside. “Don’t tell me you’re starting to worry, too.”

  Sipping her own coffee, she looked out the window at the tree outside. It was just beginning to bud, showing signs of spring. “It’s just a small feeling in the pit of my stomach.”

  “Supernatural?” he asked, taking a bite. Frank had gotten used to his fiancé’s premonitions and ghostly visitations. While it still sometimes seemed like something out of a horror movie, he was slowly learning to take a step back and let Sonja use her supernatural powers for good.

  “No, no. Nothing like that. I guess I just hope that Amanda stuck to her guns and is going to wait to get married—at least until they both have steady jobs.”

  Frank tilted up one corner of his mouth. “I have to agree with you there. Chance is a good kid with a good heart but doesn’t have much of a work ethic. His own dad refused to hire him on at the construction company but came and asked me if there were any positions for him here at the station.” He clicked his tongue. “I wish the payroll had space for another deputy, but it just doesn’t.”

  Just then, there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Frank called.

  Marie poked her head in. “Sheriff, Pete Manx just called. He says Shiloh and his people are on his property again.”

  “No rest for the wicked, I guess,” Frank chuckled, wiping his mouth with a napkin and leaving it on the desk. “At this rate, I’ll be lucky if I ever have time to get married,” he joked.

  “It’s been a busy morning?”

  “I’ve had to remove a feral dog from someone’s yard, get a little girl’s cat out of a drain pipe, take inventory of some jewelry taken from Luke’s pawn shop, bring in a drunk and disorderly tourist from the motel, and someone even stole a dress mannequin out of Pippi’s store window.”

  “Sounds crazy.”

  “Care to tag along?” he asked.

  “I’d love to,” Sonja agreed.

  Chapter 2

  * * *

&nbs
p; “Sheriff, thank goodness you’re here. Those people are out on my property again,” Pete Manx called, walking out of his barn as Frank and Sonja stepped out of the police cruiser. Inside the barn, Sonja could see all manner of tools and equipment that Pete used in his construction company. Rushing up to them, Pete practically grabbed the uniformed officer and dragged him toward the fence bordering the open field. “They’re out there standing in a circle.”

  “Now, Pete. There’s no cause to go pulling me around.”

  “Sorry about that, Sheriff.” He waved at the figures all standing there in the distance. Sonja could easily see that the group wasn’t in a circle at all. They were all simply taking turns looking through a telescope at the setting moon. A few had notepads and were taking notes.

  It was hardly anything too criminal—except for trespassing, of course.

  “Come on. Tell them to get lost, will you?” he begged. “I’m building a new storage shed where they’re standing and need to start digging a foundation.”

  “Storage shed?” Frank asked.

  “Yeah, for housing small stuff like nails and screws and compressed air capsules.”

  “Why all the way out there?” Frank asked, motioning across the property.

  “Are you going to help me or not?” he insisted.

  Sonja could guess that Pete was stretching the truth. While he was likely building a new shed, he probably wasn’t building it right where the group was standing. It was just an extra reason to speed up the process of getting them off his land.

  “Don’t worry. They’ll be gone before you know it.”

  “Thank goodness for that,” he sighed, looking back toward Sonja and noticing her for the first time. “Oh, Sonja. I didn’t realize you were here too.”

  “We were having breakfast when you called, Pete. She just tagged along for a bit.”

  “Well, I’m sorry I interrupted the newlywed’s breakfast.”

  “Pete, we’re not married yet,” Frank corrected him.

  “You’re not? I could have sworn Jay told me that it was this week.”

  “It is. Tomorrow.”

  “Oh, oh. Well, early congratulations to you guys,” he beamed, wringing his hands as he glanced back at the people in the field. “Are you gonna get rid of those people now?”

  “I am.” Frank paused, and Sonja could clearly see him thinking, formulating some thought in his mind. “Well, actually, Pete, I was wondering if I could ask you a question first.”

  Sighing, the man nodded. “What is it?”

  “Do you happen to know where your son is?”

  Pete furrowed his brow confused about the question. “What does that have to do with anything. Is he in some sort of trouble?”

  “No, nothing of the sort. I’m just trying to piece two and two together.”

  Pete showed no sign of understanding but answered anyway. “Of course. He’s heading out to my old hunting cabin this weekend. He left last night.”

  “He went on a trip alone to the cabin?”

  “Yeah. My boy’s been up to that cabin countless times. We’ve been on hunting trips together ever since he was old enough to hold a twenty-two.”

  “Do you know if Amanda went with him?”

  Sonja couldn’t help but smile. Some of her worry had rubbed off on him. Either that, or he’d kept his initial worry buried under his professional demeanor.

  “Well, of course. Those kids needed a getaway after this last year. Well, Amanda did anyway.”

  Frank gave a relieved smile, looking back toward Sonja. She too felt a hint of relief, but still felt it was a little out of character for Amanda to agree to an overnight trip with her boyfriend. Of course, an overnight trip didn’t mean she had to give up her moral code.

  “You were okay with them going away for the weekend together?” Sonja asked.

  Looking at her, Pete looked dumbfounded. “Why wouldn’t I be? They’re smart kids. They’re grown up.”

  Sonja was sure that Amanda’s parents wouldn’t see it quite the same way. They were church-going people and generally old-fashioned.

  “Amanda agreed to go?” she pressed the issue.

  “Why, sure. I saw them off myself just last night. Even helped my son pack up some food rations.”

  “But your wife told Trina that she had no idea where your son or Amanda were,” Frank jumped back in.

  “Oh, well, I must have forgotten to tell her, you know? She went to her ladies group last night.”

  “You mean the book club at the church,” Sonja clarified.

  “That’s the one,” he said.

  Sonja wasn’t sure even Jay would be happy about the unmarried couple going away for the weekend. On the other hand, Sonja felt ill-equipped to judge since she and Frank had gone on several mutually agreeable weekend trips together—although always in separate bedrooms.

  “Now, can we please get these people off my land?” he demanded.

  “Alright. Let’s go,” Frank agreed, following Pete out to the field.

  Sonja tagged along, making sure to keep a few feet behind the two men.

  The group out in the field consisted of three men and two women. If it weren’t for the telescope and the number notepads, they’d look like normal farm or construction workers in jeans and t-shirts. She’d heard about Randall Shiloh but knew very little about him and his group.

  Randall had rented a townhome in the downtown area of Haunted Falls where he lived together with his team. They were scientists as far as Sonja could tell—maybe astronomers or even astrologers.

  Supposedly, according to town gossip, they were a group of “new age” thinkers.

  Some people called them hippies.

  Others called them freaks.

  A sparse few even called them a cult—which she didn’t buy at all.

  As far as Sonja could tell, they were doing some sort of study of the patterns of the moon. She assumed because the group was private and hush-hush about their studies, that people were afraid of them.

  “Hey, guys,” Frank called out, holding up his hands for them all to pay attention to him.

  “Why, good morning to you, Sheriff,” the leader of the group said. Randall had curly hair, a thick beard, and circular glasses on the bridge of his nose. “We were just getting some readings before the moon disappeared for good. Care to have a look?” he offered, motioning to the telescope.

  Frank stifled a laugh and shook his head. “No, thank you. That’s a kind offer, but no.”

  “And you, Pete?” Randall asked, trying to be genial. She wondered if he was trying to be more open with people, so they wouldn’t be scared.

  “Sheriff,” Pete snapped, getting impatient. Clearly, he didn’t like even having to talk to Randall.

  “Alright, look. You guys can’t be out here. This is private property.”

  There were shocked and disappointed looks on everyone’s faces.

  “We’ve had this discussion once already this month. Now, I’m not going to warn you again.”

  Randall held out his hand's palms up. “But, Sheriff, this is the finest spot in all of Haunted Falls to get the readings we need. Nowhere else do we get as direct a connection to the setting moon.”

  Pete rolled his eyes so far up into his head, Sonja wondered if they’d get lost up there.

  “That very well may be, but Pete here owns the land and he doesn’t want you trespassing.”

  “Surely, he wouldn’t want us to go without finishing our readings for today,” Randall said.

  “You all can get your readings someplace else. This is my land and I don’t want you here,” he barked, waving a finger at them to get out.

  “Sheriff, can’t you do something about this?” Randall asked.

  Frank sighed, putting his hands on his belt. “I’m sorry, but it is Pete’s land and he has a right to kick you off. You guys will just have to find another place to do your studies,” Frank informed them.

  Randall’s soft demeanor fell, and a darkness ca
me over his eyes as he glared at Pete. “Very well. We can move on.”

  “You’re darn right. No one wants you here.”

  “Pete, for heaven sakes,” Franks scolded him. “That’s uncalled for.”

  “They’re on my land, aren’t they?”

  Randall put up both hands to silence them. “Please. No more arguing. We are on our way. Pack it up, guys,” he instructed. The group began to take down the weighty instrument.

  “And good riddance, too,” Pete grunted.

  “Pete,” Frank hissed.

  The group shuffled off toward the side road just off the property where they had a white van parked.

  “There, are you happy?” Frank asked.

  Sonja couldn’t help but notice her fiancé was being a little short fused, and she wondered if the stress of the upcoming wedding—along with the slew of police reports coming in that day—were taking their toll.

  “For now, Sheriff. They better not be back.”

  “I’m sure they won’t,” Frank said, heading back toward the police cruiser which sat near the barn and the farmhouse. “You just be civil to them, and they’ll listen.”

  Pete snorted. “Not likely. Next time I see them out here, I’ll make sure to scare them off with a shotgun.”

  “You’ll do no such thing,” Frank ordered him.

  “You just wait and see,” Pete whispered.

  Chapter 3

  * * *

  As they approached the police cruiser, Sonja instantly noticed another car that hadn’t been there a few moments before. She realized she’d already seen it once that day sitting outside the police station. It didn’t take her long to connect the dots.

  Even if she hadn’t, the voices coming from the screened in porch were proof enough.

  “I already told you on the phone, Trina. I don’t know where your daughter or my son are,” Jay, an older woman with dyed blonde hair, declared. She looked none too happy to be stuck talking to Trina for the second time that day—this time face-to-face.

  “How can you not know where your own child is, Jay? He’s your son, isn’t he?” Trina insisted, one hand on her hip and the other on her purse strap.