Permanently Deleted

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Juliet and I headed down the sidewalk towards Odd Couple’s. As we entered the diner, I was shocked to see every table was full. I eyed the diners and saw more strangers than familiar faces.

“ Who are all these people? Is there something going on down at the lake? It’s as packed now as it is in the summer,” I said.

“ It’s the protesters,” Juliet responded. “Mom told me about it this morning when I went over for breakfast.”

“ Protesters? What the heck are they protesting in Miller’s Cove? Too much peace and quiet?”

“ Mike Johnson’s pickle factory.”

“ Who protests pickles?” I asked. As I looked around the dining room, I noticed that many of the diners wore t-shirts with the words “Stop the Dill Fish Kill” emblazoned across their chest. “What’s up with the t-shirts.”

“ We’re protesting Peck o’ Pickles dumping brine into the stream next to the factory. It’s killing the fish,” a voice said from behind me.

I turned and saw Willow had come into the restaurant behind Juliet and me. She, too, wore a t-shirt protesting fish kills, but Willow’s sported a fish upside down in the throes of death.

“ Willow,” Juliet said. “I missed you at yoga class yesterday evening.”

“ Sorry,” Willow said. “I was at the factory protesting with the others. We’ve been down there all week. That factory is a menace to the environment. The spirits are not happy with Peck o’ Pickles right now.” Willow communed regularly with her spirit guides. She raised her hand and waved at a group of protesters already seated at a table. “I want you to meet some of the leaders of the group.”

Willow wound her way through the crowded diner to a table with two earthy looking women in huarache sandals and tie-dyed shirts with fish swimming on the front. I eyed the words printed on their chests - Don’t be a Big Dill. Stop the Fish Kill. “Darcy. Dragonfly. This is Juliet and her sister, Phee. They are righteous yoga chicks.”

“ Nice to meet you. I’m Darcy.” She was in her mid-forties with graying brown hair and a warm smile. “I really dig Miller’s Cove.”

“ Except for the creep that’s dumping noxious crap in the creek and killing all the croakers,” Darcy’s companion said with a bitter edge to her voice. “I’m Dragonfly.”

“ This is the first I’ve heard about all of this,” I said. “What’s going on?”

“ Mike Johnson, CEO and first-class jerk of Peck o’ Pickles, has been killing the fish in the stream that feeds the lake. He’s been dumping all of his brine from his pickle vats into the water,” Dragonfly explained. “I’ve called the EPA and every other initialed government agency and all they say is that they’ll investigate. They’ve got a backlog of cases. I gathered up my crew, and we headed here to set Johnson straight. So far, he’s refused to meet with us and negotiate, but I’m ready to pull out the big guns. No more Miss Nice Guy for Mr. Picklepuss!”

“ So you protested at the factory this weekend, too?” Juliet asked.

“ Yep!” Dragonfly said. “We staged a huge blockade around the factory yesterday until a redneck in a gas-guzzling truck tried to run us over last night. Eventually, the owner has to come clean. They always do. Public image to maintain and all that crap.”

“ I doubt Mike will meet with you,” I said.

“ Darcy can be persuasive,” Willow assured me. “If not, we’ll use any means necessary to shut the factory down until the dumping stops.”

“ You don’t understand,” I said. “Mike won’t be meeting with anyone. He’s dead.”

“ You’re joking, right?” Darcy visibly paled. “He can’t be dead.”

“ He’s dead,” Juliet said. “We just came from the sheriff’s office. They said it was murder.”

“ Oh my goddess!” Willow exclaimed. “That’s horrible. I mean, the guy was a first-class loser, but nobody deserves to be murdered.” Her hands fluttered nervously.

“ Karma,” Dragonfly said. “It’s a bitch.”

Darcy flashed her a dark look. “Not cool, Dragonfly. Not cool. We want to heal the world. Not wish ill upon others.” She turned back to us. “We try to achieve our goals through peaceful means.”

“ The spirits frown on violence,” Willow said, nodding her head. “I’ll consult the stones and see what insight they can bring.”

“ Well, maybe the spirits can tell the sheriff that Nellie didn’t kill her husband,” I said, only half in jest. Although I wasn’t a true believer, Willow seemed to have an uncanny knack for knowing what to say in times of turmoil.

“ Does the sheriff have a suspect in custody?” Darcy asked.

“ They brought Mike’s wife, Nellie, in for questioning,” Juliet said. “As if anyone as sweet as Nellie could kill anyone. I knew I should’ve gone to police academy. If I was a deputy, I’d be a rabid bloodhound tracking the perp. Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night would keep me from taking down the murderer.”

“ Uh…you mixed up the post office motto and the law,” I laughed.

“ Whatever,” Juliet shrugged. “I wouldn’t waste my time thinking Nellie could have done it. With the time they’re wasting bothering Nellie, the real suspect is getting away.”

“ Clint’s doing his job. He has to question everyone in Mike’s life,” I said a little defensively. “You’re the 1970s cop show junkie. The wife is suspect number one until they question everyone. Clint will get to the bottom of it.”

Juliet crossed her arms and harrumphed. A moment later, a nearby booth came open. We said goodbye to Willow and her friends and slid into our seats. Juliet and I had eaten at Odd Couple’s since we were teenagers, so we didn’t need menus.

“ I’d like the Desi burger with fries and a root beer, please,” I told Stephanie when she came to take our order.

“ Same for me.” After Stephanie walked away, Juliet leaned back and eyed me.

“ What?”

“ So what is up with you and the dashing deputy?”

“ We’re… good,” I said. “We’re both busy.”

“ I call baloney and macaroni. The tension between the two of you when we were at the station was noticeable to everyone. Spill it.”

“ I don’t know what to tell you,” I said. I didn’t. Clint and I talked every day and occasionally went to dinner. Our relationship had turned brittle as an autumn leaf, ready to crumble at the smallest gust of wind. I wanted to move forward with our relationship, but Clint threw a monkey wrench into the works when he said he didn’t want a commitment or plans for a future. Even worse, he refused to talk about it again. “I want the house, the two point five kids and ten kittens. He wants things to stay exactly as they are. I love him, but what can I do? Break up and be alone and heartbroken?”

“ Phee, you deserve to get everything in life you want. If you want marriage and a family and he doesn’t, then maybe he isn’t the one. I mean, I love the guy, too. Clint’s like family, but it doesn’t give him a free pass to be a jerk. He breaka your heart. I breaka his face!” Juliet put her fists up and did a quick fake jab.

“ Settle down, Muhammad Ali. It’s okay. I’ve made peace with his decision for now.”

“ I don’t believe you for a second, but I’ll leave it alone. I’m still hotter than a baked potato that he had Nellie in the back of the cruiser like she was a hardened criminal.”

“ Don’t get mad, Juls.” I took a sip of my root beer. “Get investigating!”