Weaving The Web: A Cold Hollow Mystery (Cold Hollow Mysteries Book 2) by Emilie J. Howard

bare. He noticed a small closet beneath the staircase, opened it, and found it was empty. He made his way back up to the dining room.
    Myrna congratulated Robert on the fine cuisine as they walked farther away from the house and toward his newly planted vegetable garden. She glanced at it and knew he had planted enough for a family of ten.
    “So, where is my restaurant supposed to be located?”
    She turned to him. “Right beside my bakery on Main Street. I close at three o’clock each day, so I had a notion if you opened at four o’clock, there would be no competition.”
    His hands were in his pockets as he stared at the ground. “Good. I prefer preparing three-to four-course meals. It sounds good to me. However, I need to order my desserts from you.”
    Myrna’s eyebrows rose. “How much dessert?”
    She watched as he assessed the question and turned to her. “I’ll give you a list a day ahead of time to correlate with my menu. You can have the boy, Donnie, deliver my order to me in the early afternoon as I prep for dinnertime.”
    “You have a lot to do, Robert. Can you handle this financially? You’ll need new equipment, furniture, dinnerware, and menus. How soon can you get it up and running?”
    He waved a hand before his face, as if annoyed. “I have it all planned out. I always have.” He tapped his forefinger against his temple.
    “Money is not an issue?”
    “Nope. Besides, I have to go back to the furniture place tomorrow and speak with the manager. I think he’ll be eager to set me up with what I need at the restaurant.” He extended his arm out to the house. “He’ll also have to help with my house. The guy who lived here was a pig with no taste.”
    Myrna agreed and asked, “What will you call the restaurant?”
    “Carla’s Fine Cuisine.”
    Myrna stopped smiling, remained silent, and gave Robert a cold, hard stare. When she spoke, it was harsh. “Explain the name to me, Robert. Explain it to me right now.”
    Robert raised his arms in surrender and took a step backward. “Easy, does it, Mayor. When we were in prison, we were taught to make amends for our crimes and ask forgiveness. I mean, you’ve seen my file. It’s not as if I can call the young girl and say, ‘Hey, remember me? I’m the rotten bastard who raped you when you were young.’ It’s not like I can even find her after all these years, so I came to the conclusion that by naming my restaurant after her, as homage, it would provide me with some sort of feeling of forgiveness.”
    “You don’t remember the girl’s last name?”
    He shook his head as he stared at the ground, ashamed. “I can’t even remember what she looked like. I was blind drunk the night I assaulted her. All I remember is her first name, for some weird reason. I know she testified against me, but I wasn’t allowed in court. It was one of her stipulations.”
    “Why were you blind drunk the night it happened?”
    He let loose a single chuckle. “My parents were rich and demanding. I had gotten in a heated argument with them, and I was furious.”
    “Yes, I read about your anger issues, but you seemed to have gotten it under control when in the rehabilitation facility.”
    He stared her in the eyes. “Well, you can thank the staff psychiatrist and the cooking instructor for it. The place was like a vacation compared to regular prison.”
    Myrna sipped the last of the wine and nodded. “It is a great place.” Robert took her empty glass, and they walked back to join the rest of the company. “I think you should get the restaurant open in time for the day after Fourth of July and make sure Carla Macy doesn’t think you named your place after her.”
    Robert grinned. “It’s a good plan, Mayor. Mrs. Macy is a nice woman with two great kids. I’ll tell her the name of the place is to honor someone from my past. It’s just a coincidence.”
    “Good idea.”
    “I have to ask you something, though. What’s with the name of your