A Devious Lot (Antiques & Collectibles Mysteries Book 5) by Ellery Adams, Parker Riggs Page A

crocheted hippie poncho sweater sat at the bar. Molly went over and sat four stools down from her. The bartender was refilling the woman’s coffee, and Molly noticed her glaring at her through the back-bar mirror with small beady eyes.
    The bartender came over to Molly and smiled. He was the right age to be Troy Stanton. He had a small beer belly, dark hair, and a thick beard.
    “Good morning,” he said. “Do you know what you’d like, or do you need to see a menu?”
    Molly had eaten breakfast only a few hours ago, but she was hungry again. She’d worked up an appetite on her walk from Foxcoat Cottage to the village center.
    “I’ll have a regular coffee and a slice of pie,” she said. “What kind would you recommend?”
    “Banana cream is my favorite.”
    “Sounds good to me,” Molly said. He went off and she glanced at the skinny woman. She was unnerved to find her still staring at her. The bartender returned with her coffee and pie.
    “Are you Troy Stanton?” she asked.
    “Yes, I am,” he said.
    Molly held out her hand. “Molly Appleby. Tessa Paulson’s niece. My husband, Matt, and I are visiting.”
    “Oh, yeah? She taught me at school years ago. Nice lady.”
    “I’m beginning to think she taught the entire village,” Molly said.
    “No doubt she has,” he said.
    Molly stirred cream into her coffee. “Tessa told me you grew up on the same street as Tiffany Hadley.”
    Troy’s smile instantly vanished. “Yeah, I did.”
    “You’ve heard what happened?”
    “Hasn’t everyone?”
    “Were you friends with her?”
    Troy glanced at the skinny woman, who was hunched over her coffee and glaring at them.
    “We rode the bus to school together every day for twelve years,” he said. Molly knew village children attended school in Keensburg because the village wasn’t big enough to have its own, which meant the kids were on the bus together almost an hour every day. “Tiffany was a great girl, always friendly, cheerful. Everyone liked her.”
    “Did you date?”
    “Me and Tiff?” He laughed. “Nah, she wasn’t interested in me. As soon as Giles and his folks moved into Channing Hall, she only had eyes for him.”
    “What about after graduation? Did you stay in touch?”
    “Not really,” he said. “It wasn’t until she moved back a few months ago that I started getting to know her again. She came in to eat her meals. She was a terrible cook.”
    “Tessa told me she gave her a raisin bread.”
    “She probably bought it at Tasty Tidbits.”
    “Did she talk to you about the breakup with Giles?”
    Troy placed his hands on the bar. “Why all the questions?”
    “I’m curious, that’s all,” she said. “Tessa’s been talking about her so much. I didn’t mean to be rude.”
    Troy sighed. “I suppose it doesn’t matter now what we talked about. I already told a cop who showed up here last night. She talked about Giles a lot when she first got here, but lately she started talking about going back to London. I wish she had; maybe she’d still be alive.”
    “That’s interesting,” she said. “When did she tell you this?”
    “A few weeks ago,” he said.
    Molly took a bite of the pie. “Mm. This is delicious.”
    “Glad you like it,” he said. “It’s my grandmother’s recipe. I bought this place from my dad six years ago. Changed it from a smelly old pub to something hip and modern. There wasn’t any banana cream pie on the menu when he ran the place. The sweetest thing he served was honey-roasted peanuts.”
    Molly smiled. “I’m glad there is now,” she said.
    The skinny woman slapped some money on the bar and hopped off the stool. She came directly over to Molly.
    “You’re talking about Tiffany,” she said.
    Troy looked annoyed. “Alice, please. It’s a private conversation,” he said.
    Alice laughed. “Private? What a joke. We’re in a pub, Troy.”
    Molly said, “Hi, I’m Molly. Who are you?”
    “Alice Wilson,” she said. “I was good friends with