Page 69 of Holmes, Margaret and Poe

“Your release from jail,” she said. She turned and started back down the stairs. “Once the board members come to their senses, you’ll be right back on the sideline for the Fighting Badgers.”

“Maybe,” Davis replied, following her. “But maybe it’s time I see what my record at the Charles School is worth.”

Plum hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. “What? Schools in this area? Our league?”

“If I thought they had the kind of potential I’m looking for,” he said. “But maybe I’ve been thinking too small. Maybe I should be talking to Division One colleges. Or even the pros. I still know a lot of people.”

“I’m sure you do,” she said, entering the kitchen. “What would you like to drink?”

“What do you have?”

“Anything your heart desires,” Plum said and she opened a cabinet that was well-stocked with liquor.

Davis gaped.

“What?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Davis said. “I guess I didn’t expect that from you.”

Plum laughed. “I like to be surprising. I put myself through school bartending.”

Davis examined the contents of the cabinet for a moment, then said, “I should probably just have a beer.”

“A beer?” she said, sounding slightly insulted. “C’mon, where’s the adventure? Coach Penny says you’re a bourbon man.”

He smiled. “Coach Penny talks too much, but yes, I like bourbon now and then.”

“You’re lucky,” she said and opened another cabinet, revealingat least fifteen different kinds of bourbon. “I inherited this collection from my dad after he passed.” Plum pulled out a medium-size glass jug that was half full. “This was his favorite. Single-pot from a distiller in Alabama who has also passed.”

Davis hesitated, then said, “I’ll give it a try.”

The English teacher found two cut-crystal glasses, got two large cubes from the freezer, and poured a finger of the liquor over each. She handed him a glass, raised hers, and said, “Congratulations on being released, Captain.”

“Thank you,” Davis said and took a sip. “Wow, that is good. Starts out with a smooth burn and finishes caramel.”

“Uh-huh,” Plum said, sipping hers. “And makes you want more.”

“That could get dangerous,” he said.

“Maybe that’s the idea,” she said, then laughed and turned away.

Davis smiled, thinking that he had never seen the teacher like this. She wasn’t her normal staid self; she was free and relaxed. Plum opened the fridge, looked over her shoulder, saw Davis watching her, and laughed again.

He drank more of the bourbon and reached for the jug. “May I?”

“Please do,” she said. “I’ll get us something to nibble on.”

Davis popped the cork and poured more bourbon into his glass. “What do you do around here other than read?”

When Plum turned away from the fridge, she had several kinds of cheese in her hand and a frown on her face. “You have something against reading?”

“No, no,” he said and compulsively took another sip. “I was just wondering.”

She put the cheese down. “I listen to music. I garden. And I am learning to take care of the house with all the tools left by the last owner.”

“Really,” Davis said, interested. “Where are they?”

Plum gestured to the door behind Davis. “Down in the basement. An entire shop next to the laundry, plus all the gardening equipment they didn’t want to take with them to Florida.”

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