“Kind of you to ask, but I’m all set.” She tipped her head, indicating a pickup truck with an empty trailer parked at the curb, with the name Northwest Landscaping painted on the door. “He’s on the tractor, finishing up the back.”

I wondered what my aunt, who had never hired anyone to do something she could do herself, would think. “Yet you’re out here with a rake?”

Celeste laughed. “Just to remind myself how much I dislike raking. What are you up to?”

“Oh, this and that.” Looking up at the sky, I pulled in a big breath. “It’s a gorgeous day, isn’t it?”

“Mmm.” She eyed me. “Heard about your adventures last night. Sounded exciting.”

I smiled. “I’ll tell you about it someday, if you’d like.”

“Sounds good,” she said agreeably. “As long as it’s before I leave.”

“Leave? You’re going on a trip?”

She laughed. “A long one. I’ve decided to be a snowbird and head south for the winter. The cloudy days are already getting to me and I won’t be fit for man nor beast after six months of that.”

It was more like seven, but I didn’t correct her. “Where are you going? What are you going to do?”

“Your friend Kristen, she got me thinking. I used to tend bar, back in the day. No reason I couldn’t go back to it, for a few months, down where it’s warm.”

I grinned, trying not to be sad about the boardinghouse being cold and dark all winter long. “No reason at all. Where are you headed? And when?”

“Soon, and not sure. I thought about southern Arizona or New Mexico, but I’m more of a water person than a desert or mountain person. I might head to Key West, just like Kristen. Maybe there will be a spot for me.” She laughed, and I could have sworn she winked.

But before I could pursue that particular line of inquiry, my aunt intervened. “Minerva Hamilton!” she called from her front porch. “Get over here right now!”

“Oh, dear,” Celeste said, amused. “Don’t tell me you haven’t talked to Frances about last night.”

I’d meant to, but it had been so late when I’d left the sheriff’s office and I’d been so tired that all I’d done was send a text that I’d talk to her the next day, but the flurry of wedding preparations had pushed Talk with Aunt Frances down on my list. And now it was late in the day, and she’d seen me with Celeste before I’d gone to her. The two of them had a complicated relationship, and this wouldn’t help.

“Sorry,” I said, crossing the street. “If it’s any comfort, I didn’t tell her anything about last night.”