by Grace York
"I know. I won't discuss what we've gone through here. Although Adam's not going to be happy. He was the one who suggested we help you in the first place."
"Oh, he was, was he?"
A sheepish grin slid over Addison's face. "Yeah. I think he's been watching too many episodes of Castle. He's a big Nathan Fillion fan. I'll handle him, though."
"Bye, Addison."
"Bye."
She'd been right to worry. Adam wasn't impressed at all when she told him she'd been helping the police and couldn't share what she'd learnt.
"That's not fair," he said.
"I'm sorry, Adam. It just happened." They were in the kitchen; Addison deciding what to make for dinner, Adam making himself a snack. Olivia had also come downstairs when she'd heard her mother arrive home.
"Maybe you should have taken him the chicken soup," said Olivia with a laugh.
"Maybe I should have," said Adam. "So you can't tell us anything?"
Addison shook her head.
"What about in a general sense – I assume they've got suspects. Can you tell us if they have any frontrunners?"
"They have suspects, yes. Some are more suspect than others. But I don't think I can tell you any more than that."
It was frustrating for Addison, too. She'd come to enjoy discussing things back and forth with Adam. He pouted for a while, and Addison decided to make his favourite dinner to cheer him up. She started pulling the ingredients for lasagne out of the fridge.
Olivia and Adam retreated to their rooms – Olivia to study for a couple of hours, and Adam to do some more work on the book he was currently writing. Addison hoped it would take his mind off the murder.
Her mind, on the other hand, buzzed with the murder as she chopped carrots and onions and prepared the rest of the ingredients for the lasagne. She almost burnt the béchamel sauce thinking about the Hanley brothers.
It must be a difficult life, being on the road for eight months of every year. She realised they'd been born into it and knew nothing else, but still. On the plus side you'd get to visit a lot of places, but then, what would you really get to see in those places? And how many of them were the same places – like Getaway Bay – that they visited every year? She wondered how much time each of the family members got off, and whether they were really able to take time away from the carnival.
Two of the brothers had managed to find wives, so they must have at least had some time for recreation. Or maybe that had happened during the four months of the year they spent on the family property? What was it Holly had said? They all had separate houses on the property, all except for Hugh, who was single and still lived with Morris and Dot. Harry and Owen had a little boy, too. Another generation growing up on the road.
Their interesting lifestyle aside, Addison couldn't come up with a motive for any of the brothers to have killed Frankie. Holly had said Frankie fancied himself as a magician, wanting to step up from the knife-throwing gig. He wanted to be the lead act of the show, which fit with the impression Addison was getting of him. He seemed to have been a man with a big ego. She could definitely see him wanting the limelight, the status of being the headline act.
That brought her back to Paolo and Gianna. But they were both such slight people, not big and strong like Frankie. Addison remembered seeing Frankie's knife-throwing act on opening night and thinking how solid he was. He must have lifted weights, or worked out in some way. Could Paolo or Gianna really have killed him?
On the other hand, he'd been murdered with a knife in the back while he was sleeping. If he'd been awake and able to fight back it might have had a different ending. But as it was, whoever had killed him hadn't had too hard a job of it. That can't be a coincidence. They'd already established it was premeditated murder. Whoever killed him planned to do it at the time of day Frankie was normally taking a nap. Maybe that was because they knew they wouldn't be able to overpower him while he was awake?
Addison decided to put it out of her mind for the rest of the day. Justin and Emily were only going to be in town for a couple more days, and she wanted to make the most of her time with them. She got back to work on the lasagne, and also prepared the ingredients to make Justin's favourite coconut and lime cake for dessert.
By the time Justin and Emily returned from the beach the lasagne was in the oven, and the cake ready to go in next.
"Is that what I think it is?" asked Justin, spying the cake batter in the loaf tin.
"It is," said Addison with a smile. She managed to stop him before he could stick his finger in it. "Wait until it's cooked," she said, then pointed him to the unwashed mixing bowl.
His eyes lit up like he was seven years old again as he grabbed the bowl and set to work on the leftover batter.
"I have to ask what that is," said Emily. "I've never seen him so excited over cake batter."
"Lime and coconut cake," said Addison. "I'll print the recipe for you. It's dead easy to make, and he loves it. Actually, we all do, but it's Justin's all-time favourite."
"Thanks," said Emily. "Sounds delicious." She tried to get her finger in the bowl for a taste, but Justin took off with it.
"Mine!" he said, laughing and pushing her away.
"Take it outside," said Addison. "No running in my kitchen."
Olivia appeared at the bottom of the stairs and, quickly realising what was going on, ganged up with Emily to tackle Justin for the bowl. Addison had to laugh at them, grown adults fighting over the cake batter. They were worse than children.
She shooed them outside and got to work on a simple salad to have with the lasagne. Layla came home, Adam came down from his room, and the rest of them finally stopped fighting when the bowl had been licked clean.
They enjoyed a nice quiet night together, and Addison realised how lucky she was to have such wonderful family. She included Adam in that, too. He'd gotten over his disappointment at not being included in the police investigation, and spent the evening laughing and joking with them all.
Addison was pleased he'd decided to stay on at the beach house after the incident last month. She was still coming to terms with what had happened herself. The incident had ended up costing her three of her first four boarders, and dealt a massive blow to her ego. But Adam had kept reassuring her it wasn't her fault, and deep down she knew he was right. He'd convinced her to re-advertise the boarding house and promised to help when it came to vetting anyone who applied.
She hoped she'd get some new applicants soon.
12
Addison enjoyed a rare sleep-in on Sunday morning. With no baking required for Hazel's cafe, and the hot cross buns for Easter breakfast already prepared, there was nothing she needed to wake early for. It was after eight o'clock by the time she finally stepped into her kitchen.
"Good morning," said Layla, already in the process of making coffee. "Do you want one?"
"Yes please." Addison automatically went to the fridge and pantry, gathering ingredients for their Easter Sunday breakfast. Olivia had requested pancakes, which received no opposition from anyone else.
"Are the kids up yet?" Layla asked, placing a steaming mug on the bench for Addison.
"I heard showers running, so I expect they'll start drifting down soon enough."
"Relax and enjoy your coffee," said Layla. "Then we'll make a start on breakfast."
Addison didn't need telling twice. She grabbed her coffee and opened the back door. "Let's sit out here," she said.
The verandah wrapped around three sides of the beach house, and was one of the reasons she'd fallen in love with the house at first sight. The previous occupants had left an old cane lounge suite on the back verandah, and Addison and Olivia had cleaned it up and replaced some of the worn cushions.
Addison sank into one of the chairs, and Charlie wasted no time jumping up on her lap.
"Good morning, boy," said Addison, giving him a cuddle. "Have you had your breakfast?"
"I gave him some of his dry biscuits earlier," said Layla, lowering h
erself onto the cane sofa.
"How long have you been up?" asked Addison. Layla wasn't usually an early riser.
"A couple of hours. I couldn't sleep."
"Is anything wrong?"
"No… yes. I don't know." Layla cradled her coffee and took small sips. Addison waited for her cousin to gather her thoughts.
"Is it the gallery?" Addison finally asked when Layla didn't respond.
"That's part of it. It feels odd rebuilding at my age."
"You're the same age as me," said Addison. "We're only fifty-five. And what's age got to do with it, anyway?"
Layla shrugged. "I know you're right. But it was hard enough building the gallery and starting a new life five years ago. Now I feel like I'm starting all over again. I can't keep doing this, Addison."
Addison leaned over and wrapped an arm around her cousin. "You don't need to keep doing this. The gallery burning down was a deliberate, horrible act by a nasty person. That isn't going to happen again. It's sad that you have to go through this, I know. But you're nearly there. Once it's done you'll have your home back for good."
"You're right. I'm just being silly. But with losing Dad and Jenna so close to each other, building the gallery again feels so… heartless. It's like I'm focusing on a building, when they were so much more important."
Now they were getting to the real problem. Layla was trying to rebuild her life while she was still grieving the loss of two close family members. She felt guilty for moving on when they couldn't.
"I understand," said Addison. "I felt the same when I lost Rob. I couldn't imagine life going on without him."
"But it did," said Layla. "You moved up here and bought the beach house. You're so strong, Addison. I don't think I'm that strong."
"I wasn't strong at first," said Addison. "Yes, I moved up here and I've entered the next phase of my life. But I couldn't do it straight away. To be honest with you, the day they lowered Rob into the ground it was all I could do not to crawl down in there with him. I was a mess, Layla."
A couple of tears silently ran down Layla's face.
"It took me two years to get here," Addison continued. "Jenna and your dad have only been gone a couple of months, and in that time you've already been busy rebuilding your home and the gallery. It's normal that you're feeling overwhelmed. Give yourself a break."
Layla nodded. "I suppose you're right."
"You know I'm right. You're doing fine, Layla. Rebuilding is the right thing to do. It's what Jenna and your dad would want you to do. You can't bring them back, so there's no point feeling guilty that they're gone and you're still here. But if you want to slow down a little, then you know I'm here for you. I love having you here at the beach house. You have a room here for as long as you like."
Layla wiped away her tears and managed half a smile. "Thank you. I'm so glad you chose to come to Getaway Bay."
"So am I." Addison heard activity in the kitchen. She finished the last of her coffee and stood. "I think the troops are gathering for breakfast."
"We'd better go feed them then."
They enjoyed a leisurely morning, feasting on pancakes, hot cross buns, and multiple cups of tea and coffee. Layla perked right up, and Addison once again thought how lucky she was to have her family around her for the holiday long weekend. She was sorry that Justin and Emily would be leaving tomorrow, but they had jobs to get back to in Melbourne.
When the eating was finally finished, Easter eggs distributed, and the kitchen cleaned, Emily and Layla took themselves off for a walk along the beach with Charlie. Adam retired to his room; he was close to finishing his first novel and was eager to get back to it. Which left Addison with Justin and Olivia.
"Can we sit in the lounge room?" asked Justin.
"Of course." Addison led the way, and the three of them settled into the comfortable chairs by the window. Olivia tucked into her stash of chocolate eggs.
"How can you eat chocolate after all that breakfast?" Justin asked her.
"It's Easter. Eating chocolate is virtually mandatory."
Justin laughed, then turned to his mother with a more sombre face.
"What is it?" asked Addison. She knew that face well.
"I'm not sure about this new role you have with the police, Mum." He rested both hands on the arms of his chair, looking stiff and uncomfortable. It was his serious stance. Justin didn't get serious often, but when he did everyone knew it. Even Olivia looked up from her egg unwrapping task.
"What's your concern?" said Addison.
"I think you might be taking on too much. You've done a great job with this place, but it must be a handful. And with the baking as well, do you really have time to be a police volunteer?"
Addison suspected the time requirement wasn't his issue, but she addressed it anyway.
"The house looks after itself," she said. "Now that the renovations are almost complete, all I have to do here is cook dinner every night and wash the sheets once a week. The boarders take care of themselves. And besides, there's only Adam and Layla at the moment. Plus, they help out a lot."
"And the baking?"
"That only takes me a couple of hours each morning. I enjoy it, and I'm usually done by nine o'clock. Really, Justin, I've nothing else to do to fill my days. I'll be only too happy to help Isaac and his team."
Justin looked to Olivia, but she sided with Addison for once.
"I had the same concerns," she said after finishing a mouthful of chocolate. "But Mum is amazing. She's done so much to this place in three months. You should have seen it when we first moved here. And she's made heaps of new friends. She can do anything, Justin."
"She should be taking it easy, not taking on more work," he said.
"She's fifty-five, not seventy-five," said Olivia.
"And she's right here," said Addison. It was nice to hear Olivia defend her with her own words, but she didn't need them arguing about her. "I appreciate your concern, Justin. I really do. But I can handle this. I want to help the police."
"You mean you want to help Isaac," said Olivia with a smirk.
"He's the police," Addison countered.
"It's all right if you like him, Mum," she said. "He's kind of cool."
Addison couldn't hide her surprise. "He's kind of cool? Do you really think so?"
Olivia shrugged. "Yeah. Besides, he obviously needs your help. He couldn't have solved the last two murders without you."
That got Justin all flustered again. "I'm still not sure about all this. What would Dad say about you being involved with a murder investigation?"
"If he thought I could help, he'd be fine with it," said Addison. She had no idea if this was actually true, but she'd like to think so. Rob had been passionate about his own job as a homicide detective. She had to believe he'd be proud of her helping the local police in her new home town.
"I think Dad would have liked Isaac," said Olivia. "He's a good guy. Not full of himself, like some detectives can be."
Addison wasn't sure where Olivia was getting her information on detectives from, but she couldn't disagree. Isaac was definitely one of the good guys.
Justin was silent for a minute, and Addison knew he was making a mental pros and cons list. He was like his father that way, always taking the time to analyse a situation before jumping in.
"I just want you to be safe, Mum. Can this Isaac guarantee you won't be in any danger?"
"There are no such guarantees in life. You know that. But I'll just be a volunteer, helping out with administration stuff. I'll probably spend the whole time in the police station. You can't get much safer than that."
"That's a good point," said Justin. "Okay… I'm on board."
Addison gave him a hug. "That means a lot to me," she said.
"Right," said Justin, turning to Olivia with a cheeky grin and stealing one of her chocolates. "Tell me everything you know about this Isaac fellow."
13
After enjoying a lovely morning with her family, Addison decided to p
ut her new credentials as police volunteer into action and headed off to the carnival in search of Holly.
She didn't have to look too far. Holly was working the fairy floss machine. She told Addison she was due for a break in half an hour, so they agreed to meet, and Addison wandered off to kill some time.
The carnival was run like a well-oiled machine. Hanley Brothers had been operating for many years, as she knew, so no doubt they had all their systems worked out and optimised by now. Still, it was interesting to watch.
She'd been to carnivals before, of course, but she'd always been either a kid herself or there with her own children. Either way she'd been totally engrossed in the carnival atmosphere, taken in by the bright lights and loud noises and constant distractions. Now, looking at it from a different angle, she could see the business aspect. Everything was designed to get the patrons to spend their money. Which was fair enough. The Hanleys were entitled to make a living just like anyone else.
Addison's thoughts returned to the motive for killing Frankie. It had to be something personal. She couldn't see any business reason for anyone to want the man dead. He was a performer in a stage show, not even the lead act. As she watched things continue two days after his murder, she realised the knife thrower's death hadn't had much impact on the carnival.
The show must go on. Isn't that what they say?
Addison went through the usual motives for murder in her head. Money or greed was a common one. Did Frankie owe someone money? Or did someone owe him? She wondered whether he had any next of kin, anyone who stood to inherit whatever he left behind. She wondered whether he left anything behind at all. She couldn't imagine a performer in a travelling show would amass much of a fortune. Even if he had been well-paid, from what she'd been told about the man Addison couldn't see Frankie stashing large amounts of cash away to leave to a relative. He seemed more like the type who would spend it on himself any chance he got.
Revenge was another possible motive. She could definitely see Frankie as someone who would cause others to harbour a grudge against him. Had he upset the wrong person? Pushed someone too far?
