by Leena Clover
“You never told me that,” Jenny said, surprised.
“It never came up,” Star said with a shrug. “And I didn’t think it was important. I never set eyes on that man in my life.”
“You left John Mendoza a few years ago, didn’t you?” Heather asked. “What motive could you have to kill him?”
Molly looked sad as she contemplated an answer.
“John hurt me. Really hurt me. I had to go to the emergency room a few times. There is a record of all my injuries.”
“Did you tell them your husband was abusing you?” Jenny asked.
“At the time, I just said I had bumped into something. But it came up during the divorce. John wasn’t ready to let me go. Then his lawyer came up with a lot of nasty stuff against me. That’s when I finally reported him for physical and mental abuse.”
“So it’s all part of an official record then,” Jenny summed up.
Molly nodded.
“The police think I was bearing a grudge against him, or I am scarred or something.”
“Who would blame you if you were?” Betty Sue Morse said, stroking Tootsie.
Tootsie had climbed up in her lap and was dozing with one eye closed. She was staring at the assembled group with the other. The little poodle sensed something was wrong.
“So what? You bashed his head or something?” Jenny asked incredulously. “If you had hit him in a fit of anger, he would have been dead right there at your doorstep.”
“That’s exactly what I told them,” Molly cried. “Why would I lure him to a deserted beach and attack him?”
“How big was he?” Jenny asked. “Was he stronger than you?”
“He was about the same size and build,” Molly said.
“You need to get a lawyer, Molly,” Jenny said decisively. “You need one whether you are guilty or innocent.”
“Jason Stone is the only lawyer in town,” Heather reminded them. “I don’t think he can represent both Star and Molly at the same time.”
“Not unless they drop the charges against Star,” Jenny nodded. “I wonder if they will do that.”
“Lawyers are expensive,” Molly said. “I am not sure I can afford someone pricey from out of town.”
“What are you going to do then, Molly?” Betty Sue Morse asked.
Molly turned toward Jenny with a question in her eyes.
“Can you help me, please?”
“I’m not on speaking terms with my husband,” Jenny said, misunderstanding her. “And he’s a different kind of lawyer.”
“I need your help,” Molly corrected her. “I want you to continue working on this, Jenny.”
“I was just showing a photo around, Molly,” Jenny protested. “I’m not a trained investigator.”
“You can continue asking questions,” Star said, “just like you did before.”
“I can’t promise any results,” Jenny warned Molly.
“We know nothing about John Mendoza’s life,” Heather spoke up. “Did he have any enemies?”
“I had no contact with him since I came to Pelican Cove,” Molly reminded them. “He was a bit unscrupulous, but I think that was common in the business he was in.”
“Could someone have followed him here to Pelican Cove?” Petunia asked as her chins wobbled in unison.
“That brings us back to the whole outsider theory,” Jenny said. “How did anyone in town not see this person?”
“How long would it take to do the deed, turn around and drive out of town?” Betty Sue asked them. “That beach where they found him is almost deserted, remember?”
“There’s one person who could have seen this stranger,” Heather said.
“Jimmy Parsons?” Jenny asked. “I doubt he will admit it.”
“Jimmy’s a good guy,” Star said. “He won’t sit on something on purpose.”
The group went back and forth, evaluating different scenarios and discarding them. Betty Sue finally stood up when Tootsie started pulling at her leash.
“I need to take Toots for a walk,” she said. “I think we all need a break.”
“Do you want me to come home with you, Molly?” Heather asked. “I can keep you company for some time.”
“What about that Movie Night you girls were talking about?” Petunia asked. “I think tonight’s as good a time as any for it.”
Jenny felt torn inside. She needed some quiet time to herself so she could gather her thoughts. She also wanted to talk to Adam.
Molly solved her problem.
“I think I will turn in early tonight,” Molly said. “I have a headache.”
“Let’s at least go to the Rusty Anchor for a while,” Heather urged.
Molly hesitated. A glass of wine sounded good to her.
“I’m going to call Chris,” Heather said, pulling her cell phone out of her bag. “He can meet us there.”
Star agreed to go with them to the pub. Betty Sue walked off with Tootsie. The girls headed to the Rusty Anchor accompanied by Star.
Chris was already there when they went in. Eddie waved at them from the bar and pointed toward a table. He had reserved it for them. He came over with a glass of chilled white wine and placed it before Molly.
“This is that Chardonnay you like from our local winery,” he told her.
He gave her a pat on the back.
“Don’t worry, Molly. We are with you. I know you wouldn’t harm a fly.”
Molly nodded awkwardly and took a deep sip from her glass. The others kept the conversation going, trying to draw a smile out of Molly.
Jenny spotted a familiar red headed figure at the bar.
“Isn’t it a bit too late for delivering mail?” she muttered.
Heather looked up at the bar and spotted Kevin waving at her. She waved back.
“He’s off duty, Jenny,” she whispered.
Kevin came over holding a mug of beer.
“You guys celebrating something?” he asked with a smile.
“Sure,” Chris said, slapping him on the back. “Why don’t you join us?”
The group broke up soon after that. Chris and Heather insisted on accompanying Molly home. Star and Jenny decided to collect a pizza for dinner on their way back home.
“I thought I was going to be bored in Pelican Cove,” she told her aunt. “But I haven’t had a single spare moment since I got here.”
“It’s not even summer yet,” Star laughed. “Wait till the tourists get here.”
They ran into Jason at Mama Rosa’s. He was waiting for his own order.
“Have you heard the news?” Jenny asked him.
“I’ve been in the city all day for a case,” he told them. “I’m just getting home.”
“Want to join us for dinner?” Star asked. “We can bring you up to speed.”
Jenny put in an order for a large veggie pizza and three salads. She figured two pizzas would be plenty for the three of them.
“Are you going to make me eat salad?” Jason teased.
Star set out knives and forks when they got home and popped open the salad boxes.
“What did I miss?” Jason asked, spearing a cherry tomato with his fork.
Jenny gave him a brief account of the day’s developments.
“This might be good news for you,” Jason told Star. “I am talking to the sheriff first thing tomorrow morning.”
“What is your take on all this?” Jenny asked as she took a big bite of her veggie pizza.
“I’ve known Molly since she was a kid,” Jason said thoughtfully. “But it’s hard to say. They say victims of abuse can be scarred for life. Who knows what kind of trauma Molly has faced. She might have panicked or just lashed out at him.”
Jason didn’t stay around long after dinner. Jenny forced herself to go for her walk. A new patch of rose bushes had bloomed at Seaview and Jenny leaned against a post, taking in their beauty. A pink climbing rose twined up a trellis and shimmered in the silvery moonlight. Another white rose bush covered the front wall of the mansio
n. Jenny felt Seaview was a bit too grand to be called a cottage.
A hairy body leapt over Jenny and she sat down in the sand with a thud.
“Tank! You naughty boy!” she laughed as Tank began licking her face all over.
Jenny kissed the burly Labrador and looked around for Adam. Adam whistled softly and Tank bounded back to him. Leaning on his cane with one hand, Adam offered the other one to Jenny. She pulled herself up and dusted the sand off her clothes.
Jenny tried to curb the thrill she felt when she looked at Adam. She wanted to ask why he hadn’t come to the beach for the past few days. Instead she said something completely different.
“Molly’s innocent. I don’t know why you are treating her like a suspect.”
“And here we go again…” Adam said with a sigh.
Chapter 22
Adam Hopkins refused to disclose any information about the case.
“I’ve told you before, Jenny,” he barked at her one evening on the beach. “Stop interfering and let us do our job.”
“Molly’s going through hell,” she told him. “You have known her longer than me. Don’t you care about her at all?”
“I can’t take sides,” Adam sighed. “I’m just doing my job.”
Ada Newbury started a campaign to get Molly fired from her job.
“She’s talking to the board members,” Molly told them one morning over coffee. “She is saying I am a bad influence on the kids coming to the library.”
“How so?” Jenny asked with her hands on her hips.
“I don’t know,” Molly cried. “Maybe because I was married to John?”
“Does she know how he treated you?” Heather burst out. “You are not the villain of the story.”
“Ada’s just throwing her weight around,” Betty Sue told them. “That’s what she does best.”
“I can’t lose my job,” Molly said tearfully. “There aren’t any other jobs in Pelican Cove. Who’s going to hire me if I get fired for bad character?”
“Don’t worry,” Betty Sue consoled Molly.
She was a member of the library board.
“I will talk to the others and make sure they know the whole story.”
“Have you found any more clues, Jenny?” Molly asked her.
“I’m hitting a wall,” Jenny admitted. “John Mendoza’s photo is still up there on our bulletin board. Nobody has come forward with any more information.”
“How about putting an ad in the county paper?” Petunia suggested. “It’s circulated in some of the neighboring towns too.”
“We can try posting online again,” Heather added.
“Let’s do that,” Jenny agreed. “We’ll try both the methods. We need all the help we can get at this point.”
“Has Star remembered anything about her paintbrush?” Betty Sue asked.
Star had another deadline and wasn’t with them that morning.
Jenny shook her head. “She still maintains she could have dropped it anywhere. She’s in some kind of zone when she paints. She’s totally unaware of what’s going on around her.”
The ads in the paper didn’t yield anything. Jenny couldn’t shake the feeling that Molly was connected to the crime in some manner. She decided to probe further. She sat down with Molly one evening and began questioning her.
“Have you done anything different in the last few weeks, Molly?” she asked. “We don’t know what we are looking for exactly. So don’t spare any detail.”
Molly thought for a while.
“I have a set routine. I go to work around 7:30 AM. I come here for my break. I eat lunch at my desk most days. I go home after work.”
“Have you joined any classes? Visited a new store?”
Jenny felt she was just grasping at straws.
“Have you made any new friends, Molly?”
Molly shook her head after every question.
“You are sure you had no contact with John?” Jenny pressed. “Did he call you, Molly? Maybe you talked to him on the phone.”
“Trust me,” Molly said. “I haven’t spared a thought for John in years. We parted on really bad terms. There was no way I would talk to him.”
“Have you noticed anything odd around you?”
“You’re the only new person in my life, Jenny,” Molly said with a smile.
Then her face clouded over.
“I almost forgot. Something weird did happen. I thought I was being forgetful.”
“What do you mean?” Jenny asked, sitting up in her chair.
“I forgot to carry my lunch one day, so I went home to get a bite to eat.”
“And?”
“Something seemed odd. I hadn’t cleared up that morning, see? My tea cup was on the left side table. I always put it on the right.”
“You couldn’t have mixed it up?”
Molly shook her head in denial.
“I always hold the cup in my right hand. I put the cup on the table to the right. The table on the left holds my books. I always read at least two or three books at a time.”
“Where were the books?” Jenny asked.
Molly closed her eyes and sat forward with a jerk.
“They weren’t there! They were on the mantel.”
“You are sure you didn’t put them there?”
“That’s what I thought at that time,” Molly said.
“You could have been mistaken, I suppose,” Jenny mused, scratching her chin. “This is flimsy at best. And there’s no one else to confirm it.”
“Wait a minute,” Molly said, jumping to her feet.
She rubbed her hands and began pacing around Jenny.
“How could I forget this?” she muttered.
“Forget what?” Jenny asked, her eyes shining with hope.
“My door was slightly ajar one day,” Molly told her. “I thought I must have forgotten to shut it.”
“Don’t you lock your door when you go out?” Jenny asked in a shocked voice.
Molly gave her a look.
“This is Pelican Cove, Jenny. We don’t lock doors here.” She corrected herself. “The front door is locked from inside. Hardly anyone comes through that door. The back door is unlocked. I just shut it when I go out.”
“Had things been moved around again?” Jenny asked.
“No,” Molly said. “Not that I noticed. But the faucet in the kitchen sink was on. It was almost as if I had forgotten to shut it off before leaving.”
“Had you?” Jenny asked.
“I’ve never done that before,” Molly said.
“Did you tell anyone about this?”
“I forgot about it myself,” Molly admitted. “If this was summer, I would have figured one of the kids came in for a drink of water.”
“Do you keep any valuables at home?” Jenny asked Molly.
“I don’t own any,” Molly said simply.
“Is anything missing from your house, Molly?”
“I haven’t really checked.”
“We are going to check now,” Jenny said. “Do you want to call Heather to help us?”
The three girls gathered at Molly’s house and turned it upside down. Thankfully for them, Molly was a neat freak. She also didn’t have a lot of stuff. All her winter clothes neatly hung in the closet. The rest were packed away in vacuum sealed bags. The five pairs of shoes she owned were lined up on a small shoe rack.
“So?” Heather asked after they had gone through every room. “Is anything missing?”
“I don’t think so,” Molly said. “I counted my books too. I don’t know the name of every title but all 549 of them are here.”
Jenny suddenly narrowed her eyes.
“What about any men in your life, Molly?” she asked. “Are you seeing someone?”
Molly’s sad smile was answer enough.
“I have stayed away from relationships since my marriage broke up. I just wasn’t ready.”
“But has anyone asked you out?” Heather asked.
“You know mos
t of the eligible single men in town,” Molly said with a laugh. “And none of them are interested in me.”
“That’s because you never go out and have fun,” Heather pouted. “You need to get out more. I’m going to ask Chris to set you up with one of his buddies. Then we can double date.”
Jenny noticed a blush creeping up Molly’s ears. She wondered what Heather had said to spark that.
“Let’s call it quits for now,” Jenny said with a sigh. “I’m starving.”
“I’m craving something hot and deep fried,” Heather nodded. “Why don’t we head over to Ethan’s?”
“That’s Adam’s brother, right?” Jenny asked.
“You’ve never been to Ethan’s Crab Shack?” Heather asked incredulously. “We are going there right now.”
Jenny tried to hide her surprise when she came face to face with Ethan.
“You’re Adam’s twin!” she exclaimed.
“Guilty as charged,” he grinned.
Ethan Hopkins looked exactly like his brother, yet he was completely different. Jenny realized she would never mistake him for Adam. The same pair of blue eyes looked back at her but they had a twinkle in them that was missing in Adam’s eyes. Ethan was a big man, easily towering over six feet but he had a paunch that was absent in his brother. Probably comes from all that fried food, Jenny thought to herself.
Ethan waved them over to an empty table. The rustic wooden table was almost on the water. Jenny allowed herself to relax as she gazed at the vibrant orange sky juxtaposed against the salt marshes.
Heather ordered a pound each of shrimp, oysters and fish. Ethan came over with a large platter of fried goodies.
“This will get you started,” he said.
The platter held heaps of fried mozzarella sticks, hand cut fries and hush puppies. Heather picked up a canister of Old Bay seasoning and sprinkled it over everything.
“The Old Bay makes everything better,” she told Jenny.
Tiny bowls of ketchup and tartar sauce were placed in the center of the platter. The girls had chosen beer to go with their food.
Jenny took a long sip of her beer and chewed on a fried mozzarella stick.
“Save room for the seafood,” Molly warned her.
“I’m stumped,” Jenny declared, her mouth hanging open as Ethan came over with the fish. He placed a big bowl of coleslaw on the table. Breaded jumbo shrimp, beer battered fish and steamed crab followed.
