Parfaits and Paramours

by Leena Clover

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “Just answer me, Enrique,” Jenny said, refusing to back down. “Were you and Kelly having an affair?”

  “Of course not!” Enrique said irritably. “What gave you that idea?”

  “I heard you were,” Jenny persisted. “Why would someone say that?”

  “I don’t know … to get me in trouble?”

  “Come on,” Jenny cajoled. “You can talk to me. I know how pretty Kelly was. I know how a young buck like you would be attracted to her.”

  Enrique looked over his shoulder.

  “Kelly wasn’t just pretty, okay? She was friendly too. She didn’t mind chatting with the help.”

  “So you flirted with her a bit?” Jenny smiled.

  She wanted Enrique to get comfortable with her.

  “It was the other way around,” Enrique said. “Kelly came on to me. I had to push her away a couple of times.”

  Jenny didn’t have trouble imagining that. Enrique was the male version of a hot swimsuit model.

  “You didn’t find her attractive?”

  Enrique gave his usual shrug.

  “I’m not blind, lady. But she was the boss’s girl. I would be out on my hide if I so much as looked at her.”

  Jenny decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

  “She must have felt snubbed.”

  “She backed off. I didn’t think too much about it.”

  Enrique sounded sincere. Jenny wondered if Adam had been able to get more out of him.

  The girls went back to the Boardwalk Café.

  Jenny made a batch of shrimp curry for lunch. She had tweaked the recipe after taking feedback from the Magnolias.

  Adam came to the café for lunch.

  “I hear you visited the pool boy?” Jenny asked as she placed a platter of rice and curry on the table.

  Adam pursed his lips.

  “Nothing ever stays secret in this town.”

  Jenny laughed as she spooned some curry on Adam’s plate.

  “There is no gossip involved this time. I have it from the horse’s mouth.”

  “You met Enrique again?” Adam asked, leaning forward.

  Jenny told him about her latest trip to the Newbury place.

  “I hope you were not alone.”

  “Heather went with me,” Jenny said. “But that’s beside the point. Why can’t I go alone? I can take care of myself.”

  “Will you listen to me this time?”

  “Don’t be so controlling, Adam. Enrique is just a harmless boy. He’s the same age as Nicky.”

  Adam ate a bite and sat back. He complimented the food.

  “I ran a background check,” he said reluctantly. “That harmless boy as you call him was almost convicted.”

  Jenny sat down with a thump.

  “What did he do?”

  “He molested a girl,” Adam said bluntly. “At least, that’s what he was arrested for. But the charges didn’t stick.”

  “Do you know why?”

  “The girl refused to testify. Rumor is he threatened her.”

  “Wow!” Jenny exclaimed. “Was it a local girl?”

  “She was local alright. She was a year younger than him. They dated for a while.”

  “They dated?” Jenny was curious. “Could it have been a lovers’ tiff?”

  She grudgingly admitted to herself that Enrique must have charmed her. She found it hard to believe he was capable of doing anything wrong.

  Adam slapped a hand on the table.

  “That’s exactly what the girl said later. She said they had a falling out and she wanted to get back at him. But she later realized it wasn’t the right thing to do. So she dropped the charges and Enrique got away.”

  “Or he was really innocent,” Jenny said stoutly.

  “All I’m saying is, be careful around this guy.”

  “Fine,” Jenny said. “I’ll keep that in mind. Now tell me how you like the curry.”

  Adam had cleared his plate while they were talking. He asked for seconds.

  “You have another winner, Jenny. This shrimp curry is perfect. It’s spicy and exotic but so familiar.”

  “Is it too exotic for Pelican Cove?”

  “Give us some credit,” Adam said. “I know we like our down home favorites but we do appreciate variety. And the tourists are going to love it too.”

  Jenny was pleased. She served herself some of the curry and dug in.

  “Who’s your top suspect?” she asked Adam after a while. “Is Ada off your list now?”

  “You know I can’t discuss that with you, Jenny,” Adam sighed.

  “It all depends on the motive, doesn’t it?” Jenny continued. “What did anyone gain by killing a sweet young girl like Kelly?”

  “Money?” Adam said reluctantly.

  “I don’t think so,” Jenny said. “Kelly was an orphan and she had a regular office job. She was definitely marrying up. I don’t think she had a dime to spare for anyone.”

  “We didn’t find much in her room, other than a few clothes and make-up. No jewelry.”

  “What about a phone?” Jenny asked suddenly. “She must have had a cell phone. Everyone has one.”

  “She did have a phone,” Adam nodded. “The techs are looking at it.”

  “Did you go through the phone?” Jenny asked.

  “Not yet. Why?”

  “That phone could have a lot of answers. Can I have a look at it please?”

  “Nice try!” Adam snorted. “That phone is part of the evidence. You won’t get anywhere near it.”

  “Did you find it near the pool?” Jenny asked.

  Adam didn’t reply.

  “If you didn’t find it near the pool, it’s not really part of the crime scene, is it?”

  “It’s part of Kelly’s personal effects at the very least,” Adam said.

  “Who gets access to that stuff?”

  “Her family, I guess,” Adam said.

  “She doesn’t have any,” Jenny reminded him. “Brandon might be her next of kin since he was her fiancé. What if Brandon puts in a request for that phone?”

  “Okay, stop,” Adam said, holding both his hands up. “What do you want?”

  “I just want to look at the phone for a few minutes,” Jenny said with a smile. “I won’t take it out of your sight. In fact, we can look at it together.”

  “What do you hope to achieve by this?”

  “I won’t know until I look.”

  Adam arranged to meet Jenny in a couple of hours. Jenny served the last customers of the day and closed the café. She walked to the police station, feeling excited. She had a strong intuition that Kelly’s phone would point them in the right direction.

  Adam sat in his office, staring at a phone encased in a plastic bag. He told Jenny to sit down.

  “I’m as curious as you are,” he said. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

  He pulled on a pair of gloves and picked up the phone. The battery had discharged. Adam pulled a charger from a drawer and plugged the phone in. The voice mail icon came on.

  “Looks like she has a lot of messages.”

  Jenny had walked around the desk to stand behind Adam. She peered at the phone over his shoulder. She asked him to press a bunch of keys and read off the screen.

  “Who’s Paula?” she asked Adam. “Have you come across anyone by that name?”

  Adam declined.

  “Looks like Kelly was quite friendly with this person. She’s called her multiple times a day and messaged her several times in an hour.”

  Kelly had called Brandon too. Adam pointed it out.

  “Of course she called Brandon. They were engaged, weren’t they? And look, there’s a call to Megan.”

  “So what does this prove?” Adam frowned. “Kelly liked calling people?”

  “That’s what kids do these days,” Jenny reminded him. “Remember Nick and the twins?”

  She was referring to her son and Adam’s twin girls.
They had met in Pelican Cove and established a rapport almost instantly. They texted each other several times a day. Jenny complained Nick called the twins more often than he called her.

  “What are you saying?”

  “This generation needs to share everything. They text their friends every time they sneeze or poop. Kelly was doing the same.”

  “I still don’t get it,” Adam said.

  “Whoever this Paula is, she meant a lot to Kelly. She must have been her go-to friend. The one person Kelly wanted to tell everything.”

  “We need to find out who Paula is,” Adam said, catching on.

  “That’s right,” Jenny said.

  “I don’t think there was anyone by this name at the party,” Adam said, going through a list on his desk.

  “You’re right,” Jenny agreed. “I don’t remember meeting anyone by this name either.”

  “If this Paula was such a good friend,” Adam mused, “why wasn’t she at the party?”

  “Maybe Paula is code for something else,” Jenny said. “Or someone else.”

  “That sounds farfetched,” Adam said.

  “Not really,” Jenny said, reluctant to give up on her theory. “It could be a nickname.”

  “So how do you propose to find this Paula?” Adam asked.

  Jenny pulled up Paula’s number in Kelly’s address book and pressed the call button. The call went to voicemail.

  “Looks like this phone is switched off.”

  “What now?” Adam asked.

  “I’m going to talk to Brandon. If Kelly was so close to this Paula, Brandon must surely know her.”

  Chapter 9

  The spring sun bathed Pelican Cove in bright light. A cool ocean breeze made people keep their sweaters on. The sunlight wasn’t strong enough to warm the skin. The Magnolias braved the weather and sat out on the deck at the Boardwalk Café.

  Betty Sue carried on with her knitting, pausing only to take a sip of her coffee. Jenny brought out a tray loaded with tiny parfaits.

  “I took your advice,” she told her aunt. “These parfaits have layers of shaved chocolate. Why don’t you try one and let me know if it tastes good?”

  Heather walked up the boardwalk, tugging her black poodle Tootsie along with her. She tied Tootsie to a post and bounded up the stairs.

  “I’ll have one of those,” she said, picking up a parfait cup.

  “How’s your investigation coming along?” Betty Sue asked Jenny.

  “That’s a big word,” Jenny winced. “I’m just trying to figure out what happened.”

  “Did you try calling that number again?” Heather asked, referring to the number Jenny had found in Kelly’s phone.

  “The phone’s still switched off,” Jenny said. “It’s highly suspicious.”

  Betty Sue and Star wanted to know what the girls were talking about. Jenny explained how Kelly had frequently been in touch with a girl called Paula.

  “I think it belongs to a man,” Betty Sue said.

  “Why do you say that?” Jenny asked, surprised.

  “It’s a code, girl. We used to do that all the time.”

  “Huh?” Heather sat up. “You had a cell phone?”

  Betty Sue rolled her eyes.

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Heather!”

  She took a deep breath and stared at the ocean. Her voice turned softer.

  “I was young once. There was this boy my Daddy didn’t like. We, my friend Lily and I, gave him a name. We called him Ruth. We used to talk about him all the time and no one was the wiser. My Daddy thought Ruth was a girl who lived on the other side of town.”

  “Betty Sue! You sneaky devil!” Star laughed.

  “So you think Paula is a guy?” Jenny asked Betty Sue.

  “I don’t agree,” Heather said. “Times have changed, Grandma. It’s perfectly okay to be friends with a guy. It’s not taboo anymore.”

  “And Kelly wasn’t a teen staying at home with her parents,” Jenny reasoned. “She was an independent woman who lived alone. She could talk to anyone she wanted to, guy or girl.”

  “Cheating on your beau is still frowned upon though, right?” Betty Sue asked.

  “You didn’t spend much time with Kelly,” Heather told Betty Sue. “She was very friendly. She must have been like that with everyone.”

  Jenny was lost in thought. She was thinking about the repercussions of Kelly having an affair.

  “Remember what Brandon’s friend said?” she spoke up. “What if Kelly was seeing someone behind Brandon’s back? He wouldn’t like that.”

  “You think Brandon knew?” Heather asked. “Why was he going ahead with the wedding, then?”

  “I can’t answer that,” Jenny said. “We need to talk to Brandon.”

  Was Brandon the vindictive kind, Jenny wondered. What if he had caught Kelly with another man? Would he harm Kelly in a fit of anger?

  Heather and Jenny set off for the Newbury estate after lunch. Brandon was sitting out in the courtyard, staring in the distance. Jenny sat before him and waited for him to speak.

  Brandon sighed heavily after a few minutes.

  “I miss her. What am I going to do without her, Heather?”

  Heather patted his hand but said nothing.

  “What time did you turn in on the night of the party?” Jenny asked.

  “10, 10:30?” Brandon looked at her blankly. “I don’t remember.”

  “When was the last time you talked to Kelly?”

  “We barely talked during the party,” Brandon said bitterly. “Megan was here and we were catching up with old friends. Kelly was hanging out with Binkie.”

  “That was kind of odd,” Jenny observed. “Many people thought you and Megan were the happy couple.”

  “What people?” Brandon asked, sounding angry.

  “I could use a drink,” Jenny said, getting up. “Do you want something?”

  “I can ring for sweet tea,” Brandon said.

  “It’s okay,” Jenny told him. “I’m going inside anyway. I’ll let the kitchen staff know.”

  She went into the house, leaving Heather with Brandon. The house was quiet inside. Jenny wondered where Ada was. She pushed open the kitchen door. The old cook sat at a small table with her feet up on a chair. She looked sleepy.

  “Hello,” Jenny greeted her. “I’m Heather’s friend. I was here a couple of days ago …”

  “I know who you are, missy,” the cook interrupted her. “How can I help you?”

  “I’m trying to determine everyone’s whereabouts the night of the party,” Jenny explained. “How long was the staff around, do you know?”

  “Most guests left by ten,” the cook said. “Some of the young ones still hung around, I’m sure.”

  The door opened and a maid came in. Jenny remembered she had been serving food at the party. She repeated her question.

  “I was around for a while after ten,” the maid said evasively.

  “This is between us,” Jenny assured her. “I am not going to report you to Mrs. Newbury.”

  The maid hesitated.

  “The missus went in around 9:30. The courtyard was empty by 11.”

  “How long did you stick around?” Jenny asked.

  “My boyfriend came over,” the girl said reluctantly. “I picked up a bottle of wine from the bar and we sat out in the garden, drinking.”

  “Did you see anyone walking toward the pool?” Jenny asked eagerly.

  “We weren’t really paying attention,” the girl said. “If you know what I mean …”

  Jenny knew what she meant.

  “You didn’t see a single person out in the courtyard after 11?”

  “I didn’t say that,” the maid said. “Brandon came out around 11:30. I saw him from the corner of my eye.”

  “Do you think he saw you?”

  The girl shrugged.

  “We were standing in a dark corner, so maybe not.”

  “Where did he go?”

  “I don’t know,” the gir
l said. “He was there one minute, then he was gone.”

  “But you’re sure you saw him?”

  The girl nodded emphatically.

  Jenny spoke to the cook.

  “Can we have some sweet tea, please?”

  “Sure,” the cook drawled. “I’ll send someone out there, don’t worry.”

  Jenny walked back to the courtyard. Brandon had a frown on his face as Heather chatted with him.

  “I’m parched,” he said, looking up at Jenny. “What’s taking them so long?”

  “You told me you turned in around ten the night of the party,” Jenny said, taking a seat.

  “And?”

  “It looks like you came out of your room around 11:30. You were seen walking around here.”

  Brandon was looking bewildered.

  “What were you doing out here, Brandon?” Jenny asked. “Were you looking for Kelly?”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “Did you know Kelly was going to be at the pool? Did you arrange to meet her there? Maybe the two of you wanted to take a midnight dip.”

  “Kelly wasn’t staying here,” Brandon said, rubbing his forehead. “She had a room at the country club.”

  “You could still have met her at the pool house,” Jenny pressed.

  “But I didn’t,” Brandon said.

  “What were you doing out here so late at night?”

  “I don’t know,” Brandon pleaded. “I honestly don’t know. I must have been walking in my sleep.”

  “That’s convenient,” Jenny muttered.

  “Since when do you sleep walk?” Heather asked.

  “It started a few months ago,” Brandon told her. “I do it when I am stressed about something.”

  “What did you have to stress about?” Heather scoffed. “You were marrying the love of your life.”

  “I don’t know, Heather,” Brandon whined. “I don’t control it.”

  Jenny didn’t believe the sleepwalking theory. She was sure Brandon had just made it up on the spot.

  “Were you following Kelly?” she asked softly, leaning toward Brandon.

  “Why would I do that?” Brandon cried.

  “Look, we think Kelly might have been having an affair. Did you know about it?”

  “Kelly would never cheat on me,” Brandon protested. “She was a good kid.”

  Jenny looked at Brandon, trying to read his mind. She didn’t believe he was that ignorant.