Deadly Vows

by Jody Holford

  Dark circles under Katherine’s eyes suggested she was more stressed than she’d ever let them know.

  “Is there anything we can do?” Molly asked.

  Ever the optimist, Katherine smiled, and though it didn’t have her typical zest, it was genuine. “They’ve got Madeline from the spa coming here with some of her girls to do manicures and pedicures. Chantel and her mother are not seeing eye to eye on where to go from here and Patty’s gone off to her room.”

  “What are they arguing about?” Jill pursed her lips, showing her concern for her aunt.

  “Patty wants to hire a new caterer, but Chantel just wants to get married. I think. Both of those women are on emotional roller coasters right now. I’m going to bring Patty up some tea and scones and see if I can help her smooth herself out.”

  Molly couldn’t get over Katherine’s generosity. It was there in spirit and action and made her want to do something special for her landlord as a show of appreciation. She’d have to think on it.

  “Chantel wants to keep Skyler’s staff?” Molly asked.

  The idea that they’d just push forward made Molly wonder who would benefit from the celebrity chef’s death. In truth, she couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to be left with picking up where the revered—and feared—chef had left off. This was—despite Patty and Chantel’s hopes—a small-town wedding. Lovely, no doubt, but it was hardly the gig to kill for. If, in fact, Skyler had been killed.

  “She wants to move the wedding up actually. She doesn’t want to stay longer than she has to.” Katherine tucked one of her soft, brown tresses behind her ear.

  “What’s the groom say in all of this?” Calliope chimed in.

  Katherine’s phone buzzed and she turned it over in her hand, frowning. “We haven’t seen him all morning. I need to deal with something. I’ll see you ladies later. Calliope, thank you again for bringing the food. I’m going to devour that soup later today.”

  “Anytime, darlin’. Just make sure you eat it. You’ll need your strength from the looks of things,” Calli said, giving the B and B owner a quick, hard hug.

  When Katherine strode away, Jill stared after her. “She runs herself so hard.”

  Molly smiled when Jill looked back at her. “I think she’s okay, if that helps. This would stress anyone out and most days, she absolutely loves what she’s doing here.”

  “And she’s good at it. It’s only a few days,” Calliope said.

  Those days would be tainted by the murder of the chef. Molly shivered. Would the bride and groom think of it every time they celebrated or talked about their wedding? She hoped not. Though it was tragic, she hoped that once everything was over, they’d hang onto the good. The sooner the death was resolved, the better it would be for the couple, Katherine, and the wedding party in general. Especially if it was a murder.

  “You okay, sugar?” Calliope ran a hand up and down Molly’s back.

  “Yes. I just wish I knew if it had been a murder or suicide or just an accident, you know? I ran into Chris this morning and he didn’t seem too inclined to talk to me.”

  Calli glanced around and then took a step forward so she was close enough Molly could smell her berry-scented lip balm. “I’ve got a cousin who works at the hospital. She’s working today and I bet if we pop by there, we could find out what the death was ruled as.”

  Jill stepped closer. “Oh. That’s a great idea. Molly, I can ask questions around here if you want to go do that and maybe we can meet back at the office and see if we can put together whatever details we can come up with.”

  It was a plan and having one gave her something to do besides worry and wonder. She nodded.

  “Okay. Yes. Let’s do that. We shouldn’t be long. The hospital is about what? Twenty minutes from here?”

  “Not even,” said Calliope.

  “Okay. Let’s go. Jill, I’ll text you when we’re leaving there and will meet you back at the Britton Bay Bulletin.”

  “Sounds good. Um…” Jill said, hesitating as she looked at both Molly and Calliope. “Maybe until we know what’s what, you two stay safe, okay?”

  Calliope laughed, but Molly nodded. She could still remember the feeling of being trapped with Vernon’s murderer in her tiny cottage. The razor-sharp edge of fear with the paralyzing realization she only had herself to depend on. Molly squeezed Jill’s arm.

  “We promise. You, too.”

  Hopefully it was a promise they could keep.

  Chapter Ten

  While Calliope zipped onto the freeway to take them to the hospital, Molly did a little digging on her phone. She’d looked Skyler up on the internet already, but had stuck with news articles about success rather than social media. Right now, however, she wanted any access into the woman’s life that she could get. The worry and fatigue etched in Katherine’s lovely face haunted Molly’s mind. She didn’t need this strain when she was just realizing she could find her own happiness again. Not that Sam’s mother was unhappy, but going out with the sheriff would be her first foray into the dating scene since her husband’s passing.

  “You’re quiet,” Calliope said, zooming into the left lane before she’d even flicked her signal switch.

  Molly glanced up from the Facebook profile she’d found and gave her a tight smile. “I could say the same of you.”

  Calli waved a hand in her direction. “Dean hates when I chatter on while I’m driving. He says that’s how we end up in the middle of nowhere. I say it’s how we end up on an adventure, but we agree to disagree.”

  Molly smiled and continued to scroll through Skyler’s uninteresting Facebook feed. Forty-seven friends, no posts in months. Then she had a thought. Skyler wasn’t much older than Hannah. Maybe six or seven years? She texted Hannah quickly.

  Molly: What’s your go-to social media app?

  Bubbles appeared immediately.

  Hannah: Snapchat, though I’m getting bored with it. I love Instagram. Guess I’m an old soul.

  Molly laughed out loud and Calliope looked in her direction. She held up her phone. “Hannah telling me that using Instagram makes her an old soul. Guess that makes me a dinosaur because I still prefer Facebook.”

  Calli shook her head and headed for the off-ramp. “You’re still ahead of me. I like to talk with my mouth not my fingers so I guess I’m already one foot in the grave.” She winced. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” Molly said, knowing that her friend would never be disrespectful. Calliope was as full of love as Katherine was grace. Molly hadn’t been sure where her adventure would land her when she’d decided to leave Lancaster, but she’d ended up in a great place, with amazing people.

  Hannah: Everything okay? You coming in soon? There’s a lot of calls and our Twitter feed is busy.

  Blinking, Molly re-read the words. The Britton Bay Bulletin was not a strong presence on social media. It was Clay’s job to establish the newspaper on the different outlets, but with Molly’s arrival, his father’s death…things hadn’t happened yet. So why now?

  She pulled up Twitter and saw that there were seventeen notifications tagging the Britton Bay Bulletin. Scrolling through, her stomach cramped. Skyler had tweeted the night before, asking her followers if they’d ever gotten themselves into something they thought they’d love, only to have it fall short of their expectations. What on earth is that about? It certainly seemed strange. Maybe it was a personal statement…a relationship? She thought again about the conversation she and Sam had overheard. That was ten-ish. Bella said the police had asked her whereabouts between midnight and six. But the tweet was after one a.m.

  Her followers responded with hugs and hearts and several emojis. Skyler had tweeted them back until about one a.m. Then there was silence.

  “Honey, we’re here. You gonna look up from your phone?” Calliope had parked and was staring at her from the driver’s seat. “You look like you�
�ve seen something awful.”

  Molly shook her head, tried to neutralize her expression. “I just…I don’t know. I find it creepy and odd when people’s social media exists after they…don’t. People are still tweeting her. They have no idea she’s gone and it feels strange.”

  Calliope turned off the ignition and reached over, squeezed Molly’s hand. “Let’s go see what my cousin can tell us.”

  They walked toward the front entrance of the hospital. Despite being one floor, it had several branches off of the main hub—the emergency room—that made it quite large. It serviced three different counties aside from Britton Bay. She’d driven past it on her trip into town but hadn’t come this way since. The thick air made her wish she’d worn a tank top, though that was hardly appropriate work attire. Maybe she was just restless in her own skin.

  They were almost at the doors when Molly spotted the male sous chef who worked for Skyler. He was leaning against a large cement column, wiping his eye with the heel of one hand while talking on the phone.

  Molly grabbed Calliope’s arm and steered her to the left so they could go around and not run into him. He hadn’t spoken the night before, but if it was him Skyler had argued with, why would they have come to the bed-and-breakfast to argue? Katherine said they were finished with prep work around eight.

  “What on earth—”

  Molly cut her off. “Shh. He’s one of Skyler’s sous chefs. What’s he doing here?” Molly’s voice came out in a hoarse whisper. They rounded the other column and stayed behind it, probably looking ridiculous.

  She could barely hear him as he sniffled and spoke to someone on the other end. “No. I don’t know. We’re staying to finish the job. How would I know? Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. She ended things last night. Said it wouldn’t work between us.”

  Wait…what? She knew she’d seen a look pass between them the night before.

  “They won’t let me see her. I just wanted to see her one more time.”

  His voice broke and sympathy pooled in Molly’s chest. Until she thought about what he’d really said. If Skyler had ended things between them, had he been mad enough to kill her over it? Had he argued with her? Threatened her? Was he who she tweeted about? She needed to find out his name. Shouldn’t be too hard. Katherine would have a record of it seeing as she liked to know who was in and out of her house and had a list of not only the wedding staff, but all of the guests. But who would kill someone and then go to the hospital to try to see them one last time? Her brain was starting to hurt.

  You did this last time. You can’t understand what goes through a killer’s mind when YOU’RE NOT A KILLER.

  “You okay?” Calliope squeezed her arm.

  Molly’s breathing was chopping in and out. She steadied it. Nodded. They stayed where they were, not speaking, barely breathing, until he hung up, looked around, staring up at the sky for a moment, and then walked away. He looked both ways as he crossed the roadway and kept going.

  “Can we move now?” Calliope whispered.

  “Yes. This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.”

  “I’ll say. And I’m used to Corky so I know weird.”

  Molly managed a small smile, but immediately caught herself wondering if Corky was doing okay in all of this. She was more rattled than she should be and she hadn’t even found the body this time. She hated the thought of the kind, but troubled man walking around with that image in his mind. One worry at a time.

  They went through the sliding doors and Calliope led the way through a maze of hallways and corridors. The cafeteria was in the far back left corner of one of the wings. It bothered Molly when her stomach growled. Someone had died. How could everything carry on as if no one had? It was too philosophical a thought for that particular moment.

  “What does your cousin do?” Molly remembered to ask right before they entered the cafeteria.

  “Housekeeping.”

  Molly stopped. Calliope turned after a moment, realized she wasn’t beside her and came back to stand in front of her.

  “What is it?” Calli put both hands on her hips.

  “How is your cousin going to help us with information if she’s in housekeeping?” Molly figured that confidential information was probably tucked away in filing cabinets, accessed by nurses and doctors and health practitioners. She didn’t want Calli’s cousin sneaking around and getting herself in trouble on their—okay, her—behalf.

  Calli smiled, looped her arm through Molly’s and pulled her forward. “Oh, honey. Housekeepers are the invisible eyes and ears of all establishments. People tend to overlook them. Sure, they might say hello and have conversations, but their job is to move around quietly cleaning up after people without creating a disturbance. You’d be amazed at some of the things my cousin has found out just by being in the room.”

  Molly pursed her lips and thought about it. That definitely made sense. Huh. Who would have thought?

  The cafeteria was large and very open. To the right was a buffet style serving center with four women behind it, serving up food to the few people in line. Though there was plenty of seating, few places were occupied. In one corner, a man and woman sat across from each other, their hands outstretched and clasped together across the table. A woman and a little girl, maybe about four or five, stood in front of a vending machine. The little girl looked like sunshine with boots. Life just carries on.

  Calliope guided Molly to the table where a slender woman in Snoopy scrubs was reading a well-worn paperback, while nibbling on a carrot stick. She looked up when the two women approached the table and Molly immediately saw the resemblance in the bright blue, slightly mischievous eyes. She set her paperback down and stood.

  “’Bout time you came to say hello,” the woman said, pulling her cousin into a hug.

  They rocked each other back and forth and the smile on Calli’s face had Molly grinning. A single child from a small family, she’d never had large groups of people who wanted to enfold her in their arms and their lives. Until she’d come to Britton Bay.

  “DeeDee, this is my good friend, Molly. Molly, this is my cousin DeeDee. Once she let’s go of me, she’s likely going to hug you next,” Calliope warned with a laugh.

  Her cousin did just that, giving an apologetic shrug. “I’m a hugger. Can’t help it. Plus, I’ve heard about you and was looking forward to meeting you.”

  Molly returned the hug, which, thankfully, didn’t last too long, seeing as, cousin or not, she didn’t know the woman. She’d have to learn to relax a little with all of the affection if she wanted to become a true local.

  “It’s nice to meet you, too. Calliope always speaks so highly of her family and it makes me wish I had a big group to share all of the things you guys do.”

  Calli gave her cousin a gentle nudge. “I won’t wreck her delusions by telling her how you used to pull my hair when we were little.”

  DeeDee smiled, completely unrepentant. “And I won’t tell her you always deserved it.”

  They sat and DeeDee asked them if they wanted to grab anything from the cafeteria selection or the vending machine. Despite feeling hungry just moments ago, Molly’s nerves felt like a coiled spring and she didn’t want to chance it.

  “I’m good. Thanks for telling Calli we could come talk to you about this.”

  DeeDee leaned in, pressing her hands flat on the tabletop. “I watched that competition, you know.”

  Molly had seen a few clips online, highlighting the final round of the cooking challenge, but she hadn’t pressed play on any of them. There’s been no time. Things were passing both too quickly and in slow motion. It was creating a vortex of surrealism in her mind, like she was walking through a thick fog.

  “She won on a dessert, right?” Molly leaned in, mimicking DeeDee’s posture. She was still an editor and knew how to gather facts and follow a story.

  “She did
. Some fancy macaron thingy—you know those little cookies that taste like sweet air?”

  Okay. Hungry again. “I do. They’re delicious.”

  “Well, hers took her straight to the finalist spot. Won a bunch of money, an ad in a food magazine and got lots of press for it. Small-town girl makes good. Who doesn’t love that story, right?”

  Molly smirked. Cleaner by day, storyteller by night. Calliope’s cousin had the same flair for sharing a tale as Calli did herself. “Unfortunately it didn’t have such a happy ending. I’m not trying to rush you, but were you able to find out anything about her cause of death?”

  Calli had remained intently observant through their conversation, but she leaned in now. “Molly here figured out who killed Vernon. He worked at the Britton Bay Bulletin with her. You remember?”

  “Of course I do. It was only a few months ago. Terrible that we have another murder close to home again.”

  Molly sat straight, her skin tingling with…anticipation? “Another? Can you confirm that Skyler’s death wasn’t an accident or self-induced?”

  DeeDee glanced around the cafeteria. “I can’t actually confirm anything, but what I can tell you is I was in the room when they brought the body in and there was nothing natural about the look of that girl. Something awful happened before she died and it wasn’t peaceful.” The woman shuddered and her brows scrunched together. “It was horrible to see. I don’t know how anyone ever gets used to seeing things like that.”

  Molly couldn’t imagine a job that entailed dealing with death on a regular basis, never mind staring it in the face. Literally. “How…what makes you think it wasn’t peaceful?”

  Calliope pressed a little closer to Molly and she felt the other woman’s shiver. “Nothing too graphic. I don’t need pictures in my head.”

  Again Molly thought of Corky and a shudder ran through her own body.

  “She was all puffy and bloated. Like one of those blow up toys you hit and it comes back at you? You know those? She just didn’t look…natural. I overheard the coroner saying he’d never known someone who worked with food to have so many food related allergies. Told his assistant—some kid from one of the colleges—that Skyler risked her life every day by surrounding herself with edible death traps.”