by Emmie Lyn
“Until today,” Laura mumbled.
Carla only nodded, and I wasn’t even sure she was paying attention because she kept looking toward the road.
“And that’s why I called you, Chief Bullock,” Violet said and clasped her hands together on her lap.
“And what were your plans today?” the Chief asked.
“Well,” Violet said with a self-satisfied smirk, obviously reveling in her leadership role, “our first stop was at the Shakes and Cakes grand opening and we,” she made a circle with her finger to include Carla and Laura, “plus Carla’s husband, thought that maybe Ginger would find us there. But she never showed up.”
“And, was Ginger planning to stay here with you, Violet?” the Chief asked.
“Oh, my goodness no.” She shook her head for extra emphasis. “My house isn’t grand enough for Ginger. She made reservations at the Bayside Bed and Breakfast in town for herself, Laura, and Carla. She was treating, right girls?” Violet seemed to love adding in that detail. Maybe it made her feel superior to have a wealthy friend.
A car door slammed out front. Carla shot up like she’d been ejected from her chair. She charged toward the road before the Chief or Officer Walker had a chance to object.
“Greg! Where have you been?” I cringed at Carla’s screech that ricocheted straight down Cobbler Lane for everyone to hear.
“Who’s that?” the Chief asked, swiveling his head to watch Carla disappear.
“That’s Greg, Carla’s husband. He volunteered to drive to Misty Harbor to pick up our dinner. I suppose, now, we’ll be eating cold chowder and soggy lobster rolls.”
Violet picked at something on her pants, probably afraid to look at the Chief after her display of juvenile whining.
The Chief, to his credit, ignored Violet’s dig and jotted down more notes. As I watched the events unfold, I wondered how exactly Greg had spent his time. From Carla’s reaction, he took much too long to make this dinner run. And considering Laura’s comment about his flirtatious streak, my goodness. That added an interesting layer of drama to the whole picture.
Carla reappeared holding onto Greg’s arm like a vice and dragging him into the back yard. All eyes turned to the odd couple. “Come on, Greg,” Carla said in a sugary voice. “The police have information about Ginger.”
Greg’s eyes flicked toward Chief Bullock. He clenched his jaw and wrinkled his brow. “What do you mean, Carla?” he said. “I saw Ginger walking along the road when I drove to Misty Harbor. I pulled over to ask if she needed a ride, but she said she was all set.”
“You didn’t ask her what she’d been doing all day and why she didn’t join us?” Violet asked, obviously miffed.
Greg shrugged his shoulders and looked at Carla before answering, as if needing permission. “She didn’t give me a chance. She walked away, up a driveway toward what looked to be a two-family house.”
“How about you two have a seat over here,” Chief Bullock said as he pointed to an empty chair next to Carla’s seat.
My stomach twisted in a knot. The anticipation was killing me.
I risked a glance at Tilly. Her eyes were focused on Violet who sat with her lips clamped in a thin line. Laura had what looked like a smirk on her face. Carla scooched closer to Greg, grabbed his hand and squeezed until her knuckles turned white. Greg stared at the ground between his feet.
How would these long-time friends react when the Chief dropped his bombshell about Ginger’s death?
And, more importantly, which one of them already knew exactly what had happened?
11
“I have some bad news,” Chief Bullock said. He walked closer to where Violet perched at the head of the group. His limp more pronounced now, since he’d been standing for a stretch of time.
“What… what do you mean?” Violet’s voice trembled as she looked at the Chief and then at Laura and Carla.
Carla pulled Greg’s hand to her chest and covered her mouth with her other hand.
Laura shifted in her chair and fiddled with the top button of her blouse.
Greg dropped his head into his free hand.
Tilly’s eyes widened like she was excited and more than ready to hear how this was about to unfold.
“What Chief Bullock is trying to say,” Officer Walker strode next to the Chief, “is that your friend, Ginger, is dead.”
No soft announcement with a touch of compassion, just boom, to the point.
If looks could kill, the Chief’s deep scowl would have flattened Officer Walker with his glare. I sensed there was no love lost between those two but that wasn’t my problem. I did, however, think Mick’s blunt statement was intended for its shock value to get everyone’s’ reaction.
It worked.
Greg’s head shot up and he gave Walker a wild-eyed look.
Violet let out a delayed high-pitched screech and jumped out of her chair, sending it tipping backwards with a crash on the stone patio.
“What do you mean? I talked to Ginger this morning. Greg just said he saw her walking when he drove to Misty Harbor. Ginger organized this whole weekend. She can’t be dead. Right, girls?”
She looked at Carla and Laura for confirmation even though her voice held a cupful of doubt.
“Yes, ladies,” the Chief said. “Officer Walker is correct. I’m very sorry for your loss, and that’s what makes this visit so much more painful. I need to ask each of you some questions. Let’s see,” he consulted his notes. “Violet, how about you come with me first. Is there a room inside where we can talk?”
“Inside? What’s wrong with out here?” She clamped her fists on her hips as if she thought she actually had any control over the proceedings. “I have nothing to hide from my friends.”
“I’m sure you don’t,” the Chief held his arm out. “Inside, Violet. Officer Walker will stay out here until I’m ready for the next person.”
Mick’s toothpick got busy again in the corner of his mouth. I assumed it meant he wasn’t happy to be left out of the questioning, but the Chief needed someone to keep watch over the rest of us so we didn’t take off.
The Chief stopped when he reached the back door of Violet’s house. “Tilly and Sunny, you can wait at your house. Don’t leave. I’ll find you there.”
That sounded fine with me. Maybe he didn’t want us blabbering about what we knew about the crime scene. He must have concluded that we hadn’t already told the others about Ginger’s fate since they did look genuinely shocked. Grilling Greg about his whereabouts would have to wait.
“Come on, Tilly,” I said as I stood up. “You heard the Chief.”
Carla, Laura, and Greg sat in stunned silence as we walked past them. Mick smirked when my eyes met his. “Don’t get any ideas, you two,” he said.
“Like what?”
“Like warning Hitchner to make himself scarce. I saw his car at your house, and if he knows what’s good for him, he’d better still be there when we come over. He has a lot of explaining to do.” And with that statement, Mick’s face spread in what I could only describe as an evil sneer.
I’d never felt so much anger toward this man as I did at that moment. The thought of Mick having a crush on me made my skin crawl and that shower I’d been looking forward to felt more urgent than ever. First, to clean off the day’s grime from the satisfying hard work but more importantly, to scald off the layer of grunge that covered me from Mick’s leer. Is that why he was coming down so hard on Hitch? His raging jealousy over our friendship? Even if Hitch wasn’t in the picture, I wouldn’t give that creepy guy the time of day.
Tilly pulled me away from the group. I snapped my mouth closed before I let something fall out that I’d surely regret and stomped along doing my best to calm down until we were at a safe distance away. Then, I let loose.
“What was his comment about Hitch supposed to mean?” I shook with fury.
Tilly kept her grip on my arm and kept me moving. “Let it go, Sunny. Mick wants to get under your skin. Don’t let him or
he wins this battle. We have to keep our cool and stay ten steps ahead of him.”
She laughed, loosened her grip, and wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “That shouldn’t be too hard. We’ve got this… you, me, and Hitch. And, don’t forget it.”
She was right. I thanked my lucky stars that Tilly was on my side with her shrewd mind and clever ideas.
Jasper must have heard us talking because she raced from the backyard and practically tackled me to the ground. But I was ready this time. “Oh, no you don’t.” I braced myself, lowering my center of gravity and welcomed her enthusiastic lunge without a mishap.
“Finally,” Hitch said, appearing not far behind Jasper, worry etched on his face. “What the heck was going on in Violet’s backyard for the last hour? I couldn’t hear much through the fence since I was busy distracting Jasper from charging over to find you. And, to be honest, I thought about letting her go so I had an excuse to follow her to Violet’s yard.”
“It’s probably best you didn’t show up. Mick’s on the prowl. I got the feeling he’d like to nail you with something connected to all this,” Tilly said.
“He just has it in for you, and he’d nail you for letting the grass grow too long if he could,” I said.
Hitch put his arm around me and pulled me toward the door. I was drained. “Let’s go inside,” I said. “We probably don’t have much time before Chief Bullock and Mick come over to question us.”
I opened my front door and followed Tilly, Hitch, and Jasper into the relative quiet and safety of my living room.
Stash fluffed her tail as big as a bottle brush, and Princess Muffin gave a pathetic hiss. They both arched their backs from their resting spot on the couch. They didn’t fool anyone, least of all, Jasper. She wagged her tail and sniffed each kitty and let each one bat her nose without flinching. I laughed at their antics. “Sorry that we disturbed your naps, kitties.” I gave a silent thanks for small wonders that packed such a huge dose of pleasure.
“I’ll be right back with the rest of the champagne,” Hitch said. “I left it in the kitchen, and I see no reason to let it go to waste.”
“I won’t argue with that plan,” I said, “but we’d better keep our wits about us.”
“Oh, pshaw,” Tilly flapped her hand at me. “One glass of bubbly will take the edge off and make us that much sharper when the Chief and Mick show up. We can’t overdo it with only one bottle for the three of us. Now, what have you got in your fridge to go with the champagne? I’m hungry.”
Of course, she was. Drama was to Tilly as food was to me. I followed Hitch into the kitchen, and he surprised me with a bear hug. I let myself relax in his strong arms. “You look like you’ve been through the wringer,” he said and rested his chin on my head.
“I’m really worried, Hitch. Mick has it in for you, and with Ginger found dead in your apartment, he’ll try his hardest to make it look like you killed her.”
“That’s ridiculous. I was with you at Shakes and Cakes all day. Stop worrying.”
I couldn’t.
There were too many clues pointing straight at Hitch.
We had to figure out what happened before Mick found a way to turn the evidence against him. I didn’t doubt that he’d do it if he could.
12
As Hitch, Tilly, and I sat around my kitchen table, enjoying champagne and grilled cheese sandwiches, I wondered if anyone had ever paired those two items together before. The bubbles and melted cheese between crisp bread worked great in my opinion. Tilly even reached over and stole an extra half from Hitch’s plate.
“What?” she asked as I attempted to slap her hand. “I worked up an appetite over at Violet’s house. Getting those women talking was hard work.”
“I doubt it was for you, Tilly.” Hitch washed down the last bite of his grilled cheese with the rest of his champagne, leaned back, and sighed with satisfaction. “I’m not sure anything ever tasted so delicious. Thanks, Sunny.”
Tilly stacked the empty plates and dumped them in the sink with a clatter before she opened my freezer. “Well, looky here. Mint chocolate chip ice cream. I think after the day we’ve had, we all deserve to share it right out of the carton.”
She slid two spoons on the table, keeping the third one for herself and dug out a big scoop. “Ooh, brain freeze.” Her whole face puckered like an old dried apple.
I got three bowls, wrenched the ice cream from Tilly and dished out helpings for each of us. “You can eat out of the container at your house, but here we’ll be more civilized.”
The sound of spoons tapping on bowls was a welcome respite from conversation, even if it only lasted for a few minutes. After everything that had overloaded my senses today, I relished the food and quiet.
“Sunny,” Tilly said after she’d scraped her bowl clean. “Can I have more?” She tilted her head like a little girl with big wishful eyes.
I laughed at her act. “Help yourself,” I said, and slid the ice cream across the table.
As she scooped out more, she asked. “What’s your take on Greg telling everyone that he saw Ginger walking when he drove to Misty Harbor?”
“What?” Hitch leaned forward. “That puts him near her when she was practically at my house. Maybe he did more than just see her. Where was she when you saw her, Tilly?”
She tapped her fingers on the table while she savored her last mouthful of ice cream, then smacked her lips. “She wasn’t far from the Bayside Bed and Breakfast, so still about a mile from your house, Hitch. At least a twenty-minute walk. That means I had time to stop at your house, look for my hammer, and leave before Ginger arrived and Greg saw her.”
“Could he be her stalker?” I asked, licking my spoon for the last dregs of ice cream.
“That’s something to consider since it puts him at the scene of the crime, but what’s his motive? And, how did he kill her, if he did?” Hitch stood up and put the ice cream back in the freezer.
We were grasping at straws, but this angle was the best we had to keep the focus off Hitch. The fact that Ginger was murdered in his kitchen left so many questions unanswered.
A knock at the door and Jasper let out one of her house-rattling barks. I jumped, sending Stash off my lap and straight to her hiding spot under the couch.
“The Chief, probably,” I said. “I can’t imagine what questions they’ll have for us.”
I opened the front door and tried to hold Jasper at bay with my leg. “Come in, I guess.” I said to the Chief and Mick. It felt like I was preparing myself for a dose of disgusting medicine or even a walk off a gangplank into shark-infested waters.
Jasper sniffed the two men then returned to her favorite spot in the middle of the rug.
Mick scanned my living room. “Are you alone?” he asked, obviously annoyed.
“Umm… no. Jasper, Stash and Princess Muffin are here with me.” I knew that’s not what he meant, but I wasn’t about to make this easy for them.
“Cut the cutesy-pie answers, Sunny. Where are Tilly and Hitchner?”
“Oh.” I swept my arm around my living room. “So sorry. I thought you meant here in this room. Tilly and Hitch are in the kitchen.”
Mick stormed past me, anger spilling off him like a bad case of dandruff. “Champagne?” I heard him say with disgust. “An interesting choice of drinks after a body was discovered in your kitchen, Hitchner. And the victim was a person you admitted you’d been avoiding.”
I didn’t hear Hitch reply, which was smart on his part. I could just see his jaw clamped tight since he knew better than to engage with Mick’s comments.
Tilly, on the other hand, used the situation to her advantage. “Mick, do you have anything productive to say or do you just like to hear the sound of your own voice? Because you’ve got a murder to solve and harassing us is not advancing that agenda.”
I looked at the Chief. When was he planning to take control of this situation?
“Sunny,” he said, ignoring Mick’s outburst. “I have to ask you some questi
ons.”
I tried my best to focus on the Chief and at the same time listen to Tilly, but it wasn’t working. I’d have to just have some faith that she’d manage Mick and verbally back him into a corner. He wouldn’t like it but putting him on the defensive was the best option at the moment. If anyone could do that, it was Tilly.
Chief Bullock leaned on the back of one of my chairs. He didn’t even try to hide the pain in his hip. “Mind if I sit down, Sunny?”
“Please do.” I gestured to the chair and I sat opposite him on my couch. The two kittens peeked out from between my feet. Without pausing, Princess Muffin jumped on the Chief’s lap while Stash joined me. What had felt like an interrogation moments ago, now morphed into what seemed more like two friends talking.
The Chief wasn’t really a bad guy. His tenure as the Pineville Police Chief had racked up respect throughout our town, unlike Mick Walker.
He stroked the Princess and let out a sigh. “I need to put a timeline together, Sunny. When did you arrive at Hitch’s house?”
I leaned into the cushions, more relaxed than I had been for several hours. “I’ll have to think back. We had a busy day at our grand opening, and I’m not sure of the exact time everything happened. I do remember that after we closed, Tilly left first—”
“Where’d she go?” he blurted out.
“Home, I suppose.” Where did she go? Now, I wished she’d stayed with us at Shakes and Cakes. Isn’t hindsight great?
He jotted down some notes and looked up, waiting for me to continue. “Tilly left first,” he prompted.
“Right. Hitch and I sat down for a few minutes to let the day’s go-go-go seep out of our systems. Then we checked that the kitties were all set for the night, locked up, and walked out. We were tired but feeling great about how well our grand opening went. And,” I decided to add a personal touch, seeing as the Chief seemed to be quite the kitty fan, “that little orange kitty you found? There are several people interested in adopting her. Isn’t that great news?”
