“Because Mayor Samson has had instructions from the Sleepy Creek Police not to let me have access to the footage. They’ve changed the password.”
“If anyone can convince Mayor Samson to change his mind, it’s you, Jonah. You want me to solve the case? I need that footage,” I said.
Aggy snored and slipped down, her butt sliding off the bench. I grabbed her by the arm and held her in place. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she looked around before lifting herself back into position on the bench and promptly going back to sleep.
“Fine,” Mona said. “I’ll get the footage. I’ll try. But it’s going to take some time.”
“Good. Word has it that Emma Carte had an ex-husband and a new boyfriend. Is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Mona replied, her voice growing more confident because we had finally entered her realm of expertise. Gossip and spite. “I happen to be one of the few who know who Emma was dating. I can set up a meeting with two Gossip Circle members for you.”
“Forgive me, Mona, but I’d rather not mince words with your minions.”
“Oh, you’ll want to talk to them,” Mona said. “They were friends with Emma. And one of them is Emma’s boyfriend’s sister.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” I asked, suspiciously.
“Because I hadn’t yet quizzed my members about their affiliation with Emma.”
I remained silent, listening to Mona huff out breaths on the other end of the line. She was tense, all right. Tense because… why? There was a lot on the line for Mona. She had made her life in Sleepy Creek, and that life revolved around The Creeker Gazette, her Gossip Circle, and the control she executed over the town’s residents by fear of her wrath.
All of that was at stake.
“Watson? Are you there?” Mona asked.
“I’m here. Organize that meeting for me, please,” I said, because manners didn’t cost anything. “And keep me updated on your progress with the camera footage.”
“Fine.” Mona hung up.
I sighed and tucked my phone into the pocket of my jeans.
Aggy let out a grunting snore beside me, and I grabbed her by the arm, catching her before she fell a second time. She moaned at me for the interruption then fell asleep again.
Here I was, out in Sleepy Creek, trying to solve a case that I had no right touching, with a slug for an assistant, and the help of the town’s most feared gossiper and potential murderer.
How had I sunk this low, this fast?
“Aggy, wake up,” I said. “We’ve got to get to the grocery store and back to the apartment before our next meeting.” I wanted to stock up on good food. Healthy food that would give us energy during our investigation. Fresh fruit and vegetables. Not that I could cook any of it. But Aggy wasn’t too bad in the kitchen, surprisingly.
My cousin continued snoring.
“Aggy!”
Her mouth drooped, dribble at the corner of her lip.
“Oh for heaven’s sake.” I took a firm hold of Abby’s flat cap and tugged it off her head.
My cousin let out a feral shriek and woke from her sleep, grasping for the hat. She wrested it from my grip and rammed it back into place on her cherry red bob. “What are you crazy, Christie?”
“Get up,” I said. “We’ve got work to do.”
7
That work included keeping my guilt at bay as we headed out to our next appointment at the Gossip Circle’s club house. Liam would… well, I wasn’t sure what he’d do if he found out about my investigation or me working with Mona, but it wouldn’t be good. Still, it was nice to get out of my Corvette, apple in my hand. We had snacks for once. Food in our bellies.
It was strange, but I’d grown accustomed to the gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I took a bite of my apple, studying the front of the club house, my eyes narrowed.
The Gossip Circle was billed as a non-profit organization, though how they afforded a fancy club house was a question for another time. It was located on the outskirts of Sleepy Creek, next to the golf course—a triple-story white mansion with columns flanking the vast porch, and a fountain out front.
Aggy whistled under her breath. “Fancy.”
“Never judge a book by its cover,” I said, gesturing to the club house. “That place is filled with evil. Pretty on the outside, evil within.”
Aggy chomped down on an energy bar and chewed enthusiastically. “So you think these women are going to help us figure out what happened to Emma?” She spat a few masticated nuts onto my red Corvette.
I considered throttling her. “Yes,” I replied. “And you’re cleaning the car tonight.”
“Oops! Sorry!” She smeared the nuts off the roof of the car, only making more of a mess.
I walked off before I started yelling. Aggy was great at poking the bear and messing with my car got me madder than a grizzly on a diet.
We headed up the front steps, and I grabbed hold of the golden knocker on the polished front door. I let it fall three times, and we waited.
The door opened, noiselessly, revealing a young woman clad in leopard print and a pink leather jacket. “Oh! You must be Christie,” she breathed, fluffing her out-of-control blonde hairdo. “Come on in.”
“You are?” I asked, following her into an entryway that was bedecked in gold everything. Of course, the interior decoration was tasteless. The women wore magenta, sparkles, and leopard print, for heaven’s sake.
“My name is Nadine Whitmore. Mona told me you’d be here today to talk to us. Well, to me and Shayna, that is.”
“Nadine,” I said. “Nice to meet you. This is Aggy.”
“Uh-huh, cool,” Nadine replied, gesturing for us to follow her. “Shayna and I are set up in the study. Come on in.”
Set up in the study? Why?
Regardless, we followed the Gossip Circle member into an equally ostentatious study. Shayna, the other woman I was meant to meet with today, wore the same getup as her friend, but had dark hair that had been put up into an elaborate constellation of braids and pigtails.
“Hello,” I nodded to her.
Nadine shut the study door and sat down at a vast wooden table next to her friend.
“You’re Shayna?” I asked, remaining standing. Aggy flopped down in one of the chairs at the table, throwing back her energy bar.
“Shayna Quill,” the brunette said, softly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Watson. We’ve heard a lot about you here.”
Oh, I bet you have. And I’d have bet anything that the majority of what they’d heard wasn’t good.
“Mona tells me you have information to share with me regarding Emma Carte’s death.” It was better to get straight to the main topic right off the bat. The longer I stayed here, the greater the fear that I’d suddenly burst into flames. This was the opposite of crossing the threshold of a church as a vampire.
These women were the vampires, and I was the innocent in their lair.
Aggy let out a little burp-hiccup and crumpled up her energy bar’s wrapper.
Shayna and Nadine stared at her like she was a bug.
I cleared my throat. “Ladies?”
“Oh, right,” Shayna said, softly. “Sorry.”
“Yeah, we can tell you some stuff about Emma,” Nadine replied, she pressed a hand to her chest as she talked, giving a rueful shake of her head at the mention of Emma’s name. “We were good friends with her. I worked at the paper as a columnist.”
“I was friends with her too,” Shayna said, “because she was dating my brother.”
“Your brother?”
“Sure. Robert. They’ve been dating for a couple of months,” Shayna said. “But we’ve been trying to keep it quiet. They weren’t ready to come out to society yet, especially since she just got divorced.”
I tapped my cousin on the shoulder, and she hurriedly removed a notepad and pen from her bag and slapped them onto the table. The one thing I’d trained Aggy to do was take notes when
I needed her to, and she hadn’t let me down yet, proving that there were miracles in this world.
Aggy scribbled down “Robert Quill” then waited, her gaze fixed on Shayna, suddenly hyper-focused. The two Gossip Circle members shifted and exchanged glances at the change in Aggy’s demeanor.
“What can you tell me about Robert and Emma’s relationship?” I asked.
“I can’t tell you much,” Nadine said, again with her hand to her chest. “I didn’t see Robert at the paper’s offices because they were trying to keep it a secret. But Emma seemed happier over the past couple of months, didn’t she, Shaynes?”
“She did,” Shayna replied, smiling. “My brother’s a great guy, so it’s no wonder she was happy. They didn’t fight, and they loved each other dearly.”
“Did you see anything suspicious on the day Emma was murdered?” I asked, pointing at Nadine, the one who worked at the paper.
“No, I don’t think so,” she replied, quivering. “But do you have to be so blunt? Emma was our friend? Saying she was just murdered is…”
“Truthful,” I finished, taking my usual hard line. It was true that softening up suspects and going easy before the confrontation was common practice, but these women had agreed to talk to me. They were witnesses rather than suspects. And I was short on time. Every second it took to solve the case was one during which Liam could discover my involvement. “Look, I appreciate that she was your friend, but I didn’t come here to waste time. I’m going to stick to facts, and I’ll ask you to do the same.”
“Hoo-wee.” Nadine raised both eyebrows. “No wonder Miss Jonah doesn’t like you.”
“I’m shattered,” I replied drily. “Now, ladies, what can you tell about Emma’s ex-husband?”
“A lot.” Shayna flashed a triumphant grin. “Emma told me she was afraid of her ex-husband, Parker, the week before this happened.” Her smile faded. “She sent me a whole bunch of screenshots of conversations she’d had with him just in case something happened to her.”
Now, there was interesting evidence. “May I take a look at them?”
“That’s why we’re here,” Nadine replied.
Shayna unlocked her phone’s screen, and I circled the table, leaning in to read over her shoulder.
Parker: I’m coming to find you. You can’t leave me that easily.
Emma: Parker, stop! You’re starting to scare me.
Parker: You should’ve thought about that before you went to a lawyer. I warned you about this, Emma. I warned you that I would never let you go. Remember our vows?
Emma: Stop!
Parker: Til’ death do us part, baby.
Emma had blocked her ex-husband after that, and I didn’t blame her. The text exchange was terrifying. “Did Emma talk to anyone about this? Did she go to the police?”
“No,” Shayna sighed. “Just to us. She didn’t want to get the cops involved for some reason.”
“We told her that she needed to. That she needed protection, but she seemed to think it would only make things worse.” Nadine shook her head. “And now look what’s happened.”
“Can you text me a copy of that exchange, please?”
“Sure,” Shayna said. “What’s your number?”
I gave it to her. “While I have you here,” I said, though technically they were the ones who had me here, “can you give me your brother’s contact information? If something was going on with this ex-husband of Emma’s, he’s most likely the one who will know about it.” That and I wanted to get his alibi for the night of the murder.
“Yeah, sure, no problem.” Shayna texted me her brother’s home address.
“Thank you,” I said. “I think that’s all I need for now. Apart from… well, where were you ladies on the night of the murder.”
“Here at the club house,” they replied, almost in unison. They exchanged a glance, smiling at each other.
“Everybody in the Gossip Circle loves hanging out here. It’s a mansion, for Pete’s sake,” Nadine laughed.
Shayna nodded fervent agreement.
I thanked the women for their time then collected Aggy and her feather-tipped pen and headed out the door. For a second, I was sure I’d be locked in, that this was an evil plot by Mona to get me alone so she could pry gossip from me, but no one stopped us on the way out to the Corvette.
“That was weird,” I said. “Like being in a viper’s pit.”
“It was fun. Look at this neat picture I drew.” Aggy held up her pad. She’d scribbled a few nearly indecipherable notes about the case, and below that had doodled a picture of Shayna and Janine, smiling at each other.
I wanted to be mad about the lack of case notes, but I’d gotten everything via text. “That’s a great drawing,” I said. “You’re talented.”
Aggy beamed at the praise. “Where to next?”
“To the house of the next suspect. The boyfriend.” Hopefully, he’d be able to tell us a little more about the ex-husband.
The text messages indicated that Parker, Emma’s ex, was potentially violent. But would he have known about Sleepy Creek’s cameras? And if he hadn’t vandalized them then who had?
8
Robert Quill lived on Westley Avenue in Sleepy Creek’s middle-class neighborhood. His house was a simple single-story, white-washed clapboard affair. The grass was neatly trimmed, but there wasn’t a border fence or any flowerbeds. A weeping cherry tree stood in the front yard, providing scant shade but a gorgeous dash of pink in the sea of green.
“This is a nice place,” Aggy said, tugging on her flat cap.
The sun had started its slow descent in the sky, casting an orange haze over the horizon and the ground.
“It is,” I said, burying my jealousy. What would I have given to have had a home like this? Back in Boston, in my old life, I’d been happy with four walls and a tiny apartment because I’d been consumed with cases. But everything was so much slower here. And I liked the idea of settling down one day.
I led my cousin up the front path toward the porch then hit the buzzer. Chimes sang inside.
The garage door was closed, but the lights were on in the foyer. Somebody had to be home.
“Who’s there?” A man called from inside.
“Hi,” I said, “my name is Christie Watson. I’m a friend of your sister’s. Shayna?”
“Oh. Uh, OK.” Robert opened the door and met us with a confused look. He was in his thirties, losing some hair up top, but with a full beard and hazel eyes. He was good-looking and quite tall. “Sorry, I didn’t realize Shayna was, uh… sending someone over?”
“Yeah, sorry about that. She probably would’ve told you when you next saw her, but I’m on a tight schedule. So, as I said, I’m Christie, and this is my cousin, Aggy.”
Aggy waved at him and fluttered her eyelashes. I did a double-take. Was my cousin flirting? Every hour brought a new trial, it seemed.
“Right. I would introduce myself but you seem to know who I am.” Robert arched a bushy eyebrow.
“I’m a private investigator,” I said. “It’s my job to know these types of things.”
“What, people’s names and addresses?”
I grinned. “Exactly. Robert, I’m sorry to intrude like this, but your sister mentioned that you wouldn’t mind talking to me. I’d like to keep our conversation strictly confidential.”
“What’s this about?”
Surely, he had gathered what I was here to talk to him about by now? Unless, he had something else to hide. “I would like to talk to you, just for a minute, about Emma Carte. I’m trying to figure out who killed her.” The directness of the statement was a test. Would he draw back in revulsion? Would he show fear? Anger?
“Oh,” Robert said, swallowing. He glanced off to the left. “OK. I guess if Shayna said we should talk then it’s OK.”
If Shayna told you to shave your head, would you? “That’s great.”
But Robert didn’t admit us into his home. He stood, with a vice-like grip on his door, waiting
to answer my questions.
Well, all right then. Let’s do this here.
“Agatha,” I said, turning to my cousin. “Do me a favor and go sit in the Corvette. I want you to keep an eye on the road. Text me if you see anything I need to know about.” Hopefully, she’d get that I meant to text me if Liam or Arthur appeared in the street.
“Aw, but it’s hot. And the air-conditioning in the car is—”
“Now, Agatha. Roll the windows down or something.”
She huffed out a breath then stormed off. The slam of a car door came a few seconds later.
“Sorry about that,” I said. “She means well, but she’s a little eccentric.”
“Everybody in this town is eccentric,” Robert replied, with a small smile. “What do you want to know about Emma?”
“Your sister mentioned an altercation with Parker.” I’d fabricated that. A stab in the dark.
“No. That’s not right. I’ve never had an altercation with her ex. Though, if I’d ever met the man I probably would have. He gave her a lot of trouble she didn’t need.”
“I heard as much,” I said. “So, you never met Parker?”
“No. But there was a rumor that he was in town.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. He’s got a lot of money, Parker, so he just does what he wants when he wants to,” Robert continued. “That’s what Emma told me about him. Said that he thinks he can control everyone. That he has a huge ego problem and a temper. It… well, I’m ashamed to admit that it caused problems between us. We fought about him.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said.
“Before you ask, no, the fights we had were just verbal. I would never have harmed Emma. I adored her, even though our relationship was pretty new.” Robert stroked his beard.
Weird that you’re so keen to tell me the fights weren’t physical.
“I guess, I was ill-prepared to handle the fact that she had an ex-husband. She didn’t tell me about Parker until we’d been dating for a month, and by then… I was in love with her. Don’t judge me, OK.” He lifted his palms. “It was easy to fall in love with Emma. She was beautiful and driven. A career-woman. And she had an amazing laugh. She could cook too.”
The BBQ Burger Murder Page 4
