by Sandi Scott
CHAPTER 15
RUNNING THE TIMELINE in her head, Ashley realized that Hope must have gone to Eddie’s trailer the evening after their visit. That’s why she had to excuse herself in such a hurry. She had needed to get to Eddie's right away, before Ashley did.
“Let’s get the kayak back to the rental office before it closes,” said Ryan. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t hear him. He finally waggled his fingers in front of her face.
“Earth to Ashley.” He chuckled as his fingers danced and teased.
She laughed and slapped his hand away while she snapped back to attention. “It was Hope. I’m not sure why she did it, but Hope killed Colleen.”
Ryan looked at her, astonished. “What? How do you know?”
Ashley grabbed her phone and showed him the photo. “This necklace that was in Eddie’s trailer the day we visited him belongs to Hope. I know that because I saw her wearing it less than a day earlier. She wouldn’t have gone to his trailer if they were estranged, as Eddie told us, but she would go there to warn him that I overheard his fight with Colleen so they could create a cover story together.”
She looked down at her hands and felt the tears welling. All her childhood memories of growing up with Hope were mixing in with the facts and clues, like a horrible kaleidoscope. It didn’t seem possible that her old school friend could be such a callous, calculating murderer.
“The two surveys…Bobby only ordered one. The surveyor said himself that there was only one official survey but that two were conducted. I think we were wrong in assuming Eddie ordered that second survey; it was Hope. Why would Eddie try to convince Colleen to keep it a secret if he knew that she was going to die in a matter of hours? If he was planning to kill her, he would have already had the poison in hand, so their argument would have been pointless.”
She paused to fish a tissue out of her purse and blew her nose as quietly as she could.
“I hate to say it, but it’s obvious now that Hope did it. She must have known Bobby’s deal with Bayview wasn’t final yet, so she was trying to sell the land behind his back to the mining companies interested in the mineral rights for the property. While her father started to slip into the early stages of dementia, she took advantage of the lack of oversight and made some business deals without his approval. Oh, my God, it’s so horrible. I can’t believe it.”
Ashley shook her head in disbelief, angry with herself for not seeing the clues sooner, even though she’d been led astray by all the other conflicting clues in the case.
“You know, this whole time I was imagining how Emma or Eddie could have accessed the McCays’ garden and the poison, but I totally overlooked Hope, who had easier access than anyone.”
“She was the keynote speaker at the banquet, wasn’t she?” Ryan asked. “She was talking in her speech about her dedication to preserving the ecological systems of Seagrass. What an outrageous lie.”
Ashley blew her nose again, anger overcoming her feelings of remorse and finally streamlining her thoughts into a cohesive whole. The events of that night were rolling around her brain like thunder. Now she had all the pieces of the puzzle, and the light was finally breaking through, illuminating every dark corner and revealing the truth.
“How do you think she did it, got the poisoned puff to Colleen?” Ryan asked.
“You know, Colleen talked to me during the banquet planning. She requested that the dessert be served immediately after her speech, not before or during. I just assumed the request came to her from Bobby, but now I see that it was probably Hope. It gave her the opportunity to personally pass out the desserts at her table.”
As they pulled into Bobby’s bait and tackle store, Ashley knew that they had no option.
“You know, we have to go straight to the Sheriff. Can you call Mueller and ask him to meet us at Hope’s house in 15 minutes? I’ll go inside and pay for the kayaks while you do that,” Ashley said.
Ashley started to make her way to say a quick thank you when Ryan stopped her and gave her a quick hug.
“Everything’s going to work out, Ash. I’ll call Mueller, and we’ll finally get the justice that Colleen deserves.”
Ashley smiled up into his open face, feeling her heart flutter for a moment.
“Thanks, Ryan. You’re such a wonderful guy.”
“Naturally.” he quipped, before digging his phone out of his pocket.
Before she took off for the shop, she let Dizzy out. The dog promptly followed Ryan. She marveled at how Dizzy might as well have been Ryan’s dog or, for that matter, Michael’s dog too. It made her feel good to know that, if anything ever happened to her, Dizzy would have somewhere to go. Wondering why she would think such a thing, she shook her head and laughed at herself.
Once inside the bait and tackle store, she noticed Bobby wasn’t at the desk, so she rang the service bell and waited for him to come from the back room. She admired the kayak paddles hanging in neat rows behind the desk.
“Hello, Ashley,” said a woman’s voice. She turned to see Hope looking at her and stopped in her tracks before walking slowly over to the cash register. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and when she realized that Hope wasn’t smiling, she took a deep breath to steady herself.
“I thought I’d find you here.” Hope’s tone made Ashley’s skin prickle.
“Oh?” Ashley forced out a tight smile, noticing how small her own voice sounded.
“Yes. My father tells me that you’ve been asking some interesting questions about our land, which I think is strange, but you’ve always been a snoop, haven’t you, Ashley?”
She stood rooted to the spot, mentally kicking herself for not asking Ryan to come in with her. “Well, I…” She wasn’t sure of the best approach. Did Hope know she knew? Probably. “Why did you do it, Hope? You have so much going for you here; I don’t understand why you’d risk it all.”
“You know, Ashley, I’m tired of everyone in this town assuming that I only earned my success based on what my father gave me, despite my many achievements in life. I’m sick of everyone thinking of me as the ditzy daughter of a powerful man. I’m done with the people of Seagrass. What a bunch of back-stabbing, mean-spirited rubes you all turned out to be.”
She stared at Ashley with such hatred and disgust, as if holding her personally responsible for her predicament. Ashley did her best to keep her cool while Hope continued to blather.
“I was planning to prove to you all that I can do it on my own, by selling the land and moving out of town to start anew.”
Ashley glanced out of the window as Hope slowly walked towards her. Ryan was playing with Dizzy while talking on his phone; if only she could alert them somehow.
Hope was still talking. “You know, I’m smarter than most of the people in Seagrass put together. No one ever believed in me, and I’m tired of being underestimated.”
Ashley once again found her mouth moving before her brain engaged, although she didn’t have a single clue as to how she was going to get out of this one. “But, Hope, selling your father’s land to get the seed money for a new start isn’t exactly making it on your own.”
Time seemed to stand still for a moment as the women stared at each other. Ashley could’ve kicked herself for blurting out that much, but she knew that it needed to be said. Without warning, Hope grabbed a paddle and lunged at her in a furious rage, eyes bulging and her face contorting, like a monstrous version of her former self.
“HOW DARE YOU!” she screamed, barely missing as Ashley ducked and darted to the left.
“Hope, please.” Ashley pleaded as she tried to make her way to the door while scrambling and doing her best to avoid the swooping paddle. She felt it connect with her back as she darted away, panic overriding the realization that she’d been hit. She could feel the pain, but she reminded herself that it hadn’t connected with her head. Still, she continued to duck out of the way as Hope continued her onslaught.
“Hope, stop it.” she yelled as sh
e tried to make it to the door.
With an unholy screech, Hope lunged again, swinging the paddle violently over Ashley’s head and missing her by only a small margin. Then the door burst open suddenly, and Ryan charged in, Dizzy close behind. Ashley dragged her out of the way as Ryan snatched the paddle and threw it over his shoulder, pinning Hope to the ground and yelling to Ashley.
“Sheriff Mueller is on his way, Ash. Go out and meet him.”
“No, no, you don’t understand. Get off me.” Hope screamed.
Ryan was doing his best to keep Hope down. She was swiping at his face, but he managed to secure her arms to her side. Ashley went over to help. Slowly but surely, Hope gave up, crying in a hopeless heap on the floor while Ryan stood over her.
The police turned up only a few minutes later. Hope was hauled off to jail, again screaming like a banshee, while Mueller stayed behind to get the details.
“You know, darlin’, I always had a feelin’ about that girl.”
Ashley and Ryan gave each other a look. Then he asked her if she was hurt.
“She only got me once. On the back, but I’m okay.”
“Are you sure? Maybe you need to go to a doctor, just to make sure?”
She was touched by his concern, but she didn’t want to be a cry-baby. “No, honestly, I’m fine.”
Mueller seemed to be oblivious to this conversation. He had his thumbs hooked in the loops on his pants as he stared at the ceiling. “Ya just never know, though, do ya?” Shaking his head, he turned to leave. “It’s over now, Ashley. Y’all go on home.”
It took hours for Ashley to totally calm down. At a catered brunch the next day, she was able to tell her whole crew the story.
“I was the one who accidentally tipped off Hope that Eddie had fought with Colleen. She went to Eddie right after I left her house, and they concocted a pretty convincing story about an affair between Eddie and Colleen. Poor Eddie, he actually had no idea about any of it. One of Gahn’s employees—who had a conscience—emailed the information to Colleen. When she confronted Eddie, he tried to get her to keep it a secret long enough for him to talk to Hope about it. It must have been shocking for him to realize Hope was a killer, but his love for her—and her family’s wealth—blinded him enough to go along with the lies.”
“So how did you find out?” Sabine asked.
“We saw Monty Gahn at the estuary, which couldn’t have been right because supposedly he was in Houston. It turns out that Bayview Corporation was just a shadow corporation that Hope and Monty Gahn set up in order to trick Bobby and Eddie into the deal.”
After Ashley finished and all the chatter had died down, Mark raised his coffee cup in the air.
“A toast to the Dynamic Duo.”
Sabine corrected him. “No, the Terrific Twosome.”
Maude scoffed. “You’re both wrong. To the Slimy Sleuths.”
They could have heard a pin drop as everyone looked at each other. Maude meant well but she could be a little “off center.” Patty broke the silence.
“Well, I’m just glad your head wasn’t knocked off, partner. Although, I would’ve paid top dollar to see Hope losing it.”
Maude laughed. “Wouldn’t take much, hon. She’s a mere slip of a girl, but not much room for the crazy.”
Ashley agreed and slid a sidelong glance at Ryan, who winked and grinned back at her.
“Well, I just wanted you all to know our cream puffs are innocent, and I’m hoping that tomorrow will be business as usual.”
“To innocent cream puffs.” Ryan cheered, making them all laugh and raise their coffee cups in unison while Dizzy barked her excitement.
Ashley finally felt the stress slowly slipping away, even though she was still coming to grips with what had transpired. True, she’d lost what she thought was a good friend, but when she looked around the room at the loving and supportive faces surrounding her, she felt her heart fill up with warmth. It was a hard lesson to learn. Nothing was ever set in concrete, no matter how much you butt your head against it.
CHAPTER 16
OVER THE NEXT two weeks, the town buzzed with the news about Hope and her hand in Colleen’s death. People pulled up related plants and flower gardens, replacing them with agreeable flora and started campaigns to outlaw Brugmansia altogether. Of course, Sheriff Mueller was talking to anyone who would listen about the investigation. “We were on the trail of the killer, no doubt, but that Ashley Adams, I tell ya, she’s got some snap in her garters.”
He made it clear that without Ashley and Ryan’s investigation, Hope would still be at-large and Colleen’s death would still have been a mystery, not to mention the steady decline of Seagrass Sweets and The Southern Bird.
Now the opposite was true; Ashley and Patty could barely keep up with the flood of orders and bookings. The phone was ringing off the hook, and their internet orders had tripled. They even had to hire more staff to keep up with the demand. The icing on the cake—so to speak—was that Ashley’s cream puffs were a huge hit once again. Everyone from gothic hipsters to showoff daredevils ordered them by the case.
Seagrass Sweets and The Southern Bird had also been subject to an onslaught of requests from all the newspapers and TV shows in the area. They’d even had many people calling from all over the country for an interview or sound bite. It was novel to start with but soon became tiring.
Ironically, a huge catering event was booked by a group most suspected to be the Localists themselves. Ashley and her business became the toast of the town, so the event was partially to thank her and celebrate her investigation. Summer was finally cooling off and autumn was creeping in, giving the local landscaping companies a reason to join the celebrations. They called the event “Fall into Food,” which made Ashley cringe, but she went along with it for the sake of the business.
There was a sumptuous porcini mushroom risotto made with champagne and white truffles, along with flavorful pumpkin and almond soup, marinated cherry and chicken drumsticks and sweet onion tarts that made all who tasted them swoon. The biggest buzz was generated by the gorgeous desserts, which had nearly caused Ashley to go into a giant meltdown. She knew at the beginning that she was probably biting off more than she could chew, but she managed to come through with flying colors.
First, there was the blackberry and lavender panna cotta with French meringue and caramel, followed by deep-fried, cream cheese ice cream with raspberry sauce, and a pear custard and rum bundt cake. Patty scolded her for going way out of her league, but she was pleasantly surprised when Ashley rose to the occasion.
As the event opened, Ashley stood trying to keep from weeping tears of pure joy while the members of the community filtered past, stopping to congratulate her and give her a series of warm hugs and well-wishes. She’d followed Patty’s lead and bought a sweet, crimson off-the-shoulder, summer dress, which made her look like she’d stepped out of a fine upmarket catalogue. The finishing touches were a lovely hairdo swept up from her shoulders along with delicate makeup.
When Ryan arrived, he snuck up behind her before she saw him.
“Ashley? Is that you?”
“I hope so.” she replied, jumping a bit before turning around to face him.
A smile slowly grew across his face and he raised his eyebrows. “Look at you, all gussied up,” he said, with an exaggerated Texan drawl.
“You scrub up nicely too.” This was all she could come up with, as she was taken aback by his reaction.
They walked over to their table together. The setting was loaded with so many tea lights and hanging chandeliers that the fire chief worried about it being a disaster waiting to happen. Even so, the evening went without mishap, and everyone was enchanted with the fine food and classical music, which was provided by a small local chamber group.
Patty nearly fainted when Lee asked her to dance. In private quarters, she might be more likely to respond favorably, but being in front of the staff apparently made her nervous. It wasn’t until Ashley kicked her under the t
able that she gave in and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor.
After their dance, she went and helped him clean up in the kitchen. He was shy when he thanked her for teaching him so much about cooking and the catering business.
“Well, I’ve learned a lot from you too, Lee—so—thank you too.”
Ashley thought that their shyness was sweet, and she secretly hoped that one day they’d get together for real.
“What’s on your mind?” Ryan asked, startling her out of her daze. She looked at him, wondering if it was just the wine going to her head or the mixture of soft lighting and lovely music. It all seemed like a dream.
“Can we go for a walk along the river?”
“Why, certainly, ma’am.” he teased.
By the riverbank, she drummed up the courage to finally thank him for saving her life. “You know, I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t rescued me from Hope. Really. She could’ve killed me, and you risked your life for me.”
“Well, I imagine you would’ve done the same for me.”
She smiled and clasped her hands together in front of her as they continued to stroll.
“Yes, I would have, but you put yourself in danger. That means so much. I’ve never had a friend like you.”
“I’ve never had a friend like you, Ash. I have fun when we’re together.”
She felt nervous, not knowing what to say or do. Spending time with Ryan usually came so easy. Now, under the orange glow of the Harvest Moon and in the aftermath of their successful sleuthing, she told herself she was getting all worked up for nothing. A little voice popped in her head. “You had your chance, it’ll never work out now.” She silenced it by thinking “one foot in front of the other.” They walked a few more minutes in comfortable silence together.
