by Lee Hollis
Well, as locals used to the choppy waters of the Atlantic, both Bruce and I were spared from getting sick, and in fact, were hungry after we wrapped our first photo assignment, so we treated ourselves to some yummy chicken skewers (not surprisingly, we were not in the mood for fish) and a Madras cocktail at a nearby eatery to celebrate a job well done.
MADRAS COCKTAIL
1½ ounces vodka
4 ounces cranberry juice
1 ounce orange juice
Ice
Lime wedge for garnish
In a highball glass, combine your vodka, cranberry juice, and orange juice. Add ice and garnish with the lime wedge.
This is definitely one of my favorite cocktails to sip when I really need to relax!
HONEY GARLIC CHICKEN SKEWERS
I love chicken skewers! They are such a simple but reliable dish. I couldn’t be happier that my friend Liddy is including them on her own wedding reception appetizer menu.
½ cup honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons vinegar
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
8 skewers
2 chicken breasts cut into eight 1-inch strips
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
In a bowl, whisk your honey, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, and garlic powder until combined.
Add your cornstarch to thicken. Soak the skewers in water for about 10 minutes, then put the strips on the skewers by poking through one side and coming back through the other until the strip is securely on the skewer.
Set aside a little sauce for basting the chicken while it is cooking, then marinate the chicken skewers in the sauce for at least two hours.
Place your marinated chicken on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet and bake in oven for 14 minutes. Baste each side once or twice while baking.
When done, remove from oven and dig in!
Chapter 30
Hayley pushed past Sabrina and followed AJ into the kitchen, where she found him rummaging through the cupboards for a coffee mug.
“AJ, why didn’t you ever say anything about seeing Lisa Crawford at her bakery on the same day she was poisoned?”
AJ turned around and stared blankly at Hayley.
He seemed to think for a moment about how he should answer, and then just shrugged. “Because nobody asked.”
“I’m asking you now,” Hayley said evenly.
Sabrina scurried into the kitchen and nearly hurled herself between Hayley and her newfound boy toy. “There’s no need to be so confrontational, Hayley. AJ’s just tired. He didn’t get much sleep last night.”
AJ smirked, obviously remembering exactly what had just transpired between him and his obviously adept hostess in the bedroom.
“It’s okay, Sabrina. I’ve got nothing to hide,” AJ said, yawning and scratching his head again. “I went to see that lady at her shop because I was looking to buy a cake for my sister.”
“Your sister?” Hayley asked.
“Yeah, she lives up in Brewer. She’s getting married this summer, and now that I’m making a little money working for Mona, I thought I’d do a good deed and spring for her wedding cake. I dropped by the bakery, the lady showed me a few pictures of different cakes, I told her I’d think about it, and then I left. End of story.”
“See, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation, Hayley,” Sabrina said, folding her arms, annoyed that Hayley had so rudely interrupted her romantic morning tryst with her boy wonder.
“I just don’t understand why you never said anything. The whole town has been buzzing about Lisa’s murder, and you were one of the last people to see her alive.”
“Because what happened to the cake lady has nothing to do with me,” AJ said, his eyes narrowing. “And I don’t appreciate you trying to drag me into it.”
“I totally understand, dear,” Sabrina gushed, rushing to his defense. “Why get all caught up in some nasty business when you are one hundred percent innocent?” Sabrina cried, desperate to convince herself, if not Hayley.
AJ glared at Hayley, who was trying to gauge whether or not he was being truthful.
Finally, he turned around to Sabrina, who was hovering behind him. “Where are my jeans?”
“On the floor in the bedroom, I think,” Sabrina whispered, blushing again.
“Could you go get them for me, please?” he said before turning back to Hayley.
“Yes, of course,” Sabrina said, scooting out of the kitchen, leaving Hayley and AJ standing across from each other, eyes locked in a staredown.
It only took Sabrina a few moments to retrieve the jeans and return to the kitchen, where she handed them to AJ. He pulled a phone from the back pocket, punched in a four-digit code to unlock it, and then made a call.
“Hey, sis, it’s me. I got some lady here who doesn’t believe I have a sister in Brewer who’s getting married and that as the loving brother I am, I’m springing for your wedding cake,” AJ said, sneering. “Hold on.”
He held out the phone to Hayley.
“She wants to talk to you.”
Hayley sighed and took the phone. “Yes, this is Hayley Powell.”
“Hello, Hayley,” the woman said in a cheery voice. “This is AJ’s sister Adele, like the singer, but not. I have a terrible singing voice! Lord knows I can’t hold a note.”
“Nice to meet you, Adele,” Hayley said.
“Adele Capshaw, soon to be Adele Capshaw-Bennett—Bennett’s the name of my fiancé, but I’m not giving up my maiden name, because I want to maintain my own identity. I’m a card-carrying feminist!”
“Girl power!” Hayley said without raising her fist.
“You got it! Anyway, I just want to confirm to you that I have the sweetest brother in the whole wide world. My fiancé is sadly between jobs and his family up here in Brewer is dirt-poor, so we can’t afford much of a wedding, but we’re trying to do the best we can. And my darling brother AJ has offered to pay for a nice wedding cake. He’s so appreciative that his boss Mona is giving him the extra hours to raise the money.”
“Yes, Mona is a good friend of mine,” Hayley said.
“She’s an angel sent directly from heaven, in my humble opinion!”
Adele had obviously never met Mona in person.
“Anyway, I heard the tragic news about that poor woman who he was going to hire to make the cake, so now he’s going to have to find another bakery to do the job. I heard there’s another good one in Bar Harbor, which he was planning to go check out on his next day off.”
“Yes, I know that one. Good choice.”
“He tells me he really likes living in Bar Harbor. There is a lot to do there in the summer. He’s met a lot of really nice and interesting people.”
“Yes, he’s been keeping himself very busy,” Hayley said, watching Sabrina jump as AJ playfully pinched her on the butt as he headed back into the kitchen; thoughts of him stripping on top of a bar the previous evening flashed through her mind. “Well, it’s been nice chatting with you, Adele. Congratulations on your wedding.”
“Thank you, Hayley,” Adele said. “Take care of my little brother.”
“Don’t worry about that. He’s getting a lot of TLC down here. Bye, now.”
She handed the phone back to AJ.
“Satisfied?” Sabrina said, snuggling up next to AJ, who was now pouring grounds in the top of the coffeemaker.
Hayley half nodded.
AJ’s sister had indeed confirmed his story.
But she was not completely at ease around this well-muscled lothario.
There was something off about him.
Just because he had a sweet-sounding sister who was singing his praises didn’t make him any less suspicious.
And despite the raves he was getting from his fawning cougar of the moment Sabrina Merryweather, Hayley had a strong feeling the young buck was still hiding something.
And she was determi
ned to find out exactly what it was.
Chapter 31
On her way back to the office, Hayley received an ominous text from Bruce that he needed to speak with her right away. Bruce hated texting and rarely communicated with her that way because, as he explained, he spent his entire day typing his crime column on a computer, so the last thing he wanted to do was type messages with his stubby fingers on his tiny phone. So the fact that he was now texting meant that whatever he needed to discuss with her was probably important.
When Hayley arrived at the office and tossed her bag underneath her desk, she stopped long enough to pour herself coffee in a Styrofoam cup before heading into the back bull pen to Bruce’s office, just past her boss Sal’s office, which was empty. Sal had been battling a summer cold and wasn’t expected in today, so there was a relaxed atmosphere in the office as the other reporters hung out, chatting and laughing over the latest gossip in town.
Hayley found Bruce behind his desk, hands folded, waiting for her. He had a grim look on his face, which both surprised and worried her. She instinctively closed the door behind her as she entered so they could have some privacy and took a deep breath. “What is it?”
Bruce cleared his throat. “Have a seat.”
Hayley pulled a chair in front of the desk and sat down. She could feel a knot in the pit of her stomach, but she didn’t say anything further.
She instinctively knew this had nothing to do with how Bruce felt about her.
This was something else entirely.
She waited for Bruce to talk.
“Some information has come to light that you need to know about.”
“Okay.”
“After your car accident, when you and Liddy were rushed to the hospital to get checked out, just to make sure you both were fine and didn’t have any serious injuries . . .”
“Yes,” Hayley whispered, clasping her hands together on her lap, expectantly.
“. . . Sonny and I spent some time together in the waiting room.”
This surprised her. She hadn’t expected this to be about Sonny.
But she just kept her lips sealed and nodded.
“Sonny kept getting a bunch of calls while we were there, and he kept racing out of the waiting room to take them, like he was afraid I might overhear his conversation. After he got the third call, I decided to go grab a candy bar from the vending machine, and I found him in the hallway, looking very anxious. When he saw me, he spun around so his back was to me and he brought his voice down to a whisper so I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I didn’t think much of it at the time. I mean, I figured whatever he was up to was none of my business, so I just let it go.”
“Liddy has mentioned his secretive behavior recently,” Hayley said.
“I know. And, well, you know me, the investigative reporter in me got curious, and the more I thought about it, the more it bugged me. What the hell is this guy hiding?”
“So what did you find out?”
Bruce paused, carefully considering how to proceed.
This vexed Hayley even more.
Based on Bruce’s expression, whatever was coming was significant—far more serious than your average case of a groom getting cold feet.
“Sonny has been taking a lot of trips out of town the past few years,” Bruce said.
“I know. Liddy told me he has been doing some part-time work for his old firm in Boston, where he worked as an associate after law school. He’s been spending a lot of time working on two cases, one in Revere, and one in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, if I remember correctly.”
“I know, but his story doesn’t pass muster.”
“Why not?”
“Because Sonny’s old law firm in Boston shut down in two thousand twelve. Three partners retired, and the other two younger partners took most of the clients and started their own firm.”
“Maybe Sonny was working with the new firm.”
“He’s not. I called and checked. He’s been lying.”
“But why?”
“Here’s the tough part . . .”
Hayley braced herself for what was coming and how it might devastate Liddy.
“I stopped by Sonny’s office under the guise of needing legal advice on some family property that was left to me and my brothers by my uncle Shane, which his ex-wife is contesting, and I was going to casually ask him about his time in Boston, but before I even opened my mouth, his cell phone, which was sitting on his desk right in front of me, started ringing. Before he had a chance to scoop it up, I saw the name of the person who was calling . . . Nancy Malone.”
“Never heard of her.”
“Neither had I. But I went on Facebook and looked up every Nancy Malone I could find in the New England area, and one turned up in Revere, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston.”
“That could be a complete coincidence.”
“That’s what I thought. I saw on her page that she has a brother, so I sent a message and a friend request claiming to be a buddy of his, and she accepted. Once she did that, I had access to all her photos.”
Hayley breathed slowly, remaining calm. “And?”
“I found this,” Bruce said solemnly.
He tapped the Facebook app on his phone, scrolled through a bit, and then, with a grimace on his face, handed his phone to Hayley.
Hayley stared at the photo. It was a picture of a pretty blond woman, late twenties or early thirties, in a bikini top, snuggling next to a shirtless Sonny on a beach with a crystal blue ocean in the background.
“Maybe she and Sonny dated in the past, before he even met Liddy.”
“I wanted to believe that too. But she posted this photo to her page three months ago while she was on vacation with her boyfriend, Sonny, in Key West.”
Hayley gasped.
Hayley distinctly remembered Sonny had to go out of town three months ago for a week, because she had to listen to Liddy complain about it the entire time he was gone. He claimed he was working on a case but had been suspiciously vague on the details.
There was no way to sugarcoat this.
Sonny Lipton was cheating on Liddy with another woman.
Chapter 32
“Patrice, could you shut the door and give us some privacy?” Sonny squeaked as he stood behind his desk, loosening his tie so he could breathe easier.
Patrice, who hadn’t heard what Hayley had said after marching past her desk and barging into Sonny’s office unannounced, scooted to the door, gave her boss a curious look, and then slowly closed the door, hoping she might catch a piece of their conversation that might illuminate what was so important that she couldn’t hear about it.
But no such luck. Sonny waited until he heard the door click before he said anything to Hayley. When he was absolutely sure they were alone, he said in a hushed whisper, “Who the hell is Nancy Malone?”
Hayley smirked. She knew Sonny well enough to know he was lying. If it wasn’t the beads of sweat streaming down his forehead even though it was a relatively cool sixty-eight degrees outside, it was his bottom lip that quivered nervously.
“Don’t lie to me, Sonny. I know she’s your girlfriend.”
Sonny made his way around his desk, his arms clasped together almost as if he was about to drop down to his knees and start praying. “Please tell me you haven’t mentioned this to Liddy!”
“Not yet,” Hayley said, eyes narrowing, disgusted with him. “Sonny, how could you?”
“I swear to you, Hayley, I dated Nancy a couple of years ago, during the period Liddy and I were taking a break!”
“Stop lying! She posted a picture of you two together in Key West just a few months ago!”
“She may have posted it recently but it was taken long before that. We met while I was in Boston shortly after you, Liddy, and Mona got back from your girls’ weekend in Salmon Cove. We were technically no longer together, so I started seeing Nancy when I would make trips down to Massachusetts while working for my old law firm.”
“You
r old law firm closed down in two thousand twelve, Sonny.”
Sonny’s face went pale. “How did you know . . . ?”
Hayley folded her arms, expectantly waiting to see just how he planned on wiggling out of this one.
“You’re right. It did. But a couple of the partners started their own firm and offered me a few freelance assignments.”
“Bruce called the new firm, and they claim you are not working for them.”
“That’s because they don’t want the other partners knowing I’m there doing some consulting. They had to deny it. There are a lot of politics involved, and it’s kind of a complicated situation.”
Hayley glared at him skeptically. “You’re right about one thing, Sonny. This is a very complicated situation.”
“Look, it’s true. Stop making everything look so suspicious.”
“I’m not doing anything of the kind, Sonny. You’re doing an admirable job of that yourself.”
“Nancy and I did go on a trip to Key West . . . almost two years ago . . . she wanted to get serious, but I was still in love with Liddy. Then, when Liddy and I got back together, I ended it. Full stop!”
Hayley studied his face, trying to surmise if he was telling the truth or not.
“Nancy didn’t take it well. She kept calling me all the time. I was afraid she was going to turn into some kind of stalker and try reaching out to Liddy, but after I pretended to lose my phone and changed my number, we finally lost contact.”
“So why would she post that old photo of you two on her Facebook page?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she’s trying to find me again, and thought if someone recognized me, they might be able to tell her where I am. You see, after I broke up with her, I let it be known I was taking a job at a law firm in Chicago, hoping she’d believe it and not track me down here in Bar Harbor.”
