by Leena Clover
Jenny walked back home, thinking about Lily. Lily had grown up in Pelican Cove. She had left town at nineteen and come back several years later with her husband and children. Her husband worked in the city and was traveling most of the time. Her daughter died from a freak virus. Lily’s son was in college at that time. According to Betty Sue, Lily had shut herself in her house after her daughter’s death. It didn’t seem like she had any enemies. She hardly talked to anyone. Why had someone taken her life?
Jenny walked on for a while before she found herself in front of the library. She remembered something Betty Sue had said. Molly greeted her at the desk, looking radiant.
“Chris told me you are hosting us for dinner, Jenny,” she beamed. “Thank you so much. To be honest, I was a bit intimidated at the thought of going to their home for dinner. But I’ll feel right at home at Seaview.”
Jenny spent some time chatting with Molly about the dinner party. She went in to the reference section and began looking at newspapers from 1991. There was no news item related to Lily’s disappearance. Jenny found it odd. Why hadn’t the Pelican Cove Chronicle printed anything about Lily? She moved to the classifieds section next. She spotted the ad for the sale of Seaview right away. Her eyes popped open at what she saw on the page. Had grief really addled Lily’s brain?”
“Not a single car went out of town that night,” she told Adam later that night.
They were taking a long walk on the beach after a rich dinner of Star’s special six cheese lasagna. Tank ran in circles around them, begging Jenny to throw a stick he could fetch.
“Did anyone come into town?”
Jenny shook her head. “Not after 3 PM that day.”
“Did you note those numbers?”
“I did more than that,” Jenny told him. “Those same cars left town around 6:30 in the morning and got back by 4 PM. I am guessing these belonged to people who commuted to the mainland.”
“Good guess,” Adam complimented her. “What about the days before and after Lily disappeared?”
“I didn’t see any car leaving town for a day after that.”
“Are you saying Lily never got into a car?”
“I’m saying she didn’t go out of town for sure,” Jenny said. “At least not that night. So this whole story about her running away with someone seems pretty thin now.”
“She could have stayed with someone else in town for a couple of days,” Adam mused.
“Betty Sue says Lily hardly spoke to anyone those days. I find it hard to believe she had a secret lover.”
“So you believe Ann lied?”
“I don’t know what to believe, Adam. But it’s beginning to look probable. It’s Ann’s word against Lily’s and Lily is not here to defend herself.”
“Hmmm …”
Adam lapsed into silence. Tank nudged Jenny, trying to get her attention. She played with him for a while.
“And wait till you hear this,” Jenny spoke up. “Lily wanted to sell Seaview. She listed it in the classifieds for twenty thousand dollars.”
“What?” Adam exclaimed. “You sure you didn’t miss a zero?”
Jenny shook her head.
“It was printed in words too, Adam. I know things were cheaper back then, but surely not that cheap?”
“Why would Lily do that?”
“Betty Sue said she just wanted to get away from here.”
“Do you remember Ann and her son owned half the house? I’m sure they didn’t go along with that.”
“Lily was acting erratic, that’s for sure.”
Jenny couldn’t wait to tell the Magnolias all she had found out. She waited impatiently for Betty Sue’s arrival the next morning. Betty Sue walked in, busy knitting something pink.
“Sit down, Betty Sue. I want to ask you something.”
“How about some coffee first, eh?” Betty Sue grumbled. “What’s got you so twisted?”
Jenny poured out her story.
“Twenty thousand dollars!” Betty Sue exclaimed. “There was a recession around that time but Seaview was worth several times more than that.”
“How come someone didn’t snap up the property?” Jenny asked her.
A knowing look flashed across Betty Sue’s face.
“It was the curse. People around here believed Seaview was jinxed.”
“Did Ann want to sell too?”
“Ann came here and liked what she saw. She wanted to live here with Ricky.”
“But they went back!”
“I never understood why,” Betty Sue nodded. “You can ask Ann about it. She was as eager to stay on here as Lily was to leave.”
“Did they get along?” Jenny asked.
“Lily adored Ann when we were teenagers,” Betty Sue said. “She was young, sophisticated and married, everything we aspired to as girls. Ann could do no wrong in Lily’s eyes.”
“Didn’t Lily live with Ann for a while?”
“Those two were pretty close once upon a time,” Betty Sue agreed.
“But not in 1991?”
“Lily was really hard to be around that time,” Betty Sue said reluctantly. “Her mood swings had become really hard to take. She would throw tantrums at the slightest provocation. She didn’t talk to a single person for days together. She sat on the balcony at Seaview, staring at the sea, sobbing her heart out for her girl.”
“Ann stayed here through all that?”
“She did,” Betty Sue said grimly. “She held the family together.”
Jenny wondered if Ann Davis had really loved Lily.
Molly and Heather came in, arm in arm.
“Are you all set for this special dinner?” Heather asked with a smile. “Let me know if you need any help. I can give you the skinny on what Chris’s mother likes.”
“Thanks Heather,” Jenny said. “I’m almost ready, I think. Chris is coming around with the fish around four.”
“That takes care of the food,” Heather said. “What are you wearing, Molly?”
“That new green dress?” Molly said uncertainly.
“Mrs. Williams likes blue. Don’t you have a blue dress you can wear?” Heather was trying really hard to be likable. “What about your hair?”
“It’s just a dinner, Heather,” Jenny rolled her eyes. “Stop scaring Molly.”
“I know, but you know what they say about first impressions.”
“You’re making me nervous,” Molly said, beginning to look green. “I tend to puke when I get nervous.”
“We can’t have that,” Heather frowned. “Just be your usual self, Molls. You got this.”
Star had set up her easel on the patio when Jenny got home. She was muttering to herself.
“What are you doing, Star?” Jenny laughed.
“I’m trying my hand at water colors,” she said. “Not as easy as it looks.”
“I thought you hated them.”
“I never really gave them a shot. Frank says watercolor is actually the most difficult medium.”
“Frank says, huh?”
“A true artist does not shy away from different techniques. Frank says I should think of adding water colors to my portfolio.”
“When did you go shopping for all these new colors?”
“Frank lent them to me. He’s quite generous, that one.”
“Carry on then,” Jenny told her aunt. “I have my work cut out for me.”
“Are we having company?” Star asked. “I was thinking of asking Frank over for dinner.”
“Have you forgotten Molly’s dinner party?” Jenny asked her, rubbing a charm around her neck.
She had been missing Nick all day.
“Oh yeah,” Star said. “That’s tonight? Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Star began putting away her stuff. “I’ll help you in the kitchen.”
Molly’s party started off well. Heather had kept her word and helped Molly get ready. Molly was wearing more makeup than usual and she kept touching her face every few minutes.
“Relax,” J
enny whispered in her ear.
Pa Williams, Chris’s father, was an easy going man. He put an arm around Molly and welcomed her to the family. His wife didn’t seem that forthcoming. Her face had a pinched expression.
“She’s not a Pioneer,” she said to Star. “You know how we feel about that.”
A peculiar hierarchy existed on the island of Pelican Cove. A bunch of families who had been the original settlers called themselves the Pioneers. Only five or six families had this honor. The Morse family, Betty Sue and Heather’s ancestors were one of them, being the original owners of the island. So were the Stone and Williams families. They had been on the island since the nineteenth century.
Molly’s family came from a group called the refugees. Her family had sought shelter in Pelican Cove after the great storm of 1962, a deadly storm which had wrought massive destruction up and down the coast.
Time didn’t move very fast in Pelican Cove. Family background mattered a lot.
“Your son loves this girl,” Star hissed. “Can’t you be happy about that?”
Star herself was a chicken necker, a term the islanders used for someone who wasn’t born there. She had come to Pelican Cove in the 1970s and never gone back.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Mrs. Williams told Star. “And what is this love you speak of? My son was in love with Heather Morse since third grade. I don’t know how this girl managed to snare him.”
Molly overheard them and turned red. Her eyes filled up and threatened to spill over. Jenny took her by the arm and led her inside.
“She doesn’t like me,” Molly stuttered.
A wild look had come into her eyes.
“I can’t marry Chris without their blessing. What am I going to do?”
“She’s in shock,” Jenny soothed. “Your engagement is kind of sudden.”
“We are not even engaged,” Molly cried. “And now his mother doesn’t approve of me.”
“Chris loves you,” Jenny said firmly. “He’s going to stand by you no matter what, Molls.”
“Do you really believe that, Jenny?”
Jenny crossed her fingers behind her back and nodded at her friend.
Chapter 12
“Jenny, it’s for you,” Petunia called out.
Jenny put down the piping bag she was holding and answered the phone.
“This is Dr. Smith. You gave me this number.”
“How are you, Doc?” Jenny greeted him. “Any update?”
“Can you come down to my clinic?”
“Give me an hour,” Jenny said and hung up.
She immediately dialed Jason’s number.
“I don’t know what he’s come up with. Do you want to go with me?”
Jason pulled up outside the Boardwalk Café half an hour later. Jason seemed to have lost weight since the last time Jenny saw him. There were dark circles under his eyes.
“Are you ill?” she asked with concern. “What’s wrong?”
“Haven’t been sleeping well,” Jason said with a shrug.
“When was the last time you had a proper meal?” Jenny asked suspiciously. “That’s it. You’re coming to Seaview for dinner tonight.”
“Whatever you say, Jenny,” he mumbled.
They reached Dr. Smith’s clinic ten minutes later. He was waiting for them.
“I went through most of Costa’s records,” he said. “I found more of what we saw before.”
Jenny sensed there was more coming.
“One of the names seemed familiar,” Dr. Smith sighed. “Eugenie Hampton. She died recently.”
“How did she die?”
“I checked her death certificate,” Dr. Smith said grimly. “She died of heart failure.”
“I remember reading her obit,” Jason said.
“Was she your patient, Dr. Smith?” Jenny asked.
“Was is the operative word,” the doctor said bitterly. “I treated Eugenie Hampton for forty years. She started seeing Costa last winter.”
“Any reason why?”
“He charmed her, I guess,” Dr. Smith said. “Some of my patients started seeing him recently. I couldn’t stop them.”
“I’m guessing most of these were women of a certain age?” Jenny asked. “Did Eugenie have any chronic conditions?”
“I’m not supposed to discuss my patients with anyone,” Dr. Smith reminded them. “But I can tell you this. I saw the treatment Costa was supposedly giving her. It was all wrong for her.”
“So he actually gave someone wrong medicine?” Jenny asked, aghast. “But you said he was just billing the government for this extra stuff.”
“Looks like he was doing more than that,” Dr. Smith said. “Or there was some error in the paperwork. She saw something she was not meant to see and filled those prescriptions. Taking those drugs might have led to her demise.”
“Can you prove that?”
“It will be hard to prove without an autopsy.”
“Did she have any family?” Jason asked.
“Her husband lives in town,” Dr. Smith said. “He’s still my patient. I can give you his address.”
“Let’s go talk to him,” Jenny said to Jason.
Peter Hampton was home when they went to see him. He was sitting out on his porch in a rocker, staring at a bird feeder that hung from an old oak.
Jason introduced himself.
“I know who you are,” he grunted. “What do you want?”
“We wanted to talk to you about your wife.”
“She’s dead,” he said. “Are you going to let me mourn her in peace?”
“We just want a few minutes of your time,” Jenny pleaded.
The man paid no attention and continued staring in the distance.
“Maybe we’ll come back some other time,” Jason said.
He took Jenny’s arm and led her back to the car.
“You are giving up?” she protested as he started the car.
“He won’t talk to us right now,” Jason said.
“I want to tell Adam about this guy. Why don’t you drop me off there?”
Jason pulled up outside the police station a few minutes later.
“See you at seven sharp,” Jenny said primly. “Bring your appetite.”
Adam was immersed in some paperwork when Jenny breezed into his office.
“You have a new suspect,” she declared.
Adam looked at her irritably.
“What are you blathering about, Jenny?”
“I’m talking about Gianni’s murder. I just found a new suspect for you.”
“Pray tell,” Adam drawled.
“A woman called Eugenie Hampton died from the wrong medicine. I just saw her husband. He refused to talk to me.”
“Genie’s dead?” Adam sat up, surprised. “She used to be friends with my mom.”
“Her husband looks devastated. Dr. Smith says she probably died from a wrong prescription. That gives her husband a motive.”
“All this makes a fine story, Jenny,” Adam said patiently. “But I need proof.”
“Isn’t it your job to get that?” Jenny shot back.
“I don’t know, Jenny. Sounds farfetched to me.”
Jenny stormed out of Adam’s office and started walking home. She spotted Captain Charlie coming out of The Steakhouse. He was holding a small bag of food.
“Just delivered the catch,” he told her. “The chef made me dinner.”
“Do you know a man called Peter Hampton?”
“Aye.”
“Can you find out if he came to The Steakhouse recently?”
“What are you up to, little lady?” Captain Charlie asked.
He went inside the restaurant again. Jenny tapped her foot impatiently while she waited for him to come out.
“He was here,” Captain Charlie grunted when he came out. “One of the busboys told me.”
“Are they sure? Do they know who he is?”
“Pete Hampton’s lived here all his life,” Captain Charlie quipped. �
��That’s seventy some years you have not been here, missy. Most people around here know him well.”
“What was he doing here?”
A lad walked out just then, pulling off his apron. Captain Charlie summoned him over.
“Tell her what you saw.”
“Old Pete Hampton came here for dinner for Valentine’s Day. It was kinda sad. We all know his wife passed.”
“Was it Valentine’s Day or the day after?” Jenny asked eagerly.
The lad shrugged.
“Could have been either. It was some time that weekend.” He stared at Jenny for a few seconds. “I know you. You were in here with that big group. Pete was here the same day as you.”
“Did he talk to anyone?”
“He was talking to that dude with the diamond earring.”
The lad looked bored. He said a hasty goodbye and walked away from them rapidly.
“Does that help?” Captain Charlie asked.
“More than you know,” Jenny told him, grinning from ear to ear.
She couldn’t wait to talk to Adam. Jenny hurried through her dinner prep. Star had invited her new artist friend so there were six of them for dinner. Jenny made a big pot of gumbo to go around. She hoped Frank liked spicy food.
“Pete Hampton was at The Steakhouse with us,” she told Adam as soon as he came home. “He was right there.”
“Gianni didn’t die in the restaurant, Jenny.”
“But he could have been poisoned there.”
“He wasn’t. Trust me on that. I can’t tell you any more than that now.”
Jenny tried to make Jason talk during dinner. He ate a few spoonfuls of gumbo and pushed his plate away.
Jenny tried to hide her concern.
“Will you pick me up at nine tomorrow morning?” she asked him.
“Sure,” he agreed.
Frank was asking Star to dinner.
“You have made me feel so welcome. I am taking you to dinner and I won’t take no for an answer.”
Star tried to hide a blush.
“Your aunt is so talented,” he gushed, looking at Jenny. “She just started using water colors two days ago and her work is already better than mine.”
