Fourth Victim (Writers Retreat Southern Seashore Mystery Book 4)

by Kathi Daley

“Can I help you?” I asked the man, whose back was to me. When he turned around, I almost fainted on the spot. “Dru?” After a brief hesitation, I threw myself into his arms. “What are you doing here?”

  “I could say I was here to buy a tree, but you’d see right through that, so I guess I’ll be honest and say I’m here to see you.”

  I took a step back and looked at the man I’d worked with for five years, dating him for two of them, before he’d taken a job in Los Angeles and I hadn’t followed him. “You’re here to see me? Why?”

  “Again, I could say because I missed you, which I have, but the truth of the matter is, Margo sent me.”

  “Margo?” I looked around to make sure no one was listening before I continued. “You flew all the way to South Carolina from Los Angeles to try to talk me into taking a job in New York?”

  “Actually, I flew from New York to South Carolina. I’m working for Margo at the magazine now. When you come on board it’ll be the three of us together again, just the way it used to be.”

  I stared in stunned silence at the handsome, dark-haired man I once assumed I’d have a life with. Dru was back in New York? There was a time when that would have thrilled me, but that was in the past; now I was just confused. “You’re working for Margo?” I parroted, even though that was exactly what Dru had just said.

  He nodded, “I was already getting a little antsy in LA, so when Margo called with her offer, I couldn’t refuse. I jumped at the chance to come back to the East Coast.” Dru paused and looked me in the eye. “I jumped at the chance to come back to you.”

  Dru pulled me into his arms and kissed me hard on the mouth. I was so shocked, I just stood there. After I finally had the presence of mind to take a step back, I looked around only to see Jack watching us from a distance.

  “Come to dinner with me,” Dru said. “It’ll give us a chance to catch up and talk about the magazine.”

  “I can’t go to dinner. I’m working.”

  “You work at a tree lot?”

  “I volunteer at a tree lot. How did you find me here anyway?”

  “Vikki. You changed your cell number and I couldn’t get hold of Margo, but Vikki had the same number she’s always had, so I called her when I got to the island and she told me I could find you here.”

  I was kind of surprised Vikki had told him where I was. Of course, she was one of the few people on earth who knew how much Dru’s leaving had destroyed me, and how I’d hoped he would return to my part of the world one day. Like the job offer from Margo, if he’d shown up even a few months ago, I would have jumped at the offer for dinner.

  “I’m happy to see you. I really am. And I do want to have a chance to get caught up. But not only do I have to finish my shift here, I have plans this evening. How about breakfast?”

  “Okay, if I must wait that long. Nine o’clock?”

  “Nine will work. There’s a café on the pier named Gertie’s. I’ll meet you there.”

  “It sounds like you’re saying good-bye for now.”

  I nodded. “I really do need to get back to work. We can talk tomorrow.”

  Dru didn’t look happy, but he didn’t argue. He quickly kissed me on the lips and I watched him walk toward his rental car.

  “Do I want to ask?” Jack said when he came over to where I was still standing after Dru left.

  “That was a man I used to work with.”

  “Worked with?”

  “And dated,” I added reluctantly. “I haven’t seen him since he moved to LA five years ago. I was shocked when I went over to a man to help him and it turned out to be him.”

  “Is he visiting someone on the island?”

  I looked Jack in the eye. “He’s here to see me. I have something to talk to you about, but not here. After our shift.”

  Jack frowned. “Okay. I’m curious, but I guess I can wait.”

  “We’ll grab some dinner and I’ll tell you everything. I promise.”

  ******

  By the time our shift was over, the diner down the street was all but empty, so we decided to eat there. I chose the prime rib sandwich, Jack the meatloaf special. Once our orders had been placed and our drinks delivered, I began the tale I wished I had more time to prepare for. Still, I owed Jack an explanation, and I’d been putting off telling him about the job offer long enough.

  “I first met Dru when I was just starting out. He and I and a woman named Margo Bronson all worked for this underground newspaper no one had really heard of at that point. We were young and idealistic, and the most important thing to us was digging for the truth and exposing it to the world.” I smiled. “It really was one of the best times in my life.”

  “The energy and idealism of youth is hard to beat,” Jack agreed.

  “Anyway, the three of us were something of a team, bonding the way good friends with a common goal often do. Not only did we work together but we pooled our income and rented a three-bedroom apartment in a decent part of the city. We were like a family, and after growing up feeling as if I’d never really had a family, it meant a lot to me.”

  I could see Jack was listening intently, but he didn’t stop me.

  “After a few years, Dru got a job working for a major television station. It was a great job with a huge salary, but his office was across town, so Dru moved to his own place. Margo, who was the go-getter of the three of us, got a job with a news magazine that was just starting up, and I moved to the newspaper I was eventually fired from. Although we no longer worked or lived together, we were still really close and got together for dinner and drinks two or three times a week.”

  I took a breath and blew it out slowly before I continued. “Then, seven years ago, Dru and I started dating. We’d known each other for a long time by then, and things progressed quickly. Eventually, we found an apartment halfway between his job and mine, and I thought we were going to make a go of it. Then, five years ago, just four months after we signed the lease on that apartment, Dru was offered a wonderful job at another television station in LA. It was a huge promotion, much too good to pass up. So, he took it. He wanted me to go with him, but I decided my own career was in New York and too important to me, so I stayed there.”

  Jack still hadn’t said anything, but I couldn’t help but notice the frown on his face. I wanted to stop there, but I knew I had to tell him everything.

  “Shortly after Dru left, Margo took a big job at another magazine. We were still close, but we were both busy with our careers and, to be honest, without Dru prodding us to take the time we needed to ensure our continued friendship, we sort of faded away. At least until I was fired. Margo virtually put her own job aside to make sure I was going to be okay. She was a huge support to me when I was going through my crisis, and when I moved to Gull Island, she promised to keep her eye open and call me if something opened up. She called me yesterday. She was recently made managing director for a large news magazine and offered me a job.”

  “In New York?”

  “In New York,” I confirmed.

  “And…? Did you take it?”

  “Not yet. I told her I needed to think about it and she gave me until Monday. I planned to tell you, but I wanted to get things straight in my head first. No one knows about the offer except Vikki and, apparently, Dru. Margo sent him here to try to sweeten the pot.”

  “Dru flew in from LA to convince you to take a job in New York?”

  I shook my head. “He moved back to New York to work for Margo. Years ago, when we were working at that little underground newspaper, we used to talk about all of us working together for a major publication one day.”

  “So, you are going to move?” I noticed the slight catch in his voice.

  “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “Margo’s offer is something I’ve always dreamed of. Working with them again was something I wanted more than anything at one point in my life. Six months ago, I would have jumped at the chance. But now…now I have a new life I’ve come to love to consider.”


  Jack took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thank you for telling me. You know I want you to stay, but I won’t put any undue pressure on you while you make up your mind. It sounds like you have a lot to consider.”

  “I do. And thank you. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this over the past twenty-four hours, but right now I just want to have dinner with you, then decorate the tree at the resort with the others.”

  Jack put his hand over mine and gave it a squeeze. He tried to smile, but I saw the worry in his eyes.

  Chapter 8

  Thursday, December 14

  I woke up early the next morning and decided to take a walk before getting ready to meet Dru. Even though things had started off rough at dinner the night before, Jack and I had ended up having a wonderful time with the writers decorating the tree, eating the goodies Clara had baked, and watching It’s a Wonderful Life as it played in the background. I was sorry when Jack left, but I had breakfast with Dru and thinking to do in the meantime.

  Of all the times for Margo’s offer to come through and Dru to show up, this was probably the worst. If both had occurred earlier—even a couple of months earlier—I’d already be on my way to New York, and if they’d happened a bit further into the future, I’d probably have a better idea of how things were going to work out on Gull Island and with Jack. But as things stood now, there was just a lot of promise mixed with a generous dollop of uncertainty.

  I paused to watch the waves roll onto the shore. When I’d lived in New York, I’d given little thought to living surrounded by concrete and skyscrapers. It had never occurred to me to long for quiet moments, open space, and the beauty of nature, but after living on Gull Island for almost six months, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that if I returned to my urban lifestyle, I would miss the simplicity of a sun rising from the horizon beyond the sea, the gulls flying overhead, and the gentle rhythm of waves rolling onto the shore.

  I thought about Jack and his gentle and funny ways. If I left now, I’d always wonder what we could have had and who we might have become. I thought about George and Clara and the others who lived at the retreat and knew I would miss every one of them. I was fairly certain Garrett would adapt and do fine without me, but I’d just found him, and there was a part of me that really wanted to give us the chance we needed to become the family I’d always longed for.

  And then, on the other side of the coin, there were Margo, Dru, and New York. I remembered those early days, when the three of us had worked together. We’d vowed to take on the world, and in many ways, we had. We’d not only worked hard but played hard too. We really had been living the dream, or at least the beginning of it. I’d known Vikki most of my life and she’d always been and always would be my best friend, but during those years in New York, when we were both busy building our careers, we’d lived very different lives, so Dru and Margo had become my whole world. There was no denying how much they’d meant to me. Could I turn down the chance to work with them again? Revisit a part of my life that had meant so much to me?

  Margo would be hurt if I turned her down. I suspected she already was. In her mind, I was sure she’d imagined her offer would be greeted with complete enthusiasm. And I really did wish that could had been my response. Of all the people in my professional life, she had done the most for me.

  I turned and began walking back to the house. I had my breakfast with Dru and then two meetings Jack had set up with people who had known Frannie Kettleman. The first, which was set for eleven o’clock, was with Wes Gardner. Like the others we’d already spoken to, he was retired, but he once owned a used bookstore and remembered Frannie coming in to check out the new stock each week. The second, at two o’clock, was with Clint Brown, the local Realtor Edna had told us she’d seen Frannie having dinner with. Sherry had thought Frannie had been looking to buy property on the island. If that was the case, Clint might be able to give us some insight regarding her frame of mind.

  “I thought I might find you out here,” Vikki greeted me as I neared the house.

  “I wasn’t expecting to find you up this early.”

  “I’m usually not, but your situation with Dru and Margo has been weighing on my mind. I saw you walk by on your way out and wanted to get an update. I wanted to talk to you last night, but we were never alone.”

  “There isn’t a lot to tell. Dru is working for Margo now and living back in New York. He’s here to help talk me into taking Margo’s offer. We haven’t had much of a chance to talk yet. I’m meeting him for breakfast.”

  “Does Jack know about him?”

  I nodded. “He saw us talking at the tree lot and asked about him. I told him everything afterward. Well, almost everything. I may have left out the part that, until now, I considered Dru the one real love of my life: the one who got away.”

  “Until now?” Vikki took my hand in hers and started walking back to the house.

  “Now, I have Jack. I don’t know if what we might have will ever come close to what I had with Dru, but I care about our relationship enough to want to see where it takes us. Margo’s offer is very tempting, but there’s a lot I’d be giving up if I leave the island. I don’t know how I’m going to decide.”

  Vikki put her arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “I think when it comes down to it, you’ll know what you want. In fact, I bet you already do.”

  I wished I could be as certain as Vikki that I knew what I wanted. When I thought of Jack, the resort, my friends, and the life I’d so recently built, I knew I wanted all of it. But then I thought of Margo, Dru, New York, and the chance to write news for a major platform, and I knew I wanted that as well. I knew the two lives couldn’t mesh, so I’d have to choose one or the other, but I had no idea which life I wanted more.

  I was just about to get undressed to take a shower when my phone rang. “Hello?”

  “This is Colin Walton. I have a message that you wanted me to call you. Is there a problem with Garrett?”

  “No, Garrett’s fine. Garrett’s great, in fact, and I’m very grateful for everything you and your staff have done for him. I wanted to speak to you about Secret Santa. I want to interview him for an article I’m writing, and someone suggested you and he might be one and the same.”

  Colin chuckled. “I’m afraid I’m not Secret Santa. I have my niche in the community and he has his.”

  “I sort of figured that out already, but I’d already left the message for you before I really thought it through. But do you know who Secret Santa is?”

  “I don’t, and if I did, I wouldn’t say. It seems to me Secret Santa has a reason to want to keep his identity to himself. Perhaps you should respect that.”

  “Don’t you think he should get the recognition he deserves?”

  “Recognition can be shallow. I’ve found it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. What really fills your soul is the knowledge you made a significant difference in the life of others. To be honest, receiving accolades for your contribution sort of cheapens it. I find knowing you acted selflessly is a much sweeter reward.”

  “I guess you have a point. Thank you for speaking to me. And I promise, even if I do figure out who Secret Santa is, I won’t out him if he doesn’t want to be.”

  ******

  Dru was waiting for me when I arrived at Gertie’s. I noticed she still wasn’t working the counter, so I could only imagine her date in Charleston was going even better than she’d imagined. I was really happy for her. I wasn’t privy to her entire romantic history, but it seemed to me she’d been alone much of her life, and as far as I could tell, Quinten Davenport was perfect for her.

  I waved to Dru as I started across the café toward him. He looked good this morning, in a pair of khakis topped with a light blue polo shirt and a royal blue V-neck sweater.

  “Sorry I’m late,” I said as I slid into the booth across from the man I’d once thought I might marry.

  “You aren’t late; I was early.” Dru waved at the waitress, who brought me a cup
of coffee. “How was your evening?”

  “Really fun. The writers who live at the resort and I decorated our Christmas tree. It came out beautifully. You’ll have to stop by to see it before you leave.”

  “You know I’m not here to look at Christmas trees.”

  I took a sip of my coffee. “I know. I guess I was just trying to prolong the inevitable conversation we’re about to have.”

  “Sounds dire.”

  I shrugged. “I’m just stressed about how this will go. I know how important it is to Margo that I take the job. I love you both and don’t want to let either of you down.”

  “So don’t let us down. Take the job. You have to admit it’s even better than the jobs we used to dream of.”

  I looked down at my hands. “It’s a fantastic job and the thought of working with you and Margo again is very tempting, but I’ve made a life here. A life I love.”

  “You used to love your life in New York. Maybe you will again.”

  “Maybe. I’ve been remembering the fun we had and the dreams we shared. Those first years before any of us were a blip on the radar were some of the best of my life. But that’s the past. Things have changed. I’ve changed.”

  Dru’s voice softened. “It sounds like you’ve made up your mind.”

  I shook my head. “No, I haven’t. At least not about the job.”

  Dru frowned. “So, that means you’ve made up your mind about us.”

  I didn’t answer immediately. Finally, I said, “There isn’t an us. Not anymore. I really did love you when we were dating, and maybe I should have followed you to LA, but I didn’t, and that choice, I think, decided our future.”

  “It doesn’t have to.”

  “Actually, I think it sort of does. It’s been five years. As I said before, things have changed and so have we. When you first left I wasn’t sure I could make it through the pain, but now it feels like a distant memory.”

  Dru took my hand in his. “I really did miss you.” He rested our joined hands on the table between us. “I must have second-guessed my leaving New York a hundred times during that first year. Every time I thought of your smile or imagined your laugh, I could feel my heart being ripped from my chest.”