by Brenda Novak
“Where did she go after?”
“She slept in the car near the lighthouse and returned to Charleston on the first ferry.”
“Marliss confirms that?”
“Marliss claims she doesn’t know when her mother got back, but Lana was there when she woke up around noon.”
“Did Lana have her phone? Did she use it that night—maybe to check in with Marliss?”
“She had it with her, but they’d been traveling so much and she was so angry and eager to confront Josephine, she hadn’t remembered to charge it. The battery was dead. She couldn’t call anyone, and no one could call her.”
Keith scowled as he gazed out at the ocean, which was roiling with the promise of another storm. “Did Hugh know she was coming here? Maybe she did know about the spare key. Maybe he put her up to the murder.”
“No, I doubt it. He’s heartbroken. This means he’ll lose both women.”
“Despite his best efforts to save Lana. Did he admit to coming here and using that alias at the Drift Inn?”
“He did. He said when Lana returned to the motel, she sent Marliss to the front desk to ask where the ice machine was and phoned him to say, quite calmly, that it was over between him and Josephine for good. When he realized she was in the States and not Europe, he started to really question her, and that’s when she broke down, began to cry and told him what she’d done.”
“At which point, he caught the first flight out of Australia to help her cover it up.”
“Yes, he admits to that.”
Keith shoved his hands in his pockets. “Will he be prosecuted?”
“No. He didn’t actually do anything, not that would warrant extradition. Once he arrived at Coldiron House, he found it wasn’t empty, as he’d expected, and he took off. I doubt we can get Australia to bother going after him for that.”
The wind lashed the trees outside. “Is it going to be a problem that she lives in Australia?”
“No. Murder is different.”
“Wow.” Keith couldn’t believe it. His mother’s murder was solved; he finally had resolution—something he hadn’t been sure he’d ever get. But he still had questions. “Why was Lana down by the highway the night Hugh broke in?”
“She was supposed to be his lookout. Was supposed to call him if anyone came.”
“Then why did she flag down Marcus? Hugh was there to help her.”
“Sounds illogical, I know, but she blamed him for what she’d done, and I guess part of her wanted to see him punished for all the pain he’d caused her.”
“She could’ve called the police herself.”
“She didn’t dare go that far. She thought if he was caught breaking in, the investigation would take off from there and would focus on him, not her.”
“It’s too bad for everyone that Lana found out about Mom. But I guess it was inevitable. Pippa told me that the affair lasted for at least fifteen years. That wasn’t a quick fling. That’s love, and the emotional attachment would hurt more than anything else.”
“One of the reasons she wanted to strike back at him, no doubt.”
Keith returned to his chair. “So you’re satisfied?”
“I’d be happier if we could put that wig in her possession, but...she claims she never wore one.”
“Because that would show premeditation, and would carry a stiffer sentence.”
“I’m still doing what I can, checking all the shops near Perth, where they lived, and along her travels to see if she bought one. But even if we can’t prove premeditation, she’s going away for a long time.”
And since she was sixtysomething, maybe a long time would be forever. Maybe he didn’t need to worry about it.
A sense of relief swept through Keith. It was over. Rocki, who’d been traumatized by the fear that she or Landon would be charged with Josephine’s murder, would be able to relax and focus on mending her marriage—or leaving Landon. They could go ahead and bury Josephine, knowing that the person who’d killed her would be punished. And Keith could try to save Coldiron House and set his mother’s finances in order, then go back to California to continue building the life and business he’d started there. His employees were getting restless, wondering when things would return to normal.
Now everyone could get on with their lives.
“Keith?”
He realized that he was still on the phone with Chief Underwood. “Yes?”
“Are you happy about all this?”
“Completely.” He thanked her. Then he hung up to call Rocki. He figured she deserved to hear the news first.
* * *
When Nancy saw Keith’s number on her cell phone, she didn’t pick up. They’d spent a lot of evenings together this week, and always had a wonderful time. But she had a date with someone else tonight—and she knew, whether Keith loved her or not, he wouldn’t like that.
He shouldn’t have any say, she told herself. And she wasn’t going to cancel at the last minute. So, deciding she’d call him in the morning, she let the call transfer to voice mail. It wasn’t as if she’d be standing him up. She’d told him about this date. It’d been a few days since she’d mentioned it, but whenever she did, he’d quickly gloss over it as if he didn’t want to hear.
Once she listened to his voice mail, however, she couldn’t resist calling him back immediately. His mother’s murder had been solved. He and his sisters could have Josephine’s funeral and bury her in the family cemetery.
Nancy was so relieved for Rocki—and for Maisey and Keith. But she was also a little anxious. Soon Keith wouldn’t have any reason to stay on Fairham. Then he’d be gone again—back to LA, where he’d continue to see Dahlia or some other woman. She was going to be so lonely when that happened. She’d allowed herself to get just as involved with him as she’d been before.
Problem was...she couldn’t stop loving him. Lord knew she’d tried.
“There you are,” he said when he picked up. “Did you get my message?”
“I did. Congratulations! That’s great news.”
“Let’s go celebrate. I’ll take you wherever you’d like to go. Should we get off the island, drive over to Charleston?”
She sank onto her couch. “I can’t go out with you tonight, but we could do that tomorrow, if you want.”
He hesitated. “What’s wrong with tonight?”
“I’m not available. I have a date, remember?”
“You’re going out with someone else?”
She inhaled a deep breath. “I’m afraid so. I told you about this, remember?”
“I do now. But...I guess I put it out of my mind, figured you’d wait until I left to see other guys. I mean, won’t there be plenty of time for that later?”
“I’m sure there’ll be lots of time, but I accepted this date before we...we started sleeping together regularly—” how else could she refer to their relationship since that was all they had? “—so I didn’t feel it’d be very nice to cancel.” Especially for a guy who couldn’t love her back. She shouldn’t be seeing Keith at all, let alone sleeping with him every night.
“That sucks,” he said.
She smiled at his sulky tone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t plan to ruin your Friday night.”
“I know that. I’m just saying...it sucks,” he repeated. “I’d like to see you.”
“Tomorrow, okay?” There wasn’t any point in staying on the phone. She’d been struggling to drum up enthusiasm for this evening. She didn’t want to regret that she couldn’t be with Keith any more than she already did. “I’d better go. I have to meet him.”
“What’re you wearing?” he asked.
“I haven’t decided yet,” she replied, but that wasn’t strictly true. She was fairly certain she’d wear her gray slacks from White House Black Market with
a white blouse and a black, jacket-like sweater she’d purchased at Banana Republic.
“The dress you wore for that other guy?” he guessed.
“No. This isn’t quite as formal.”
“Where are you going?”
She rubbed her forehead as she spoke. “A Mexican place.”
“Sounds good.”
“I hope it will be. He says it’s the best one in Charleston.”
“Does he now?”
She said nothing.
“Did you ever take back that lingerie?” he asked.
“I haven’t had a chance.”
“So it’s still at the house.”
“I’m not going to sleep with him, Keith. If that’s what you’re worried about. This is a first date.”
“I’m not worried. I just... I don’t know. It feels weird to think of you with someone else.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve got to go.”
“Fine. I don’t want to hold you up.”
“Thanks.”
She was about to disconnect when he said, “Seriously? Are you really going out with him instead of me?”
“I am,” she said. “But I hope you’ll enjoy your night. I’m very excited about your news.”
“Will you call me later, when you get home?”
“Um... I’m not sure. It might be late.”
“Mexican food doesn’t take that long.”
“I don’t want my feelings for you to get in the way of being open to other people, Keith. You can understand why.”
“Right. Of course. Because I can’t deliver.”
“Except in bed.” She thought that little joke would lighten the conversation, remind him of why he wanted to be with her in the first place, but he didn’t laugh.
“Thanks,” he said with a touch of sarcasm. Then he was gone.
Nancy released her breath as she pushed the end button. It was almost impossible to keep from calling him back. But she had no intention of being unfair to the guy who was taking her out. He’d asked in good faith, and she was going to respond in good faith.
“It’ll be fun,” she told her reflection as she started to get ready, but she wasn’t convinced she could enjoy anything when she really wanted to be with Keith.
* * *
Rocki was sitting at the kitchen table when Landon got home from work. The kids were both out—one at a school dance and the other at a movie. He walked in, took one look at her and came closer, wearing an expression of concern. “What is it?”
She shook her head because she didn’t trust her voice. She’d hung up with Keith fifteen minutes ago, but she still hadn’t processed the tremendous relief her brother’s words had brought. She cleared her throat to steady her voice. “They found Josephine’s killer.”
She hadn’t been able to call Josephine “Mom” since she’d learned of the affair. Somehow, reverting to Gretchen as Mom made it easier to cope with the betrayal.
He pulled out the chair across the table from her and sat down. “Who did it?”
“Lana Pointer, Hugh’s wife.”
“I thought she was in Europe.”
“Apparently not. Chief Underwood traced her movements to Charleston, and then to Fairham. Anyway, she’s confessed.”
“So you’re no longer a suspect. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
“No. Thanks to Keith. If he hadn’t found those letters and swung the investigation back in that direction, who knows what might’ve happened?”
“That’s fantastic!” For the first time in probably two weeks, his face relaxed into the smile she’d always loved. “I’ve been so worried, felt so terrible.”
She was tempted to tell him he should feel terrible. But the bitterness and anger that welled up, sometimes when she least expected it, wasn’t constructive. Since the police search, he’d been working long hours—dawn until well after dark. When he did come home, he’d drop onto the couch for a few hours of sleep, then get up the next morning and start the whole process all over again.
But he’d always worked hard to support them. Rocki chose to focus on that, to feel a little gratitude for the good in him. He’d done so many things right in their marriage. Other than that one indiscretion with Josephine, he’d been a sensitive lover, a supportive husband, a devoted father. Was it fair to judge him, and to throw away so many years of marriage, because of one selfish and stupid act?
She didn’t know the answer to that question. He’d hurt her deeply. But if she left him, if she broke up her family, would anyone be better off?
She didn’t want to let Josephine destroy all the happiness she’d known in her life, most of which was connected to Landon. She just wasn’t sure she was capable of forgiving something that intimate, that...painful.
“It’s a relief,” she said simply. She had to overcome the inclination to place blame. He felt bad enough. He was beginning to lose weight, quite a bit of it, and that concerned her, even though she hadn’t mentioned it to him.
“Do you need any help around here?” he asked.
She knew he hadn’t eaten dinner. She’d been saving it for him since six; it was now after nine. “No. Everything’s handled. I’ll warm up your dinner so you can eat.”
She put a big bowl of beef Stroganoff in front of him. But he took only a few bites before he thanked her politely, cleaned up his own dishes and crashed on the couch.
29
NANCY HAD EXPECTED her date to be a disaster. She’d thought she’d be able to muddle through the evening, but had no real hopes beyond that. If she wanted more than a week or two of happiness whenever she saw Keith, she had to take the painful first step of meeting someone else. Keith had talked about having her fly to LA to visit him once he returned, so he was acting as if he assumed their relationship would continue. But there was no sense of permanence in the way he spoke about her—about them—and that sometimes left her with an odd, hollow feeling. It meant settling for so much less than she really wanted. She figured it’d be different if she were still in her twenties. A decade ago she could afford to take a few wrong turns, give him more time, hope his feelings might grow stronger. But she was thirty-five and ready to start a family. She deserved more than to spend her life loving someone who couldn’t love her back.
So she’d gone into the evening with a “grin and bear it” attitude, and was completely surprised that the date wasn’t bad at all. Warren Castillo, a divorced pharmacist from Charleston with two children, eight and ten, turned out to be funny as well as nice. She liked him. There were even a few moments when she almost forgot about Keith and the fact that she could’ve spent the evening with him instead.
By the time they’d finished eating and Warren walked her out to her car, she was more encouraged than she’d been in a long while—so encouraged that she accepted his invitation to see a movie the following weekend.
Since she had to catch the eight o’clock ferry, or stay the night in Charleston, it wasn’t late when she got home. She could’ve hurried over to Coldiron House. Keith probably expected it. But if she was going to give Warren, or any other man, a chance, she needed to quit wasting her time with Keith. The more she was with him, the more she wanted to be with him. That hardly helped in her quest to meet someone else.
She was on the dating site, catching up on all the messages she’d neglected, when she received a text from him.
Hey, you home?
Nancy experienced the same pull she always felt when she heard from him. She suddenly missed him, even though she’d been feeling so hopeful and strong and determined just a moment before. She told herself she shouldn’t respond, but cutting him off abruptly seemed rather...unkind after their closeness over the past couple of weeks. So she texted him back.
Yeah.
How was it?
&n
bsp; Fun.
What’d you do?
Just had dinner.
Do you think you’ll go out with him again?
We’re seeing a movie together next weekend.
Nice.
Without any context or body language, she couldn’t tell if he was being facetious. But, considering how he’d acted before, she guessed he was. So she decided to leave it there and put down her phone.
Fifteen minutes later, he called.
By then the afterglow of her date had worn off, and forcing herself to stay away from Keith was making her downright miserable. “Hello?”
“What are you doing?”
Reluctant to say she was on the dating site, she told him she was watching TV. She had turned it on; she just wasn’t paying any attention to it. “What about you?”
“Maisey, Rocki and I have been planning the funeral. We’re going to have it on Thursday.”
“In Charleston?” There were no mortuaries on Fairham so that was almost a given.
“Yeah. At two. Can you make it? If not, we can move it.”
“No. There’s no need for that. Marlene will trade days with me again. I can make it.”
“If she wants to come, too, she can close the shop.”
“I’ll let her know.”
“Good.”
“Can you text me the address?”
“Sure. Or you can get it while you’re here. You’re coming over tonight, aren’t you?”
She got up to pace her living room. Simba seemed to intuit her anxiety, because he got to his feet and watched her, wagging his tail whenever she looked at him—as if in encouragement.
“No,” she said.
There was a long silence. Then he said, “Are you kidding?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Why won’t you come over?”
Because she had to have more self-respect. She shouldn’t have continued seeing him after that morning on the beach, when he’d admitted he didn’t love her. Everything since then had been a sellout, and that was why continuing the relationship, at least on a romantic level, made her feel so...cheap. “I can’t.”
