by Cate Conte
Chapter 49
Saturday morning, and my first Pet Pantry on Wheels run. Katrina had left me a message last night, during the disastrous dinner at my parents’ house, to make sure I was still on board. Well, I hardly had a choice. Her exact message had been, “I’m sending someone over with the food. We’ll load it into whatever car is in the driveway.”
Which had been Grandpa’s truck, because we’d all gone to Mom’s in Grandma’s car. At least she’d made it easy for me. I was actually kind of glad for the distraction today. Good thing she’d called, too, because I probably would’ve forgotten all about it.
I hopped into the truck and placed JJ next to me. He’d love this. Visiting people and being adored was high on his list of favorite adventures.
I’d managed to get out of the house without seeing anyone. Which was a blessing, because I had no idea how to address what I’d seen last night. My married sister and my business partner. Kissing. Oy. As if this crazy situation couldn’t get any worse. I had no idea what to even think about it. At one point I’d wondered if I really had seen it, or if my brain had been so overloaded it was playing tricks on me. I wasn’t even sure Val and Ethan realized I’d seen them either. I’d managed to pull the door shut pretty quietly. The only noise I made, in fact, was when I tripped and fell halfway down the stairs. But I recovered quickly and went to hide in the bathroom for a few minutes. The drive home had been silent, with Grandpa making a few attempts at jokes that fell flat. When we’d arrived, everyone had retreated to their corners and the house had gone completely silent.
Thank God I could get out for a while this morning.
I pulled into the first coffee shop drive-through I found and ordered a large black coffee. It wasn’t the day for anything fancy. I just needed a clear head for once. As I waited for my order, I studied the note Katrina had left, which detailed the stops and what I was dropping off at each. I figured I’d start at the westernmost point of the island, in Fisherman’s Point, to beat the traffic, and do the Daybreak Harbor stops last, since I had to be back at the café by eleven to open. I plugged the address into my Google maps app, turned up the radio, and hit the road.
I pulled up to the first stop about forty minutes later. It was in one of the island’s only trailer parks on the far west side of town. The little old couple were waiting anxiously on the run-down porch with their dog, a beautiful golden retriever. They thanked me profusely for the month’s worth of food I gave them, and hugged me a few times before I went back to the truck. I told myself it was allergies when my eyes blurred as I drove away, watching the golden’s tail wagging in my rearview mirror.
By the time I got to the third stop in Turtle Point, my heart was full and I hadn’t thought about any of the madness in the last two hours. The house I pulled up to was small, with a tidy yard and flowers blooming in pots on the porch. A smattering of pansies circled the mailbox. I got the delivery—two boxes of wet cat food and a bag of dry food—out of the truck and went to the door.
A woman about my age answered. She was dressed in gym shorts and a T-shirt. I could hear music playing behind her.
I smiled. “Hi. I’m Maddie with the Pet Pantry on Wheels. I have your food.”
“Oh! Thank you. Come on in.” She swung the door open. “I’m Crystal. You can just drop it in the hall.”
I placed the boxes down. A black cat appeared seemingly from out of nowhere, twining his long, slinky body around my legs.
“Jack! Manners,” she scolded.
“It’s fine. I love cats. My guy is in the truck.” I motioned outside, where JJ lounged against the open window, sniffing away. “I run the new cat café in Daybreak Harbor.”
Crystal lit up. “You’re Maddie James! I’ve been dying to go.” Her smile faltered. “Although my funds are pretty limited these days. Hence the charity.” She waved at the food, clearly embarrassed about whatever situation had brought her to ask for the help. “I lost my job on the mainland. So I’m trying to figure out my next move and picking up work around the island to pay the mortgage for now. Stinks.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But I’m not here to judge you. Katrina set up this program to help people who need it. We’re not here to decide who’s worthy or not.”
Crystal blinked furiously, trying to hide the tears. “Thank you. I’m so appreciative. And once I’m back on my feet I want to help.”
“No problem,” I said uncomfortably. “Listen, feel free to come by the café whenever you want. On the house. Good for a cup of coffee and a muffin too.”
“Really? That’s so sweet of you. But you don’t have to—”
“I know I don’t. But the café is supposed to make people happy, aside from taking care of cats. It’s not really there to rake in tons of cash.” I grinned and handed her a card from my pocket. “Just e-mail me here and tell me when you want to come. I’ll save you a spot.”
She clutched the card. “Thank you. Really.”
“No worries. What kind of work do you do?” I wondered if I could hook her up with some kind of job.
“I worked in marketing up in Boston. But everyone’s cutting back. So now I’m waitressing. I picked up a gig at Saltwater, though, so that’s been helping. The tips there are way better than the other places I’ve worked, even though it doesn’t come close to a corporate salary.”
Saltwater. The place I’d been with Lucas Tuesday night.
“Really,” I said, trying to sound casual. “How long have you been there?”
“I guess about six weeks.”
“Were you there Tuesday night by any chance?”
“Tuesday.” Crystal thought for a minute, then lit up. “Yes! That was the crazy night where there was a big fight outside.” She looked at me curiously. “You heard about that?”
“I was there,” I said.
“Oh wow. Yeah, that was crazy. I felt kind of bad for Cole.”
My heart skipped. “You know Cole?”
She nodded. “Just through the restaurant. He comes in on the weekends with his girlfriend. Seems like a nice guy.”
His girlfriend? Could she mean Holly? “Who’s his girlfriend?” I asked casually.
“I don’t know her name. She’s older than him though. You can kinda tell.” She looked immediately apologetic for saying that. “Sorry, do you know Cole?”
“Um, yeah. Kind of,” I said. “We went to high school together.” It wasn’t a total lie. “So, older, huh?”
“Yeah. Probably ten years, maybe more. I mean, I don’t care. I don’t even know why I mentioned it.”
“So it wasn’t … the woman who died last weekend?”
Now Crystal looked at me like she was worried about my mental health. Which she potentially should be.
“Died?” she repeated. “I have no idea. I didn’t know anyone died.”
Apparently her newspaper subscription had been one of the first things to go with her new budget. Either that or she really didn’t get out much.
“Never mind,” I muttered. “Good luck with your job search.” I fled out to the truck.
Chapter 50
I headed toward Daybreak, grabbing my phone out of the console with one hand and scrolling for Becky’s number with one eye on the road. When she answered, I blurted out, “I just talked to someone who said Cole’s girlfriend is older than him.”
A pause. “Sorry?”
“Holly didn’t look older than him. Holly looked like she’d had enough plastic surgery that she looked like a … really weird twenty-year-old. Who is Cole’s girlfriend?”
“Maddie. I have no idea what you’re talking about and I’m kind of busy—”
“I know. Adele confessed. You’re going to be busy for a while with that,” I muttered. “But listen. I was just doing the Pet Pantry on Wheels run and I delivered food to a waitress who works at the place where Cole got punched out the other night.” I filled her in on the rest of the conversation.
“Hmm. That’s interesting,” Becky said. “So he w
asn’t seeing Holly, but he did have a girlfriend.”
“It sounds like it. What do I do with that?”
Becky thought for a second. “I could go back to Jodi and see what comes up on the guest list from the party that night that Holly was killed. If Cole was there, he probably brought his girlfriend, unless he was cheating on her, too, with Holly.”
“Not funny, but entirely plausible,” I said. “Yeah, if you could look that would be great. Thanks, Becky.” I hung up and refocused on my GPS. I needed to plow through the rest of these deliveries and get back to the café.
* * *
I finished my rounds and made it back in time to do a quick check of everything before I opened. Ethan and Gigi had covered the morning shift while I completed the duties of my third job. Ethan had set up a nice spread of Felicia’s food, which included some chocolate puff pastry that nearly made me swoon when I bit into it. Otherwise, the house was quiet.
I wanted to ask Ethan where Val was, but I didn’t think it wise to open that can of worms. So I slunk into a corner and wondered what was going to blow up next.
When my phone rang a few minutes later, Becky’s number flashed on the screen. I glanced around to make sure the guests were occupied, then slipped into one of the rooms earmarked for construction.
“Hey,” I said.
“So an interesting thing,” Becky said without prelude. “Jodi got the guest list for the party and one of the names on it sounded familiar. I remember reading a blurb from the cop logs the other night with this name. So I checked with my cops reporter, and apparently there was an incident at Holly and Heather Hawthorne’s house. A couple hours before Holly’s body was called in. They called the police on some guy with the same last name as a woman on the guest list.”
“Okay. What does that mean?”
“Well. A woman named Diane LaPlante was a guest. A man named Sean LaPlante apparently showed up unannounced at the house and ‘created a disturbance,’ according to the report. Holly called the police on him. Or Heather. One of them.”
“So … who is Diane LaPlante?” I was thoroughly confused.
“I have no idea. A friend of the Hawthornes, I guess. Jodi wasn’t sure. Thought I would pass it along in case it means something. And, Jodi remembered the story about Gigi and the Hawthornes. The big firing. Something about Gigi taking food out of the kitchen for the cats during some fancy party. Heather caught her and lost it. She made a huge deal, claiming unclean food practices, and called the board of health on them. Guess it got pretty ugly.”
“Wow. So Felicia and Gigi had a really big bone to pick with her,” I said slowly.
“Sounds like it. Look, I gotta go back to work.”
I hung up and thought about all this. Then I called Grandpa’s cell phone. Ten minutes later we had a plan. I sat back and watched the clock move more slowly than it ever had.
Chapter 51
After the café closed around three, I drove to meet Grandpa at our designated meeting spot—the beach. Ever since I was a kid, Grandpa’s place had been the beach. He went there for everything—to relax, to think, sometimes to brood. He always went there when he needed to work out something particularly troubling. And now that he was retired, I guess he came here to do his work.
When I pulled in with Grandma’s car, I had to laugh. Grandpa waited for me in his truck, dressed all in black, complete with Jack Bauer-style sunglasses. “I think you missed your calling,” I said, sliding in next to him. “You should’ve been an FBI agent. Or some kind of fancy undercover cop.”
“Nah. I liked being in charge too much.” He flipped open a small notebook. “Diane LaPlante. She works with Heather Hawthorne. She’s Heather’s boss, to be exact. And it appears Ms. LaPlante has been coming down to the island most weekends this summer. Staying at the Hawthornes’ house.”
I frowned. “So she’s a dead end.”
Grandpa shook his head. “Not exactly. She’s not coming down here for the sea air and some quality time with her star employee.”
“Wait! She’s Cole’s girlfriend,” I said as it dawned on me. “The older woman.”
“’Fraid so.”
“And her husband is Sean, I’m presuming?”
“Right again. He must’ve finally decided enough was enough and came down to confront her.”
“The same night Holly ends up dead.” I blew out a breath and slumped in my seat. “Do you think Holly was the one who outed them in the first place? That would give him cause to kill her.”
“That I don’t know, but she sure saved him by calling the cops. I heard things were on their way to getting violent.”
“So what about Heather? Maybe she was mad that her sister called the cops and her boss’s husband got hauled away to jail? Maybe she thought it would reflect badly on her at work?”
“I’m sure she thought all of those things. But once the cops took him away, she whisked her boss away somewhere. Didn’t come back to the house at all that night. And Holly was still standing when they left. And after getting threatened to within an inch of his life, I heard Cole went upstairs to hide.”
“But he stuck around,” I said.
Grandpa nodded. “Probably his knees were shaking too hard to walk.”
I digested this. “You’ve been busy, Grandpa. Should I ask about the detective work that led to this wealth of information?” I tried to keep my tone light, but I was still concerned about all of this.
Grandpa shook his head. “Nope. Private investigators are like journalists. We don’t reveal our sources.”
“I see.”
“Cole didn’t kill anyone, Maddie. He’s too stupid. And passive. Now I’m just concerned for your sister. I want her to see this guy for who he is so we can get her out of the situation. The sooner the better.”
I agreed with that, but I still wasn’t convinced Adele was the killer. There was still Gabe, Gigi, and Felicia to consider. But Grandpa must be really worried about Val to support going after Cole like this. “Fine. Have you talked to Val since last night?”
He shook his head. “No. But I feel like Cole is about to turn all the charm on to get her back. And I worry that she’s susceptible to his BS.”
I wasn’t so sure of that, given how cozy she and Ethan had looked last night, but I kept that to myself too.
“He has been trying to call her. But she told me she hasn’t taken his calls. So where’s Cole now?”
“At his and Val’s house. I followed him there earlier.”
I hid a smile. I could just picture Grandpa tailing Cole all over the island, documenting his every move. And Cole was not smart enough to catch on. “Perfect. I’m going to talk to him.”
“What are you going to say?”
“I’m not totally sure yet. But I’ll think of something.” I wasn’t being entirely truthful. I did know what I was going to say to Cole, but Grandpa would probably try to steer me to a different tactic. I could picture him wanting to run this like one of his SWAT team takedowns, with a rehearsed script and a backup plan in place.
He didn’t look convinced. I needed to distract him. “You didn’t just find all this out since I called you. How long have you know about this woman?”
Grandpa shrugged. “I have my ways, Mads. I haven’t lost my touch.” He winked. “Also, a couple of Patriots season tickets in the hands of the right people can help.”
Chapter 52
I drove to my sister’s house, my anger mounting with each mile marker. Who did this guy think he was, cheating on my sister? I wondered if that was the example his father set. Get married, have the nice house, the outward picture of happiness, but then do whatever you want to do while things collapsed from the inside out. No wonder Mira Tanner seemed so … sour.
I pulled up and parked on the street, not wanting to alert him by driving into the driveway. I wanted him to be surprised when I rang the bell.
But it took me three rings and some pounding before he opened the door. I had to admit that the more I thoug
ht about it, the more I knew Grandpa was right. Cole was a lot of things, but he was too weak to be a killer.
He opened the door, peering out behind me. His black eyes had turned into greenish-blue bruises, giving him the look of a Halloween character too early for his holiday. “What do you want, Maddie? Is Val with you?”
“No. But I need to talk to you.”
“About what? I’m not feeling well—”
“I don’t care,” I said. “My sister hasn’t been feeling well for a week. Probably longer.”
Cole half smiled at that. “It sounds like she’s doing fine. Already got a new guy, from what I heard. Did you set her up?”
I stared at him with full-on daggers until his false bravado faltered and he stepped back, silently letting me in. I followed him inside. He remained standing. So did I.
“You need to tell me the truth about what happened at Holly’s,” I said. “I know you’re protecting Gabe Quinn.”
He gaped at me. I tried to assume an air of assurance, as if I knew this for a fact and would go to bat for it in a court of law. Of course, I’d made it up on the way over. I had no idea if Adele was protecting her nephew or her protégée, but I had to find out what Cole knew. He’d been at that house, in a unique position to see who was there and, possibly, what had happened.
“Protecting him from what? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I guess all that time on the West Coast with those wackos really got to you, huh?” He folded his arms across his chest and tried to assume an authoritative stance.
“I heard the whole thing between you two the other night,” I said, not even acknowledging his lame attempt at an insult.
He said nothing, but his right eye twitched. Finally, confirmation. It was Gabe who’d punched him out. “What was Gabe doing there? Was he still seeing Holly? What’s he hiding?”
Cole turned away. “You need to leave.”
I moved around him so I was once again in front of him. “I’m not going anywhere, Cole. If you don’t tell me what you know, I’m going to make sure Becky prints everything about your sordid affair with Diane LaPlante all over her society pages. You can kiss whatever assets you hoped to retain in your divorce from my sister good-bye. I will make sure you’re the laughingstock of the island and your precious father wants to crawl under a rock because you’re such an embarrassment. And I have your girlfriend’s husband on board as the main source of the story.”
