by Kathi Daley
“Of course, once I found out about the affair, I was even more intrigued,” he continued. “So, what do you think?”
He paused, and I struggled to refocus.
What did I think? About the affair? He’d been talking about an affair? I had no idea how we’d gotten onto that subject. I guess I really had let my mind wander.
“I guess when in Rome,” I offered vaguely. “By the way, I spoke to Kate about an eighth writer,” I said in an attempt to divert his attention. “I think my handyman would be perfect. His name is Jeremy Slater, and he lives and works here at the inn. He will be around the entire long weekend. He took creative writing in college, and has a project he can dust off and work on if you need him to fill in.”
“That does sound perfect. Will he be at dinner?”
“He will.”
“Great. I am going to do introductions, and then I’ll announce pairs for the next few days.”
“Are you planning to get started this evening?” I asked.
“No. I’ll be having dinner with the group, handle the introductions, and provide a brief outline as to how the next four days will look, and then I am leaving to meet with my older brother, Walter’s, college roommate. He happens to live in Holiday Bay.”
“That’s quite a coincidence.”
“That’s what I thought when Kate called to tell me she’d moved the event here. I haven’t seen Tank in years. It will be good to catch up.”
“Your brother’s college roommate is named Tank?”
“Tank Tyson. His brother’s name is Train.”
“What unique names.”
“I always thought so. You know how I enjoy them.”
“Yes, I do seem to remember that the protagonists in your last two novels were named Ardal and Royden. Hard to forget. By the way, did Georgia explain the after-hours entry?”
“She said that the front door will be locked at ten, and if I return after that, I should use the kitchen door.”
“Exactly.”
“I’m not meeting Tank until eight, so I probably won’t be back by ten, but I won’t be too late. Breakfast is at eight tomorrow morning, right? You know how much I love my breakfast.”
I did remember that. That writers’ conference when we first met after we’d both signed with Kate, had been held in South Carolina in a large house overlooking the sea. Breakfast had been served on the deck every morning, and Dax was almost always the first one there.
We talked for a while longer. It was all very professional and superficial, but there was an undercurrent I couldn’t deny. I wondered if he felt it as well. It was true that I hadn’t been looking forward to seeing him again, but I hadn’t anticipated how nervous I’d be. I knew I needed to get out of there so I could deal with my runaway emotions, so I made up an excuse about needing to help Georgia with dinner and headed toward the kitchen.
“So?” Georgia asked. “Did birds sing?”
I tied an apron around my waist. “I can’t say that birds sang, but I will admit to being hyperaware of his every little movement, and I was a lot more nervous in a man’s company than I’ve been in a very long time. I’m not sure why. Dax was cordial and friendly. He acted exactly as an old colleague one hadn’t seen for years should. I think that I’ve probably built my feelings for him up in my head over the years, though, and what I think I feel is just a figment of my imagination. And you were right. It was a good idea for me to stay and confront those feelings head-on. If I’m going to get on with my life, I need to resolve all my relationship issues.” I looked around the kitchen. “So, how can I help?”
“You can get the cheese and fruit trays ready to go out, and there is a selection of wines on the back counter. I plan to start dinner at six-thirty because everyone is here and seems hungry. Dax mentioned a meet and greet at five, followed by his brief introduction at six. He also mentioned that he will probably sneak out before dessert because he needs to leave at seven-thirty to meet a friend.”
“Yes, he mentioned that his brother’s college roommate lives in Holiday Bay. His name is Tank Tyson. Have you ever met him?”
She slowly shook her head. “No. The name isn’t familiar. But I’ve only met a small portion of the people who live in town so far.”
“Dax said that Tank’s brother is named Train. Can you imagine naming your children Tank and Train?”
Georgia shrugged. “I like the names. They are unusual, and for a boy, they are sort of manly.”
“I guess that’s true. Do you have fruit other than the grapes and apple slices to go with the cheese?”
“There are pears to slice in the crisper. I thought I’d set out a tray with a selection of crackers as well.”
As Dax had planned, everyone met downstairs for wine and cheese around five. It was a happy and enthusiastic crowd that gathered to make introductions and share the projects they would be working on over the next few days. I was afraid Jeremy might feel awkward, but he seemed to fit right in. In fact, eighty-year-old Hazel Garwood seemed downright smitten with the young man who looked as if he was hanging on her every word.
Dax had everyone take a seat at the table at six o’clock. It was at this point that more formal introductions were made, and teams were announced. Dax had decided to pair up half the sister team of Connie and Silvia with half the couple team of Larry and Lavern, rather than having the writing pairs work together. I guess it made sense for Connie to work with Larry and Silvia with Laverne. They wouldn’t have gotten as much out of the breakout sessions if the writing teams had remained with each other.
Dax paired Alfred Hawthorn, the retired doctor, with Piper Jensen, the young woman who was just starting out in writing, which left Hazel with Jeremy, which seemed to suit them both just fine. I had to admit to feeling just a bit envious of the group. I could remember my first writers’ retreat and the nervous anticipation I’d felt. I remembered the energy that pumped through my veins at the welcoming mixer and the nervous anticipation I felt as I waited to see who I’d be paired with. I remembered having an instant attraction to Dax, which only deepened as we worked together. I also remembered my feelings of guilt that I was even looking at another man while engaged to Ben. I hadn’t been looking for an emotional affair when I’d set out for South Carolina high on the adrenaline of signing my first book contract, but an emotional affair is what I’d found. If I was honest with myself, I wasn’t sure I’d ever forgiven myself for that.
I turned toward Dax as he spoke. I focused on his full lips as he explained the agenda for the week. I tried to look away, but I couldn’t help but remember the way I’d fantasized about kissing those lips all those years ago. It had been tempting to follow through with the fantasy, but I’d loved Ben, and Dax was just some guy I barely knew. Maybe what I thought I felt for Dax really was nothing more than the manifestation of the intense emotions I felt about the event in general. It was one of the highlights of my life to that point.
The guy did have charisma. I found my eyes transfixed on his smile as he chatted with Hazel. I remembered how I’d found it hard not to stare at the little dimple at the corner of his mouth as he spoke. The hero in the novel I’d written directly after the retreat where I met Dax was tall and rugged with startling blue eyes and the same little dimple in the corner of his mouth. I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. If there was one thing I knew to be true, it was that I needed to get my hormones under control and fast.
Chapter 4
The sound of my cell phone ringing woke me the following morning. It was early. Still dark. I normally turned my ringer off at night, but I guess I must have forgotten to silence it last night. I glanced at the clock to see that it was only a few minutes after six. I sat up and clicked on the Answer button. “Hello,” I said, still groggy from the deep slumber I’d been woken from.
“Abby, it’s Dax. I’m sorry to call so early. I’m afraid I am in a bit of a situation, and I need you to get the group started this morning.”
“Situation?” I glanced o
ut the window at the inky black sky. “What sort of a situation?”
“I’m afraid I’m being detained at the police station.”
That chased the remainder of the fog from my brain. “Police station. What happened?”
“I told you I was going to meet with an old friend last night.”
“Yes. I remember. Someone named Tank.”
“Well, as it turned out, Tank was hosting a group of men for poker and invited me to join. I thought it might be fun to sit in for a few hands, so I accepted. Tank’s brother, Train, was found dead on the back porch, and the five of us who were at the house at the time of his murder have all be detained for questioning.”
“Murder?” I gasped. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure exactly,” he answered. “Train went outside to have a smoke, and then someone suggested we call to order some pizzas. Once the pies were ordered, we all took a break. Some headed off to use the bathroom, others refreshed their drinks, returned calls, or just stretched their legs. The pizza guy showed up after about half an hour, and everyone gathered back in the den where the game was being held. Everyone but Train, that is. Tank went to look for him while we all served ourselves. He came back a few minutes later and informed us that Train’s body was on the back porch. He’d been stabbed to death.”
“Stabbed to death!”
“It was really bad. The knife was still sticking out of his chest.”
“Oh, wow. I’m so sorry. Do they think that someone from the game killed him?”
“I can’t know for certain what the police are thinking, but I would imagine that they suspect the killer to be one of the men who were playing poker. No one else was around.”
“Is Chief Wilder there?”
“Yes. He is the one who detained us. He is currently speaking to a man named Frank. He seems to be interviewing everyone one at a time and then releasing them. I still hope to be back to the inn by the time the morning session begins, but even if I am released, I will need to shower, and to be honest, I’m exhausted. If you could just do the intro after breakfast and then send everyone off into their critique groups, I would really appreciate it. I should be able to join the group for the afternoon session after lunch.”
“Yeah. No problem. Do you have notes or an agenda or something?”
“I have both notes and an agenda on my laptop. It is in the library. The password is Dabby.”
“Dabby? Really?” Dabby was the name of the character Dax and I had created to use for the skill-building exercises when we were paired together during that first writers’ conference.
“I need to go,” Dax said. “I think I’m going in next. I’ll fill you in on the rest when I get there.”
After I hung up with Dax, I texted Colt to ask him to call me when he had a chance. I was sure he would be busy with the interviews this morning, but I was curious to hear what he had to say about the death of the brother of the man Dax had gone to visit. If there were six men in a house late at night playing poker and one of them ended up dead, it did seem that one of the remaining five must have been the one to have done it.
I slid out of bed and headed to the shower. Georgia would be going over to the inn no later than seven to get the breakfast buffet ready. I figured I could just fill her in after I joined her. Talk about an unexpected twist to what promised to be an already emotionally charged few days for me. Hopefully, Colt would be able to figure out exactly what had happened once he had the opportunity to speak to everyone. An unsolved murder was the sort of thing I was sure Kate wouldn’t want to dominate the conversation during the retreat she’d poured so much time into planning.
Chapter 5
“I can’t go into much detail right now, and I need to get back, but in a nutshell, six men gathered at the home of Tank Tyson for a friendly poker game, and only five made it out alive,” Colt said later that morning after he’d completed his interviews and called me back.
“I know you must be busy, but you have to give me more than that. Maybe just the condensed version?”
Colt exhaled. He must be exhausted, but I wanted a general overview, at the very least. I hoped he would understand by now that I was the sort who needed to be kept in the loop and appease my request for a few juicy tidbits.
“Homeowner, Tank Tyson, and five other people, including Tank’s younger brother, Train, were playing poker,” Colt started off. “Around eleven o’clock, someone came to the door. Tank went to answer. When he came back to the group, Train announced that because the game was paused anyway, he was going out for a smoke, so Tank suggested that everyone take a break. One of the other men in attendance, Hank Hanover, decided to call for pizza. After that, everyone went their separate ways.”
“So it was during the break that the man was stabbed?”
“Yes. As I said, Train was the one to instigate the break by announcing that he was going outside for a smoke. I have confirmed that Train was indeed a heavy smoker and that he had headed in the direction of the covered back porch. He was later found with a knife in his chest on the very back porch he’d headed toward, so I have to assume he never made it back inside.”
“And the others?” I asked, wanting a bit more than that.
“Tank told me he went into the garage to fetch more beer because what he’d already brought in was running low. One of the other men, Frank, told me he went to the bathroom on the second floor, and a man named Bob told me he went into the office to make a phone call. Your friend Dax claimed to have headed out to his car to grab his phone, which he had left on the charger. When he arrived at the car, he found that he had several text messages that needed answering, which he did before he returned to the house. The only other person in the house was Hank, the one who called for the pizza. He told me he waited for it to be delivered in the den, which is at the front of the house.”
“So no one says he was with anyone else when the murder occurred.”
“That’s the way it seems.”
“What are you going to do now?” I asked.
“Dig deeper.”
“You sound tired.” I felt bad for Colt. He probably hadn’t slept at all.
“I was up all night,” he confirmed. “But I’ll be fine. I think it is important to figure this out sooner rather than later. At least everyone other than Dax lives in the area, so I don’t have to worry about them going home before I get all the information I need to make sense of this.”
“What about the pizza delivery guy? Did he show up? Who answered the door and paid him? Did he see anything?”
“There were boxes of pizza in the den when I arrived, so I know he showed up. Hank paid him and sent him on his way, but I sense there may be more to the story. The pizza delivery kid is the first person I am going to interview after I run home to shower. After I interview him, I’m going to try to track down the motorist who stopped by to use the phone just prior to the group breaking up.”
“What motorist?”
“According to Tank, a man knocked on the door, and he was the one who interrupted the game in the first place. He was a stranger who claimed that his car had broken down. He told Tank that his phone battery was dead, he’d forgotten his charger at home, and asked to use the phone. Tank invited him in and showed him to the office where he keeps a landline. He returned to the others, and after Train left to smoke, everyone began discussing pizza. I thought it odd that Tank had just left a strange man in his office and didn’t ask him if he’d been successful in making his call before he left. Tank claimed he didn’t know if the guy made a call or when he had left. Apparently, the stranded motorist was in the office for a while after Tank left him there, but he was gone by the time Bob went into the office to make his own call. It can only be assumed the motorist called for help and left without telling anyone.”
“And no one knew who this guy was?”
“Tank was the only one to have seen him, and he said he’d never seen him before. The guy introduced himself as Max but didn’t offer a last
name.”
“I guess you can pull Tank’s phone records to see who was called.”
“I’ve already requested the records for Tank’s landline as well as the ones for the victim’s cell. I’ve also requested the records for the cell phones of all the guests at the poker game that night. I should have them this afternoon.”
I asked a few more questions, Colt offered a few more details about the exact movements of the suspects, and I decided to let him go. If there was more to learn, and I was sure there would be, I could talk to him about it later. “Okay, well, keep me in the loop,” I finally said, ending the conversation.
“I will. I’ll call you when I can.”
I hung up with Colt and then headed to the kitchen to help Georgia with the lunch prep. Kate had asked for a light lunch, so we’d chosen deli sandwiches, a pasta salad, and cookies for dessert. We also had coffee and soda to drink, as well as bottled water and both black and green tea. The snow was coming down hard, and based on the weather report, the storm was supposed to intensify, so we discussed making a hearty stew and corn bread for tomorrow’s lunch. Dinner tonight would be a ham with all the trimmings. The sides would be a pear and pine nut salad mixed with fresh greens and homemade dressing, saffron rice with corn and peas, scalloped potatoes in a rich and creamy sauce, grilled asparagus, garlic green beans, and light and airy homemade rolls. It seemed like a lot of food for eleven people, but Georgia liked to offer variety, and she was always able to make use of the leftovers. The turkey and the roast beef she was using for the sandwiches were left from dinners the past couple of nights, and I was already anticipating a bean and ham soup for lunch tomorrow.
“So, what did Colt have to say?” Georgia asked when I joined her.
