The Ashford Place

by Jean Copeland

  “Do you have your gun?”

  “No. I don’t have my gun,” Ally snapped. “Do I need it?”

  “No, but it would be the perfect touch if she saw it in a holster on your hip.”

  “Open the door, Belle. I’d like to know exactly what I’ve gotten myself into with you.”

  “With me? I’m not the one banging on someone’s door in the middle of the night.”

  “Belle, stop pretending you’re not home,” Mary shouted. “I can fucking hear you talking in there.”

  “I’m leaving out the back,” Ally said.

  Belle grabbed her arm. “No, don’t. Please. Go upstairs. I’ll take care of this.”

  She refused to budge as she skewered Belle with skepticism.

  “Ally, please. This isn’t as horrendous as it seems.”

  “There’s not a lot of room for interpretation here.”

  Belle jumped at the next round of battering. “Please.”

  Reluctantly, Ally retreated up the stairs as requested.

  Belle whipped open the door. “What?”

  “You fucking twat! You actually went to a lawyer and got me evicted?”

  “That’s what people do when the tenant ignores their repeated requests to leave.”

  “Tenant? How could you be so cold?”

  “Mary, you seem to have forgotten that I gave you months to find your own place without even charging you rent. You ignored my texts, but did I come pounding on your door? Which, in this case, would also be my door.”

  “I can’t believe you’re already on to someone else. Does she know what a bed-hopper you are?”

  Belle stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind her.

  “I am not a bed-hopper, and you know it,” she whispered. “You and I both know that when you moved in, we realized right away it was a mistake, so don’t give me this wounded-heart shit because you’re angry I threw you out.”

  “I was planning to be out by the end of summer when you were done up here. I’m still trying to get my jewelry-design website up and running. Money’s been tight lately, really tight.”

  “So you’re not up here to try to win me back?”

  Mary’s cigarette laugh rumbled like an idling muscle car. “I am still pissed at you and do think we could’ve made it work if you’d given it more effort, but no. I’m not trying to get you back. What I would like to win, however, is a check from you so I can afford to move my stuff into storage for a month until I can find my own place. I’ve been crashing on Lyla’s couch for the past three days.”

  As hard as Belle tried to figure out how that was her problem, she agreed anyway to expedite the unpleasant matter. “Hang on. I’ll be right back.”

  “I can’t even come in and see what you’ve done to the place so far?”

  “Look at the pics on my Instagram,” she said, slowly pushing Mary off the entry step with the door as she closed it.

  Ally was halfway down the staircase. “I’m gonna head out now. If it takes you that long to tell an ex to get lost, it’s obviously not over.”

  “No, no, no.” Belle ran up the stairs and grabbed her hands. “That’s not even close to being accurate. Please trust me. Let me give her a check, and then I’ll explain everything.”

  She ran into the kitchen for her checkbook and tried sorting out the mental cluster-fuck that had sucked her in like a vortex just when things couldn’t have been going any better. Ally would have to be a saint to overlook this.

  “I can only spare two hundred dollars.” She handed Mary the check. “And this is a loan. Got it?” she added, knowing Mary would never pay her back.

  “I’m good for it,” she said as she stuffed the check into her bra cup. “You’re a good egg, Belle…no matter what everyone says about you.”

  “Thanks, Mary. And if by ‘everyone’ you mean your drama-stirring friends, I won’t be losing any sleep over it.” She closed the door with a sigh.

  Ally joined her in the foyer. “You gave her money?”

  “It’s easier to give it to her and get her out of my hair. She won’t bother me now that she knows I’m seeing someone.”

  “Look, Belle. I don’t know about all this. You made it seem like you guys were over and done with. Next thing I know she turns up on your doorstep, and you’re paying her off like a married congressman.”

  Belle tried to block her from reaching for the doorknob. “No. That’s not true—”

  “I think you need more time to figure your shit out.”

  “I know what this looks like, but I swear, it’s not even close. My shit is figured out, Ally. I want you, not Mary. Even if I didn’t have you in my life, I wouldn’t want her.”

  Ally’s arms were tightly crossed, and the rest of her wasn’t moving.

  “Look, in the last few months my life has really come into focus,” Belle said. “I know what I want, and equally as important, I’ve also learned what I don’t want anymore. I look around now, and I see the people who really matter in my life—my college friends, and my family, and you. It’s made me realize how different my life was from theirs. I wasted a lot of time with cocktail acquaintances who couldn’t figure out what they wanted or were too dysfunctional to keep what they wanted if they’d had it.

  “Since I turned forty, I don’t want to be around toxic people anymore. And if it costs me two hundred dollars to get the last one out, then that’s money well spent.”

  Belle complemented her plea with big, baby-deer eyes that may have been a bit hyperbolic, but the sentiment was a hundred percent sincere.

  Ally resigned herself with a smirk. “What am I supposed to do with you when all my instincts are telling me to run?”

  “Don’t listen to your instincts. They’re just jealous.” Belle smiled as she slipped her arms around her waist.

  Ally smiled again as she played with the ends of Belle’s hair. “They’re going to say ‘I told you so’ when you leave here at the end of summer, and I never hear from you again.”

  “I hate to disappoint them, but that’s not going to happen. I may not even leave at the end of summer.”

  Ally burst into a luminous smile.

  “Not if I haven’t found a house at the shore yet. I’m putting my condo on the market next month, so I’ll have no choice but to stay.”

  “Oh.” Ally slowly backed away. “You really do have things figured out.”

  “Ally, what’s the matter?”

  “Nothing.” She padded over to the couch and plopped down. “What time is it?”

  Belle landed in her lap. “I decided to sell my condo sooner than later because now that I’m here with you, I have no desire to go back. I’ll stay here until I find what I’m looking for on the shore.”

  Ally wrapped her arms around her but wouldn’t give Belle verbal reassurance yet.

  Belle lifted her chin and kissed her. “I thought we were going with the flow? Especially since our flow seems more like a tidal wave.”

  Ally finally turned toward her. “That sounds like a great plan.”

  “You really think so?”

  “Yeah, I do,” Ally replied and teased her with a sensual kiss.

  Belle began nibbling at her lips and cheeks. “Then what are we doing down here?”

  “Wasting time.”

  Belle got up, took Ally’s hand in hers, and led her upstairs.

  Chapter Nine

  Belle sat on a stool at Ethel’s lunch counter as she checked her email app. It had been days since she’d emailed Craig’s sister about Judy, but she still hadn’t responded. Her knees bounced to the Roy Clark song twanging out of Ethel’s old-school antenna radio as her Denver omelet sat in the plate getting cold. Maybe it was time to switch to decaf.

  “What’s the matter with that?” Ethel eyed her and the untouched omelet with a scowl.

  “Oh, nothing,” Belle said, jolted back to the present. She cut a huge triangle of it and shoved it into her mouth.

  “It’s those damn things,” she
said, indicating Belle’s phone. “I’d like to toss them all in the river behind the restaurant and let ’em float down to New York City.”

  “You’re absolutely right.” Belle placed her phone face down and out of reach. “I’ve been waiting for an important email.”

  Ethel scratched at her graying bun. “Hmm. Now how have I ever lived without being able to check my email every five seconds?”

  Belle laughed and wondered how long that pencil had been stuck in Ethel’s bun. She never wrote down anyone’s order. Maybe she’d forgotten it was there.

  She also wondered if she should shoot Charlene another email, asking if she’d received the first one, or call Craig to see if he would intervene. After shoving a forkful of home fries into her mouth, she grabbed her phone when Ethel wasn’t looking, sent another email politely inquiring of the sister once more, then shoved it into her back pocket.

  “Say, Ethel, do you recall any of the boarders that stayed in my aunt’s house?”

  Ethel bent over the counter, hovering over Belle’s breakfast, as she appeared to search her memory.

  After a moment, Belle prompted her. “A guy named Phil with three fingers? Or a young schoolteacher?”

  Ethel’s eyes flashed with familiarity. “Come to think of it, I do remember them, the fella more than the teacher. Marjory was her name, I think. She was only around a month or two.”

  Hmm. Long enough for Marjory to deliver a secret love child and bury it in the Ashfords’ yard.

  “Did you know her last name? Or what school she worked at?”

  “Afraid not,” Ethel said. “I only knew of her because she came in and had dinner by herself once or twice a week.”

  “What about Phil? Did you know his last name maybe?”

  “Nope, don’t recall that, but I do remember he was a handsome man, around forty. When the kids were outside here protesting the Vietnam war, he’d get real mad and show everyone his hand and say how he couldn’t serve in Korea on account of his accident when he was a boy.”

  “How long did he live at Marion’s?”

  Ethel shrugged. “I’d say about a year or two. He worked in the factory over in Putnam and would do all kinds of jobs for Marion around the house. That house looked shipshape when he was there. I always said she should’ve moved to a smaller place after Wes died. It’s really too big for a woman with a young daughter to manage alone. You don’t have a husband yet, right?”

  “Right, but I’m also not planning to live there after it’s finished.”

  “You’re not? I can’t imagine an Ashford not owning that place. I remember when my husband was alive, he used to say—”

  “So getting back to Phil. Did any of the guys around here hang out with him?”

  “I think he may have been kinda friendly with Bob and John Olsen, God rest his soul. John used to run Danville Hardware.”

  “Bob as in Sheriff Morgan?”

  “That’s right. He might be able to tell you something about Phil. I’d like to help, but I’ve never been one to gossip.”

  “Thanks.” Belle smiled and continued eating.

  Ethel moved down the line to refill coffee cups, then ended up in front of Belle again. “I will say this though.” Her eyes darted left, then right. “After a while people started saying that Phil was helping Mrs. Ashford with more than just the house, if you catch my drift.”

  “Really?”

  “As in having an affair,” Ethel added quietly, as if to avoid scandal.

  “Yeah, I got that.” Belle tried not to smirk. “Do you think the rumors were true?”

  “I tend to believe them. You started to see Marion come out of the house on other occasions besides work. She’d smile at ya at the grocery store and come in for breakfast on Sundays with Phil once in a while after church.”

  “She never told anyone they were dating?”

  “Not to my knowledge. We all assumed it, even though they never held hands or kissed in public. Marion wasn’t the type to do that.”

  “What happened to him?”

  Ethel shrugged. “He up and disappeared one day as unexpectedly as he arrived.”

  “Was Judy still alive when he was there?”

  “Oh, yeah. Judy was dating that Wheeler boy at the time. That poor kid was always landing in trouble. Nobody knew the back of Bob’s cruiser better than him.”

  “That’s what I heard. But wasn’t he from a dysfunctional family?”

  “Yeah, but he was always polite to me,” Ethel said. “They’d come in for cheeseburgers and shakes, and he was always respectful. He and Judy seemed so in love. I was sure they’d get married when he came home from Vietnam.” Ethel’s gray eyes grew melancholy. “Who woulda believed she’d be the one who didn’t survive the war—shame she got so sick.”

  Belle remembered how Aunt Marion had told everyone Judy had been sick. Apparently, nobody knew she was into drugs.

  “Thanks, Ethel. If you can remember anything more about them, please let me know.”

  “You writing a book about them or something? You’re a professor, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, but I’m not writing a book. Being in the house, fixing it up, changing things around has made me nostalgic.”

  Ethel seemed to agree, but Belle felt compelled to further explain her probing. “Plus, Judy’s my father’s cousin, so he’s kind of curious about that side of the family.”

  “I understand. Well, good luck to you. I’ll try rattling my old brain to see if I can’t shake loose some more memories.”

  “That’d be great.”

  She left the café knowing she’d have to confer with Ally on this. Although the sheriff wasn’t doing well, it was time to give Ally a gentle reminder to pick his brain.

  ***

  All day Belle had endured the unnerving ritual of tingling skin and a flip-flopping stomach in anticipation of a date night with Ally. After a dinner of Ally’s grilled chicken and a quinoa-and-kale Southwestern salad, they curled up on her sofa under a light quilt for a binge-watch session of Transparent.

  After they’d settled into the third episode, Belle could no longer keep her focus on the show. She was still simmering over her conversation that morning with Ethel and how easily the right word or two from Sheriff Bob could possibly have solved her Ashford-house mystery.

  She drilled Ally with a lingering side glance, hoping to ease her attention away from the TV, but she was too engrossed for subtleties. When Belle resorted to tickling Ally’s forearm lightly, Ally turned to her, dotted her lips with a few kisses, and returned her eyes to the TV.

  “Ally.” She whispered her name like a child attempting to sneak into her parents’ bed in the middle of the night.

  “What?” she replied, her eyes still trained on the screen.

  “Can you pause that for a second?”

  Ally complied and faced her with a patient smile.

  “I know you said Bob’s had a few bad days, but can’t we run over there quick, take him a pie, and ask him a few questions about the boarders?”

  “Belle, I already told you I’d talk to him as soon as he was over this rough patch. If I start discussing a case with him, he’s gonna get all riled up and want to jump out of his pee-jays and into his uniform. Shirley would kill me.”

  “But he may have some valuable memories that will break the case wide open.”

  “If he has any info, I’ll get it from him. Trust me. The case isn’t going anywhere.”

  “Well, no, but he might be,” Belle mumbled.

  Ally shot her a scalding look. “You’re terrible. He’s not on his deathbed ready to kick off at any moment.”

  “I know, but…”

  “Anyway, I haven’t heard from the ME’s office yet about whether there’s enough genetic material to go on. Without that, it’s destined to remain cold.”

  When Ally resumed the episode, Belle fell back against the cushion in a pout. After a moment, she rebounded with, “Unless your friend, Bob, knows something or someone th
at can lead us directly to the baby daddy.”

  “Yes, Belle, that’s the plan.” She put her arm around her and tugged her close. “Now c’mon. Let’s finish this episode, and then we’ll see if we can find something better to do.” She pulled Belle’s chin toward her and kissed her sensually on the mouth.

  Belle responded with a light moan and some fervent kisses of her own. Soon Ally slowly pushed her down onto the sofa and climbed on top of her.

  “Will you go tomorrow?” Belle said, coming up for air.

  “What?”

  “Will you go talk to Bob tomorrow?”

  Ally sprang up. “I can’t tomorrow, Belle. I’m driving up to the Berkshires to pick up Chloe. Don’t you want to enjoy this last night we’ll have alone together before she’s home?”

  “I do, I do,” she said, pulling Ally back down on top of her. “I forgot you weren’t working tomorrow.”

  “You know, I’m starting to think it’s not really me you’re into.”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “Maybe you’re drawn to the intrigue surrounding this investigation and are attracted to me because I’m investigating it.”

  “Ally, you can’t be serious.”

  “It’s all you want to talk about when we’re alone together.”

  It hurt Belle’s heart that Ally might’ve thought that and hadn’t realized how truly into her she was. Hell, it was practically love at first sight, and that was before any of this mess had clawed its way to the surface.

  “That’s not true,” she said as she kissed Ally’s neck. “Most times I’d rather be doing other things with you besides talking.”

  Ally gently pushed her back. “Then can we give the case a rest for the moment and enjoy each other?”

  Ally’s dreamy eyes seduced her into submission. Those eyes could get Belle to do anything. It was a good thing Ally didn’t know that.

  “Do you want me to come along for the ride with you tomorrow to get Chloe?”

  “That’s so sweet of you to offer.” She stroked Belle’s cheek. “But I think I’d like the time alone in the car to catch up with her, see how her mood is, and tell her about you.”