Sweet Tea and Secrets

by Joy Avon

  “I don’t think Jamison knew Monica was still alive and someone else had died on that boat. I think he believed that the boat held the remains of Monica Walker, and he wanted to come forward and have his moment of glory after all those years of being pointed at as the reporter who couldn’t crack the case. He called you and you told him you’d come over to discuss it. Then you killed him.”

  “You can’t prove any of that.” Dave leaned back, crossing his legs. “You’re just speculating. A good lawyer will have me released in no time.”

  “Then I suggest you call a good lawyer so we can start the interrogations as soon as possible.”

  Falk looked at Monica. “You’re staying too, to give your side of the story. You can have a lawyer present as well, of course.”

  “Can we do this discreetly so that it doesn’t get out that I’m Monica Walker? Let the people believe you’re questioning me, Elvira Riggs, and my husband. Please?”

  Falk shrugged. “I don’t want a media circus at this station, so I’m fine with that. But you just said this Quinn character knows something and ran off, so he might be telling the whole world right now, for all we know.”

  Monica sighed. “I should have handled it differently.”

  Dave shook his head in disbelief. “Why did you have to tell Quinn Darrow the truth? I could have protected you.”

  “You’ve protected me long enough. And Quinn Darrow is Muriel’s son. I’ve always felt like I let Muriel down, and I can’t do the same to her son. I had to tell him. Please try to understand.”

  Dave stared at the floor, his shoulders slumped.

  Callie looked from the dejected husband to the guilt-ridden wife and wondered if they were telling the truth. Had they really not known that Muriel Walker had died on the night of Monica Walker’s disappearance?

  Had they really not known that the stolen boat had sunk and been buried under the water, so close to them for all of these years?

  Or was it only Monica that didn’t know while Dave had known all along? Was he the killer? Did he kill Jamison as well?

  Falk gestured to Callie to leave his office. Outside he said to her, “Thanks for bringing her in here.”

  “She wanted to come and tell you. I didn’t make her. I’m sorry about all of this. Dave did what he could to keep her out of it.”

  “Yes, I wonder how far he was willing to go for that.” Falk raked back his hair. “Anyway, I have a challenging few hours ahead of me. I need to reconstruct what happened, and it was a long time ago. Plus they could both be lying to protect themselves or each other or who knows who else involved. So far everybody seems to have been lying about everything.”

  He sighed. “Well, never mind. I’d just be very happy if Quinn Darrow refrained from making this breaking news on every channel.”

  He held up his hands and spread them as if unrolling a banner. “ ‘‘Actress Missing for Thirty Years Turns up Alive and Well in Small Town Where She Vanished’—it would be a global sensation.”

  Callie frowned. “Did you check the map for fingerprints?”

  “Of course, but no luck. Nothing on it.”

  “What? Nothing? Not Jamison’s? If he took it from his file cabinet … he wasn’t wearing gloves, right?”

  “No, you’re right about that—it’s odd. But I don’t suppose the killer would have wiped the prints away. He could have taken the map with him. It pointed straight to the scene of the crime. The boat and the remains.”

  Falk walked away to talk to his other deputy and get things into motion for questioning the Riggses.

  Callie stared at his busy figure. He had said before that the killer wouldn’t leave a clue. He was saying now that the killer would not have removed fingerprints from the map. But why not?

  What if the killer had wanted the map to be found? What if the killer had wanted the police to conclude that Jamison had had the map all along, hidden in his file cabinet?

  But what if Jamison hadn’t known anything about the map, the boat, or the body on it? What if Jamison had been killed for another reason?

  What if the map had been put there on purpose, to lead the police to the boat and the remains and muddle the waters?

  Callie walked out of the station, her head spinning with possibilities. She had to talk to Mr. Bates again. The former hotel owner might be able to help her.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Mr. Bates was glad to see her, as he was just working on Daisy’s portrait. He about dragged her into his studio and pointed at the canvas on the easel, where a pencil outline was taking shape. “I’m trying to capture her essentials in my mind as I go,” he explained. “A tilt of the ear here, a sparkle in the eye there. But let me not bore you with painting life. Tell me what you’re here for. You look kind of beat.”

  “Thanks—now I feel even more tired.” Callie sank into a chair.

  Mr. Bates went to a side table and poured some lemonade from a jug. He handed her the glass. “Have a drink. You’ll feel better soon.”

  He sat down himself and asked, “Is it this business about a sunken boat having been found? I heard about it from someone who came to pick up his dog’s portrait. Is it Monica Walker’s boat? I mean, the one stolen the same night when she vanished?”

  “Yes.” Callie decided not to say anything about the remains on board. “The police were able to locate it because of a map they found on Jamison’s desk after he was murdered. So he must have been involved somehow at the time.”

  “You think Jamison killed Monica Walker?” Mr. Bates sat down with his own glass of lemonade and sipped. “I do remember he was so fanatical about solving it, but I can’t imagine him as a killer. Or as a vain psychopathic personality who kills first and then exposes the killer himself? Who would he have wanted to pin it on? Not on himself, I suppose.”

  “When you mentioned to me that the cards with the bouquets were signed with ‘R.,’ you didn’t say her ex was called Roger. Roger Aames. You must have known about him.”

  Mr. Bates stared up at the ceiling with a vacant look as if he was far away. “The vengeful ex—it’s such a cliché. I think Jamison also thought so and was looking for something slightly more original. Like, uh … a rival in the cast?”

  “What?” Callie asked.

  Bates smiled at her. “Well, every actress at the time wanted a part in Magnates’ Wives. And if Monica Walker was no longer available, well, someone would have to take her place. Did you know that only one week after Monica vanished, the studio had already ordered the writers to introduce a new character who could appeal to the audience that had adored Monica? In fact, it’s safe to say that this new character rescued the entire series from tanking after Monica’s disappearance.”

  “I see. I can’t say I ever watched Magnates’ Wives, so I really had no idea.”

  “Ah, Sadie Cooper,” Bates said with a fond smile. “A younger wife, even more beautiful than Monica’s character had been—softer, more vulnerable. But also with dark secrets that came to light over the course of several seasons. They really upped their game with her. I doubt they would have gone quite that dark before Monica left.”

  “Oh,” Callie said, “so actually her departure was good for the series?”

  “Yes. The news about her disappearance made waves for months, and the series had never attracted so many viewers as it did then. Plus they sold so much merchandise. They had all kinds of items made with Monica’s character on them and the new lead, Sadie Cooper, beside her. You could say her career really soared because of Monica.”

  Callie studied him. “And this actress who played Sadie Cooper, was she here in town when Monica vanished?”

  “I don’t think so, no. But I can’t be sure. I can’t say I noticed her at the time, but she wasn’t as well known then as she became with the Sadie Cooper part.” He held her gaze. “You think she might have …”

  “I’ll look into it. Thank you for the suggestion.”

  Mr. Bates gestured with a hand. “Don’t mention it. I’
m probably thinking in the wrong direction anyway. I never was good at solving puzzles. I just wish the disappearance had done my hotel as much good as it did the series. I think the producers should thank Monica for her initiative.”

  Callie finished her lemonade and thanked Bates for his time. She admired Daisy in pencil one more time, saying she hoped the oil paint version would be taking shape soon. Even though she still thought three hundred dollars was a steep price, she was already looking forward to hanging the portrait of her little girl on the wall of her new cottage. It would make it feel like home.

  Mr. Bates accompanied her all the way to her car and waved her off.

  Once she had driven a little ways away from his house Callie stopped the car, pulled out her cell phone, and went online. She searched for “Sadie Cooper, Magnates’ Wives.”

  She stared at the strikingly beautiful young woman, then read what the entry said about her part. Introduced in late 1989. Played by …

  Her eyes went wide. Kim Ralston.

  Ralston? But that was the name of the man who had worked on the series, right? The one who had advised Monica to come out here.

  Otto Ralston, who had a cottage here. Who had even told her his daughter was staying here too. His daughter, Kim Ralston? If Kim was Otto Ralston’s daughter, he had to be older than Callie had believed when she had met him. Sixty, sixty-five, she had guessed, but with a daughter who had been twenty at the time when she took Monica’s place on Magnates’ Wives, Ralston had to be over seventy. He didn’t look his age at all.

  Her mind spinning, Callie put her phone away and drove on. Ralston had mentioned in passing that his daughter was staying at the campgrounds. Callie wanted to talk to Kim Ralston right away and find out what she knew about those days thirty years ago.

  * * *

  At the campground’s store, Iphy’s friend Irma told Callie that Kim and her family weren’t tenting, but had a motor home and took her to it. Seeing how large and luxurious it was, with an inflatable Jacuzzi beside it, Callie concluded that Otto Ralston’s definition of ‘rustic’ to describe his daughter’s vacation didn’t match her own.

  A neighbor who was cleaning his barbecue straightened up a moment to reveal that the family were probably at their favorite spot on the beach near the Wavebreaker Beach Pavilion before dipping both his hands into a bucket of soapy water again.

  Armed with Irma’s directions to the Pavilion and her detailed description of Kim, her husband and their three daughters, Callie exchanged the tree-rich campgrounds for the wide open beach, soaking up the exuberant summer mood of kiting, swimming and sunbathing which eased some of the tension in her shoulders. And when she spotted the family at the water’s edge, she was all ready for some innocent conversation.

  The eldest daughter, a pretty teen with a slightly bored expression, was swiping through screens on her phone, while two much younger girls built a sand castle. They looked almost identical with blonde pigtails and pink shirts emblazoned with the word princess in glittery letters. Kim was still a striking woman, tall, statuesque, and with the blonde curls that had been her trademark in her days on the show. She wore a simple summer dress now and had bare feet crusted with sand. When Callie asked her if they could talk a moment, she stepped aside with a friendly smile. “Yes? What is it?”

  “I’m Callie Aspen from Book Tea, a tearoom in town. I’d like to invite you and your family to the Fourth of July tea party we’re organizing at Haywood Hall. We’re highlighting town history, and we’ll also devote some time to the link between Heart’s Harbor and the hit series Magnates’ Wives.”

  Kim’s friendly smile turned chilly. “That was a long time ago. I had a good time of course, but my life is different now. I don’t want to be asked for autographs and all that. I spend the summers here with my family and I’d appreciate it if we could remain more or less anonymous.”

  “I’m sorry. I talked to your father the other day, and he mentioned his daughter also vacationed here. I had no idea that …” Callie tried to look sufficiently contrite.

  Kim now thawed a little. “My father is very proud of me. I told him several times not to start on that old Magnates’ Wives thing again, but it was a highlight in his own career as well. He was responsible for promotion, marketing, merchandise. I think it was one of the series that sold the most merchandise at that time. Of course you can’t compare it to the current series, but for the late eighties it was doing great.”

  “Your father is very proud of you indeed. I can understand that you don’t want to come to the tea party. That’s fine. I won’t point you out to people or anything. I just … well, we want to throw a great party, and Magnates’ Wives is something people remember. Especially with Monica Walker vanishing here.”

  Kim shuffled her feet in the sand. “Yes, it’s a mystery that will probably never be solved. It was odd, filling the empty spot left by her. But I had my own part, my own character. It’s not like I had to play her role.”

  It sounded as if this was something Kim had repeated over and over. To herself?

  “Were you already coming here at the time?” Callie asked.

  Kim nodded. “With my father. He’s always loved the ocean.”

  “Handy with boats too?”

  “Oh, very. He can control anything from a canoe to a catamaran. He always told the series writers what they could do with boats.”

  Callie smiled, although she felt a little cold inside. “I see. You must have had some thrilling scenes. Real cliffhangers.”

  “Usually at the season’s end. The viewers had to speculate whether somebody was going to die, or … I remember one time when we were all aboard a ship, and it was supposed to start sinking. There was only a small dinghy some of us could leave in. What would happen next? The entire summer people argued over who should get into the dinghy and survive.”

  Kim shook her head. “To them Sadie Cooper and her friends were very real.”

  “Well, it must be something fun to look back on. Even if you’ve stepped away from it. What do you do now, if I may ask?”

  “I’m a beautician. I have a studio where people come for a facial or a manicure. It’s really nice work and an ideal work situation with the kids. After ten years on Magnates’ Wives, I did a few other TV shows, but I quit acting after I had my second daughter.” She pointed at the teen who was digging through a beach bag. “I just felt like I couldn’t fully focus on my work, thinking about my little ones at home. When they were older, I did some work as talk show host, and there were negotiations to get me my own show, but then the twins came along. Rather unexpectedly, but nonetheless very much wanted. They grow up so quickly, you know. My eldest is in Japan right now as part of an exchange program. When I think of her, so far away, I’m glad I have the twins close to hug.”

  Kim smiled as she watched her daughters bicker over where the sand castle’s gate should be. “My father wasn’t happy that I quit. He has always said I could get into some big Hollywood production. He’s still upset I didn’t make it to that level.”

  Callie nodded. The kids’ voices and the cries of the gulls overhead seemed to come from far away. Her mind was racing. Otto Ralston, who loved his daughter. Who was ambitious and wanted to launch her career. Who might have believed that success in Magnates’ Wives would be the stepping-stone to Kim’s Hollywood debut.

  A man who knew about boats. Who had been familiar with Heart’s Harbor and the area around it.

  A man who might have even sensed how unhappy Monica was and how desperate to change her life around.

  Had Ralston followed her here? Had he watched her as she met with Dave? Had he found out the two had met before, abroad? Had he seen his chance to get rid of Monica and introduce his daughter in her stead?

  It was possible, but to prove it Callie needed a lot more than what she had right now. Assumptions weren’t enough. She’d have to prove that Ralston had been in Heart’s Harbor that night. That he had known where the boat was. Or that he would have had the ch
ance to follow Muriel, mistakenly believing her to be Monica.

  Monica had told her that Ralston lived here in the summers and had never recognized her. So Ralston believed he had killed Monica Walker. He had killed her and sunk the boat. But he had kept a map of where he’d sunk it. As a backup plan? To use in case the matter became news again?

  Had he killed Jamison and left the map on his desk as a distraction? To lead the police in circles, ever farther away from the truth? With the boat found and a dead body on board, the police would, of course, have opened up the old case and looked at all the old suspects. Roger Aames, stalker fans, the alleged new love interest. Otto Ralston had never been in the picture, so he needn’t fear he would be implicated.

  Clever. But if Ralston had left the map on purpose, he had believed the police would find Monica Walker’s body. He had not known it would be somebody else’s.

  That could be their trump card.

  Before word got out that Monica Walker was still alive and the remains on the boat belonged to somebody else, they had to confront Ralston. Lure him into a trap.

  She thanked Kim hurriedly and walked off, leaving the woman to stare after her in mild surprise.

  Callie pressed a hand to her throat as she ran for her car. There was no time to lose. They needed to get to Ralston before he knew what was really up if they were to have any chance of succeeding.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “I don’t like this,” Falk whispered to Callie.

  They were hiding behind a giant tree trunk close to Ralston’s cottage. Callie could smell the scents from the blossoming garden. Ralston was working there, quietly pulling out weeds. He had no idea what was about to happen to him.

  Falk whispered again, “Dave is in his cell at the station, so I know he can’t burst onto the scene to create a mess. But if something happens to Monica, he’ll blame me. He might even sue me. This could cost me my career. And where’s Quinn? Making this trap work is risky enough without a loose cannon in the equation.”