“I should get going,” Lydia said.
“Because you don’t want to hear my apologies or because you want to work on the case?”
“I’m not the one you should be apologizing too,” said Lydia. “But I am going to go and work on the case. I need to figure out how this killer accomplished a perfect crime.”
5
Girl’s Night
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” Trina said.
“Thanks,” Lydia replied to her best friend.
“The cardboard boxes were a bold decorative choice, but I liked this unpacked design much better.”
Sunny barked in agreement, and Lydia laughed. She was with her two best friends (human and canine) in her new living room. After selling her childhood home as instructed to do after her uncle’s death, Lydia had spent a good deal of time trying to find a smaller house that would feel like home. She eventually found it in a cozy house that fulfilled her necessary requirements. It needed to have character, have enough space for guests, and not have been part of a crime scene at any point. It was an added perk that this house was right next to a beach where her French bulldog mix could sunbathe.
“I tried to unpack quickly so it would feel more like home. And when Mona almost needed a new place to stay when Annette’s family was here, it inspired me to hurry up with my guest room,” Lydia said. “And, of course, Suzanne helped me decorate this room.”
“Was she the one who put up that painting?” Trina asked, pointing at a colorful canvas full of swirls.
Lydia nodded. “It reminded us of taffy while still being artistic.”
“And what did Suzanne say about all the dog beds in the décor?”
“That was nonnegotiable,” Lydia explained. “Sunny needs lots of places where she can plop down and enjoy the sunshine.”
Sunny wagged her tiny tail as if she understood and Lydia rubbed the dog’s furry back. Trina took the opportunity to pour them some wine to go with their saltwater taffy dessert.
“Thanks for coming over tonight,” Lydia said. “It’s been a hard day.”
“That’s what best friends are for. They come over for girl’s nights when someone is feeling down. And if needed, they bring wine.”
Trina handed her a glass, and Lydia accepted. She leaned back in her seat and took a sip.
“Is this about Daniel?” Trina asked. “I noticed that we left the show rather abruptly last night.”
Lydia sighed. “Daniel wants to return to the Coast Guard. He’s going to leave Ocean Point and head back to North Carolina. He’s trying to say goodbye to me, but I’ve been avoiding hearing it.”
“Oh, Liddy! I’m so sorry. You two seemed so great together.” Trina frowned. “Honestly, you two were becoming my model for how a functioning couple should work. You gave me hope that I could find someone someday.”
“You will find someone,” Lydia assured her.
“Someone who doesn’t die after our first date? Or try to kill me? Or would always choose poker games over me when he’s terrible at playing cards?”
“Yes.”
“Thanks,” Trina said with a smile. “But it was nice seeing a happy couple to make one believe in love and destiny. I’m really sorry Daniel is leaving.”
“I thought we might have been more than a summer romance. I guess I was wrong about that, but that doesn’t mean that love doesn’t exist. My Aunt Edie and Uncle Edgar were a perfect couple. You just had to look at them to know how much they cared about one another.”
“That’s true. And even after your uncle’s death, he tried to make sure that she would be happy. He encouraged her to follow her travel dreams and take a trip around the world.”
“She was in Easter Island according to her last postcard and was having a great time,” Lydia said.
“That’s good. But I can’t help thinking that for every Edie and Edgar, there’s a Brie and Grey. I still can’t believe that she used him like she did.”
“Did I tell you that she apologized to me?”
“She has a lot to apologize for,” Trina said indignantly. “Detective Grey is a good guy. All he does is protect and serve the community. He should not have been manipulated like that.”
“I agree.”
“Maybe I didn’t like him at first, but that’s because he thought that I was a suspect in two murders. But he was just doing his job.”
Lydia looked at her friend. “Are you saying that you like him now?”
“What? I hadn’t even thought of him like that,” Trina said. She shook her head. “No. We’re complete opposites.”
“Well, you know what they say about opposites?”
“They attract trouble?” Trina joked. “No. Besides, I think I’m still staying away from dating for a little while. At least until I can see another happy couple to give me hope for the future.”
“Leo and Suzanne are a very happy couple now.”
“I can’t believe they got engaged after all! It baffles my mind.”
Lydia nodded and then said, “What baffles me right now is what happened to Bill Vector.”
She had been having a rough afternoon as her thoughts alternated between her upcoming breakup and a potential murder. Both seemed like insurmountable obstacles to solve.
“Terrible thoughts keep entering my head,” Trina admitted. “Like, if the guy was dating Amber, he probably was someone who accumulated enemies. His girlfriend sure does.”
“And he was a lawyer. There might have been an unhappy client who wanted revenge against him.”
Trina took another sip of wine. “Then again, are we sure that he was murdered? Maybe Leo and Detective Grey are right.”
“I think it’s worth looking into as a murder,” Lydia said. “Nothing is lost except some of our time if we are wrong. But if we’re right, then we’ll have uncovered a killer’s devious plan and helped justice prevail.”
“So, if Leo and Grey are right, then we need to figure out how someone could have poisoned a man alone on a fishing boat without touching the man’s glass or beverage.”
“Exactly.”
“Could the killer have hidden on board, added the poison once the glass was set out, and then jumped overboard?” Trina suggested.
“The killer couldn’t have locked the door to the sleeping quarters. It has a chain lock.”
“Maybe Bill Vector still locked the door. Or maybe the killer used a high powered magnet.”
“It is possible,” Lydia said. “There’s something about all of this that doesn’t seem to add up. I’ve been trying to think if there’s a way that the victim could have ingested the poison that wasn’t from his drink.”
“Did he eat anything?”
“Yes, but the remnants of his meal were tested and didn’t have any poison in them.”
“If he left food lying around that makes me think that he didn’t plan on having the poison when he did,” said Trina. “But I guess the police could argue that the guy lost his appetite thinking about what he was going to do.”
“Maybe he had some gum that was poisoned?” Lydia said, testing an idea out loud. “He would have to spit it out, and it wouldn’t be found in his stomach.”
“That sounds promising,” Trina said, encouragingly.
“It might also explain why Leo said the trace of poison was found on the lip of the glass. Maybe the poison was transferred from the victim’s mouth to the glass and not the other way around.”
“Then, a murderer could have gotten to him another way. Killer gum!”
“But if he did spit out the gum, there’s no way to prove that he had chewed on something,” Lydia said glumly, thinking about how if such a piece of evidence existed, it might be at the bottom of the sea if the victim spit it overboard.
“I’m sure that you’ll figure out a way to solve this.”
Lydia was about to protest about how difficult this case already seemed to be, but she was interrupted by the doorbell. Sunny ran to the door, wagging her tiny tail.
�
�Who could it be at this time?” Lydia asked.
“Sunny looks happy,” said Trina. “Maybe it’s Daniel.”
Lydia started to adjust her hair in a messy bun as she walked to the door before deciding it was a lost cause. She tried to figure out what to say so she could stall his goodbye as she went. However, when she swung open the front door, she was greeted with an enthusiastic hello.
Her Aunt Edie pulled her into a big hug as soon as she saw her. Lydia was happy but very surprised to see her there.
“Lydia, darling, it’s so good to see you,” Aunt Edie said. “I would have arrived sooner, but I had trouble finding your new house. I do love it, though. It seems perfect for you and Sunny.”
“Thanks,” Lydia said, squeezing her back. “What brings you back to Ocean Point?”
“I thought that Leo might be feeling blue because of his breakup with Suzanne, so I hoped I could cheer him up. I also hoped to spend some time with you and your nice, young man,” Aunt Edie said. “And I thought it would be fun to close the summer with some nice relaxing time at home near the beach. Hopefully, there’s not another case that will steal everyone’s attention.”
Lydia ushered her aunt inside, not sure how much of the situation she should explain.
6
Possible Poison Points
The next morning, Lydia brought Aunt Edie to Doherty’s Taffy and Trinkets. The last time that her aunt had paid her an unexpected visit, Aunt Edie had enjoyed visiting the taffy shop, and this time was no exception. She especially enjoyed trying the pink lemonade taffy.
The unexpected addition to the girl’s night made the evening even more enjoyable as Aunt Edie showed them pictures of her travels and regaled them with stories of the people she met and the food she tried. After Aunt Edie’s last visit, Lydia tried not to keep secrets from her anymore – though she did sometimes downplay the amount of danger she had been in when she confronted a killer.
Lydia explained that she and Trina had been discussing how a killer could have poisoned the careful victim before she arrived. After hearing all the details, Aunt Edie was surprised that Lydia had agreed to help Amber. (Lydia had not held back in her messages when describing Amber’s behavior toward her and her shop.) However, her aunt was not surprised that Lydia wanted to get to the truth of the matter. She advised her to follow her gut but to keep Leo in the loop if she discovered anything.
“I made sure that you kids learned how to share as you grew up,” she had said. “And that includes clues and developments in cases.”
“Remind Leo of that,” Trina had joked.
Aunt Edie had brought souvenirs with her that Lydia was proud to add to her new shelves, and Sunny accepted the colorful woven poncho that Aunt Edie put over her head with good humor.
Lydia avoided telling Aunt Edie about Suzanne because she thought that this was Leo’s business, but she did mention that she thought that the couple was talking again. She decided to be upfront with her aunt about her own romantic woes. If her aunt was going to be staying in her guest room (which Lydia was very grateful she had finished setting up), she might suspect that something was bothering her.
This time Lydia wasn’t as happy to hear her aunt’s advice because she simply told her that she had to talk to Daniel. While it did make sense that she would have to deal with this situation eventually, Lydia wasn’t looking forward to facing it. She had started to open her heart to Daniel – something that she had not planned on doing after her ending her bad relationship with her fiancé before returning home to help care for her uncle when he first fell ill.
She had not planned on falling in love anytime soon. She hated to admit it now that Daniel was going to ship out and they had never exchanged the words before, but she did love him. She knew that their final conversation was going to hurt very much.
That was why she kept glancing toward the door whenever it opened at the taffy shop. She didn’t want Daniel to walk inside because she knew that her visiting aunt would make sure that she talked to him immediately. Aunt Edie was currently distracted talking about crafts with Annette by the counter, but she would surely intercede if she saw Lydia avoiding Daniel again.
When the door opened, she jumped. However, it wasn’t Daniel or additional customers. It was a trio of her young employees who were not working that day coming inside. Kelsey, Mona, and Quinn walked inside and came up to her.
“Lydia,” Quinn said. “I know I said goodbye after Kelsey’s show.”
“I’m sorry I rushed away that night,” Lydia said. “I really enjoyed seeing the performance with you all, and Kelsey did an amazing job.”
“She really did,” Mona agreed. “Thanks for letting us all off early to see the show. And thanks for giving the three of us this morning off so we could help Quinn pack for school.”
“I’ve done a lot of packing and unpacking this summer so I know how long it can take,” said Lydia.
“I did say goodbye,” Quinn continued. “But I don’t think I told you how much this job has meant to me. I made very good friends here. And I hope that I’ll be able to come back next summer.”
“You’ll always have a place here,” Lydia assured her.
Quinn was normally very quiet and hesitant, but she was confident in her next movement. She gave Lydia a hug. Lydia hugged back, starting to feel a little emotional. The summer really was ending, and things were changing.
“You know, I have something for you,” Lydia said, trying to keep her voice steady. “I was going to send a care package to your college, but I might as well give it to you now. It has little trinkets I thought you might need like notebooks and pencils. And it also has a lot of taffy that you can share with your friends at the dorm.”
Lydia hurried to retrieve the box she had prepared from her office and handed it to Quinn, who looked touched by the gesture.
“Thank you.”
“I’m going to be starting school again too,” Kelsey said. “And I’ll be a little busy with my senior year at high school and with rehearsals for drama club, but I’d be happy to work over winter break.”
“I might need the extra help around then,” Lydia agreed. “And I want to be told about all the shows you’re in this year. I’d be happy to come and see them.”
“I’ll see them too,” Mona said. “I’m not going anywhere. Well, hopefully, I’ll go back to my condo once it’s all fixed and I won’t have to keep intruding on Annette’s hospitality.”
“She loves having you,” Lydia said.
“Well, I’ll be in town,” said Mona. “You don’t have to worry about losing me.”
“You and Jeff will stay on fulltime,” Lydia said. “Annette said she'd focus on making her crocheted toys for the shelves and not head out to the shop when it starts snowing.”
She spoke to her employees a little more about their plans. They all hugged once more. Lydia teased that they shouldn’t eat Quinn’s entire care package today. The others assured her that they wanted to finish packing early so that they could hit the best Ocean Point food stops before Quinn left and wouldn’t eat all the taffy.
After talking to them, Lydia headed back to the counter where she saw another change. Instead of having her crocheting out for when there was a lull, Annette had a new craft.
“What’s that?” Lydia asked.
“Your aunt and I were just discussing this,” Annette said. “I’ll continue to make my crocheted sea creatures and maybe add little pumpkins or Santa hats to them for the holidays, but I think I’m going to work on some other crafts for the trinket side of the shop too. I was thinking of making some cross-stitch designs.”
“They can be beachy sayings that can be hung up on the wall, or can be decorative pictures,” said Aunt Edie.
“I haven’t done this in a little while, so I thought I would make a practice one with the name of the shop on it,” Annette said.
“That’s a lovely idea,” Lydia said.
She stood with the two women and watched as Annette began
the project. Annette wet the thread between her lips so that it would fit into the needle easier.
“It’s a little trickier to start this than with my hooks,” Annette admitted.
An idea started to form in Lydia’s head, but it wasn’t fully developed. She watched Annette work, trying to let her half-thoughts grow.
However, before she could get too far, the shop door opened again. As Lydia turned to see who had entered, the visitor was hurrying back out of the door. For a moment she thought it was Daniel avoiding her now, but then she thought that the form looked more like her brother. She decided to investigate.
Pink Lemonade and Penalties Page 3