Knot on Your Life

by Betty Hechtman

  I was still adjusting to all her talking. Madeleine was the older sister, but Cora had always been the one to take charge. Madeleine had been so quiet that for a while I wondered if she was able to talk. There was no doubt about that anymore.

  “I’m sorry you aren’t joining us this time,” I said. It was really just a polite gesture. It would have been very awkward if she had joined the retreat as she usually did. “I think they’re enjoying it, but I’m more or less an outsider on this one.”

  Something beeped on Madeleine’s wrist. She looked at it in a sudden tizzy. “I have to go. I signed up for a golf lesson,” she said. “Finally, my transportation seems appropriate,” she added as she walked to her parked golf cart. I hoped she’d be all right driving in the fog.

  This time I went all the way into the Lodge. As soon as Kevin saw me, his eyes tensed and he seemed to be turning Tim Moffat’s wife to face away from me.

  Lieutenant Borgnine was giving me the stink eye too. I took the cue and walked past them into the Cora and Madeleine Delacorte Café. Even with the stop at the Blue Door, I’d been too busy talking to Lucinda and worrying about my group to even drink the iced tea she’d given me. I needed a shot of something strong. Cloris was behind the counter wearing the gold jacket that was the café workers’ uniform.

  “You’re everywhere,” I said with a smile.

  “I like getting as much experience as possible. The classes at the community college are fine, but nothing takes the place of learning how it all works by doing.” She had a mixture of maturity and exuberance that made her a natural for a hospitality career. She picked up a stray sugar packet from the counter and put it back in the dispenser. “What can I get for you? How about one of the fancy drinks? Maybe a cappuccino. I’m working on making designs in the milk froth.”

  “You sold me. Make it a cappuccino with an extra shot.”

  “Tough morning?” Cloris asked as she started to fill the metal cup with finely ground coffee.

  “How about not enough sleep and then taking my group whale watching and finding out that someone in my group was upset that I’d done the workshop for the Silicon Valley bunch.”

  “That’s ridiculous. They don’t own you.” She sighed. “That group probably really needed the workshop, too. It must be tough on the Silicon Valley bunch to have one of their associates die.” The strong coffee had begun to drip into a cup, filling the air with its strong scent. She steamed the milk and then poured it and the espresso into a cup. The final touch was a swirl on the top before she handed it to me. “I did it, a perfect heart shape,” she said with pride. Then she waited while I took my first sip.

  “Delicious,” I said. I looked back toward the door. “About the Silicon Valley group—they seemed more confused than broken up. I saw Kevin St. John and Lieutenant Borgnine out there. I assume they’ve been talking about what happened. You seem to be in the middle of everything. Did you hear anything? You know, whether it was an accident or something else.”

  Cloris came around from the back and leaned on the counter next to me. “There was a lot of back-and-forth between Mr. St. John and the cop. I didn’t mean to overhear, but they were talking in front of me like I was invisible. I got that it could be an accident or it could be murder.” Her voice dropped to a whisper on the last word. “It seems like it’s a matter of opinion about whether the man fell on the rock and it bashed his head or the rock bashed his head with some help. Mr. St. John was pushing for it to be called an accident and kept pointing out that the man used poor judgment to walk on the rocks when there was a Danger sign and he was wearing leather-soled shoes.”

  “I don’t believe it. Kevin St. John is trying to put the blame on the dead guy,” I said, shaking my head. “What about the cop? What did he say?”

  Cloris shrugged. “He agreed to call it an accident for now.” It was great having someone on the inside like Cloris and I thought about something else. “Did Lieutenant Borgnine say anything about investigating the source of the nine-one-one call?”

  “I forgot, they did talk about it. I think the cop checked the log of emergency calls and it came from one of the pay phones here.” She automatically waved her arm in the direction of the Lodge’s great room. “But there’s no way of knowing who made it.”

  I was going to say something more, but I heard footsteps and when I turned I saw that Tim’s wife had come into the café. I turned to Cloris and put my finger to my lips, signaling for her not to say anything more.

  Cloris gave me a wink to show she understood and went back to her post behind the counter.

  “Welcome, welcome. We feature espresso drinks of all kinds. Let me know what you fancy and I’ll whip it right up for you.”

  The woman gazed at the menu with a blank look. No surprise that she was a little distracted.

  By the way they’d acted, it was obvious that Kevin St. John and Lieutenant Borgnine didn’t want me to talk to Mrs. Moffat. I assumed that was her name, but who knew—these days, so many women continued on with their maiden names. If I ever got married I was pretty sure I’d want to go by Feldstein. But the whole name thing was extraneous at the moment.

  I checked the area to make sure her gatekeepers weren’t going to swoop in and block me before I took a step toward her. “I saw you talking to Lieutenant Borgnine and Kevin St. John. You must be Tim Moffat’s wife.” I held out my hand. “Casey Feldstein.”

  Her expression came into focus and she looked at me. “Audrey Evans,” she said, taking my hand. “Do you work here?”

  “Not exactly, I arrange yarn retreats and hold them here.” I was ready in case she asked what yarn retreats were since that was a common question when I told people what I did, but she let it go. “Did you arrange the retreat Timmy was here for?” I shook my head. “But you know what happened, right?” This time I nodded.

  She turned to Cloris and said she’d have a coffee with lots of cream and sugar. “I usually drink it black, but I need a little boost. Please add it for me.” I offered her the stool next to me at the counter, but she opted for one of the tables. “I don’t have it in me to climb up on one of those.” I thought that was going to be the end of it, but she invited me to join her.

  Cloris did the honors with the cream and sugar and I carried the cup to the table. Audrey had already sunk into one of the chairs. The table was by the window, but there was literally no view. All that was visible was white from the thick fog. I didn’t think it mattered as she didn’t even seem aware there was a window.

  Thanks to Lucinda and her taste in clothes, I knew all about designer duds. As soon as Audrey put her trench over the back of the chair, I knew it was a Burberry and probably cost almost as much as my entire wardrobe. Underneath she had on a black sweater over a pair of charcoal-colored jeans perfectly accessorized with a silk scarf that might have been a Hermès. She wore simple gold hoops in her ears and if the scarf was a Hermes, they were probably solid.

  “I’m so sorry for your loss,” I said in a somber tone. I was surprised when she rolled her eyes.

  “This is very awkward,” she said. “They called me because I’m Tim’s wife, but we’re getting a divorce. I guess even though it’s almost final, since we’re still technically married, I’m his next of kin.” She took a generous sip of the coffee that was almost beige. She swallowed and closed her eyes momentarily with satisfaction before turning toward Cloris. “This is perfect. Thank you.”

  She took a few more sips and it seemed to revive her. “I’d hoped to be able to take care of things right away. Tim always said he wanted to be cremated. They won’t even let me pack up his stuff until everything is settled.”

  I was trying to think of something to say that would sound understanding, but it was certainly an odd situation. Finally I went with something simple and vague and just said, “I’m sorry.”

  She leaned back in the chair. “Thank you. It’s good to have a little sympathy. The two I just talked to need some lessons in compassion. All the manager se
emed to care about was putting the blame for what happened on Tim. And all the cop said was that I couldn’t do anything until the medical examiner signed off on the manner of death.” I looked back to Cloris, who was taking it all in, and we both shook our heads at how the two men had behaved.

  Audrey started talking and it came out like a stream of consciousness. It didn’t even seem like she was talking to me except that she occasionally looked in my direction. “It’s not a contentious divorce. Our lives are just going in different directions. It was my idea. Not that he balked.” She was still referring to him in the present and I could tell that everything hadn’t sunk in. I doubt it had gotten through to her that there was now no need for a divorce and she wasn’t a wife anymore, she was a widow. I was certainly not going to say any of it, though.

  I did however ask her what they told her had happened. “I don’t know. Something about him going for a walk on some wet rocks and falling. He hit his head. A stupid accident.” She drank some more of the rich coffee. “Though the concept of Tim doing something like that on his own seems out of character. He wasn’t interested in nature. I suppose it had something to do with the retreat.”

  I couldn’t stay out of it anymore. “It was part of the retreat. They were supposed to go on an independent mindful walk.” I hesitated and then continued. “I might as well tell you that Elex and Tim approached me about adding some activities to their schedule.” I reminded her that I put on yarn retreats and explained that knitting fit in with the mindfulness concept.

  “Tim wanted to knit?” she said with surprise.

  “Well, no. Actually, it was really Elex’s idea. And as it turned out, the workshop came after his accident.”

  “I thought so. Tim wasn’t into the whole mindful retreat thing. The only reason he came was that he thought it would be a good place to break some news to Elex.” I was just thinking that she seemed to know an awful lot about someone she was divorcing when she must have read my thoughts. “He came by to drop off some papers and he told me about the weekend. We were still civil to each other.”

  She’d gotten my interest. I’d wondered what the whole dynamic was with the Silicon Valley group. “Were they partners?” I asked.

  “I think that was how Tim looked at it. Tim was an angel investor. In the past he just invested in start-ups and stayed out of any real involvement. But I think he wanted to feel like he was doing something. He got involved in the day-to-day running of things with Reborn, but they have totally different styles. Tim was thoughtful and measured while Elex is passionate and impulsive. He’d tried to make suggestion to Elex about how to handle things, but Elex tuned him out. I think Tim was frustrated that Elex wouldn’t take any advice and Tim was concerned that the concept Elex had come up with wouldn’t work on a big scale. Tim wanted to do something that was a home run. He told me he’d already started working on something else totally on his own.”

  “So he wanted to tell Elex something like he was leaving their company?”

  She nodded. “And that the second round of financing wasn’t going to come through.” She went for the coffee mug and I caught a glimpse of her hand. She was still wearing her wedding ring, which seemed strange since she’d made it sound like the marriage was over.

  “Do you know if they had the conversation?” I asked.

  “Knowing Tim, I’m sure he would have gotten it out of the way as soon as possible.”

  I was sure that the manager and the cop hadn’t told her that I’d found Tim, but it seemed like something she should know. “I might have been the last person to see Tim alive,” I said in a soft voice. She turned to me in surprise.

  “Please tell me all the details. Was he awake? Did he say anything,” she asked, losing her cool façade for a moment and seeming almost frantic.

  “No, he didn’t say anything and he seemed unconscious to me. I really only had a short time with him and then the paramedics took him away. I’m sure they did everything possible to save him.” I was reliving the moment as I told her about it. And then a vague image popped into my mind I’d forgotten about. Something that had happened when I first got to the sand. The thought only lingered a moment and then all my attention was back on Audrey.

  She let out her breath, seeming uneasy. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do. I contacted my lawyer, but he’s in Paris this weekend. He’ll come here as soon as he gets back, and I can let him figure all of this out.” She looked at the window and did a double take. “Is that fog?”

  “It’s pretty thick right now,” I said.

  “The manager offered me a room. Maybe I’ll take him up on it instead of driving home to Palo Alto.”

  I thought back to the odd comments the Silicon Valley group had made when they were talking about Audrey. “Did the other Reborn people know about the divorce?” I asked.

  “Only if there’d been a reason to tell them,” she said. She drained the coffee cup. She had her back to the doorway and didn’t notice Elex come in. He certainly noticed her and his reaction was to go a little pale. I looked away before he realized I’d seen him and he slipped back out the door.

  “I just want you to know that I don’t usually talk this much about personal stuff and particularly not to someone I don’t know. It’s just, well . . .” She let out a sigh. “A really strange time.” She stopped for a moment and stared at the table as if she was thinking about something. She rocked her head and pursed her lips before muttering, “But Elex will get his money after all.”

  I couldn’t let that pass without a comment. “What do you mean?”

  “They had key man insurance policies for Elex and Tim for a million dollars each.”

  Wow, that put a whole new spin on things.

  Chapter 17

  I left shortly after Audrey did. Actually, I held down the fort for Cloris while she took Audrey to the front desk and made sure that she was given one of the rooms in a new building. I’d never seen the rooms but understood they were deluxe compared to the bare-bones rooms my people got. I thought that meant they had bathtubs and showers and were more spacious.

  As soon as Cloris returned, I took off. My plan was to go home and bake cookies for the afternoon session. After hearing that Madison was upset with me for hosting the workshop for the Silicon Valley group—I always started to call them the Silicon Valley guys and then remembered they had a woman in their group—I felt guilty and hoped a batch of fresh butter cookies might smooth things over.

  I was lost in the fog as I headed up the Vista Del Mar driveway. Both the thick white moisture outside and the swirl of thoughts going through my mind. “Was Lieutenant Borgnine bowing to pressure from Kevin St. John? The mystery of the 911 call had been partly cleared up, but who made the call? What about what Audrey had said about an insurance policy? It sounded like Elex had a big payday coming. Then there was the issue that she was still Tim’s wife. Was that a convenience or a coincidence? I didn’t even know if all the stuff about how civil they were about the divorce was true. And to top it all off, I kept wondering about the vague memory that had surfaced and disappeared when I was talking to her.

  The cloud on the ground made it hard to figure out my bearings as I went toward my place and I didn’t realize I’d left the Vista Del Mar driveway and was on the street. It wasn’t until I heard the screech of brakes that I looked up and saw the red truck inches from me. Dane glared at me from behind the windshield before he stuck his head out the window. “I’m giving you a jaywalking ticket.” He kind of choked on the words as if he was trying to sound teasing, but was really stunned. “Wait over there by the curb while I get out my ticket book,” he said. He’d added a grin to make his intent clear.

  I finished crossing the street and walked up my driveway as he pulled to the curb and jumped out. “You do realize I could have hit you,” he said, coming up behind me. “And then you’d have used that as the perfect excuse to break things off with me.” I turned to check his expression. He was still grinning but there was
some subtext of concern.

  “Sorry,” I said lamely. “You’re absolutely right. I need to pay more attention to where I’m going.”

  “Apology accepted and there’ll be no ticket,” he joked before giving me a hug. He was wearing his off-duty uniform of jeans and a T-shirt and I was glad not to be smacked by all the stuff on his cop equipment belt. “What were you so busy thinking about?” he asked.

  “Is it true that Lieutenant Borgnine is calling the death an accident even though he knows there’s more to it?”

  Dane’s brow furrowed and he seemed perplexed.

  “The man who died after falling on the rocks at Vista Del Mar yesterday,” I said, trying to jog his memory.

  “I know who you mean. It’s not like there were any other deaths yesterday in Cadbury. It was the last part about more to it.” He looked me in the eye. “How is that you know that Lieutenant Borgnine knows there is more to it?”

  Dane had no problem with my investigating and had been a source of information on occasion, but he knew that Lieutenant Borgnine did have a problem with it. “Have you been up to something you haven’t told me about?” he asked as a smile danced in his eyes.

  “I don’t want to talk out here,” I said, taking his hand and leading him to the kitchen door.

  “Okay by me,” he said with a lift of his eyebrows.

  “This isn’t about romance,” I said, trying to appear serious. “This is about murder.”