by Lee Hollis
Gasps from the congregation.
This was taking another sharp unexpected turn.
For the worse.
“Edie, please—” Reverend Staples begged.
“Now I know all about the perils of temptation, and let’s face it, we all know Trudy never wore a bra!”
Reverend Staples was in full meltdown mode and clasped his hands together as if he was about to pray. “Edie, you know it’s never wise to speak ill of the dead!”
“I’m not speaking ill of the dead! I’m speaking ill of you, and we can all see you are unfortunately very much alive!”
Reverend Staples got the shakes again, only this time it was more than just his hands, his whole body was reacting as if he was having a seizure.
Edie pointed a bony finger at her husband. “I woke up this morning, and I said to myself, ‘Edie, when you took your wedding vows forty-two years ago, you said for better or worse, and this is about as worse as it can get. Watching your husband embarrass himself, and you, with a girl half his age! And married to his successor, for heaven’s sake! It’s just inexcusable!’”
“Edie, I’m begging you, please, sit down. We can discuss all this later!”
Edie paused, then shook her head. “No, we can’t. Because I’m done. I’ve had it playing second banana to a man who doesn’t deserve me! The thought of traveling around the country in a cramped RV with you for the next five years makes me want to drive that RV right over a cliff on top of Cadillac Mountain!”
“Edie!” Reverend Staples cried.
“I want a divorce!” Edie hollered before turning her back on her husband and marching up the aisle of the church and out the door.
Reverend Staples stood still and silent for a moment before suddenly realizing he had to do something, and so he jumped down from behind the lectern and chased after his wife.
Ted Lancaster, who was standing off to the side next to his disagreeable daughter, Alyssa, hurried up the steps to the lectern. After turning to the choir and offering them an apologetic smile, he whipped around to address the congregation. “I think we would all like to thank Reverend Staples for his many years of service to the church...”
Hayley couldn’t believe it.
Talk about going out with a bang.
Chapter 31
It was no surprise when only a handful of parishioners decided to stay for the social hour immediately following the church service. Many had quickly flocked around the new minister, Ted, to compliment him on his superior oratory skills before deftly slipping out the door to avoid having to hang around and discuss the monumental meltdown of Edie Staples. Even though she was nowhere to be found in the reception room, her presence was keenly felt because of the lingering tension from her earlier explosion, and of course because of her stale cookies that were set out on a cardboard table and barely touched by those who did choose to stick around.
Hayley huddled with Bruce, Gemma, and Conner, sipping coffee from paper cups, in the corner of the room. Ted was making the rounds, shaking hands with the few people brave enough to risk having to talk about what they had just witnessed or try one of Edie’s bland sugar cookies.
“I’m starving,” Conner said, eyeing the table of sweets.
“Proceed with extreme caution,” Hayley warned.
Conner shrugged and walked over to the table.
Ted finally made his way over to them. “I hope I didn’t embarrass myself on my first day.”
“Trust me,” Bruce chortled. “You were the last person who embarrassed themselves today.”
“You were great,” Hayley piped in.
“I really tried to get things back on track when Reverend Staples’s sermon got... cut short.”
“It was seamless. People hardly noticed,” Hayley offered with a forced smile.
Ted raised an eyebrow. “Are you trying to humor me, Hayley? The sinking of the Titanic was less dramatic.”
Gemma laughed, then her smile quickly faded as something caught her eye. “Who is that woman flirting with my boyfriend?”
They all turned to see Conner standing by the refreshments table, a cookie in hand, chuckling affably as Alyssa coquettishly touched his injured arm in the sling, engrossing him in some small talk by inquiring about how he got hurt.
Ted cleared his throat. “Um, that’s my daughter, Alyssa. She just arrived in town.”
Conner took a bite of his cookie and Alyssa then reached up to brush a few specs of sugar off one cheek.
Hayley could actually feel Gemma’s blood boiling.
“Excuse me,” Gemma growled, and marched over to Conner.
Conner reared back, surprised at the sudden appearance of his girlfriend, who stared daggers at Alyssa.
Alyssa, for her part, appeared resoundingly unimpressed, as if the sudden revelation that the handsome young man she was shamelessly flirting with was already taken hardly mattered. And to drive the point home that she simply didn’t care, Alyssa went right back to nonchalantly touching Conner’s arm not one, not two, but three more times.
After watching his daughter’s rather bold and inappropriate behavior for a few more seconds, Ted turned sheepishly back to Hayley and Bruce. “Alyssa can sometimes be a handful.”
That was probably the understatement of the year.
Ted shook his head and sighed. “Trudy tried very hard to forge a relationship with Alyssa after we got married, but she could never break through.”
“Yes, I remember you and Trudy mentioning it,” Hayley said somberly.
Ted sighed. “Even though I had divorced Alyssa’s mother years before I met Trudy, Alyssa blamed her for breaking up the family. She can be so bull-headed.” He cracked a knowing smile. “I know where she probably gets it from.”
Hayley glanced over to see Gemma now physically inserting herself between Conner and Alyssa to keep them safely apart. Alyssa appeared amused by her efforts, not the least bit concerned or intimidated.
After the reception, there were few words exchanged between anyone on the car ride home from the church except for Conner commenting that he needed to check in for his flight soon online, and when Gemma asked what she should make for dinner. But after they arrived home and walked through the front door, the simmering pot of tension finally came to a boil when Conner innocently remarked, “Reverend Ted’s daughter seems nice.”
Gemma whipped around and sneered. “Nice? You think she’s nice?”
Conner took a step back, confused and suddenly rethinking his comment. “Well, yes. I mean, we didn’t talk for very long, but—”
Gemma was totally uninterested in hearing the rest of what he had to say. “She’s certainly not nice! She’s a predator! She knew you were my boyfriend and that just seemed to encourage her even more to flirt with you!”
“I didn’t think she was flirting,” Conner said, obviously replaying the scene in his head.
“She was definitely flirting!” Gemma cried. “It was plain as day to everyone watching. Right, Mother?”
Hayley’s eyes did the deer-in-headlights thing as Bruce hurriedly headed to the kitchen to grab a beer from the fridge to spare himself the agony of being dragged into this conversation as well. “Um, well, of course I didn’t hear what Conner and Alyssa were talking about, but...” She hesitated as her daughter glared at her. “But from the body language, it looked a little like she might have been flirting.”
“So what?” Conner snapped.
Gemma gasped. “You don’t think it’s rude for a woman to go chasing after someone else’s boyfriend?”
“Yes, I absolutely think that’s rude, but she wasn’t technically doing that because I’m no longer taken.”
Gemma’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’m a free agent now.”
Hayley heard the cap on Bruce’s beer bottle pop open and land on the counter. But he wasn’t about to wander back into the living room. He was finding cover in the kitchen.
“What do you mean you’
re a free agent?” Gemma growled.
“I proposed to you and you turned me down,” Conner argued.
“Just because we’re not getting married doesn’t mean I want to break up with you,” Gemma said evenly, trying to regain her composure, but not doing a very good job of it.
Hayley tentatively took a step toward the kitchen, desperate for a hasty exit. “Maybe I should take Leroy out—”
“No, Mother, please. I want you to stay,” Gemma said.
Conner, resigned to being outnumbered, decided to bravely plow ahead. “Listen, Gemma, I want to be with someone who is committed to me and wants to be with me for the long haul. You told me yourself you clearly aren’t. At least not yet. And I don’t really want to wait around for you to change your mind because maybe you never will be ready to marry me, and I will have wasted a lot of time.”
“But Conner—” Gemma whispered.
“No, you’ve given me a lot of clarity. I’m glad I proposed to you. Because now I know for certain where you stand and it helps me to move on emotionally.”
Gemma stared at Conner, distressed. “I just didn’t think we were going to break up...”
“I better go upstairs and check in for my flight and finish packing,” Conner said. “If you decide to go out for dinner, you better count me out. I’m going to turn in early. I have to be up by seven in order to get to Bangor in time for my flight.”
And then he bowed out of the room and quietly made his way up the stairs.
Hayley held out her arms, but Gemma stood her ground, defiant, steely eyed. “If that smug little tramp thinks she’s going to get her hooks into my Conner, she’s sadly mistaken.”
Bruce finally strolled back into the living room clutching a now half-empty bottle of beer. “Who’s that?”
“Alison or Elaine or whatever that awful girl is called,” Gemma sneered. “Reverend Ted’s daughter!”
“Alyssa,” Hayley reminded her.
“I bet she did it,” Gemma said under her breath.
Bruce looked at Hayley. “Is it just me who is confused?” He turned to Gemma. “Did what?”
“I bet Alyssa was the one who killed her stepmother! You heard Ted. She hated Trudy!”
Bruce scratched his head. “But Alyssa wasn’t even in Bar Harbor at the time Trudy died.”
“Nobody saw her anyway! That doesn’t mean she wasn’t! And I’m going to prove it!”
Hayley put an arm around Gemma and said calmly, “Honey, just because you don’t like her, I’m afraid that doesn’t automatically make her a killer.”
“Mark my words, she’s going down for the crime,” Gemma said, confident and determined.
Bruce took a swig of beer and then said to Hayley, “See how she’s thinking? If Alyssa goes to prison, she’ll no longer be on the loose in New York to chase after Conner.”
Hayley nodded, irritated that he had to state his theory out loud for Gemma to hear. “Yes, I know. I get it, Bruce.”
But Gemma didn’t hear him. Her mind was too far away ruminating on other topics, like how to salvage a relationship that was now at the moment nothing but smoking ruins.
Chapter 32
Gemma clutched Bruce’s phone and stared at the video playing on the screen. A New Orleans jazz band played and a young woman, almost unrecognizable from the grainy image on a tiny stage with bad lighting, sang in front of a microphone. Gemma’s mouth was twisted and her nose scrunched up, her whole face emanating a look of complete and utter distaste.
“The place looks familiar. I think I’ve been there,” Gemma said sullenly.
“Mona’s. Alphabet City in the East Village,” Bruce said. “Small, divey neighborhood bar with live music, mostly jazz, sometimes bluegrass.”
“Not to be confused with your Aunt Mona’s,” Hayley said.
Gemma nodded. “I went with some friends once to hear a band called the Hot Sardines. They were promoting a new album called French Fries and Champagne.” She glared at the female singer belting out a Diana Krall cover. “And you’re sure that’s her?”
“Yup,” Bruce said.
Gemma snorted. “She’s not that good.”
Hayley and Bruce exchanged a quick look. Actually, in Hayley’s opinion, Alyssa was a better singer than she had expected. But she kept mum in order to avoid an unnecessary argument with her daughter.
Gemma, unable to endure the video any longer, handed the phone back to Bruce. “Where did you find this?”
“Her Instagram account,” Bruce said. “She posts quite a lot of photos and videos of herself, at least ten or so daily.”
“And you’re one hundred percent certain that this video was recorded on the night of the Witches Ball?” Gemma asked, still reticent about dismissing Alyssa Lancaster as a suspect in her stepmother’s murder just yet.
“Yes, Gemma, she was in New York, performing. There was no way she could have been in two places at once.”
Gemma’s mind raced. “She could have hired someone to sabotage that propane tank.”
“Unlikely,” Bruce said gently.
Gemma sighed. “Well, we shouldn’t rule her out so fast. She clearly had it out for her stepmother.”
Conner came ambling down the stairs. “What are you all listening to?”
“Uh, Alyssa Lancaster, Ted’s daughter. Bruce found a video of her doing a show in New York,” Hayley said quietly.
“Yeah, after I met her at the church, I started following her on Instagram. She’s pretty good, isn’t she?” Conner said with a goofy smile.
“Actually I think she’s rather pitchy,” Gemma snapped.
“Pitchy? No, she’s not. That’s just something you heard on American Idol once,” Conner said, laughing.
Gemma fumed but refrained from further comment.
“I just came down to say good night. I finished packing so I’m going to turn in early.”
“It’s barely eight o’clock,” Gemma said.
“I have to be up early and there is a lot to do once I get back to the city,” Conner said.
“We completely understand,” Hayley said.
Gemma turned to Bruce, who was holding his phone in his hand, the video of Alyssa performing still playing. “Could you please shut that off, Bruce?”
Bruce reacted, surprised, having not even realized they were still listening to it, and clicked out of his Instagram app.
Without missing a beat, Conner said, smiling again, “I’m going to go see her live next weekend.”
Gemma whipped around toward him. “What?”
“Today at the church she told me she’s doing a gig at the Fat Cat this Saturday night and invited me to come.”
“Just you?” Gemma gasped.
“Well, since you’re sticking around here for the foreseeable future, then yeah, I guess just me,” Conner said flatly.
“You’re seriously going to pay good money to go and hear her... try to sing?” Gemma asked.
“No,” Conner said, waiting a beat before adding, “She’s comping me the ticket. I’m going as her personal guest.”
Gemma’s face flushed with anger.
For his part, Conner beamed from ear to ear, relishing how easily he was stoking Gemma’s jealousy. His motive was abundantly clear. He was gleefully seeking revenge on Gemma for rejecting his marriage proposal.
And it was working beautifully.
The tension was stifling.
Bruce had suffered enough. He grabbed his car keys off the kitchen counter and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Hayley asked.
“To the office.”
Hayley raised an eyebrow. “This late?”
“I’m way behind on my next column. I won’t be long.”
And then he was out the door. Hayley noticed Leroy perched next to her, tail wagging. She quickly grabbed the leash off the hook next to the door. “I better go walk Leroy. He’s been cooped up in the house most of the day.”
With Leroy on her heels, Hayley quickly follow
ed Bruce out the door, leaving the young couple to continue their prickly and uncomfortable discussion.
As the door shut behind her, she could hear Gemma shout, “So what, you want to date this girl now?”
To which Conner replied calmly, “I don’t know, but all options are on the table at this point.”
Luckily when the back door shut, their voices were muffled and Hayley couldn’t hear anymore.
But she knew this was not going to end well.
Chapter 33
Hayley could not believe her eyes.
It was her.
She was looking at Trudy Lancaster.
Hayley had been lost in thought, worried about Gemma’s emotional state following her breakup with Conner, as she walked Leroy all the way from their quiet residential neighborhood to the middle of town, the streets mostly empty at this late hour. But then she spotted someone, a woman, standing on the sidewalk, illuminated underneath the light of a streetlamp, staring at her phone.
She was alive.
In her shock, Hayley let go of Leroy’s leash, and the little dog took off running toward Trudy, or what might possibly be Trudy’s apparition, because this had to be a ghost. And dogs were known to have some kind of sixth sense when it came to feeling the presence of spirits.
Leroy trotted happily up to the woman, who reacted with a wide smile as she bent down to pat his head.
Hayley squinted, certain she was imagining this whole scene, but as she focused her eyes again, the woman was still there, still playing with Leroy, now scratching him underneath his loose collar as his tags jangled.
“Trudy?” Hayley called out.
The woman suddenly looked up, noticing Hayley for the first time. She offered Hayley a tentative smile before slowly shaking her head. “No, I’m not Trudy.”
Hayley stepped forward, cautiously and deliberately, until she was close enough to the woman so that she could reach out and touch her. She resisted the urge, but wanted to know for sure if this woman was actually real. Because if she was, then she was a dead ringer for Trudy Lancaster. “Who are you?”
“I’m Tori,” the woman said softly. “Tori Davis. I’m Trudy’s sister.”