It was getting on nine and they had a bit of a drive home, but it was worth it. Cooper was at the house with Grandpa Ernie. He’d agreed to say he was looking for Belle and was happy to wait around at the house for her. They didn’t want Grandpa to feel like he had a babysitter, though they were paying Cooper ten dollars an hour and all the snacks he could eat to do it.
They were scattered around the room at a comfortable distance. It didn’t quite make for an intimate share your secrets setting, but they all had a little room to breathe in the otherwise tight quarters.
Hudson passed around classic sundaes—vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, whip cream and a cherry on top, then sat next to Taylor on the Victorian style loveseat.
She scooted a little to make room for him.
“What I’d really like to know,” Belle paused to lick a dab of whip cream from her finger, “is how all of the guests interacted with each other.”
Taylor nodded her approval. It was a great question.
“Like, were the other ladies annoyed about the fight or anything?”
“I saw them all in this room, coming back from their dinners. Your mom and her friends had eaten on their way, I think. Gina and Nancy had brought take-out and eaten it on the patio. It was chilly so they weren’t out there long. They seemed…normal.” Andrea swirled her spoon in her dish, making a soup of her dessert.
“But how would you define normal?” Belle pressed.
“There was a little chit chat, maybe some light laughter. They didn’t linger together, but they didn’t seem to want to avoid each other.”
“What kind of chit chat?” Taylor asked.
“Let me think…Nancy and Amara compared sweaters. I know that. They had similar cardigans, knock-off Pendleton wool, I think. Maybe Gina just said hi to the other three?”
“Did they say hi back?”
“I suppose, I don’t remember it all, just that they were smiling.”
“If Mom and her friends ate on the way over, why do you say they all met coming back from dinner? I don’t get it. Wouldn’t Mom’s group have been arriving rather than coming back?” Belle was a stickler for the details, that had to be a good quality in a detective.
Taylor leaned back, but the little loveseats’ cushions weren’t very firm and so in leaning, she shifted into the arm Hudson had draped over the back of the couch. He gave her shoulder a pat and then politely removed his arm.
“You’re right. They weren’t checking in, but Amara had told me they stopped at Moon Creek Wine for dinner on the way in. What had they been doing?” She scrunched her face, trying to recall.
“Maybe just looking at the river?” Taylor suggested.
“Shh,” Belle said. “Let her think. I want to see if she has a real memory.”
“Sorry.”
“Drinks.” Andrea nodded, proud of herself. “One of them, I think it was Amara, but I can’t be sure, had a small cooler and they all had margarita glasses in their hands. Nancy and Gina had come in from the back where they were having dinner on the patio, but the other ladies were coming in from the front.”
“Is that normal?” Belle kept pushing.
“Since Gina and Nancy were on the patio, the only options for outdoor privacy would be the front porch or the dock, but there aren’t any chairs on the dock.”
Belle seemed satisfied. “They had already started drinking, but were happy, and not fighting.”
“Yes. Very much.”
“And the two groups were the only ones staying that night?”
“Yes, though, I was here as well.” Andrea leaned forward, her face scrunched in concentration. It was clear she was trying as hard as she could to remember everything.
“But not Hudson?” Belle asked.
“I was here when they checked in, but went home. I do odd jobs here, but it’s not my main gig.” He directed his answer to Belle, who blushed when he looked at her.
“How long after this did the fight start?” Taylor asked.
“A few hours. This must have just been around seven-thirty? Not quite eight. There was plenty of pleasant time before the fight.”
“What did all of the guests do between that and the fighting?” Taylor thought her question was as helpful as Belle’s had been.
“I was in the kitchen doing prep work for the next day’s breakfast. Gina and Nancy sat in this room with a fire. It was chilly once the sun went down. I had made them tea. They seemed to have a lot to catch up on. I finished my work, but stayed in the kitchen to give them privacy. They went up after about a half an hour.”
“And the other party?”
“Amara and Melinda went for a walk. They passed the kitchen and went out the back door while I was pulling muffins out of the oven. I think that was just after eight. Not long after, Coleen and Laura—your mom—came down together. They were quiet and asked for tea. I offered them an electric kettle for their room, their choice of teas, and a fresh muffin each. They accepted. It took a minute to put it all together, but then they went back upstairs.”
“How did they seem?” Taylor asked.
“Fine…or…a little bored, actually. I remember hoping they thought the bedroom tea party was fun.”
“Did Amara and Melinda come back from their walk before Nancy and Gina went upstairs?” Belle asked.
“Yes.” Andrea nodded.
Taylor felt for her. This was like a police interrogation.
Belle had another clarifying question. “What door did they come through?”
“The back.”
“So, they had to pass through here to get back upstairs. How did the four women greet each other?” Taylor thought that was the kind of question Belle would have asked, but she got a quick look of disapproval from her sister.
“Rather,” Belle corrected, “did they greet each other?”
“Nancy and Gina were quiet when the two ladies went through, and it remained quiet till I heard footsteps on the stairs. If they greeted each other it must have been a nod or a real quiet hello kind of thing.”
“But there hadn’t been an opportunity for any tension to grow between the time they came in from drinks and dinner and that moment.” Taylor pondered the scene. The lack of greetings between the two sets of ladies did seem significant.
“I wouldn’t have thought so, but you never know, do you? One of them might have sent the other a text or something.” Andrea suggested.
“Did you see anyone with their phones out?” Taylor asked.
“Not that I recall.”
Taylor’s sundae cup was empty, as were the others. Hudson gathered them and took them to the kitchen.
“I guess that’s all we can learn here.” Belle was hiding behind her shaggy black hair still, but the lines of her mouth suggested she was unhappy with the conversation.
Andrea stood, frowning. “I wish I could have helped more.”
“You said you heard the footsteps on the stairs. We know Mom and Colleen both went downstairs. Did anyone else?”
Andrea raised her eyebrows. “Yes! Don’t know who, though. My suite is here off the kitchen.” She waved behind her to where a square addition jutted from the side of the Queen Anne home. “When Nancy and Gina went upstairs for bed, I had gone to clean up their tea, but they had taken the cups with them. I just assumed Gina was bringing their teacups back downstairs.”
“Why Gina?” Belle asked.
“I suppose because she was treating her mom to a special trip. She had booked the rooms, paid for them, asked for the tea. Nancy didn’t seem to do much but chit chat quietly with her daughter.”
“And you couldn’t hear the front or back door open if someone else went outside, even though you were downstairs.”
“No. Those are quiet doors, plus I had the TV on. You know how stairs are, hollow and echoey if folks aren’t trying hard to be quiet, so I do hear that, but otherwise I don’t really know what’s going on in the inn when I go to bed.”
“Who was it that found Mom in the morning?” Bel
le appeared to have no interest in getting up.
Andrea squeezed her eyes shut. “It was me.” Her voice wavered. “I had opened up the house for the morning. There are little outside jobs I need to do, like sweep the patio, and fill the birdfeeders. I was out there, on the patio, when I saw her. Her shirt was bright pink, and it stood out against the murky water and the stones.” She stopped and pressed her hand to her mouth.
Belle inhaled.
Taylor wanted to take over for her sister, save her from having to ask questions like this, but she found her own voice was missing.
“What did you do next?” Belle’s voice was a little breathy, but she was hanging on.
“I moved her head out of the water. Checked her pulse and called 911. I had my phone in my pocket. She was gone though. No pulse at all.”
“Did you try CPR?” Taylor’s voice rang out in anger, surprising even her.
“She was so cold. Her lips…were blue and swollen…if you had seen her.”
Taylor took a deep breath.
“But I did try. Chest compressions. While I waited. I tried so hard I broke her rib. I tell you, Taylor, I swear to you I tried. She was my friend.”
Taylor collapsed back in the sofa, not sure where that spurt of adrenaline had come from.
Hudson moved slowly across the room till he was next to her. His hand was on the back of the sofa as though he wanted to offer her comfort but wasn’t sure he should.
“What else do you remember?”
“All of it. Every detail. After 911, I called Hudson. I heard the sirens. The guests heard the sirens and came running. Amara fell to her knees, sobbing. Melinda sat, slowly—I can see it like in a movie—she was hyperventilating.”
“I got her a lunch sack to breathe into.” Hudson’s voice was low and sad.
“Colleen came to me and held my hand. She stroked your mom’s cheek. There were tears. I remember so many tears.”
Tears were all over Taylor’s face now. She hadn’t realized how much she had not wanted to hear all of this.
“Did the police interview everyone?” Belle’s voice was small but determined.
“Yes, but I didn’t hear any of that. They took over my own rooms so they could talk privately. Then they let everyone go. It was an accident, sweetheart. Her heel caught on the board. It was stuck there, on the dock. This white, pretty sandal, all alone. She’d been drinking. She hit her head. It was a tragic accident.”
Andrea’s face was wet with tears.
Belle’s eyes were about to spill over.
Taylor was afraid to look at Hudson, if he was crying she was done for. She’d never be able to drive home. She took a deep breath and held it. She counted, slowly, but only made it to seven. Then she let it out. Her head cleared a little. She wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. She needed to be the adult now, so she stood and offered Andrea her hand. “Thanks so much. I’m sure this was the very last thing you wanted to do tonight.”
“It was the least I could do after what you all have gone through.” Andrea squeezed her hand again, then wiped her damp cheeks with her sleeve.
Their ride home was mostly quiet. Their emotions were too raw, too exposed to leave room for any kind of conversation. But as they turned into town, Belle had one more thought. “All of the women there went to high school together, except Nancy. I don’t think that was a coincidence.”
Taylor nodded, glad for something practical to rest her mind on. It reminded her of another practical question. “Belle, there’s no denying you were closer to Mom. Understood her better. Why on earth was she fighting about nachos?”
Belle pursed her lips. Then replied. “She wasn’t. That much is obvious. But what were they really saying that sounded like nachos when heard from a distance?”
The answer was obvious: not yours.
But Taylor wasn’t going to be the one to say it.
Chapter Ten
Taylor didn’t like the look of the sales for the last two weeks. This was the start of the season, and they’d had folks walking up and down both sides of Main Street all weekend long. Considering Comfort’s reputation as a quilt and antiques town, the only reason people were visiting was for fabric or antiques. So why weren’t they buying fabric at Flour Sax?
Taylor had woken early, almost five, and was poring over the sales numbers. Compared to last year, they were down by thirty percent. And last year had been down by fifteen percent from the year before that. They were up from winter, but not up by enough. Taylor could see why her mom had taken the time to start a new income stream. She had weathered a lot in this little place, the recession of 2008 being the hardest. She had moved back into the upstairs apartment that year and let someone else rent their little house. But her mom had made it through. She was a tough lady, a smart lady, and a lady who knew how to get the job done.
Had been.
She had been all of those things.
Taylor pressed her hand to her forehead. She was in no immediate financial crisis. She had the money from the sale of her condo. They had the money in the bank from the YouTube series too. She wanted to save as much as possible for Belle’s college, but there was more than plenty. She’d have to take a look at Belle’s financial aid paperwork to figure out exactly what her needs were, which was just another job Taylor had thought she’d had more than a year to get ready for. But those decisions had already been made. She just had to make sure they could still happen. But surely, $300,000 was more than enough for college, for the business, for Grandpa Ernie. It had to be.
Taylor scooted the papers across the kitchen table and opened her laptop to YouTube.
The last video that had aired was about care of a finished quilt. Gentle washing, large capacity front loading machines, baby soap. It was just a few seconds over ten minutes long, but the edits and cuts were sharp, the lighting was fantastic, the camera work…How had she done all of this? Who held her camera? Who did her edits? The quality was better than iMovie. Taylor exhaled slowly, trying to calm her mind. They had a meeting with Maddie this morning, and she didn’t need to go in there looking like she couldn’t get the job done.
After their session with Maddie, she’d ask Roxy what she knew about the show. Surely their faithful employee could help her out.
* * *
Belle and Maddie met privately in the little counseling room attached to Maddie’s house. It was a shabby addition, the paint starting to peel on the outside. The space was split in two, a waiting area and a counseling room. The waiting area had large armchairs that looked suspiciously like they had come from a Starbucks. The floor was cheap laminate that made a hollow tapping sound when Taylor walked across it in her penny loafers. The dim lighting was meant to either calm them or distract from the lack of trim around the windows and lack of baseboards. Maddie probably told herself the little mister puffing out essential oils would have a therapeutic effect, but Taylor suspected it was masking something. Maybe the dusty odor that comes from older heating systems.
When they were finished, Belle and Maddie both joined her in the waiting area.
“Did she tell you how our visit with Andrea and Hudson went?” Taylor asked.
“She said you learned details of the fights the ladies were having.” Maddie wore a suit jacket buttoned up. Her arms were crossed.
“What did you make of it?” Taylor leaned back in the chair. Her arms also crossed. She could do the closed-off body language with the best of them.
“We decided it meant there were definite tensions that night, but not enough to draw any conclusions.” Maddie managed to say all of that without moving a muscle of her body, and barely even moving her face.
“But I think we need to get the ladies alone and ask them more specific questions.” Belle leaned on the wall. Her silky black button up was buttoned all the way up. “Maybe you and Maddie could take Amara out. What do you think?”
“Why Amara?” Taylor asked the first question that popped into her head.
“She’s the
lawyer,” Maddie reminded her. “You could discuss the custody situation. Even without the complication of Colleen’s invitation, you must have a million questions about things you need to do to handle legal guardian issues. But I don’t have any reason to be there.”
“Sure, but she knows you’re helping us. Won’t she think it’s weird you haven’t just sorted that out for us?”
“Then get together with Melinda first. It really doesn’t matter. I’m sure you’re capable of coming up with an invitation that makes sense.”
“I like Amara better,” Belle said. “Always have.”
“Any particular reason?” Taylor asked.
Belle shrugged. “Melinda spanked me once, when I was little and ran into the street.”
Taylor laughed.
Maddie frowned.
Belle rolled her eyes. “Hudson has a lot to answer for if you two are going to keep arguing like this.”
Taylor heaved a dramatic sigh and pushed herself up out of the chair like it was difficult. “Maddie and I made a stupid decision because we’ve known each other so long, we forgot we’re not family. That’s hardly Hudson’s fault.”
Belle pursed her lips. “Interesting take.” She popped the door open and left.
Maddie sighed as well but not quite as dramatically as Taylor had done. “She’s going to act out, it’s okay.” She didn’t make eye contact with Taylor. “We’re going to keep this professional, and that’s okay too.”
“Makes perfect sense. Two girls that used to ‘borrow’ your brother Brace’s car when they were fourteen are going to do totally professional amateur detective work to come to terms with my mom’s untimely death. That’s reasonable and logical.”
“What’s Brace’s car got to do with it?” Maddie’s façade cracked as her face pinked with the memory. The car had gotten them into more than a little trouble back in the day.
“I’m just saying, if you wanted to have a totally clean slate so we could have a completely professional experience together, you’re going to have to erase a lot more than just one night at the bed and breakfast. And, yeah, I’m hinting your idea of grief counseling is bonkers.”
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