by Sandi Scott
“To Hope. I assumed you already knew that.”
“Really? I mean, I’ve only seen Hope the one time since being back, but you think an engagement would be something worth mentioning. How strange.”
“I’m curious, though,” Ryan said. “Besides the argument, is there another reason you might be a little quick to suspect Eddie? Maybe something to do with a long-lost pigtail?”
“Oh, so he told you about his elementary school reign-of-terror. I mean, it shows you the kind of cruelty he’s capable of,” Ashley replied, only half-kidding.
“You’ve got to understand, Eddie has this inability to interact normally with females. You’ll see.” He knocked on the door.
“Oh, hello, dog,” Eddie said as he waved Ryan, Dizzy, and Ashley into his luxury RV, which was bigger than most Parisian apartments. “Ryan, my man, it’s been too long. You keep bailing on me for guys’ nights out. If I let you use my bathroom, does it mean you’ll come out this weekend?”
Ashley was quick to interrupt. “I’m the one who has to use the bathroom, and all it means is I’d rather use your glamper toilet than the port-o-potties at the Smokeground, nothing to do with guys’ nights out.”
Eddie flashed his bright smile, which was something Ashley had come to know as his most persuasive feature. He brushed his disheveled, glossy, black hair off his forehead and continued to grin.
“Ha-ha. Ryan did say you were still a huge tease.”
Ryan’s eyes grew wide. “He means that I said we tease each other. Like, playfully. A back and forth,” he stated emphatically, glancing nervously at Ashley.
She was preoccupied with checking out Eddie’s RV on her way to the bathroom and didn’t notice. The RV was fairly clean and organized, but fairly full of stuff for a temporary dwelling—things like laundry folded in three full baskets along the wall and clean dishes filling the kitchen shelves and stacked along the counter. He also seemed to be using the kitchen booth table as a work desk, with piles of paperwork surrounding his laptop. Was he living out of his RV, she wondered? He wasn’t the kind of guy who would choose to live like this permanently, and he could definitely afford a place of his own.
Once in the bathroom, she set her smartphone camera to panorama and arranged it so that the camera lens peeked out from her cross-shoulder satchel. She wouldn’t have been surprised if most of Eddie’s passwords consisted of his birthday or Hope’s middle name, but people also commonly chose passwords related to the things surrounding them. She decided that pictures of his living space might come in handy for their snooping.
When she returned to the lounge area, the men were in full swing.
“And I’m telling you, Ry, this thing had to have been thirteen feet at least. Oh, Ashley, have you heard the story about that gator snapping at me a couple weeks ago?”
“Uh, no. We don’t talk, Eddie.” It came out a bit harsher than she intended. She knew that she needed to at least pretend to be interested in catching up with him.
Eddie shrugged. “You could have still heard about it.” He sat on the couch, propping his feet up on a laundry basket.
“Huh. Around here, that’s actually true.” She said, pretending to admire the RV’s features as she walked through the living space, trying to get a variety of angles for her camera.
“He was with Monty Gahn,” Ryan said pointedly.
Dizzy joined him in the now-cramped booth, taking the whole length of the seat as she lay across his lap.
“Oh, yeah.” Eddie’s voice dropped as he gave Ashley a deer-in-the-headlights look. “I know people around here really hate him, but he’s not that bad of guy once you get to know him.”
She decided not to take his word for it. “Where did you see the alligator?”
“Oh, I don’t remember.”
“Bufort, right? You just told me that,” Ryan said, amused.
“Right. Hey, Ashley, I know Hope has been talking about wanting to see you now that you’re back. You should go over and say hello.”
“I did see her, just the other day.”
Eddie averted his eyes. “Oh, I guess she didn’t mention it. How are you holding up after everything?” When Ashley looked at him blankly, he added, “You were the caterer who…”
“Who did what? Baked a cream puff that was later dosed with something poisonous?”
His mouth fell open with surprise. It might have been riskier to take the more confrontational route, but at the very least, she knew they might get something from his reactions. Not that this one gave away much. If he had nothing to do with it, the statement could still surprise him.
“Did you know Colleen well?”
“Not really, she just worked for Bobby.”
Ashley wondered why he would downplay Colleen’s significance to the McCays. Even if Colleen and Eddie hadn’t really been close, everyone knew that she meant more to the family than just an employee.
“Oh, I could have sworn I heard you talking the night she died like you were close.”
She saw something flash across his face but it wasn’t panic. Was it relief?
Ryan was visibly focused on petting Dizzy, looking really uncomfortable. She didn’t blame him for not participating.
“I could have sworn I overheard you guys arguing.” She laughed, pretending that it was all a harmless misunderstanding. “I’ve been curious, were you guys fighting about something?” She smiled playfully.
“Sorry, I just don’t want to talk about this.”
“Oh, okay. Should I ask Hope when I go see her, like you suggested?”
Eddie’s face slowly shifted into an upturned smile, while Ryan shot her a warning look.
“Well, she’s the one who doesn’t want me to talk about it. But since you obviously already know so much, she probably wouldn’t care if I told you.”
Ashley nodded innocently and continued to secretly scan the area.
“Colleen had snooped through my emails. She was worked up over a project that I’ve been working on. If you’ve heard the rumors, you’ll know why I don’t want anyone to know about it. It’s a proposed hotel project at the Mouth, a big development that some folks will call an eyesore. The company that made an offer to Bobby, Bayview Development, said they’ll hire my company to build the hotel if the deal goes through.”
Ashley glanced at Ryan, who seemed just as confused as she was. If this was the truth, they were way off.
“And Colleen didn’t like the idea of a big hotel, like everyone else?”
“Not exactly. She had come up with this harebrained money-making scheme. She wanted me to tip off Bayview about the shale deposits so they could buy the whole property, drop the hotel plans and make way more money extracting the gas. Her plan was that I’d negotiate a cut of the fracking business in exchange for the tip-off. Of course, that’s not how any of that actually works, but she had it in her mind that we’d take the money and run off into the sunset together.”
Ashley gasped at the last sentence; she hadn’t expected him to broach the subject unprompted.
“Because you—”
Eddie seemed to be ashamed. “I was sleeping with her. Yes.”
Ashley remembered what Colleen had said. “It has a lot to do with our future here in Seagrass,” and “He’s my boss.” Maybe she had been talking about not being able to stay in Seagrass if they betrayed Hope.
“Before you go and mouth off to Hope, Ashley, she already knows all of this. Colleen threatened to tell Hope if I didn’t go along with her insane idea, so I did what I always do. I went straight to Hope and told her myself—brought her flowers—and now we’re working it out. Like we always do.”
“And that’s why you’re living out of your RV.”
“Yeah, if you want to wring-out every drop of my humiliation.”
“When did you tell Hope about the affair?” asked Ryan.
Eddie seemed surprised to see Ryan was still there. “Right after the argument with Colleen. I needed to get to Hope before Colleen could; it
was my only chance to do the right thing.”
More like to cover your ass, Ashley thought. That would explain why Hope didn’t mention the engagement to her; if she had just found out about Eddie’s affair with Colleen, maybe she wasn’t sure the engagement was still on.
“People saw Colleen arguing with Monty Gahn that night. Do you know what it was about?” she asked.
“I imagine she was telling him to be patient, that the mining rights would be his in due time. Getting Gahn to back off so she could lure in Bayview was all part of her plan.”
“Theoretically, if someone poisoned Colleen on purpose, do you have any idea who would do that?”
“The only answer would be those crazy Localists. Most people know Bobby’s sick, so they assumed that Colleen was making most of the decisions on his behalf. The hotel development probably pissed off those goons enough to do something stupid. I guess in that way…” He looked down at his feet, unable to continue. “I guess in that way her death is my fault. I really wanted that hotel project.”
Eddie sat silently, holding his face in his hands. His back started to move up and down, a sure sign of silent sobbing.
“Maybe we should go,” Ryan said, patting Dizzy to get up and giving Ashley a look that told her to agree.
“Yeah. You should.” Eddie got up, his face wet with tears, and stormed into the back bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
Dizzy lagged behind, sniffing excitedly at the couch cushion. On a whim, Ashley quickly slipped her hand between the cushions. Surprised with her find, she smuggled what felt like a flash drive into her pocket, then left the RV and caught up with Ryan as he made his way up the path along the river.
“Well, Eddie’s side of the story makes sense in most ways. It also proves my theory of Eddie being a jerk but not a murderer,” Ryan stated, as the crickets began to herald the sunset.
“Yeah. Basically, he was trying to keep a profitable, but controversial, job on the down-low. But the part about Colleen wanting him to double-cross Bobby and secretly sell the mining rights to the land, that seems like a stretch.”
“You think it sounds out of character?”
“For the Colleen I knew ten years ago, yes, it seems out of character. She was such a staunch environmentalist, I can’t imagine her wanting to profit from a company mining in such fragile land as the Mouth. But who knows? People change.”
“And people do strange things for love,” he mused.
“Do you think Hope could have killed Colleen after finding out about the affair?”
“If Colleen had been bludgeoned to death, Hope would be my number-one suspect. But Colleen was poisoned—that requires premeditation and time to plan.”
“Let’s assume Eddie is telling the truth; Colleen wanted to tell Bayview about the shale deposits and use the money to run off together. That makes sense given what I heard in the bathroom. It also takes Gahn off the suspect list.”
“But adds the Localists, whoever they are,” Ryan said.
“And if we assume Eddie is not telling the truth…well, let’s just add him to the suspect list for good measure.”
“You know, I didn’t think Eddie was that bad. All that, ‘I told Hope and bought her flowers and kept on being a scumbag like I always do,’ or whatever. I’ve never heard him talk like that.”
“Sounds like he charmed you, too.” Ashley teased.
“Yeah, that’s why I feel way less guilty now about the keylogger I installed on his laptop when I was alone in the RV.”
She expected to see Ryan smiling mischievously, but he was staring blankly at the river. She knew that suspecting your friend of murder was hard to stomach.
CHAPTER 10
“THAT’S RIGHT, GIRL. Now, you gotta give it some love. Tell it, ‘thicken up, buttercup,’” Lee said while overseeing Ashley stirring his award-winning rib sauce.
“Thicken up, buttercup!” she exclaimed.
If Lee was in the Fresh Start Kitchens when Ashley was around, he would agree to be her barbecue sensei if she helped him with the prep work. Ashley was relieved to be back in the kitchen. She and Patty had a few jobs that people hadn’t cancelled, most likely because they had been scheduled well in advance and it was too late to get a new caterer. But Ashley wasn’t going to let that bother her; she loved having work to keep her busy. That night, they were just cooking in a private home for a couple’s anniversary dinner, but at least they were getting paid well for it.
She finished baking her scrumptious, chocolate molten lava cakes while Patty was working on her own rich sauce for the macaroni Béchamel. Even though it needed time to simmer uninterrupted, Patty would hover over it protectively. She loathed other chefs touching her food unless it was absolutely necessary.
Other barbecue cooks would have stabbed someone with their grill fork to protect their secret recipe, but Lee’s was public knowledge, as its secret had “nothin’ about what you put in it, an’ ever’thang to do with who is puttin’ it in.” Surprisingly, Lee’s style of cooking was mostly guided by spirit.
“See, right now, it just lost its last baby tooth. You wanna let it simmer ‘til it’s ready to leave momma’s house.” Lee advised, peering over the pot.
“Oh, so that’s what I’ve been missing.”
“Woo, Patty. You gotta smart tongue on this one.” Lee hollered.
The kitchen was set up with rows of identical island counters, each paired with a top–of- the-line set of appliances and storage pantry. Smoke Daddy Lee, Patty and Ashley were neighbors.
“I know,” Patty replied, shaking her head as she chopped basil with lightning speed. “It’s a plucky one, that tongue. Surviving all this time around sharp knives.”
He leaned back on the counter and wiped his already clean hands on his apron. “You didn’ bring that dog of yours that’s always followin’ you round? Piggy? Squishy?”
Patty gasped. “Never. To think.”
Ashley always washed and stored her uniform in the commercial kitchen and then showered every time before entering the cooking area. Dizzy’s black fur did have an evolved survival instinct, so she understood the concern.
“I observe a cleansing ritual of Dizzy’s hair before I step into any kitchen. So it goes without saying that Dizzy definitely stays home.”
“Aw, that’s too bad. I like her. She sits on my picnic benches like she’s a person. Most dogs act like animals in a place so thick with the smell o’ meat.”
Lee glanced over at The Southern Bird kitchen space, which Ashley felt he’d been doing a lot more than usual. Was she just being overly paranoid now that she had murder on her mind? In any case, she was glad that she had a camera aimed at their pantry now. As much as she didn’t want to believe that anyone—especially Lee—would tamper with their stock, a lot of things had been happening lately that she wouldn’t have believed.
“Why you got such a long face today, Ashley? Better crack a smile before it hits the ground.” He grinned at Patty. “We all know that wouldn’ be sanitary.”
“I, uh, was just thinking about Colleen. You know, I hung around the McCays a lot growing up. So—”
“Oh, darlin’. I’m sorry, what a shock it is,” he said, scratching his coarse, black goatee.
“Did you know her?”
“Oh, yeah. E’rbody did. She and the McCays came down the road to eat all the time.”
“But they don’t come around anymore?”
“Well, you know. Bobby gets too tired to go out much now, so Hope stopped showin’ up, too. And Colleen was busier helpin’ out more. But I bring over a big ol’ helpin’ every time Bobby gives me a call.”
That didn’t sound like a guy harassing the McCays, but Lee wasn’t exactly specific about when these welcomed visits were happening. Ashley decided to go for broke, even though her heart wasn’t in it—she knew that she had to take the opportunity to get whatever she could out of him. If he was innocent, she could help clear his name, but if he was guilty? She didn’t even want to think a
bout it, even if it meant clearing her own name.
“Hey, Lee, tell me this, I’m just curious, did you have any dealings with Colleen—business or otherwise?”
He seemed a little shocked as he looked over her shoulder.
“What’s that you say? Oh, business? Sure!” He splashed a dash of vinegar into the pot. “If I can recollect properly, we met two times: once when ol’ Bobby wanted yours truly to cater a private event and the other was…let’s see now.” His eyes sparked up as he continued. “Oh yeah—that’s right—when Bobby went on a private fishin’ jaunt. He asked me to cook for him and his guests.”
Before Ashley could respond, Patty jumped in, just as Ryan entered the kitchen and waved on his way to the back room.
“Lee, I heard you were thinking about starting your own catering business. Is that true?”
Lee’s eyes darted around nervously, and he stammered, “Um, uh…maybe.”
Patty became animated. “That’s wonderful, but you’re not thinking of trying to run us girls out of town, are you?”
She winked at Ashley, who was becoming annoyed at the interruption. She stirred so hard that she splashed herself with a little of the sauce. Lee seemed to be too lost in thought to notice.
“Uh, nah, come on, girl. You and Ashley are untouchable, right? Besides, the Smokeground is my main concern. I never really thought ‘bout catering until ol’ Bobby brought it up.”
Patty smiled sweetly at him. “Well, if you ever change your mind, we’d be happy to help in any way. Right, Ashley?”
“Sure.” Ashley did her best to fake enthusiasm. The last thing she needed while her business was in jeopardy was competition from the local food hero.
Visibly relaxing, Lee leaned over the sauce. “How’s it look? Is our boy ready to leave the nest? Hmmm. I think it’s out of high school, but he needs to get a job and save up a little first. It should be done by the time I get outta the john.” He took off his apron and hurried away.
“Well, that was weird,” Ashley said.
Patty tasted her sauce with satisfaction. “He’s a guy who’s chosen to be called ‘Smoke Daddy.’ I’ve never even called my actual father ‘Daddy.’ No way he’s of the average sort.”