by Leena Clover
It was an hour before the restaurant opened for dinner. The staff was setting the tables, filling salt shakers and getting the place ready. An attractive young woman Jenny recognized led her to a small office. Jenny spotted her scarf right away.
“Oh good,” she exclaimed. “I didn’t want to lose it.”
“Did you have a good time here?” the girl asked eagerly. “It wasn’t our best night.”
“I was here Valentine’s weekend,” Jenny said. “I loved how you decorated the place. It was romantic.”
“We try to do our best,” the girl said solicitously. “I was referring to that other girl from your party. The one with the older man.”
“Heather?”
The girl nodded. “She got into a big fight. You didn’t know?”
Jenny shook her head. She had no idea what the girl was talking about.
“There was this other woman, platinum blonde, very attractive,” the girl went on. “She was obviously a tourist. She got a table behind yours.”
“Go on,” Jenny urged.
“Heather got into an argument with her in the restroom. The woman pushed Heather. Heather pushed her back and slapped her. The woman fell and broke a heel. There was quite a ruckus.”
Jenny was staring at the girl with wide eyes.
“We didn’t hear any of that!”
“Well, the music was loud, I guess,” the girl mused. “And we broke up the fight. A couple of the guys helped.”
“Heather was gone from the table for some time,” Jenny recollected. “I do remember that now. I thought she was fixing her face.”
Jenny blushed as she remembered that night. She had been busy holding hands with Adam, thinking of the surprise she had planned for him when they got home. She had barely spared a glance at Heather.
“Heather’s much older than me, of course,” the girl prattled on. “But I’ve seen her around with that cute poodle. I never thought she was capable of using her fists.”
“Any idea what they were fighting about?”
The girl looked uncomfortable.
“The blonde called Heather a slut.”
Jenny had a good idea who the woman must have been. She thanked the girl for the scarf and walked home, lost in thought.
Why was Heather being so secretive? She had kept things from Jenny and also lied to her blatantly. Jenny didn’t recognize the person Heather was turning into.
Star was pacing the floor in the great room at Seaview, rubbing her hands.
“What’s the matter?” Jenny asked.
“I did something impulsive. I asked that new artist over for dinner.”
“That’s wonderful,” Jenny assured her. “It will give you a chance to get to know him. We can get him talking and find out what his intentions are.”
“Do we have enough food?” Star asked. “We don’t have fish today.”
“You don’t worry about a thing. Let me handle everything.”
Jenny called Jason and invited him for dinner.
“I need your discerning eye,” she laughed over the phone. “We have a special guest.”
Jason had just finished wrapping up a case. He agreed to pick up some shrimp from the seafood market.
Jenny marinated chicken breasts in garlic and balsamic vinegar. She plucked rosemary from the garden and crushed it before adding it to the marinade. She would make her special wine sauce to go with it.
Jason arrived a few minutes before the artist. He put on an apron and started chopping salad.
“Where’s that grouchy house guest of yours?” he asked with a wink.
“Adam’s working late. He won’t be home for dinner.”
“So I’m a sit in for him?”
Jenny placed her hands on her hips and glared at Jason.
“No good deed goes unpunished, huh. Here I thought you would enjoy a home cooked meal. But I guess I was wrong.”
They bantered for a while, comfortable in each other’s company. Jenny asked after Kandy but she was secretly glad the slightly overbearing lawyer wasn’t with them.
The doorbell rang and they heard Star welcome someone.
“Frank’s here,” she said as she led a short, stout man in.
Star towered over him, at least a foot taller. The man had long arms and the slender fingers of an artist. His face was pockmarked and he wore his white hair in a crew cut.
“Frank Lopez,” he introduced himself.
Jimmy Parsons hovered close to Star, his eyes keenly observing the newcomer.
Jenny brought out her crab dip and Jason poured wine. Frank declined.
“I don’t drink,” he said, looking at Jimmy’s lemonade. “I’ll have the same.”
“Where are you from, Frank?” Jenny asked.
“I lived in the southwest most of my life,” the artist replied. “I guess I got tired of painting canyons and deserts.”
There was some polite laughter at that.
“I sold my house, put all my stuff in an Airstream and set off one day.”
“Doesn’t get simpler than that,” Star agreed.
Jenny sensed a longing in her aunt’s voice. Her aunt had been a hippie in her younger days. Jenny wondered if she still dreamt of hitting the road.
“How’s that working out for you?” Jason asked.
“Much better than I ever imagined,” Frank said enthusiastically. “I stop where I want, set up my easel and start painting. It’s been great for my art.”
“What brings you to Pelican Cove?” Jimmy asked. “Very few westerners venture into our neck of the woods.”
“I was in Vermont last fall,” Frank explained. “I ran into a family who hailed from the Eastern Shore. They told me so much about the region. I decided I was going to spend the next summer here.”
“Wasn’t Maine closer to where you were?” Jimmy asked curiously. “It’s not a bad spot to paint.”
“I was there last summer,” Frank laughed. “Painted the cliffs and the mountains ad nauseum. The beaches here are different.”
“No place is quite like Pelican Cove,” Star said fondly. “Most of the beauty here is untouched. We have our share of tourists, but we are not very commercialized.”
“I confess I’m something of a gourmand,” Frank said, piercing his fork into a plump shrimp.
Jenny had served dinner and the lively conversation had moved to the dinner table.
Frank complimented Jenny’s cooking.
“I’m making it a point to taste local delicacies. The Chesapeake crabs and oysters are next on my list.”
“You came to the right place for that,” Jenny told him. “Wait till you taste our soft shell crabs.”
“I’m also big on meditation,” Frank went on. “It helps my art, you know. Peace of mind is underrated.”
“I hear you are setting up a gallery?” Star asked, finally broaching the topic that was bothering her.
Frank nodded. “It’s temporary. I have landscapes from all over the country. A lot of water colors.”
“I mostly use oil on canvas,” Star told him.
Jenny served a cheesecake for dessert. Frank went home with a big smile on his face.
“He seems okay,” Jenny said. “He’ll be gone before fall sets in, Star. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
Jimmy wasn’t too taken with the newcomer.
“I don’t buy it,” he said. “Peace of mind, my ass.”
“You promised not to swear, Jimmy,” Star chided him.
Jenny went out to see Jason off. He thanked her for the lovely dinner.
“Are you Heather’s lawyer?” Jenny asked him.
Jason nodded.
“So you don’t have to tell me everything she tells you?”
“Anything Heather tells me is confidential, Jenny. You know that.”
“She’s been lying to me, Jason. She knew Gianni was married but she never told us about it.”
“Maybe she didn’t want you to judge her.”
“I can believe tha
t,” Jenny said. “But get this. She picked a fight with Gianni’s wife at The Steakhouse. What was Gianni’s wife doing there? And why was Heather punching her lights out?”
“I’ll talk to her about it,” Jason promised.
Jenny kept thinking about Heather as she tossed and turned that night.
“What else are you hiding, Heather?” she demanded the next morning.
Heather’s eyes were swollen with too much sleep.
“Get off my back, Jenny,” Heather snarled.
“I know you punched Gianni’s wife. That’s not like you.”
Heather shrugged.
“What did you do after you went home with Gianni?” Jenny pressed. “You need to come clean if you want me to help you.”
“I don’t need your help,” Heather wailed. “I’m innocent.”
“So tell me what you did.”
“I must have gone home,” Heather said with a frown. “I woke up in my own bed.”
“When did you go home?” Jenny pressed. “And how?”
Heather clutched her forehead in her hands as she sat down.
“Leave me alone, Jenny. I don’t owe you any explanations.”
“You can blow me off all you want, Heather,” Jenny said, shaking her head. “But you can’t stop the questions. The police will keep asking them and you better have an answer for them.”
“I don’t remember, okay?” Heather cried. “I went home with Gianni. I think we had a drink.”
“You were already drunk.”
“So what?” Heather scowled. “I woke up in my own bed the next day. I don’t know how I got there. You can ask me the same question a dozen times but my answer will be the same. I don’t know.”
Jenny balled her fists as she realized how hopeless the situation was.
“I think you’re in trouble, sweetie,” Jenny said softly. “God help you get out of this.”
Chapter 6
“Are you sure she won’t be mad at us?” Molly asked timidly.
Jenny and Molly were driving out of town in Jenny’s car, headed to the small town in Delaware where Gianni’s wife lived. Jenny had wisely decided against taking Heather with them. Normally, the three friends always went out of town together, but this time they had slipped out without telling Heather about their plans.
“Given the way she’s acting lately, I am sure she’ll throw a fit,” Jenny said with a grimace. “Let her. We are doing this for her own good.”
“I don’t feel so good about it,” Molly whined.
Heather had taken the slightest opportunity to belittle Molly since she got together with Chris. Jenny knew her concerns were justified.
“I’ll handle her, don’t worry.”
They drove for over an hour and Jenny crossed the state border. The town they entered seemed to be smaller than Pelican Cove.
“This place looks deserted,” Jenny observed. “Hard to imagine a doctor having a thriving practice here.”
“Gianni set up shop in Pelican Cove,” Molly reminded her. “Maybe he had a clinic in a whole bunch of small towns up and down the coast.”
“Hold that thought,” Jenny said as an attractive platinum blonde pulled up in a Mercedes convertible.
Jenny waited as the girl tottered on her heels and went inside the rundown diner. Her chiseled face hinted at Botox and her flawless complexion had probably seen some chemical peels. Jenny switched off her car and stepped out.
The girls followed the other woman into the diner. She had bagged one of the three booths inside. The faux red leather was peeling and there was a smell of burnt cheese in the air.
“You must be Tiffany,” Jenny said, taking a seat opposite the woman. “Thanks for coming to meet us.”
The girls introduced themselves. Tiffany Costa was friendly enough. She laughed openly and asked the girls how they knew her husband.
Jenny hesitated before replying.
“Gianni knew a friend of ours. Actually, he was dating her for the past few months.”
“You’re talking about Heather,” Tiffany said, fiddling with the sugar sachets on the table.
A tired, grumpy looking waitress came and poured coffee. Jenny took one look at the murky brown liquid and pushed her mug away.
“Do you prefer tea?” the waitress asked her with a smirk. “I’ve got tea bags.”
“You knew Heather?” Molly asked incredulously.
Jenny hadn’t told her about the infamous fight at The Steakhouse.
“I saw their photos,” Tiffany said wearily. “The whole world saw them, of course. He brought her home once.”
Jenny wondered what kind of a cad Gianni had been.
“That must have been hard.”
“Gianni had a thing for younger women,” Tiffany said. “Younger, beautiful women. He dated them for a while and promised to marry them.”
“And?” Molly asked, holding her breath.
“He dumped them when he found someone new.”
Tiffany shrugged and took a sip of the coffee. She seemed pretty cool about the whole thing.
“You were fine with all that?” Jenny pressed.
“He always came back to me,” Tiffany told them. “So when he was in the mood for these indiscretions, I just looked the other way.”
“I’m guessing the lifestyle didn’t hurt.”
“I made my choice,” Tiffany said coldly. “I’m allowed to do that.”
Tiffany seemed to get a bit defensive after that.
“Can you tell us anything else about Gianni?” Molly asked.
“What do you want to know?”
“Why did you live in this town, for instance?” Jenny asked. “There must be hardly any patients here.”
“This place was just right for Gianni,” Tiffany said cryptically.
“How so?”
“Gianni preyed on older people,” Tiffany said with a sigh. “People who were not all there,” she said, tapping her forehead with a finger. “He fleeced them as much as he could.”
“Are you saying he was dishonest?” Molly asked in shock.
“He was a master at duping people,” Tiffany said, her eyes gleaming. “He chose small isolated towns where most of the people were senior citizens. They were alone or their kids lived in some city. Either way, they didn’t have anyone looking after them.”
“What was he doing in Pelican Cove?” Jenny asked, aghast.
“He was done here. Pelican Cove was next on his list. He already had a nice racket going there.”
“Why didn’t you live there with him?”
“I did,” Tiffany said with a shrug. “Off and on.”
“Funny we never ran into you,” Jenny said, narrowing her eyes.
Most new people in town came to the Boardwalk Café for a meal. Jenny was sure Tiffany had never visited the café.
“That was all part of Gianni’s plan,” Tiffany explained. “I was keeping a low profile.”
“I don’t understand,” Jenny said coldly.
“He was wooing Heather, right?” Tiffany said with a yawn. “According to Gianni, it was easy to befriend people as a single man. He always showered attention on one of the local girls. That allowed him to get a foot in, meet the movers and shakers in town.”
“How smart of him,” Jenny said sarcastically.
“He was sneaky that way,” Tiffany agreed.
“I don’t understand,” Jenny said, sitting up. “If you already knew Heather, what was the fight about?”
“You heard about that?” Tiffany asked with a laugh. “I was just acting on Gianni’s instructions.”
“Kindly explain …” Jenny said with a roll of her eyes.
“Heather was getting clingy. She probably expected some kind of grand gesture for Valentine’s weekend. That’s why Gianni invited me there.”
“What were you going to do?”
“I just had to show up at that dingy restaurant and tell Heather I was meeting Gianni later.”
“I guess she didn’t believe you
.”
Tiffany shook her head, rubbing a spot on her chin. It seemed like she was remembering the fight.
“That girl’s got a mean right hook,” she said with a shudder. “She told me she was the one going home with Gianni. She warned me to stay away.”
“Did you?” Jenny asked.
“I was just supposed to plant a seed of doubt. I got that done.”
Jenny peered at Tiffany’s face, trying to gauge if she was telling the truth.
“You are sure you didn’t go home and lie in wait for Gianni?”
“Gianni was a mean drunk,” Tiffany said. “I didn’t want to be anywhere near him that night.”
“Would you say Gianni was depressed about something?” Jenny asked as a last resort.
The police hadn’t mentioned the possibility of suicide but she wanted to rule it out.
“Honey, Gianni made other people cry. He was happier than a pig in mud!”
Jenny thanked Tiffany for meeting them.
“Sure. Call me anytime.”
She breezed out of the diner ahead of them. Jenny belatedly realized Tiffany looked nothing like a grieving widow.
“Heather had a close call,” Molly said on the way back.
“You don’t believe she was okay with Gianni being married?” Jenny asked her.
“He must have convinced her he was going to leave his wife,” Molly shrugged.
“Heather must have lost it when she saw Tiffany at the restaurant,” Jenny observed.
Had Heather been angry enough to take revenge?
Jenny and Molly were both hungry by the time they got back in town.
“Petunia must be closing up, but I can rustle up something for us to eat,” Jenny promised.
They were surprised to see a group of women arguing loudly at the café.
“We have to do something about this,” Barb Norton said, slapping the table. “It’s your duty to support us, Betty Sue.”
“What’s going on?” Jenny asked her aunt.
Petunia, Star and Betty Sue sat on one side of the table. Barb Norton sat on the other side, glaring at them like a judge. Heather was nowhere to be seen.
“Just wait and watch,” Star whispered.