by Winnie Reed
Something about her didn’t sit right with me.
The ringing of my phone gave me a start, but it reminded me that I didn’t have all day to sit and stare at a building, either. Life rolled on, the way I needed to be doing. I answered through the hands-free system installed in the car stereo as I pulled out of the parking lot. “Hello?”
“Emma? Did you call earlier? Sorry I was unavailable.”
Deke. My stomach lurched. “Oh, yeah. I almost forgot.” But now it all came back with a sickening thud. The surprise of hearing a girl answer his phone. The surprise that I cared in the least.
“Everything okay?”
“Uh, it wasn’t at the time, but I might’ve been blowing things out of proportion. You know me. Typical Emma.” I let out a hollow laugh.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “You sound funny.”
“I’m driving.”
“That’s not what I mean. You sound like you’re upset. What’s going on?”
“I visited Robbie,” I blurted out rather than asking who the girl on the phone was.
“You did? How is he?”
“Terrible, of course. You know what those papers were in James’s jacket? Some sort of legal stuff Robbie gave him that very night, something that would break their partnership. He found out James was a crook and wanted to disengage so he wasn’t left holding the bag if the ship sank.”
“No kidding! And somebody took them?”
“Looks like it. So who would stand to lose the most if that went through? Robbie only served to gain from it. Everybody in the entire restaurant served to gain, because it would give them stability in the long run.”
“Maybe someone didn’t understand that.”
“Hmm. You’re right, I guess. No matter which way I look, it’s just as murky in all directions.”
“You need a break from all of this.”
I laughed. “Says the guy who’s in Florida, enjoying fun in the sun.”
“I’m not in Miami anymore.”
“You’re home?” I wished I didn’t sound so hopeful, but after all, I wanted another look at those pictures.
“Not quite. Visiting family. My sister says you sound nice over the phone.”
His sister? His sister! Dang it, why did that make me so happy? “She sounds nice, too. So you have a family. You didn’t magically spring up out of nowhere one day?” Even my voice sounded lighter. I could hear it myself.
“Who said I did?”
“Nobody, but you’ve never mentioned them.” I paused. “Or how much wealth you come from.”
It was his turn to pause. “So you’ve been digging.”
“You weren’t the only one who was curious,” I reminded him. “And you do owe me one. Remember? I told you outside my apartment.”
“Just because you decide I owe you one doesn’t mean I owe you one. What difference does it make who my family is?”
“No difference at all. I find it interesting that you never speak of them.”
“Not everybody is so open to pouring out their life story to virtual strangers.”
“Pardon? Forgive me, but that was pretty rude.” And there I was, thinking we’d come so far.
“It isn’t any of your business. It’s not anybody’s business. Did it ever occur to you that I might want something for myself? Something not attached to my family?”
“Not until you just said it now,” I admitted.
“What if everyone you knew assumed you’d follow in your mother’s footsteps? Or in your father’s?”
“It would aggravate me. And it has, lots of times.”
“Imagine having a name people recognized outside your town. Extrapolate that. How would it make you feel?”
“I get it. I don’t see why you have to take it out on me, though.”
“I wasn’t trying to. I don’t know what I was trying to do.”
There was an uneasy silence between us as I continued my way down the turnpike. “Anything else? Or can I get back to driving?” I asked.
“Do you still want to get together and look at the photos tomorrow?”
“I don’t know. I’m starting to think this is completely hopeless.”
“I don’t believe it is.”
“That makes me feel a lot better. I’m starting to wonder if Aubrey isn’t shielding her brother somehow. It’s too big a coincidence, him being an ex-convict and all. He had a lot to lose if the restaurant went under, but he probably wouldn’t have known the intricacies of the problems between Robbie and James. He might’ve assumed them breaking their partnership would be the end of the road.”
I snickered. “Or maybe I’m just kidding myself.”
“Maybe you do need a break from this.”
“But that’s just it, Deke. That’s what nobody understands. Robbie doesn’t get a break from it. And it pains me, it really does, to think of him being so hopeless.”
He sighed. “I wish I could offer something that would help, aside from urging you to take some time for yourself. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
“Yeah. Okay.” Because we weren’t friends, so it didn’t matter that he’d hurt my feelings and there was nothing stopping us from getting together to talk about something work-related.
“And Emma?” he asked just as I was about to end the call and maybe scream and curse a little.
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped. It’s a touchy subject, is all. But you didn’t deserve that.”
Okay, so maybe he made up for it a little with that apology. “I get it. Sorry for stepping where I shouldn’t step, too. Talk to you tomorrow.”
I wished I could shake the feeling of there being something I was missing as I cruised down the turnpike, heading home, knowing my mother would grill me up and down over where I’d been.
If anything, I would gladly withstand it so long as I could get a hug.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“So let’s get this straight.” The image on my phone’s screen was of Raina in a white bikini, sitting in a lounge chair with the bluest sky I’d ever seen behind her. Sunglasses covered half her face and her skin was shiny thanks to sunscreen and probably perspiration after hours in the tropical sun.
Anybody in the world would’ve rested and relaxed and thanked their lucky stars to be in paradise. My best friend, on the other hand, wanted to help me solve this mystery.
Which of course was why we were best friends.
“Aubrey has sole control over the business now,” she mused, staring past the phone. I imagined it was a pristine, white-sand beach in front of her.
“Right. I guess so.” I leaned over my kitchen counter, reaching for the powdered sugar. Stress baking was second only to stress eating in my book, and I wanted a fresh batch of lemon bars to take to Mom and prove they were worthy of selling in the café.
“And she said Robbie was popping pills in the days leading up to the opening.”
“Which is just something she said,” I pointed out. “We don’t know that’s a fact.”
“Right, but still. Why would she randomly say that? What if she’s doubting him and needed to get that off her chest?”
“I wish I knew.” I watched powdered sugar sift over the delightfully yellow bars. They were so cheerful, so pretty.
“Hmm.” She tapped a finger to her chin. “What if Kyle did it, and she’s shielding him?”
“That’s exactly what I said to Deke!” I would’ve whooped with joy if the idea wasn’t completely morbid and inappropriate. Having Raina draw the same conclusion I had was a relief, though. I couldn’t help it.
“Yeah, because he wouldn’t know the specifics of what was going on, unless Robbie told him. Why would he? Kyle didn’t need to know. If he didn’t tell his own wife, he wouldn’t have told his brother-in-law.”
“Precisely. Kyle might’ve heard them talking about legal stuff, business stuff. I mean, he was there in the restaurant probably the entire time Robbie and James were. Or m
aybe Aubrey told him about it as a heads up. He knew James was carrying the papers and he took them after the stabbing.”
“And he probably figured Aubrey would take control of the business! That would set her up, wouldn’t it? He did it for her, too!”
We stared at each other, hundreds of miles apart.
“Are we basing this off speculation and theory?” she asked.
“We are. We’re probably way off-base.”
“Is that going to stop you from pursuing this?”
“Probably not.”
“Why do I have to be all the way down here right now? I don’t trust you looking into this on your own, without me to keep you from taking too many chances.”
“What’s the big deal? Maybe I’ll take some of these lemon bars over to Kyle’s apartment as a gift. You know, the way people do in times of trouble. And maybe, I don’t know, I’ll ask if he’s into stabbing people.”
“Em.”
“You know I wouldn’t.” But I couldn’t help considering it. It wasn’t a bad idea, using food as an excuse to get another few minutes with him. Completely innocent. “Besides, he’s probably at the restaurant, working. Not at home. I’d have to take them to the restaurant.”
“Would you please not? Or at least wait until I get home?”
“Raina…” I pouted. “I won’t get into any trouble.”
“The guy could be a murderer. You’re acting on the theory that he is a straight-up murderer.”
“Okay. Fine. What if I reach out to Aubrey, then? A way of saying I don’t hold it against her that she basically called me a wannabe homewrecker today? I bring the lemon bars, we chat about her brother, bing-bang-boom.”
“I don’t like it.”
“And I’m impatient. Don’t worry, everything will be okay. I’ll call you after, I swear. Go inside. You’re starting to get all freckled.”
“Am I?” she asked, looking down at her flawless skin.
“No. Perfect as always. Talk soon.” I ended the call before she could give me any further reason why driving up to the resort was a bad idea.
“Mmm,” I groaned, taking a bite of one of the bars. “You’re almost too good to give away.”
I was only a couple of minutes from the resort, driving with a plate of lemon bars beside me and the newly relit Riviera sign beckoning me up ahead, when the ringing of my phone blared out in my little car. It always shocked me when my music stopped and instead of soft rock from the eighties, an electronic ringing noise sounded.
“Hello?”
“Emma. It’s Deke. I thought I owed it to you to look at my photos again before we got together tomorrow. After being sort of a jerk earlier.”
“Aw, you admit you were a jerk. Isn’t that nice?”
“I’m not joking. I’m being serious. Where are you?”
No, he wasn’t joking. He was practically barking. “I’m on my way to the resort. I was bringing a peace offering to Aubrey.”
“You might wanna wait on that.”
“Why?” Besides, I was practically on the property. I wouldn’t have to park in a garage this time, since I wasn’t sneaking around.
“Because I found something interesting. I’ve been trying to get a hold of Sullivan but nobody seems to know where he is. Of all the times for him to decide to take a night off.”
“Something worth calling him over? It must be bad.”
“It might be. You should stay away from there.”
“I’m practically already here. And there’s no guarantee Aubrey or Kyle are even there. What’s the big deal?”
“You want to know who kept feeding James Flynn champagne all night? It was Aubrey Klein.”
I waited for more. When nothing came, I said, “Okay. And?”
“And that got me looking more closely at her. I studied every photo which included her. There was one which I took between the argument in the kitchen and going outside to find you crouched over the body where she’s standing just inside the restaurant, in front of the windows.”
“Okay?”
“There’s sand on her feet. She was wearing those same strappy sandal shoes, like you wore.”
“Not like I wore. Hers were maybe a thousand bucks more expensive,” I snorted.
“Listen to me for a second, would you? There is most definitely sand on her feet in that picture. The way yours were after you were on the beach. I remember seeing it when we were at the police station.”
He was looking at my feet?
I parked in front of the restaurant, on the opposite side of the pool and patio. There were lights on inside, but no movement. From this vantage point, I could almost put myself right back in the event.
“So, she had sand on her feet. Like I did, just as you said. Of course she did. It was sandy out there.”
“But the body hadn’t been discovered yet. I hadn’t even gone outside looking for you. Do you see what I’m getting at?”
His voice filled the car. And my head. “She had already been on the beach,” I whispered with a sick feeling. “Here I am, assuming Kyle’s the killer and she’s protecting him. But she was on the beach before James’s body was discovered. Why would she have been out there?”
“And what are the odds that if she wasn’t the killer, she happened to be on the beach and didn’t see anything happening before coming inside? There’s only that single path between the dunes, leading to and from the private beach. She had to cross through to come back inside. No way could she have avoided seeing something. If it wasn’t her husband, wouldn’t she say so?”
“Either she did it, or she saw who did but would rather Robbie go to prison,” I breathed.
Something tapped against my passenger window, making me jump.
I turned to find a gun pointed at me through the window. And a redhead holding it.
“Turn off the car,” she whispered. “Don’t say a word.”
“Emma?” Deke called out. “Where’d you go?”
Aubrey glared at me. “Hang up.”
I hung up. A gun tended to remove the agony from decision making.
She opened the passenger door, looking inside the car while keeping the gun pointed at me. “Aww. Were these for me?” She picked up the plate of lemon bars which she most certainly did not deserve. “Come on. Inside. We have some talking to do.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Wow. Emma. Jeez, these are good.” Aubrey polished off her third lemon bar, licking the fingers of the hand not holding the gun. “You could’ve been a pastry chef, sincerely. The crust is so rich, and there’s just the right amount of sugar in them.”
“Thanks?” It was hard to sound sincerely appreciative when somebody had a gun aimed at my head.
“So your friend the photographer is on to me, too, huh?” she asked. “I saw you pull up and recognized the car from earlier today, of course. I knew you were onto something. I just knew it. You couldn’t leave well enough alone.”
“I knew Robbie was innocent.”
“Robbie’s an idiot,” she spat. “Getting hooked up with James, then thinking he can just pull out at the last minute? How did he think this place was going to survive without somebody like James Flynn running the resort? Why didn’t he consider what it would mean to have somebody like James as an enemy? Because I assure you, he would’ve targeted my stupid husband after that. No doubt. This place would’ve tanked! I mean, everybody knows it takes years for a restaurant to turn a profit. He was willing to put our entire future on the line, and why? Because he’s such a good guy and didn’t wanna get wrapped up in something bad?” She gave an exaggerated pout before scoffing. “What a baby.”
“He didn’t tell you the details, did he? Only that he wanted out of their partnership.” I clutched the chair on which I sat, afraid to make a move in case Aubrey got trigger happy.
Please, Joe, please, be somewhere. Be available. Get here soon. I only hoped Deke would keep calling him.
“My husband? Share details with me? Please. But I
was smarter than he thought. Isn’t that usually the way?”
“I guess so,” I whispered.
“Please. Don’t tell me those cops weren’t urging you to mind your business. I talked to Joe Sullivan about you today. He apologized, told me you were an amateur detective and thought you knew better than the cops. But you knew enough to look at me as a suspect.”
“Honestly? I thought it was your brother.” Why bother lying now? She had a gun pointed at me.
“That’s not fair,” she chided. “Just because he got in trouble years ago. But that’s just it. He needs this job. Now, he’s running things. I don’t know anything about the restaurant business, but he does. This is his big chance! I did this for him just as much as I did it for me. I had to look out for my own interests, since my husband wouldn’t.”
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Robbie was trying to look out for you when he served James those papers. James was bankrupt, the books were sketchy at best, and Robbie was afraid he’d bankrupt the resort and leave you two holding the bag. You would end up being the ones to suffer for his poor decisions. That was why he wanted out of the partnership.”
She blinked.
She blinked again.
“What?” she finally whispered, the gun trembling. “No. That’s not true. That can’t be true.”
“I’m just saying, that’s what he told me. That was why he didn’t want to be partners with James. Not because James was a crook—which he was—but because Robbie knew he would do the same thing here. He already was! Yes, it was wrong that he didn’t share his concerns with you. But how was he supposed to know what you’d do?”
She sat on a barstool, not ten feet from me, and burst out laughing. “You’re kidding! Oh, jeez. That’s what I get for assuming things. But it doesn’t change the fact that my husband was an idiot for hooking up with him—against my advice, mind you—and that James would’ve done everything in his power to tank this restaurant to get back at him. So now, you could say I was protecting sweet Robbie, too. His beautiful dream.” She snorted, looking around. “I mean, it came out nicely. Kyle will run it well. He’ll make it a success.”