by Cole,Lyndsey
“I understand that,” he started. He tried again. “It has nothing to do with your date.” He paused, sighed, and finally said, “I need you to call him because he’s a suspect in Wyatt’s murder and we’ve been unable to track him down.”
Piper didn’t blink. Her eyes dried out, she kept them open for so long.
“They’re, like, best friends,” Piper said stupidly. “They wouldn’t go on a double blind date if they weren’t friends.”
This wasn’t the first time Piper thought she might have gone on a date with a murderer.
Detective Bankston sighed. “Yeah. You wouldn’t think so.”
“So why do you think Eli killed Wyatt?” she asked before he could say anything else.
“He was the last person to see Wyatt alive.”
5
“Is Aria on that list, then, too?” Piper shot at Detective Bankston. “If that’s the only reason you think Eli could be guilty, Aria was with them, too.” Piper didn’t admit that she’d left them hours before they called it a night so she had no idea what time Aria last saw Wyatt.
“She’s not. Not yet.” Detective Bankston ran his hand over his short cropped hair and looked at his shiny black shoes. Even with the constant salt on the roads for the winter he managed to not have a single bit of dried salt residue marking his buffed shoes.
“Can’t you just trace Eli’s cell phone to find out where he is?” Piper asked, remembering that she still hadn’t done the one thing Detective Bankston asked of her. With each minute she put off calling Eli, was she just aiding a criminal? Would she be charged with interfering with an investigation if he was found guilty? Or killed someone else?
Piper didn’t know the answer to those questions. But she did know that the longer she was away from Gone Fish’n, the angrier Aunt Viv would be.
“We traced it to his apartment. He wasn’t there,” Detective Bankston answered.
Piper nodded. “So what makes you think that me calling will be at all helpful? Did you go to his office?”
“It’s Sunday.” Piper forgot not everyone worked on Sundays. “There’s always the chance that he uses a burner phone that can’t be traced. If that’s the phone number he gave you, he could have that phone with him. If he didn’t dump it already.”
“Why would he do that?” Piper asked. Detective Bankston was making Eli sound like a seasoned criminal.
“If he knew what he was doing—if this was a premeditated murder—he would try to avoid detection. Using his regular cell phone would make it easy for us to track him. Prepaid disposable cell phones are much harder to track.”
Piper couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You think Eli planned to kill Wyatt? Like, created a plan of how to do it?” She paused and watched Detective Bankston nod. “Why?”
“We don’t know yet.” His eyes didn’t leave Piper’s face. “Could you call him now, please?”
Without answering, Piper unlocked her phone and found Eli’s contact information. She had never called him, never texted him. They had no history on her phone. If he was really a murderer, did she want to start a conversation with him?
No, she didn’t. But Detective Bankston wasn’t really giving her a choice in the matter. She pressed the green call button.
Piper turned around so Detective Bankston couldn’t see her face while she listened to the phone ring on the other end. She closed her eyes.
Then, to her complete surprise, Eli’s voice answered. And it wasn’t his voicemail.
“Piper,” he said cheerfully. “I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”
Piper felt her shoulders stiffen, her back straighten. Detective Bankston must have noticed too because he gently turned her around to face him.
Was Detective Bankston right? Did Eli use an untraceable phone for his personal life? Was the cell phone in his apartment just a cover so he could get away with murder? Which phone was she calling right now?
“Are you there?” he asked.
Piper closed her mouth that had been hanging open and nodded. He couldn’t see her, she realized. “Yeah. I’m here.”
“I’m glad you called, actually.” His voice changed from the initial happiness he answered with to a more mellow tone.
“You are?” she asked.
“Ask him where he is,” Detective Bankston whispered.
Piper waved him away.
“Yeah. I am,” Eli said. “Something happened to Wyatt last night.” Piper heard his voice catch. Was he crying?
“Oh?” Piper asked, playing dumb.
“Yeah. Right after I left him, he was killed at Spiced Up.”
“What?” She hoped her surprise sounded genuine.
Eli sniffed. Either he had a cold or he was indeed crying. “I know. I can’t believe it either.”
“Are you okay?” Piper asked. She was surprised to find herself caring too much for Eli. If Detective Bankston was right, Piper didn’t want to feel empathy for a murderer.
But if he was wrong, then she was just making sure that a friend was okay.
“Ask him where he is,” Detective Bankston whispered again, more urgently. Piper met his eye and nodded once. She would ask, but not for the reason he wanted her to. She wanted to make sure he was okay.
“No. I’m not really okay,” Eli answered. His voice sounded like he was beyond despair.
“Where are you? Are you alone?” Piper couldn’t exactly go to him to check on his wellbeing. She’d lose her job for sure. But if Eli was already with a friend then she wouldn’t worry so much about him.
“I just got home. I was—” He stopped abruptly.
“Alone?” Piper asked again. She wondered briefly where he was that he didn’t want to tell her about but she didn’t ask. If he wanted to keep that private, so be it.
“Yeah.”
They listened to each other breathe. Piper didn’t want to be too forward and ask if she could come over. She barely knew him. And Aunt Viv wouldn’t let her absence slide. Especially not after her late arrival this morning.
“Do you want to … meet for coffee?” Eli finally asked.
Piper was sure he was going to ask her to come to his place. She was glad he didn’t.
“I can’t,” she said, disappointed. Last night was fun. And Eli was obviously hurting. “I’d lose my job.”
“Right. Work. I forgot you had to work today.”
Piper waited for more but Eli didn’t say anything else. “I can meet you after I finish at seven. I know that’s not for a while. Will you be okay until then?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be okay.”
“Do you want to meet then?” Piper pressed.
“Yeah. That’d be good. The Tipsy Chicken? That’s a couple blocks from you, right?”
“Perfect. I’ll see you there at seven fifteen.” Piper was relieved to be seeing Eli that night. Even if just to make sure he wasn’t guilty of killing Wyatt.
“See you then.” The line went dead.
As soon as he hung up, Piper remembered she was supposed to meet Aria for Cocktails and Canvas right after work. The event started at seven and Aria was planning to save Piper’s spot until she got there. Now Piper would be even later.
“Where is he?” Detective Bankston asked Piper as soon as she hung up and pulled the phone away from her ear. He crossed and uncrossed his arms while he waited for an answer.
“At home,” Piper told him. “Alone.”
“Are you sure?” Detective Bankston pulled his own phone from his jacket pocket and unlocked it. “He wasn’t there this morning and we have someone watching his building. They would have known if he went in or out.”
Piper shrugged. She really didn’t want to get in the middle of this investigation.
And even more than that, she didn’t want Eli to be guilty. She actually kind of liked him.
6
Detective Bankston didn’t even say goodbye. He just turned and left, his phone to his ear and a gait that meant all business.
Pip
er had no choice but to return to Gone Fish’n and face the music.
She took a deep breath and opened the door. Aunt Viv didn’t even acknowledge her return.
“Two fish and chips, one grilled fish tacos, three lobster rolls,” Mitcheline called out, making eye contact with Piper. Piper was responsible for all of that except the lobster rolls.
Piper slipped new gloves on and got to work. She had to make up for her absence by not making any mistakes.
That was easier said than done in the fast work environment of a food truck.
“One fried fish taco, one spicy shrimp salad, spice level two,” Mitcheline called over her shoulder before Piper had the previous order finished.
“Come on, Piper,” Aunt Viv encouraged. “We were keeping up with you gone, it should be no problem when you’re here.”
Piper didn’t respond. She wasn’t going to let her frustration with Aunt Viv get the better of her. She would just be stoking a fire if she gave Aunt Viv what she wanted—a reaction.
“Hi Ingrid,” Mitcheline greeted the next customer. Without fail, Ingrid ate at Gone Fish’n every day. Piper didn’t know how she could afford it. Their food was on the more expensive end of food trucks.
“Mitch. Viv. Piper,” Ingrid greeted them. She blew on her fingers sticking out of her fingerless gloves.
“Blackened fish tacos?” Mitcheline asked. Nine times out of ten, that was Ingrid’s lunch.
“You know me well.” Ingrid smiled. She handed over cash, and while she waited for change, she asked, “You hear about the storm coming in tonight?”
“Yup. I sent Jude out for groceries so we don’t have to worry about what we’re going to eat if we get snowed in,” Mitcheline answered, taking the next customer’s order at the same time. She filled a bowl with their signature clam chowdah and handed it through the window.
“Emerald Island is out of salt,” Ingrid continued. “They’re thinking of shutting down the city tomorrow.”
“What do you mean, shutting down the city?” Aunt Viv asked. She never closed Gone Fish’n. And she never read the paper so had no idea about a lack of salt. Neither did Piper.
“Essential employees only. Police. EMTs. Doctors. No Gone Fish’n,” Ingrid explained with a grimace.
“What do you mean? We’re not essential?” Aunt Viv teased.
“You’re essential to me. But I don’t think you’ll want to be on the road. Especially not you, Piper. That bike might have wide tires but it’s no match for a Nor’easter with no salt on the roads.” Ingrid was completely serious.
“If we’re open, you better be here,” Aunt Viv threatened, meeting Piper’s eye. “Maybe it’s time to buy a new car.”
Piper ignored her. She didn’t have enough money for something reliable, and everyone in her family knew it. Buying a car would require a raise. That was the last thing Aunt Viv would be willing to do after today’s tardiness and absence to talk to Detective Bankston.
“Did you hear me?” Aunt Viv pressed.
Piper looked at her aunt’s hard, cold eyes. She’d had enough. Ever since she started working at Gone Fish’n in high school, she was never good enough for Aunt Viv.
“Yeah. I heard you.” Piper took her gloves off and tossed them in the trash under the counter, collecting her layers of clothes in the same movement. “But maybe it’s time you found someone else to push around. I’m done. I quit.”
Piper stormed out of the food truck and slammed the door before her mother or Aunt Viv had a chance to talk some sense into her. Piper knew she needed them more than they needed her. She could be replaced in a heartbeat. With someone they could pay less and offer worse benefits.
Piper unlocked her bike and flung her leg over. She pedaled into traffic and rode fast and hard. Her legs burned almost immediately.
After two blocks, she stopped. She just had to get away from Gone Fish’n before she made this call. She dug her phone from her messenger bag and went to her recent calls. She pressed the green button and waited for an answer on the other end.
“Hey,” Eli’s voice said cheerfully. “You’re not canceling, are you?” he asked more cautiously.
“No. I’m not. But get out of your building. Take a back exit. Or through the garage. Just get out of there.” Piper didn’t want Detective Bankston to put Eli through an interrogation. She’d been questioned by the police one too many times and it was awful. Having just lost his friend, Piper couldn’t imagine Eli going through a questioning.
“Um … okay. What’s going on?”
“Just get out,” Piper said again. “Meet me at The Tipsy Chicken. It’s after noon, we can get a drink, right?”
“Sure. I’ll be there in ten.”
Eli hung up and Piper could imagine the concern etched on his face.
With ten minutes alone, Piper let the finality of quitting her job at Gone Fish’n start to sink in. She was unemployed.
Well, other than house sitting. But that barely paid the bills. And she’d have more of them now. She’d lose her health insurance. And retirement benefit. She knew the only reason she had either was because her mom talked Aunt Viv into offering them.
Piper didn’t want to care about that, but she didn’t even have much savings that she could dip into. At least she wouldn’t be on the street. She still had six weeks left at the Moretti’s mansion. And if she didn’t have a job to bike to, she didn’t have to leave the house. So her risk of an accident was even less, she reasoned. Could she just go without health insurance?
She didn’t have time to decide because her phone rang in her hand. She looked at the screen and saw that it was her dad. Piper rolled her eyes and answered.
“I guess Mom already called you,” she said, skipping a greeting. Piper had a better relationship with her dad than she did with either of her sisters or her mother. If anyone was going to talk some sense into her decision, it would be Jude.
“She did,” he said patiently. “What happened?”
“What’d she tell you happened?” Piper asked.
Her dad sighed and a chair creaked on the other end of the phone. “She said you were late to work and then got in an argument with Aunt Viv and then you quit. Is that true?”
“I mean, that all happened. But she totally took it all out of context. Yeah, I was late. I know it wasn’t the first time and I was on the brink of unreliability already. But it’s not like I meant to be late. The Moretti’s house is way outside Emerald Island and Aria called me at four in the morning because one of the guys we went on a double date with last night was killed. I kind of had a lot going through my mind. I overslept. And then I had to take care of the dogs—”
“Wait. Back up,” her dad interrupted. Piper could have kept going. She was a pro at coming up with excuses. “You went on a date last night and now he’s dead?”
“Well, Aria was on a date with him. But there were four of us all together. And yeah, now Wyatt’s dead. Stabbed, I guess. I don’t really know much.”
“I’ll talk to your mother.”
“Well, that wasn’t really everything. I was late, but then Detective Bankston came to talk to me so I missed some more work. And then Aunt Viv just got really,” Piper paused to think of the right word, “accusatory. With the storm that’s coming in tonight, she basically threatened that if I didn’t make it to work tomorrow because I couldn’t bike there, then I would lose my job.”
“She said that?” Her dad sounded surprised.
“Not in those words,” Piper admitted. She saw Eli walking toward her on the sidewalk and wondered how he outmaneuvered the police who were looking for him at his apartment building. “But she sure meant it with her tone of voice.”
“Piper, you can’t just quit. What will you do?”
“I don’t know. I’ll figure it out. Maybe I’ll work at The Tipsy Chicken.” She chuckled at the thought. “I gotta go. I’m meeting someone there.”
“I’ll talk to your mom,” her dad said before hanging up.
Pipe
r stuck her phone in the pocket of her pink windbreaker and waved to Eli. He waved back, but his face held only sadness.
7
“I’m so sorry about Wyatt,” Piper said when Eli reached her just outside The Tipsy Chicken. He opened his arms and she let him hug her.
“Me too,” he said into her hair. “Me too.”
Piper hoped he didn’t start crying. She wouldn’t know what to do. “Should we go inside?” She disentangled herself from his embrace and led the way into the bar.
The Tipsy Chicken was deserted. It was barely one o’clock on a Sunday. Piper was relieved. She wouldn’t risk running into any of their regular customers from Gone Fish’n who would ask why she wasn’t working. She didn’t want to have that conversation.
Eli sat next to Piper at the far end of the bar where incoming customers would be least likely to disturb them. He didn’t take his eyes off of Piper as she scanned the drinks menu.
“That was a really strange call,” he finally said. “Why did you tell me to get out of my apartment building?”
Piper raised her eyes from the menu and met his stare. It wasn’t especially friendly.
She sighed. She didn’t want to have this conversation either. “The police want to talk to you. I just thought that with losing your friend last night, you wouldn’t want to be interrogated.” She left out the part that she didn’t want to know if she was on a date with a murderer last night.
And right now? Was this a date?
“I talked to them last night. Why would they want to talk to me again? I told them everything I know.”
Piper was relieved. Of course Eli wasn’t a murderer. Detective Bankston was blowing this all out of proportion.
“I feel like you’re not telling me something,” he said when Piper remained silent.
She slid the menu over the bar to him so he could pick his drink and she sighed again. “Detective Bankston thinks you might be guilty.”
“What?” Eli nearly shouted. He slammed his hand down on the bar and turned to look at Piper. “Aria’s dad is a detective?” The color drained from his face.
Or maybe Detective Bankston was right. Maybe Eli was guilty after all.