by Cole,Lyndsey
“When did that happen?” Piper asked.
Mitcheline shrugged. “Over a year ago.”
“What happened to make her go crazy?” Piper wondered if she was already off her rocker before she and Wyatt broke up, or if the end of their relationship sparked a meltdown.
Mitcheline shrugged again.
“Okay. So Mariah and Amber,” Aunt Viv summarized. “And now you have a little more information on Amber. Who else could be guilty?”
“Andy Hayward.” Piper went on to tell them about the breakup of his marriage, his lies about getting out of town, and his sudden departure.
“How do you know he’s getting out of town?” Aunt Viv asked while Mitcheline took more orders. The never-ending stream of customers meant business wasn’t going to slow down as winter crept on.
Piper glanced at her mother’s back and said quietly, “I’m house sitting for him. He has, like, thirty plants, and he’s super particular about when and how much they get watered.”
“You’re what?” Mitcheline asked, jumping back into the conversation. “You’re house sitting for a possible murderer?”
“I’m not staying there. And he’s not there,” Piper quickly defended. She knew her mother would freak out about this.
Aunt Viv put that fire out with her next question. “Any other suspects?”
“Heather O’Brien.”
“The owner of Spiced Up? I don’t know about that,” Aunt Viv said.
“She certainly had opportunity. It was her food truck where Wyatt’s body was found.” Piper raised her eyebrows, challenging her aunt for a response, but Aunt Viv remained silent.
18
Piper’s mind reeled with questions. Why didn’t Aunt Viv think Heather could be guilty? They all knew her from working in the same industry.
Before Piper could ask Aunt Viv for more details, Piper’s phone rang. She didn’t want to answer it, but she at least wanted to know who was calling. She dug it out from under the counter to find an unknown number.
She stared at her phone long enough that her mother finally said, “Either answer it or silence it. Just make that noise stop.”
Piper answered. “Hello?” She cradled it between her shoulder and ear so she could keep frying more fish for the recent fish and chips orders.
“Piper Carson. You are one tough cookie to get a hold of.”
Piper’s blood ran cold. She knew that voice. “How did you get my number, Lydie?” This was bad news. She didn’t want an untrustworthy reporter to have her personal cell phone number.
“Details.” Piper could imagine Lydie rolling her eyes. “I’m just glad I have it. I need to talk to you.”
“I’m kind of busy. I’m at work.” Piper didn’t want to be involved with anything to do with Lydie.
“Great. I’ll come get lunch. See you in a few.”
The line went dead and Piper stuck her phone in the back pocket of her jeans.
“Lydie Jackson?” Piper’s mom asked. “The reporter?”
Piper sighed. “Yeah.”
“You gave her your number?” Aunt Viv asked, incredulity lacing her question.
Piper laughed once. “No. I was doing everything I could so she wouldn’t have my number. I don’t know how she got it. Apparently the only public number for me was still at mom and Dad’s house.”
“That explains a lot,” Mitcheline said. “We’ve been getting calls for months from an unknown local number.”
“They probably started back when Hari was killed in December,” Piper explained.
“Yup. That was exactly it,” Mitcheline agreed. “I haven’t seen your name in the paper, though. Is she interviewing you for an article?”
“I don’t know. I saw her Sunday night at Cocktails and Canvas with Aria. Lydie’s the one who made me aware of Mariah Thorton’s possible guilt. She and Wyatt and Mariah all worked together. She thought Wyatt might have been the reason Mariah lost her job, but Mariah said she quit. So it doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well, maybe we’ll get the truth sooner than we thought.” Mitcheline pointed out of the food truck’s serving window toward the office building across the street.
Piper peered out across the street and saw Lydie’s unmistakable bright orange hair. Her curls bounced as she ran toward Gone Fish’n, waving to thank the cars that stopped to let her cross the street.
Lydie waited in line with the other customers and Piper’s heart beat faster and faster as Lydie got closer and closer to the window. She was furious that Lydie had her phone number now. How? Who gave it to her?
Piper was completely lost in her thoughts and fuming when Lydie ordered. “Fried fish tacos,” her voice said, reminding Piper that her answers might be closer than she realized.
“How’d you get my number?” Piper asked through the serving window while she breaded the first of the fish filets.
“Sorry about that,” Lydie said. “I know you didn’t want me to have it. I promise I’ll only use it for good.” Lydie held her hands up in apology and met Piper’s eye.
“That doesn’t tell me who gave it to you.” Piper’s anger grew.
Piper could tell that Lydie’s smile was forced. Her lips turned up at the corners but no smile lines showed around her eyes. “A reporter doesn’t reveal her sources.”
Piper took a step toward the window, but in the cramped food truck she didn’t make it very far. “I don’t care about your reporter ethics. Who. Gave. You. My. Number.”
“Piper,” Mitcheline cautioned quietly. “This is a customer you’re talking to.”
Piper backed up and finished making the fish tacos. She wanted to spit in them, she was so angry.
“Okay. If it’ll make you feel better, it was Eli Smith-Michaels,” Lydie said. “Eli gave me your number.”
Piper passed the fish tacos to her mother who passed them through the window to Lydie.
“I came here to help, though. I thought you wanted to figure out who killed Wyatt. And I wanted to let you know what I found out. That hasn’t made it into the newspaper yet,” she added. “I didn’t come to upset you.”
Piper looked up. She didn’t want anything to do with Lydie, but her information had proved useful once already. She decided to give it a shot. “Okay. What do you have?”
“Sorry, Piper. But we have customers to serve,” Aunt Viv said, her eyebrows raised meaningfully.
“Five minutes?” Piper asked. She wasn’t hopeful that Aunt Viv would give her those five minutes, but she asked anyway. She knew she was pushing her limits.
“Take your break.”
Piper was guaranteed two fifteen minute breaks throughout the day, plus lunch. They never really followed those rules, but Aunt Viv must have been feeling generous.
Or she wanted to find Wyatt’s murderer as well.
Piper didn’t even take the time to thank her aunt. She removed her gloves and stepped outside. Lydie met her at the end of the truck.
“What do you have?” Piper asked her a second time.
“I talked to Mariah and—”
“Yeah, so did I,” Piper interrupted. “She says she quit at the Bulletin.”
Lydie’s mouth remained open from when Piper cut her off. Her eyes widened and she was speechless for a few moments. When she regained her composure, she asked, “She said she quit? That’s as far from the truth as she could get.”
“Well, what really happened then?” Piper was glad to actually be getting somewhere. She felt like she’d just been going in circles, repeating all of her suspects over and over again without adding much information.
“Rumor around the office is that she got her job through illicit means,” Lydie said cryptically.
“Like … she slept with the boss?” Piper asked.
Lydie shrugged. “I still don’t know the truth. There are plenty of theories out there. That’s one of them. Another is that her supervisor was skimming from the company pot and she found out. She was fired before she could leak that information. Someo
ne even suggested that she wrote completely fabricated stories with false witnesses.”
Piper wanted to ask Lydie if she was in danger of losing her job after the slanderous articles she penned about Piper in December. Instead she asked, “How does Wyatt fit into all this?”
“He started the rumors,” Lydie told Piper.
Piper didn’t respond right away. Finally she asked, “How do we find out which rumor isn’t a rumor?”
Lydie smiled. “I’m glad you asked. I have Mariah’s supervisor’s number from when she worked at the Bulletin. You’re going to call him and pretend that you’re looking to hire Mariah. You’re calling to get a reference from him. He’ll tell you the truth. I’m sure of it.”
Piper was skeptical. “Why don’t you call?”
“He’ll recognize my voice.”
Okay, fair enough, Piper thought. “Why don’t you just ask him straight up for the truth? If he’s willing to tell me while I pretend to look for a reference, why wouldn’t he just tell you the truth?”
“He doesn’t like office drama. This would open an old wound. That’s the last thing he wants to do.”
Piper nodded. “Okay. I’ll call.” She made no move to pull her phone out of her back pocket and Lydie kept staring at her. “Now? You want me to call now?”
“Yeah.” Lydie nodded hopefully. “Why not?”
Piper didn’t have a good answer. This was as good a time as any, especially since she still had time left on her break. She took her phone out of her jean’s pocket and waited for Lydie to give her the number.
“His name’s Lionel. Here’s his number.” Lydie handed Piper a scrap of paper. “Tell him you’re calling from the Glenhill Current. And your name’s Josie.”
Piper looked up from her phone to see Lydie nod seriously. Piper followed her directions when Lionel answered.
“You’re calling for a reference for Mariah Thorton?” Lionel asked ‘Josie’. He laughed once. “I can’t believe she gave you my name and number.”
“I guess you don’t have anything good to say about her,” Piper prompted.
“To put it lightly. Let’s just say she attracts office drama. And if you’re anything like me, then you don’t want that to be the norm at the Glenhill Current.”
“You’re right. I don’t want that. But … can you give me any details?” Piper pushed. She really wanted to know why Mariah left.
Lionel sighed. “Well, the worst of it was that she didn’t even have the journalism degree she claimed to have. It took a while for the truth to come out, but she never even went to college. That’s why we let her go.” He chuckled. “After getting fired here, I can’t believe she listed me as a reference. Anything else?”
“How’d you find out?” Piper asked. She was more than ready to hang up but wanted to know if Wyatt was involved first.
“I’m an investigative journalist. How do you think?” Lionel asked sarcastically.
“So no one outed her? You found out on your own?” Piper pushed on.
“No one outed her. She blamed plenty of people, but it had nothing to do with them. She really had no one to blame but herself.”
“Thanks.” She didn’t think she could continue her lie much longer.
“Good luck finding someone,” Lionel said before hanging up. It took Piper a moment to remember he thought she was looking for an employee.
Piper stashed her phone in her back pocket again and turned to Lydie. “Maybe those rumors are true, maybe they’re not. I don’t know. But Mariah got fired because she lied about her credentials. She never went to college.”
19
Piper didn’t wait for Lydie’s response. She was still annoyed that Eli gave out her phone number to anyone, but it was even worse that he’d given it to a reporter.
And not just any reporter, but Lydie Jackson. The very same reporter who tarnished Piper’s name two months ago.
Piper turned on her heel and walked back into Gone Fish’n. The flow of orders hadn’t slowed and Piper got right back into making fish tacos and fish and chips at a rapid pace.
It was a few minutes before anyone said anything and Piper could feel the growing curiosity. Finally, Aunt Viv asked, “So, what was that all about?”
Piper sighed. She wanted to find Wyatt’s murderer as much as anyone, but she didn’t feel like she was getting any closer to the truth. “Lydie had a way for me to find out the truth about Mariah leaving the Bulletin.”
Piper could feel her aunt’s eyes on her but her mother kept right on taking orders and never turned to look at her. “Well? What’s the real story?” Aunt Viv asked.
“She lied about her degree. She never went to college. When her supervisor found out, she was fired. It had nothing to do with Wyatt.”
“That’s great,” Aunt Viv said, nearly shouting. “One less suspect. Mariah didn’t have a motive.”
“Yeah,” Piper agreed. “One less suspect.” She couldn’t quite muster the same enthusiasm that her aunt had.
“Well, who’s next? Why don’t we get Heather over here? I’m sure she could use a job since she’s out of work while Spiced Up is closed down as evidence,” Aunt Viv suggested.
“You’re thinking of offering her a job?” Mitcheline asked, keeping her back to both her sister and her daughter.
“Just temporarily,” Aunt Viv said defensively.
“This isn’t even our busy season.” Mitcheline obviously wasn’t keeping up with the investigation happening behind her.
“Maybe Piper wants another day off; assuming Heather can come today. And stay.”
The dig from her aunt hurt, but Piper would take any day off that was offered. With two house sitting jobs right now, she could cover her costs of living without working every day at Gone Fish’n.
“The point isn’t to actually give Heather a job, just to feel her out to see if she had a reason to want Wyatt dead,” Aunt Viv finally explained to her sister.
“Oh right. I guess I was too focused on work. You know, keeping this food truck running smoothly.” Mitcheline’s tone was accusatory but Piper chose to ignore it.
Aunt Viv did, too, and plowed ahead with her plan.
“Hi Heather, it’s Vivienne Thorpe.”
Piper glanced up and saw her aunt on the phone. She never even heard her take it out. There was no pause in her work as she kept making lobster rolls and shrimp salads while she cradled the phone between her shoulder and ear.
“I wanted to check in after Saturday night’s disaster at Spiced Up,” her aunt continued after a pause. Piper had a hard time staying focused on the fish tacos in front of her. “Yeah, it’s something else … My niece was actually out with Wyatt that night … Oh yeah? You knew him?”
Aunt Viv turned and gave Piper a thumbs up sign.
“Why don’t you come over to Gone Fish’n. Lunch on the house. And hey, if you need something to keep you busy while Spiced Up is out of commission, we could always use the extra hands.”
Piper was impressed. Her aunt was good at skirting around the real reason she was calling.
“Great. I’ll set aside grilled fish tacos for you. They’ll be ready when you get here.” Aunt Viv hung up. “You want the afternoon off, Piper? Unpaid, of course. But maybe you can track down another suspect. Amber or Andy?”
“Really?” Piper tried not to act too excited. Of course she wanted the afternoon off. Maybe she should find a different job. She’d been in the food industry too long and wasn’t excited about going to work anymore.
Not that she’d really ever loved working for her mother and aunt.
“Sure.” Piper didn’t take off her gloves right away and kept frying fish for tacos and fish and chips.
“Heather’s on her way. She said working would be great to keep her mind off of her business troubles. Finish up what you’re working on and then I’ll take over. Mitch, I figured we could have Heather take orders, I’ll take over for Piper, and you can do the lobster rolls, shrimp salads, and chowdah. How’s that sou
nd?”
Mitcheline sighed. “It doesn’t sound great, Viv. I was here this whole time you created this plan and you never even asked for my opinion.”
Piper took off her gloves and grabbed all of her clothes from under the counter. She caught a glimpse of her aunt from the corner of her eye and was surprised to see Aunt Viv’s mouth hanging open. It wasn’t often Mitcheline could render her own sister speechless.
“You could have said something. It’s not like I was trying to keep it secret that I was asking Heather to come here,” Aunt Viv defended.
The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife and Piper couldn’t get out of there fast enough. “See you tomorrow,” she told her mother and aunt before either of them changed her mind and asked her to stay. “Thanks for the afternoon off. I’ll make good use of it.”
“Piper? Just in case Heather can’t stay all afternoon, I’ll text you to come back,” Viv called after her.
“Sure.” Piper barely heard the last comment from Aunt Viv as she let the door close heavily and unlocked her bike from the light pole. The snow banks from yesterday’s storm were melting quickly in the sudden warm snap, making a huge mess of the sidewalks and roads.
Piper wasn’t sure what she should do. Mariah no longer looked guilty; Aunt Viv was taking care of finding out the truth from Heather; Piper didn’t know where Amber might be; Andy was getting out of town; and Aria was at work.
She decided her best bet was Andy. But before she approached him, she wanted to do her homework.
Eli had mentioned that Andy blamed Wyatt for the breakup of his marriage. But he didn’t elaborate. Piper headed to the library to use their computer for some research.
Lydie alluded to the fact that every reporter let their imagination get away from them at least once. Could Andy have been slandered by Wyatt in the newspaper?
There was only one way to find out.
Piper threw her leg over her bike and took off, merging with the traffic and weaving around cars until she reached the library.
20
Piper locked her bike among the few others in front of the library. She rarely saw anyone else crazy enough to ride a bike in Emerald Island in the winter, but it seemed some existed.