by Cole,Lyndsey
Andy paced in the living room. “Here’s the thing,” he said more to himself than to Piper, “I don’t want to butt in on someone else’s relationship. Believe me, I know how that can go.” He jammed his hands into his pockets. “I saw Eli.” He finally looked at Piper. “The guy you came to dinner with?”
Piper nodded and sank onto one of Andy’s chairs. Her heart thumped like a kettle drum.
“I saw him at Spiced Up not long before Wyatt was murdered.” He stared at Piper. “I thought you should know.”
“What were you doing there?” Aria blurted out. “If you’re suggesting that Eli might have murdered Wyatt, his best friend, by the way, why were you at Spiced Up around the time Wyatt was murdered?”
“Who are you, again?” Andy asked, obviously taken aback by Aria’s aggressive question.
“Aria Bankston. Does that name ring a bell?”
Piper looked from Aria with her eyes blazing to Andy with his eyes wider than dessert plates.
“Are you related to Detective Bankston?” Andy asked, his voice barely a whisper.
Aria nodded and walked closer to Andy. She jabbed her finger into his chest. “So, are you going to fill us in on your activities, seeing as you seem to want to throw someone else under the bus for Wyatt’s murder? You had a fight with him. You’re the one running out of town like a coward. What have you got to say for yourself?”
Andy looked at Piper. “I didn’t start that fight. I didn’t kill Wyatt. I only went back to Spiced Up because I dropped my keys and thought it might have been when Wyatt jumped me. I found my keys under the table where I’d been sitting.” He dug around in his pocket and held up a bunch of keys as if that was proof of his story. “I grabbed them and left. That’s when I saw Eli arrive with Wyatt.”
“So Wyatt was alive when you left?” Piper asked.
“Very much so. I didn’t want to have anything to do with him, or his friend, so I left as quickly as possible. Two against one wasn’t my cup of tea.”
“Then why are you leaving town in such a big hurry?”
“Yeah, I know it looks bad, but my mother-in-law is sick. I promised I’d go and help.”
“Your mother-in-law? Come on, Andy, we aren’t stupid. You’re divorced. That sounds like a lie if ever I heard one,” Piper said.
“It’s not a lie. My ex asked me to meet her. Call me naïve if you want, but I thought it might help me get back on her good side.” He looked between Piper and Aria. “Why are you both looking at me like I have two heads?”
Aria sat on the couch, crossed her legs, and stared at Andy. “Let me get this straight so when I talk to my father I give him only the facts.” She held up her index finger. “You lost your keys when you had your little disagreement with Wyatt around eight Saturday night at Spiced Up.” Her middle finger joined her index. “You returned to Spiced Up to find your keys around, what, two-ish in the morning?”
“I guess that’s about right.”
Aria held up a third finger. “You found your keys, saw Eli and Wyatt arrive at Spiced Up, and you left.”
“That’s right. And, I saw that crazy girl that’s been calling me nonstop and she even came to my apartment yesterday but I didn’t open the door.”
“Amber?” Piper asked. “You saw Amber at Spiced Up at two in the morning?” That lined up with Heather’s story that Amber knew there was a commotion at the food truck in the middle of the night. Maybe Andy wasn’t lying.
“Yeah. She was on her phone. Just sitting with her legs crossed as if she was waiting for someone to serve her drinks. It was weird.”
Piper was shell shocked with this latest information. Was it all true? The fact that he saw Eli didn’t make sense since Eli had an alibi. The surveillance video showed him going in the lobby of his apartment at five past two that morning. She smacked the side of her head.
“What, Piper?” Aria asked. “You have the look of someone that just solved a big puzzle.”
“Remember that surveillance video that showed Eli in the lobby of his apartment building?”
Aria nodded. “Right. That kind of throws Andy’s statement out the window.”
Piper stood up and paced where Andy had been. “Unless he left a different way that isn’t monitored.” She stopped and looked at the other two. “He met me for lunch on Sunday and I told him the police were watching his apartment building so to go out a different way.”
Aria jumped off the couch. “Of course. He used a separate exit so his alibi wasn’t compromised. You’re brilliant, Piper.” Aria had her phone out. “I’m calling my dad to give him this information.”
Piper took the phone. “Hold on. It doesn’t prove that Eli is the murderer; just that he was there. Maybe he has a good reason like Andy’s. After all, Eli and Wyatt were best friends, so if Wyatt needed Eli’s help for something, I’m positive he’d be there for Wyatt.”
“What was everyone doing at Spiced Up at two in the morning though?” Aria asked.
“That’s what we need to find out. Let’s go.”
Andy stood. “Are you still going to water my plants, Piper? I have to prove to my wife that I’m responsible. That will help get her back—”
“Yeah, sure,” Piper said to get him to stop talking. He was a nervous wreck and it was making her nervous. “I have your keys and your instructions. Don’t worry about a thing,” Piper called from the door. “Come on, Aria. We have to talk to Eli.”
26
“You have officially lost your mind, Piper,” Aria said. She planted her body between Piper and the driver side of her car. “This is too dangerous.”
“Eli’s not the killer. He’ll explain why Wyatt was at Spiced Up. Don’t you see? Amber was there. Andy said, ‘as if she was waiting for someone to serve her drinks’. Or, maybe she was waiting for Wyatt to show up so she could kill him.” Piper tried to push Aria out of the way.
“Call him and have him meet us. We need to be somewhere with people around,” Aria insisted.
“Good point.” Piper got her phone and hit Eli’s number. It had barely started ringing when he answered.
“Hi, Piper. Everything okay?”
“Uh, you’ve got my bike in your car still and I was hoping you could meet me in town.” Piper made a face at Aria. Aria signaled two thumbs up.
“Sure. Where do you want to meet?”
“How about Spiced Up?”
Aria shook her head violently and tried to grab the phone but Piper twisted out of the way.
“Ten minutes?” Eli asked.
“Perfect.” Piper stuffed her phone back in her pocket. “Let’s go. Don’t worry, Aria, there will be people around.”
Aria huffed. “Just like the night Wyatt was killed?”
“Actually, people were around, and that’s the whole point of talking to Eli. We heard what Andy saw, now Eli is our next best source for information.”
“I’ll agree to this but I’m staying in the car so I can call my dad if something starts to go wrong. Agreed?”
“Agreed.” Piper slid behind the wheel and waited for Aria to get in next to her. “You’ll thank me later.”
“Doubtful.”
Piper maneuvered Aria’s car to a spot near Spiced Up. The yellow police tape was gone from around the food truck but a big closed until further notice sign hung lopsided in front of the ordering window.
“Do you see Eli’s car?”
Piper swiveled her neck and scanned in both directions. She pointed. “Here he comes.” She hopped out of Aria’s car and walked to a spot she expected Eli would pull into.
He did.
“I was surprised you called,” he said as he got out of his car. “I thought you’d never talk to me after I bolted from your sister’s house.” He opened the back door of his car and pulled Piper’s bike out.
“Yeah. Not sure if I would have called but, you know, I kind of depend on my bike.” She positioned it between herself and Eli, thinking it could be used as a weapon if necessary. She looked at the
food truck, then back at Eli. “Why were you here with Wyatt after two on Sunday morning, Eli?”
The space between his brows creased. “What are you talking about? I was at my apartment. The police verified my alibi.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“I know that’s what the surveillance video shows, but that’s not what I heard. Andy said that you and Wyatt were here. Why?” Piper’s stomach clenched but she forced her eyes to stay locked on Eli’s face. She gripped the handlebars of her bike tighter and pushed the front wheel against the driver door. She wasn’t going to let him leave without answering.
“What, are you some kind of investigator or something? I thought you worked at a food truck.” His voice was short, choppy, angry.
“What are you hiding, Eli? Did you murder your best friend?”
“You’re as crazy as Amber. She’s why we came here. Look, I was already back at my apartment but Wyatt called and I left through the garage, not the lobby. He was desperate. He said Amber called him. She found his wallet at Spiced Up and if he wanted it back he had to meet her. It was pretty special to him. He told me it was a gift from his mom and she had his initials engraved on the leather.” Eli shrugged. “So, yeah, I was here with Wyatt. He talked to Amber, then he told me I didn’t need to stick around. So I left.”
“You left him to be murdered?” Piper asked in a shocked voice.
Eli threw his arms in the air. “Of course not. Listen to what you just said, Piper. It’s only hindsight that we know Wyatt was murdered. I left him because I was tired and wanted to get to bed. You were already in bed. You had an early night. I stayed out with Aria and Wyatt as their third wheel. I was ready to get some sleep. I wasn’t his bodyguard or anything like that. He seemed all set so I saw no reason to stick around. Besides, I was never a big fan of Amber and I’m pretty sure the feeling was mutual. You know, something about her not wanting to share Wyatt’s time with anyone when they were together.”
“Good point. So, you think it was Amber?”
Eli shrugged. “Or, Andy. I saw him watching us when I left.”
Great, Piper thought. Andy said he left when Eli and Wyatt arrived. Eli was now saying Andy was watching when he left. She felt like tearing her hair out. Who was lying?
“Amber must be the key to all this,” Piper said, thinking out loud.
Eli turned his back to Piper as he spoke into his phone. “Amber? I’ve got some information you might be interested in,” Piper overheard Eli say before there was a pause in his side of the conversation. “Yeah, that’s right, meet me at Spiced Up.”
Eli turned back toward Piper after he put his phone away. “You need to talk to Amber and figure out who you can trust. I brought your bike back and now I’m out of here.”
“What? I just heard you tell Amber you had some information for her.” Piper couldn’t believe what Eli had just done. He set her up to meet with a crazy person? So much for a potential future with this guy. “What if she’s the killer?”
Eli grabbed Piper’s arm and pulled her and her bike away from his car. “Well, that’s an interesting theory. Stick around or don’t, it’s up to you. But you’ve given me the impression that you think I’m the murderer. So, figure it out for yourself.”
Eli got in his car and slammed the door before he pulled away from the curb, sending a spray of slush onto Piper’s legs.
Piper watched Eli’s car disappear down the street. Finally, the wetness registered and she looked at her slush-splattered jeans as if she was looking at someone else’s soggy pants.
“What was that all about?” Aria asked from behind Piper.
Piper felt Aria’s hand wrap around her arm and guide her away from the curb toward the deserted tables in front of Spiced Up. “Are you okay? Talk to me, Piper.” Aria gently pushed her onto one of the chairs and leaned her bike against the table.
“I don’t know what just happened, but Amber should be here soon so maybe that will clear something up.” Piper sat with her legs straight out in front of her, her elbows rested on her thighs, and her eyes focused on nothing. Now, she could add worst date ever to her list of shortcomings.
Aria flicked her wrist. “He wasn’t your type anyway. Forget about Eli. Make it quick with Amber so we can get back to the Morettis’ mansion and relax in all that glorious luxury.”
Piper knew Aria was trying to cheer her up but it wasn’t working. She did like Eli and now she’d probably never see him again. She sighed. A long drawn out, body-clearing exhale of stale air. “Okay,” she answered with no real conviction.
“Stay here. I’m going to sit in my car and call my dad. I’m not sure what I’m going to tell him, but I want to be sure he’s available in case we need help.” Aria bent down and stared into Piper’s eyes. “Did you hear me?”
“Yes. Forget about Eli. You’re calling your dad. Wait here,” she recited.
Piper heard Aria mumbling to herself as she headed to her car, something about Mr. Blind-Date-Flannel giving her best friend a brain fart. She pulled herself together. This wasn’t the time for her to feel sorry for herself. She needed to focus and be sharp.
Piper straightened and surveyed her surroundings. The street lights provided decent lighting at the road and the sidewalk but the food truck was mostly in shadows. Traffic was light and the sound of people laughing and talking provided some feeling that she wasn’t alone.
At least it wasn’t the middle of the night like when Wyatt met Amber here. And, Aria had her dad on the phone.
Piper didn’t see Amber anywhere so she decided to peek in the windows of Spiced Up.
As she approached the order window, the sound of squeaky door hinges made her freeze.
Silence. A slight breeze blew across her cheeks. Heels click-clacked on the cement sidewalk.
“Piper Carson? What are you doing here?”
27
Piper’s fingers prickled from a surge of adrenaline. She twisted her head toward the approaching footsteps. Her body was prepared to take flight if necessary.
Piper relaxed. “You gave me a fright.” She laughed. It was a laugh of relief when she saw Heather O’Brien approaching instead of Amber Choate.
“Sorry,” Heather said. “I haven’t been able to focus for the last few days so I decided to take a look inside Spiced Up to see what I’ll need to do to get the place going again. What are you doing here?” Heather tilted her head and waited for Piper’s response.
“Um,” Piper began. She felt heat rise into her cheeks and was thankful for the shadows that hid her embarrassment. “It’s a little awkward, I guess.”
Heather’s eyebrows went up.
“Amber is supposed to be coming by.” Piper decided that was a vague enough answer to satisfy anyone.
“Well, do you want to wait inside Spiced Up? It would be a little warmer.”
Piper glanced back at Aria’s car. It looked like she was talking on the phone. She checked the sidewalk again but didn’t see Amber approaching in either direction.
“Or you could wait out here,” Heather said. “It seems you’re having trouble making up your mind.”
“Oh, not at all. I was only checking to see if Amber was in sight. And I don’t want to inconvenience you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Piper. I’ll be glad for some company and I’d love to chat with you about working for me. After working with your mom and aunt today, I got the distinct impression that you might be looking for a job? At least give me a couple of minutes to try to lure you away from Gone Fish’n.”
The awkwardness level ratcheted off the charts for Piper. Did everyone know she was unhappy working at Gone Fish’n? Would she be any happier working at a different food truck? She supposed that it couldn’t hurt to listen while she waited for Amber. Maybe Heather would offer a better deal than Aunt Viv gave her.
Piper followed Heather around the back of Spiced Up and into the messy food truck. “Wow, I’m so sorry you have to deal with all this clean-up.”
“Right? So
metimes, I want to give up but I don’t have that luxury.” Heather pushed a pile of order pads off a stool and motioned for Piper to sit down. She busied herself with folding towels and straightening all the tools of the trade that had been scattered everywhere. “So, why are you meeting Amber?”
Piper adjusted herself on the small stool so she could lean against the counter. “Actually, it was Eli that planned the meeting but he left in a huff. I only want to ask her about him.” Piper shrugged. “Since she and Wyatt were a couple in the past, I thought Amber might be able to give me some insight about Eli. We’ve been on a couple dates.”
That was maybe the quickest Piper had come up with a lie. Excuses for being late for work, she had plenty of practice at. Lies about investigating a murder, not so much. And this actually sounded like a legitimate reason to meet with Amber.
“I wonder what’s taking her so long?” Piper added.
“I don’t think that’s really why you came here tonight, Piper.” Heather leaned against the only exit from the food truck. Her arms were crossed and she stared at Piper. “I know you’ve been talking to people. Mariah at the Sunday Voice, Andy Hayward, Eli, and now Amber. You aren’t planning to ask her for dating advice, now, are you?”
Piper’s fingers felt icy cold. Every muscle tensed but she had nowhere to flee. She was strangely aware of the spicy smells in the food truck.
“Amber is a troubled girl. Ever since her parents abandoned her and I took her in, I tried my best.” Heather seemed to be in some kind of daze, looking at nothing as she narrated her story, seeming to have to get it off her chest. “But she always managed to find someone else to love more than me. And then Wyatt came along. All I heard was, Wyatt this and Wyatt that.” Heather’s voice took on a sing-song childish tone. “Amber loved that boy more than anything in the world. She was obsessed. It wasn’t healthy. She was losing herself. I convinced him she wasn’t right for him. Truthfully, she isn’t right for anyone. She has problems that run deep from being abandoned at such an early age. Anyway, it took some doing but Wyatt finally agreed with me. That should have been the end of it but Amber couldn’t let go of him. She stalked him. She threatened his girlfriends.” Heather’s focus returned to Piper. “You see why it had to happen, don’t you, Piper? It never would have worked out with Wyatt and your friend. Amber wouldn’t let it work out. If she couldn’t have him, no one could. You figured that out, didn’t you, Piper?”