“Sorry,” said Brad, as if sensing Piper’s reaction when she got in. “I didn’t have a chance to get it washed.”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Piper. “You’re doing me a favor.”
“My pleasure,” said Brad. “But to tell you the truth, I was really surprised that you asked me. I haven’t exactly been getting the friendliest vibe from you.”
“I know. Look: You seemed to be familiar with the Alligator Alley Bar & Grill. And since Kathy and Dan like you, I figured I’d be safe with you. And then you were so considerate when you carried me to the car and took me to the doctor. I thought maybe I should give you another chance.”
“You liked being swept off your feet, huh?”
Piper, looking straight ahead, rolled her eyes and wondered if she was making a mistake.
Chapter 87
As they drove home from the Hollywood 20 multiplex, Terri went on about George Clooney.
“He’s not just a pretty face. He’s a wonderful actor. I was reading about him, and he had lots of lean years before he made it. I hope that same thing happens to Piper.”
Vin grunted. “Well, she’s had the lean years already, that’s for sure. Want to stop at Big Olaf’s for ice cream?”
“Not unless you want to,” said Terri. “I’d rather go back to the hotel and check on Piper. I didn’t think she seemed well at dinner.”
“Why don’t you just call her?” asked Vin.
“That’s a good idea.”
But as the phone rang and rang, Piper didn’t pick up.
Chapter 88
The bartender put out a fresh bowl of beer nuts. “Another round?” he asked.
Brad looked at Piper. “What do you say?”
“I guess so,” Piper shouted to be heard over the din. “I’ll have another Ketel and tonic, please.”
“Nothing from the well for this one, Tom,” said Brad, winking at the bartender. “Another Bud for me.”
Piper was disappointed. None of her efforts to talk with bar staff or patrons had led to any helpful information on Shelley Hart or Jo-Jo Williams. Everyone she approached had either been unwilling to talk or claimed they had nothing to share. Piper admitted to herself that she’d been a tad naive and stupidly confident in thinking that she could succeed where professional law enforcement had failed.
Feeling the buzz of alcohol, Piper blurted out her question. “So what’s prison like anyway?”
Brad seemed unfazed. “Rough in some ways, surprisingly simple in others. Once you get the lay of the land and understand how the system works, one day just follows another, all kinda blending in. You get into a routine. You don’t have to worry about making a living or buying food or paying your bills. In those ways doing time is all right.”
“What about the other ways?” asked Piper. “The unpleasant ones.”
“You always have to pay attention, and you can never relax.”
“Because of the other inmates?”
Brad nodded. “There are some mean bastards in there.” He took a swig of beer. “The worst part is, even after you get out, it follows you. It always comes up when you try to get a job. It’s hard to rebuild your life, even if you want to go straight.”
“Is that why you went into business for yourself?” asked Piper.
“Partially. I’m also better working alone. But the temptations are always there. Just yesterday a guy I knew from inside talked to me about teaming up with him.”
“Was it that well-dressed guy in front of the doctor’s office?” asked Piper, surprising even herself as she said it.
“How did you know that?” Brad asked, his eyebrows arching. “I didn’t even talk to him in front of you. I waited until you went into the treatment room.”
“I just had a feeling,” said Piper. “I saw you two exchange glances. It felt like you knew each other.” She paused before continuing. “What did you tell him?”
“You don’t hold back from getting into other people’s business, do you?”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “It just seems like a natural question.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got nothing to hide. I told the guy no, of course.” Brad turned away and looked around the bar. “Well, do you have anybody else you want to grill?”
As Piper shook her head, she realized that everything Brad had just said could be a lie.
Chapter 89
Terri kept calling Piper’s cell phone but continued to get no answer. When they returned to the inn, she and Vin went directly to Piper’s room and knocked, harder and harder, on the door.
“Where could she be?” asked Terri. “She didn’t have a car to go out with.”
“Don’t panic, honey. There’s probably a good explanation. Maybe Kathy picked her up and they went somewhere together. Or maybe she’s asleep.”
“Nobody would sleep through all this banging. Maybe she’s sick,” Terri said anxiously. “She hardly ate a thing at dinner. Or she could have taken a bath and lost consciousness for some reason and slipped under the water. She could be in there, Vin, unable to get to the door.”
“And I’m the one who worries too much,” muttered Vin, trying to keep calm. Having warned Piper about the sharks before she went for a swim, he’d run the risk of making his daughter a nervous wreck. As much as he wished Piper were more careful, he knew that his protectiveness could be excessive. Though she was a grown woman, she was still his little girl. He’d promised himself he was going to try not to show his worry all the time, but that promise was already hard to keep.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “If it’ll make you happy, I’ll go to the desk and get a key.”
“Good. Hurry.”
While she waited, Terri alternately called Piper’s phone and knocked on the door. When Vin returned a few minutes later, Walter Engel was with him.
“Oh, thank you, Walter,” Terri said breathlessly. “I’m so worried.”
“No problem. I’m glad I was still here. I was just about to go home when I saw Vin in the lobby.”
Walter slipped the key card into the slot and watched for the green light. He opened the door and held it as Piper’s parents hurried past him.
“Piper?” Vin called.
They looked in the bathroom and out on the little private patio.
“She’s not here,” said Terri. “Where could she be, Vin?”
As they walked back into the bedroom, Terri glanced at the bed and screamed.
Vin followed the direction of her gaze. At first he, too, felt a jolt of fear. But he quickly realized that the alarming gray reptile on the bed was a fake.
“It’s only a toy, Terri,” he said, picking it up. “See?”
Terri held her hand to her chest and closed her eyes. “Good Lord, that scared me.”
“What scared you? What’s going on?” Piper was standing with Walter Engel in the doorway.
“Where were you, Piper?” asked Terri as she sank with relief onto the edge of the bed. “We were worried sick about you.”
“Your mother was worried sick—I wasn’t,” Vin said with satisfaction.
Piper hated lying to her parents. Now that she’d done what she wanted to and was home safe, she could tell them. As they listened, Piper watched her father pull the paper ball out of the toy alligator’s mouth. She decided to tell them about that, too.
Vin studied the jagged script. “Now I’m worried,” he said.
Friday
Even a saint
is tempted by an open door.
AMISH PROVERB
Chapter 90
February 17 . . .
One Day Until the Wedding
As Piper traced the outline of the turtle on Levi’s hex sign, she was pleased with the idea that had come to her the minute she’d opened her eyes this morning. She would use the design to ma
ke turtle cupcakes and bring them to the rehearsal dinner. They would be a fun way to symbolize how the bride and groom met. Everybody could use a smile right now.
She got to the kitchen before her mother and took the wedding-cake layers out of the refrigerator to bring them to room temperature. Next she asked the cook for cupcake pans and mixed the yellow batter. She knew the recipe by heart. The little cakes were in the oven, already baking, when Terri arrived.
“Hiya, Mom,” Piper said energetically. “Ready to do this?”
Terri’s facial expression was somber. “Don’t ‘Hiya, Mom’ me, Piper,” she said. “I’m still very upset that you went to that bar last night. So is your father.”
“That’s why I didn’t tell you I was going,” said Piper. “I knew you wouldn’t want me to.”
“But you did it anyway?”
“I’m twenty-seven years old, Mom. I don’t have to ask permission.”
“That’s right, you don’t. But at twenty-seven, you should have more sense.”
Chapter 91
In his new role as assistant manager, Isaac now had to oversee what went on in the inn’s restaurant. He was excited at the prospect of adding more exotic fare to the menu. This morning was the first chance he’d had to talk to the chef about it.
As he pushed open the swinging door to the kitchen, Isaac heard voices. When he spotted Piper Donovan and her mother, he stopped dead in his tracks, unnoticed. They were engrossed in what seemed to be a tense conversation.
He held the door open a crack, straining to hear what they were saying. The mother was disappointed and angry. The daughter was defending herself. He knew that conversations like this were quite common.
But it was the reason for the argument that riveted Isaac’s attention. Piper had gone to a bar without letting her parents know where she was. She went to the bar where the murdered waitress had worked, to snoop around.
That was brave of her, thought Isaac. And foolish.
Chapter 92
They began their work in silence, but gradually the atmosphere grew less tense as Piper and Terri went through the cake-decorating steps. Despite the use of the aluminum strips around the cake pans, some of the layers had turned out slightly rounded on top. These had to be completely level and all the same height. When stacked, uneven layers could create a sloped cake.
Taking the first layer and putting it on a turntable, Piper picked up a long, thin-bladed slicing knife. She got down to eye level with the cake and held the knife to it as she spun it around. She could see the high spots pretty easily. She cut conservatively, knowing that she could always shave more off later.
After repeating the process on all the layers, Piper measured each one with a ruler to make sure they were all the same height. While she completed the exacting work that required good eyesight, her mother flipped the layers over so each one’s bottom became a smooth, flat top.
“I wish I could torte them,” said Terri. “But you’ll have to do that, too, Piper.”
“No problem, Mom. That’s what I’m here for.”
Piper painstakingly cut the layers in half horizontally, making two equal parts out of each. Eventually the counter was covered with twelve layers on correspondingly sized cardboard rounds.
“Okay,” said Terri, holding up a pastry brush. “I’ll take care of the moisturizing syrup. At least I can do that.”
She dipped the brush in a syrup consisting of sugar, water, and lime juice to add moistness and extra flavor. Instead of brushing it on, Terri dabbed the syrup on the cake, better controlling the amount applied. The cake soaked up the syrup readily.
“So far, so good,” said Piper as she took the cupcakes out of the oven. She showed her mother the sketch she had based on Levi’s turtle design and explained what she wanted to do for the rehearsal dinner.
“That’s sweet,” said Terri, “but his death is so awful. Why would a talented young man be so despondent that he’d want to kill himself?”
Piper wasn’t at all sure that Levi’s death was a result of his anxiety at being a police suspect in Shelley’s death. Damning though his cell phone’s being found at the beach grave site was, Piper couldn’t bring herself to believe that Levi was a murderer. And that he had killed twice? That was even more unbelievable.
Someone else was responsible for the murders and for Roz’s crash. Piper suspected that it was the same person who’d left the warning in her purse. Though her trip to the bar last night hadn’t provided the answers she was seeking, she was certain the solution was out there . . . somewhere.
She recalled the last time she’d seen Levi in the Whispering Sands’ parking lot, when he’d refused to take money for Kathy and Dan’s hex sign. “It’s not just for them,” he’d said.
If the hex sign isn’t just for Kathy and Dan, then who’s it for?
Chapter 93
Nora poured a second cup of coffee. As she was about to sit at the table and read the newspaper, the doorbell rang. Cryder Robbins was standing out front with a large straw basket in his arms. Red, pink, blue, yellow, purple, and green folded-paper figures poked from the top.
“Umiko made these for Kathy and Dan,” he said, holding out the basket to Nora.
She opened up the screen door. “Come in, Cryder. Please, come in.” Nora peered into the basket. “Oh, my!” she exclaimed in wonder.
“They’re origami cranes,” explained Cryder. “The Japanese consider cranes to be mystical and holy figures, living a thousand years. In Japan it’s said that folding a thousand cranes makes a person’s dreams come true. Umiko’s father gave us a thousand cranes for our wedding, which symbolized his wish that we’d have a thousand years of happiness and prosperity.”
“What a delightful, beautiful tradition,” said Nora as she admired the cranes again. “And Umiko did this for Kathy and Dan? How wonderful of her.”
Cryder nodded. “She’s been working on them for weeks. She thought maybe you’d like to decorate the wedding cake with them.”
Nora hesitated for a moment, knowing that Terri and Piper were decorating the cake that morning. “Let me call over to the inn and talk to my sister-in-law. If we can’t use them on the cake, I’m sure we’ll do something very special with them,” she said. “Sit down, won’t you, Cryder?”
“I’ve really got to get going,” he said.
“Please. It’ll just take a minute.”
He sat down on the couch and waited while Nora made the call. He heard her side of the conversation.
“Hi, Vin. It’s Nora. How are you? . . . I’m fine, too, thanks. Can I speak to Terri for a minute? . . . Oh. Okay, then. I think I’ll take a ride over to see her. Is everything else all right?”
Nora listened with a deep frown to the answer.
Finally she spoke again. “I can understand why you’re upset, Vin. I don’t like the idea of Piper at that seedy bar either.”
Chapter 94
Piper tossed the spatula into the bowl. “Ugh. I just can’t get it exactly right in that spot,” she said with frustration.
Terri looked at the tiered cake. “Don’t worry if that last bit of frosting isn’t smoothed out, Piper. Remember, this is a cake you’re making by hand, with love. You’ve poured a lot of time and effort into it. The cake is your creation, not some perfect machine-made thing.”
“Our creation,” Piper corrected her mother.
“Oh, honey, let’s face it,” said Terri. “You’re the one responsible. Not me. I just gave you moral support.”
“Yeah, and taught me pretty much everything I know. So you created this wedding cake, too.”
Piper opened the little box she’d brought from New Jersey. “Now for the sand dollars,” she said.
Together they artfully placed the sugar dollars all over the sides of each tier. Then, wearing gloves, they gently pressed the sand dollars into the still-soft icing.
“That’s absolutely beautiful!”
Piper and Terri turned around. Nora was standing behind them with a basket in her arms.
“I came over to see if you could use these,” she said, nodding downward to the origami birds. “But it’s obvious that we have to use them somewhere else. That cake is just right the way it is. Kathy and Dan are going to love it.”
The wedding cake was in the refrigerator. Her mother and aunt were in the café having some lunch. Piper frosted the rehearsal-dinner cupcakes with chocolate icing and stuck them in the fridge as well.
She mixed up a batch of royal icing and tinted some of it with green gel coloring. Then she spread out parchment paper and piped circles of green. Using a #3 tip, she immediately filled in the centers with brown icing. With a smaller tip, she dotted green spots on the brown, to make the variations in the turtles’ shells. She shook the paper on the table gently so that the icing smoothed. Taking up the green icing again, she added the head, legs, and tail to the bodies.
Making a PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH sign, Piper left the turtles to dry on the counter. She would use a black food-color pen to add the eyes before she placed the candy turtles on top of the cupcakes. But that would have to wait until later. She needed to shower, dress, and drive to Tampa to pick Jack up at the airport.
Chapter 95
At lunchtime Isaac drove downtown. He parked his car on Ringling Boulevard near the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. As he walked toward the building, Isaac forced himself to keep going. He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake.
Hearing that Piper Donovan had been nosing around at the Alligator Alley Bar & Grill had helped him make his decision. If a civilian was fascinated by the murders, the police were surely much more intent on finding out who was responsible for the killings. They wouldn’t let up until they figured everything out.
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