Chapter 14
“I’m so sorry to barge in like this, but I don’t know what to do.” Lydia held a crumpled tissue to her eyes.
“Come and sit down,” Ember said, leading her over to one of the tables and pulling out a chair. “We’re so sorry about Seth.”
“Thank you.”
“Can I get you something—water, coffee?” Ember asked.
“No, but thank you.” Her breathing hitched.
I sat down beside her. “Is there something we can do to help?”
Ember sat down on the other side of the table. “Is there someone we can call for you?”
Lydia shook her head. “I don’t know who to call.”
“A friend?” Ember suggested.
Lydia shook her head again. “I don’t have a lot of friends, and none of them know Nick.”
Ember and I looked at each other in confusion. Nick?
“Uh, don’t you mean Seth?” I said gently.
“No, Nick. He’s gone,” she said.
“Sorry,” I said. “We thought you were talking about Seth.”
She looked at me and then at Ember. “I must sound so insensitive to you. Like I told your sister, I loved my brother and it’s horrible what’s happened, but we weren’t close anymore.” Tears pooled in her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. “I feel guilty for not feeling sad enough. That sounds terrible, doesn’t it?”
“No, it doesn’t,” I said. I went over to the cash register and pulled out a box of tissues from the shelf below. I plucked one out and handed it to Lydia.
She took the tissue and wiped her eyes. “Grant said it was my fault. After we left the gallery, we went back to the hotel. It was awful. He was shouting, saying I had made Seth angry.”
“Why would he say that?” Ember asked. “Jason—”
I stretched my foot under the table and kicked Ember in the shin. She yelped and gave me a dirty look, but didn’t say anything else.
“It’s okay. I know he worked for you and that he had a fight with Seth—something about your sister—but that doesn’t make you responsible for anything that happened.”
“Thank you for that,” I said. “But why does Grant think you’re to blame?”
“He thinks Seth and I have—or rather, had—some sort of conspiracy going on.”
“He can’t be serious,” I said.
“He is. I told him I never saw Seth yesterday, but he wouldn’t believe me.”
I wanted to say her brother was a paranoid delusional ass, but I didn’t think that would be helpful. And anyway, I think she already knew that. Instead, I asked her if it was possible Grant could have been involved in Seth’s death.
“No, of course not.” Her red-rimmed eyes narrowed and her shoulders stiffened. “Why would you think that? Grant wanted the property badly, but he would never resort to murder.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”
Ember jumped in to rescue me. “Bree’s been binge-watching too detective shows. Only she’s got it backwards—she thinks everyone is guilty until proven innocent.” Well, she’d thrown me a life-preserver, but I still had to swim to the boat.
“You were going to tell us about Nick,” I said. “You said he was gone.”
“He is. After we got to the hotel room, we went straight to bed, and when I woke up this morning, he wasn’t there.”
“He could have gone for a walk or something,” Ember suggested.
Lydia shook her head. “All of his stuff is gone. His clothes, suitcase, everything.”
“Maybe he just got freaked out about last night,” Ember said. “Some people don’t handle stressful situations very well.”
“Do you think so?” Lydia’s eyes lit up.
“It’s possible,” I said. I didn’t really believe it, though. If they were supposed to be getting married, why would he leave? Something wasn’t right.
A knock came from the door. The CLOSED sign was still in the way, but I could tell from the uniform it was Matt. Ember got up and let him in.
“Lydia was just telling us something,” Ember said. “Her boyfriend is missing.”
“I know,” Matt said. He walked over to the table and took a seat across from Lydia. Ember pulled out the chair next to him and sat down.
“You know?” Lydia looked at him, her eyes wide.
Matt looked at Ember and me. “I have a few questions to ask Miss Bateman. Would you give us some time alone?”
“Of course,” I said. I pushed back my chair and stood. Ember did the same.
Lydia put her hand on my arm. “Stay, please.” She looked at Matt. “I want them to stay.”
“Are you sure about that?” Matt asked.
“Yes,” she said firmly.
Ember and I sat back down. I felt somewhat guilty: I was dying to know what Matt had to say about Nick. I was sure it wasn’t going to be good.
“I was doing checks of the names and addresses of all the guests I spoke to last night, and it seems the information Nick gave me was false,” Matt said. “I went to the hotel to talk to him, but they said he was gone and that you were looking for him.”
“That’s true. When I woke up, he was gone, along with all of his stuff. What information is false?”
“The address he gave me doesn’t exist.”
“Are you sure you have it right?” Lydia asked. “Maybe you transposed a number or something.” The hope in her voice made me cringe.
Matt pulled out his notebook, flipped to a page, and handed it to Lydia. “I had everyone write down their information. That’s what Nick wrote.”
Lydia looked at the page and then up at Matt. “I don’t recognize that address.” She handed the notebook back to Matt. “But I’ve never actually been to his house. He told me it was being remodeled, and he was staying with his sister until his house was ready.”
“Have you ever met his sister, or been to her house?” Matt asked.
“No, I haven’t.”
“Do you have a photo of Nick?”
“Just one, on my Facebook page.” Lydia searched through her purse and pulled out her phone. “Oh, I forgot to charge it.”
“I’ll get the laptop.” I went into the little office off the kitchen and got the laptop we used for the café. I set it in front of Lydia and we waited while she logged into her account.
She scrolled through her photos for a moment and then stopped. “Here it is. I took this last month at the Space Needle.”
I leaned over and looked at the photo. It showed a large crowd of people on the observation deck, and Nick’s profile as he looked out at the city.
She turned the laptop around so Matt could see it. “It’s not a great photo. He hates having his picture taken, so I had to do it without him noticing.”
“That’ll work for now,” Matt said. “Does he have his own Facebook page?”
“No, he hates all that social media stuff. He says it’s for lonely people desperate for attention.” Lydia’s shoulders slumped. “I never told him I had an account.”
“Well, that’s just silly,” I said, as cheerfully as possible. “Everyone uses social media. The café even has its own Facebook page and Instagram account.”
Lydia gave me a weak smile.
“Can you copy that photo and email it to me?” Matt asked. He wrote down his email address and slid it in front of Lydia.
“Yes, of course.” She turned the laptop around and tapped at the keys. “There, you should have it now.”
Matt checked his phone. “Got it, thanks.”
Lydia stared at Matt as realization set in. “You think he had something to do with Seth’s murder, don’t you? But why? You have that man in custody.”
“Miss Bateman,” Matt said gently, “I won’t speculate on whether or not Nick was involved in Seth’s death, but by providing false information he’s given me good reason to investigate him further.”
It didn’t escape me that he hadn’t said anything about Jason. I felt a glimmer of hope.
Tears welled up in Lydia eyes again. “Would you excuse me? I need to use the restroom.” She pushed her chair back and stood. Her hands were shaking.
“Of course,” I said. “Are you okay?”
She nodded and walked away.
“I’m surprised,” I said as soon as Lydia was out of earshot. “Nick wasn’t someone I would have suspected, but thinking about it now, it makes sense.”
“How so?” Matt asked.
“Lydia said she met Nick only three months ago, they’re getting married, and she’s coming into a lot of money soon. Maybe he knew Seth wasn’t going to sell—which meant Lydia wouldn’t be able to sell her land. Isn’t that motive enough for murder?”
“Sure, but so are a lot of other things. Like I told Lydia, I won’t speculate. I’ve got to find the guy first,” Matt said.
“You didn’t answer her question about Jason.” I said.
“That’s because I didn’t want her to know he isn’t a suspect anymore. The medical examiner sent over a preliminary report, which came in just before I went looking for Nick. It clears Jason.”
I felt a surge of relief and looked over at Ember. “See? Told you.”
“Okay, so he didn’t do it, sue me, I was wrong.” She flipped her hair off her shoulder. “It happens. Rarely.”
“Ha! More often than you think.”
“Only in your dreams.”
“Are you two done?” Matt interrupted.
“Sorry,” I said. Matt was used to our frequent jabs and usually just tuned us out. “Go ahead.”
“Thank you.” He scrolled through his phone until he found what he was looking for. “He had three wounds to the chest. Two of them were of the same shape and size and both entered his heart. The third—a V-shaped wound—only punctured his skin. Time of death was somewhere between four and five PM.”
“So that piece of frame wasn’t what killed him?” Ember asked.
“Nope, it was something else. Something we didn’t find at the scene.”
“More importantly, Seth was dead long before Jason found him.” I pointed out.
“How can that be?” Ember asked. “There was definitely no body lying in the parking lot when we got to the gallery yesterday. Pretty sure we would have noticed.”
“Because whoever killed him hid the body close by and then dumped it in the parking lot while we were all in the gallery. Right?” I looked at Matt for confirmation.
“That’s what it looks like it,” he said. “I traced Jason’s movements from the time he left the café yesterday right up until Seth was found, and there’s no way he would have had time to do it.”
“We have to tell Raine.” I couldn’t wait to get back to the house and give her the news.
“You can tell her Dennis is doing up the paperwork now, and he’ll release Jason and take him home as soon as he’s done. But I want to keep his release quiet for now. If it turns out Nick wasn’t involved, the real killer may slip up and give himself away.”
“Let us pick him up,” I said. “Please. I know it’ll make Raine happy, and we’ll be quick and quiet about it. No one will see us, I promise.”
Matt considered my request for a moment. “As long as you take him straight home, and don’t tell anyone.”
Ember glanced at the door to the restroom, and then looked at Matt. “What about Lydia? Why isn’t she a suspect?”
“I never said she wasn’t, but she’s not high on the list. I’ve got some more questions for her on her movements, and I’ll get Dennis to corroborate that while I look into what’s happened to Nick.”
“You think Nick’s involved, don’t you?” I asked.
“That’s what I’m trying to find out. When you were at the gallery, you saw him, right?
I thought back to last night. “I saw him early in the evening, talking to Lydia, but after that, I don’t remember if I saw him again or not.”
“What about you, Em?” Matt turned to face Ember. “Do you remember seeing him?”
“I didn’t see anybody until we all ran outside.” She looked at me. “I was slaving away in the kitchen, remember?” I rolled my eyes at her. Please.
“He was there the whole time.” Lydia had walked back in, and looked more composed. I just hoped she hadn’t heard us talking about her.
“And you’re sure about that?” Matt said and jotted something in his notepad.
“Yes, positive.”
“And before the party, was he with you the whole time?”
“He went on the boat tour with the rest of the group. I got back before they did. I was at Seth’s cottage. Bree was kind enough to take me there.” She smiled at me.
“How long were you there?” Matt asked.
“About half an hour, but Seth never showed up. I called a taxi to take me back to the hotel.”
“And when you got back to the hotel?” Matt prompted.
“I was in my room when he showed up. That was about two o’clock.”
“From two until the party, you were together the whole time?”
“Yes. We took a walk around the town, went down to the beach in front of the hotel, and then went back to our room around three o’clock. Nick took a nap, and I had to go downstairs to the bar to meet with Grant and some of the investors. He said it was to show them the Bateman family was committed to the resort. Isn’t that a joke?” She let out a harsh laugh.
“How long were you in the bar?” Matt asked.
“About an hour and a half, maybe a bit longer. When I went back upstairs, Nick was still asleep.”
I knew we were all thinking the same thing—was Nick really sleeping the whole time Lydia was in the bar?
Matt continued with his questions. “Where does Nick work?”
“He doesn’t right now; he’s taken a leave of absence. He’s a high school teacher. Working with teenagers can be very demanding,” she explained.
“Did he ever mention the name of the school to you?”
“Uh,” Lydia hesitated. “Come to think of it, no, but he said it was in Everett.”
Matt made a few more notes, then closed his book and stood up. “Okay, that’s all I need. If I have any more questions, or news of Nick, where can I reach you?”
“I’ll be at the hotel. I’m not planning on leaving the island until I find out what happened to Nick.” Lydia’s composure broke and she began to cry quietly.
“As soon as I find out anything, I’ll let you know.” He stood there looking at her, probably trying to decide if it was okay to leave. Matt is a great guy but, like a lot of men, when faced with a woman in tears his flight response kicks in.
Ember noticed his hesitation. “You go,” she said. “We’ll take care of her.”
I got up from the table and unlocked the door for Matt. We stepped out onto the sidewalk.
“What will you do now?” I asked as he walked over to his patrol car.
“Get Nick’s photo out on the wire, and then I’m going to head down to the ferry terminal.” Matt looked at his watch. “The boat left half an hour ago so it won’t get to the mainland for another fifteen minutes. If he’s on it, the ticket seller would have seen him.”
“Matt?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you handle this? I mean, this is a murder investigation, and there’s only you and Dennis. And to be honest,” I smiled at him, “you look like hell.”
Matt laughed. “Gee, thanks. You really know how to compliment a guy.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Don’t worry about me. The new chief is on his way, and if it turns out to be more than we can handle, we’ll call in the state police.” He opened the car door. “I gotta run. Don’t forget about Jason.”
“I won’t,” I said, and watched as he raced away. As tired as he looked, I knew he was excited. Emerald Island isn’t exactly a thrill-a-minute kind of place for a cop—not unless you count handing out speeding tickets to tourists or corralling farm animals loose on the highway.
Back
in the café, Lydia was drying her eyes. “I want to thank you both for being so kind.”
“You don’t need to thank us,” Ember reached across the table and patted her hand.
I sat back down at the table. “Whatever you need, we’re happy to help,” I reassured her.
She looked at both of us. “Nick didn’t do it. There’s no good reason for him to do something like that. He never even met Seth.”
It was hard to believe that someone in this day and age could be so naïve. With Seth dead, there was nothing to stop the resort development from going ahead. Lydia was going to be a very rich woman and Nick knew it.
“I know you’re thinking Nick is only after my money,” she said, “but it’s not true. He didn’t know anything about the land when I met him.”
“We’re not thinking anything,” Ember said. “I’m sure Matt will find Nick, and this will all get straightened out.”
“I think you’re right about Nick leaving because of the stress. The poor man—he took a year off from teaching to get away from stress and now look what I’ve put him through.” She wiped her eyes once more and then laughed. “I must look like a wreck.”
“You look fine,” I said, even though it wasn’t true. Her nose was red, and her eyes were puffy and stained with mascara.
Lydia slapped her hands on the table, suddenly energized. “I’m going to go back to the hotel.” She stood up and buttoned her coat. “I need to talk to Grant about organizing a funeral service for Seth. I’m sure that’s one bill he won’t mind paying.”
I stood up, but Lydia waved me back down.
“I can let myself out, and thank you again, both of you.”
She swung her purse over her shoulder and marched out.
Ember shook her head. “Can you believe that? ‘Poor man.’ I mean, come on—a fake address, a house that needs remodeling, a sabbatical? She can’t be that blind.”
“Maybe she does see it and just doesn’t want to believe it. I think she’s been lonely for a long time. To her, Nick is a knight in shining armor.”
“If a tacky Hawaiian shirt is the new shining armor, then I guess we better start calling him Sir Nick.”
Stuck in the Middle Witch You (A Middle Witch Mystery Book 1) Page 9