“See?” I asked as I pointed to the people who’d come in after us. “This is what I’m talking about. I never even saw them before I turned around.”
In his usual calm way, Alex shrugged. “No ninjas, though, so you’re safe.”
“I guess. So I’ll be looking for clues to show Elizabeth knew Canton Walters and might have killed him. Nice way to spend an afternoon.”
The pleasant expression slid from Alex’s face. “No, I want you to simply find out about her. If you go looking for something to connect her to this case, you’ll end up twisting the evidence to fit your theory. You’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes. He always cautioned against doing that.”
“I know. You’re right. I’ll keep an open mind and find out whatever I can about our desk clerk.”
He pushed his chair back from the table and threw a twenty down next to his napkin. “Good. We’ll figure out what’s useful and what isn’t once you find out about her. I need to get back to the station, but call me and let me know what you find out.”
“Okay. I’ll make sure to get your change for you too.”
Flashing me a smile, he said, “No need. This was my treat. See you later, Poppy.”
After he left, I sat there with my back to the rest of the patrons of the Madison Diner and couldn’t help but think the whole thing was a metaphor for my life in Sunset Ridge. Just like in the restaurant, I knew all the people around me in town were there, but I did next to nothing to engage with them other than superficial chatter as we passed on the street or stood in line for coffee each day. I didn’t know when I’d become this person turned away from all those around her, but other than Alex and Derek, and my father and Bethany, I really spent time with no one else.
Like a train jumping onto a different track, just the thought of Bethany made me wonder if Alex had liked her as much as she clearly had liked him. There was no denying he was good looking, and as much as I rarely thought about it, he was single.
And Bethany had liked him since she first mentioned seeing him a couple months ago. At the time, I knew she had just broken up with Rex and had begun dating someone new, so I hadn’t given the possibility of her and Alex ever getting together another thought, but now that she was single again, I had a feeling she would be setting her sights on Sunset Ridge’s newest bachelor.
It was more like a sinking feeling.
Why should their dating one another bother me? As my stomach slowly twisted into knots, I silently admitted more than a little jealousy at the idea. Alex and I had been working side-by-side for months and not once had I had even the tiniest inkling that he felt anything for me other than friendship. Yes, it was true by his own admission that he never spent any time with anyone but me, male or female. And it was also true that I’d never shown him that I considered him as anyone but a male friend and work partner.
I had my reasons for not letting myself think of him as anything but those roles in my life. They may have been ridiculous excuses, but regardless, I’d never given him any indication that I liked him more than a friend.
Now as the pain in my gut grew over the possibility that he and Bethany might get together, I regretted not showing him how I really felt.
The problem was I didn’t know. Alex had everything I ever wanted in a man, but after a handful of unsuccessful relationships going all the way back to college, I’d basically given up on finding someone. And after being cheated on by my fiancé and publicly humiliated, I wasn’t exactly the most trusting soul when it came to men.
And then there was my father. When my mother died, I accepted the reality that I’d have to live in this small town so my father wasn’t alone.
Even if it meant I was.
At first I spent a lot of time denying that reality, telling myself that there were more important things in life than getting married and having children. Lots of people didn’t live happily ever after, and if I was one of them, then that’s the way it had to be. My father needed me.
Then slowly the desire to be with someone who cared for me made me venture out into the dating world. Sometimes it was through blind dates. Other times it was through reconnecting with friends from college. I’d even tried online dating for a while. A few relationships came out of them over the years, but they all ended because I couldn’t leave Sunset Ridge.
Not yet.
My father still needed me. He said he was perfectly fine and happy living his life, but I knew better. I saw the sadness in his faded blue eyes every time a major holiday came around and every May when my mother’s birthday came up on the calendar. He put on a brave front, but I knew.
Slowly but surely over time, it had become an accepted fact that I was Poppy McGuire, the single girl and daughter of Joe who owned the bar everyone knew of. The town busybodies thought of me that way, as did even friends like Bethany. She never came right out and called me that, but I saw the way she reacted to that time I didn’t know if Alex’s asking me to dinner at Diamanti’s was a date or not that she had mentally tagged me as that girl who was always single.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked up to see Dorothy staring down at me. “You looked like you were a million miles away, hon. Do you need anything else today?”
Handing her the check and Alex’s twenty, I pushed my thoughts about him and Bethany to the back of my mind and smiled. “No, thank you. Keep the change.”
Dorothy returned my smile and patted me on the shoulder again. “Don’t worry so much. No matter what’s on your mind, it’ll all work out for the best.”
As she walked away, I wondered if that was true, and if it was, what was the best?
I headed over to my office at The Eagle to begin my search for information on Elizabeth Freely and hoped Bethany’s meeting would run all afternoon so I wouldn’t have to see her. As I passed the conference room, I heard the head of the advertising department bellow at his staff about them not meeting quarterly projections and threatening to keep them in that room until they all came up with ideas on how to fix their shortcomings.
Maybe I’d get my wish and not have to face Bethany and what would likely be far too many questions about my partner.
Sitting down in front of my laptop, I began my search for any and all information on the Hotel Piermont daytime desk clerk. I found out that Elizabeth Freely had been born in Virginia twenty-three years ago to John and Caroline Freely. She graduated high school after being a cheerleader for the football team for all four years and attended the University of Maryland. I found no evidence of her ever graduating from college, and according to everything I found on social media, she ended up in Sunset Ridge, and like most residents in their twenties, she hated how boring the town was and couldn’t wait for the chance to move.
I looked through her posts to find out her likes and dislikes, other than the small town she felt trapped in, and found very little to indicate what she did in her spare time. My gut told me Elizabeth had to be more than just the cute cat memes she posted and games she played online, but there was no evidence of that.
After the basic internet search, I wanted to do a more detailed online database search available to me since I worked for the newspaper, but just as I began, I heard a group of people walk past my door grumbling and knew the advertising meeting had ended all too soon. I didn’t want to be caught in my office, so I quickly closed my laptop and grabbed my bag, but it was too late.
As I turned around in my chair to leave the office, there stood Bethany in my doorway looking like someone had killed off her favorite relative. The dejected look on her face told me the meeting had been even worse than what I’d overheard.
“Hey, I was just heading out. Tough meeting?” I asked, faking cheerfulness the best I could and hoping she couldn’t see how much I didn’t want to be there with her at that moment.
“It was awful. We all got our asses chewed out, so it wasn’t just me, but it was still terrible having to listen to Reynolds tell us we all failed last quarter.”
“Sounds prett
y bad. I’m sorry.”
Instantly, her expression changed to one of happiness. “Well, that’s not what I stopped in to talk about. I was so happy to finally meet that friend of yours, Poppy. He’s a little slice of heaven right here on earth, you know that?”
I wasn’t sure I’d ever thought of Alex in those exact terms, but I knew what she meant. Unsure of how to answer, I nodded and forced a smile.
“Did he say anything about me after I left?”
Bethany’s eyes had a hopeful look in them that I hated seeing, especially since he hadn’t mentioned her even once after she walked away. After the tongue lashing she’d just taken from her boss, though, I didn’t want to add to her terrible day.
So I told a little white lie.
“It got so busy in there we could barely hear each other across the table, so we didn’t say much about anything. I’m sure he thought you were very nice.”
I stood from my chair to leave, sure I didn’t want to continue this conversation anymore. Bethany didn’t seem to pick up on the sign, though, and said, “He’s still single, right? You know him better than anyone else in town since you’re best friends, so I figured I should ask you if there’s anything I should know. You know, before I go ahead with anything.”
My mouth dropped open for a moment as my brain processed her words. Go ahead with anything. What did that mean?
I needed to get out of there. Forcing yet another smile, I said, “I think he’s single, yeah, but I really don’t know much more than that. I have to leave now to do some work he asked me to do, but I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
She said something about definitely talking more about him as I brushed past her on my way out, but I didn’t hear what because all I could think of were those words go ahead with anything as they echoed in my head.
Go ahead with anything.
Bethany planned to ask Alex out on a date, and there was nothing I could do about it because he and I were just friends. Correction. Best friends.
I’d officially been best friend zoned.
Chapter Four
“How does a trip to Virginia sound?” I heard Alex ask in my ear as I hurried down Main Street to get away from The Sunset Ridge Eagle offices.
Stopping dead in the middle of the sidewalk at the entrance of Stildon Park, I created a bit of a traffic jam between two moms with strollers and a little boy on a scooter who all crashed into one another when I stopped walking. The mothers glared at me like I’d broken some well-known adult female rule, so I quickly stepped out of the way as I apologized.
“Sorry. So sorry. I didn’t mean to cause a pileup there.”
“Poppy, what are you talking about? Did you just get into an accident?” Alex asked in a worried voice. “Where are you?”
“Relax. I’m fine. No accident. Just a little crash between two strollers and a scooter because I was so surprised to hear you ask if I wanted to go to Virginia.”
“What are you talking about?”
His worry had morphed into confusion mixed with irritation. Very much a friend response that I instantly hated. “Nothing. So when are we leaving for our road trip and where are we going in Virginia?”
“Right outside of Falls Church. I’ll pick you up. Where are you?”
Stuck in the friend zone.
That’s what I wanted to say since my conversation with Bethany wouldn’t leave my mind, but instead I just said, “Wait for me at the station. I’ll be there in a minute or two, okay?”
I didn’t give him a chance to answer since it seemed pointless and hurried across the street to the Sunset Ridge police station. Derek sat in his new chief office staring at his laptop, so I poked my head in and said hello.
“Hey you! How’s the chief of police doing?”
He looked up from whatever was so interesting on the screen and smiled. “He’s pretty good. How’s my favorite investigative reporter?”
I sighed as I realized I hadn’t told him what happened. “I lost that job, so I guess you can’t call me that anymore.”
“What happened?” he asked as he folded his arms behind his head.
“Missed too many deadlines. I did get a new assignment at The Eagle, though. Did Alex tell you? You’re looking at the new crime beat feature reporter.”
“No, he didn’t. Congratulations, Poppy!” he said with a big smile I knew was genuine.
For whatever else he was, Derek was exactly that. Genuine. And good looking. Interesting that I had yet another attractive male friend I had never been with. This was beginning to be a pattern, and I didn’t like it.
“Hey, Derek. What do you think of Bethany?”
He slid his arms from behind his head and sat straighter in his chair. “Why are you asking?”
“I don’t know. I was just curious.”
“I don’t think anything of her. Am I supposed to?”
“No. I was just wondering. I have to go find Alex, so I’ll see you later.”
As I headed down the hall to Alex’s office, I wondered why Derek didn’t think anything of Bethany. He was single, like her, and he was probably the most eligible bachelor in Sunset Ridge. In addition, Derek had dated most of the available women in town, so why not her?
Lost in thought, I ran into Alex, or more correctly, I ran straight into his chest as he was coming out of his office. My second traffic pileup of the day left my newest victim stunned, and I quickly backed away to a more appropriate distance from him about an arm’s length away.
“Hey, I was just looking for you. Ready to go?”
“Yeah. I didn’t get a chance to explain before, but we’re going to Canton Walter’s house right outside of Falls Church.”
As we walked out to one of the squad cars, I asked, “Why would a traveling salesman stay here when he lived only about an hour away?”
Alex opened the driver’s side door and tapped on the roof of the car. “That’s what I wondered. I’m hoping someone at his house can shine a little light on our victim because so far we don’t have much.”
“You know what I forgot to tell you before that I think I noticed but you didn’t?” I asked as I climbed into the passenger seat next to him.
He raised his eyebrows like I’d offended him, but I knew better. Alex wasn’t that prickly about things, especially my figuring things out before him.
“What’s that?”
“What didn’t you see in that hotel room that virtually everyone has and a traveling salesman would definitely have?”
Starting the car, he took his phone out of his pocket and set it down in the console between us. Smiling, he answered, “A cell phone.”
“You did notice, didn’t you?” I asked, crestfallen that I hadn’t picked up on something first for once.
As we hit the road, he nodded and smiled once more. “I did. I was just waiting for you to mention it.”
I slumped back against the seat in defeat. “I hate it when you use that ‘patience, grasshopper’ tone, you know that?”
He stopped the car a minute later at the last red light before leaving Sunset Ridge and looked over at me as I stewed over still not being as good at this detective thing as he was. I was naturally competitive, but working with Alex brought out my hyper-competitiveness for some reason. It probably wasn’t healthy for our partner relationship, but I really wanted to learn from him and prove that I had those great instincts he so often complimented me on.
“Poppy, I knew you noticed there was no cell phone in that room.”
“I know. I just want to show you that those great instincts you say I have are really there. That’s all.”
As usual, he said nothing more, but as we left town, I knew how I was feeling wasn’t just because I hadn’t beat him to the punch with the phone. I didn’t want to think about what was really wrong, though.
We pulled up to the front of Canton Walter’s pleasant suburban home, and I wondered how he’d gone from being someone who lived in that red brick house with a good sized yard and well-tended
flowerbeds on both sides of the front porch to the man I’d seen slumped over that desk with a knife sticking out of his back in the questionable Hotel Piermont.
“His wife’s name is Rose. I spoke to her earlier. I got the feeling she wasn’t exactly surprised by her husband’s death,” Alex said as we got out of the car.
“The first crack in the perfect life of a suburbanite façade,” I thought out loud. “Well, not all married people are happy, or maybe it was just shock at the news.”
We walked up the white concrete sidewalk flanked by a perfectly manicured lawn too green and lush to be natural and rang the doorbell. Canton Walters’ house reminded me of one that might be found in Sunset Ridge, but as I’d learned all too well in the past few months, what could be seen from the street often obscured lives far less perfect.
Alex stood silently waiting for someone to answer, but I knew by the pensive look on his face his lack of interest in speaking meant he was watching and thinking. Of all his traits, I had to admit the ability to simply stand quietly no matter what was happening around him was the one I may have admired the most. Never much for silence, I was his polar opposite, and finally after about three minutes, I had to say something or go crazy staring at the Walters’ dark blue front door.
“Maybe she’s out. I bet there are things that have to be taken care of when your husband dies. I know when my mother died, my father and I—”
He cut me off with a look more serious than I’d ever seen from him and said sharply, “I know what has to be done when someone you love dies.”
I didn’t know if I should apologize, so I closed my mouth after it dropped in surprise at how he’d snapped at me and looked away as he banged on the door one more time. He’d never spoken one word about his wife’s death to me, and if what he’d just said was any indication of how he felt about it, I wasn’t sure I wanted him to.
Finally, after more than five minutes of our standing on that porch in silence, the door opened. A plain woman in her early thirties stood in front of us with a look I recognized immediately. The look of loss. I’d seen it on my father ever since that day my mother died, and sometimes when I looked in the mirror, I saw it in my own reflection.
After Hours Page 4