by Sonia Parin
“I managed to grab a bite to eat. Since meeting you I’ve come to appreciate the benefits of working a case with some food inside me.”
“I should send you a care package to make sure you have something of sustenance to keep you going.”
Jack used his best smiling voice to say, “Chocolate brownies with walnuts would be highly appreciated. I suppose you had a sumptuous meal.”
“Yes, we all went out to Shelby’s…” Eve nibbled the tip of her thumb. “I saw something rather odd today.”
“Is there ever a time when you don’t see something of interest?”
Eve didn’t think so, not even when she tried. “Derek Tucker…”
“Remind me again who he is.”
“He works at the Rock-Maine Gazette. Anyway, he came into Shelby’s and I swear he intended heading toward a particular table. Then he saw me and he stopped in his tracks.”
“You do seem to have that effect on some men. Should I feel jealous?”
Eve savored the remark. “If my observation skills are anything to go by, I would swear he changed directions because he didn’t want me to see the person he’d planned on sitting with.”
She listened to Jack’s silence.
“It all happened fairly quickly,” Eve added. “Although, at the time, it felt as though I was in a slow-motion movie. I’m sure he made eye contact with a man. The man nodded as if to acknowledge Derek. When Derek stopped and chose another table to sit at, the man got up and left. I’m convinced there’s something significant about it all.” And she hadn’t mentioned it to Mira or Jill. After enjoying her dinner date with Jack without once mentioning the murder, she had decided to do the same with Mira and Jill and it had worked a treat.
“And now you’re suspicious,” Jack mused.
“Yes.”
“Maybe that’s why he didn’t want you to see him meeting this man,” he said.
“If that’s the case, he made a mistake because I did notice. His efforts were far too obvious. Had he gone ahead and joined him at the table, I might not have given it any thought. The fact Derek’s step faltered brought him to my attention.”
“And what would you like me to do about it?”
“I’m not sure, but I know I’m going back tomorrow to speak with Shelby. I want to know if Derek has met the man at her restaurant before. If he made a booking, then she’ll know his name.”
What could Derek Tucker be hiding?
“In other words, you want to investigate on my behalf,” Jack said, his voice filled with humor.
“Do you mind?”
“Not at all. I trust you.”
Eve couldn’t help asking, “Does that mean you feel it’s not a lead worth pursuing?”
“In the past, you’ve come up with interesting theories. I would never dare to undermine your intuition.”
“Nice save, detective.”
“I plan on having a chat with Shelby. If you happen to beat me to it, well… there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“So, you’re not even going to try to warn me off,” Eve said.
“Is there any point in trying?”
“No. There’s definitely no point in lying to you about it.”
Jack chuckled. “Would you be able to describe this other man?”
“I think so. I’ve never seen him before, so I doubt he’s a local.” Eve closed her eyes and tried to remember what he’d worn. A polo necked sweater and a leather jacket. Black.
“Now that I think about it, Derek appeared to know Phillip Manningham’s routine quite well.”
“How are you tying it all in?” Jack asked.
“He must know something. What if he’s involved in Phillip’s murder?” She wouldn’t mind knowing where Derek had worked before. “Reporters meet all sorts of people including criminals.”
Jack laughed. “I believe you’ve just added to my workload.”
“Heavens, am I becoming a burden?”
“On the contrary, and don’t let this go to your head, you’re an invaluable asset. When I crack this case wide open, I’ll have to take you out for a special celebratory dinner as I’m sure it will all be thanks to you.”
“Recognition, at long last.”
That night, instead of counting sheep, Eve counted her growing list of suspects.
The next morning, Eve adopted a more practical approach to the day and turned her attention to helping Gerard prepare breakfast for the guests. She had actually rolled out of bed at the crack of dawn to bake, using the process to look at the situation from a different angle.
When Mira strode into the kitchen, Eve handed her a mug of strong coffee.
“You’re not surprised to find me still here,” Mira said.
Eve sighed. “I’m actually surprised I haven’t given any thought to my parents being on the island. At least, not today. I’ve been too busy tossing ideas around.”
“Oh? Are you working on a list of suspects?”
“I am and it is growing.”
Mira nodded. “To quote Shakespeare, suspicion always haunts the guilty mind. So, what are you hiding, Eve?”
“If I tell you, I’ll have to talk about my folks.” She wiped her hands clean and settled down at the kitchen table. “Actually, I am feeling guilty. Perhaps we are overreacting. It might be time for us to change out outlook. After all, the way we respond to them only stokes the fire.”
Mira took a sip of her coffee and emitted a drawn-out sigh. “Okay. I’ll play along. But I do have reservations. Why should we change when they haven’t made any effort to do so themselves?”
“Haven’t they? You must admit, they haven’t been at all overbearing. In fact, I’m starting to see them in a bright new light.”
Mira seemed to give it some thought before saying, “They do work in mysterious ways.”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.”
Setting her mug down, Mira said, “I’m prepared to compromise but only up to a point. I’ll try to be more neutral and… refrain from judging them too harshly. Please don’t ask more of me.”
“Baby steps,” Eve said.
Mira sat up. “I hope this doesn’t mean you’re prepared to go overboard and tell them about the inn. We need some sort of refuge.”
“Agreed.”
“Now that we’ve sorted that out, tell me about your suspects,” Mira said. “Do you have anyone new?”
“Actually, I do.”
Jill burst into the kitchen singing, “Oh, what a wonderful morning, oh what a wonderful day. I got a beautiful feeling, everything is going my way.”
Mira grinned. “Someone woke up with a head full of delusions.”
Jill danced around the kitchen and continued singing. “I am determined to make the best of today.” She called out to Mischief and Mr. Magoo and took them out for a run on the beach.
Looking out the window, Mira said, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think Jill had escaped from the loony bin. Look at her, she’s still dancing.”
Eve poured herself a cup of coffee and nibbled on a piece of bacon.
“So, what are you getting up to today?” Mira asked.
“I think I’ll see where the wind blows me. Who knows what I will discover…”
Chapter Twelve
Eve peered inside Shelby’s Table and saw Shelby sitting down with a cup of coffee and a menu. She waved and caught her attention.
When Shelby opened the door, Eve said, “Hi. I know you’re not open yet, but I wonder if I might come in for a chat.”
“Oh, I’m intrigued. Come in. I was just perusing the menu.”
Eve sat down and said, “Dinner was wonderful last night.”
“Thank you. I’m flattered. I’ve only ever run my business on the island. Small potatoes compared to your restaurant in Manhattan.”
“Nonsense. I’m not going to encourage you to spread your wings because it would be too great a loss for us, but your restaurant would give many fine establishments a run for their money.” Eve scooped in a fortifyin
g breath. “Anyway, I’ve been curious about something I saw last night.”
Shelby rubbed her hands together. “I feel I’m about to join in on your mystery hunt. What do you want to know?”
Eve weighed her words with care. “I saw a man sitting in the corner table. He wore a black leather jacket.”
Shelby leaned forward as if about to impart a secret. “I’ve never been quick to judge but every time he comes in, I can’t help holding my breath and looking for bulges in his coat pocket.”
“Bulges?”
Shelby looked around her and whispered. “A revolver. He’s always struck me as someone who runs around with dangerous people… because he looks dangerous himself.”
“How often does he come in?”
Shelby sat back. “Usually every other month, but last night was the second time this week. He came in when you were on your date.”
Eve hadn’t noticed him. Then again, she’d been fully engrossed in her conversation with Jack.
“If you don’t mind me asking…” Eve raked her fingers through her hair and chuckled, “I actually don’t quite understand what that even means. It’s always really struck me as a way of cornering someone into speaking up even though they know they shouldn’t.”
“Go on. Ask away.”
“Okay… What name does he make his bookings under?”
“Derek Tucker.”
Eve’s fingers curled and uncurled around the steering wheel. She hadn’t imagined it. She’d been right about Derek Tucker going to Shelby’s Table to meet this mysterious man.
After her chat with Shelby, she’d dropped in at the Gazette but the receptionist had informed her Derek had stepped out and wouldn’t be back that afternoon. She’d then tried to contact him on his cell phone but he hadn’t picked up.
Eve didn’t want to think he was deliberately trying to avoid her.
After the way he’d acted the previous night, he had to know she would have plenty of questions for him. If she didn’t then, she certainly did now.
Eve settled back and focused on driving the long way back home. She needed time to think. Jack would need to be informed. While she didn’t care to stereotype a person, the man who’d sat at the back of the restaurant had looked suspicious, in a gangster sort of way.
Underworld figures had earned their reputation because they were involved in nefarious activities and worked under the cover of darkness. Eve tilted her head from side to side and murmured, “In the shadows.” Again, she didn’t want to stereotype, but she’d swear she’d seen a scar on the man’s face.
Of course, what she’d witnessed could be nothing more than a meeting between a newspaper reporter and his informant or… inside man. Eve gave an impatient shrug. She couldn’t really begin to imagine what sort of arrangement Derek would have with a man like that, but it couldn’t be good.
Her eyes skated across the landscape dotted with quaint Hamptons style homes and fishing cabins. The dark clouds that had been casting a gloomy tone on the whole town had moved away, but not very far.
Humming a tune under her breath, Eve tried to relax. She’d taken the long way home for a reason. When she returned to the inn, she wanted to feel refreshed and not burdened by what she’d learned.
Stifling a yawn, she caught sight of a car heading toward her from the opposite direction. As it drove past, she tried to see if she recognized the driver but he might have sped up because she only managed to catch a blur.
Belatedly, she realized her mistake in coming out this way. What if she crossed paths with her parents?
She could see William Hunter’s house in the distance. Checking her speed, she decided she could afford to go a little faster. To be on the safe side, she made sure to check her mirrors for any official looking cars.
“Officer, I needed to go faster because I was afraid of being seen by my parents. How old am I?” Old enough to know better, Eve thought.
Chuckling under her breath, she again checked her mirrors. This time, she saw a car behind her. In the next few seconds, the car appeared to get closer. When it got too close for comfort, Eve gritted her back teeth. She didn’t care for rude drivers thinking they could bully her into increasing her speed just because they were in a hurry to get somewhere or because they thought they had a special license to speed.
Eve straightened in her seat. If he wanted to overtake her, he could.
She flicked her gaze to the mirror and gasped.
He was right behind her!
Her hands became clammy. Her stomach tightened.
“What is he thinking?” Wrong question, she thought as she saw his hand emerging from the driver’s side window. “A gun?”
Eve reached for her cell phone. At the same time, she heard a shot and a loud explosion.
Her car jolted and pulled to the right. She dropped her phone, clamped both hands on the steering wheel and tried to regain control, but her car had other ideas.
Unable to straighten the car, she looked up and straight at a tree. In that split second, she knew she had no way of avoiding it.
“She’s breathing.”
“Eve. This is your mother speaking, Eve. Answer me, right this minute.”
Eve scrambled to remember one of the many excuses she could provide for being late. Her mom demanded punctuality and heaven help anyone who didn’t deliver it.
“This is a perfect example of what can happen when you live in the wilderness.”
“It’s an island, Sarah. And there are emergency services available here.”
“Are there? I don’t see them.”
“Her pulse is strong. The air bag did its job. She has no obvious injuries.”
“It’s the ones you can’t see that I’m concerned about. She might have suffered a concussion.”
“I doubt it. You’ve always accused her of being hard-headed.”
“I have never accused her of such a thing. If anything, I might have suggested she had a recalcitrant nature. Always so obstinately uncooperative…”
“Here come the police.”
“Well, it’s about time.”
“Sarah, we need to give them space.”
“I will not leave my daughter’s side.”
She heard her dad say, “She’s trying to say something.”
Eve moaned.
“She’s not making sense,” her mom complained. “Then again, did she ever?”
Eve thought she heard sirens and then Jack’s voice sounding like a caress. “Jack. My hero. Please, I beg you, take me away.” Eve opened her eyes and saw him smile, although it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Where would you like to go?” he asked.
Anywhere far away from her well-meaning folks. “How far away is Timbuktu? I never bothered to find out.”
“I always told her she needed to apply herself at school,” her mom whispered.
Feeling she needed to apologize for her mom, she said, “She means well and, in her own way, I’m sure she loves me.”
“Eve, the ambulance is here,” Jack said.
“Jack.”
“Yes?”
“He tried to kill me.”
Eve woke up thinking she had a target on her back. Someone had tried to get rid of her. Why?
A nurse entered her room and fussed around, plumping her pillows and straightening her bedcovers. It could only mean one thing.
“Eve, darling. How are you feeling this morning?” her mom asked.
Eve guessed she hadn’t made it to Timbuktu. “I’m fine, mom. Thank you for asking. And… for coming.”
“I never left.”
“I’m sure I heard Doctor Fisher say he only wanted to make sure I didn’t have a concussion. Well, I don’t. Me being here doesn’t mean I’m facing a life-threatening situation. He’s being overcautious. See, no reason for you to worry.” How could her mom have spent the night here when her clothes were not even wrinkled? “Thank you for staying and I hope I didn’t frighten you.”
For once, her mom didn�
��t say anything.
Looking over her shoulder, she saw her dad standing a step behind her mom, his expression stern.
“H-how did you find me?” Had it been yesterday? Yes, she reasoned. She had spent a night in hospital.
“We were driving into town for a coffee and saw your car smashed against a tree.”
Eve only remembered seeing the driver behind her, getting too close. Then…
Then, she’d seen the revolver.
He’d fired at her.
“You were slumped over the steering wheel. I think we arrived in the nick of time.”
Eve wondered how soon after being run off the road that had been. They might have seen the driver. She didn’t dare ask in case they wanted answers from her. Answers which would implicate her in a murder investigation.
As lawyers, they preferred to practice caution and thoroughness. Any suggestion that Eve had been delving in something that could put her in danger would add fuel to her mom’s long-standing disapproval of her.
“Eve. Wake up.”
So much for faking sleepiness. “Isn’t a hospital stay all about resting?”
“You’re supposed to stay awake now,” her mom warned in her suffer-no-fools tone.
Jack arrived in time to rescue her. “Could we have a moment, please? Jack’s here to… take a statement from me.” The moment her parents stepped out of the room, she breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m too old to do this… Oh, did I just say that? No, I’m not too old. In fact, they make me feel ten years old. Did you contact Mira and Jill to let them know what’s happened?”
Jack settled down on the edge of the bed. “Mira wanted to come but I told her your mom had been looking after you. That seemed to assure her. In fact, she said you were in good hands.”
“I see, she abandoned me to my own devices. Each to her own.”
“How are you feeling? Are you up to talking?”
“Isn’t that what I’ve been doing?” She drew in a long breath. “A black SUV. I saw it headed toward me from the opposite direction and I’m sure it’s the same car that I saw behind me.” Eve gave a firm nod. “He shot at me.”