Chase plucked at his own cotton button down that he’d paired with khaki cargo shorts. “They’ll probably mistake me for the gardener but it’s over ninety degrees out here. No way was I going to wear a suit and tie.” His gaze swept her head to toe, leaving a heat in its wake that had nothing to do with the temperature. “I think you look just fine. Very fine, in fact.”
“What did she say when you called her?” Bailey asked as they approached the front door. “Is she okay talking about Gwen?”
Ellis had managed to dig up Taylor’s number and address but it was left to Chase to contact her and ask for a meeting. The police were not officially active in the investigation although the case had never been solved.
“Surprisingly she is. I told her about how you’re trying to find out more about Frank’s life before you met him but I didn’t mention the date connection of their deaths. She thinks this is just about Frank and his past friends and girlfriends.”
“She was one of Gwen’s best friends?”
Chase pressed the doorbell before answering. “And one of the cabinmates who said that Gwen went to bed early that night.”
“When we know from the statements that she was making out with Frank down by the river until almost midnight.”
There was no time for Chase to answer as the door swung open and a gorgeous brunette stood there, a welcoming smile on her face. Dressed in a cream-colored pantsuit, gold Jimmy Choos, and a huge diamond on her left hand she looked much like the women Bailey saw and talked to every day in Midnight Blue Beach. Most of them were smart, beautiful, and friendly with way more money than average folk. Some of them came from regular middle-class backgrounds such as hers but most were old money.
“Chase,” she exclaimed, stepping back so they could pass into the house. “It’s so good to see you after all these years. Please come in, you and your friend.”
Bailey followed Chase and Taylor through the luxurious home – all marble floors and mirrors – and onto a glassed-in back patio that had been set with lemonade and several kinds of cookies and cupcakes. Things were officially looking up. She welcomed sweets in any form into her life.
Introductions were made and they settled at the table as the ceiling fan above twirled lazily. Taylor poured three glasses of frosty lemonade and Bailey helped herself to a few cookies and a mini-cupcake that might just be salted caramel.
Taylor folded her hands in her lap, her smile disappearing. “First let me say that I am so sorry for your loss, Bailey. Frank was such a great guy and to go so young… It must have been quite a shock for you.”
“It was,” Bailey agreed, for a moment going back to that day when a police officer had shown up at her hotel to deliver the news. “I guess that’s part of the reason I’m here. Frank didn’t mention his years before me very often and I’m trying to piece together his youth by talking to some people who knew him.”
“He didn’t talk about it? At all?” Taylor frowned, a V forming between her brows. “That seems so strange. He would have had such funny stories. I remember a time…I think we were thirteen…we all went skinny dipping in the pool after the camp counselors went to bed. It was quite scandalous at the time since it was boys and girls. I was pretty innocent and I got quite the education that summer. I always laugh and say that my parents received their money’s worth.”
Bailey bit delicately into a shortbread cookie that tasted of lemon and thyme. “These are exactly the kind of stories I was hoping for. Something to help me create a more complete view of Frank before we met in college. It sounds like he was the life of the party. When I met him he was much more serious and quiet.”
“Frank was serious and quiet? That doesn’t sound like him but college can change a person,” Taylor conceded, although it was clear she was having issues with Bailey’s description. “He and his friends were wild and loud, always dancing around and having fun. At one point, I think they even organized a rock band. Alex was the lead singer.” The brunette giggled. “And the ladies’ man. The girls sure loved him. I wonder if he ever settled down? I seriously doubt it.”
“Actually,” Bailey began carefully, watching Taylor’s reaction closely. “Alex did get married but he passed away five years ago in a car crash. Greg Nelson is also gone. An allergic reaction.”
Mouth slack and eyes wide open, Taylor’s hand flew to her throat. “My God! That’s…macabre. All three of them and so young.”
Taylor’s eyes glistened with tears and she sniffled delicately as she reached for a box of tissues hidden discreetly behind a lamp.
“It’s tragic,” Bailey agreed quietly. “I heard they were such good friends too, almost like brothers, but I have to admit that Frank never spoke of them. Do you know what caused their falling out?”
Taylor fidgeted in her seat for a moment, her expression growing even sadder. “They fought. It was the last summer of camp before college. They’d fought before so we didn’t think this time was any different but then…” Burying her face in the tissue, she blew her nose before looking up at Chase. “You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?”
Chase nodded. “Gwen.”
Taylor gave them a sad smile. “I used to think about her every day. For the longest time I did but then it became every other day. Then every other week. I still think about her but it’s different now. I thought about her on my wedding day and how she would never get married. I thought about her when I had my first child and how she would never get to be a mother. I thought about her when I buried my father and how no parent should ever have to bury a child. I know this sounds strange but I like it when I think about her. It makes her feel closer. I still miss her, you know.”
Bailey was acutely aware of all the pain this conversation was digging up and she didn’t feel great about it, but they couldn’t make any progress without reopening a few wounds.
“You and Gwen were best friends?” she asked.
“The best of friends. Now they would have called us BFFs,” Taylor laughed, wiping a tear from her cheek. “She was sweet and funny and she could keep a secret. I knew if I shared my deepest fears with her no one would ever hear about them. She was that kind of person.”
There wasn’t a delicate way to pose this question. “She and Frank? They were an item?”
Her cheeks turning pink, Taylor sighed. “They were but I doubt it was serious or anything. Gwen hung around with several boys that summer. She said she didn’t want to be tied down and that she just wanted to have some fun.”
It was time to challenge Taylor’s statement all those years ago and luckily, Chase had volunteered to be the bad guy.
“Someone saw her with Frank the night she died. Right before midnight. They’d been down at the river.”
Those pink cheeks turned bright red. “That’s true. I know what we said to the police but it’s just that we were all so scared. We thought we’d get in trouble and we didn’t want anyone to think less of Gwen. We didn’t want them to think she was, you know, less than virtuous. Her parents were so strict about that and we didn’t want them to be any more upset than they already were. We did it to protect her, you have to believe me.”
Chase leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “Gwen was sleeping with Frank, wasn’t she? That’s what you were trying to hide.”
More tears fell from Taylor’s eyes and her hand pressed to her mouth. She didn’t say anything for the longest time and Bailey let her battle whatever demons she’d been carrying around all these years. Finally, her hands dropped to her lap and she squeezed her eyes shut, taking a deep breath.
“I wish that’s what I was trying to hide. I wish that’s all that was going on that summer. But Gwen came to camp determined that summer to have fun and be wild. She succeeded.” Taylor’s eyes opened, her expression anguished. “Gwen was sleeping with Frank that summer. But she was also sleeping with several other boys as well – Alex and Greg included. I think she slept with Danny and Guy as well. She said she was going to have as much fun as she co
uld and she wouldn’t be tied down to one boy. She said she was going to be free and live the way she wanted to. We tried to talk her out of it and tell her she was going to get a bad reputation but she said she didn’t care.”
Bailey wasn’t someone who made a habit of making moral judgments about people. Gwen’s actions weren’t something she herself would have done but if the young girl was happy and wasn’t hurting anyone? Then there was a whole societal double standard of boys being school heroes when they screwed around but girls were sluts. It wasn’t fair and it looked like Gwen wasn’t going to allow herself to be dictated to by others. The only question was did her behavior get her killed or was it something else completely?
“I’m sorry that we’re putting you through this,” Bailey apologized. “This must bring up painful memories and I do apologize.”
“Some painful and some good,” Taylor agreed. “As I said, I kind of like remembering Gwen and the fun times we had. I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older that happiness and pain can go hand in hand. I can’t have one without the other in this situation.”
“The night Gwen was killed…is she what Frank, Alex, and Greg were arguing about?” Chase asked. “Is that why they were fighting? Jealousy?”
“I don’t know for sure but I would assume so. They all knew about each other since Gwen didn’t bother to hide it and the tension built with each passing week. I think it just blew up that night. Not sure who started the fight but I know that when their parents came to pick them up the next night they wouldn’t even look at each other. I guess I assumed they’d repaired their friendship somewhere along the line but they didn’t. Sad.”
The husband Bailey had known would never have ended a friendship over a girl, but then this Frank wasn’t the man she’d married. Not at all.
Chase rubbed his jaw, his expression tight. “Taylor, I have one more question. Have you ever heard of the Evandria Council?”
Taylor’s brows shot up and her lips curved into a small smile. “Of course I have. That’s a silly question, Chase.”
He glanced at Bailey and then back at the other woman. “Is it? Do you know many members of the group?”
She’d been about to take a sip of her lemonade but instead set the glass back down. “I think just about everyone I know is a member. I’ve been a member since I turned eighteen. My husband, father, mother, brother, sister, grandparents, and all my friends. Chase, everyone that attended your summer camp became a member as far as I know.”
Apparently, it wasn’t a boys only club after all. An interesting development.
Bailey found her voice, wanting confirmation of something she’d only suspected so far. “So Frank was a member?”
“His whole family was for generations.” Taylor’s brow knitted in confusion. “You didn’t know? You’re not a member?”
Bailey shrugged as if it was no big deal. “He wasn’t active in the group while we were married, so no, I didn’t.”
Taylor relaxed back into her chair. “I wouldn’t say I’m active either. I haven’t been to the retreat in years, before my kids were born.”
Chase popped the last piece of a cookie in his mouth. “I read about the group and I found myself intrigued by The Clubhouse. Have you ever been inside?”
Laughing, Taylor shook her head. “I’m afraid not. It’s only for officers of the Council. My father was an officer one year and he got to go inside but he wouldn’t tell us anything about it. Of course we’ve all heard stories, each one wilder than the last. I assume most of them are untrue. It’s just a building, after all.”
“So you’re okay with all the secrecy?” Bailey asked, twisting her napkin between nervous fingers. “It doesn’t bother you?”
“Why should it? Evandria is about doing good things for our world. The fact that they want to keep it a little bit mysterious is half the fun. Sure, we could all just have bake sales and blood drives but where’s the excitement in that? This way people get to feel like they’re a part of something big and they also do charitable works. It’s a win-win for everyone in my opinion. Why do you ask about it?”
“No particular reason,” Chase assured her. “It was mentioned that the lawyer that came to the camp was a member of the Council and I was curious.”
If the families were all members it only made sense that the attorney was also.
Bailey dabbed at the corners of her mouth with her napkin. “I want to thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today about Frank. I’ve learned so much about him and I’m very grateful.”
“I have more stories if you’d like to hear them,” Taylor offered with a laugh. “I have more of those lemon cookies as well.”
“How can I say no?” Bailey smiled.
Every detail she learned about her late husband might be the one piece of information she needed to understand his death and those of Alex and Greg.
The cookies were good too. Maybe she could get the recipe.
Chapter Twenty
Chase wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting but Peyton and Willow weren’t at all as he’d pictured them. Perhaps it was the widow moniker that made him think they were older than they actually were or maybe it was the way Bailey had vaguely described them. Peyton was petite and blonde while Willow was taller with dark blonde hair. Those adjectives were only the tip of the iceberg.
By the time they had finished dinner at his place – takeout Chinese – he’d learned that Peyton was something of an artist who believed in reincarnation, psychic energy, and the power of a damn good book on the reader’s general mood. Willow wasn’t a run of the mill female either. She quickly revealed that she’d been an exotic dancer and that’s where she’d met her late husband. She was considered quite scandalous by the good citizens of Midnight Blue Beach and seemed to revel in her role if the grin on her face was any indication. She also had a mischievous sense of humor. Chase liked both of the women immediately.
He shouldn’t have been surprised that the females were on the young side and quite attractive. Bailey, after all, was only thirty-two and he thought she was gorgeous. He’d found his attention gravitating toward her all evening as she laughed and joked with her friends. Even when the conversation grew more serious and somber, he’d had a hard time ripping his gaze away from her soft brown eyes, full lips, and creamy skin. Yep, he had it bad. This woman had him twisted into knots and she hadn’t even broken a sweat to do it. He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. Not even with Cheryl.
Willow sat back against the cushions of the couch and patted her stomach. “That was just what this girl needed. Now all I want is a long, hot bath and a nap. I can never get to sleep on a plane.”
Peyton elbowed her friend. “Then after that? It’s still early in the day.”
“Then I’ll be ready to tackle whatever it is that Chase and Bailey need us to do.”
He shot a sideways glance to Bailey and she nodded. They’d talked about this after leaving Taylor’s house. “How do you ladies feel about New York City?”
Willow’s brow arched in question. “Just in general? I think it’s a great place to go on a shopping spree and see a few shows, but somehow I don’t think that’s what you had in mind.”
“It’s not. The last address Ellis was able to get for Guy was in New York and I was wondering if you two would like to head up there and talk to him.”
Peyton and Willow nodded in agreement but the latter tapped her chin as her gaze darted back and forth between himself and Bailey. “Sure we can. We came to help. What might you two be doing while we’re up there? Anything…interesting?”
The way Willow dragged out the last word told him that she’d noticed how he was looking at Bailey. These ladies didn’t miss a trick. Or perhaps he was simply that damn obvious. Or both. But he wasn’t the kiss and tell type. If Bailey wanted to give them the story it wouldn’t bother him but he was a private kind of guy.
“We’re headed to DC to talk to Danny. Not sure if I’ll even be able to get
in but we need to try.”
Peyton stared down into her glass, shifting uncomfortably where she sat on the floor. “My family knows some people who know people. Maybe I could make a few calls ahead of time. I don’t want to see you waste a trip.”
As much as Chase hated the old friend-of-a-friend network that seemed so important in these circles he couldn’t argue with the logic. Even though he’d spoken with Danny more than a few times in the last several years at the club, it didn’t mean that an audience with the senator would be automatically granted.
“I’d appreciate that,” he found himself saying. “There is plenty of work to do here and spending it on a wild goose chase isn’t a good use of time.”
“I’ll make a few calls.”
Peyton stood and excused herself, heading for the back porch while Willow pulled out her phone. “I guess I’ll send a text to the pilot and let him know we need to leave for New York City as soon as he can get the jet ready. We’ll need a hotel room as well.”
“You can just take the train.”
That’s how he planned to get to Washington DC.
She was typing something and didn’t even glance up. “It will be faster this way plus we can travel on our own schedule, not somebody else’s.”
Couldn’t argue with that. Must be nice to have a plane.
Chase cleared his throat and threw a nervous glance at Bailey before plunging forward. “Willow, I was kind of wondering about your thoughts on all this. It must have come as a huge shock to you when you found out about Frank and Greg, and then Gwen of course. Do you think it’s a weird coincidence or do you think there’s a connection?”
The smile fell from Willow’s face. “I do. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t, but I’ll tell you that even if I didn’t believe I’d be here to support Bailey and Peyton anyway. We’re attached in some strange way by the universe and that’s something that I simply cannot turn my back on. No matter what happens I’ll be right here with them to help.”
Wicked After Midnight (Midnight Blue Beach Book 1) Page 13