Bailey’s eyes were bright with tears. “I feel the same way. I know I wanted to run away when we first met but I don’t feel like that now. You’re stuck with me.”
Willow’s mouth fell open in mock horror. “Oh, the tragedy! I’ll find a way to endure. Seriously, we found each other for a reason. Whether or not we find what we’re looking for here, well, we may never find the truth. But that doesn’t mean we walk away from each other. You’re stuck with me too, honey. Get used to being friends with the town harlot. I hope you like being gossiped about.”
“I think we should give them something to talk about.”
Chase looked up and saw Peyton standing there with a gleeful grin on her face.
“Any suggestions?” Willow asked, laughter bubbling up. “Be careful because I just might do whatever your idea is.”
Bailey held up her hands in surrender. “Easy there, let’s slow down. We have work to do. Once we’re done we can go scandalize the pearl-clutching biddies of Midnight Blue Beach. But let’s stay focused here.”
Peyton waved her phone in the air. “You make a good point so I’ll table that discussion for awhile, but just know I have some ideas. What I want to talk about is the conversation I just had with the senator’s top aide. The senator is willing to meet with you at eight o’clock tomorrow morning. It has to be then because he’s going out of town on a business trip. At first I got a resounding no but then I threw my dad’s name around along with Chase’s name, and then Frank, Greg, and Alex’s name in the pot along with it and suddenly he’s available. Can you do it?”
Bailey nodded, her chin lifted in determination. “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away. I’ll be there.”
Peyton’s gaze shifted to Chase and he also nodded in the affirmative. Nothing would keep him from this meeting. He wanted to know what Frank, Alex, and Greg were arguing about that night. Was it about Gwen? Could she have been killed because of jealousy? He hadn’t wanted to say anything to Bailey or the other women but there was certainly motive there for all three men to want Gwen injured, if not dead.
Not to mention each other.
If they held grudges for fifteen years, that is. Chase wasn’t the type but the men might have been.
“I’ll be there.”
Hopefully Danny would have answers. Chase was getting tired of running laps and getting nowhere. It was time to make some progress for a change.
Chapter Twenty-One
The next morning at 8:04 Bailey and Chase were ushered into Senator Daniel Ford’s palatial office. Danny had stayed in shape and with his expensive suit and haircut might even be called handsome. He sat behind a large, dark oak desk in a room lined with bookshelves, a thick carpet on the floor, and photos of the current and past presidents on the wall. A young woman fluttered around the senator placing a stack of files on his desk along with a cup of coffee.
My tax dollars at work.
Lowering herself into a guest chair, she could smell the power and money of Washington. It was an actual physical awareness that she’d felt practically the moment she stepped off the train this morning. It was an energy that she’d only felt a few times in her life. Once in New York. Once in London. And now here.
Danny Ford didn’t waste any time. He smiled that handsome, politician smile that she didn’t believe for a second as he shook their hands, telling Bailey how wonderful it was to meet her and how sorry he was for her loss. Frank was a great man and so on. She wasn’t sure he was being sincere. If Frank was so wonderful then why hadn’t Ford been around all those years?
“It’s good to see you, Chase. My assistant told me a little bit about why you’re here but I’m not sure that I can help you.”
They’d had plenty of time to discuss their strategy on the train and they’d decided the bare truth was the way to go.
Chase sat up straighter in his chair. “You may be the only who can help us, Senator. You and perhaps Guy Eckley.”
Ford visibly started. “Guy? You’ve been in touch with him?”
“Not yet, but we’re planning to speak with him. Is that an issue?”
“No.” Ford drew out the word, uncertainty in his tone. “It’s been years since I’ve talked to him. Give him my regards.”
“We will, Senator. I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear about you.”
Ford waved off the comment. “What’s all this senator stuff? Call me Danny. You did before I was elected.”
Chase let his gaze wander over their surroundings. “Maybe it’s the office and all the trappings. I’m sure you have a busy schedule so I’ll get right to it. Our first question is simple. What were Frank, Alex, and Greg arguing about the night Gwen Baxter was murdered?”
Ford’s throat worked and he didn’t answer right away. “I don’t know. I wasn’t with them when they fought. By the time they got back to the cabin they were all three pissed and looked like they’d rolled around in the dirt. I think their argument turned physical. But no one wanted to talk about it. Then Frank went down to the river with Gwen, and Alex and Greg had dates too. I went for an ice cream with Lorna and then we went for a swim in the pool. We didn’t find out about Gwen until the next morning.”
“Did Alex meet up with the swim coach that night?” Bailey asked, watching his reaction closely.
Ford’s cheeks turned a ruddy shade and he nodded. “He did. They’d had a thing going all summer but it was casual. It was…what do they call it now? A friends with benefits relationship.”
“So she didn’t care that he slept with Gwen too?” Chase pressed. “That’s very understanding of her.”
“She didn’t care about him that way.” Ford shook his head. “I think it was more the excitement of getting caught that was a bigger turn-on for her than Alex was, to be honest. Hell, for all we know she could have been sleeping with other guys as well. I wouldn’t say she had the highest moral fiber.”
Bailey bristled at the senator’s words. “I don’t agree with her decision to sleep with a young man when she was supposed to be an adult and in charge but slut-shaming her is also in poor taste.”
Ford raised his hands in surrender. “I meant no disrespect. The fact is I wouldn’t say any of us were shining examples of morality. There was a lot of naked, naughty things happening that summer and we were all willing and eager participants. Looking back, I think we were trying to redefine the word hedonist to our own specifications.”
Relaxing back in her chair, Bailey let out a slow breath. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. This entire situation—”
“Say no more,” Ford interrupted, shaking his head. “I can only imagine what you must be going through.”
Bailey leaned forward, placing her hands on the edge of the oak desk, the wood smooth and cool under her palms. “When did Frank become a member of the Evandria Council?”
She didn’t bother asking if. It was only a question of when.
Reaching to loosen his tie, Ford cleared his throat several times. “You don’t become a member. It’s by invitation only and Frank was invited when we all were. On our eighteenth birthday.”
“Does everyone accept?” Chase asked. “What is the criteria for an invitation?”
Ford smiled at the questions. “I’ve never known anyone to decline. As for what the criteria is, I have no idea but a strong drive to make the world a better place is certainly part of it.”
“And Frank had that?” Bailey questioned, not recognizing her late husband as someone who had that inclination. He hadn’t been involved in politics or any charitable organizations in the years she’d known him.
“He did.” Ford nodded vigorously. “A strong sense of right and wrong along with a desire to see social justice in our time. I was always surprised he didn’t run for office. He would have made an excellent politician and with his family backing him…well, the sky would have been the limit. He could have ended up on the Supreme Court.”
Except that Frank hated law school and had complained about it often.
“Social justice? What does that mean exactly?”
She’d heard the phrase several times in conjunction with the Council but she wasn’t sure what they meant by it.
The senator’s expression grew sober, lines appearing in his forehead. “People don’t know where their next meal is coming from. They can’t find good jobs and the cost of everything goes up every day. People are working harder and getting further behind. We want to change that.”
It sounded great. “Just how are you doing that?”
Ford smiled and slapped the desk in excitement. “I’m glad you asked that. Outreach programs to disenfranchised youth. Food banks and programs that help working parents. Groups that assist abused women with finding a job and a place to live. I can’t begin to tell you the satisfaction I feel when I see a success story. It’s life changing not just for them, but for me as well. It’s why I do what I do.”
“It sounds wonderful. But I have to admit I never saw Frank involved in any of this.”
It was Ford’s turn to be surprised. His brows shot up to his hairline and he scratched his freshly shaved jaw.
“That does surprise me but there’s more than one way to support our mission statement. By simply paying his dues, he was helping. Maybe he didn’t want to brag to you about his philanthropic endeavors.”
“Possibly.” The subject of the Evandria Council had been beaten to death and frankly, it didn’t seem to be a factor in Gwen’s murder, nor Frank’s. Time to change the subject. “Senator…was Frank serious about Gwen? Enough to be upset if she slept with another boy?”
His face went pale and he swallowed hard before speaking. “What you’re really asking is if Frank was jealous enough to kill Gwen. Well, the answer is an unequivocal no. They were having fun but he wasn’t in love with her or her with him. But even if he had been, she left him at the door of our cabin very much alive. He was with us all night. End of story.”
“You saw Gwen then?” Chase jumped on that statement. “You saw her right before she was murdered?”
“I didn’t actually see her but I heard her outside the door. They were saying goodnight and she was heading to her cabin.”
“It could have been someone else’s voice.”
“It could have but it wasn’t,” Ford countered. “I know because Guy and I razzed Frank about what he and Gwen had been up to. If it had been another girl he would have said so. It was Gwen. I’m sure of it.”
“You didn’t tell the police that. Why?” Bailey queried.
Ford shrugged carelessly. “I’m sure that I did. I answered what they asked me and then my parents came to get me and Guy that afternoon. I never talked to anyone after that but I’m sure I told them.”
That little tidbit never made it into the case file. Interesting.
Chase was punching something into his phone. “When did Alex and Greg come back?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe around two. I fell asleep and only woke up for a moment when they came in.”
“Did they come back together or separately?”
Ford rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Jesus, Chase, that was twenty years ago. I don’t really recall but I think it was at the same time. I don’t think I woke up twice but hell, I might have. I’m not sure.”
“I’m just trying to get all the facts straight.”
“That’s good. Now I’ve been very cooperative but I want some cooperation in return. My assistant said that you were looking into a possible connection between Frank’s death and Gwen’s. I was going to ask you when you sat down but we got off track with talk of Guy. Just what is this supposed connection?”
Chase flexed his fingers and weighed his words. “Gwen was murdered on July twenty-first.”
“And? Does that have some significance?”
“My husband was also killed on July twenty-first. Fifteen years later,” Bailey piped up. “A strange coincidence.”
Ford’s eyes narrowed as he contemplated their revelation. “It is a coincidence and a weird one, I’ll give you that, but I doubt there’s anything nefarious going on here. I doubt there’s any connection. It’s a—”
“Fluke,” Bailey finished his sentence. She knew exactly how it was going to end before he’d said anything. “Yes, you could make that argument except for one thing.”
“And that is?”
It appeared that Senator Ford was losing his patience. His fingers drummed on the surface of his desk rather loudly.
“Greg Nelson and Alex Vaughn also died on exactly the same day,” she said, schooling her own features carefully. “That’s some coincidence, huh?”
Looking like the breath had been knocked out him Ford sat back in his chair, his skin pasty and green-tinged. He looked as if he might be physically ill.
“Are you alright, Danny?” Chase stood and reached across the desk, placing his hand on Ford’s shoulder. “Do you want a glass of water or something?”
“No. No… I’m okay. I’m fine.” Clearly he wasn’t, though. Sweat had popped out on his forehead and his breathing was labored, his voice hoarse. “I’m just shocked, that’s all. Alex and Greg are gone too? Jesus H. Christ. I had no idea.”
“You and Guy are the only ones left,” Chase replied quietly. “Are you sure I can’t get you a glass of water? You don’t look well.”
Bailey didn’t imagine the sheen of moisture in the senator’s eyes. No matter how the men had drifted apart in the intervening years, he was still deeply affected by the information. “I’ll be fine. The news was just…dammit, how did they go? Were they…murdered as well?”
Bailey wasn’t sure how to answer that question. A few days ago she would have said no but now she wasn’t so sure. It was better to simply give facts not opinions or conjecture.
“Frank died in a diving accident. Alex in a car wreck, and Greg with an allergic reaction.”
Shaking his head, Ford pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and mopped at his brow but his color was coming back. “Jesus, that’s terrible.”
Chase had moved to stand by the windows looking out on the green lawns. “It is, but all of them dying on the exact same day is a little strange, don’t you agree? And on July twenty-first, just like Gwen. I’m not sure we can call that a coincidence anymore, Danny.”
“What else could it be?”
“That’s what we intend to find out,” Chase said, turning back to his friend. “If there’s any connection we’ll find it. Bailey and the other wives deserve to know what happened to their husbands and Gwen deserves to rest in peace.”
Tucking the handkerchief back into his pocket, Ford seemed to have gathered his emotions and was looking much more in control. “Just what do you think you’ll find after all these years? It’s been so long, Chase. Does it really matter anymore? We’ve all moved on with our life.” The senator nodded to Bailey. “Forgive me, but I have to say I don’t think this is a healthy quest for you, Mrs. Scott. My mother always said to keep looking toward the future and she was usually right.”
Bailey and Chase exchanged a glance before he spoke up.
“It matters a hell of a lot, Danny. We want the truth. Whatever it may be.”
“I can’t encourage this.”
“I’m not asking for your permission, Senator,” Bailey said quietly. “Or your approval. I want the truth about my husband’s death. My friends want to know what happened to their husbands as well. I think we’re entitled to that.”
“Your friends?” Ford asked sharply. “Alex and Greg’s wives are a part of this too?”
“Yes, they’re my friends and we’re supporting each other through this time.”
It felt good to call Willow and Peyton her friends. They would be there for each other no matter how difficult and ugly this became.
The senator stood, indicating the meeting was over. “Please give my condolences to your friends. I’m sorry I didn’t realize Greg and Alex had passed away. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more but as you can see I know very little about the situat
ion.”
Bailey stood, gathering her handbag as Chase moved to stand next to her. They headed for the door but just before they exited, Chase paused and turned to Ford.
“Just one more question, Danny. Who all had Gwen slept with that summer?”
The man flushed and shifted on his feet. “Lots of guys, Chase. Gwen was sowing some wild oats that summer. It was like she had something to prove. She was wild and almost uncontrollable.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Ford sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Frank, Alex, Greg, Guy…”
“Anyone else?”
The senator looked down at the floor and Bailey instantly knew there was one more person.
“Me.” He looked up, his expression agonized. “I slept with Gwen, okay?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Bailey’s phone was going off as they entered Chase’s front door. She moved the bag of takeout food to her other arm so she could answer but Chase smoothly lifted it from her hands despite the fact that his own were filled with groceries they’d purchased on the way here.
She’d promised to bake something for him.
“Peyton, how’s New York?”
Chase disappeared into the kitchen and Bailey fell back into the soft couch, her feet aching from all the walking they’d done that day. She shouldn’t have worn these heels but they went so well with her dress. She’d wanted to look good for their meeting with the senator.
“It’s good. Crowded and energized, as usual. We’re going to get some dinner in a little while but I wanted to touch base with you. Did you meet with Daniel Ford?”
“We did but he swears he doesn’t know what Frank, Alex, and Greg were arguing about that night, nor did he know that they were dead. He seemed extremely shook up about that, more so than the discussion about Gwen. I guess they were good friends although he said they drifted apart, which seems strange to me. He also said they joined the Evandria Council when they were eighteen. He said you need an invitation. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that there probably isn’t an application process.”
Wicked After Midnight (Midnight Blue Beach Book 1) Page 14