by Tegan Maher
He glanced around to make sure the tables were all involved in their own conversations, then leaned over. "Apparently, all was not well between Loretta and one of the other girls here for the real-estate conference. Eight of 'em from the conference were in here a few nights ago, and they sat at that table there." He motioned to a table right behind me. "They split five bottles of wine between them, and things between her and a brunette turned from catty to hostile. I honestly thought they were gonna go toe to toe. I had Lizzie cut 'em off before things went south."
Daylight spilled into the pub as Hunter pushed inside, and I held up a finger to Sully. "Hang on a sec. He needs to hear this."
"I need to hear what?" Hunter asked, pulling off his coat and hanging it over the back of his chair.
Sully repeated his story.
"A brunette, huh?" Hunter's brow creased. "Was she five-six or so, a little on the hefty side?" He was obviously thinking of Priscilla.
"Nope," Sully said. "Although there was a girl there who fit that description, she's no the one who was arguing with the girl who got killed. This one didn't have a spare ounce of meat on her. More athletic looking than skinny, though."
I raised a brow. "Athletic enough to stab a pair of scissors through a ski jacket and straight into somebody's back?"
He considered for a minute. "I reckon so. She had some muscle to her."
"What else? How old was she? Did you catch a name?" Hunter asked.
Sully nodded and pushed away from the bar. "Better—she paid with a credit card. Gimme a minute. I remember what she ate, so I'll be able to figure out which receipt was hers." He ambled toward the back of the bar to where I knew his office was located.
"This chick just made friends everywhere she went," I said.
Hunter shook his head. "This is why it's better to ask around than rely on what coworker say, especially when you're asking for an opinion on a senior something-or-other, and especially if that person's dead. People like to tow the company line when there's a chance they'll be overheard. I went down to the conference today and asked around, and by the time an hour had passed, I'd heard a dozen different ways to say what an upstanding gal she was. Since we both know that's not true, I gave up."
Sully came back, holding a receipt in his hand. "I lucked out; it was close to the top of the pile for that day. Here it is." He held the receipt out to Hunter, who squinted at it.
"Delilah Merryweather," he said, then glanced up at Sully. "How old was she?"
"Mid-thirties, if I had to guess."
"I don't suppose I'm really gonna strike gold and you happened to hear what they were arguing about?" Hunter asked.
Sully snorted. "Shoot, there ain't nothin' gold about that—the whole pub heard. Miss Merryweather there didn't like the way Loretta did business. Called her shady and said she poached clients and worked both ends against the middle, whatever she meant by that."
Hunter shook his head and sighed. "The more I learn, the broader the net goes. Finding out who killed this woman is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack."
I agreed. "I can't believe she made it this long without somebody punchin' her card for her. But at least there's one good thing comin' from it."
Hunter squirted mustard on his burger then turned to me. "And what would that be?"
"With that many people wantin' her dead, you have plenty of people to choose from other than Coralee."
"Yeah," Hunter said, "but none of them had any reason to have a pair of hair scissors or to be behind Coralee's shop, especially that late in the evening. I'm afraid that until I figure out those two little details, Coralee's still on the hook."
"Then we'll just have to find those details," I said, then ended the conversation by taking a monstrous bite of the best burger in Georgia. No problem ever got solved on an empty stomach, so diet be damned.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
WE'D JUST FINISHED eating when the front door swung open and in walked Priscilla. Her eyes swept over the place, and she turned her nose up a little. Apparently, the place wasn't up to snuff, but the bottom line was that Keyhole Lake wasn't exactly a five-star-restaurant type of town.
Her gaze bounced between the tables and the bar, and she veered toward us. When she saw me, she started to change directions, but Hunter spoke up.
"Ms. Rowan, if I could have a word. You're a tough woman to track down. I've been to your hotel a couple times because I have some questions for you."
She glanced at his badge, then her gaze raked over me. Returning her attention to Hunter, all the ice melted and she actually batted her eyes at him. What a troll. "Of course, Sheriff. Though why you're still investigating when it's obvious that trashy hairdresser killed my friend is beyond me. Just ask your companion, here. She saw the altercation in the salon."
I didn't like her attitude, and even though Hunter shot me a warning glance, I narrowed my eyes at the woman. "No, what I saw was your friend intentionally instigating a fight. Being white trash has nothin' to do with money or education and everything to do with how you carry yourself. And your friend carried herself like she'd just crawled out of the dirtiest trailer park in the state."
Her jaw clenched, but her expression turned sugary as she turned back to Hunter. "Sheriff, is she speaking for you, or do you have legitimate questions for me?"
Hunter had his face schooled into a neutral expression, but I was pretty sure from the set of his jaw he was gonna murder me the next time we were alone.
"No, Ms. Rowan. I speak for myself, and I have questions for you." He looked back at me. "Noelle, if you'll excuse us, I have official business."
Yup. He was gonna kill me.
"Of course, Sheriff. I was just leaving." I figured if I hightailed it out of there and gave him some space, he'd cool down. I really shouldn't have stooped to her level, but her comments about Coralee struck fast and hot and I reacted rather than stepping back. My fatal flaw as always.
I gathered my purse and fished out my wallet, then dropped enough for the tab and a fat tip on the table. Sully'd made me a to-go cup of tea while I'd been pilfering through my wallet, and when I went to thank him, he gave me an encouraging smile and a wink. Hunter had already led Priscilla to a back booth, and I was a little bummed I wasn't going to get to hear the conversation.
Pulling on my coat, I grabbed my tea and risked a glance toward the back booth. Hunter gave me a little smile, and I returned it. Thankfully, it seemed I was forgiven, and I thanked the stars again for giving me a guy who got me, flaws and all.
My legs felt like lead as I trudged back across the street to my shop. With my belly full and the coffee buzz long gone, my sleepless night was catching up with me. I texted Hunter to let him know I was headed home, then went inside to make sure Erol was set on his channels for the night. I probably wouldn't be back since I was going out with the girls later, and I didn't want him to be stuck with his daytime channels.
"Wow, girl, you look terrible," he said, floating along beside me. "And where's Hunter? I thought you were meeting him for lunch."
"I did," I said, then explained the Priscilla situation.
"Well why didn't you say that right off the bat?" he asked, waving a dismissive hand at me. "Set the TV on the Hallmark Mystery channel, thanks. I'm gonna go eavesdrop."
Before I could even reply, he'd popped out of sight. I was glad he was finally coming out of his shell, but it seemed Addy and Belle were rubbing off on him, and I wasn't sure that was a good thing.
Rae texted while I was checking Norm and Sammie's water bottle to tell me we didn't need any more pastries for the next day. On the way out the door, I checked our group text; it looked like we were gonna have almost a full house for girls' night. Anna Mae and Coralee were coming, and so was Bobbie Sue. Louise, another friend of ours was gonna be there for at least a little bit just to get some adult company sans the baby. He was adorable but exhausting. And of course, Rae and Levanna were gonna be there.
With all my business taken care of for the day, I turned
the truck toward home and, more specifically, my bed. I wasn't five minutes later that Erol popped into my truck, instantly dispersing my haze of exhaustion. No matter how many times he and the others did that, there was no suppressing the startle response that came with being alone, then suddenly having somebody pop into existence out of the blue.
"That woman's hideous," he said, scowling as I took a deep breath.
"How so?" I asked. "Was she being mean to Hunter?"
"Oh, no, honey," he replied, flapping a hand at me. "She was the opposite of mean. She did everything but drag him into the back room. I almost felt bad enough for him that I showed myself, but then he'd have known I was eavesdropping. You better keep an eye on that one. She wants a piece of your candy."
I rolled my eyes at him. "My candy, as you say, is perfectly trustworthy, so I'm not worried about how sweet her tooth may be. Now, did you overhear anything good? No, wait—tell me everything you heard, and I'll decide for myself if it's good."
"I'm perfectly capable of picking the wheat from the chaff when it comes to gossip," he said.
"I'm not denying that," I said, "but we're not talking about gossip here; we're talking about facts."
He couldn't argue that, so he started at the beginning. "When I first popped in, he was just asking generic questions. How long had she known Loretta, what was their relationship, did anybody have a reason to harm her ... that sort of stuff. She answered pretty much like you'd expect, except for one thing—she said they'd been close friends since school and still were, and they sometimes worked together."
I tilted my head. "They worked together? She's an accountant, not a real estate agent. I'm not sure where they'd intersect unless she does her taxes or something, but if that were the case, she'd say Loretta was a client, or she worked for her, not with her."
"I know. I thought it was odd, but when Hunter asked her to elaborate, she deflected by telling him they'd just teamed up on a few real estate projects. To be fair, he had his hands full just dodging her verbal innuendos. That woman came in hot, let me tell you."
That was almost enough to make me turn the truck around, but I took a deep breath. He worked hard to be polite to everybody, and when somebody disrespected him like that, it really burned my biscuit.
However, I figured she was using that to get out of answering the hard questions, and determined I'd do some research on her—after my nap. After all, semi-conscious was no way to solve a murder.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I SLEPT LIKE A ROCK for a solid three hours, and by the time I awoke, Shelby was already home, sitting at the table with a textbook open in front of her. I crinkled my nose.
"Calculus, huh?" I said, glancing over her shoulder as I pulled a mason jar out of the cabinet behind her.
"Yeah, big test tomorrow, and I need to ace it." Her forehead was furrowed as she studied the problem in front of her.
"You'll get it, sister. I have faith." I poured my tea and grabbed a leftover chicken leg from the fridge.
"I hope so," she said, not even pulling her eyes from the book. "I'm bordering on dropping to a B in the class, and I can't afford to do that, especially now. Colleges are gonna be going over everything with a fine-toothed comb, and I have to show them that my temporary slip last year was just that."
I squeezed her shoulder. "Explain on your application what happened. A death in the family is difficult, and I'm sure they'll take that into consideration when they're reviewing your grades."
She sighed and put her pencil down. "I sure hope so, Noe. I don't know what I'm going to do if I don't get accepted to UGA."
"You'll figure it out, and everything will work out exactly how it's supposed to," I said. "If you don't get accepted, then that's the way it was meant to be, and another path will open up. I promise."
"Thanks, sister," she said with a small smile. "Now I have to get back to this utterly intriguing book about math I'll probably never use."
"You have fun with that," I said with a smile. "Oh, and we're going out for a girls' night tonight. What are your plans?"
"I'm gonna go over and help Cody clean the kennels. Will's taking the evening to do his books, assuming nobody has a crisis." She paused. "I'm really worried about him, Noelle. Ever since the stuff with Violet, he hasn't been right. He stays home most of the time, he works himself to the bone, and though he seems okay, he's not."
Will's wife had landed in prison after she tried to blow me and my family up, and he carried a lot of misplaced guilt over it. Not to mention, he lost his wife and found out everything he'd believed about her and his marriage had been a lie. The poor guy hadn't had it easy, but he always seemed cheerful when he hung out with us.
I frowned. "He comes here."
"Yeah," she said, but we haven't been doing much since it's been cold. He came for Christmas and our New Years party, but when was the last time we just did a dinner? Other than going to the diner for breakfast, he works. All the time." She flipped the pages of the book and bit her lip. "And Cody and I are going away. We need to make sure he's gonna be all right when we do."
I pulled in a deep breath and let it out through my cheeks. Will was one of those people who always seemed fine. He was a still waters run deep type, so he didn't wear his emotions on his sleeve. The only time I'd seen him really rattled was during that time period, and for several weeks after, he'd been in mourning. He seemed to have recovered from it, mostly, but if Shelby was right, we needed to bring him in a little closer. He was, after all, a part of our family.
I set my tea down and bent down to give her a quick hug. "Focus on what you need to do for school. I know it's hard, but try not to worry about Will. We'll take care of him, and I'm sure we'll be able to find him a good assistant, too." I scrunched my nose at her and smiled. "Not as good as you and Cody, I'm sure, but we'll find him somebody."
She turned back to her book and I bundled up and headed to the barn to feed. I startled a little and trotted a few steps toward the barn when I saw the geldings filing out of their pasture. Mayhem, Gabi's horse, was a gifted escape artist. If we didn't latch the gate with a lead-rope clip, he'd open it and everybody would run amok. I let out a breath when the last rump moved out of the way. Matt, a good friend who lived in the apartment above the barn, pulled it closed and turned toward me.
"Hey!" I called, smiling. "It's not your turn to feed."
"I know," he said, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his fleece-lined jean jacket. "I wanted to. Plus, Anna Mae said you ladies are going out tonight, so I figured I'd give you a head start by doing the night chores for you."
"Aww," I replied, joining him on his way to the barn. "That was sweet."
We strolled down the aisle, closing the stall doors. He'd already brought in the mares, so everybody was happily munching away on the dinner he'd put in their buckets before he'd brought them in. Not so much as a single muzzle poked over to greet me.
"So what are your big plans for the night?" I asked. He and Hunter often hung out, and since the weather had turned cold, they'd added some insulation and a couple space heaters to a second, smaller barn that we'd used mostly as a storage space. Now it was their man cave/garage, where they hung out, drank a few beers, and tinkered on motorcycles. That gave me an idea.
"Hey Matt," I said, "do you guys ever invite Will over?"
He rubbed his jaw. "We've told him he's always welcome to come hang out, but he's never taken us up on it."
"Yeah, but have you ever just called him up and invited him over?" I explained what Shelby and I had discussed and he shook his head.
"No, I've never really thought to. He has mentioned he'd like to learn about bikes, but I thought he was just making conversation, plus he's always working. I'll give him a call though. See if he's busy this evening."
If anybody understood dealing with personal demons, it was Matt. He was an Iraqi war vet and had seen some tragedies that no man should ever have to witness. When I'd met him, he'd been squatting in our lake cabin, living
on the fringes of society but looking for a way back in. I liked to think we'd helped him find the path, but the truth was that it had just been time for him. He'd been ready, and now maybe he could help Will find his way back, too.
"That would be awesome," I said, clicking the latch shut on the last stall. "He's a good guy, and I feel terrible that I haven't picked up on how much he's estranged himself until now."
He slung his arm over my shoulder as we fell into step toward the house and gave me a side hug. "Don't worry about it. Will's one of us."
And that right there was why I loved my merry little band of misfits—there were enough shoulders that none of us ever had to carry the weight of the world on their own.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
RAE CAME TO THE HOUSE to get ready, and as usual, Cheri Lynn hung out with us while we did. She was all dolled up in jeans, boots, and a cute red checkered blouse tied at the waist. I shook my head, giving her a little girl-hate because, with her long dark hair, olive skin, and almond-shaped eyes that were inherent of her gypsy heritage, she was downright gorgeous no matter what she wore. It was loving girl-hate though because she was one of the sweetest people I'd ever met.
Gabi came in while I was doing my makeup, dressed to the nines, and gave a little twirl that made her red halter dress flare out at the bottom. I whistled and grinned at her, and she smiled, her dark eyes glittering.
"Is it really okay?" she asked. "Not too much?"
I cocked a brow and cast a pointed glance at her bare shoulders. "Not too much what? Fabric? Nope, you're good on that front. You look great, but you're gonna freeze to death in that."
Cheri Lynn swooped over and gave me the hairy eyeball. "Don't you listen to her, sugar. You're perfectly dressed for a nice dinner out."
"If she were having dinner in Key West," I pointed out. "And besides, I said she looks great." I turned my attention back to Gabi. "Seriously, you're gonna knock his socks off. Take a sweater though."