by Amber Crewes
Her phone buzzed again.
I don’t have anything in mind, but if you think of something, let me know.
Meghan continued her walk, catching sight of a new billboard that had been put up a few yards away. “That’s new,” she thought to herself as she squinted her eyes to see what was on it. “Big Catch Outdoor Tours.”
The sign featured a laughing couple dressed in matching fishing attire. “They look like they’re having fun,” she observed. “Maybe this is the perfect coincidence. Jack and I have never done an outdoor adventure tour. I wonder if he would be into that?”
She imagined herself and Jack dressed in matching fishing attire, both happily riding the waves aboard a fishing boat. Would she enjoy deep-sea fishing? She had only done it a few times, but she knew Jack loved outdoor activities, and he loved being on the water more than anything in the world.
Before she could ask him if he would like to do an excursion, she heard a scream from inside Big Catch Outdoor Tours, followed by loud, guttural sobs. Meghan didn’t think twice; she darted into the office, following the sound of the wailing. She didn’t know what was going on, but she was going to find out.
14
M eghan stormed into the building. It was rustic, with large timber beams running up and down the length of the ceiling, and black leather furniture tucked into the corners. A massive reclaimed wooden desk sat in the center of the room, and a burly male receptionist sat behind it.
“Can I help you?” he asked as she approached him.
“What’s going on in here?” she demanded. “Where is that screaming and crying coming from?”
He peered at her in curiosity. “Ma’am, we’re closed right now,” he informed her. “You can take a business card if you’d like, but we are closed for business until two.”
She turned as she heard the crying continue, and she scurried past the receptionist who was trying to wave her down.
“Ma’am,” he called after her as she marched down a hallway toward the loud crying. “Do you have an appointment? We require appointments to meet with staff! We don’t open until two!”
Meghan burst into a room at the end of the hallway. James Kittle, along with five uniformed staff members, were staring at her. They were seated around a large wooden conference table with several boxes of her desserts in front of them. She saw their faces were drawn, and they looked confused as she stood in the middle of the room.
“Meghan?” James asked, standing up and coming over to greet her. He was wearing khaki pants, a white Henley shirt, and a red vest, and he looked every bit the picture of the owner of an outdoor adventure company. “Nice to see you. Were we expecting you today?”
She stared at the group of employees. “What’s going on here?” she demanded, balling her hands into fists. “I was walking outside when I heard screaming coming from this building.”
James wiped his eyes. “We were just taking a lunch break,” he sighed as he waved off the staff members. “Go get back to work, guys. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
“Why are people screaming over lunch?” she wondered as the group dispersed.
He hung his head. “A few of the staffers wanted to share stories about Anthony during our lunch hour” he explained quietly. “It’s been really hard on some of them, and with Bonnie putting off the funeral, they haven’t had a chance to grieve. Anthony meant a lot to some of these guys; he was like a big brother to them, and they need to have the time and space to mourn him.”
Meghan stared at him. “Wait... Bonnie put off the funeral? What do you mean? Isn’t his funeral scheduled for next week at the Episcopalian church? There was an announcement in the paper this morning about it.”
James scowled. “I don’t want to start rumors or speak ill of the newly widowed Mrs. Diggs, but she’s being really strange about all of it,” he told her. “Look, I’ll be honest with you, Meghan. Anthony wasn’t always the standup guy he pretended to be, and Bonnie had to deal with a lot during their marriage. I don’t blame her for being angry and canceling his funeral; I can only imagine if I had a husband who was that shady, I would be happy as a clam if he dropped dead...”
“Like what? What kind of shady things did he do, James?”
He frowned. “He was my friend and business partner, but I knew the real Anthony better than anyone. Infidelity. Fraud. Addiction. He certainly had his vices, to say the least. Shall I go on?”
Her eyes grew large, and she shook her head.
“I thought that would be enough,” he commented, sitting back down in his chair at the head of the table. “Anyway, when Anthony died, a lot of angry people came out of the woodwork. They’re going after his money, and all sorts of secrets about him are coming out. Bonnie is understandably upset, and from what I’ve heard, she’s canceled his funeral.”
Meghan bit her lip. “She’s that angry with him? Bonnie is angry enough to cancel his funeral?”
James shrugged. “It’s some pretty dark stuff, Meghan,” he told her. “Can you imagine if you found out this kind of messy information about your husband after he died? I’m sure you wouldn’t be inclined to throw a big, fancy funeral for him, would you?”
She shook her head. “No, I guess I wouldn’t.”
He put a friendly hand on her arm. “If you’re wondering, Anthony and I were total opposites,” he declared. “I am loyal and honest, and I love my girl more than anything.”
“How did you and Anthony get hooked up for your business?” she asked. “If you two are so different, how could you be friends?”
He smiled. “You’re asking how I could be friends with someone so... troubled? Shady? Ruthless?”
“Yes.”
He sighed. “Anthony and I go way back,” he told her. “Our mothers were friends; they were both Italian gals who moved to America around the same time. They both married handsome GIs—our dads—and moved to Sandy Bay after the war. They didn’t speak much English, and they hit it off when they both realized they weren’t the only Italian woman in the neighborhood.”
“I love Italy,” Meghan commented. “I spent a summer studying in Sarzana and fell in love with the food.”
He grinned. “My mother’s ribollita was to die for,” he promised her. “Authentic Italian food is a gift from the Heavens. Anyway, our mothers were close, so we grew up together. We were like brothers when we were little boys, these two Italian American boys in Sandy Bay, just trying to figure out who we were and what we wanted to do with our lives.
She nodded. “Childhood friends…”
“Exactly,” he affirmed. “But we grew up, and I stayed around town for college while Anthony went to Yale. He thought he was a big deal for making it into an Ivy League school. He ended up coming back right after graduation when his Ma died. It broke his heart, Meghan. He was a broken man when he lost his Ma.”
“I can imagine,” she replied softly. “Mothers are irreplaceable.”
“Yes, they are,” he agreed. “Mine was a saint, God rest her soul. When my Ma died, I was upset, but I knew life went on. I knew I had to make her proud by making something of myself. That’s when Anthony and I started the business. When his Ma died, poor Anthony tried to drown his sadness in booze and women, and it just never stopped.”
“Even when he married Bonnie?”
“Bonnie,” he rolled his eyes. “She’s a crutch and an enabler. I’ve tried to tell Bonnie about Anthony’s problems for years, and she just doesn’t want to hear it.”
She nodded, but said nothing, watching as he ran his hand through his hair.
“Say, I have to get back to work, but is there anything else you need? I’ll certainly be back at the bakery to order more treats for the staff, but in the meantime, are we good?”
“I’m fine, thanks,” she told him as she backed out of the room. “Sorry to interrupt like that. I guess my nerves are a little out of whack with Anthony’s murder…”
As Meghan walked home, she thought about what James had told her about Anth
ony, as well as her conversation with Marty. Anthony sounded like a pathological liar, someone who thought nothing of causing trouble. She felt strange thinking of all the times they had interacted; she had thought he was a clean cut, kind, decent man, but from what she had been told, she had clearly been fooled.
She wondered about Bonnie, too. Bonnie, with her blonde hair and gorgeous clothes, was an enigma. Had Bonnie known the extent of her husband’s issues? Was she part of Anthony’s schemes, complicit in his wrong-doings? She didn’t know, but she had a bad feeling that the quiet, shy widow was not as innocent as she thought.
When she made it back to the bakery, she shivered, feeling the freezing winter air bite into her skin through her coat. The sun was quickly setting, and thick, heavy darkness was quickly covering the neighborhood. Meghan could hear the crash of the nearby ocean, and she shuddered as she imagined herself and Jack on a fishing boat. Perhaps winter was not the best time for an outdoor excursion after all.
As she neared the front door, she heard shouting from around the corner. A crowd was gathered outside of the bakery, and she hurried over to see what the commotion was all about.
“What’s going on?” she asked as she shoved through the crowd. “Excuse me? Excuse me?”
She noticed there were several police cars parked nearby, and she spotted uniformed officers patrolling the group. “What is happening?” she thought as she moved past a woman carrying a baby on her hip.
“The mayor is being arrested,” an older woman told Meghan as Mayor Rose was led out of the bakery in handcuffs, his wife running behind them, weeping.
“For what?” Meghan asked in shock, looking through the crowd to see if she recognized any of the police officers. “What did he do?”
“No one will give us a clear answer,” a man told her as he jostled by.
The Mayor’s face was red with anger, and Meghan’s heart sank as she registered the heartbroken expression on his wife’s face. She stared at them, watching as the two officers led him to a police car.
“This isn’t the end for me,” he shouted as he was carefully helped into the vehicle. “This isn’t the end. I am still your mayor, citizens of Sandy Bay! I am still fighting for you. You can’t get rid of me just yet, mark my words!”
15
M eghan tore away from the crowd and ran into the bakery. There were no customers in the dining room, but her two employees were both there.
“What is going on out there?” she gasped, finding Trudy and Pamela both pressed against the windows, staring as the police cars drove away.
Trudy’s face was drawn. “The mayor was just arrested,” she told her, a worried look in her eyes. “They took Mayor Rose away, Meghan.”
“Well, I know that,” Meghan exclaimed, slightly out of breath from all the excitement. “But what happened in the bakery? I was told he was arrested here!”
Pamela took a deep breath. “It was crazy,” she told Meghan. “I was cleaning the windows out here,” she began, nervously playing with the ends of her hair as she shifted back and forth. “I was just about to start drying the big window facing main street when I saw police lights outside.”
“Police lights? Outside of the bakery?”
She nodded. “They pulled the Mayor over. I figured it was to tell him government business or to get his signature or something. I didn’t think he was in trouble. Anyway, I went outside to see if they wanted to try some of our red velvet cupcakes; I accidentally made too many this morning, and I wanted to give the extras to the police officers.”
Meghan raised an eyebrow. “So then what happened next?”
Pamela’s face fell. “It got ugly,” she whispered. “It was so scary, Meghan. I thought he was going to hurt me. The look in his eyes was terrifying, and if the police hadn’t been there...”
Trudy pursed her lips. “Pamela put a bunch of the cupcakes into a basket to take out to them. It really was a nice idea, Meghan. She can be so thoughtful sometimes.”
“So, what went wrong?” she asked. “With the Mayor? Why was Pamela so scared?”
Pamela scowled. “The Mayor started yelling at me, Meghan. He positioned himself so that he was standing right over me. It was awful. He said the bakery was a failure, and that you are a shady character. That made me so angry, Meghan; he can’t talk about you like that! I started talking back to him, and he got up in my face.”
Meghan’s eyes widened. “The Mayor got in your face? Oh, Pamela. I am so sorry.”
She shrugged. “The police stepped in right away,” she told her. “They told him to back off and leave me alone, but he just kept going. He wouldn’t stop; it was like he was out of his mind or something. They finally had to take him down. I got out of the way, and they wrestled him to the ground and put handcuffs on him.”
Trudy crossed her arms over her chest. “Roland Rose is off his rocker,” she declared. “Who does that, yelling at a young woman on the street like that? It was disgusting. His wife was right there, too. She looked mortified, but she didn’t step in. She easily could have stopped it. I saw the whole thing, and so did everyone else who was nearby. The Mayor’s reputation is ruined, that’s for sure.”
Meghan turned back to Pamela. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Do we need to call a doctor, or your parents?”
“I feel shaken,” Pamela said. “But please don’t call a doctor, or my parents. I’m fine. I don’t want anyone to worry about me. It was wild that they arrested him; a crowd gathered, and they took him away.”
Just then, the front doors opened, and Mrs. Rose walked in. Her strawberry blonde hair was piled atop her head in a tight bun, and her hands were clenched into fists.
“Mrs. Rose,” Meghan said softly. “Can we help you? We are so sorry about what happened.”
Mrs. Rose narrowed her eyes at her. “You’re sorry?” she said mockingly. “Sorry? It’s your fault that we are in this situation.”
Meghan stared at her. “My fault? What? What do you mean?”
Mrs. Rose pointed at her, her index finger only an inch away from Meghan’s nose. “My husband has done so much for you,” she began, her voice shaking. “He supported your bakery, he spoke highly of you, and he helped bring business to you. He did a lot for you, and what did you do? You didn’t promise him your vote!”
Meghan’s dark eyes widened. “Mrs. Rose,” she said softly. “I appreciate everything your husband has done for me and for my business. I truly do. But democracy isn’t about favors and owing others. It is about making your own decisions and choosing candidates who best represent you and your interests. I honestly had not decided on who I was voting on, but I am sorry that has caused distress with your husband.”
Mrs. Rose frowned at her. “The lack of support from people like you, people my husband has helped and supported, has broken him; he has been devastated by the lack of support from all the people and businesses he has worked with in the past, and this has sent him over the edge. You have ruined my husband, Mrs. Irvin. Shame on you.”
Trudy stepped in. “Back off,” she ordered, forcing Mrs. Rose to take a few steps back. “You need to leave this bakery immediately. You aren’t going to talk to Meghan like that. She hasn’t done anything to deserve it.”
Mrs. Rose laughed. “She’s ruined my life,” she insisted, walking away from Trudy and following Meghan across the dining room. “She ruined my husband, and she’s ruined my life.”
Trudy furrowed her brow. “You need to go,” she said firmly, reaching for Mrs. Rose’s elbow. “You need to leave immediately. This is inappropriate and unfair.”
Mrs. Rose stomped her foot. “I have every right to be here,” she declared. “You can’t force me to leave. I’m the mayor’s wife. You can’t make me do anything.”
“But I can.”
Their heads turned, and Meghan breathed a sigh of relief as Jack walked into the bakery. He was dressed in his uniform, and his face was dark as he walked up to the women. “What’s going on here?”
Mrs. Rose
forced herself to smile. “I was just getting a treat,” she lied, turning to gesture at the front counter. “It’s been a long day, and I need a bite to eat.”
Jack turned to his wife. “Is that true?” he asked Meghan. “What is going on here?”
Pamela rushed over to Jack. “Mrs. Rose was trying to attack Meghan!” she shrieked, waving her hands frantically. “She was trying to hurt your wife, Detective Irvin.”
Mrs. Rose gasped. “That simply is not true,” she promised Jack, her face pinched. “I merely came in here to inquire about some treats, and these ladies started going off on me. I had nothing to do with any trouble.”
Jack looked at Meghan. “Honey?”
Meghan shook her head. “She’s lying,” she whispered to her husband. “Please have her removed, dear.”
Jack silently took Mrs. Rose arm and led her out of the bakery. “Why are you doing this?” she moaned as Jack escorted her out onto the sidewalk. “I was just visiting the bakery. There was no harm done!”
Jack came back inside with a scowl on his face. “What was that all about? Are you all okay?”
Meghan pursed her lips. “She came in here ranting and raving about her husband,” she explained to Jack as Trudy and Pamela nodded. “She thinks her husband’s downfall is somehow my fault, babe. She thinks I “broke” him, and that my lack of support sent Mayor Rose over the edge.”
Jack studied her face. “What do you think about that?”
“I think it’s insane,” she told him. “Mayor Rose’s issues are not my fault; I hadn’t even decided who I was voting for before Anthony died. My parents taught me to never discuss politics. In the South, we consider it quite rude to talk about politics with anyone other than your spouse, so even if I had made up my mind about who I was voting for, I wasn’t going to tell anyone besides you.”