“Really?”
“Really,” I said. “And I owe you for all the Tuesday nights I’ll be discussing wild hogs and water towers.”
“What?”
“Never mind.” I kept forgetting which things Colleen had told me. I started walking back the way we’d come. “Couldn’t you have just called me and said, ‘Hey Liz, since you’re home and all, why don’t you take Gram’s seat on town council?’”
“Oh yeah, that would have worked.”
We walked in silence for a few minutes before I stated the obvious. “But you had to know I’d have serious reservations about development…even for a good cause.”
“I was betting I could talk you into it.”
“That was a bad bet.”
“We’ll see.”
I was relieved she seemed content not to pursue the topic. Normally, Merry was like a dog with a bone when she wanted something, especially something related to her work. I changed the subject before Merry could change her mind. “Are you still seeing Troy Causby?”
“Oh hell no,” Merry said. “I broke that off a month ago. I’m through my bad-boy stage.”
Troy Causby had lived on the periphery of our childhood. He had cousins on Stella Maris, and he’d occasionally shown up at the beach or at a church potluck. Troy had always seemed to envision himself as James Dean. I’d bet he practiced his surly look in the mirror. He’d been in trouble a few times—underage drinking, pot—nothing serious. Lots of kids go through rough patches and grow up to be pillars of the community. Something about Troy, though, had always screamed bad seed to me. I thought Merry deserved better.
“What made you see the light about Troy?”
“I never thought he was Mr. Right, but you’ve got to admit, he sure is fine to look at. He was Mr. Right Now. Now he’s Mr. Can’t Shake Him Loose.”
“Send Blake to convince him.”
“I don’t need my big brother to solve my problems for me. I can handle it.” Merry stared down the beach into the darkness.
“Why do I sense you’re not so sure that you can?”
“Because you always think I can’t handle things myself. It’s your nature, you’re my big sister.”
“It’s more than that. You sound worried.”
Merry wrapped her arms around herself. “He’s just… a little scary sometimes.”
“What do you mean?”
“He went a little nuts when I broke it off.”
“Like how?”
“He got really mad, shouting and throwing things. The next day, he brought flowers, ready to play kiss and make-up. When I wouldn’t let him in, he threw the flowers at me and told me I’d be sorry.” Merry shuddered. “That was a month ago, and he’s still following me.”
Merry stopped, turned, and looked out across the water. “The thing that really scared me, though, is he came to the door a couple of weeks ago. Two in the morning. I think he knew I was just inside, watching him through the peephole and listening. He said, ‘Nobody treats me like shit and gets away with it. You’d better watch yourself, Merry. I know how to hide bodies so they’re never found.’”
“And you didn’t call Blake right then because why?”
“I told you, I can handle it.”
“I don’t think we’ll find that very comforting when we’re looking for your body.”
“He was just trying to intimidate me.”
“How do you know? It sounds to me like he’s unbalanced.”
“I think he is, a little, but not enough to kill me and hide my body.”
“I’m telling Blake.”
She spun on me. “No, you’re not. This is my problem and I’ll handle it. I shouldn’t have told you.”
“You should have told me and everyone else you know, and then told Troy you told everybody.”
Merry sighed. “Maybe. But the good news is, the thing Troy wants most in this world is to leave South Carolina and never look back. He might already be gone.”
“Isn’t all of his family here?”
Merry snorted. “Troy’s not big on family. He hates the shrimping business. His dad made him work on the boats summers growing up. Troy isn’t cut out for manual labor. He wants to go to Hollywood and be in commercials.”
“That’s his big dream? Commercials? Not a TV show, or movies, but commercials?”
“Yep. He thinks he can make a pile of money doing beer commercials. Beer and trucks. He says for commercials all you have to do is look good.”
We both laughed. “What about your roommate, Kristen? Why do Dad and Blake dislike her so much? Have I ever met her?”
“No, she went to school with me at College of Charleston, but we weren’t close. After I bought my house, money was tight and I needed a roommate. I mentioned it on Facebook a couple times. Eventually, Kristen called me. She’s a little odd. Hard to read, but she’s okay. She pays her rent on time and does her share of the housework. And she’s been very encouraging about my youth camp. I think she’s going to work there with me.”
I playfully bumped into her. “So you don’t want to move in with me?”
“Oh please. One of us would end up dead and Blake would have to put the other in jail.”
We had made our way back to the quilt. Merry grabbed one side, I grabbed the other, and together we spread it on the soft sand. “Seen any shooting stars lately?”
“I haven’t been star gazing in forever. I’m really glad you’re home.” I took Sig out of my capris and laid it on the quilt. We sprawled out and soaked in the night sky and the sounds of the surf.
Finally, Merry sighed and asked, “Do you think you’ll miss Greenville?”
“Some things I’ll miss.” Nate came to mind.
“How is that partner of yours?”
I almost laughed out loud at how she read my mind. “Nate’s good. He’s actually on his way here right now.”
“Do tell!” Merry’s tone bathed that information in intrigue. “Clearly, you married the wrong brother.”
“Marrying Scott was a mistake. But Nate and I are friends—he’s my best friend. We’re strictly platonic.”
“Damn waste. You’re still pining after Michael, aren’t you?”
“Afraid so.”
Merry made a disgusted noise, and we both fell silent and listened to the waves. I considered telling Merry about Colleen. I’d told my sister things I would never tell anyone else. But I wasn’t ready to talk about Colleen, even to Merry.
“So why don’t Dad and Blake like Kristen? You never said.”
“Your father doesn’t like her because she has two piercings in each ear. As for Blake, I don’t know. He’s never really said. Just that there’s something about her he doesn’t trust. I think it’s big-brother paranoia. We grew up in this safe little world where everybody knows everybody.”
“Maybe, but Blake has been off the island before. He has good instincts.” I shrugged. “But, he can be protective. He pitched a fit at me this morning for running before it was light out. Well, that and skinny dipping.”
“Oh man. I haven’t been skinny dipping since you and I went in September.”
“It was a new moon, pitch-black out,” I said, remembering.
“Not like tonight.”
I stood up. “It’s bright as broad daylight out here.”
Merry took off her sweatshirt as she scrambled to her feet. “Anybody would go skinny dipping when it’s pitch-dark out.”
“It would take a real exhibitionist to swim naked when it’s this bright.” Off came my shoes, followed by my jeans.
Merry threw her bra on top of her pile of clothes. “Yeah, or somebody completely crazy.”
“And her sister.” I darted towards the surf. “First one in gets the quilt on the way bac
k.”
Together we splashed into the waves, laughing and whooping in wild abandon.
TWENTY
I slogged through the whole bedtime beauty routine, and then collapsed into the cloud of pillows and goose down that was my bed. And then I remembered I hadn’t put my phone on the charger or changed the setting from silent. All those fancy surveillance alerts wouldn’t do any good if I couldn’t hear them.
I switched on the bedside lamp and leaned out of the bed to grab my purse from the floor. This maneuver nearly landed me headfirst beside the purse. In a gravity-defying move, I drug myself and the tote/purse back up onto the bed. I scrambled for my phone, which I typically keep in a side pocket. But not tonight. Tonight, I’d tossed my phone in my purse at Mamma’s house, while Merry and I sorted through the clothes we hadn’t put on standing on the beach.
I jammed my hand down in the tote, felt around, and came back with a familiar leather-cased iPhone. I slid it out of the case, pressed the home button, and let fly a string of curses.
The picture on the wallpaper was one of Merry, Blake, Mamma, Daddy, and me, from Thanksgiving. It was a great picture—I had a copy of it in a frame in a box somewhere. But it wasn’t the one I used for wallpaper on my phone.
The phone in my hand was Merry’s. As often happened, we had independently chosen the same phone and the same case. We must have mixed them up in the clothes jumble. Damnation. I threw back the covers and pulled on my clothes, cursing the whole way. I had to have my phone, and I had to have it back that night.
I tried dialing my phone from Merry’s, but, of course, it was on silent mode. Merry wouldn’t notice she had the wrong phone until she went to use it. I crawled into the Escape and headed, eyes half closed, to my sister’s house.
Two blocks from Merry’s house on Magnolia Lane, I squinted and leaned over the steering wheel. Was this another crazy-assed dream?
Colleen was perched on top of the bougainvillea-covered arbor in Merry’s front yard. She must have sensed me approaching. She jerked her head around, saw me, and popped into the passenger seat. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Back at you.”
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
I was still a block away. I pulled to the curb, under a big live oak and cut the engine. “Why not? What’s going on?”
Troy Causby leaned against the doorframe of Merry’s neat white cottage. It had been a while, but I recognized him.
“What’s he doing here?” It registered then that Merry’s car wasn’t in the driveway. A white Ford Expedition was parked there beside a gray Honda. Where the hell was Merry?
“Merry’s in trouble. I’m here to help. You’ll get in the way.”
“Merry’s not here, Colleen. If she’s in trouble, where is she?” But I knew then, where she must be. Merry discovered the phone mix-up, and was likely ringing my doorbell at that very moment, wondering where the hell I was.
“Whatever happens, it happens here.” Colleen faded out.
I slipped Sig into the back of my jeans and Merry’s iPhone into my pocket. I eased out of the car and pressed the door closed. As fast as I could go while remaining quiet, I navigated the edge of neighboring yards in the direction of Merry’s house. Using trees, cars, and trellises as cover, I approached with caution. Two houses away, someone’s dog went to barking.
I slipped behind the big magnolia at the corner of Merry’s house. Behind me, someone shouted at the dog. He gave three more barks, then all was silent except for the voices on Merry’s front porch. Colleen appeared beside me.
Troy’s voice had a wheedling quality. “Come on, Kristen, let me in. She’s over at her folks’ house. They’ll be yappin’ all night.”
Where had I heard that voice?
Kristen—I only knew who she was because Troy called her that, and she was in my sister’s house—stood in the doorway, which was opened just far enough to see her. “And she might be home in any minute. We’re not going to blow this deal. We’re too close. Adam would be furious—”
Colleen and I looked at each other. Adam.
“You’re really hot when you’re mad,” Troy said. “Actually, I think the boss would expect me to be here. That’s the idea, right? Keep an eye on the prima donna.”
“Wrong,” Kristen said. “I’m supposed to monitor the situation here, since you were dumb enough to get dumped. You’re supposed to be responding to problems, not creating them.”
“Not my fault she broke up with me. But if she shows up, I’ll just say I came by to beg her again to take me back. She wasn’t here, so I cried on your beautiful shoulder.”
“It was stupid—and unnecessary—for you to get involved with her to begin with.”
“Are you jealous, baby?” Troy traced one finger down the side of her neck and across her shoulder. “You and me been a team a long time. She’s just business. Quick as we get our money, you and me will be on a plane, and South Carolina will be nothing but a little redneck state on the other side of the country. Let me in, now.”
“I know what you have in mind, Troy, and there is no way we could talk our way out of getting caught. You’d better go. Come back and play the lovesick puppy when she gets home.” She tried to close the door, but he had slipped his foot over the threshold.
“It’s been a long time, darlin’. I know you want me. I can see it in your eyes.”
Kristen tilted her head. “Look, why don’t we just go somewhere else?”
“That wouldn’t be half as much fun. It’s kinda excitin’, thinking about gettin’ caught, doncha think?” This time, his finger moved across her chest, lightly stroking her.
Kristen moaned and closed her eyes. Troy continued to caress her while he pushed the door firmly with his free hand. He slipped inside and closed the door behind him.
I looked at Colleen. “Are you sure we need to see this?” Merry’s phone chimed. Shit. I pulled it out of my pocket. Battery life was at less than ten percent.
“You need to leave,” Colleen said.
“Like hell I will. You said Merry was in trouble. I don’t get it, seeing how she’s not here, but—”
“If you’re staying, let’s find a window.”
I was afraid to leave and afraid not to leave. Colleen was a ghost, and I was operating on the assumption she knew things I didn’t.
I crept past the high kitchen window, over to the den window, and raised my head just enough to see through the sheers. Luckily, the window was open, so I could hear.
I hadn’t missed much.
The lovers were locked in an embrace just inside the front door. Troy’s mouth clamped down on Kristen’s neck like he was a vampire. She arched her back, molded her pelvis to his, and clutched his shoulders, which was, I’m sure, the only way she kept her balance. In one motion, he lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist. His mouth never left her neck as he crossed the living room and pinned her to the wall. Thrusting, grinding, grunting, and groaning ensued.
Kristen left a trail of hungry kisses down his neck and chest as she released her legs. He stepped back, allowing her room to maneuver. She unbuckled his belt and slid down his jeans, and he returned the favor. Stepping out of her lacy panties, she kicked them out of the way.
Beside me, Colleen covered her eyes and peeked between her fingers. Maybe it was easier for me to watch because I’d tailed and photo’d so many cheating spouses.
Kristen hooked her arms around Troy’s neck. She hopped back up, wrapped herself around him like a squid, and reattached her mouth to his.
A car door slammed. Merry.
I turned towards the front of the house.
“Stay put,” Colleen said.
I hesitated. She sounded like she knew what she was doing. Would I make things worse by being there?
At the sound of a key in the lock, the lust-crazed pair froze mid-gyration.
I sucked in my breath as Merry blew through the door.
She had no doubt recognized Troy’s Expedition in the driveway, because she was already steamed. “Kristen, why did you—”
They both stared at her, still frozen in the incriminating, half-clothed position against the living room wall. For a moment, nobody spoke.
Merry regained her wits first. She slammed the door and shot death rays from her eyes at Kristen. “You have ten minutes to get everything that belongs to you and get out of my house.”
Then the Wrath of Merry rained down on Troy. “You, get out. Now. And if I ever see you again, you’d better not come within punching distance.”
“You tell ’em, baby sister.” I murmured. “Colleen, I need to get in there.”
“Not a chance,” said Colleen.
Troy shoved Kristen off of him and fumbled with his jeans. “Now Merry, this isn’t what it looks like…”
Getting caught was evidently more exciting in theory than reality.
Kristen stumbled, then scrambled for her clothes.
Merry fisted her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. “Oh really? If you weren’t having sex with my roommate, exactly what were you doing, Troy?”
I could almost hear the poor little hamster panting as he ran for dear life in the wheel that no doubt powered Troy’s brain. “I came to see you, baby, but you weren’t here. I needed someone to talk to, and Kristen felt sorry for me and let me in out of the kindness of her heart. I…”
Merry’s eyes threatened to roll all the way back into her head. “Oh I can see how kind she was being.”
Troy whined, “That’s not how it was. I guess I got carried away…in my loneliness. Merry, you have no idea how hard these last few weeks have been on me.”
I thought I might gag—I purely hate a whiney man. So does my sister.
“Oh please,” Merry said.
“No, I mean it. I went a little crazy. Truth is, I was forcing myself on Kristen here just now. I guess if she wants to call the police, I’d understand.” He gave Kristen a look that said Play along. Play alonnng.
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