You look amazing, Nathan. Have you been exercising? Do you have abs under your shirt? Are those biceps yours, or are they fake? Wow, your teeth look really bright; can I taste them. How’s your family? And what are you doing in Greensea? Do you have a girlfriend? Would you like to marry me?
No, I wasn’t going to say that. What the hell was I thinking? I was taken, and I didn’t care about Nathan. No, no, no. I didn’t care. Got it? I was serious; I wasn’t trying to convince myself. Absolutely not.
“Hi Nathan.” Did I sound cold?
“That’s it?” He chuckled, and the corners of his mouth marked two seductive dimples on his cheeks. “I haven’t seen you in years and you greet me with two cold words?” He gave me his classic flirty grin, doubling my heart rate. He knew I couldn’t resist his smile.
But no, I wasn’t going to fall for him, not anymore. We were no longer students, and I wasn’t desperate for his attention.
Guess what, Nathan? You’re handsome and good-looking, but I won’t compete with your gorgeous girlfriends. They can keep you for themselves; I don’t care at all.
He kept glancing at me, as if something didn’t match. Did he find me taller? We’d been kids when we’d dated, and I hadn’t worn heels back then. I’d started taking care of my looks after college. I bet that he’d never expected me to wear heels like his sophisticated girlfriends.
By the way, why hadn’t he brought any of his girlfriends to the hotel? Didn’t he want to parade them around like he used to? Had Nathan the Heartbreaker stopped breaking hearts?
Did I sound bitter? I didn’t mean to, I promise.
Nathan and I didn’t speak. I stared at him, grinning like an idiot, and he looked away somewhat shyly. Was I making him feel awkward? Or was he embarrassed too?
We’d been close friends ages ago and we’d talked about everything. How could we remain silent if we hadn’t seen each other for years?
And was it fair not to mention Vincent?
“Nathan, I―” I began, but I trailed off.
What the hell am I thinking? He might be taken too. We’re just two old friends, and we don’t need to talk about our personal lives.
“You keep looking at me through those intellectual eyes of yours.” He made a yuck face. “You keep judging everything and double-guessing yourself instead of telling me how well life has treated me. Don’t I look awesome?” He winked a playful eye at me and looked at his feet with a broad grin. He was kidding. He exhaled and looked back up. “You look tired, Meghan, and I know exactly what you need.”
Did he? Did he know that I needed a long break? That I needed him and his boss to solve the case so the Sand & Sea didn’t lose more customers?
He held my arm and pulled me out of the hotel as if we were 9 and 11 years old again.
Or was he leading me to church to ask for a miracle?
We stopped right before a large ice cream shop, the best at Greensea. It smelled sweet enough to increase my blood sugar just by walking near it.
He did know what I needed. Nathan and I had been very close friends for years, and he knew me more than many people.
But someone had murdered a man in my grandfather’s restaurant. We weren’t supposed to eat ice cream or to leave the building in case the police needed something from us. And he was one of the investigators! Shouldn’t he be working harder than anyone else?
“Shouldn’t I stay at the hotel for the interrogations?” I asked.
He chuckled and shook his head. “As responsible as ever. I’m one of the investigators, remember? If someone wants to accuse you of killing poor old Billy-Bob, I’ll help you make up a solid alibi, all right? You’re a wicked, twisted murderer, and I want to bribe you with the best ice cream in town so you don’t poison me too.”
“Why do you joke about the murder? It’s awful taste.”
“I know. I’m intolerable.” He ran his fingers through his jet black hair and grinned at me. “Want to drown your annoyance in a pint of ice cream?”
I wanted to be annoyed; I really did. But Nathan had always acted silly and annoying to cheer me up. He channeled my day-to-day stress towards him, and I couldn’t hold a grudge against him, so he always ended up making me feel better.
The shop owner, an old and cheerful lady, greeted us and asked us what we wanted.
I wasn’t diet-obsessed, but ice-cream is addictive and always tempts me to eat more. I didn’t have to eat any, but the different flavors in front of me said my name and asked me to eat them.
I’d lost the battle before even trying.
“I’ll have a small chocolate cone,” I finally said. Cholesterol levels don’t increase if you like what you’re eating, right? Right? What do you mean, they do?
Anyway, we won’t agree on this one. Let’s go back to Nathan and me.
“That’s boring,” Nathan said. He waited for me to get my cone and stared at his options hungrily. “I’ll have a pint of chocolate and vanilla with a touch of caramel, mini-marshmallows, chocolate syrup… and double up on chocolate chips.”
“Is that all, dear?” the shop owner said.
“Yes,” I added, “is that all? Don’t you want to ask for a stroke or two? Or is it already included? I’d call for an ambulance if I were you.”
“You won’t resist tasting it before I’m done,” Nathan said. “You’ll see.”
No way. I wasn’t going to eat any extra fat. One small chocolate cone was more than enough, and stealing ice cream from him would be childish.
One of us had matured beyond 15. Just one of us.
As soon as Nathan got his ice cream, he took a large spoonful and brought a mixture of chocolate and marshmallows into his mouth. “Perfect. Absolutely perfect.”
We left the shop, and Nathan continued eating his ice cream as if he’d never tasted any. “It’s awesome to be a grown-up,” he said. “I can afford everything my pocket money didn’t let me buy.”
Nathan continued eating his ice cream, and he was right: I stole a spoonful from him. He playfully slapped my hand away, and I fought him to take some of his marshmallows and chocolate chips. Perhaps neither of us had matured past our teenage years.
We sat on a bench outside the hotel, and Nathan stopped eating for a while. He told me about his career, and that he’d moved to Colton only days before. He was staying at his aunt Etta’ home, and it made him my neighbor.
Everything was almost like years before. Time had passed, but we acted as if we were still stuck in Greensea and we’d never moved to Seattle or New York. I was glad that he’d returned home.
“I’ve taken this case on purpose,” he said. “The captain didn’t want me to join, but I’ve pulled strings here and there. My aunt kept pestering me to come to your hotel, and I’m starting to understand why. I should’ve stayed at a hotel, but she wanted me closer so that she could manipulate me like a puppet.” He chuckled. As much as he liked to criticize his aunt’s strategies, he always wanted to help her.
His tale sounded very much like Aunt Etta; she’d always rooted for Nathan and I as a couple, and she hadn’t lost hope that we’d end up getting married. Whenever she teamed up with my aunt Agnes and their friends Ivy and Flora, they became a deadly force that could achieve everything they wanted. They acted like brittle old ladies, but they were actually wolves in disguise. In fact, if they got tired of waiting, they’d abduct Nathan and me and force us to marry, regardless of how either of us felt about it.
Outside Greensea, saner people would’ve considered our old aunties too dangerous for society, so they’d have accused them of being senile and dumped them into one of those asylums for old people so that the rest of the town could continue their boring lives. At Greensea, we know that our seniors are special… special in a dangerous and sometimes unwanted way. That’s why I loved my aunt Agnes, but I hoped not to cross paths with her too often.
“And anyway, what did you do to that poor old man?” Nathan asked. “The hospital talks about poisoning his beer. What did he do? T
ell you that he didn’t like your food? Write a negative review and post it online?”
“Have you bribed me with ice cream to get a fake confession and earn a promotion?”
“Guilty.” He chuckled.
I laughed too. For a minute, I wondered if I would ever have that kind of conversation with Vincent: a moment of complicity, of enjoying life, and without expecting anything in particular. Vincent was always too busy to relax with a bowl of ice cream.
“Nah,” Nathan said. “I’m actually here to stalk you, you know? I might’ve killed old Billy-Bob to get an excuse to see you and take you out to eat. If I’d known that you’ve turned into a real beauty, I would’ve come here sooner.”
Was he flirting with me? Oh my!
Nathan, April and I had played for years as children. He was two years older than me, and he’d been a leader, the best at sports but also brilliant at school. He’d always known what to say or how to deal with everyone, even bullies. He’d protected the younger kids from anyone who’d tried to bully them, and he’d always been there when April and I had needed him. I’d liked him all my life, and I’d started to love him during those first years when love is nothing but a hunch.
Nathan was handsome and had incredible black hair and intense dark eyes that looked through your face and into your soul. At 28, his hardened face had acquired a darker tan, and he was handsomer than ever. Not to mention his clothes – it was almost a sin to cover such a perfect body with clothes. Besides, we’d always been close friends and liked each other. He knew exactly how to behave with me. And he didn’t seem as obsessed about flirting with gorgeous women as before. He’d grown up, and so had I.
What was I thinking? I was dating Vincent, and nothing was going to happen between Nathan and me. He could be the handsomest and most likeable man on Earth, but I wasn’t going to play any cheating games.
“Nathan…” I said. How to put it softly? “I’m seeing someone.”
He let out a loud laugh and slapped his knee with one hand. “Meghan! I’m living with my aunt! I probably know more about your life than you do. I know about that Vincent of yours; I was just poking fun at you. I’m happy that you’ve found someone. He dresses well, doesn’t he?”
Ugh. I rolled my eyes. “You’ve been talking to April.”
He laughed even louder. “How can you know?” he said. “Anyway, if Vincent ever hurts you, let him know that I’m your friend, and I have a gun.”
“And threats will make him love you,” I said sarcastically.
“He’ll never like me.” Nathan acquired a serious expression. His lips tensed and he looked down, as if he thought it was unavoidable to lose part of our friendship now that I had a boyfriend. “You were madly in love with me for over a decade, and he won’t like to see me around. He’ll fear that I might get too close and that my irresistible attractiveness will make you incapable of holding back.”
He joked for a while longer and looked at the past nostalgically. He mentioned our brief relationship and said that he’d been a fool for settling for empty-headed women. Nathan had become the man that everyone had always expected him to become, but it was too late for any of that. He’d chosen his path with the empty-headed women, and I’d left the nest and met Vincent. Our lives were different to what we’d expected, but we weren’t doing too badly.
“We’ve both returned to the small town.” He chuckled and changed topics almost unperceivably. “What would our posh friends at New York or Seattle say, huh?”
“They’d make fun of us,” I said.
He smiled sadly and avoided looking at me, then stopped eating his ice cream and walked to a nearby bin. He’d lost appetite for his half-eaten treat. Was it because he resented choices he’d made in the past? “I’ll walk you back to the hotel,” he said. “I should be helping out with suspects.”
We returned to the hotel and he quickly joined the captain and left me on my own. They took samples from the drinks, DNA samples from the glasses and dusted for fingerprints. Several others had arrived, and they wore plastic gloves and masks like on TV to avoid contaminating the scene. They’d asked everyone not to leave the lobby so that they could take note of the witnesses and possible suspects.
They shouldn’t be taking everything so seriously. We had many workers who had left their fingerprints everywhere, and touching someone else’s glass wasn’t a crime. A murder investigation was an inconvenience for everyone, and it wasn’t going to positively affect the restaurant.
April was taking a glass of water to one of the guests. She winked at me and gestured that I’d tell her everything later.
Shouldn’t she ask about my date with Vincent, and not Nathan? My friends were insane.
Shortly after I’d returned to the hotel, Vincent arrived with Brittany. She was sobbing uncontrollably after the loss of her boyfriend, and he had his arm wrapped around her shoulders to comfort her. He pressed her against him and never took his eyes away from her.
I’m not jealous by nature, but the scene revolted my stomach. He wasn’t just comforting the woman.
She sat down on one of the lobby couches and left her purse beside her. Vincent sat down by her, somewhat too close for my taste.
“He shouldn’t have died so young!” Brittany blew her nose on a hankie and sounded almost like an elephant. Her mouth cried more than her eyes; she wasn’t being honest. “I loved him! I really did! I don’t care what anyone said about him; I loved him.”
“I know.” Vincent was more concerned about this woman than about anything I’d ever told him.
Brittany was so affected by her loss that the captain allowed her to return to her room until someone needed to speak with her. She thanked him and cried a bit more, then headed upstairs.
Vincent stood up and nodded at me at last. He hadn’t noticed me sooner; he’d been too busy to notice anything around him other than Brittany. He turned around and picked up Brittany’s purse; she’d left it behind.
Was he planning to return it to her room? Tough luck, sweetie, but you aren’t going near her bed.
I headed to him with a broad and fake smile. “I’ll take care of this,” I said, and I took the purse from his hands and headed to the elevators.
He didn’t have the chance to complain or to explain himself. I didn’t want to hear a pitiful and unbelievable it isn’t what it seems.
Chapter 5
I walked out of the elevator when Brittany was still opening her door. Her sobs had miraculously vanished now that she was alone. I’m not going to judge her, but you can draw your own conclusions. Let’s say that the sincerity of her feelings towards Parrish had lost most of its credibility in my eyes.
I joined her and handed her purse back to her. “You’ve left this behind,” I said, forcing a smile.
“Oh.” Brittany sniffled a fake sob and stared at the purse and at me, surprised.
Were you expecting my boyfriend to bring it to you? Did you have romantic plans with him? Oh, I’m sorry. Have I ruined anything?
She quickly remembered her broken heart and sobbed slightly. For a minute, she even looked sincere, and I lowered my guard.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
Wait a minute, Meghan. She was flirting with Vincent. How can you be dumb enough to talk to her?
“I’m fine.” She nodded and opened her room.
I was about to leave, but she gasped loudly and brought a hand to her face.
Brittany’s and Parrish’s clothes were either on the floor or piled over the bed, all their drawers were open, and some were even on the floor. Someone had ripped their suitcases open and emptied them everywhere. Their laptop was open and turned on, and they’d scattered piles of crumpled papers everywhere.
Someone had entered the room, and they’d been after something.
Brittany turned pale. I followed her gaze and landed on the open safe. Whoever had entered the room had also managed to break their safe open.
And Brittany and Parrish had kept something in the s
afe. Something serious enough to drain all color from her face.
Could it be serious enough for someone to kill Parrish?
“We shouldn’t touch anything.” I quickly shut the door and texted Pops so that he took care of it.
Brittany hadn’t reacted. She continued staring in the direction of the safe, but the door was closed and she couldn’t see anything. She was in shock.
“We’ll get you a new room,” I said. “With some luck, whoever has broken into your room will have touched something and the detectives will find them. If they’ve caused your fiancé’s death, they won’t go far.”
Brittany didn’t say anything. She didn’t even look at me.
As if a murder hadn’t been enough to reduce the Sand & Sea’s popularity, someone had broken into a room and opened a safe. It was going to affect us very negatively unless we did something about it.
I didn’t like Brittany or how she acted with Vincent, but I had to eat my own feelings and reduce the chances that she’d spread the news of the theft around the neighborhood.
Not to mention that she was hiding something. The police needed her to stay there, and I needed them to discover whatever she was hiding. The best way to get her to speak was to lower her guard and hope that she stayed in town until the investigation ended.
“The Sand & Sea can offer you one of our suites for tonight,” I added, “free of charge. I know that losing Mr. Parrish must’ve been very hard for you, and the investigation will only make everything more difficult to bear. If you need anything, call reception and we’ll do whatever we can.” And please don’t tell anyone that our rooms are easy to break into and that someone has even broken into your safe.
“Everyone move out!” The captain arrived and shook his hands in the air to get Brittany and me to move out of their way. He was close to retirement, with gray hair and bags under his eyes. He had his mouth tilted to one side from sneering too much all his life. “I don’t want intrusions, I don’t want gossips, and I don’t want workers from the hotel.”
Nathan and a couple more detectives followed after him. Nathan rolled his eyes when his boss wasn’t looking and shrugged at me. I smiled back.
Beachside Murder (A Team Gossip Cozy Mystery Book 1) Page 3