She shrugged. “Joel really admires her. They sit and talk about politics, and I don’t know anything about politics.”
“Neither does Joel,” Jaymie said, sitting back, the magic of a purring cat on her lap calming her down. “He just talks a good line. Half of what he says is crap.”
“Really?”
“Sure, and I’ll bet Lily knows it. Joel doesn’t care about any of it; he just pretends if it’s something he thinks he should care about. In reality, he’s as shallow as any of us.”
“But you’re not shallow, Jaymie,” Heidi said, reaching across and putting her hand on Jaymie’s wrist. “You’re smart. Maybe that’s why Joel left you for me. You don’t think Joel likes Lily in that way?”
Jaymie needed to pick her words carefully so she didn’t hurt Heidi’s feelings. In truth, Joel always wanted to feel intellectually superior to his girlfriend. Heidi was right; Jaymie’s intelligence and willingness to challenge him were why Joel had left her, at least in part. She had begun to catch on to the fact that he pretended to know a lot more than he really did. Heidi hadn’t—so far anyway—caught on to that. Of course, now that Jaymie had outed him as a fraud, it might only be a matter of time. Heidi was smarter than she realized. “You suit him. Lily doesn’t.”
Heidi seemed content with that. Their conversation wandered off to other topics. The Heritage Society had been given an extremely valuable item, a genuine letter belonging to Button Gwinnett (he was a “first signer,” one of those founding fathers who’d signed the Declaration of Independence), and it was due to be auctioned off at Christie’s in New York in September. Talk had moved to what could be done with the possible one million dollars it would bring. “Mrs. Bellwood thinks the Heritage Society should buy Dumpe Manor,” Jaymie said about a Queen Anne manor house on the edge of town.
“Dumpe Manor?” Heidi chirped. “You’re kidding me, right? Dump, as in, ‘take a’?”
Jaymie giggled and wondered if the wine was getting to her. “Dumpe with an e on the end. Can you imagine? We get a million dollars and buy the Dumpe?”
“But then you could open up the Dumpe to the public,” Heidi said, choking on laughter.
“How do you furnish a Dumpe?” Jaymie laughed so hard that Denver jumped off her lap and glared up at her. “Would you come to the grand opening of a Dumpe?”
Heidi was laughing so hard, she spilled her wine down her chambray blouse. “The slogan…it could be, Come to the Dumpe and Find History!”
“Genius! We could have a world-famous Dumpe!” Jaymie exclaimed. “And Tea with the Queen could be moved to the Dumpe!”
Heidi held her stomach and roared, her hysterical laughter echoing in the growing darkness. “All dressed up to go to the Dumpe!”
“Hey, rumor has it there’s a ghost of the last family member to own it!” Jaymie said. “We’d have the world’s first haunted Dumpe!”
That was it for them; both laughed until tears streamed down their faces. When they parted a half hour later, Heidi was still giggling. She phoned to tell Jaymie she’d gotten home all right, and Jaymie changed into a nightgown and headed to bed a while later to relax with a book and try to keep the good feeling she had going.
She woke up the next morning with a headache; not exactly a hangover, but close. A mild feeling of depression settled over her as she wondered if they would ever know for sure who killed Kathy Cooper. She did her job at Anna’s, then learned she wouldn’t need to come over for a while because Clive was taking a few vacation days and coming to Queensville to give his wife a hand in the breakfast department. It would be good to have a break from that responsibility. Her pseudo-investigation into Kathy’s murder was weighing her down. Kathy’s memorial service was going to take place Friday afternoon, she’d learned, and it was one more hurdle to get past, one emotional trial she was not looking forward to. How would she manage, after harassing Craig and suspecting Matt? She called Becca and left her the message that the memorial service was set to be held at the Methodist church. She, Becca, Valetta and Dee would go together.
Her mind teemed with questions, most of them with no easy answers. They ranged from the unanswerable—Why had she put off making it up with Kathy?—to the impossible—Why did such rotten things happen in life?
She had to concentrate on questions to which there may be answers. She sat in her office, trying to work on her recipes, but that seemed as confusing as anything at the moment. Did she have a clear grasp on what she was doing? Was she rewriting vintage recipes or merely decoding them for the modern cook? It was a fine line she was walking. And what if no one wanted yet another cookbook? She shut down her computer, grabbed a notebook and went outside to sit in the shade of the backyard to try to clear her mind of the turmoil that was troubling her.
She wrote down a series of questions having to do with her suspects and others with whom Kathy had contact.
One: Why had Matt Laskan not been formally charged on the serious counts of attempted kidnapping and assault? If Kathy threatened him with revealing all about the charges, would Matt have snapped? Did anyone have evidence of where Matt actually was during the evening fireworks in Boardwalk Park?
Two: Why did Kathy go to Ella and Bob’s the morning of July Fourth? Did she really apologize to Ella? Was that the only reason she went?
Three: Why did Andy and Kylie lose track of where Connor was during the fireworks? Were they together during that time, or was one of them busy elsewhere?
Four: Did anyone see Stanko give the bowl to an Uncle Sam impersonator? What did the Uncle Sam do with the bowl if that was the case? Could the impersonator have been one of the other suspects in Kathy’s death?
Craig seemed to be off the hook as far as Kathy’s murder was concerned, as were other peripheral folks Jaymie had never really suspected anyway: Lily Fogarty and Chloe Cooper, who both had unshakable alibis. But she would take the other questions one by one and try to figure them out.
She looked up Matt Laskan’s number in the phone book, but when she called, the receptionist at Laskan Cooper said he was out. The girl mumbled something about him being over at Heartbreak Island seeing a client, and when Jaymie asked when he’d be back, she said about noon. That meant he must be coming back on one of the half-hour ferry jaunts before lunchtime.
“Come on, Hoppy. We’re going for a walk,” she said. It was early yet. The day was sparkling with sunshine and there was no sign of the humidity that would build by afternoon. Hoppy greeted the opportunity to check his pee-mail with boundless enthusiasm, but his social networking made the walk a longer one than strictly necessary. Jaymie hoped she hadn’t missed Matt’s ferry return to Queensville.
She descended the long, sloping pathway to the marina north of the ferry dock and sat down on one of the benches, lifting Hoppy up to sit by her. A sturdy man in dirty jeans and a torn, grease-smeared T-shirt was working on one of the boats. It was Andy Walker! Well, she had a few questions for him, so maybe she would take the time to somehow befriend him. But just as she was about to get up and saunter over, she saw Kylie and Connor walking from the other direction, hand in hand, down the path to Andy.
He was happy to be interrupted, it was clear, and he swung Connor up on his shoulder and pretended to lose hold of him once, which sent the little boy into shrieks of laughter. The two adults moved to a shady spot by a marina shed, and Kylie handed over a paper bag and a take-out cup. He looked in the bag and seemed pleased, because he leaned over and kissed Kylie Hofstadter…full on the mouth. Even from a distance it was clear that it was not the kiss of a father-in-law to a woman he thought of as a daughter; it was the kiss of a man in love.
Nineteen
JAYMIE WAS ROCKED back on her bench, the breath gone from her as if she had suffered a blow to the stomach. She must have made some noise, because Kylie looked over and saw her. Even from a distance, it was clear the young mother’s face was red. She said something to Andy, and he looked sharply over at Jaymie and said something back to Kylie.
She got up and approached Jaymie, holding her gaze over the hundred feet or so she had to walk. “Hey, didn’t see you there. You look, uh…shocked,” Kylie said.
“I guess I am,” Jaymie replied, as Hoppy jumped off the bench and danced around Kylie’s feet, begging for attention. “I didn’t know you two were involved in that way.”
“We weren’t until…well, until real recently.” She was uneasy, shifting from one foot to the other, looking back at the two fellows in her life.
“Recently? When?”
Hoppy gave up on getting attention from Kylie and drifted to the end of his leash, sniffing the railing at the boardwalk that overlooked the dock.
“It just…happened,” Kylie said softly, shrugging. She waved at Connor, who didn’t seem to notice.
“When did it happen?”
Kylie turned back and stared at her. “Why do you want to know?”
Jaymie couldn’t think of a single reason to insist, and maybe it wasn’t important. “Kylie, why don’t you sit for a minute?” she said, patting the seat of the bench. “I didn’t get a chance last time I saw you to really say how much I regretted missing so many years in Kathy’s life. You two had your problems, but were you close growing up?”
Her chin had firmed at Jaymie’s mention of her and her sister’s troubles. She didn’t sit. She glared down at Jaymie, her intensity unsettling. “Haven’t you disagreed with your sister over the years? If one of you had a kid, you’d know that just makes the disagreements more…I don’t know, more involved. Kathy thought I should be raising Connor one way, and I have my own opinions.”
“But she didn’t want you raising him at all, did she?”
“Look, as hard as it was that she was trying to take Connor away from me, I understood where she was coming from. In a way she did me a favor. It was a wake-up call, big-time. Her custody suit shocked me out of that awful blackness I was living in after Drew died. And then she forced me to take a good, hard look at how Connor and I were living, in that dirty, disgusting old farmhouse.” She looked off down the river, and a deep sigh escaped her.
“Kathy tried everything first,” she continued. “She tried to get Mama to let her put the farm up for sale and have someone come in and clean it, but Mama said no. She can’t help it, I guess, but that farm is a big old millstone around all of our necks. She just won’t let go of it.” She shook her head, sadness in her eyes. “We can’t look after it, or at least I know I can’t. I tried to get Mama to sell it so we could all move into town and she could be more comfortable, but she wouldn’t budge. Anyway, because of Kathy and her custody suit, I ended up moving in with Andy, to give Connor a better environment. We started raising Connor together.” Again she looked back at the two of them, sitting together, Connor copying Andy’s sitting position and mannerisms, and her mouth softened into a smile. “Andy’s great; Connor may be his grandson, but he loves my boy as if he’s his own son.”
Jaymie pressed her advantage, now that she had Kylie talking. “But did you think Kathy would ultimately manage to take Connor away from you?”
“My lawyer didn’t think so,” Kylie said, her gaze settling back on Jaymie, her expression sober. “A year ago, maybe, but not now that I’m getting things straightened out.”
Jaymie watched her face. “Do you think Kathy would have been okay with you and Andy becoming a couple?”
Two red spots flared on Kylie’s cheeks, and she sucked in her breath. She stuck her hands in the pockets of her shorts and rocked back on her heels. “It wouldn’t have been any of her business.”
Jaymie was silent. She had hit a sore spot, talking about Kylie and Andy’s relationship. Maybe Kylie had worried about how Kathy would take it. On an impulse, Jaymie said, “Well, at least you won’t have to work as hard now, with the insurance Kathy left you.”
Kylie gasped. “How do you know about that?”
“Uh, I just…your mother said something about it when I went out to get the casserole dish.”
“I don’t know what you’re saying, but that money is for Connor, and it’ll all be there when he’s old enough to use it.”
“I wasn’t saying…Kylie, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean—”
“Just leave us alone,” the young mother said, whirling and stomping away.
Unfortunately, Jaymie hadn’t had a chance to ask where Kylie and Andy were the night of the murder. How did Connor get away from them?
The ferry came and went once, but Matt wasn’t on it. Jaymie watched Kylie, Connor and Andy for a while as they ate their early lunch together; Andy and Kylie eyed her on occasion. Finally he was done, and Kylie and her son departed. She was silent as the little boy stopped to play with Hoppy, who yapped and dashed about, making him laugh. As Jaymie tried to think of some way to ask how Connor got away from Kylie and Andy that fateful evening, the young woman pulled Connor away, saying she had to get some things at the Emporium for supper.
This time, when the ferry pulled up to dock, Matt Laskan was aboard. He was dressed in suit pants and a short-sleeve shirt, open at the throat, and he carried a briefcase. He waved to the ferry captain and began up the pathway to the boardwalk.
Jaymie rose, stretched and began to walk, slowly enough that he overtook her. She looked over at him as he passed, and said, “Oh, hi, Matt. How are you today?”
He looked up, a worried frown on his drawn face. “Oh. Hi, uh, Jaymie.”
She matched her footsteps to his and made small talk until they were away from the dock and could not be overheard. “You know, Matt,” she said. “I was surprised to learn about the real reason Kathy threatened you on the Fourth of July. I would never have pictured you as the kind of guy who would end up in jail on assault and kidnapping charges.” It was a calculated risk, and his reaction was all she could have hoped for.
“How did you know about that?” he said, stopping dead in his tracks. “Who told you?”
She watched his face. “I didn’t know it was a real secret! Those things are a matter of public record. Though I suppose since it happened in Port Huron, nobody here would have a reason to know about it. Craig did, though, right? And he told Kathy? Is that how she found out?”
“No,” he muttered, looking around with a guilty frown. “Craig didn’t tell her anything. Kathy was digging around for dirt. She was an awful woman!”
“I’m so sorry,” Jaymie said, infusing sympathy into her tone. “It must have been infuriating, her holding it over you like that! To think she threatened to reveal it to your girlfriend!”
He stared at her, his eyes narrowed and his brows pinched together. There was silence for a long moment, and Hoppy whined, then tugged to the end of his leash and yapped at some gulls that were wheeling around above them, screeching.
“Why would Lily be concerned?” he finally said, blinking rapidly.
She watched him, trying to figure him out. Was he saying she wouldn’t have cared because their relationship was already over? Because she had moved on to Craig? What? “You don’t think she’d be concerned? Are you sure of that?” Hoppy got bored with barking at gulls and sniffed around Matt’s feet.
“Why are you talking to me about this?” He squared his shoulders and stared down at her, pushing Hoppy away gently with one foot. “What’s going on?”
“How did Kathy find out, if Craig didn’t tell her?”
He looked down at the dirt and scuffed his wingtip in the dust. “Kathy figured out somehow about my trips to Port Huron, and she followed me, the witch. I don’t know why she cared, but she did.”
“And she was using it against you? Using it as leverage in her campaign to move to Toledo and open a branch office?”
“Can you believe it? In this economy, she still thought that was a good idea!”
“I think she just wanted to move away from Queensville to get a fresh start. She intended to get custody of Connor. I suppose she needed you to go along with her plan, right, if she was going to convince Craig?”
“I just don’t k
now why she thought her feeble attempt at blackmail would work. Kathy was some kind of weird woman.”
“But Craig had other reasons for not wanting to move, right?” She watched him. Did he know about Craig and Lily?
But no hint of anger twisted his handsome face. “What do you mean?”
Okay, so he didn’t know about Lily cheating on him, but that only made it more likely that he would have killed Kathy, not less. If he had known, he surely would not have wanted to kill Kathy and leave the way open for Craig and Lily to be together. But she was wandering off the path. “Never mind. You really didn’t care if Lily found out about what happened in Port Huron?”
“Why would she care about it?”
Jaymie watched him, puzzled. His girlfriend wouldn’t care that he’d been accused of assaulting and trying to kidnap a prostitute? She was flustered and puzzled.
Matt shifted his briefcase to his other hand. “That was all just a misunderstanding. It’s in the past now.”
“Really? Are you still making trips into Port Huron?”
“That is none of your business!” he said. “Look, I gotta go. Lily said she’s washed those dishes and she’ll bring the picnic basket in to the store today or tomorrow. We’re having lunch at Ambrosio,” he said, naming a little bistro that had recently opened along the river just outside of Queensville.
“Oh. That’s nice.”
“I don’t know. She sounded down, and said she had something to tell me.” He looked into her eyes. “Do women ever mean anything good when they say they have something to tell you?”
She saw pain in his eyes, and fear. Gently, she answered, “Sometimes. Maybe she just needs to…I don’t know, go out of town or something.”
He shook his head. “It sounded serious. I gotta go, if I’m going to meet her.” He trotted off, briefcase swinging as he jogged.
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