by Joni Folger
“Are you hungry?” she murmured as he started to move in for a kiss.
Pulling back, he pursed his lips. “Depends on what we’re talking about. Food? Or something else?”
Her laugh was throaty as she ran a finger down the buttons of his shirt. “Maybe both. You could stay over and we could figure it out. Together.”
He took her hand and lifted it away from his chest. “I thought you said you wanted to take this slow, El.”
“I did, and we have. Don’t you want to move forward? Find out where this is going?”
“Of course I do. Unfortunately, your timing sucks. I need to go home because I still have a few things to do before I can call it a night.”
“Okay,” she said as she pulled him down for that kiss. “But you’re gonna hate yourself for it later.”
“Don’t I know it,” he replied as his lips found hers.
twelve
Sales were brisk on Sunday, partially because it was the last day of the food and wine festival, and to some extent, due to the news that Divia’s death had turned out to be a homicide. And that little gem of an update had spread at the speed of light.
When Elise briefed Ross and C.C. on her Saturday evening conversation with Jackson, she soon realized how stingy he’d been with details. She brooded on the idea that she’d told him as much or more than he’d actually told her. And the digs she got from C.C. didn’t help.
“That’s it? That’s all you got? Losing your touch, girlfriend,” her friend said with a sad shake of her head.
“Hey. There’s no reason for insults,” Elise replied. “Jax was pretty ticked when he got to the apartment last night. To be honest, I’m lucky he told me anything.”
“No offense, C.C., I know Grace is your friend and all,” Ross said with a shrug. “But the scoop about her being related to Divia, however briefly, is pretty good intel. It also sounds like she may have had a motive for murder.”
“And I’m telling you, Grace wouldn’t hurt anyone, no matter what their history was.” C.C. huffed. “Anyway, come on, Ross. That’s all El got out of Jax? He told her that he’d talked to the Toussaints, but he didn’t tell her anything about what was said. We have no idea what they gave him in the way of alibis, or if he found out anything that could point to motive for one or all of them.” She shook her head and gestured toward Third Coast’s booth. “Did he mention Toby or Mr. Larson? You know he’s probably talked to them both, but not a peep about that either?”
“Wow. Really, C.C.?” Elise said after a moment. She couldn’t help but feel hurt by her friend’s comments. “You’re second guessing me now? Or is it perhaps the fact that you may have been wrong about Grace? That maybe your friend was actually involved in Divia’s murder? In any case, I invite you to try getting anything of use out of Jackson Landry that he doesn’t want you to know.”
C.C. put up a hand. “Okay, don’t get your panties in a twist. I didn’t mean to insinuate that you didn’t do your best. And for the record, I don’t think I’m wrong about Grace. I’m just sayin’. The only useful information you got out of Jax is a sketchy history between her and Divia.”
“Sketchy? Sketchy?” Elise gaped at C.C. “How do you figure that? Grace told Jax in her own words, I might add, how Divia cleaned them out financially and stole away in the middle of the night. She left Grace and her father bankrupt and struggling, and Grace had to watch her father die a broken man. If that’s not motive for revenge, or possibly murder, I don’t know what is.”
“Hey, time out, you two,” Madison said, walking up to the booth. “I could hear you guys arguing halfway to Restaurant Row. You need to dial it back unless you want everyone here to know what we’re up to. And if we’re going to figure this mess out and make sure Gram is in the clear, now isn’t the time to be sniping at each other.”
While Elise could admit that Madison was right, it still irked her that C.C. would be so unsupportive of her efforts. She expected her best friend to have her back in all situations, and the fact that C.C. was so adamant about Grace’s innocence rubbed her the wrong way. Though it shamed her a bit to think that her feelings may have been borne of jealousy over the friendship C.C. had forged with Grace.
However, in her haste to defend herself against Monique’s insinuations, Elise had to admit she’d glossed right over the fact that Jackson had at least preliminarily interviewed both Monique and Alain. And that she had no idea what those interviews had unearthed, if anything. Plus, to add salt to the wound, as C.C. had pointed out, she hadn’t even asked about Garrett or Toby when she’d had the perfect chance.
She took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. “You’re right, Maddy. We shouldn’t be causing a commotion here if we want to keep this on the down-low. I guess I’m feeling a little sensitive because I realize now how distracted I got by Monique’s subterfuge. In my haste to point out her lyin’ ways, I did fail to get all the details I could have.”
“And you may be right about me being defensive when it comes to Grace, El. It’s just that I’ve known her almost since she came to Austin a few years ago,” C.C. said with a sheepish look. “I had lunch with her today and wanted to ask her about Divia, but I chickened out. But knowing her the way I do, I can’t imagine her being involved in something so terrible.”
“I know, sweetie,” Elise conceded. “But to be fair, it’s really hard to know just what people are capable of, especially those nearest to you. I found that out the hard way, remember?”
“Yes, but to find out that Grace is so closely connected and that she outright lied to us about knowing Divia at all makes me feel foolish and gullible. I’m sorry I took it out on you.”
“Are you guys going to hug it out?” Ross asked with a squeamish face. “Because if you are, I might puke.”
“Bite me, Beckett,” C.C. said and then laughed.
Elise nodded. “Yeah, what she said.”
“Hold on,” Madison said with a frown. “Go back. What lyin’ ways? What subterfuge did Monique employ? I know you’ve probably already told these two, El, but you want to repeat the story for me?”
By the time Elise finished relating her conversation with Jackson from the night before, Madison was fuming. “That snarky bee-otch! You’re right, El. She was just trying to throw the focus somewhere else because she either doesn’t have an alibi—at least not one she can put out there—or she’s involved in something she doesn’t want anyone to know about. Like maybe murder.”
“I know. I’m kicking myself that I let Jackson distract me to the point of not getting the full scoop.”
Madison nodded. “Yes. That would have been some good info to have. I’m pretty curious to hear where the three Toussaints were and what they were up to. By the way, what did Jax have to say about the little scene I witnessed between Monique and Philippe?”
When Elise cringed and didn’t answer right away, Madison’s eyes grew round. “Elise! You didn’t tell him? What the hell?”
“I’m sorry,” Elise replied throwing her hands in the air. “So shoot me. I dropped the ball. But again, exactly how was I supposed to tell him what you’d seen without giving up how you’d done it? He was already freaking out about what he thought C.C. and I had done, not to mention Ross’s clumsy interrogation of Alain.”
“Hey! I was not clumsy,” Ross said, and then relented at the bland look she gave him. “Okay, maybe I wasn’t as subtle as I could have been, but I will remind you all, I’m no detective and neither are any of you.”
“And since you got bumpkus out of Alain on your sad attempt, we shouldn’t be so hard on El.” C.C. dropped an arm around Elise’s shoulder. “Now that she and Jax are dating, it makes it harder.”
“What do you mean?” Ross asked.
“Well, before, when they were dating other people, Jax was just one of the family,” C.C. began to explain. “There’s no need to worry about pissing off
someone you consider a brother.” She gave Ross a cheeky smile.
“Nice, C.C.,” he said in a disgusted tone.
“No, she’s right, Ross,” Madison added. “When you’re dating someone, it’s a whole different animal. You tend to be much more cautious about what you say. You don’t want to hurt feelings or the relationship, especially if you’ve been good friends before getting involved. El has to tread a bit more lightly now.”
Ross scoffed at the notion. “That’s ridiculous. It’s just Jackson. She’s known him all her life. It should be easier to tell him things.”
“Oh really?” C.C. gave him a skeptical look. “Then let me ask you this. How long have you and Caro been married, Ross?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Not to be put off, C.C. just smiled. And Elise figured she knew what was coming next. “Just answer the question. How long?”
He rolled his eyes, but answered. “Ten years come spring. Why?”
C.C.’s smile grew. “You can’t tell me you would approach Caro in the same way you would your sisters with something you know would upset or anger her. You’d be much more careful with her than with them.”
Ross shook his head and frowned. “That’s not true.”
“Sure it is,” C.C. continued. “With Elise or Maddy, you can argue and bitch without worrying overmuch that you will damage the relationship. They’re your sisters. They’re blood.”
“Bull. Caro and I argue from time to time,” he insisted. “It’s not all wine and roses, you know.”
“No, but with Caro it’s a different story. You take care not to upset the balance if you can help it. Face it, sweetie, anytime you throw romantic feelings into the mix it becomes a completely different dynamic.”
Ross made a pfft sound and shook his head. “Chick logic. You guys just make this crap up to mess with us.”
“Please,” Madison chimed in with a little disgust of her own. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know exactly what C.C.’s talking about. I’ve seen you cave under the Caro stare a thousand times. Pathetic.”
Ross laughed out loud, but Elise could tell he was slightly uncomfortable. “I don’t have to stand here and be pounded on by a bunch of wimpy girls trying to make themselves feel better. I’m taking a break.”
As they watched him walk away, C.C. clucked her tongue. “Poor boy. He wants to pretend he’s different—somehow special—but in his heart he knows we speak the truth. It’s a hard pill for the male psyche to swallow.”
“Yes,” Elise agreed. “But you two were a bit hard on him. After all, he’s only a boy.”
Madison leaned down on the counter and sighed. “Tough love.”
Elise laughed at her sister’s matter-of-fact attitude. “Tough room.”
The rest of the day went smoothly, with customers and sales holding steady until mid-afternoon when the flow of business slowly began to decline. The festival doors were scheduled to close at four o’clock, and by three thirty they decided to start packing up the booth.
Ross and Madison began the arduous task of shuttling boxes of brochures, advertising literature, and unopened cases of wine on dollies to the truck in the vendor parking area. Elise and C.C. took down the River Bend banner and packed all the country decorations into boxes, stacking them neatly in the corner of the booth for transport.
“This was seriously a good time,” C.C. said as she taped the last box closed. “I just want to say that I’m in for next year. Of course, hopefully there won’t be a repeat of all the death and drama.”
“Yes, one can only hope this year’s event was an anomaly,” Madison replied as she stacked cartons on her dolly for another run to the truck. “I know it sounds callous, but I hope Divia’s death doesn’t affect next year’s numbers. Everyone involved has worked so hard to build up this festival—make it special. It would be such a shame to see it all dissolve because of something out of our control.”
“That would be very sad all the way around,” C.C. agreed. “We’ll just have to keep positive thoughts.”
Those words were no sooner out of C.C.’s mouth when several people came running by with one of the EMTs from the festival’s medical station hot on their trail.
Madison stepped out into the midway and watched them disappear around the corner toward Restaurant Row. “I wonder what happened.”
“I don’t know,” Elise replied. “I hope it isn’t anything too serious. But the way that EMT was moving, I’d say it’s probably more than a scraped knee or bloody nose.”
Elise was beginning to get a bad feeling as she watched a few more people quickly moving in the direction they’d seen the others go. A quick glance toward the main gate showed Jackson and Deputy Stockton coming up the midway at a fast clip.
That can’t be good.
As they neared, she called out to him. “What’s going on, Jax? Has something happened?”
Jackson shook his head. “I don’t know exactly. We got a call about some kind of disturbance. Can’t say much more than that right now,” he yelled over his shoulder as he and his deputy continued down the aisle and then disappeared around the bend.
“Well, that was cryptic,” C.C. commented. “Disturbance. That could mean just about anything. But with all those folks practically running in that direction, including medical staff, I’m suspecting more than just a disturbance, don’t you think?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Elise said, continuing to stare toward that end of the midway. And that bad feeling was growing by leaps and bounds. “Yes I do.”
By the time the main gate was closed at ten after four, the thoroughfare was fairly deserted with most vendors closing and cleaning up their booths.
Ross took the last load to the truck while Madison did a quick sweep of the area.
Elise couldn’t wait any longer. “Come on, C.C. Let’s go see what’s happening. Since no one has come back this way, I think it may be something major.”
“Right behind you, buddy.”
They walked down around the corner and headed up Restaurant Row looking for where the others might have gone, but found nothing that seemed to qualify as any kind of disturbance.
“Hey, Christy,” Elise called to one of the wait staff from the Toucan’s On Main booth. “What was the hubbub all about? Everyone seemed to be running this direction, but I don’t see anything down this way to cause such a stir.”
The woman shook her head. “I think it was out back by the public bathrooms. I think someone might have been attacked, but that’s all I’ve heard so far. Nobody’s come back yet, and I can’t leave the booth unmanned.”
“Thanks. We’ll check it out.” She glanced at C.C. as they started back between the booths. “I don’t like this one bit. First Divia is murdered out at Lost Pines and now someone is attacked here at the festival. This could really put a damper on things for next year, and that would be bad.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, okay?” C.C. replied. “We don’t know that anything bad has actually happened. All we’ve got so far is hearsay and odd behavior.”
Elise tried to hold onto that thought, but as they rounded the back of the building, they found a crowd of people huddled near the public restrooms. And Deputy Stockton was taping off the entrance to the women’s side of the building.
“Oh my gosh, El,” C.C. said with a gasp. “Crime scene tape. Someone really must have been attacked.”
As they stood and watched from a distance, Jackson came out of the ladies room with a grim look on his face. And he was wearing gloves.
Another bad sign.
“I’m gonna need all of you folks to go on back to your booths and business, and let us handle this,” he told the small crowd. “Go on, now. There’s nothing for y’all to do or see here, and you’ll just hinder the process. However, if any of you saw something in this area that you think mi
ght be of help to the investigation, please see the officers at the south end of the walkway. Thank you.”
When the crowd began to disperse, Elise could see that there were more officers and medical people milling around than they’d originally seen coming through the main gate. The extra help must have come in through a rear entrance.
She and C.C. made their way toward the front to where Jackson stood just as two EMTs came out of the building pushing a gurney that held a body bag.
Elise gasped and grabbed Jackson’s arm as the EMTs pushed the gurney and its contents around the back of the building toward the rear gate where the ambulance was obviously parked.
“Oh God, Jax. What happened? We heard someone was attacked, but this?”
“El, you and C.C. should go on back to the booth. Pack up and go home. Please.”
At the look on his face, a shiver went down her spine. Though she didn’t really want to know, she couldn’t stop herself from asking. “Who is it, Jax? It’s someone we know, isn’t it?”
“Elise—”
“Jax, please. Don’t make us stew and worry over this. Is it someone we know?”
Jackson heaved a sigh and stared off into the distance for a moment before looking back at them with a terrible sadness in his eyes. “It’s Grace Vanderhouse, El.”
thirteen
“Grace?” C.C. stepped forward with a confused look on her face. “No. That can’t be. There must be some mistake, Jackson. I just saw her, talked to her a couple hours ago. Tell him, Elise. I had lunch with her, for God’s sake.”
C.C.’s voice was growing more and more frantic by the second, and Jackson could clearly read the disbelief in her eyes. He glanced at Elise and then turned back to C.C. with a sympathetic look. “I’m so sorry, C.C. I know she was a friend, but there’s no mistake,” he said gently. “It’s definitely Grace Vanderhouse.”
“Noooo!” C.C. wailed.
He had to practically body-check her to keep her from racing after the EMTs. This was the hardest part of his job—breaking the most terrible news to friends and loved ones and then having to watch the impact.