by Lyndsey Cole
Annie kept her eyes on Rachel. Something was going through her mind.
“So, Rachel,” Camilla began, “tell us more about yourself.” She tilted her head and smiled. Leave it to Camilla to keep the conversation going in the right direction.
Rachel shrugged and flicked her wrist dismissively. “Nothing out of the ordinary. Brian and I met when I tripped while running and landed on my butt. He gallantly helped me to my feet. I can’t imagine what his first impression was—a sweaty, red-faced, klutz most likely.”
“How convenient,” Kitty replied but she definitely had a snide tone in her voice. “I didn’t know Brian was interested in running.”
“Oh, he wasn’t. I was in a park and he just happened to be walking through on the same path. Crazy timing, I guess.” Rachel sipped her champagne. It wasn’t disappearing quickly. She wouldn’t be out of control any time soon.
“Right. Crazy. It always comes down to timing. And that’s when you got your claws into him?” Kitty’s fingers covered her mouth. “Ha ha, just kidding. This champagne has gone straight to my head.”
As far as Annie could tell, it wasn’t exactly a just kidding moment. It sounded more like an I-didn’t-mean-to-say-that-out-loud moment.
Giselle suddenly stood in front of the women. Talk about timing. A change was exactly what they needed now to deflect away from Kitty’s behavior.
“The massage room is ready for you. If you care to follow me, I’ll show you to your private room.”
Giselle led them down a carpeted hallway that completely muffled all sound and opened a door into a room with four massage tables set up. “There are robes hanging in the closet and your personal items are safe here while you enjoy the rest of your stay. Your personal massage therapists will arrive shortly. Enjoy.” She backed out and the door clicked almost silently.
“Oh. My. Goodness.” Camilla turned around in a circle. She put both arms in the air. “This will be fantastic. What do you think, Rachel?”
“I agree with you. It’s nothing that I expected to happen during my short stay in town.” She let out a not very convincing laugh. “I guess it would be fair to say that just about everything about this visit to your quaint-on-the-surface town has been unexpected. And not in a good way.” Her voice was a bit flat, to say the least.
She was probably wondering what the heck she was doing with this group. But Annie gave her credit for sticking around instead of bolting at the first insult from Kitty. Maybe she was gathering her own information about what people in town were saying about the murder. Maybe she wondered if she was somehow on the suspect list.
Annie needed to be clever with her questions and Camilla needed to act sincere with her offer of friendship.
18
Annie opened the closet door and handed out the thick, plush robes with Escape Reality embroidered in lavender thread.
“Do you think they count the robes?” Kitty asked, rubbing hers against her cheek.
“I hope you aren’t thinking of walking out with one,” Camilla said, her voice rising as she slipped hers on. “They’ll charge Annie extra.”
“Calm down. I was only joking.”
Apparently, Kitty Brown liked to make outrageous statements under the cover of a joke. Annie didn’t buy it.
The door opened and four massage therapists entered—two young women and two men. Kitty and Camilla pretended to faint at the sight of the two well-muscled males. Annie indicated that she and Rachel would pair with the females and Kitty and Camilla could have the heartthrobs.
Quite a bit of giggling erupted as they lay on the massage tables under heated towels.
Annie let her face relax in the hole at the top of the table as the rest of her body quickly responded to the warm oil and strong hands on her feet. “I’ll work from the bottom up to the top of your body,” a soothing voice explained. “Just relax into the moment.”
The background music lulled Annie into a trance and an aroma of spicy incense drifted to her nose. This was incredible, she thought. The hour disappeared as quickly as one bite of a chocolate bon bon.
“Do you feel like you’ve been kneaded to perfection?” the silky voice asked.
Annie groaned with pleasure.
She heard a soft laugh. “That’s how everyone reacts. The hot tub is through the door next to the closet if that’s your next stop today.” The door clicked softly and Annie opened her eyes. She was now on her back, gazing at the softest pink in the ceiling.
“Wow. I’m not sure I’ll be able to stand. My muscles feel like bread dough,” Camilla said, “elastic and well-kneaded. Not a complaint, mind you. I doubt I’ve ever been this relaxed.”
Annie pushed herself into a sitting position. “I’m going in the hot tub and you can join me if you want. Don’t forget, there’s another glass of champagne in the sunroom.”
Kitty sat up. “Hot tub . . . champagne . . . sounds perfect to me.”
“Rachel?” Annie looked to the farthest massage table.
She sat up too and slid off the table. “I have to say that those strong hands made mincemeat out of my muscles. A hot tub will probably finish me off.”
They all managed to pull on their swimsuits. Camilla’s was the tiniest pink piece of cloth. It matched the streaks in her hair perfectly. Rachel pulled on a black tankini that made her look taller than she was and Kitty wore a brightly flowered two-piece that barely held her ample breasts in place. Annie had her favorite two-piece that tied at her neck and hips.
They slipped into the hundred-and-two degree hot tub with the water blasting from the jets. They gave a different kind of massage from the strong hands Annie just experienced. The water pounded out a constant flow on her back, and the hot water soothed the rest of her relaxed body.
“So, Annie, you and Jason?” Kitty asked, her eyebrows raised.
“I’m not sure what you’re asking, Kitty.” Annie closed her eyes and sank down until her head rested against the rim of the hot tub.
“Oh, I’m just thinking about my high school days and how Jason, Brian, and I were always doing stuff together. I miss it. I had high hopes for spending a lot of time with Brian while he was home. He even hinted to me that he might move back to Catfish Cove.”
“Really?” Rachel asked. “I’m surprised that Brian mentioned that idea to anyone. We discussed it and, quite frankly, it turned into a heated disagreement.” She shrugged. “That’s sort of why I’m here—see what all the fuss was about with the family farm and Catfish Cove. It doesn’t seem at all like his style—too laid back and a bit like Hicksville. I assumed he’d end up wanting his money out of the family farm.”
Annie sucked in air and looked at Camilla before she directed her question to Rachel. “What did Cody think about that plan?”
Rachel shrugged. “I only talked to Cody a couple of times, but from my impression, he sounded like he never planned to leave that family farm. That was a problem between the brothers. Brian said Cody couldn’t afford to buy him out.”
“Oh, fiddlesticks,” Kitty said. “Brian would never kick Cody out of that farm. They would have worked something out.”
“Does Cody inherit Brian’s share now?” Annie asked. Her mind was spinning with the information and how that money situation between Cody and Brian could be seen as a strong motive for murder, if Detective Crank could look past her romantic feelings for Cody.
“I have no idea about that,” Rachel said. Her eyes widened. “Do you think Cody would kill his own brother to get Brian’s share of the farm?”
Kitty stood and glared at Rachel. “That’s crazy talk. I knew I should never have agreed to come today when I heard you were part of the package. Brian told me he didn’t know how to get you out of his life. What exactly is your motive for being in town?”
Camilla grabbed Kitty’s hand and pulled her back to a sitting position in the hot tub. She tsk-tsked like a mother hen. “Come on, girls, no one is accusing anyone of anything. If you want to ask a question, just be civil about
it. For Annie’s sake. After all, this is her special gift.”
After a tense few seconds of their stare down, Rachel looked away. “I came to town to try to patch up the problem Brian and I were having. What couple doesn’t have a problem now and then? He said I was too suffocating so I promised to back off.”
“By following him to his hometown? That doesn’t sound like you were backing off,” Kitty blurted out, disgust lacing her words.
“I suppose that’s how it looks, but it’s not how I intended it. I only wanted to surprise him, meet his friends, and see the farm.” Rachel’s head dropped and her voice was soft. Her thumbs twirled around each other, making little waves in the water. She raised her eyes to look at the other women. “Is that a crime?”
“Of course not.” Camilla offered sympathy before Kitty could throw any more barbs.
“I didn’t mean anything, Rachel. I guess my shock at losing my good friend got the better of me for a moment,” Kitty said. “If anyone had a motive, I would put my money on Greta. I saw her watching the party. She could have confronted Brian when he walked to her house. With all the people at my party, someone must have seen something.”
“You would think that,” Annie said. “One thing I noticed, though, is that your outside motion lights weren’t staying on. Maybe it was too dark for anyone to see what happened between your house and Greta’s.”
“Those stupid lights. I noticed that too when I went out looking for Moby that night. I’ve had so much trouble with them. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t, and sometimes they just flicker on and off. If they’d been working, maybe I would have seen Brian and headed him off before he got to Greta’s house.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything, but—”
Three sets of eyes focused like lasers on Rachel.
“But what?” Annie asked.
“I was on my way to your party, Kitty.” She held up a finger to stop Kitty from interrupting. “Just to let Brian know I was in town and to see if he’d meet with me the next day.”
“How did you know where I live?” Kitty asked. “It all sounds very stalkerish.”
“I talked to Cody.” She shrugged. “For advice, really. I wasn’t sure the best way to handle my problem. He told me to drive down Main Street and I’d be able to figure out where the party was.”
“Okay. So you went to Kitty’s house the night of the party,” Annie paraphrased to keep the conversation moving in the right direction.
“Right. When I parked on the street, I saw Brian walking from Kitty’s house to the house next door. I decided to wait to see who he was going to visit. As I watched, a woman came out of that house and they must have talked but it was quick and she went back inside. I figured that would be my chance to talk to Brian before he walked back to Kitty’s house.”
“That must have been Greta he talked to,” Kitty sneered. “I can’t believe Brian felt compelled to visit her after all these years; open up those old memories.”
“Yeah, well, before I had a chance to catch up to Brian, a biker-type guy came out of nowhere and argued with Brian. I couldn’t see all the details in the dark, but I knew one of the people was Brian. The other guy was dressed in leather.”
“Cody,” Kitty whispered. “Cody came dressed as a biker. What happened next?”
“Well, I was stunned. I didn’t want to get in the middle of what I thought was some kind of disagreement, so I left and decided to connect with Brian the next day. It didn’t seem like a smart idea to surprise him right after he had an argument with someone else.”
“Did you see a black Jeep when you were waiting?” Annie asked.
“I drive a black Jeep. Why?” Rachel said.
“Someone said a black Jeep screeched away around the time Brian was murdered.”
Rachel’s jaw dropped. Her eyes widened with obvious fear. “I didn’t kill Brian. You have to believe me. Brian was still standing when I left.”
The only sound that churned around the women in the hot tub after Rachel’s story ended was the constant bubbling of the water jets.
Somehow, Annie managed to turn their attention to the sunroom where another bottle of champagne waited. They gathered their plush robes around them again and settled in the soft cushions, where even Camilla poured herself half a glass.
Kitty didn’t waste any time draining her glass and asking for a refill. “I think your story is all a crock of rotten eggs, Rachel. You stalked Brian, pure and simple. When you saw him talking to Greta, your blood boiled. You confronted him and stabbed him with that walking stick while everyone was having a good time at my house.”
“What about Cody?” Annie asked. “Greta told me he stopped at her house.”
Kitty shrugged. “You can all believe what you want, but I’m convinced the murderer is right here in this room with us.” She tipped her glass back but kept her eyes on Rachel.
Somehow, as thoughts swirled in Annie’s head, she managed to hold her tongue while they headed home. Camilla stopped to let Rachel off at the house where she was staying before continuing to Annie’s house. Kitty roared out of the driveway without even a thank you to Annie.
“What do you think?” Annie asked Camilla the minute they were both inside. The two of them sat on her couch facing the lake with lights reflecting on the water.
“I honestly don’t know. If what Rachel said is true,” Camilla held one hand out, “Cody could have stabbed his brother. But on the other hand,” she flopped her other hand to the side, “Rachel could have confronted Brian after Cody left and before she raced away in her Jeep.”
“One thing that even I picked up on,” Annie said, “is that Kitty has it in for Rachel. For some reason, she changed her mind about Greta and now is convinced that Rachel is guilty. But why? Did Brian tell her more about Rachel that she didn’t share? Something that would give Rachel a motive besides seeing Brian talk to another woman?”
“I think that both Rachel and Kitty told only part of what they know. Why? I don’t know, but Kitty was so quick to jump from accusing Greta to accusing Rachel, and Rachel’s reason for following Brian leaves a lot to be desired. Didn’t you get that feeling, too?”
“The feeling I got was that I wished I’d never had the stupid idea to bring those two together and ruin my gift from Jason. What the heck was I thinking, Camilla? Someone should have talked me out of that plan.” She really meant that Camilla should have talked sense into her right from the get-go.
Camilla laughed. “Actually, I think it was brilliant. Well, maybe not the most relaxing end to a super relaxing start, but you did find out more information, which was your goal.”
“I suppose so. Cody might be able to shed more light on Rachel’s story. If Brian was about to force him to sell the farm, like she suggested, that is an important bit of information.”
“And you’ll tell Christy?” Camilla asked.
“I’m not sure about that. Christy should follow that path on her own if she does her job properly.”
“If being the key word. Love can blind people to the most common sense choices.”
“I’m not sure Christy is in love with Cody.” Annie thought through the information out loud. “So, Cody argued with Brian. Rachel watched the interaction. And Greta spoke to both Cody and Brian. Was there someone else in the shadows? Someone else besides Kitty’s cat that either saw something, knows something, or—”
“Killed Brian,” Camilla finished.
19
Tuesday morning smelled like rain—a musky, earthy aroma that seeped in under Annie’s cracked bedroom window. It was November, after all, which meant the weather could swing from cold to hot, from sun to rain—the transition month between fall and winter in New England.
Leona’s conversation from the day before reminded Annie of another transition as she rolled out of bed.
“Getting up so early?” Jason mumbled. His hand reached toward Annie but he wasn’t quick enough to catch her before her legs swung over the side and her
feet touched the cold floor.
“I’ll get the coffee started,” she replied. She would have to train herself to get up earlier once Leona was gone. That thought gave her a start. Had she made up her mind to run the café?
Roxy didn’t mind an earlier start. Her nails clicked down the stairs right on Annie’s heels. She waited at the door but balked as soon as her nose sniffed the air.
“Not crazy about the rain today?” Annie asked.
Roxy lifted her head, giving Annie a do-we-have-to-go-out look.
“It’s supposed to clear up, so we can wait a bit.” Annie shut the door and smiled when she saw that the coffee machine was already set to start brewing once she hit the on switch. “That was easy.”
Strong arms wound around Annie’s waist from behind. She gasped. Warm breath tickled her neck. “Smart planning, wouldn’t you agree?” Jason asked.
Annie laughed. “You are always looking for a compliment, Mr. Hunter.”
“And what’s wrong with that, Mrs. Hunter?” Jason didn’t wait for a reply, but went straight to the cupboard and got two cups out. “How was your spa? You were fast asleep when I got home last night so fill me in now.” He leaned on the counter.
“Unforgettable. I had the most handsome and strongest masseur you could imagine.” She kept her back to Jason so he couldn’t see the edges of her mouth curl up.
“A man?” He turned Annie around by her shoulders and smiled when he saw her grin. “Ha ha, you had me there for a second. I specifically said that you were to have a woman for your massage.”
“I don’t believe that for one second. Actually, Rachel and I had the two women and Kitty and Camilla had the two men. It worked out fine.”
“Did Kitty run off with her handsome man? She was always the one to get the guy. Or at least she liked to think that.”
“She probably considered it but with all the champagne she chugged, she wouldn’t have been able to catch him.”
Jason crossed his arms across his chest. “So, massage, hot tub, and champagne? Who drove?”