Grayson was a great listener. He nodded his head, paying close attention to what I was saying. Then he said, “It definitely sounds like a possibility. I’ll keep my ears open too and see what I find out.”
Then he switched to other, lighter topics as we quickly walked around the trail. I asked him more about the different places he’d lived growing up and he chatted about that and his impressions of Whitby so far and, before I knew it, the walk was over.
I grinned at him. “Did you wear enough of that coffee off that maybe you can catch some sleep?”
He laughed. “Maybe. I’m going to try, anyway. There’s no way I’ll be able to come up with tomorrow’s edition unless I get some kind of a nap in.” He paused. “Hey, I enjoyed this. Thanks for letting me tag along.”
“My pleasure,” I said, still feeling that little zing of energy when he looked in my eyes.
The rest of my day off was spent in what I’d call “deliberately unproductive mode.” I’m usually trying to strike things off my list, even when I’m at home, but sometimes it’s good to really just unplug as much as possible. I sent a couple of emails, but then settled down with Fitz on the sofa. He curled up into me and I curled up into him and I read my book and then watched a British detective show on TV and petted Fitz as he purred loudly.
It was a good thing I’d gotten in some relaxation time because the next day at work was pretty nonstop all the way until closing time. I ushered out the last couple of patrons, both of whom seemed reluctant to go, nine o’clock or not.
I was heading for my older-model Subaru when a man suddenly started walking toward me.
I drew my breath in as a startled hiss and positioned my laptop bag so I could swing it at him if I needed to.
The man stopped and then apologetically said, “Ann. Sorry, I must have startled you. It’s Ted. Ted Griffith.”
He stepped under one of the streetlights and I saw it was him. I relaxed my shoulders a little, feeling some of the tension drain out of them, although I was still on alert, wondering what he was doing in the library parking lot after hours, especially in light of current events.
I pressed my lips together tightly. “Ted. I didn’t expect to see you out here. We just closed the library for the night.”
I hadn’t really thought he was here to use the library, especially since I hadn’t noticed him being much of a regular patron in the past.
He shook his head. “I’m not here to visit the library. I’m here to see you.”
I positioned myself so I could swiftly pivot and make it into my car. “Okay. The problem is that it’s been a really long day. I was planning on just going home and climbing into bed before I have to do this all over again tomorrow. Can we talk another time?”
Ted’s face was apologetic, but he seemed determined. “Look, I’m sorry I startled you. It’s just that I wanted to have a conversation in private and I thought this was the best way to do it.”
I set Fitz’s carrier on the ground but kept my heavy laptop bag on my shoulder just in case. “Okay,” I said cautiously.
Ted looked flustered. “It’s just that I keep running into you when I’m out with Sunny and I know you’ve figured out that Ellie and I were . . . you know.”
“Having a relationship?” I asked archly.
“Exactly,” he said, looking relieved that he didn’t have to spell it out. “I feel bad about it, but the fact is I didn’t have anything to do with Ellie’s death. I made a mistake and now what I want to do is to make it up with my wife. I love Sunny and I’ll do anything to make sure we make our marriage work.”
“Okay,” I repeated slowly. “What does this have to do with me?”
Ted said in a rush, “I don’t want Sunny to find out about Ellie and me. There’s absolutely no reason for her to know about it, especially with Ellie being gone. I want to make sure you’re not going to say anything to her about it. It seems like you two are becoming friendly.”
That was a stretch. Being friendly and becoming friends were two entirely different things. I said, “She doesn’t know?”
Ted paled a little. “Not at all. Don’t even suggest that she knows.”
As far as I could tell, Sunny might know a lot more than Ted thought she did. But if he was being genuine, and he certainly seemed to be, he wanted to make sure she didn’t know anything about it because he thought she didn’t have a clue—and he wanted to remain in the marriage.
“Okay,” I said slowly. I paused. “Did Ellie try to pressure you into leaving Sunny?”
He nodded his head. “Yes. But I would never have hurt Ellie, Ann, you have to believe that. But yeah, it was really a worry of mine. Ellie was convinced she and I could have a relationship together. She’d told me she was going to tell Sunny so Sunny would leave me and we could get married.”
“How did you react to that?” I asked.
He made a face. “Not well. I feel bad about that now because she’s gone. I did a lot of yelling, mostly because I felt like I wasn’t getting through to her at all. Ellie had a plan, and she wasn’t going to let anything stand in the way of it. She wouldn’t accept I didn’t feel the same way she did. In her head, we could have this perfect life together as soon as Sunny was out of the picture.”
I said, “You don’t think she told Sunny about your relationship?”
Once again, Ted’s face was pale and grim at the suggestion. “No. Sunny hasn’t said a word to me about it. Ellie did threaten to tell Sunny if I didn’t.”
I wondered if Sunny had felt as protective over her marriage to Ted as Ellie had with her relationship with Ted. Maybe something in my expression conveyed this to Ted because he said quickly, “I don’t think for a minute that Sunny would have murdered Ellie.”
“Not even if she suddenly confronted Sunny about it? Could she have asked Ellie to meet her at the library to talk in private and then Sunny lashed out at her?”
Ted was shaking his head the entire time I was speaking. “No. I don’t believe it. Sunny would never do that. You’ve seen her—she’s totally contained.”
“Even if her marriage was being threatened?”
Ted said, “Anyway, Sunny was with me. She couldn’t have been at the library when Ellie was killed.”
But his flush was a giveaway. Maybe he and Sunny were each other’s alibis because they were both out that night and were not only protecting each other, but themselves.
“Frank’s death—do you think it could have anything to do with Ellie’s?” asked Ted.
“I have no idea. Although it does seem unusual that there would be two unrelated deaths in Whitby. Do you think they’re connected?”
Ted nodded, looking as if he was latching onto the idea. “Yes. I mean, we talked about it yesterday at the park, right? By the way, Grayson seemed like a nice guy.”
I was grateful for the cloak of darkness as I felt my face turn red. “He is nice. We’re friends—actually, he’s a neighbor of mine.”
Ted nodded absently and then said, “Like I said, when we were talking about Frank at the park yesterday, at first I didn’t really picture Frank being involved in Ellie’s death. But now it’s not seeming as random as I thought. He did have a temper. He was working in the library a lot with computer repairs, right?”
“Not really a lot, but he was regularly in there.”
Ted continued, “Maybe he was interested in Ellie. Why not? He was a widower and Ellie was single. He could have asked her out and been rejected. Maybe he was angry or frustrated or something and took it out on Ellie.”
I wasn’t going to get into Ellie’s blackmailing activities with Frank, so I said cautiously, “Sure. That could have happened.”
This validation made Ted straighten up. “That’s what I’m thinking. I’m going to tell the cops my theory the next time I see them.”
“Have they been speaking with you?” I asked, trying to sound nonchalant. “I mean, it seems they’re trying to cast a wide net to figure out what happened.”
Ted ran a nervous hand through his hair. “Yeah. They’ve come twice to the office to talk to me. I’m worried sick they’re going to come to my house to ask me questions and tip off Sunny.”
“They’re asking about your relationship with Ellie?”
“They know. Maybe they guessed or they didn’t believe me when I said I was giving Ellie Spanish lessons. But that’s why I’ve come to talk to you. I really need you to keep this quiet, Ann.”
Ted reached out and clutched my arm, rougher than he should have and I winced.
Right then a car pulled into the parking lot with its high-beam headlights were turned on, blinding us. Ted released my arm and backed up, blinking. “What the heck?”
The car pulled right up next to us and I saw it was a police cruiser. Burton rolled down his window and said in a clipped voice, “Everything all right here, Ann?”
“Yeah,” I said, rubbing my arm where Ted had grabbed it. “Everything’s okay. I’m just wanting to get back home with Fitz, though. Long day.”
Burton nodded briskly. “Sounds good. I’ll watch while you get in your car.”
As I picked up Fitz’s cat carrier and fumbled with my keys, I could hear Burton say in an icy tone to Ted, “What were you thinking?”
Ted sounded sullen. “I was just talking to Ann.”
“It sure didn’t look that way to me. It’s after-hours at the library. We’ve already had one death here in the past week and I want to make sure there’s no more trouble. Is that understood?”
Ted muttered something and Burton said, “Good. If you have library-related business, you come during library hours.”
Ted hurried into his car and took off.
“Everything okay, Ann?” Burton asked me again.
I sighed. “Ted suspects I know about him and Ellie. He was trying to make sure I didn’t say anything to Sunny about it. He thinks Sunny doesn’t have a clue.”
Burton snorted. “I think it’s Ted who doesn’t have a clue.” He reached over to the passenger seat and said, “Here. This is the reason I came by tonight.”
I took a small paper bag from him and looked inside. There were a couple of pepper spray bottles inside.
He said gruffly, “Just thought it wouldn’t hurt for you and Luna to carry some, especially considering there’s been a violent crime here and because y’all frequently are locking up late.”
I gave him a warm smile. “Thanks, Burton. You’re right—with everything going on right now, it sure won’t hurt to carry some pepper spray on us. I’ll give one of them to Luna tomorrow.”
He gave a cheerful wave and watched as I climbed into my Subaru and started off for home.
The next couple of days passed fairly quietly. Because the library wasn’t as busy as usual, I was able to knock out some work I hadn’t been able to get around to—graphics for our social media pages (most of them, naturally, featuring endearing pictures of Fitz), displays of similarly-themed books for patrons to browse through, and my Ask Fitz advice column.
I also had another date with Connor. This time he picked me up from my house and brought me flowers.
“That’s so sweet of you,” I stuttered, pawing through the backs of my kitchen cabinets to try and find a vase of some description. Besides prom, I’d never gotten a bouquet of flowers before and it flustered me.
It also flustered me that Connor had gotten all dressed up for our date and I hadn’t realized we were going somewhere fancy.
I glanced down at my cotton top and black slacks and said, “Hey, I’m just going to change real quick.”
Connor put his hands up. “No, no,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just go grab something to eat.”
I still felt uncomfortable. Here he was in a suit, minus the jacket, and I looked like I was dressed for a trip to the deli. Actually, I was dressed for a trip to the deli. I could have sworn he’d told me last time that we’d go there because he wanted to try out the chicken salad wrap I’d told him was so good. “No, I’ll feel better if I change. For some reason, I had it stuck in my head that we were going to the deli tonight.”
“Maybe we’ll go there for lunch soon,” he said.
This time he didn’t try and stop me, so I headed to the back to pull on a simple black cotton dress, which I dressed up a little with some of the jewelry I’d gotten at the consignment shop. At this rate, I was definitely going to have to go back there and load up on dressier clothes. I told myself Connor was being nice to take me somewhere swankier, but part of me was irritated he hadn’t told me in advance. Maybe he was the kind of guy who liked surprises, like the flowers. But somehow, it rubbed me the wrong way. Probably because I’d never liked being caught off-guard. That was one reason I was such a planner.
I was finished getting ready in just a couple of minutes. But then I got a text message from Luna. I’m doing a little detecting, haha. Trudy, who I know as a mom from storytime, works with Connor. Just FYI, she mentioned to me she’d seen Connor really screw something up a couple of weeks ago at the hospital, although he thought no one had noticed. Maybe good he’s not your main squeeze, since Trudy was thinking about reporting him. Trudy also used to talk to Ellie here at the library!
I wrote Luna back to compliment her sleuthing, although I wasn’t sure she really had anything there. It wasn’t good to mess up at the hospital, for sure. But even if Trudy had mentioned Connor’s error to Ellie, it didn’t mean Connor had murdered Ellie to keep her quiet. After all, I’d known Connor most of my life. He liked saving lives, not taking them. I walked back out to the living room.
“You look great,” said Connor with a grin.
At least I felt a little more comfortable with how I looked, but I still felt like I’d been thrown off a bit . . . both by having to change and Luna’s unsettling text. “Ready to go?” I asked lightly.
Connor did a good job of putting me back at ease on the drive to the restaurant. At least, he did before I noticed we were driving out of Whitby. “We’re heading out of town?” I asked, interrupting Connor. Maybe I needed to learn how to relax, but I was starting to feel like my evening was being hijacked.
“Oh, there’s a new place in Asheville a friend told me about. I thought maybe we could check it out. Is that okay with you?”
His last sentence sounded more like a rhetorical question and so I shrugged and said, “Sure,” as Connor continued telling a story about something that had happened at work. I gritted my teeth as I pretended to listen. I was tired from my day at the library and now I was tired and irritated. At least there was the promise of what sounded like a good meal at the end of the drive. And, at the speed Connor was driving, it seemed like we were going to get there sooner rather than later.
The sky had been alternating all day between looking threatening and glaring sunlight. This had apparently made the air unstable, kicking off a tremendous storm. We drove right into it and I was glad to see Connor hit the brakes at least a little bit. He turned up his wipers as fast as they could go and seemed to be paying more attention to the road, which was a relief.
Then he gave me a sideways look. “I was talking to my uncle on the phone earlier. He was saying that Ellie’s death, in addition to being upsetting for everyone at the library, was also a hardship in terms of staff. He was implying you might be more tired than you usually are.”
I hid a smile at this. Wilson was obviously still not sold on my dating Connor. Again, though, I found it kind of touching instead of annoying. It was nice to latch onto a good reason for my general quietness and resistance to going out on a date to begin with.
“I knew Ellie, just very briefly,” said Connor casually.
I stiffened. He hadn’t mentioned this before and surely he’d known about Ellie’s death, although I hadn’t mentioned it to him.
“I know she was a coworker of yours, but were the two of you friendly? I’d imagine it’s been hard, emotionally, on you if you were.”
I turned to study his profile but his expression was unreadab
le as he stared straight ahead through the windshield. “Ellie was still new at the library, so we really didn’t know each other very well. It was still a real shock of course, though.” I hesitated and then added, still trying to get a read on Connor, “Plus, from what I’ve learned recently, Ellie had an unfortunate predilection for blackmail so she might not have been great friend material.”
His face was still inscrutable. “I didn’t realize that,” he said finally.
I shifted uneasily in the passenger seat and looked out the window at the coursing rain as he sped up again. “You never mentioned where we’re eating tonight,” I said in a rather forced, light tone.
He chuckled, still looking directly ahead and still pressing hard on the accelerator. “Somewhere where we won’t be seen by anyone we know. I remember how small towns are.”
My breathing accelerated and my heart pounded hard in my chest. “I hate to bring this up, Connor, but I’m actually not feeling very well. Maybe it would be best if I went back home. I’m sorry.”
This finally got a reaction from Connor as he swung his head around to look at me in surprise.
Suddenly, as he took his attention off the road, he hit a puddle. More, actually, a small pond of water right on the highway. His car hydroplaned, skidding off the road as Connor struggled to control it.
Chapter Fourteen
I clutched onto the armrest, holding my breath as we hit a ditch and the car came to a crashing stop.
“Are you okay?” asked Connor, staring at me with wide eyes.
I nodded. “I think so. Are you?”
“Yeah,” he said absently. He frowned. “I’m going to see what kind of damage there is.”
It was still pouring down rain. “Do you have an umbrella or something in here?”
Connor shook his head. “It’s okay.”
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