by Cate Conte
“Ethan and I took Val out for ice cream the night we brought her to stay here,” I said. “To cheer her up. And I should probably mention that while we were there Cole and Heather were all cozied up together having a snack.”
My mother gasped. “What?”
“Yup.”
“Did Val see?”
“No. And I didn’t tell her either. But the double standard around here is kind of disgusting.”
“Oh, believe me, I hear you,” Mom said. “I just worry about Val because of this … life she chose. People are more apt to be watching her and having opinions and comments about all this as it develops. I hate that she has to deal with it. Just tell her to be careful, okay? She won’t like it if it comes from me.”
But she’ll love it coming from me? I shook my head, promised my mother I’d broach the subject if the opportunity arose, then hit the shower.
Chapter 37
After spending a half hour in the hot water with a few songs from my Get in a Better Mood playlist, I felt like I could show up without too much crazy for this date. I focused on staying calm and getting ready. I dried my hair and added some loose curls. I dug through my clothes and discovered a dress I’d forgotten I had—a funky lavender-colored Betsey Johnson I’d scored at a designer discount store before I left San Fran. Turquoise beading around the neckline and a fringe of beads around the hem, it was fancy enough, but not too. I lined my eyes with a jade-green liner and added some neutral eyeshadow, put on my favorite red lipstick, found some silver sandals, and threw my stuff into a little black bag. Good to go.
I had some time, so I went up to see if my sister was around. I wondered if she had tried to call Cole. I doubted he’d been in touch, but maybe she’d reached out. I hoped she wasn’t planning to go home tonight.
But there was no answer when I knocked. I took a chance peeking in, but it was empty.
I went downstairs. JJ followed me. He knew it was his dinnertime, after all. He was probably the smartest cat I’d ever encountered, and I’d encountered a lot of cats. I liked to think we were a good intellectual match. And I didn’t want to wait until later, because with any luck I wouldn’t be home tonight. I took out JJ’s food and put it in his bowl, then set it down for him with some treats on top. I watched him eat for a minute, then went down to the basement to see if Grandpa was around. No luck there either. That was typical. He’d spent so many years out on the town, so to speak, in his official capacity that it must be hard to give that up. Even when he was chief, he rarely sat behind his desk. He preferred to be out in the action. And even though he didn’t carry his badge anymore, he still kept to the same habits, infusing himself into the island, observing, assessing the scenarios he came across. I imagined he would do these things until the day he left the planet.
I checked in on the cats, who were all relaxing in various cubbies and beds.
I found Ethan out on the porch swing. With Val. They were eating what looked like lobster rolls from Damian’s. I had to blink a few times to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me when I saw Val actually smiling. Wow. Now I was impressed. Ethan just might be a miracle worker.
“Hey,” I said. “What’s going on?”
Val turned to me, still smiling. “Ethan was telling me about growing up in California. It sounds fascinating.”
“With hippie parents,” Ethan added, his eyes twinkling. “Val is enthralled with that concept.”
I laughed. My sister hadn’t ventured too far off the island, true, but my mother was a borderline hippie. And our youngest sister would’ve been right at home in a commune, much to my father’s chagrin. But no sense in outing Val’s hippie experiences while she looked so relaxed.
“Where are you off to?” Ethan asked.
“Hot date with Lucas tonight.”
“Oooh,” Val said. “Where are you going?”
“To dinner, and then I’m not sure what,” I said. “But I’m hopeful.”
“It’s about time,” Val said.
“Hey,” I said. “Not cool.”
Her cell rang. She fished it out of her shorts pocket. I watched the smile fade off her face as she excused herself and went inside to take it.
Ethan watched her go, a worried look on his face. “That’s the second call she got today that made her get that look,” he said.
“I hope it’s not Cole,” I muttered. “But hey, Ethan. You don’t have to babysit my sister, you know,” I said, lowering my voice so she wouldn’t hear me if she came back out.
Ethan sent me a quizzical look. “Babysit? That’s not what I’m doing. She’s a nice person and she’s having a hard time. I think she needs someone to talk to.”
I perched on the edge of Grandpa’s swing and rocked lightly. “She’s talking to you? Like, about … stuff?” Ethan was very easy to talk to, but still. Val wouldn’t even talk to me.
Ethan smiled. “She’s getting there.”
I raised an eyebrow. Something in his tone … did he have a crush on my sister? Good grief. I hoped not, for his sake. Her life was way too complicated right now. Plus she could be a true pain in the butt. Especially for someone as laid-back and relaxed as Ethan was.
“And I like her company,” he went on, oblivious to my thought process. “She’s interesting. And really smart.”
Warning bells were going off in my head, but before I could probe any further, Lucas drove up and pulled into the driveway. I waved at him. This was gonna be a good night, I could feel it.
Lucas got out of the car and approached the stairs. “Hey, Maddie. You look great.” He nodded at Ethan.
“Thanks,” I said. “I’m just going to grab my purse.” I slipped inside. Val was nowhere in sight. I picked up my bag and a wrap in case the restaurant was freezing, ruffled JJ’s head, said a quick good-bye to the café cats and headed out.
Lucas and Ethan were chatting. When I stepped onto the porch, Lucas smiled at me. “Ready?”
“Ready,” I said.
“Have fun, kids,” Ethan said.
We got into Lucas’s car. “I wasn’t sure what you were in the mood for,” he began, but I held up a hand.
“Already taken care of,” I said. “There’s a great seafood restaurant—well, I’ve heard it’s great, anyway—over in Turtle Point. It will be quieter than this part of the island too. I made reservations.”
He glanced at me. “You did? That’s cool,” he said. “I’m totally in the mood for fish.”
“Good.” I gave him the address, then settled back in my seat for the short ride into the next town. Traffic wasn’t too bad, surprisingly, mostly because people were going in the opposite direction. Looking for the excitement of Daybreak Harbor’s summer nightlife. Usually I would be right there with them, but tonight I was looking forward to a quiet, romantic evening with Lucas. Nothing was going to screw up this night.
Chapter 38
When we arrived at the restaurant, Lucas took my hand as we walked inside and didn’t let go until we were sliding into our booth. I’d asked for a table with a circular booth, in hopes we could get into the snuggling mood. So far, so good. He slid up close to me, his thigh touching mine, and gave me that smile that could knock me over.
I smiled back and we did that goofy staring into each other’s eyes thing for a minute, until the waitress came over and totally hijacked the moment.
“Welcome! Can I get you something to drink?” She beamed at us, handing us each a menu.
I looked at Lucas. “You like whiskey?”
He nodded.
“We’ll have two old-fashioneds,” I said. “And the oysters.”
She flashed us a thumbs-up and headed off to the bar. Lucas looked at me with admiration. “I like a lady who takes charge,” he said with a grin.
“Good,” I said. “I like a guy who’ll drink whiskey with me.”
We took a few minutes to peruse the menu. When the waitress returned with our drinks, I ordered the mahi-mahi tacos. Lucas ordered the baked seafood platter.
We got extra French fries. I sipped my drink. It was fabulous. My mother had been right. If the food was as good as the beverages, we were going to leave here full and happy.
“So how’s your sister?” Lucas asked.
“She’s doing okay,” I said. “She’s not really in the mood to talk, so I’m not sure what’s going on in her head. But it can’t be easy for her.”
“I’m sure,” Lucas said. “But she’s got a great family supporting her.”
“Yeah. She’ll be fine. Anyway. Enough about that mess. Tell me about you.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, what about me?” He shifted a bit in his seat. Was Lucas shy? How adorable.
“Well, you never told me a lot about your family or where you come from. Just bits and pieces. I want to hear everything.” I propped my chin in my hands and smiled at him. It was true. For all our dates, our conversations seemed to always get sidetracked onto other topics and we still hadn’t completed the getting-to-know-each-other phase.
“Yeah? It’s not that interesting.” He swirled his drink in the glass, watching the ice cubes clink together. “I grew up in Virginia and pretty much stayed there through college. Virginia Tech.” He glanced at me.
I nodded. “You did tell me that. But you never told me your major.” I glanced up as the hostess led a table full of jabbering women to the next table and sighed inwardly. A whole restaurant and they had to seat them next to us? Really? They looked like they were in their late thirties or early forties and kind of reminded me of Holly and Heather Hawthorne, just from the snippets I overheard as they filed into their seats.
Stop thinking about that! I forced my attention back to Lucas.
He smiled. “Business. What else?”
“What? Yes. Major. Of course. Makes perfect sense.” I should’ve known we had that in common too—especially since we both ran businesses.
“So after school I was supposed to start working with my dad. He owned the plumbing business, remember? But the thought of it…” He shook his head. “I couldn’t see myself doing that for the rest of my life.”
“So you went to dog grooming school?”
“Not right away. First I thought I might want to make a lot of money.” He smiled wryly. “I tried my hand at the corporate life. Not my thing.”
I made a face. “I wouldn’t think so. They would’ve made you cut your hair, right?” Lucas had really nice hair. Not too long, but not too short. Just right. Thick and dark and a perfect contrast to his gorgeous blue eyes.
“Yeah. And I needed it for the band.” He grinned.
I pointed at him. “Because you were always in a band. That I knew.”
The waitress came over and brought our oysters. When she’d left I turned back to Lucas.
“So when’s the next gig?”
“Thursday night. Here on the island. And then in Boston next Saturday. Maybe … you want to go to one of them?”
“I’d love to,” I said, just as I heard someone behind me say, “Now, if Felicia was here, you know she’d be picking apart this bread basket!” A titter of laughter followed.
Felicia? As in Goodwin? My ears perked up despite my very best intentions to stay laser-focused on Lucas. I leaned over just a bit, so I could hear them better. “So where are you playing?”
“Here on Daybreak, at Jade Moon. In Boston, a little club in the South End.” Lucas started talking about the venue, which was pretty new but attracted all kinds of bands local and otherwise.
Meanwhile, behind me, one of the women was saying, “It’s too bad all this had to happen. I do miss her, but what can we do?”
“Agreed,” another one added. “We can’t have someone who’s cooking in other people’s kitchens—and not well, from the sounds of it—in our circle.”
A couple of cackles.
“Would you ever consider hiring her?” one of them asked after a moment’s pause.
“Good Lord, no,” the first one said. “I mean, it’s not that I necessarily believe Heather’s story about Gigi and the food, but it still wouldn’t do to be associated with that. And I think it would be too embarrassing for her, the poor dear.” Clucks of fake sympathy followed.
Heather. Heather Hawthorne? Heather and Gigi? What story about the food? Felicia’s food? I leaned over further, silently encouraging them to keep talking.
“I heard she’s having a hard time,” the fourth one, who hadn’t said anything yet, chimed in. “I feel dreadful for her. Plus all the problems she’s had with Gigi otherwise. I mean, it can’t be a very happy time.”
By the silence that followed I guessed the others were giving their traitorous friend a look of disbelief. I wanted to turn around and ask her to elaborate, that I’d missed a whole piece of this story, but I managed to control myself. I kept one ear peeled for more on Felicia, but the Stepford Wives had moved on to the next poor person to decimate. Then I realized Lucas was staring at me.
“Maddie?”
“Yeah,” I said, shooting him a brilliant smile.
He waited. Apparently he’d asked me a question, and now I had no idea what it was. I took a few frantic seconds to try and retrace the last steps of the conversation that I could remember.
I was coming up short.
“I said, do you think we’re too old to be chasing gigs around Boston and surrounding areas?” There was a teasing tone to his voice, as if he already knew the answer and just wanted to see what I’d say.
I was grateful for his generosity. He could’ve made me squirm for a bit. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I thought I heard a name I knew behind me. No, I don’t think you’re too old at all.” Lucas had just turned thirty-three—he’d told me the last time we’d gone out. “Besides, age is silly. It’s just a number.”
“I’m glad you think that way,” he said.
“Hey, if it’s what you love to do, why would you not do it? Age doesn’t matter.” I waved my hand to dismiss it. “I mean, really. We’re only as old as we act, right?”
He nodded admiringly. “I like the way you think. So tell me about your family? The rest of them, I mean. I know a bit about your grandpa and Val, but what about your parents?”
Before I could answer, I was distracted by a man moving swiftly between the tables, a cell phone pressed to his ear, his voice slightly louder than what was acceptable. And that voice sounded familiar.
My mouth dropped. It was Cole.
Chapter 39
My first reaction was rage. This jerk was out at a nice restaurant tonight, after ice cream last night, while my sister was in such a state of upheaval? I turned to see where he was heading, and saw him vanish through the doors in the back leading to the bathrooms. I frantically sorted through my options. I wanted to see who he was with. Then I had to confront him. This was the perfect moment. He wasn’t expecting it. I had the element of surprise, and I couldn’t let it go to waste. I sent a silent apology to Lucas and a quick prayer to the universe to hold the rest of the date together, then slid out of the booth.
“Hold that thought,” I said to Lucas, fumbling to act normally. “I have to run to the ladies’ room.” I pointed at my whiskey glass apologetically. “Will you get me another one if she comes back?”
He looked at me curiously. “Of course.”
I bolted from my seat and hurried toward the bathrooms. I skidded to a stop in the hallway. Obviously I had to wait for him to come out, so I used the time to try and rehearse a script. You lying scum probably wouldn’t do as an opening, but where to start? Righteous indignation for my sister? Or a pointed question about what had happened to Holly and his role in her life—or death? Of course Daddy would’ve coached him to within an inch of his life about how to answer questions, but that was for the police and attorneys. He might just fumble under the wrath of his crazy sister-in-law who was willing to accost him in a bathroom hallway.
Man, he was taking a long time. I shifted from one foot to the other, moving out of the way as a woman passed me, headed for the restroom. She gave me a stran
ge look. “Is there a line?”
I shook my head. “Sorry, just waiting for someone.”
She disappeared inside. I leaned against the wall. Then noticed there was another door down the hall past the bathrooms, and it was ajar. I crept over.
A back exit. And I heard voices outside. Angry ones.
I inched closer to the door. One of the voices was Cole’s. Higher-pitched than the other. Nervous, almost, but trying to maintain authority. “I’m telling you, I didn’t see anything…”
The other voice, deeper, angry. I couldn’t quite make out the words, but there was something slightly familiar about it. I tried to pin it down, but it hovered just out of my reach.
Shoot. I wanted to lean through the door and listen, but I wasn’t sure where the two men were in relation to the door. And I wanted to hear what they were saying without alerting them to my presence.
Cole’s voice again, almost pleading. “I swear to you. I was leaving. I had to go out the back way. I didn’t see anything else.”
“You’re lying,” the other man’s voice hissed, a spring coiled tightly with rage. “You had to see something. And you’ve been talking to the police. Why would you do that if you had nothing to tell?”
“I had no choice! They’ve been on me since that night…”
Someone left the men’s room next to me and let the door slam shut behind him, causing me to jump, jamming my arm into the exit door handle. Which of course caused the door to creak as it moved. I winced. The voices outside paused. I held my breath. The man leaving the bathroom gave me an odd look.
I ignored him and refocused on what was happening outside, my heart pounding. This had to be about Holly’s murder. Did this mean Cole really was involved? Or had he seen something he wasn’t supposed to see and was trying to cover it up? Who was this other man? My skin broke out in a cold sweat despite the warmth of the night.