Thanksgiving by the Sea

by Kathi Daley

  “And I’m sure he’ll share what he knows. Just be aware that he’s been Mr. Grouchy pants lately. I don’t think retirement is agreeing with him at all.”

  I laughed. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Deciding to call Woody and find out when he would be available to meet, I left the store without taking the time to look around. I knew that Woody had planned to head to the hospital and I sort of doubted he’d pick up, but I figured I could leave a message and let him know I had additional information to share. While I waited for Woody to call me back, I decided to head to Pirates Pizza and say hi to Trevor. I figured I could have a diet soda while I waited for Woody to call me back.

  “What a nice surprise,” Trevor smiled after I walked in through the front door. There were a few early birds, but the place wasn’t crowded by any means.

  “I just spoke to Chelsea, who provided me with some interesting information. I called and left a message for Woody, who is at the hospital, hopefully chatting with Trinity.”

  “Trinity is awake?”

  “Yeah. A lot has happened in the past few hours.”

  “I need to head to the kitchen to prepare a couple of to-go orders, but you can come along and fill me in while I make pizzas.”

  “I can do that.”

  During the next fifteen minutes, I filled him in on my conversation with Chelsea and my experience in the hospital. He asked questions as he spread pizza sauce and sprinkled cheese, which I answered to the best of my ability. We discussed several options, including the fact that Bryson really had been onto something and the real killer had taken matters into his own hands to prevent the family law attorney from sharing what he’d found. Of course, there were other options. There had been six files in the closet. If the shoebox which held the shoes which held the key, happened to fall to the floor while I was in the room because Bryson helped it to fall to the floor, then, the information in any of the six files could theoretically have led to his death.

  “So you think Bryson knew who killed him?” Trevor asked. “I mean the guy was shot from across the street. Unlike Trinity, who seems to have seen her shooter, I’m sure he never knew what hit him.”

  “That’s true. I suppose he might suspect who had a motive to want him out of the way, but I don’t suppose he could have known for sure who killed him. Maybe he just led me to the files to help provide us with the clues we’d need to investigate the case. I don’t suppose we should just decide that Bryson knew who his killer was and could definitively identify him or her.”

  “Yeah, his case might be a hard one to prove unless we can find someone who saw the shooter on the day he accessed the office across the street.”

  I thought about the PI who had looked at the space. I wondered if Woody had ever figured out who he was. I supposed I’d ask him once he called back.

  “I need two large pepperonis and a double cheese bonanza,” the young girl who worked for Trevor called through the window into the kitchen. “Extra sauce, extra cheese on one of the pepperonis.”

  “Got it,” Trevor called back. He picked up a ball of dough and started to work it into a circle.

  “I also need an order of spaghetti with meatballs to go, an order of blackened chicken penne for here, and a meatball and pasta salad for here as well,” the girl said.

  “Got it.”

  I had to admire the way Trevor worked. He was the only one in the kitchen today, and yet he seemed unfazed about having multiple meals to prepare all at once. He simply slipped the pizzas from the first order into the pizza oven, and then started on the to-go order of spaghetti. He had the sauce made and the noodles just needed to be heated in hot water, so that order didn’t take long to get ready. I wondered how he knew how much sauce to make or how many chicken breasts or meatballs to prepare ahead of time. I guessed he’d been doing it long enough to have a feel for things.

  I was about to ask if he ever ran short on items when my phone buzzed. I looked at the caller ID. It was Woody.

  “Hey. I take it you got my message?”

  “I did. I’m just on my way out of the hospital. I want to talk to you about your theory relating to John Thornton, but I’m on my way to pick up Larry Dyson. According to Trinity, she isn’t a hundred percent certain who shot her. She indicated that the whole thing is still fuzzy, but it is beginning to come back. She feels it will only be a matter of time. What she does remember is that Erica Hammond is the one who called her from the foster home where Aspen was staying. Erica is the middle daughter of Rita Dyson, the woman whose children were taken from her and put into foster care after it was discovered that her husband, Larry, who is not the biological father of the children, had been dolling out punishment severe enough to leave bruises. Erica left school during her lunch period and went to see her mother. When she arrived at the house they all used to share, her mother was lying on the bed with cuts and bruises all over her body. Erica told Trinity that her mother begged her not to tell because if the people from social services found out that her husband had beat her, they would never allow her to be reunited with her children, which is something the mom and kids all want. Erica agreed at first, but the more she thought about it, the madder she became, so she went home and called Trinity. Trinity had visited with the mother after the call and was on her way home when Aspen called her.”

  “I thought the woman went into a shelter?”

  “She did, but she started missing her husband. He’d told her how sorry he was and how he would go to counseling if she would give him another chance. At first, she did as Trinity suggested and left the man so she could be reunited with her children, but after a while, she managed to convince herself that she could have it all if only he had really changed this time.”

  “I think that is one tiger who is never going to change his stripes.”

  “I’m afraid I agree.”

  “So Erica’s mother wasn’t wrong when she told Erica that telling what happened would prevent them from being together.”

  Woody let out a long slow breath. “She wasn’t wrong, but the safety of the children has to come first. The woman really blew it when she decided to meet with her husband after being told not to do so. Her actions have only proven that she can’t be trusted when it comes to staying away from the man. I’m not sure what will happen at this point, but I’m pretty sure reuniting the children and the mother is off at least for now.”

  “So maybe it was Mr. Dyson who shot Trinity,” I suggested. “It fits. He was angry that the social worker had interfered. He beat up his wife for agreeing to go into the women’s shelter, thereby disrupting his life. Maybe beating up his wife wasn’t enough to scratch his itch, so he went after the social worker as well.”

  “I won’t be at all surprised if it turns out that he was the shooter. I gotta go. I’ll call you later about the rest.”

  Chapter 15

  Mac and Ty were at the house by the time I returned with the flowers. They looked both happy and relaxed. I was happy that someone had managed to carve out a small amount of couple time. I knew they had been trying to do just that for a while now.

  “Your mom has been filling us in,” Mac said after she hugged me hello. “Wow. Talk about a complicated mess. I’m sorry your plans with Trevor didn’t work out.”

  “Yeah, the timing could have been better, not that there is ever a good time for two people to be shot, but the timing was particularly bad for us. Still, I was happy to help out, although I don’t know how much help I’ve actually been.”

  “So catch us up.”

  I filled Mac and Ty in on everything I knew to date, including the conversations I’d had with Chelsea, Woody, and Trevor that morning.

  “So it sounds like this Dyson guy could very well be the one to have shot the social worker,” Mac said.

  “It sounds like it to me, but since Trinity doesn’t remember who shot her, at least not yet, Woody will have to prove it another way. I’m expecting him to call after he interviews the man. Ho
pefully, he’ll know more then.”

  “If he is the one who shot the social worker, is there reason to believe he could be the person who killed the attorney?” Mac asked.

  I slowly shook my head. “I’m not sure. I don’t know of a link, but I suppose there might be one I am unaware of. I know the man I suspect to be the person who killed Bryson Teller actually scouted out the office we believe was used as the sniper’s base a week before the shooting. I think that the Dyson children were only recently removed from the home, so I’m not sure if the timing of the whole thing really fits. Although it might line up okay. I’m not entirely sure when Trinity got involved. I imagine it might have been a while ago. I doubt the children would have been removed from the home overnight.”

  “If the two cases aren’t linked, that is going to be just too farfetched,” Ty said.

  “I agree. Given the timeline between the shootings and the fact that the two victims worked in similar fields, it seems that there has to have been a single shooter.”

  “Maybe the social worker will remember who shot her once she has a minute to get her bearings,” Mac said.

  “I hope so. So tell me about your trip.”

  Mac and Ty grinned at each other. “It was fantastic,” Mac said.

  “Where did you go?” I asked.

  “We rented a beach house down the coast. It was nice and isolated. No close neighbors. It was absolutely perfect.”

  “It sounds really nice,” I offered. “I’m glad you were finally able to get away.”

  “We really needed the time to ourselves. Ty needs to check in at his office, so we are heading to Portland after I pick up a few things. We’ll be back tomorrow and plan to stay through the long weekend. Now that we are back to work, we want to help you if we can. Just tell us what you need.”

  “I’m not really sure at this point. I guess once Woody is freed up, we can talk to him and then take it from there. If Trinity remembers who shot her, that will be half of the battle. If the person who shot her also shot Bryson and Woody can get him to admit it, then we’re basically done. If not, then I guess we still have some work ahead of us. This case has been really different from my standpoint. We aren’t dealing with a ghost, so I’m not really sure what I bring to the table. But I find that I do want to help. And I have had the visions.”

  “Visions?” Mac asked.

  “I saw Bryson’s death before it happened and then again as it was happening.”

  “Oh, god. That must have been awful.”

  I nodded. “It was. Although at the time, I didn’t realize that what I saw in my head was real. I guess it would have been worse if I had known.”

  “And since then?” Ty asked. “Have there been other visions?”

  “Just one. I had a vision of a man smoking a cigarette. This led me to the office where we believe the shooter set up when he killed Bryson. I still don’t know how that bit of information will pan out, but I am hoping it will lead to something. In the meantime, I just keep looking for clues and then filling Woody in with what I find. I really think he might be getting close to putting this all together.”

  Mac headed upstairs to grab what she needed for her overnight in Portland, and I decided to take Tucker and Sunny for a short walk. I tried to walk them every day. It was important for Tucker’s joint health to get regular workouts to keep everything strong and loose. Sunny still enjoyed a good hard run, and at times, I did take her out alone, but Tucker seemed much happier to plod along.

  I loved the sea when it was gloomy and overcast. I loved the days when it was cool and crisp, but not so cold as to cut right through your outer layers. I loved the natural ebbs and flows of the beckoning sea and the tides that seemed at times to mirror my moods. There were times I felt joyful and energetic, and other times I was melancholy and introspective. Today I guess the best way I could describe my state of mind was thoughtful. When I’d come back to Cutter’s Cove the previous spring, I’d come with the idea of staying only for a visit. I had a job I’d worked hard for, a fiancé I thought I’d loved, and a whole other life on the opposite coast. If not for the death of a man who’d meant a lot to me, I’m not sure I would ever have returned. Now here I was six months later, firmly entrenched in my old life, which I guess was technically my new life. I’d quit my job, broken up with my fiancé, and settled into the house where I’d lived for two years while in witness protection. I supposed that it should feel odd to me that this house and this place felt more like home than anywhere I’d ever lived. The reality was that Amanda Parker was actually new to the area since my time in Cutter’s Cove ten years ago had been lived by my alter ego, Alyson Prescott. Sure, I suppose I could argue that Amanda had been there under the surface the entire time, but had she?

  I thought about Trevor. I thought about how much he meant to me; how much he had always meant to me. Now that we were skating on the edge of deepening our relationship, I found myself pausing. Was I sure that Cutter’s Cove was where I really wanted to spend the rest of my life? At this moment, I felt that this very special place was destined to be my forever home, but I had only been back for six months. Would I decide that I missed the busy life I’d left behind, and change my mind about making this move permanent? It wasn’t that I’d hated New York or my life there. In all honesty, I’d loved living in New York. Still, once I’d spent some time in Cutter’s Cove again, I knew I’d missed it here as well.

  I supposed I should be sure that my life really was here before I took the next step with Trevor. I knew he loved the town where he owned a business and had lived for his entire life. I didn’t want to make a commitment to him and then find that my time here had actually been fleeting and had come to an end. I wouldn’t do that to him. I knew that I cared about him too much to bind our lives any more than they were already bound and then leave him again.

  I thought about his kisses. I thought about the way he looked deeply into my eyes as his lips approached mine. Most men I’d been with had closed their eyes when they went in for the kiss, but Trevor seemed to look directly into my soul. Perhaps the discourse I was playing through in my mind was all for not. Perhaps I was already bound to him in every way that really mattered. Perhaps my leaving for the second time had never really been an option.

  “What do you have there?” I bent down and took an object from Sunny. “Where did you find this glove?”

  She barked once and then ran toward the edge of the woods. I looked at Tucker, who seemed to be doing fairly well today, and decided to follow. When we got the edge of the woods, where I imagined Sunny had found the glove, I didn’t see any other pieces of clothing, but there was a small pile of cigarette butts. Cigarette butts with the same red ring around the filter as the cigarette butt I’d found in the office across from the courthouse. I thought about the man I’d seen in my mind – the one who’d been watching my house. Was the man who I believed shot Bryson Teller, the same man who had been standing here shortly after?

  Of course, I supposed the cigarette brand might be a popular brand that many people smoked. I’d never smoked and really didn’t know one cigarette brand from another. One thing was certain though, given the number of butts he’d left behind, the man who’d been standing here had been standing here for a while.

  Pulling out my phone, I called Woody. A stranger lurking outside my home was not the sort of thing I took lightly.

  Chapter 16

  “I’m not at all comfortable with you and your mom being in the house alone now that we know for certain that someone was actually watching you and the man in your vision wasn’t just a hiker passing through,” Trevor said, after I’d shown up at Pirates Pizza to chat with him while he cleaned up for the evening. “I think I should plan to stay at your place until this situation is resolved.”

  “I hate to have you disrupt your life that way.”

  He began loading items in the dishwasher. “I don’t mind, and I’ll feel better being there.”

  I shrugged. “Whatever you want t
o do. Now that the kids are gone, both guest rooms are open, although you might want to stay on the second floor with mom and me. Once Mac and Ty get back, I suspect they are going to want their privacy.”

  “The second-floor guest room is fine. We’ll stop by my place and get some stuff once I am done here.” He shut the door of the commercial appliance and began scrubbing pans which had been soaking in the sink. “What did Woody think about the cigarette butts?”

  “He said they come from a popular brand of cigarettes and that he had no reason to believe the cigarette butt I found in the office across from the courthouse and the butts I found on the ground by the boundary between the clearing and the woods were left by the same person. He is going to request a DNA test. He also said that with the holiday this week, he doubts he’ll hear anything until next week.”

  “Yeah, I figured as much. Did he have any other news to share when you spoke?”

  I leaned a hip against the counter. “He said that he spoke to Trinity again and she still can’t say with any certainty who shot her. He said her health is continuing to improve and she seems to be remembering other things she couldn’t at first, so he hopes given enough time her memory will clear.”

  “Did he say if she had anyone she suspected?” Trevor asked.

  “Dyson is still insisting he had nothing to do with the shooting, but Trinity did tell Woody that he was angry enough to have done it. She shared that Dyson felt that she was directly responsible for both his wife leaving him and the problems he is having with law enforcement. He insists that while he did discipline the children, he wasn’t abusive to them and suggested that perhaps they just bruised easily.”

  “That sounds like a crock.”

  “I agree. Even if he didn’t shoot Trinity, I have a feeling his relationship with law enforcement is just beginning after what he did to his wife. While the children’s bruises were enough to have them removed from his proximity, the beating to his wife should land him time in prison, so either way it looks like the guy is out of the way for the time being.”