Hang Ten Australian Cozy Mystery Boxed Set

by Stacey Alabaster

  I nodded a little, still feeling a little skeptical, unsure whether to buy this story, but she did seem genuinely sorry.

  “Matt and I broke up because…” She paused and didn’t continue, but I already knew the reason. “You know, things started getting a little heavy.”

  I nodded and stared at the empty spot where my glass had been. “Actually, I understand. It’s all a lot for me as well. I still feel super young, you know? I’m not sure I’m ready for all that yet.”

  She sighed a massive sigh of relief. “Gosh I know exactly what you mean,” she said with a laugh as she threw her head back. “And what about how Matt still harbors this secret desire to be a pro surfer? I mean, it’s a little ridiculous?”

  I laughed in return… Were we really bonding over this? Hang on, were we really bonding, at all?

  Well, this was something I’d never expected to happen. Certainly not on that afternoon, anyway.

  But now that I was down one friend, I needed a new one.

  And maybe we actually had a lot more in common than had originally occurred to me…

  “I’m knocking off in ten minutes if you want to hang around and get a drink?”

  I couldn’t believe I was even considering it, but I ended up saying yes. And that was how I came to be having a drink that evening with my former mortal enemy.

  “You know I didn’t even want to come back here,” Kate said, taking a swig of her whiskey. “Only did it as a favor to Simpson, for old time’s sake. This place can be kind of a drag. Kinda like a throwback, you know.”

  I was surprised. I always thought she was like Alyson, an Eden Bay diehard who thought it was the best place on earth. Then again, even Alyson was thinking of leaving, so maybe there weren’t any diehards left.

  I laughed and said that I agreed. “I’m with you there.” I shook my head. “Sometimes I wonder what I am doing back in this town.” I stared into my drink. “Especially if things don’t work out between Matt and I.”

  Kate sounded philosophical as she spoke. “Ah, you don’t know that all hope is lost just yet. Things have a habit of working out in ways you never expected.” She picked her glass up and clinked it against mine. “And for what it’s worth, you really don’t have to worry about me. I’m so over Matt that I even unfollowed all his social media months ago.”

  Wow. That really was over him then. I was starting to feel like I could trust her.

  It was only too bad that she hadn’t been in town when Arthur was killed. Because the way she was loosening up, it would have been the perfect opportunity to get the goss on exactly what happened that night.

  But maybe I could still try. She was right—maybe all hope was not lost just yet.

  “So, have you heard anything?” I whispered. There were plenty of eager ears around. “About what happened that night, I mean?”

  Kate moved a little closer to me. “Well, of course people whisper…” She also glanced around to make sure that none of the staff were listening. “Everyone knows that Simpson was worried about the lockout law being passed. And he had had words with him before.”

  My eyes were wide. “Do you think he was worried enough about it to kill?”

  She looked like she wanted to say something but took a deep breath instead. Then in the end, she only shrugged. “I couldn’t say, really. I wasn’t here.”

  “I know,” I said, quickly adding a smile. It was so strange that we were friends, and it felt so precarious, so I didn’t want to push it too much.

  But I wanted to push it just a little. Hey, I didn’t get to where I was by not being pushy at all. It was the one main thing that Alyson and I both had in common—we looked out and saw the world and knew that we wanted to mold it to fit our own views. We just went about it in different ways. Alyson believed that right always won and karma set things right in the end, whereas I didn’t believe that. I believed that if you wanted to change the world, you had to do it yourself.

  “Do you get along with Simpson?” I asked. “Personally, I mean. I know that Matt always said that he was a bit of a harsh boss to work for, always sticking to the rules, and doesn’t socialize with the staff outside work much.”

  Kate again hesitated, like she wanted to say something but couldn’t—or wouldn’t. Her lips were curled up, though. Clearly something amused her.

  “Poor old guy has always been bit infatuated with me,” she said, before ordering another whiskey. Then shrugged. “Though I suppose I am kinda taking advantage of it at the moment… He is letting me stay in his spare room rent free.”

  “Oh!” I was surprised to hear that. I thought that Kate had been staying at a motel since she got back to town. “Is it awkward living with the boss?”

  She shrugged again. “Can be. But really, he probably owes me free accommodation considering the favor I am doing him. Coming back here to work, especially now that the reputation of the joint is in the toilet.”

  Yes. It was a huge shame. It wasn’t as though Captain Eightball’s was ever the fanciest or high-class place. It certainly wasn’t The VRI. In fact, I was pretty sure that the kind of clientele that went to The VRI would never step foot inside Captain’s. Alyson seemed to think that The VRI was mopping up all of Captain Eightball’s lost customers, but I just thought they were coincidentally on a busy streak.

  It was also a huge shame that Matt Foulkes’s name was being dragged through the mud. But Kate really didn’t seem like she wanted to help clear his name that much. I supposed things really were over between the two of them if that was the case. I supposed that was something to cling to. At least Matt would be all mine when and if he got out of prison.

  But was that something I even wanted?

  14

  Alyson

  “How are things down at Captain Eightball’s?” Matt asked. “How is Kate doing?” Eh. Kate and I had always gotten along okay, but she and my brother had never made that much sense as a couple to me. She was super in your face and extraverted, and I always thought he would do better with someone with a little more class and a more chilled nature. Someone like Claire.

  “She is fine. I don’t think you should worry about that place,” I said, leaning over the table in the visitor’s room of the police station. Matt’s hands were still cuffed, but I’d been able to give him a hug when I walked in.

  Matt looked even more disheveled than usual. His usually sea-soaked long hair was having to go without sea salt and it was looking a little limp.

  “Don’t worry, I’m doing everything I can to get you out,” I said. I had already given the letter to Rachael and soon we would have proof that Reinhold wrote the letter, and that gave him motive. I told all this to Matt while he listened glumly.

  “Motive maybe. But not opportunity. Did anyone actually see Reinhold Walker that afternoon?”

  “Matt, these are the things I have been trying to ask you about, but you got your back up every time I just tried to do a basic investigation,” I said, trying not to sound too frustrated. I took it down a few notches. “What do YOU remember about that evening?”

  Matt shrugged a little and pulled his hands back before he realized they were cuffed to the table and couldn’t move too far. It looked like it hurt. “I had to go and get ice right before it happened.”

  “And had Arthur already been served by the time you got back?” I asked, hopeful that the answer would be yes.

  But Matt shook his head no. “By the time I got back, it was chaos. Everyone had been left unsupervised. Customers were upset, and all the staff seemed to be behind the bar chatting. I started to make the shake, but I got called away for a minute. When I came back, someone had already added the strawberry syrup. I just finished it up and handed it to him. I have no idea who added the syrup…and poison.”

  If only Captain Eightball’s would come into the 21st century and install cameras.

  “Do you know what flavor it was?” I asked Matt. Claire had asked me to get that info, even though I personally thought it was a stupid
question.

  “Strawberry,” he said.

  That didn’t mean much to me, but I texted it to Claire, even though she was in my bad books. We were still trading all the info we got.

  I had to admit that it wasn’t looking hopeful for my brother.

  Matt’s face fell. “You can admit it, Alyson. It looks bad for me. I wouldn’t even blame you if you had your doubts. Really.”

  I shook my head and reached out my hand to place it over his. “No, Matt, I know that you didn’t do it.” But yes, I had to admit that the chips were stacking up against him. That didn’t mean that I thought it was guilty. It was just that I thought it might be finally time to face reality.

  “Why did you lie about your previous argument with Arthur?”

  He made a low bitter laugh. “Because obviously I knew how bad it would look for me.” He stopped laughing. “Besides, it was months ago when Kate and I were still a couple. He was always coming in and leering at her… This was actually the first time he’d been back into the restaurant since then.”

  I had to be blunt with him. “It looks even worse now that you’ve lied about it…”

  “I know that, Alyson!”

  “Okay, okay, calm down.” There was an officer glowering at us whenever Matt raised his voice even a little.

  “Just give me something, Matt, please. Otherwise, it’s over for you. Do you really want J growing up without her uncle?”

  He leaned forward and buried his head in his hands for a moment. It wasn’t my intention to upset him. Just to make him see how dire the situation was. I couldn’t help him unless he helped me. We needed to be able to place Reinhold at the scene of the crime.

  Finally, he looked up at me. “I’m sorry, Alyson. I truly am. I just don’t have anything to give you. I just want you and J to have a good life. Claire too.”

  I walked out, all hopes sinking away as I started to face the reality that my brother might be going to prison—and he might not be getting out.

  My last hope was the Eden Bay Journal. I stormed over there, straight from the police station, to talk to Rachael. The article still hadn’t been printed on the online edition, and I’d been refreshing all day to check.

  There was a sign on the door that said, “Back in twenty.” I had no idea how long that sign had been there, so I had no idea how long to wait…or whether Rachael would even be coming back at all.

  I tried to ring Rachael, but she wasn’t picking up her phone.

  I stomped my foot in frustration. Was this article even going to get printed, or was Rachael abandoning me as well?

  Across the road was Simpson’s house, and I was surprised to see him in his garden because I thought he was away in Sydney. Maybe he had already come back.

  I spotted Kate coming out the back door and even though she looked in a hurry, she stopped in the front yard and started talking to Simpson. I hid back a bit. It looked as though they were getting into a bit of a fight.

  As soon as Kate left, I glanced around and wandered over. It was kinda strange to me that she was staying there, considering that she was an Eden Bay native. I wasn’t sure why she wasn’t staying with family, but then again, maybe she didn’t have any family left here.

  I frowned. As far as Claire had told me, Simpson was away in Sydney, and yet there he was, tending to his roses clear as day. I cleared my throat carefully, loud enough to let him know that I was there but not loud enough to frighten him. I’d already had one close call in a rose garden.

  I whistled for a moment and tried to make small talk, even though there was only one thing I wanted to discuss. I nodded toward the bushes. “The weather has been good for the roses this year,” I said, thinking I was saying something true. He only frowned at me.

  “It has been far too warm… They have already started to wilt right when they should be coming into bloom,” he said, sounding annoyed as though that was obvious and something I should have already known.

  Well, okay then.

  I supposed there was no point in making small talk if that was how I was going to get treated.

  “What was that argument about with Kate?” I asked bluntly.

  He snapped the snippers and almost chopped the head off a kinda-wilted-but-still-okay rose. “What are you talking about?” he asked briskly.

  “I saw the two of you arguing,” I said plainly, in case he tried to deny it again. There was no point.

  “Just work stuff,” he mumbled and turned his back to me and returned his attention to his roses. Clearly, I was supposed to take this as my cue to leave. Except that I was not going anywhere.

  “What work stuff were you arguing about?” I asked him, taking a step forward. “Seems to me like you should both just be grateful to have jobs while it is my brother who is in a jail cell right now taking the fall for someone else who works at your restaurant.”

  He stood, snapped his pruners shut, and stared at me. I gulped a little bit. Sure, I’d been purposefully trying to stir him up, but I hadn’t thought he would get this mad.

  “Kate was just overstepping the line, that’s all,” he said angrily as he glared in the direction of where she had hurried off to. “As per usual.”

  Wow. I had always thought the two of them got along. I wished Claire was there with me. She was the one who knew about what had been happening down at Captain’s more than I did. And I’d gotten so angry at her the day before for going in there. Now I needed her.

  But I was on my own. I concentrated and tried to remember what Claire had told me. And vowed that in the future, we would always work together. Yeah, yeah. I’d made that vow before. Broken it a few times as well.

  “Didn’t Kate come back here as a favor to you?” I asked, trying to sound confident. I was pretty sure that was what Claire had told me.

  He scoffed a little. “Don’t think that girl has ever done a favor for anyone in her life…” He was still mumbling and clipping the flower bushes as he went, but I really wanted him to just stop and speak clearly so I could understand what he was getting at. It was like he wanted to have a go at Kate, wanted to rant to me about her, wanted to spill everything, but he wasn’t quite willing to fully commit to it.

  I kept my voice clam and friendly to let him know that I was on his side. That I was there to help and listen, and that I was no fan of Kate’s either. I mean, I’d always thought she was okay, I suppose, but my loyalty was 100% to my brother.

  And to Claire.

  If Kate had bad intentions toward either one of them, I wanted to know it.

  “Hey, it must be hard,” I said, sounding sympathetic. “Captain Eightball’s is an Eden Bay institution. Everyone loves it. And no one wants to see it go out of business.”

  Simpson finally put his sheers down. “I never wanted Kate to be manager, Alyson. I wanted Matt to be. But…”

  “But what?” I asked quietly.

  “She was so insistent on coming back that day. She wanted me to fire Matt and put her in charge. It was right after she saw something… Oh, I don’t remember what it was she saw, some online thing…” he said, sounding flustered.

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “Didn’t you only ask Kate back because you needed her after Matt was suspended after Arthur’s death?”

  Simpson shook his head in frustration. It seemed like he had been waiting a long time to unload this on someone. That fight he had just had with Kate must have been the last straw. If he still had any loyalty to her, it was fading away.

  He sounded like he was keeping a secret for her and it was dragging him down. I had learned one thing from my mayoral campaign—hey, it’s better to learn at least one thing rather than nothing at all—It’s that people want other people to listen to them. I know, I know, revolutionary, right? But up until then, I thought most people were just sitting around waiting for me to tell them exactly what to do and think according to the law of Alyson.

  So, I was listening to Simpson. Carefully. Because he was under strain. Kate had something over
him.

  “No. She was already back that day. She arrived while Matt was out getting ice.” He glanced up at me. “I don’t know why you think otherwise.”

  What the heck? Kate was back that early? But she’d told us—well, she’d told Claire—that she only got back to Eden Bay the day after Arthur was killed.

  Not the day that he was killed.

  15

  Alyson

  Maria’s face was stony as she greeted me at the door. I hung my head sheepishly. Maria was usually so jolly. So happy to see me. Maybe I’d been dumb, but I actually thought she would be over it by now.

  “I’m busy,” she said bluntly, trying to shut the door before I could get through it.

  I finally lifted my head. “Can you just let me explain?” I didn’t want to sound too pleading, but my voice sounded whiney. “This is really unfair, Maria.”

  She still wouldn’t budge. Just crossed her arms and stuck her nose up.

  I decided to play the best card I had left to play. “Come on, Maria. This is really tough time for my family right now, and I need someone to talk to.”

  That did it.

  She finally let me in the house. Even offered me a chocolate cookie.

  I felt a little thirsty afterwards, but she didn’t offer me a drink. And apparently there wasn’t any.

  “I’m not even keeping milk in the house at the moment. Too risky.”

  I looked at her hopefully. “So, does this mean that you think my brother is innocent?”

  Maria and I had found our way to the study room. “Of course I don’t think Matt has that in him, Alyson. I’m surprised you would even have to ask.”

  I glanced around the study room where I had once had such high hopes of an academic career. Was it all too late?