“Yeah, well ... just watch yourself.” Christy wagged a finger in Maddie’s face but winked at the same time to let her know she was kidding. “I’m embracing sarcasm and snark for two now.”
“And you’re doing a fine job,” Maddie drawled, grinning. “You had a doctor’s appointment yesterday, right? What did he say? Is everything okay?”
“Everything is rolling right along,” Christy replied. “We’re at fifteen weeks. He’s as big as a navel orange, weighs two and a half ounces, can move all his joints, and probably doesn’t like light.”
Maddie had no idea what to make of the flood of information. “Well ... why doesn’t he like light? And how do you know it’s a he? I thought you were going to have it be a surprise.”
“I just feel it’s a he,” Christy replied. “I don’t know how to explain it.”
“Well, okay. A little boy will be fun. What’s the deal with the light?”
“Oh. His eyelids are still fused shut — which is kind of weird and gross when you think about a sightless creature inside of you, but I try not to think of that part — but the doctor says he would shy away from the light if we pointed a flashlight at my tummy.”
“And why would you do that?”
Christy shrugged. “Trust me. It wasn’t something I considered at all before he mentioned it. Now John is kind of obsessed with the idea. He bought a flashlight so we can play under-the-covers games.”
Maddie was amused despite herself. Since John was Nick’s brother, that meant Christy was going to be her sister-in-law once she married the outspoken Winters sibling. To Maddie, that was the best possible outcome she ever could’ve hoped for. Of course, Christy and John were still fighting about the wedding. He wanted it sooner rather than later and she wanted to wait until she lost the baby weight after giving birth.
It was an ongoing argument.
“And how about the renovations on the cabin?” Maddie asked, smoothly changing the subject. “How are they going?”
“Well, John was a big baby when we started because he didn’t like the idea of knocking a wall out, but once he saw the schematics he warmed to the idea. Now he’s talking about adding a man cave, too.”
“Isn’t that what the garage is for?”
“Good point.” Christy shuffled closer to Maddie and studied her long hair. “Move over to the chair. You need a trim.”
Maddie balked. “I thought we were going to wait until right before the wedding.”
“We’re going to do it now because split ends are the bane of my existence.”
Maddie muttered under her breath but switched chairs as Christy requested, lifting her chin when a gown was whipped over her clothes and lifting her hair so Christy could wrap tissue around her neck.
“So, I heard you were busy last night,” Christy commented as she sprayed Maddie’s hair with a bottle of water.
“You heard about the cooking? Nick has a big mouth.”
Christy chuckled. “I actually did hear about the cooking. I can’t believe you made chocolate cake and didn’t call me. The baby loves chocolate cake.”
“You love chocolate cake.”
“Yes, but the baby’s needs take precedence.”
“If that’s your story.”
“It is and it will remain my story until I give birth,” Christy supplied. “I’m not kidding. I have a built-in reason to do whatever I want. It’s growing taste buds right now. True story.”
“You know what? If you want to use the baby as an excuse, more power to you.”
“Great. I wasn’t talking about the cooking when I said you had a busy night, though.” Christy sobered. “I heard about Trevor Clark. Is there any new information on him?”
Maddie didn’t miss the other women in the salon shifting so they could hear better. Their reflections were clear in the mirror.
“Oh, well ... I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say,” Maddie hedged.
“I heard Alicia shot him,” Marla interjected, her eyes flashing. “Is that true? Is she in jail?”
“She’s not in jail. The investigation is still ongoing.”
“That was very smooth,” Christy complimented her. “I mean ... very smooth. You sounded just like Nick when you said that.”
Maddie scowled. “I don’t want to say something I’m not supposed to.”
“You were at the hospital last night, right?” Marla asked. “Someone said you were. Do you know how he’s doing?”
Maddie shrugged. “He survived the surgery. He was on a ventilator, but the doctor was hopeful that would only be temporary. The earliest he’ll regain consciousness is today and the doctor said that wasn’t a given so ... I don’t know.”
“Did Alicia say why she did it?” Annie Westmore asked. Maddie remembered her from high school — she was a senior when Maddie was a freshman — but she’d always been friendly.
“I don’t know that Alicia did it,” Maddie admitted. “She says Trevor was cleaning his gun when it actually went off.”
Marla barked out a harsh chuckle. “Twice? Only Blackstone Bay’s finest would believe something like that.”
Maddie narrowed her eyes. “Why do you care anyway?”
“Because she likes gossiping,” Christy answered. “Besides, Trevor and Alicia have been gossip fodder for years. It’s not exactly like he was the world’s best husband.”
Since this was the sort of information she visited the salon to hear, Maddie perked up. “What do you mean? Do you know who he was having an affair with?”
“How do you know he was having an affair?” Annie asked. “Is that what Alicia said?”
“Alicia didn’t say much of anything,” Maddie replied. “She was in shock or something. Plus, her kids were there. I think she was trying to hold it together for them. The little girl ... well ... she had a bit of a meltdown.”
“That’s Catelynn’s way,” Beth Porter volunteered from another chair. She was a teacher at the elementary school, which meant she probably had insight into Catelynn’s behavioral issues.
“She didn’t seem to understand what was happening,” Maddie supplied. “She was calm most of the time, interested in her tablet, but she kind of freaked at a certain point.”
“She’s very high-functioning,” Beth explained. “She had an hour of time each day with a special instructor, but she understood most of the educational stuff. In fact, she was leaps and bounds ahead of most of her classmates. Her difficulties weren’t with intelligence.”
“Social issues?” Maddie asked, already knowing the answer.
Beth bobbed her head. “Pretty much. She grasps the idea of emotions, has them, but occasionally she simply can’t process what’s she’s feeling. She has counselors to help her, but it’s an ongoing struggle. Still, I’ve seen kids a lot worse off than her. She’s a sweet little girl when she wants to be.”
“Yeah, well, Aaron was the one who I was worried about last night,” Maddie admitted. “I’m guessing he’s close with his father.”
“I don’t think that Trevor was close with either of those kids,” Annie argued. “Alicia was the one in charge of their upbringing and she had to do all the heavy lifting because he was schtupping every harlot in the county while she did all the work.”
“Oh, you don’t know that,” Marla complained. “That’s just a rumor.”
Since she loved gossiping on a normal occasion, Maddie couldn’t help being suspicious. “You’re just saying that because you’ll schtup anything that moves, too, right?”
Marla ignored Maddie, but only because she was halfway through a dye job and didn’t want to be kicked out of the salon. It might ruin her hair. Otherwise she would’ve risked being removed from the premises because she found Maddie agitating on a level that few could understand.
“I’m just saying that I heard different things about the marriage,” Marla countered.
“Like what?”
“Well, for starters, I heard that Alicia was controlling and constantly belittled Trev
or,” Marla explained. “She made him feel like less of a man because she was constantly undermining him.”
“And that excuses him sleeping around?” Christy challenged.
“I don’t think he was sleeping around. I heard he asked for a divorce because he could no longer take the misery of being married to Alicia.”
“He went back to her, though,” Maddie pointed out. “If he didn’t want to be with her, why did he go back to her?”
“Money,” Marla replied simply, shrugging. “He would’ve lost everything in a divorce. Alicia was threatening to keep the kids from him and take every penny he had. He couldn’t afford to get divorced.”
Maddie didn’t know if she believed the story, but it was interesting nonetheless. “I don’t suppose anyone knows who Trevor was sleeping with recently, do you? I heard it’s possible he was sleeping with more than one person, but I would love to track down his most recent victim.”
“I have no idea,” Christy said. “I’ll keep my ear to the ground, though.”
“That would be great.” Maddie focused on her reflection as Christy gripped her scissors. “I want the length to basically stay the same. No layers either. I know exactly what I want to do with my hair for the wedding.”
Christy let loose a long-suffering sigh. “Do I tell you how to read fortunes?”
“No.”
“Then don’t tell me how to cut hair. I know exactly what I’m doing.”
Maddie hoped that was true.
AFTER STOPPING BY THE CLARK house for another look in better lighting — the family wasn’t allowed back to the house the previous evening, instead being forced into the local bed and breakfast to keep the scene pristine — Nick and Kreskin drove to a neighboring town so they could interview Trevor’s brother.
They’d called ahead to the office where Vincent worked and he was expecting them. As soon as they arrived, he ushered them inside his office and shut the door.
“Do you have any news on your brother’s condition?” Nick asked right away.
Vincent shook his head. “He’s still unconscious, although the doctors are hopeful. Right now, it’s a waiting game. He could wake up an hour from now or it could take a week. They just don’t know.”
“Well, at least he’s expected to wake up.”
“There’s that, yes.” Vincent steepled his fingers as he rested his elbows on his desk. “I believe I know why you’re here. You have questions about my brother’s marriage, correct?”
“We have multiple questions,” Kreskin replied, tugging a small notebook out of his pocket and flipping to an empty page. “First, I would like to know if you believe your brother would clean a gun in his office.”
“He has a gun,” Vincent admitted. “He keeps it in a lockbox in his closet. He never really mentions it. I believe it’s for home security.”
“Do you know how often he cleans it?”
“Actually, no. We’ve never discussed it. I can’t answer that question for you.”
“That’s okay.” Kreskin moved on to the second order of business. “My understanding is that Trevor asked Alicia for a divorce several months ago. The news spread around town pretty fast. Yesterday, though, Alicia was telling people they’d reconciled. Is that correct?”
“It’s correct in the broadest sense of the term,” Vincent replied. “It’s true that Trevor asked Alicia for a divorce. He talked to me before making the request. I explained what sort of financial strain he would be under once the paperwork was initiated, but he seemed to think that Alicia would be agreeable to letting him go for very little in compensation.”
“I’m guessing she was not agreeable to that,” Nick noted.
“Not even a little,” Vincent agreed. “I don’t think it helped that my brother told her he wanted the divorce right before their anniversary. I told him that was cruel and unnecessary, but he said he couldn’t sit through a fancy dinner with her and pretend everything was okay. He said he wanted things to be done ... so he told her.”
“And how did she react?” Kreskin asked.
“She wasn’t happy. In fact, she thought he was playing a joke on her at first. Alicia has always had a weird sense of humor. I don’t know why she thought Trevor would ask for a divorce as part of a game, but she kept telling him to knock it off and that it wasn’t funny.
“He persisted and laid out his plans for the separation, however, and that’s when she realized he was serious,” he continued. “She completely melted down when it became apparent that he wanted out and this wasn’t a cruel joke. She started screaming at him, demanding reasons for the separation.”
“What reasons did he give?” Nick asked. When Vincent didn’t immediately answer, he continued. “Your brother has a certain reputation as a ladies’ man in Blackstone Bay. He’s reportedly slept with a number of women, and one of his neighbors said that he was still engaged in an affair, although she didn’t know with whom.”
Vincent sighed as he dragged his hand through his hair. “This is going to make him sound bad ... .”
“We’re not here to judge him,” Kreskin pointed out. “We do need all the information you can provide, though. It could be important.”
“My brother had a wandering eye,” Vincent admitted. “He liked women. Multiple women. He was never happy with just one. This went back to when we were in high school. He liked the idea of three or four women at the same time, a harem of sorts. He thought Alicia would readily agree, but she had other ideas.”
“Why did he marry Alicia if he wanted to play the field?” Nick asked. “I don’t understand. If you marry someone, the idea is to be monogamous.”
Vincent chuckled. “I think that’s an idealistic notion that not everyone shares. It doesn’t matter, though. Trevor couldn’t be monogamous and Alicia spent years pretending she didn’t notice that he was sleeping with other people. She was more interested in the facade they created, the happy family. That’s all she cared about.”
“So, you’re saying that she knew about Trevor’s affairs,” Kreskin prodded.
“She knew, although I think she deluded herself into believing the instances were few and far between. She didn’t want to see it so she closed her eyes and pretended everything was okay. That changed when Trevor asked for the divorce. Now she could no longer bury her head in the sand and pretend it wasn’t happening.”
“They reconciled, though,” Nick pointed out. “Why?”
“Because my brother realized she wasn’t going to go meekly into the night and he had to shore up his finances before filing the paperwork,” Vincent answered. “He wanted to make sure his children were cared for, but he thought Alicia was being unreasonable with her financial demands.”
“Do you think Alicia was being unreasonable?”
“No. She was asking for what she was owed. Trevor simply didn’t want to see it.”
Nick licked his lips as he internally debated how to ask the next question. Finally, he simply went for it. “Do you think your sister-in-law is capable of shooting your brother?”
“I think Alicia has been pushed to the brink and perhaps she’s not as stable as she used to be.” Vincent chose his words carefully. “I don’t know that she’s capable of shooting him, but if he pushed her too far, perhaps she finally cracked.”
“I guess that’s what we have to find out.”
“I wish you luck.”
Six
Maddie spent a full two hours at the hair salon. Once Marla left, the stress blew through the door in her wake and everyone lightened up. No matter how many times Maddie asked the same question, though, no one had an answer for her.
Trevor’s latest conquest was still a secret.
There were things to do at the house, a living room to arrange and wedding preparations to double-check. Still, Maddie found herself walking through the familiar neighborhoods in Blackstone Bay, taking a roundabout tour of the quaint streets. Before she realized what was happening, she found herself standing in front of Alicia’s h
ome watching as the woman sat on the front porch, head in her hands.
Maddie was torn. On one hand, there was a very good chance Alicia picked up a gun less than twenty-four hours before and shot her husband twice. Whether she meant to kill him was up for debate – Maddie had her doubts – but the probability that Trevor accidentally shot himself seemed slim. On the other hand, Maddie had never seen Alicia as much as raise her voice. Even when she was trying to calm Catelynn at the hospital, she never lost her cool. That didn’t jibe with Nick’s theory that Alicia lost it and shot her husband in a fit of rage.
On a whim, Maddie crossed the street and made a beeline for the woman. She looked to be struggling, crying even, and Maddie was the sort of woman who wanted to ease the burden of others. That was simply the way she was built.
“Hey, Alicia.”
The woman clearly didn’t realize she wasn’t alone because the sound of Maddie’s voice – which was soft and pleasant – caused her to practically jump out of her skin.
“I’m so sorry,” Maddie said, increasing her pace until she was next to the woman. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
Alicia pressed her hand to her chest. “I didn’t see you … or hear you. I was in my own little world.”
“I can see that.” Maddie licked her lips as she lowered herself to a sitting position on the porch. “How are things?” She laughed hollowly at the lame question. “Wow. I can’t believe I just asked you that.”
“It’s okay. You’re the only person to ask me that all day. Even if it’s a little odd given everything that’s going on, it feels good not to be completely ignored.”
Maddie didn’t know what to make of the statement. “I don’t understand,” she said finally. “Where is your family?”
“My mother and father live in Arizona. They moved there when my father’s health started failing. He can’t handle the colder seasons.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.”
“They moved while you were away. Part of me thinks they just wanted to get away from me because they were so disappointed.”
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