by Kathi Daley
“Yes, he mentioned that his brother’s college roommate lives in Holiday Bay. His name is Tank Tyson. Have you ever met him?”
She slowly shook her head. “No. The name isn’t familiar. But I’ve only met a small portion of the people who live in town so far.”
“Dax said that Tank’s brother is named Train. Can you imagine naming your children Tank and Train?”
Georgia shrugged. “I like the names. They are unusual, and for a boy, they are sort of manly.”
“I guess that’s true. Do you have fruit other than the grapes and apple slices to go with the cheese?”
“There are pears to slice in the crisper. I thought I’d set out a tray with a selection of crackers as well.”
As Dax had planned, everyone met downstairs for wine and cheese around five. It was a happy and enthusiastic crowd that gathered to make introductions and share the projects they would be working on over the next few days. I was afraid Jeremy might feel awkward, but he seemed to fit right in. In fact, eighty-year-old Hazel Garwood seemed downright smitten with the young man who looked as if he was hanging on her every word.
Dax had everyone take a seat at the table at six o’clock. It was at this point that more formal introductions were made, and teams were announced. Dax had decided to pair up half the sister team of Connie and Silvia with half the couple team of Larry and Lavern, rather than having the writing pairs work together. I guess it made sense for Connie to work with Larry and Silvia with Laverne. They wouldn’t have gotten as much out of the breakout sessions if the writing teams had remained with each other.
Dax paired Alfred Hawthorn, the retired doctor, with Piper Jensen, the young woman who was just starting out in writing, which left Hazel with Jeremy, which seemed to suit them both just fine. I had to admit to feeling just a bit envious of the group. I could remember my first writers’ retreat and the nervous anticipation I’d felt. I remembered the energy that pumped through my veins at the welcoming mixer and the nervous anticipation I felt as I waited to see who I’d be paired with. I remembered having an instant attraction to Dax, which only deepened as we worked together. I also remembered my feelings of guilt that I was even looking at another man while engaged to Ben. I hadn’t been looking for an emotional affair when I’d set out for South Carolina high on the adrenaline of signing my first book contract, but an emotional affair is what I’d found. If I was honest with myself, I wasn’t sure I’d ever forgiven myself for that.
I turned toward Dax as he spoke. I focused on his full lips as he explained the agenda for the week. I tried to look away, but I couldn’t help but remember the way I’d fantasized about kissing those lips all those years ago. It had been tempting to follow through with the fantasy, but I’d loved Ben, and Dax was just some guy I barely knew. Maybe what I thought I felt for Dax really was nothing more than the manifestation of the intense emotions I felt about the event in general. It was one of the highlights of my life to that point.
The guy did have charisma. I found my eyes transfixed on his smile as he chatted with Hazel. I remembered how I’d found it hard not to stare at the little dimple at the corner of his mouth as he spoke. The hero in the novel I’d written directly after the retreat where I met Dax was tall and rugged with startling blue eyes and the same little dimple in the corner of his mouth. I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. If there was one thing I knew to be true, it was that I needed to get my hormones under control and fast.
Chapter 4
The sound of my cell phone ringing woke me the following morning. It was early. Still dark. I normally turned my ringer off at night, but I guess I must have forgotten to silence it last night. I glanced at the clock to see that it was only a few minutes after six. I sat up and clicked on the Answer button. “Hello,” I said, still groggy from the deep slumber I’d been woken from.
“Abby, it’s Dax. I’m sorry to call so early. I’m afraid I am in a bit of a situation, and I need you to get the group started this morning.”
“Situation?” I glanced out the window at the inky black sky. “What sort of a situation?”
“I’m afraid I’m being detained at the police station.”
That chased the remainder of the fog from my brain. “Police station. What happened?”
“I told you I was going to meet with an old friend last night.”
“Yes. I remember. Someone named Tank.”
“Well, as it turned out, Tank was hosting a group of men for poker and invited me to join. I thought it might be fun to sit in for a few hands, so I accepted. Tank’s brother, Train, was found dead on the back porch, and the five of us who were at the house at the time of his murder have all be detained for questioning.”
“Murder?” I gasped. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure exactly,” he answered. “Train went outside to have a smoke, and then someone suggested we call to order some pizzas. Once the pies were ordered, we all took a break. Some headed off to use the bathroom, others refreshed their drinks, returned calls, or just stretched their legs. The pizza guy showed up after about half an hour, and everyone gathered back in the den where the game was being held. Everyone but Train, that is. Tank went to look for him while we all served ourselves. He came back a few minutes later and informed us that Train’s body was on the back porch. He’d been stabbed to death.”
“Stabbed to death!”
“It was really bad. The knife was still sticking out of his chest.”
“Oh, wow. I’m so sorry. Do they think that someone from the game killed him?”
“I can’t know for certain what the police are thinking, but I would imagine that they suspect the killer to be one of the men who were playing poker. No one else was around.”
“Is Chief Wilder there?”
“Yes. He is the one who detained us. He is currently speaking to a man named Frank. He seems to be interviewing everyone one at a time and then releasing them. I still hope to be back to the inn by the time the morning session begins, but even if I am released, I will need to shower, and to be honest, I’m exhausted. If you could just do the intro after breakfast and then send everyone off into their critique groups, I would really appreciate it. I should be able to join the group for the afternoon session after lunch.”
“Yeah. No problem. Do you have notes or an agenda or something?”
“I have both notes and an agenda on my laptop. It is in the library. The password is Dabby.”
“Dabby? Really?” Dabby was the name of the character Dax and I had created to use for the skill-building exercises when we were paired together during that first writers’ conference.
“I need to go,” Dax said. “I think I’m going in next. I’ll fill you in on the rest when I get there.”
After I hung up with Dax, I texted Colt to ask him to call me when he had a chance. I was sure he would be busy with the interviews this morning, but I was curious to hear what he had to say about the death of the brother of the man Dax had gone to visit. If there were six men in a house late at night playing poker and one of them ended up dead, it did seem that one of the remaining five must have been the one to have done it.
I slid out of bed and headed to the shower. Georgia would be going over to the inn no later than seven to get the breakfast buffet ready. I figured I could just fill her in after I joined her. Talk about an unexpected twist to what promised to be an already emotionally charged few days for me. Hopefully, Colt would be able to figure out exactly what had happened once he had the opportunity to speak to everyone. An unsolved murder was the sort of thing I was sure Kate wouldn’t want to dominate the conversation during the retreat she’d poured so much time into planning.
Chapter 5
“I can’t go into much detail right now, and I need to get back, but in a nutshell, six men gathered at the home of Tank Tyson for a friendly poker game, and only five made it out alive,” Colt said later that morning after he’d completed his interviews and called me back.
“I know you must be bu
sy, but you have to give me more than that. Maybe just the condensed version?”
Colt exhaled. He must be exhausted, but I wanted a general overview, at the very least. I hoped he would understand by now that I was the sort who needed to be kept in the loop and appease my request for a few juicy tidbits.
“Homeowner, Tank Tyson, and five other people, including Tank’s younger brother, Train, were playing poker,” Colt started off. “Around eleven o’clock, someone came to the door. Tank went to answer. When he came back to the group, Train announced that because the game was paused anyway, he was going out for a smoke, so Tank suggested that everyone take a break. One of the other men in attendance, Hank Hanover, decided to call for pizza. After that, everyone went their separate ways.”
“So it was during the break that the man was stabbed?”
“Yes. As I said, Train was the one to instigate the break by announcing that he was going outside for a smoke. I have confirmed that Train was indeed a heavy smoker and that he had headed in the direction of the covered back porch. He was later found with a knife in his chest on the very back porch he’d headed toward, so I have to assume he never made it back inside.”
“And the others?” I asked, wanting a bit more than that.
“Tank told me he went into the garage to fetch more beer because what he’d already brought in was running low. One of the other men, Frank, told me he went to the bathroom on the second floor, and a man named Bob told me he went into the office to make a phone call. Your friend Dax claimed to have headed out to his car to grab his phone, which he had left on the charger. When he arrived at the car, he found that he had several text messages that needed answering, which he did before he returned to the house. The only other person in the house was Hank, the one who called for the pizza. He told me he waited for it to be delivered in the den, which is at the front of the house.”
“So no one says he was with anyone else when the murder occurred.”
“That’s the way it seems.”
“What are you going to do now?” I asked.
“Dig deeper.”
“You sound tired.” I felt bad for Colt. He probably hadn’t slept at all.
“I was up all night,” he confirmed. “But I’ll be fine. I think it is important to figure this out sooner rather than later. At least everyone other than Dax lives in the area, so I don’t have to worry about them going home before I get all the information I need to make sense of this.”
“What about the pizza delivery guy? Did he show up? Who answered the door and paid him? Did he see anything?”
“There were boxes of pizza in the den when I arrived, so I know he showed up. Hank paid him and sent him on his way, but I sense there may be more to the story. The pizza delivery kid is the first person I am going to interview after I run home to shower. After I interview him, I’m going to try to track down the motorist who stopped by to use the phone just prior to the group breaking up.”
“What motorist?”
“According to Tank, a man knocked on the door, and he was the one who interrupted the game in the first place. He was a stranger who claimed that his car had broken down. He told Tank that his phone battery was dead, he’d forgotten his charger at home, and asked to use the phone. Tank invited him in and showed him to the office where he keeps a landline. He returned to the others, and after Train left to smoke, everyone began discussing pizza. I thought it odd that Tank had just left a strange man in his office and didn’t ask him if he’d been successful in making his call before he left. Tank claimed he didn’t know if the guy made a call or when he had left. Apparently, the stranded motorist was in the office for a while after Tank left him there, but he was gone by the time Bob went into the office to make his own call. It can only be assumed the motorist called for help and left without telling anyone.”
“And no one knew who this guy was?”
“Tank was the only one to have seen him, and he said he’d never seen him before. The guy introduced himself as Max but didn’t offer a last name.”
“I guess you can pull Tank’s phone records to see who was called.”
“I’ve already requested the records for Tank’s landline as well as the ones for the victim’s cell. I’ve also requested the records for the cell phones of all the guests at the poker game that night. I should have them this afternoon.”
I asked a few more questions, Colt offered a few more details about the exact movements of the suspects, and I decided to let him go. If there was more to learn, and I was sure there would be, I could talk to him about it later. “Okay, well, keep me in the loop,” I finally said, ending the conversation.
“I will. I’ll call you when I can.”
I hung up with Colt and then headed to the kitchen to help Georgia with the lunch prep. Kate had asked for a light lunch, so we’d chosen deli sandwiches, a pasta salad, and cookies for dessert. We also had coffee and soda to drink, as well as bottled water and both black and green tea. The snow was coming down hard, and based on the weather report, the storm was supposed to intensify, so we discussed making a hearty stew and corn bread for tomorrow’s lunch. Dinner tonight would be a ham with all the trimmings. The sides would be a pear and pine nut salad mixed with fresh greens and homemade dressing, saffron rice with corn and peas, scalloped potatoes in a rich and creamy sauce, grilled asparagus, garlic green beans, and light and airy homemade rolls. It seemed like a lot of food for eleven people, but Georgia liked to offer variety, and she was always able to make use of the leftovers. The turkey and the roast beef she was using for the sandwiches were left from dinners the past couple of nights, and I was already anticipating a bean and ham soup for lunch tomorrow.
“So, what did Colt have to say?” Georgia asked when I joined her.
I filled her in.
“I can’t believe someone was murdered during a poker game. You don’t think the game itself was the motive, do you?”
I picked up a piece of turkey and nibbled on the end. “What do you mean that the game was the motive?”
Georgia tucked a lock of her blond hair behind her ear. “Perhaps the victim was winning big, and the killer was losing big. Or the killer noticed the victim cheating and, having had too many beers, went just a bit crazy.”
“I suppose the motive could have been something that occurred at the game, but with the exception of Dax, everyone who was there knew everyone else. All the men had played together before. It seems more likely that someone brought baggage with them.” I popped the last bite of turkey in my mouth. “I do think it is odd that with six individuals in the house, no one seems to be able to provide an alibi for anyone else.”
“Yeah,” Georgia said, slicing the first of the sandwiches into pieces. “It does seem odd that no two of the six paused to chat. The fact that no one has an alibi for the time of death will make it harder for Colt, although it seems as if the time-of-death window has to be pretty narrow.”
I nodded. “Colt said the players took their break about eleven and Hank suggested he’d call for pizza. Everyone went their own way until the pizza was delivered around eleven-thirty. Everyone except Train returned to the den at that time. A thirty-minute window does seem pretty narrow, yet the idea that the men were scattered around the house for the whole thirty minutes seems unlikely.”
“So walk me through what everyone was doing after the players broke up,” Georgia suggested.
“According to Colt, Hank claimed to have stayed in the den alone while he waited for the pizza delivery. I can buy that given the fact that he was the one to have called for the pizza in the first place, although it seems odd that no one stayed to chat with him.”
“I agree.” Georgia began loading up a plate with the first sandwich she’d sliced before moving onto the next twelve-inch roll. “That does seem odd. You would think someone would have stayed behind to keep the guy company. What did the others say they were doing?”
“Bob claimed to have gone into the office to make a call. I’m sure C
olt will verify who he called and how long he spoke. Tank told Colt that he went into the detached garage for more beer, but I can’t see that as being more than a five-minute errand. Ten at the most. Where was he for the other twenty minutes?”
“Good question.”
“Dax told Colt that he went out to his car to retrieve his phone and ended up returning some texts while he was there, and Frank said that he headed for the bathroom upstairs. None of those errands sound like they would have taken anywhere near thirty minutes, so it really does seem as if these men should have met back in the den well before the pizza arrived.”
Georgia paused and held her knife in the air. “It sounds like the house where the poker game was held is a large one.”
I nodded. “It might be, but I didn’t ask Colt exactly how big it is. I can check with him about it the next time we speak. I suppose he also will have considered the timeline and asked the men all the same questions we just discussed. He is following up on some things today, but he said he’d call me when he can. In the meantime, what we need to do is make sure our guests are having a wonderful time. The pairs should be assembling in the dining area in about fifteen minutes. I’ll begin setting up the buffet.”
I’d just set the bowl with the pasta salad on the buffet table when Jeremy and Hazel walked in.
“How has your morning been?” I greeted them.
“I’ve had the time of my life with young Jeremy.” Hazel chuckled. “I wasn’t sure I’d fit in with this group when Kate suggested it, but Jeremy has made everything so much fun and so interesting. This boy has talent. Real talent.”