Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Emma managed to locate the address on her phone as Matthias drove. When they pulled up in front of the small, shabby home, she was stunned.
Matthias must’ve had the same thought. “The cobbler’s children have no shoes.”
“Sonny apparently wasn’t using his residence as a model home.”
The single-story structure had an asymmetrical sloping roofline and tall, narrow windows typical of mid-century modern houses.
A carport housed a Honda CR-V as well as the pickup Sonny’d had at the construction site on Saturday.
Matthias parked behind the truck. They climbed out and followed the sidewalk to the front door. Emma pressed the video doorbell.
After a beat, a female voice said, “I’ll be there in a minute.”
The minute turned into two. Then three. Emma looked at Matthias, wondering if Ashley had bolted out the back door. He shrugged.
The inner door swung open, leaving the glass storm door between them. Despite the heat of the August day, Ashley Jones was again huddled in her pink hoodie. She eyed both of them, her gaze settling on Emma. “I know you from high school. Emma, right?”
“Emma Anderson.”
Ashley’s gaze skated to Matthias. “And you were at the construction site the day they found—” Her voice cracked.
“That’s right,” he said. “Matthias Honeywell. Emma’s friend.”
Emma didn’t react. Here he was her friend, not a detective. She got it. “I wanted to stop by and pay my condolences.”
Ashley shifted her weight from one foot to the other and shot a glance over her shoulder. She did not invite them in. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Emma didn’t have to be a trained investigator to know there was someone else in the house, and that someone made Ashley nervous. Or maybe it was Emma and Matthias’s presence. “Do you mind if we come in? I promise we won’t stay long.”
“Why? I mean, why do you want to come in? I’m busy. I have a funeral to plan.”
Emma suddenly wished they’d stopped at a bakery and picked up a cake or cookies to give them an excuse. “I’m so very sorry about what happened to Sonny. He and I were working on a deal. He wanted to buy my family farm.”
“Then you should talk to Tina at the office. I’m not involved in the business.” Ashley moved to close the door on them.
“Please.” Emma held out one hand, imploring. “I really need to speak with you.”
Ashley studied her. Emma maintained the most beseeching face she could manage. With a sigh, Ashley said, “You’ll need to meet me on the back deck.” She gestured around the side of the house. “Daphne’s finally sleeping. Losing her father’s been devastating to her.”
Ashley and Sonny’s daughter. That’s who was in the house. Emma remembered hearing about the couple having a child several years ago. “I’m so sorry.”
Ashley shut the door without another word.
In silence, Matthias and Emma followed the flagstone pavers to the backyard and a deck, which connected the house to an above-ground pool. Ashley stepped through a sliding glass door, closed it, took a seat on one of the rattan chairs, and huddled deeper into the hoodie.
“I’m sorry to be so brusque,” she said. “The last few days have been hell. And I think I’m coming down with the flu. I can’t seem to get warm.”
Emma claimed one of the other three chairs and studied her former classmate. Ashley’s eyes looked glassy, and beads of sweat dotted her forehead. “You should see a doctor,” Emma said. “It’s over eighty degrees out here. All the stress of a funeral has to take a toll.”
Instead of sitting, Matthias stood behind Emma.
“What did you need to talk to me about?” Ashley asked.
“As I mentioned, Sonny and I were discussing his purchase of my property.”
Ashley started to protest.
“I know. You aren’t involved in the business, and I already met with Tina at the office. But frankly, something seemed… off.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well…” Emma intentionally squirmed. “She didn’t seem to be as knowledgeable about the business as I would expect for someone taking over the company.”
Ashley’s eyes shifted, then came back.
“I started wondering if maybe she and Sonny had a falling out.” Emma spoke her next words slowly, cautiously.
“Tina said Sonny was turning over ownership of North Star to her, but it appeared to me that he wasn’t keeping her current on all of his transactions.
” She could tell Ashley was giving serious consideration to what she said.
“I hate to bring it up at such a horrible time for you, but we need to get back to Erie. I wanted to wrap this up in the next day or two, but if the company’s future is uncertain, I’ll have to take my business elsewhere. ”
Ashley didn’t immediately respond, unlike Tina, who’d jumped to soothe Emma’s “concerns” when faced with the same scenario. The widow’s silence dragged on to the point where Emma wondered if she’d even been listening.
“Ashley?”
She blinked. “I’m sorry. I have a hard time focusing these days.”
So Emma’s entire pitch had been for nothing.
“I have a meeting with our attorney later this afternoon,” Ashley said. “I’ll ask him if Sonny made any changes to the arrangements regarding the business.”
She had been listening after all.
“As for a falling out, now that you mention it, I did notice he seemed a bit peeved with Tina the last couple of weeks. He didn’t discuss his work with me, but I overheard him talking on the phone about possibly needing to hire a new assistant.
At the time, I took it to mean Tina wasn’t able to keep up with all the work that’s been coming in, so he was bringing in someone to help out.
Patrick Winslow mentioned in passing that he thought Sonny might be overextending his capabilities with all these new housing plans.
Maybe instead, Sonny wanted to replace Tina. I’ll have to look into it.”
Emma noticed movement through the sliding doors behind Ashley. A young girl with a disheveled ponytail stood there, her palms on the glass.
“Mommy,” came the muffled, plaintive cry.
Ashley stood and turned toward her daughter. “I’m coming, Daphne.” She looked at Emma. “As for your dealings with Sonny, you should go ahead and find someone else. Thanks for stopping by.” She retreated into her house, closing the slider behind her.
* * *
As Matthias backed out of the driveway, Emma asked, “Now what?”
He thought about it. “Let’s head over to the Powell farm. I’d like to see if construction has been shut down. If it hasn’t, I can talk to Patrick Winslow.” Matthias glanced at Emma. “What’d you think about Ashley?”
“I don’t know. She doesn’t look anything like the girl I knew in high school.”
Matthias had taken note of the widow’s anxious demeanor, the glazed eyes, and the way she’d hunched her shoulders, cocooned in that pink hoodie despite the heat. She’d claimed to be coming down with something. He suspected another reason.
Emma must’ve recognized the symptoms as well. “I wonder if Ashley’s on drugs.” Emma looked down at her folded hands. “The way she was acting reminds me of…”
Nell.
Emma’s gaze turned to him. “What about you, Detective? Did you observe anything useful?”
“I noticed the sliding door’s glass hasn’t been cleaned lately. Or replaced.”
“You don’t think Sonny fell through the door and that’s how he got… impaled?”
“If the glass looked new, I’d have considered it.”
“I thought you said they determined the glass they found was thicker than standard window glass.”
“They did. I’m just keeping all options open right now.”
Emma’s phone buzzed. She stared at the screen. “It’s Eric’s attorney.” She answered. And listened.
Matthias glanced over and saw the color drain from her cheeks.
“Is he—how bad is it?”
He slowed and looked for a spot to pull off the road, possibly turn around, thinking his chat with Winslow was going to have to wait.
“Okay. Thanks for calling. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Emma lowered her phone and turned to Matthias.
“What happened?”
“Eric’s been transferred to the ER at Washington Hospital. A group of inmates beat him up pretty bad.”
* * *
Emma spotted Fran Goodwin the moment they cleared security at the ER. Instead of a metal detector, Fran carried one of the large plastic bags the hospital provided for patients’ clothing. It took a moment before Emma remembered Fran saying she worked at the hospital.
Fran spotted her and waved her over.
“What’s going on?” Emma asked.
“Eric told me you were coming.” Fran glanced around furtively, her gaze settling on Matthias. “You’re going to have to wait out here.” She laser-focused on Emma. “You. Come with me.”
Emma gave Matthias an I-don’t-know shrug as she trailed after Fran, who led the way across the waiting room and into the women’s restroom. Fran checked under the stall doors for feet. Determining they were alone, she shoved the bag at Emma.
“What’s this?”
“Scrubs and a stethoscope.” Fran wagged a finger. “And an employee badge.”
“What?”
“Don’t ask.” Fran held one of the stall doors open. “Just get in there and change if you want to see Eric.”
Emma took the bag and stepped inside, latching the door behind her.
“There’s one cop standing guard outside Eric’s room,” Fran said, “but he won’t check close enough to see the badge doesn’t belong to you.”
Emma pulled it out and looked. “Timothy Ross? This is a guy.”
“Like I said. The cop won’t check.”
“What about the nurses?”
“They’re friends of mine. I’ve already talked to the ones you’re likely to encounter. It’ll be fine.”
Emma hoped she didn’t regret this. The last time she’d talked to Eric, he’d been furious with her. If the cop didn’t bust her and the ER staff didn’t catch her, Eric might turn her in himself.
She slipped out of her jeans and T-shirt, pulled on scrubs decorated with cartoon characters, slung the stethoscope around her neck, and clipped on Timothy Ross’s ID badge. After stuffing her clothes into the bag, she stepped out of the stall.
Fran gave her a quick inspection. “That’ll do. Come on.”
Emma trotted after Fran, out of the restroom and across the waiting room. “What’s Tim doing without his ID?” Emma asked, tapping the badge.
“Staying put, I hope.”