Chapter 4
After Greg talked to Carrie, he grabbed his badge and gun from the office. “I’ll be back. Can you entertain Mom, Jim, and Beth?”
“I can’t go with you,” I said, more of a statement than a question. Of course, Greg didn’t want me there and we had family in town. “I’ll handle it. I guess it’s too much to ask for Chip to have died when a keg fell or from a heart attack.”
“It’s never easy around here.” Greg kissed my cheek.
“I’m sure you’ll hear it from the grapevine, so I’ll just tell you what Carrie told me.
Chip was in the back room where the safe is located.
Chris put the cashbox from the tournament in there last night before she left.
They’d already loaded up the toys from the community center.
Then she went in to get the cashbox and found Chip tied up to a chair.
With duct tape, according to Carrie. She’s very good at giving a calm description of the scene. Must be her attachment to Doc.”
He paused and looked around to make sure no one was listening. “He was used as a target for steel-tip dart practice for a bit, then appears to have been tortured. The killer left him to bleed out.”
“Someone wanted something Chip had.” I met Greg’s look. “Dom’s motorcycle gang was right there. I don’t want to stereotype…”
“Then don’t. I don’t like the Demon Dogs much.
There are way too many stories about them running drugs and other things that I don’t want to even go into.
But Dom was a perfect gentleman at dinner the other day.
He charmed all the ladies, even with Lille glaring at him through the entire meal.
” He glanced at his watch. “Look, I’ve got to go.
Take the group out for dinner for me. I’m pretty sure I won’t be back until late. ”
I followed him out the door and, after closing it behind me, called out, “Don’t leave me here with Jim and Beth fighting. I’ve never been good at conflict. And Jim hates me.”
“He doesn’t hate you. Just have fun. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Maybe someone left their wallet on the floor or a note saying why they killed Chip and I’ll have it tied up before dinner.” He rubbed Emma’s head. “Take care of your mom. I’ll see you as soon as I can.”
Emma and I watched as Greg got into his truck and backed out of the driveway.
Across the street, Deek was walking into town.
He raised a hand in greeting. He didn’t have a long shift, and Sundays were usually dead, but he’d volunteered to open the shop today.
I figured it might give him quiet time to write.
I waved, then went back into the house to face my assignment. Take care of the in-laws. Sometimes marriage was hard work.
Beth and Amanda were sitting around the kitchen table.
I saw Jim sitting outside on the back porch.
The table was covered with jars of red, green, blue, and silver paints, baubles, and sparkles.
Beth grinned at me. “It’s time to make this year’s King family Christmas decorations.
Last year we did door wreaths. We’ve brought paper reindeer to decorate.
These will go lovely on the fireplace mantel.
We might even find a red sleigh for them to pull. ”
Inwardly, I groaned. I was horrible at crafty things.
I didn’t have the talent to make something worth displaying.
But this was a family activity. I couldn’t say no.
Maybe later, we could head to the beach and collect shells to put in the back of my Santa sleigh.
I put on a smile and looked at Emma, who covered her eyes. “Where do we start?”
After a fun—for Amanda and Beth, torture for me—afternoon, we’d voted on having dinner at Diamond Lille’s.
The only full-service restaurant in town.
It was homey and touristy at the same time and I loved their food.
The only problem was the owner, Lille Stanley, hated me.
And, after losing to Greg in the tournament, she hated all of us.
Well, except Harrold. She adored Harrold.
There was a story there, but I’d never heard it.
Of course, it wasn’t hard to adore my new uncle.
He owned and ran the Train Station, a model train store.
He had even built a model of South Cove in the middle of the store.
All the kids made a beeline to his store as their first stop when they arrived in town.
He was Santa without the red suit.
As we were seated, I saw Carrie bringing us water. “Hey, how did the delivery go?”
“After a rough start”—Carrie smiled as she looked around the sparsely filled dining room—“we got the toys off to Santa. Greg said he’d let us know when we can take the money.
It was a good thing that we counted before we put the money into the safe or we’d be trying to prove what we made.
Thank goodness we got the bar’s donation before we left last night.
Chip said he wanted to sleep in, so he paid us out of the cash register.
Oh, and Lille and Dom made a sizable donation as well. ”
“Well, it was a lovely and fun fundraiser,” Beth commented. “And such a worthy cause.”
Carrie blushed. “It was the book club’s idea. The Cove Connection. We meet at Jill’s store every Tuesday night. You should come when you’re in town. I think you’d love it.”
“That’s a great idea.” I turned to Beth. “I have the book at the house.”
“I’m not sure Beth should…” Jim started, then stopped.
Whatever he was going to say about what Beth should or shouldn’t do died on his lips when he saw the look Beth was giving him.
“I’d love to attend. Jill, I know you spend a lot of time at the store, but maybe you and Mom could come too? I’d love to read the same book as you guys. Maybe we could Zoom in for the meeting once we get home.” Beth was all in.
I thought Beth’s excitement about joining the group was mostly because Jim had tried to tell her no. One day, he might even learn.
* * *
Monday morning, Greg had been in the house and was gone before I’d even woken up.
When I checked my messages, he’d texted the instructions for the day.
His family, his plan, I guessed. I needed to pop in and make sure Aunt Jackie and Harrold didn’t need me to do anything around their place since they were leaving first thing in the morning for a Caribbean cruise.
Everyone, it seemed, was on a short winter vacation except for me.
Well, and Greg. Now I felt guilty. At least I didn’t have to work on a murder case.
I needed to get going fast. Amanda and Beth were being dropped off in a few minutes so Jim could spend the day golfing. I figured it was also a way to keep the couple separated for at least a few hours. Dinner had been tense.
I wouldn’t want to marry the guy. I didn’t know how Beth stood for his moods.
My experience as a former divorce lawyer told me unless they figured this out soon, the marriage wouldn’t last long.
I’d heard too many stories about how a man changed after the wedding.
I didn’t know if they felt the societal pressure of caring for a family or a wife, but I’d seen laid-back guys turn into controlling freaks right after the honeymoon was over.
Maybe the credit card bills from the honeymoon caused the metamorphosis.
Either way, I wanted Beth and Jim to be happy. Whatever that looked like for them.
When Amanda and Beth came through the door, Amanda looked stressed. Beth had been crying. It didn’t look like either one was ready to head out and do some touristing.
“Morning, family.” I widened my smile when Beth grimaced at the term. “I still need to get Emma out on the beach. Who wants to go with me? We can just walk. The weather’s perfect.”
“I’ll be doing enough walking through Solvang when we hit there. I’ll stay and have some of that coffee I smell. I need something to eat if you don’t mind. Don’t worry, I can forage for myself. You girls go ahead.” Amanda headed to the kitchen to make something for her breakfast.
I figured she wanted Beth to have someone to talk to who wasn’t in the pro-Jim camp. Amanda loved Beth, but she also loved her son. “Sounds good.” I grabbed Emma’s leash that I had on the front table by the door and glanced down at Beth’s shoes. They’d do. “Are you ready?”
“More than ready. I can’t believe how centered I feel just from a small glimpse of the ocean as we drive past. You’re so lucky to live here.” Beth smiled and held the door open. “Amanda, we won’t be long.”
Amanda came out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee. “Take your time. I’m really into this book we’ll be talking about on Tuesday.”
I’d given Amanda my copy of The Wishing Game before they’d left last night. She’d gone out on the porch to read while we sat around the kitchen table, talking. Well, Beth and I talked. Jim had been on his phone the whole time.
As we walked down to the beach, Beth pointed to Esmeralda’s house. “If your neighbor ever decides to sell, let me know. I might need three jobs to pay for the mortgage, but it would be worth it for ten minutes of beach time every day.”
“You’ll never leave Nebraska,” I joked at her.
Esmeralda’s house looked different. Not sad or empty, but like it was adjusting to its new occupant.
It somehow weirdly looked like a writer’s home.
Something Hemingway would have lived in.
I had never seen that vision before. Usually, it looked like a fun house on Halloween.
Not the scary ones, but the kid-friendly houses.
“It is a lovely house, though. My barista, Deek, is staying there until Esmeralda gets back from New Orleans. Doesn’t it look like a writer lives there? ”