Chapter 11 #2
“Doing just fine. How are you liking Bluebell Cove? You must know it so well after, what, six weeks here?” Sophie asked.
“Yes, well, like I said, it’s beautiful,” Ruth said, eyeing the door distractedly.
Sophie searched Ruth’s face for clues, then decided to come out and ask the question that weighed most on her mind. “Why did you say people are dangerous here?”
Ruth’s face went pale. “Did I say that?”
“When my cousin and I saw you on the beach.”
“Oh, well. I’m getting older and more frightened.” Ruth shrugged. “I’m sure I was out of my mind, scared of the black water at night.”
“Oh.” Sophie tilted her head.
“Not that I’m senile enough to believe there’s anything to be afraid of out there,” Ruth hurried to add. “You know how writers are. We’re always making up stories in our heads.”
“What was the story you made up?” Sophie asked. “About the people in Bluebell, I mean.”
Ruth laughed falsely and put her hands in her jacket pockets. “Do you mind if we talk about this later? I have an appointment, and I don’t want to be late.”
“Are you interviewing someone?” Sophie asked. She wasn’t sure why, but she thought she caught the beginnings of a lie in Ruth’s voice. “Someone for an article?”
“Yes,” Ruth said.
“Good luck!” Sophie called.
“Thank you. It means a lot.” Ruth sucked in her cheeks and turned away.
Liar, Sophie thought as Ruth headed away. Sophie would know a liar anywhere, as she was in the midst of so many lies herself right now. Liars always recognized other liars.
Later, after her shift and when she went to The Dockside, Sophie slid into the booth with Lily and said, “She couldn’t get away from me fast enough this afternoon.”
Lily threw her head back with laughter. “We didn’t plan on frightening her, did we?”
“She’s hiding something,” Sophie said.
“Yeah, well. Maybe she’s only hiding, like, something innocuous. Didn’t Aunt Celia say that her husband died?” Lily asked.
“There was no mention of her ever getting married, not anywhere online,” Sophie reminded her. “It’s killing me. I want to know her story!”
“Me too,” Lily confessed. “Everyone in our lives is an open book. They all want to talk about everything.”
Just then, Juliet came out of the back office, waving with both hands as she hurried to Lily and Sophie’s booth. “My girls!” she said, sliding in beside Sophie and reaching for Lily’s hand. “You didn’t tell me you were coming. I would have had the cooks make you something special.”
“We don’t need anything special,” Lily said. “We just wanted to sit around and eat junk food and gossip.”
Juliet laughed. “What are we gossiping about?”
Sophie and Lily made a split-second decision to tell Juliet what was going on. After all, Juliet didn’t work at the Eco-Lodge. Minus a few dinners and that night at the spring festival, she’d barely had any contact with Ruth Landers.
“It’s the woman at the Eco-Lodge,” Lily explained. “We feel like she’s keeping secrets.”
Juliet nodded. “She’s awfully cagey.”
“You feel that way, too?” Lily asked.
“Sure! Why has she been here so long?” Juliet muttered. “What is she working on? I mean, my theory is it’s a novel, something she wants to hide away and write alone.”
Sophie grimaced, and Juliet laughed. “I guess that isn’t good enough for you,” Juliet offered. “You want something criminal. Something wild.”
Just then, the door opened, bringing in four men between the ages of forty-five and seventy.
Juliet shot to her feet, adjusted her blouse, and smiled.
“Good evening, gentlemen.” She muttered down at Sophie, “They’re investors.
We need a healthy cash influx for the new menu.
Everything rides on this.” She abandoned the table, just as Theo stepped out of the kitchen and reached for the men’s hands, shaking them.
“Evening. So glad you could make it,” Theo said to each of them.
Sophie watched the men, her head tilted.
Although she wasn’t familiar with any of them, she recognized them as the Bluebell Cove elite, men who probably lived in the biggest houses on the cliffs and who’d probably been miffed at her article a few years back.
Maybe she’d ensured they lost money, diverting them from their quest to destroy the environment and balloon their bank accounts.
She hoped so. She also hoped that Juliet would introduce her to them en route to their table, but she didn’t.
The four men sat at a table about ten feet away from Sophie and Lily. Lily waved her hand, trying to nab Sophie’s attention again.
“Sorry,” Sophie said. “Lost in thought.”
“The thing about Ruth is, like, she’s clearly nervous about what she puts on the internet about herself,” Lily said.
Sophie nodded, trying to focus. But her eyes flickered over to the table with the men, who sat quietly, listening to Theo as he described his vision for a new menu.
She wondered how much money each of their suits had cost. Through the window, she could see one of their cars.
It was a turquoise, garish, expensive-looking sports car.
For some reason, she remembered what Ruth had said on the beach a few nights back—about Bluebell people and how dangerous they were.
“Maybe we need to get smarter about this,” Lily said as though the men weren’t there. “Maybe we need to search for Ruth Landers in other arenas. Maybe we should try the library?”
At this, one of the men at the table flinched, his dark eyes curving around to look at Sophie.
Sophie’s stomach curdled. She had the strangest sense that he was eavesdropping, that they all were.
But when Theo told a joke a moment later, all four of them laughed comfortably, as though they were immersed in whatever Theo was saying.
As though they were hanging on his every word.
“I don’t think we should talk more about this here,” Sophie said under her breath.
Lily gaped at her. “Why not? It’s not like anyone knows her. It’s not like she’s in any danger.”