Chapter 14
The morning was cool and flat, the kind of early September morning that wasn’t quite summer anymore but also didn’t seem ready to move on to fall.
The trees lining the road were just beginning to change, with a small blush of amber here and there in the upper canopy, and a light sprinkling of yellow.
The light had that particular quality it takes on in the Adirondacks as the season shifts, lower and more golden.
Sylvie cracked the passenger window a few inches while her elbow rested on the door, her coffee thermos still in her hand.
She had been ready and waiting as soon as Jewel pulled up to the house, as if she’d been watching the clock, but Jewel waited until they were clear of the driveway and onto the county road before telling her about her call to Carly.
“So, let’s go over it again. What exactly did Carly say she heard?”
Jewel took a deep breath, this time trying to gather her thoughts in a cleaner, more organized way.
“Well, we already know that Rebecca has called Ashley several times. Ashley told me that herself. But what Carly heard was different. She heard Ashley’s name come up in connection with meeting up with Robert.
This wasn’t just Rebecca calling Ashley to gossip about Cole or me.
This clearly links Ashley directly to Robert.
She said that hearing his name alongside Ashley’s in the same breath just didn’t sit right with her. ”
Sylvie sipped absently at her coffee, then furrowed her brows. “Did she hear if they were planning something, or just the connection of their names?”
She pressed her lips together. “Just the connection. She caught enough to know Ashley and Robert had been in direct contact, and not just through Rebecca as a go-between. She didn’t have the full picture, but she knew it felt wrong, and she figured I’d want to know.”
“She was right about that.”
Whatever complicated feelings she still harbored about Carly and the whole Abbey Lane incident, she was thankful for the call.
“Yes, she was. The question is, what are they all planning? What does Ashley gain from hanging out with Robert? She already believes Cole is guilty. She certainly doesn’t need Robert’s help with that. ”
“No, but she might need his help to do something about it. Resources. Access. Someone willing to get their hands into things she can’t.”
They sat in silence for a long minute.
Then Jewel exhaled slowly. “And in exchange, Robert gets her knowledge of everything connected to Vivian. Everything she knows about Cole, about the investigation, and about me.”
“Yes, about you,” Sylvie repeated softly. “Don’t forget that. Whatever Ashley believes she’s doing to help Vivian, I’m certain Robert’s interest lies in you, not Vivian. And that’s what worries me the most.”
The road curved through a stand of birch trees, their white trunks pale against the dark of the pines behind them. For a stretch, she drove without speaking, letting it all settle in.
Finally, with a shake of her head, she turned to Sylvie. “I’m going to miss you.” She hadn’t planned to blurt it out quite so bluntly, but there it was.
Sylvie smiled, gazing at her affectionately. “I’m going to miss you, too. More than I expected, honestly. I don’t make friends easily. Conrad would say that’s his fault and he’d probably be half-right.”
“It’s no one’s fault. Some people just take longer to find each other.”
“Is that what we did? Find each other?”
“I think so.” And she meant it. In another life, under different circumstances, Sylvie would’ve been exactly the type of woman she would have sought out.
Steady, straightforward, and able to face hardships without flinching.
It would be tough to continue this investigation without Sylvie’s support.
And she wasn’t the only one who would lose a friend.
“Beck will be heartbroken when Della leaves.”
Sylvie’s laugh was genuine and warm. “That goes for Della, too. She’s already asked me twice if we can come back for Thanksgiving.
Don’t worry. It won’t be as long as you think.
We’ll come back as soon as she has a school break.
I promise you that.” She said it with the quiet certainty that left no doubt she meant what she said.
Jewel nodded but kept her eyes straight ahead.
She didn’t doubt Sylvie’s words. That wasn’t what made her uneasy.
It was the simple, harder question of whether she would still be here when they returned.
She had no idea if the fragile, unspoken connection between her and Cole would still be intact, or if the investigation, Robert, or the weight of everything unresolved would finally cause it to fall apart.
She had no clue how long, or if, Otter Creek would still be hers by that time.
Of course, she didn’t say any of that aloud. She just watched the road.
As they drove further into town, the coffee shop appeared, its small parking lot half-full, and the hand-painted sign caught the morning light. She pulled in, turned off the engine, and sat for a moment with her hands in her lap.
Sylvie nodded toward a truck parked near the entrance. “That’s hers, isn’t it? She’s already here.”
She took a breath and looked at the door. “You ready?”
Sylvie reached for the door handle calmly, clearly more than ready to face Ashley. “Let’s go find out exactly what Ashley Meyers knows.”
The bell above the door chimed as they entered, and Ashley looked up from her corner table with a relaxed, relieved smile, as if she had been waiting and was happy the wait was over. It was the smile of a friend—natural, warm, and completely genuine.
It stayed in place for exactly the time it took her eyes to move past her shoulder and see Sylvie. The smile didn’t so much disappear as recalibrate, finding a slightly less friendly setting. “Oh. I didn’t know you were bringing someone.”
Jewel eased into the chair opposite her with the calm confidence she’d learned to put on like a coat when needed. “I hope it’s okay. She’s been cooped up at the house taking care of Susan, so I figured she could use a break.”
Ashley laughed lightly, but her eyes watched Sylvie as she sat down. “Of course. I just thought it would be the two of us. I had some things I wanted to talk through.”
Sylvie pulled her chair in, allowing it to scrape loudly on the floor. “Please feel free to talk. Why would it make a difference if I’m here?”
Something flickered in Ashley’s eyes, but she covered it with a small laugh. “It doesn’t. I just wasn’t expecting… It doesn’t matter. Never mind.”
A waitress came over, and they ordered. The small, ordinary task seemed to give Ashley enough time to resettle herself, and by the time the waitress brought the coffee, her composure was back in place, her hands relaxed around her mug, and her expression open and engaged. Ready.
For a moment, Jewel allowed the silence to linger before looking Ashley straight in the eyes. “You said you wanted to explain your reaction when I mentioned seeing Vivian’s bracelet on someone.”
Ashley exhaled, and the breath itself was clearly a performance.
It expressed relief, regret, and a desire to be open and honest. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that a lot since it happened.
And I owe you an apology. Hearing you describe it just knocked me sideways.
You know how it is when something hits you out of the blue before you’ve had a chance to brace for it.
” Her eyes softened with something that looked very much like genuine grief.
“Viv wore that bracelet every single day. I’d recognize it anywhere.
So when you said you’d seen it on someone else, it was a shock.
” She offered them both a small, tired smile.
“I’m sorry I ran out on you like that. I guess it was just too much for me in that moment. ”
Jewel glanced at Ashley over her cup, not trying to hide her skepticism. “Of course.”
“And the more I think about it, I realize you were probably right. It was just a similar piece of jewelry you saw. I mean, there are probably a million silver bracelets in the world. Who’s to say some of them don’t look alike?
I think I just needed to believe it was hers because I needed her to still be around somewhere. Does that make sense?”
This time, it was easier for her to see that the sadness on Ashley’s face wasn’t genuine. “Of course it does. When did you last see Vivian’s bracelet?”
Ashley didn’t hesitate. “She always wore it, so I suppose the last time I saw it was the last time I saw her. She never took it off.”
She nodded slowly, letting another beat pass before speaking in a relaxed, conversational tone, as if she were simply curious rather than intentionally probing.
“That’s funny. I was looking back through some pictures the other night, and I could’ve sworn I saw a picture of you and Vivian together where you were wearing it. ”
Of course, she hadn’t seen any such picture. In fact, she hadn’t seen many pictures of Vivian at all, but since her last bluff had worked, she waited to see if this one would, too.
The stillness that moved through Ashley lasted less than two seconds.
But it was definitely there, and it was specific.
She felt it in the way she felt most things when interviewing someone.
Not with her ears, but somewhere lower, in the trained instinct of someone who had spent years watching people navigate the gap between what they knew and what they were willing to say.
Ashley’s eyes dropped to the table for just a moment.
One moment. Then she looked back up. She laughed softly, a little color rising in her face.
“I mean, sure, occasionally she’d let me borrow it.
We were besties, after all. If we were going out somewhere, and it went with what I was wearing.
It’s not like it was a regular thing, but she was generous like that.
She knew I liked it.” She paused, then added, “But I always gave it back. It was hers. I never would’ve kept it. ”
“No, of course not.” She deliberately kept her eyes on Ashley, letting the background noise of the coffee shop fill the silence.
Across the table, Sylvie said nothing. She had spoken very little since they’d sat down, and the tone of her silence had gradually changed.
Sylvie wasn’t watching Ashley the way you watch someone you suspect.
She was observing her the way you watch something you’re waiting for.
Patient, still, and completely unhurried.
Ashley glanced at Sylvie once, then back to Jewel. “So, we’re okay then? I mean, that’s why you wanted to meet, right? To clear the air?”
She glanced at Sylvie, then back at Ashley. “Partly. There was one other thing.”
She felt rather than saw Ashley’s stillness.
When Sylvie spoke, her voice was quiet and even. “Do you know Robert Sinclair?”
Ashley blinked, then let out a small, puzzled laugh, the kind meant to make the question seem a little silly.
“Jewel’s ex? Sure. I mean, I’ve heard of him.
We’ve talked about him enough times.” She looked at Jewel with something that almost seemed warm.
“The way you’ve described him, I feel like I know him better than I’d like to. ”
Sylvie shook her head. “No, I don’t mean know of him. I mean, personally. Have you ever met him?”
This time, Ashley’s laugh was shorter, forced. “No. Why would I have met him?” Her eyes moved between them. “What is this?”
Jewel eyed at her steadily. “I saw you with him. Outside the coffee shop before we met a few weeks ago. You were standing by his car. You were laughing with him, and you took his card.”
Ashley’s face didn’t gradually change. It shifted all at once, with color and tension coming together, and the calm, grieving friend who had sat across the table vanished so quickly and completely that the contrast itself became its own kind of answer.
“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. None at all. I don’t know that man, and I’ve never met him. I don’t know why you would say that.” The words flew out too fast and too flat, lacking any of the warmth that had been in her voice thirty seconds earlier.
“Ashley—”
“No!” Ashley’s chair scraped back an inch.
Her jaw was clenched, her eyes shining with something that had gone beyond embarrassment into something more raw.
“Do you know how hard I have fought? For Viv? For the truth? I’ve pushed and pushed for someone to take this seriously, and I chose you—” Her voice cracked on the word, but she pushed through it.
“I trusted you to find out what happened to her. And this is what I get.” Her eyes shot to Sylvie.
“Bringing her here to accuse me like that!”
“Nobody’s accusing you of anything,” Sylvie used the same quiet, even tone she’d used for the entire conversation. Which somehow made it worse.
Ashley stood up, her bag sliding off the back of the chair in one smooth motion.
Her voice had risen enough that the couple at the nearest table had fallen silent, eyeing her carefully.
“You know what? That’s just fine. If this is what you think of me, then fine.
We’re done.” She dropped a bill on the table without glancing at it.
“But don’t come to me when you realize you’ve got nobody left in this town who’s willing to go to bat for you because that’s exactly what will happen. You’ll see.”
She stormed out, the bell above the door chiming once, sharp and bright, and then the coffee shop settled back into calm like water receding into the ocean.
The couple at the next table found somewhere else to look.
For a moment, Sylvie watched the door, then turned back to her coffee with the unhurried calm of someone whose expectations had been met precisely. “There’s no question she borrowed that bracelet. A lot.”
Jewel looked down at the bill Ashley had left on the table. A twenty, for a four-dollar coffee. “Yeah, definitely more than occasionally. Enough that she wasn’t surprised I would’ve seen it on her in a picture.”
“And she clearly knows Robert.”
Her heart felt heavy. “Yes, she does.”
Sylvie picked up her coffee. “Well, at least now we know what we’re dealing with.”
She groaned. “The problem is knowing what to do with all of this.”
Sylvie set down her cup and looked at her with the warm gaze Jewel had come to recognize as her version of a hand on the shoulder. “One thing at a time, Jewel. You know more today than you did yesterday.”
She looked at the empty chair across the table, at the twenty-dollar bill. At the coffee Ashley had barely touched.
She was starting to wonder if she really wanted to know more.