Isabel #2
The moment the glass door clicked shut behind Baxter and Dr. Wineberg, Pete walked over to the back booth, a wide, boyish grin splitting his weathered face. He reached into his apron pocket and slid a small, silver digital dictaphone onto the table between Isabel and Penny.
"There you go, ladies," Pete said, chuckling softly as he wiped his hands on his apron. "That was the most excitement I've had behind that counter in five years."
"Thank you so much, Pete," Penny said, quickly snapping up the device and dropping it safely into her leather handbag. "We appreciate you helping us verify this."
"As long as this doesn't get my diner into some kind of legal trouble," Pete said, his smile wavering slightly as he looked toward the door. "I know there are strict laws about recording people without their knowledge in this state."
"What recording?" the young server who had waited on Darius and Baxter’s table chimed in, beaming as she walked over to join them, holding a tray of fresh water glasses.
"Someone accidentally left a personal vlogging device running on a public table in a busy restaurant?
It happens all the time." She shrugged, flashing a brilliant, knowing grin as Pete gaped at his daughter in utter astonishment.
"Actually," Penny said, grinning back at the young woman. "That's a brilliant defense if this ever did come to light. Which it won't, because this file is strictly for Isabel and me to review before we have a family meeting."
"No problem at all, Penny," Pete's daughter said, her smile growing even wider. "I’m a local lifestyle influencer, so if anyone asks, I was just recording B-roll footage of my father’s establishment for my morning stream. I do it twice a week anyway."
Penny, Isabel, and even Pete looked at the young woman in absolute awe.
"If you ever decide to leave the restaurant business," Penny laughed, her eyes crinkling with genuine admiration, "let me know. I think you'd make a brilliant corporate defense attorney."
The young woman laughed, tucked her tray under her arm, and led her father back toward the kitchen. Isabel and Penny waited for another two minutes, allowing Baxter’s car to clear the main road, before they slid out of the booth and stepped into the heavy, golden sunlight of the parking lot.
Penny took the driver's seat of their car, turning the key in the ignition and navigating the vehicle back onto the main avenue leading toward Sweet Blossom Bay. The interior of the car was quiet for several miles, the weight of what they’d discovered settling over both of them.
"My mother wanted to protect this town," Isabel said suddenly, her jaw clenching as she stared out the passenger window at the passing mangroves.
"While initially they wanted to rebuild it and expand the commerce, before they died, they were talking about renovating it from the inside out.
They wanted to give it a facelift, inject our family's capital into the existing structures, and preserve the history.
I won't let my brother, Baxter, or his Charleston ice queen destroy what she loved. "
"You need to sit down and tell Darius exactly how your parents changed their mind," Penny told her, her fingers gripping the steering wheel as she turned into the hotel district. "I’m certain that will be the final straw that snaps his already wavering resolve to build that commercial complex here. He’s already conflicted, Isabel. You saw his body language."
"I did tell him, Penny," Isabel admitted, her voice dropping into a sad, hollow tone. "The year of the accident.” She glanced at the woman in the driver's seat. “He was still at college, and I phoned him a few times a week back then.” She thought about the small device in her purse. “I’d even told him about the trust, and that our parents were looking for alternative areas to build the resort and mall. So it’s not like he didn’t know about it.”
“Have you told him recently?” Penny asked.
“I didn’t think I had to,” Isabel admitted. “I hadn’t heard he was still pursuing the original project.”
“Well, it was when he was in college that you told him,” Penny pointed out. “Maybe he just didn’t remember, as a lot happened back then. A lot of emotional stress from your parents' accident.”
She shook her head, a tear catching the light on her cheek before she brushed it away as she thought about everyone she’d lost in her life. Isabel took a deep breath and pushed back the ache that never healed. It had always been a bruise that penetrated her soul.
“Isabel, maybe you need to tell him again. I’ll go with you,” Penny suggested. “What we need to do is you and me sit down with the trust so I can go over it with you.”
“I do need help with it,” Isabel told her with a nod of agreement. “My regular legal and financial consultants have since retired or passed away.” She sniffed and stared out the windshield. “I’ve actually been meaning to ask you for a while now, I just never got around to it.”
“Well, I think now is as good a time as any for me to step in then,” Penny told her, and Isabel agreed. “So tell me what you told your brother back then about this. Does he know about the trust?”
“He’s never asked about it,” Isabel told her. “I always just assumed he knew my parents wanted me to run it and left me to it.”
“Or he really doesn’t know about it,” Penny said softly, a thoughtful glint in her eyes.
Isabel breathed deeply, glancing down at her hands in her lap as her heart felt heavy with disappointment and anger.
"I told Darius right before our parents died that they didn't want to build this resort anymore.” Her jaw clenched so tight it ached. “I told him they wanted to save the town through the heritage trust, and all these years I thought he’d backed off.” Her hands balled into fists on her lap, and her voice was trembling slightly. "What the heck is he doing?"
“Let’s go home and listen to the recording.” Penny’s face softened, a deep, sorrowful understanding settling over her features as she pulled the car into the sweeping driveway of Hearts Hotel. "We find out exactly what is going on."
A thought struck Isabel hard and fast. Her eyes widened as she sat looking up at the beautiful house.
“Penny, do you think Darius is doing this because of my parents' death?” Isabel held Penny’s eyes. “He’s tearing the town apart because he hates it?”
“Why would he be doing that?” Penny asked, confused. “From what I’ve seen, Darius doesn’t hate Sweet Blossom Bay. He actually seems more relaxed than usual, even a bit conflicted over the resort plans.”
“That’s the confusing part,” Isabel stated. “I can see the conflict, like he wants to preserve the bay, but then there’s that driving part of him that is adamant to destroy the place on the ruse that it’s my parents' dream.”
“What are you saying?” Penny sat leaning forward, looking at Isabel with both of her hands on the steering wheel.
“Revenge?” Isabel said simply. “It’s revenge on the Bay and the people who live here.”
Penny’s brow crumpled. “I don’t understand. What possible reason could Darius have to want revenge on an entire town? Especially one that meant so much to your family.”
“Do you know how my parents died?” Isabel asked her.
“A car accident,” Penny answered.
“They were coming back from having gone to negotiate over a piece of land,” Isabel told her. “The residents were being stubborn and tricky about it. My parents had gone to the place to negotiate.”
“Okay,” Penny said, and Isabel saw the moment it dawned on her. “No!” Her eyes widened.
“Yes.” Isabel nodded. “They were on their way home from Sweet Blossom Bay after going to negotiate on the land with George Heart.”