Deadly Ever After by Eva Gates (distant reading .txt) 📗

“I’d like to be able to say I met a nice young lady, but I didn’t. When the bar closed, I gave the bartender a hundred bucks to roll me into the back of his truck. When he came out this morning to get to his other job, I asked him to drop me off here. I gave him another hundred for the lift.”

“Why come here?”

“I wanted to talk to Lucy. To say good-bye and wish her well. We were close, once.”

“You maintain you didn’t see your father yesterday?”

“I did not.”

“Did you recognize anyone at all, other than Lucy, your mother, and other members of the dinner party, at Jake’s last night? Inside or out?”

“No. I—wait, there was one guy. A client of my dad’s and mine. Guy by the name of Gordon Frankland. He was having dinner in the same place and came over to say hello.”

I nodded in agreement.

“Did you see Mr. Frankland after you left the restaurant?”

“No.”

“Anyone else you’re acquainted with?”

“No.”

“Did your father have any enemies?”

Ricky snorted. “Outside the boardrooms of Boston, none that I know of. Inside, yeah, probably a lot. My dad’s been an attorney for a long time. I can’t say his ethics have always been entirely aboveboard. Not that I know anything about that, of course.”

“Of course,” Watson said. “I will point out that in my experience, even people intimately acquainted with the insides of corporate boardrooms can commit shocking acts of violence.”

Ricky said nothing.

“Was your father a regular visitor to the Outer Banks?”

“He came about once a year or so on fishing trips with clients. He worked out of Boston, but our firm has clients all over the country. Like Gordon Frankland, who, as I told you, came over to our table to say hello. It wasn’t a pleasant encounter. Guy’s a difficult client, to say the least.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing happened. He threw around a few insults and insinuations about our firm’s capabilities and then went back to his table.”

“I’m acquainted with Mr. Frankland,” Watson said. “I’ll be speaking with him. Leave your contact information with Officer Greenblatt.”

Ricky stood up. “Great. Can I have a lift back to town?”

“I don’t run a taxi service.”

The police left, leaving the door open behind them. Ricky let out a long breath. “Wow. That’s pretty hard stuff to take in.”

“It is.”

I heard voices in the hallway, and Bertie’s head popped in. “Lucy, what’s going on? Ronald said Sam’s been here to speak to a friend of yours about a death in town?”

“Hi,” Ricky said.

“Hello. I heard something on the radio this morning about that. I dared hope we wouldn’t be involved. Are we?”

“No,” I said firmly. “We are not. Unfortunately, my parents are. It was my dad’s law partner who died.”

“Goodness.”

“You’ll be wanting to check up on your mom, Lucy,” Ricky said. “She’s bound to be devastated about Dad’s death. You can give me a lift to the hotel.”

“I—”

“Take some time if you need it, Lucy,” Bertie said. “You put in a lot of extra hours last week when Ronald was off sick.”

Time I’d been hoping to spend with Connor in our search for a house. Before I could point that out, Ricky said, “Great! Let’s go. I have got to get out of these clothes.”

Chapter Nine

Connor had driven me home after dinner last night, and Dad had my car. I had to go into town to get it anyway, so I called a taxi to come for Ricky and me. We drove to the Ocean Side in silence. I had nothing more to say to Ricky, and he was wrapped in his own thoughts.

As we walked up the front steps together, Ricky began patting his jeans pockets.

“Looking for something?” I passed him the room key.

“Thanks,” he mumbled. “Must have dropped it.”

Ricky’s room was next to his mother’s. He knocked, the door flew open, and Evangeline threw herself at him while Fluffy danced around their legs, barking frantically.

“It’s okay, Mom.” Ricky patted her back. “I’m here now. Sorry if you were worried.” He led her into the room, and I followed. I nudged Fluffy with my foot to get her inside and shut the door. The little dog kept barking. I was surprised the hotel hadn’t thrown her out by now. I bent over and gave her what I hoped was a comforting pat. “It’s okay. We’re all okay.”

She stopped barking as abruptly as though a switch had been thrown. Evangeline dropped onto the couch, and Fluffy leapt up beside her.

Watson and Butch stood silently, watching everything.

“Fancy meeting you here,” I said.

“Don’t push it, Lucy,” Watson replied.

“Hi, Mom,” I said.

My mother was sitting in the desk chair. Despite having spent the night on a pullout couch and being continually disturbed, she looked fresh and dewy and ready for another fun-filled day. She’d found the time to apply her makeup and fix her hair and was dressed in a different outfit of white capris, a blue-and-white-striped T-shirt, and blue espadrilles. Perhaps only I noticed that she was still wearing the earrings she’d had on last night, and the dangling diamonds didn’t suit today’s jaunty casual nautical attire.

“Ellen dropped off a few things for me a short while ago. She came in your car, and Amos drove her home.” Mom passed me my keys, and I slipped them into my bag. “Your father’s been up for hours, she tells me, making phone calls. He’s going home as planned later today, but we think it best if I stay a while longer.”

“I’ve been calling you all night,” Evangeline said to Ricky. “Why didn’t you reply? Where have you been? I’ve been so dreadfully worried.”

“Sorry, Mom. I didn’t hear the phone. I uh … ran into a friend.” Ricky ducked his head and looked very boyish and chastised as he lied comfortably. I hoped he’d have more sense than to try to lie to the police.

“I’ll forgive you. This time,” she said. “Detective Watson was explaining to me that they can’t release your father’s body yet. Pending, as he put it,