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

said. “I need a lift. I need to find my phone and wallet.”

“Have you tried calling your phone?” Mom asked.

“Yes, but voice mail picks up right away. It might be out of juice.”

“I don’t want this dog,” I said.

“Not a problem,” Ricky said. “Mom will collect her when she’s ready to leave the hotel.”

“It is a problem. I—” But I was speaking to their backs as Mom and Ricky walked down the hallway. I sighed, resigning myself to my fate, and Fluffy and I followed. Fluffy strained against me, wanting to be put down so she could run back to Evangeline. I held her tighter. “Looks like you’re stuck with me, and me with you, for the duration,” I said.

She bit my finger, and I yelped in surprise and pain. Her teeth might be small, but they were very sharp.

Chapter Ten

I dropped Mom at Aunt Ellen’s and then took Ricky (and Fluffy) to search the bars of Nags Head.

“It wasn’t too far from the restaurant,” Ricky said. “I walked there. I had to cross a busy road.”

“Big place? Small? Nice or a dive?”

“I’m not entirely sure. Not the sort of establishment you’d find my mother frequenting, in any event.”

I drove slowly down Grouse Street and turned right on Highway 12 while Ricky peered out the window and munched on his bacon sandwich and Fluffy bounced around the back seat. “You should get the dog’s harness out of the rental car,” I said.

“Yeah, I guess. You and this guy, Connor. Are you going to be okay?”

“Whatever that means, yes, we’re going to be okay.”

“Mom said he’s the mayor.”

“That’s right.”

“Mom says you can never trust a politician.”

“Your mother is not a neutral observer.”

“Got that one right. There! That’s it. I think.”

“You think?”

“It’s the right one for sure. I think.”

I did a U-turn and pulled onto the cracked and broken pavement next to an establishment that you would definitely never find Ricky’s mother in. Only one car was in the lot, parked next to the back door. Blue and red lights flickered in the windows, advertising brands of beer, along with an open sign. Ricky studied the door and finally said, “Yeah, this is it. I hope they put my stuff away someplace safe. Wait here.”

“Happy to,” I said.

Ricky got out of the car, and I twisted around and held out my hand to Fluffy, bracing myself for another bite. “How are you enjoying your vacation in the Outer Banks so far?” She studied me warily, then gave my fingers a quick lick in response.

“Do you like to go for long walks on the beach?” I eyed her carefully groomed pure-white fur and the pink collar studded with rhinestones. “Probably not.”

The passenger door opened, and Ricky hopped into the car. He was not, I noticed, carrying his blazer. “Right place, but the guy I spoke to last night isn’t in, and they wouldn’t give me his number. I have to come back at five if I want to talk to him. I can only hope he hasn’t sold my phone and used my credit card for a flight to Brazil. It’s almost noon. How about lunch?”

“You just finished a sandwich five minutes ago.”

“Still hungry. Still hungover, truth be told. I need some hair of the dog.”

“Well, I don’t. I’m going back to work. I’ll drop you at the hotel.” I switched on the car’s engine and pulled into traffic. “You can get me the dog harness. I don’t like the way she’s bouncing around back there.”

As long as the little creature had been forced on me, I might as well try to look after her properly.

“What are you going to do now, Ricky?” I asked. “Are you going back to Boston today as planned?”

He said nothing for a long time, and then he let out a sigh. “I’m not sure. I should probably stay with my mom, give her moral support and all that, but your mom’s doing that. I should go back to the office, assure everyone the firm is in good hands, a steady hand on the tiller, that sort of rubbish. But it doesn’t really matter. I don’t do much there, and everyone knows it. Your dad’ll do a better job of reassuring them than I ever could. Not that they need reassuring. They’ll be glad Dad’s gone. He can’t do any more damage.”

“Surely you don’t mean that, Ricky.”

“I do. Unfortunately. He’d been making a lot of bad decisions lately, taking on bad clients. People on the lower floors are always whispering in corners about overheard shouting matches coming from the partners’ meetings. They stop whispering when I walk in, but I’ve heard enough to know they’re whispering about me too.”

I arrived at the Ocean Side. I drove past. Ricky needed to talk.

“Thing is, Lucy, Dad was a drain on the firm, and I’m in way over my head. I should have articled in another firm, got my feet wet somewhere I wasn’t the boss’s son. I should be doing smaller cases, less important ones, but Dad’s been shoving the biggest and most high-profile cases onto my desk, and then he never follows up to see how things are going, and some of the partners are ensuring I don’t get what support I need.”

“Some of the partners? You mean my dad?”

“No. Never him. Your dad’s not my biggest fan, but he’d never do anything to damage the reputation of the firm.”

“But others would?”

“Your dad’s never forgotten that Richardson Lewiston was started by his father and my grandfather. That history’s important to him. Important enough that he’s not on the side of those who want to push my father—and thus me—out. Guess that’s all a moot point now.”

I took a left turn onto a side street. “I had no idea. Ricky, the police think your dad was murdered. Is it at all possible that one of the partners or someone else at the firm decided to speed his departure along?”

“You mean by bumping him off? No, Lucy. This isn’t the