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

her a look of such adoration I felt awful all over again at distrusting him. Daisy punched her brother in the arm. “Let’s go. I missed lunch, and I’m absolutely starving.”

They left, and I remembered I was supposed to have called Connor about Louise Jane’s supposed house find. I doubted very much it would be worth looking at, but it couldn’t hurt.

“Louise Jane wants to show us a house?” he said.

“That’s what she said.”

“It’s not my birthday. It’s not your birthday. We’ve had our engagement party. Is she planning a surprise shower and using this as a pretext?”

“I might have suspected something like that too, except she didn’t specify a time. She asked me to let her know when we were free. Not at night.”

“Might as well do it tomorrow. Get it over with.”

“Okay. I’ll tell her ten?”

“That’ll work. About what happened last night … I assume there were no more strange happenings today?”

“A perfectly normal day at the Lighthouse Library. I haven’t forgotten about it, and I kept myself on alert all day.”

“Good. I wish I could see you tonight, but—”

“But this mayoral meeting’s been arranged for a long time and you have to go. It’s okay, Connor. I have no plans for tonight except to stay in. I’ll be safe as lighthouses. Once the front door’s locked, no one can get to me without a battering ram. I have a can of soup in the cupboard and half a sandwich from Josie’s for dinner. Charles and Fluffy are here to protect me from any intruders.”

Hearing his name, Charles leapt onto the desk and lay down for a belly rub. I obliged.

“Why does that not make me feel better?” Connor said.

“It should. Charles has protected me before.”

Connor chuckled.

Charles nodded.

Chapter Twenty-One

Ricky was the first person to return my call. As I’d told Connor I planned to do, I’d made myself an impromptu dinner of a bowl of soup and a leftover sandwich before curling up on the bed with Charles on one side of me, Fluffy on the other, and my iPad on my lap, watching a movie on Netflix.

“Mom and I will be leaving on Monday,” Ricky said. “The police are going to release Dad’s body, and the arrangements have been made to take him home. I’d like to see you before I go.”

I hesitated. “I don’t think I’ll have the time.”

“What about now? Tonight. I know you’re home. You’re the only person I know who still has a landline, so I know you’re in the lighthouse.”

I hadn’t thought Ricky had lured me out of the lighthouse the other night. I couldn’t believe he’d want to frighten me. Maybe I was naïve, but he still seemed to have feelings for me. His comment confirmed my instinct: if it had been him, he would have called me on the landline.

Rather than answering his question about coming over, I explained. “The cell reception’s poor to nonexistent here, so we still need a physical connection.”

“That’s what I thought. It’s not late, and you’re off work tomorrow. How about I come and get you and we can go into town? Find a nice lounge somewhere, have a couple of drinks, listen to some music, talk about the good old days. About us in the good old days. I can be there in fifteen minutes. Please say yes, Lucy. We did have some good days, didn’t we?”

Despite my assurances to myself about Ricky, my danger antenna pricked up. “Why would you come all this way to get me?”

“So I can ply you with liquor, of course. For old times’ sake, Lucy?” His voice was playful, trying to make light of the issues—no big deal—but I could hear the seriousness beneath.

I felt guilty about even thinking that Ricky, a man I’d known for so long and been close to once, could possibly have meant me harm. “I’m comfortably settled for a night in.”

“Then I’ll join you. I haven’t seen your apartment yet.”

“Ricky. No. That’s not why I called you. This is important. I have a question, and I need you to answer without asking why I’m asking.”

He chuckled. “Detecting again, Lucy?”

“No. I’m just curious. Your mom said you and Stephen went out for a couple of drinks after dinner last night. Is that right?”

“You don’t want me to ask why you’re asking?”

“Please.”

“Only for you, Lucy, only for you. Yeah, that’s right. To be honest, I’m getting mighty tired of my mother’s company. Her and that Leon. Geez, he’s in for a mighty big disappointment.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He’s hanging all over her, all the time. They dated a long time ago, before she met my dad, and he seems to want to pick up where they left off. He’s trying to impress her by being buddies with me. As if.”

“Back to what I asked you. You were with Stephen for how long?”

“Not long. We had one drink, and he moved in on a table of women. I wasn’t interested, so I left him to it. I walked back to the hotel; it wasn’t far. I probably shouldn’t have left him with the rental car, not if he was going to keep on drinking, but he gave me a wink—just between us guys, you know.”

“Yeah,” I said dryly. “I know. What time was this?”

“Ten, ten thirty or so? Not much later than that. I can’t persuade you to let me in?”

“No, you cannot. And … good night, Ricky.”

As I hung up the phone, I might have heard him say, “Good night, my love.”

I leaned back with a sigh. I tried my dad again, and he answered this time.

“Sorry I didn’t return your call, honey. It’s a Saturday night, but I’ve been in meetings all day trying to sort out Rich’s affairs, and I can tell you, it’s not going to be easy. The guy’s practice was a mess, giant gaps in his records, unexplained expenditures, dodgy income. Not to mention that the police are showing a lot of interest. I should never have allowed things to get