“If you keep bringing treats, we’ll all be too fat to go sleuthing, anyway.” Meg watched as her friends made their way into the shop.
Natasha flashed a smile. “You’re going to become my new taste testers. Serena and I adjusted our coconut lemon cupcakes today, and I brought three for us. I need to know if they work.”
And as Meg gathered with her friends, she wondered if Lilly had people like this besides Aunt Melody. People who believed in her no matter what. And Meg added one more criterion. People she wasn’t paying to be there.
CHAPTER7
Never wear your best outfit to go sleuthing. Or heels.
While Meg, Natasha, and Dalton were gathered at the bookstore, it bustled with customers. Between the three of them, they could suggest the right book and find it on the shelves, which got people in and out of the bookstore quickly. At about seven, Dalton left to grab their Chinese food order from the Terra-Cotta Soldiers restaurant down the street. They did takeout but didn’t deliver.
They had only a couple of hours left to talk, and there had been people in and out all night. No wonder Mom hadn’t given her a list of tasks for today. Tomorrow the bookstore closed at eight. Sunday nights the world started to slow down. At least on Bainbridge.
A group of teenagers who had been hanging out most of the night left as Dalton came back into the store. Meg took a quick walk around the shelves. Then they all gathered around the couch and coffee table.
“I think we’re alone. Finally.” She opened her honey shrimp and took a big whiff. “This place serves the best Chinese in the Puget Sound area.”
“I’d up it to the Pacific Northwest.” Dalton waved a bite of broccoli and beef at her as he settled back into his chair. “So what did anyone find out, if anything? We know who was killed, but your uncle hasn’t confirmed yet if it was murder or an accident.”
“It was murder. I heard Uncle Troy and my aunt talking. She’s upset that he’s focusing on Lilly Aster. I am, too, if that’s what he’s doing. There’s no way she would have killed Meade. Besides, she didn’t know at the time he was stealing money from her.”
Natasha looked up from her chicken chow mein. “How do you know that?”
“I told her what he said, and she said she’d suspected as much. I think she was going to ask her publishers for copies of the contracts she signed and match them up to the ones in her files. She seemed upset.” Meg put some white rice into the larger honey shrimp container and sprinkled soy sauce over the top. Oh, so good.
“Maybe she already knew that, and you gave her the excuse that she learned it after the guy’s murder,” Dalton pointed out.
“What is it with men wanting a woman to be a killer?” Natasha asked as she focused on eating.
“It’s crazy sexy,” Dalton said, looking around the room. When neither woman answered, he looked over and found both of them staring at him. “For some guys, but not me, obviously. I’m not into crazy stalker girls. Which is why I never even talked to Luna. That girl has a rep.”
“Speaking of women you know . . .” Meg was almost full, and she still had half a container of honey shrimp left. She put the rest of her rice in the larger container and closed it up. She’d take it home and have it for dinner tomorrow. “What did Cissy say about Lilly’s ex-husband? Has she seen him lately? And what days?”
“Cissy didn’t work today. And tomorrow I’m going across the sound to work security for the Seattle side. Maybe one of you can head over to talk to her?” He finished off his food.
“Natasha has the shop. I’ll run over in the morning. What time does she work? Do you know?” Meg pulled out her notebook with tomorrow’s list in it. She’d told her mom she’d go to church with her. Then she had to make sure she was home when Aunt Melody was so she could pay her for the groceries. And she had to be back at the bookstore at three. “I’ll take Watson on a walk down to the ferry terminal after church.”
“Don’t rush off after church. Those women know a lot about what’s going on. Especially if it’s juicy gossip, like a death. And Lilly’s divorce.” Natasha put her food away in a bag, as well. She must have felt their gazes, because she continued. “Don’t blame me. I used to go to church with my grandmother, and those women knew everything about everyone. It’s probably a little harder for them to be busybodies now since there are so many new residents.”
“Leave it to the gossip tree to know about a killer on the island,” Dalton said dryly.
* * *
Mom was waiting for her outside the Bainbridge Island Community Church when Meg arrived. She’d walked down the hill from her apartment, so she’d worn flats, but with the look her mom gave her, she slipped them off and replaced them with the black heels she had in her tote. She’d been hoping to keep wearing the flats, but apparently, that wasn’t going to happen.
“Good morning, Mom.”
Her mother leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “Stay away from Agnes Murphey. Unless you want to give her a blow-by-blow about Romain and his misdeeds, I’d keep my distance.”
“Noted. Which one is she again?” Meg followed her mom’s finger as she pointed out Mrs. Murphey. Now Meg remembered her. Every time she’d come home from college, Agnes Murphey had cornered her and asked pointed questions about her progress in her classes, whom she was dating, and if Meg had seen any of the other island kids during the semester. The woman had wanted all the dirt Meg knew. Natasha had been right. “I can’t believe I forgot about her.”
“Telling Agnes is better than putting an ad in the newspaper.” Mom saw the woman looking their way and waved. “Let’s go inside and you can say good morning to Pastor Sage.”
Pastor Sage stood near the chapel doors as Meg and her mother greeted her. “Meg, I’m so sorry about what happened, but it’s better to find out early, before you have to tear up an entire life built around the wrong person.”
Her words were like a knife cutting into Meg’s heart. If people didn’t stop talking about Romain, she’d never get over him. “I am lucky that he showed his true colors as a cheating”—she switched her words from a less than polite descriptor and kept going—“swine before we had three babies together and I’d have to figure out how to raise them on my own.”
Pastor Sage’s eyes widened. She hadn’t expected Meg to agree with her so vividly. “Exactly. I need to get ready for my sermon. You might find it comforting and useful.”
