“He drowned, but he also had been hit on the head. Josh thinks someone killed him and set up Lilly to take the fall. Now, I don’t like the woman, mostly because Josh is always more worried about her than our future, but that’s horrible. I hope the police find out who did this soon. We’re supposed to go to Cancún in July for a week. If this is still going on . . . Well, I guess I shouldn’t complain, right? At least we’re alive.”
“What does Josh do?” Meg broke open the scone. “You guys have a lot of free time, being here on a Monday. Maybe his company has a job for me?”
Tabitha laughed and sipped her coffee. “I am a bit of a lady of leisure these days. I’m an actress, and I’m waiting on the next assignment. My agent is negotiating a part in a series for me. It’s going to be on Netflix. Josh, he’s a writer. He’s working on his next book. Lilly broke out before he did, but he gets a nice alimony check. I saw his last contract. Writers don’t get paid as much as you would imagine, working at a bookstore.”
Her phone beeped. “Oh, I got a text. I’m meeting him at the terminal. I guess I better get going. Thank you for sharing Watson with me. He’s a lovely dog.”
“Oh, no problem. Maybe we’ll run into each other again soon.” I took out my phone and pretended to scroll through my social media accounts, but as soon as she walked out, I snapped several pictures of Tabitha.
Natasha came over with a cup of coffee and another scone. “What do you think? Could this Josh be the one who set up Lilly?”
“How much did you hear?” Meg was still watching Tabitha as she made her way down the street to the ferry walk-on bridge.
“All of it. You are a great actress. I’m surprised she didn’t recognize the craft.” Natasha grinned and then took a bite of the huckleberry scone. “This is so good.”
“Yes, you make great treats.”
She shook her head. “This was all Serena. She’s a wizard in the kitchen. She should have her own place.”
Meg blinked. Natasha never complimented her staff, at least not to her. “Anyway, Tabitha said that they were living off Josh’s alimony more than money from his books. Unless she’s the major breadwinner in the family. They’re going to Cancún in July.”
“It’s the offseason. They get a lot of rain then. So it’s cheaper,” Natasha said as she finished her scone. When she looked up, she saw that Meg was watching her. “What? I like to plan travel vacations.”
“Have you gone to Mexico?” Meg finished her coffee and checked on Watson, who was sleeping under the table.
“No, but I went to Vancouver, BC, last fall. I closed the bakery for a week. It was heaven.” She leaned against the back of the chair. “Running your own business is harder than I expected. You’re hands-on all the time.”
“Maybe you should hire a manager.” Meg threw out the suggestion, but she was still thinking about Lilly’s ex-husband. “It sounds like Josh is still very involved in Lilly’s life. Maybe too involved. What would happen if she was arrested for this murder? Would his cash cow dry up, or would someone else step in to keep the mystery series going? Like the Jack Reacher series, which was transferred from one person to another.”
“Or the Nancy Drew series. Didn’t several people write that?” Natasha pointed out.
“I got to go,” Meg said as she stood. “I’ve got lunch at home. I’m going to write all this down, and maybe you and Dalton can come over Thursday, and we can talk about what we’ve learned since last week.”
“I hear you missed talking to Cissy on Sunday,” Natasha said as she followed Meg to the door. “Dalton stopped by this morning for coffee, before getting on the ferry.”
“Thanks for reminding me.” Chilled, Meg rubbed her arms. “The good news is I have a new calendar, where I can write down all my to-dos. Including those for our not-so-secret investigation. Uncle Troy caught me trying to read one of his reports through the window of his Jeep. He came up behind me and scared me. I hit my head on his truck door.”
Natasha laughed at the image. “Did you find out anything?”
Meg shook her head. “Just that they have the coroner’s report now and Meade was overweight and fifty-five. I didn’t have time to read the rest before he caught me.”
“Maybe you could check his vehicle at night, after he gets home,” Natasha suggested.
Meg laughed as she opened the door to leave the shop. “I don’t think he’ll be leaving anything out like that again. He even brought up how I made enough money investigating to pay for summer camp. At least he recognizes I have skills, even if he’s trying to keep me out of the investigation. Or, I should say, keep us out.”
“We’re a powerhouse when we put our heads together.” Natasha waved goodbye as Meg headed up the street and back to her apartment. If anything, her thighs and calves would stay in shape here. She walked everywhere, it seemed. Today she’d check offMoveon her daily to-do list since she and Watson had gone down to the bakery. The scone probably erased any positive effect of the walk, but at least she’d done something besides read today.
Because that was all she was doing when she got home.
When she went up the stairs, she found an envelope leaning against the door. She picked it up, then opened the door and let Watson inside. As he ran to get water like he was thirsting to death, she shut the door behind them and sat at the small table.
She opened the envelope. A ring box, a hundred-dollar bill, and a note fell out.
She didn’t have to read the note to know that Romain was on or had been on the island. She opened the box first. Her engagement ring sparkled at her, and she took it out of the box and slipped it on her finger. It still felt right, and it glittered like it had the day he’d proposed, but she didn’t feel the joy she’d felt then. Instead, she felt sad. She took it off and put it away in the box. Then she opened the note.
Meggie, I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve what I did, and I feel horrible that we ended that way. I was cleaning out our apartment and found these in my tuxedo. You should keep the ring. I gave it to you, and I broke my promise. Keep it, sell it, or throw it in the sound. I don’t care. It’s yours. But you could make a nice deposit in your IRA if you sold it. The money was for our honeymoon. I’m not sure why you left part of it for me, but you should have all of it.
I’m sending back the gifts that were left in our apartment. I hope you find a good man, and I’m sorry that wasn’t me.
