Flipped Out (16 page)

“No,” I said, “I’m not gonna do that.” He was stuck with me for however long he was willing to keep me around. It had taken me the best part of a year to get to this place, mentally, but I was committed to Waterfield now. And to Derek. I’d survived the winter, and although I hadn’t enjoyed it much, I knew I could survive it again. The time of turning back on my decision had passed.

Over at the other table, Candy had left and Josh and Fae were staring deeply into one another’s eyes while they waited for their drinks to arrive. They looked like they were having a good time together, just like when I’d watched them in Kate’s kitchen this morning. Josh was talking animatedly, using his hands, and Fae was listening with a smile on her face, clearly hanging on every word. I was happy for Josh; he’d waited patiently for Shannon for long years, and it was nice that he’d finally found someone who appreciated him, even if she was only in Waterfield for a few days. Although the look on Shannon’s face earlier . . .

“Speaking of Shannon—”

“We weren’t,” Derek said.

“I know we weren’t. But there she is.”

Coming through the front door right now. The door that was held for her by Adam Ramsey, who gave her backside a look that was just as much lecherous as admiring as she moved past him with a smile and a swing in her hips. Ted, who walked in behind her, shot Adam a dirty look, and Wilson, bringing up the rear, went one step further and uttered a few words that I couldn’t hear, but which managed to wipe the grin and most of the drool off Adam’s chin.

“Bastard,” Derek said, scowling.

I smiled. “She’ll be fine. Look how many men she’s got protecting her. You, Wilson, Ted. If Adam gets too grabby, Josh might even leave Fae sitting there to come to the rescue, too. He and Shannon have been friends for too long for him to let Adam get away with anything.”

“She doesn’t actually look like she minds,” Derek said, his voice and expression somewhere between incredulity and disgust. I turned my head again. The foursome had headed for the big, round booth in the back, the one that is usually occupied by Josh, Shannon, Paige, and Ricky. Shannon had scooted into the far corner—where, incidentally—she could see the entire room without turning around, including the table where Josh and Fae were sitting—and now she was smiling up at Adam, who was sliding in next to her. Derek and me, she hadn’t even noticed.

Adam did look particularly glossy tonight, with his bouncy brown curls and dazzling white teeth. He was still wearing the tight jeans and the boots, and a sleeveless workout shirt, one that exposed his arms all the way up to the shoulders and clung to every gym-rat muscle he had. Candy’s eyes threatened to fall right out of her skull when she looked at him, and quite a few of the other young women in the room were staring openly, as well. And this time I don’t think it was because the men were strangers in town.

Shannon may not have noticed us, but Wilson did, and gave us a friendly wave across the room. He’d also seen Fae and Josh and had stopped beside their table a moment for what looked like a friendly hello.

Derek chuckled. “Doing her level best to flaunt Adam in Josh’s face, isn’t she?”

“Shannon? Oh, yes. She didn’t just reach into her closet blindly and pull out Josh’s favorite shirt.”

The top was white crochet with a deep, scalloped V-neck, and she looked stunning. Adam was back to drooling, practically dripping into her cleavage. Until Candy traipsed up to the table, anyway, and he was forced to divide his attention, and his questionable charm. Her chest was right at his eye level, and he took full advantage. Shannon took the opportunity to glance at Fae and Josh, and the corners of her mouth turned down.

The whole situation was sort of farcical, and if I hadn’t felt so bad for her, I might have thought it was pretty funny. Clearly, though, she was unhappy. Whether because she was losing her best friend, or whether because she’d realized she was actually in love with Josh remained to be seen, but either way, I felt bad for her.

Adam finished ogling Candy’s assets, and immediately Shannon was all smiles again. I turned to Derek. “This is almost painful to watch.”

“We can leave,” Derek said.

“Not on your life. At least not yet. And you promised Wayne we’d look out for her.”

“Between Wilson and Ted,” Derek said, “I think she’s amply protected.”

Maybe so. “I want to talk to them before we go.”

“Them who?”

“Wilson and Ted and Adam. I know where Nina was last night, or where she said she was. Same for Fae. But I have no idea what the men did after they went back to the B and B.”

“You think one of them killed Tony? Why would they?”

“I have no idea,” I admitted, “but someone did. And it makes sense that it was someone on the crew. Tony was just fine until they got here.”

“Unless someone here in Waterfield wanted him dead and thought the crew showing up would throw a few new suspects into the mix.”

“That’d only work if there was a connection between Tony and some of the crew, and how could anyone know that Nina and Tony used to be colleagues?” I shrugged. “Either way, I’d like to hear what they have to say for themselves. Besides, it’s just polite to stop by and say hello.”

“Of course,” Derek said, reaching for the check that Candy had left along with the pizza earlier. “I’ll take care of this. You head on over there.”

He went in his direction and I went in mine.

Adam wasn’t above giving me an ogling, too, when I stopped beside the table. Aside from that, everyone else was nice. Shannon greeted me with a dazzling smile. “Hi, Avery. Fancy meeting you here!”

“I know. Quite a coincidence. Must be a full moon or something, if all of us got a craving for pizza on the same night.”

Wilson grinned. “Not hardly. We came to keep an eye on Fae. Shannon swore up and down that this kid she’s with is safe, but we thought it couldn’t hurt to let him know we’ve got her back.”

So that’s what he’d been doing when he stopped by their table earlier. Being fatherly.

“Oh, Josh is absolutely safe,” I said. “His dad’s the chief of police. He’s Kate’s stepson. And he’s a super-nice guy. She couldn’t be in better hands.”

Shannon’s face curdled, and I bit my tongue a sentence too late. “Where’s Derek?” she asked, looking around. “You wanna join us?”

I shook my head. “We’re actually on our way out. It’s been a long day. Since we couldn’t get into the house to do any work, we switched the schedule around and worked on landscaping instead. The place looks good. At least on the outside.”

“I’ll swing by in the morning and shoot a few frames,” Wilson said. “Maybe have you mime planting a few flowers for the camera.”

I nodded. “Any word from Wayne on whether we’ll be able to get back inside tomorrow? I don’t know how we’ll be able to finish the work if we lose another day.”

They all looked at one another. Shannon shook her head. “He didn’t say anything to me. Then again, he’s been busy talking to other people all day. Mom’s hardly seen him at all.”

I couldn’t ask for a better segue. I slipped into the booth next to Adam and glanced around the table, lowering my voice. “I don’t suppose Wayne said anything to you about . . . you know . . . anything? Tony? The case? Whether we’ll be able to go back to work tomorrow?”

“You looked like you were friendly with him,” Wilson said. “Isn’t it more likely that he’d tell you?”

“I’ve hardly seen him at all today. Since you guys spoke to him, I thought maybe he’d let something slip.” I waited.

“Not in my interview,” Ted said. “He just asked if I’d ever met Tony before yesterday and whether I’d seen him after we went our separate ways in the afternoon.”

He didn’t continue, and eventually I had to ask. “And had you?”

“I saw him when he came to pick up Nina for dinner. Not after that.”

“I did, too,” Adam piped up. “And Nina looked hot last night, too.”

All three of the others looked at him. Adam added, quickly, “For someone older, I mean.”

It didn’t help.

“Nina’s forty-two,” Wilson said. “That’s not exactly at death’s door. My wife’s in her fifties, and she’s still a knockout. You wanna see a picture?” He fumbled for his wallet while Ted just stared at Adam, his disgust and distaste evident without his having to say a word.

The picture of Wilson’s wife showed a stunning Raquel Welch lookalike, with lots of curly, shoulder-length brown hair and mile-long legs and what was either a dark tan or a Mediterranean complexion. “Veronica,” Wilson explained with a fond look at the photo. “She’s a grandmother four times now and still looks as good as when I met her.”

“She’s gorgeous.” I passed the picture to Adam, who whistled.

“You lucky dog, Will.”

“She has children older than you,” Wilson said as Adam passed the picture to Shannon.

“Did anyone else see Tony last night?” I looked around the table. “Maybe when he dropped Nina off?”

But they all shook their heads. “Ted and I went out,” Wilson said, taking his photograph and tucking it lovingly back into his wallet. “Took the van to Portland. We didn’t get back until late.”

“We don’t get much of a chance to look around when we visit places,” Ted added. “I thought it’d be nice to check it out, since we had the night off.”

I nodded. “I don’t suppose you happened to drive by the house on your way back?”

“The house we’re filming?” Wilson shook his head. “Why?”

“Just trying to figure out when Tony got there. There really was a group of teenagers walking around Cabot Street last night, and I thought . . .” I looked up when a hand landed on my shoulder. “All done?”

Derek nodded.

“Wait a second,” Adam said. “What about his girlfriend? That hot blonde he was with yesterday? I thought she killed him.”

“My ex-wife,” Derek said, at the same time as I asked, “Where did you get that idea?”

“I thought the police arrested her,” Adam said.

We were all staring at him now, Wilson and Ted, too. “Where’d you hear that?” Wilson wanted to know.

Adam turned to him. After a second, he said, “Can’t remember. But I’m pretty sure they did.”

“No kidding.” Wilson turned to Derek and me. “You know anything about that?”

I glanced at Derek. He shook his head. “We need to go.”

“I guess we’d better. Nice to see you. Enjoy your pizza.” I had to toss the last sentence over my shoulder as Derek dragged me out of the restaurant. He wouldn’t even let me stop at Fae and Josh’s table; I had to content myself with waving to them on the way past.

11

“Where are we going?” I asked when we were in the truck driving hell for leather back toward town, taking corners on two wheels. Derek shot me a look before turning his attention back to the road, and the look pretty much said it all.

“Well, I’m sorry,” I added defensively, “but what are you planning to do? Storm into Wayne’s house and yank him out of bed to tell him your ex-wife couldn’t have murdered anyone?”

“It’s only nine thirty,” Derek answered, concentrating on the road, “so I doubt he’s in bed. He may not even be home. He has a murder to solve, and you know what they say: The first twenty-four hours are crucial.”

“I thought that was kidnappings,” I said.

“Whatever.”

He floored the gas pedal and the truck shot up the hill alongside the Stenhams’ construction site, Devon Highlands, that had been lying barren since my cousins went off to jail six months ago. I’d once driven off the road right here, after someone had tampered with the brake lines on Derek’s truck.

“And if he is,” I said now, meaning Wayne, “I suppose you’ll wake him?”

Derek glanced over at me again, a flash of blue eyes. “Do
you
think Melissa killed Tony?”

I hesitated. “Not really, I guess. Although I’m not as convinced of her innocence as you seem to be.”

“She didn’t. Trust me.”

“But how can you know that? Unless you . . .” I stopped. Dead, if you’ll pardon the pun, as a horrible suspicion stole over me.

Derek didn’t look at me to see what was wrong. Instead he kept staring fixedly at the road, a flush creeping into his cheeks.

And granted, at fifty-five miles per hour, it was just as well that he was watching where we were going . . . but my intuition still told me that something was going on.

“Derek?” I said.

He glanced at me. And I have to admit it, he looked sheepish, maybe even a little guilty.

“What do you know that I don’t?”

He took a breath. And let it out in a rush. “I spent part of the night at Melissa’s last night.”

I blinked. I’d heard the words, but they didn’t make sense to me. “What?”

He squirmed. “Remember that bottle of wine and two glasses? Well, when I got home from your place last night, Melissa was still awake. And outside. In the parking lot.”

“Your parking lot? Or her own?” If she’d been in her own, behind her building, he wouldn’t have had occasion to see her. Unless he’d gone looking.