Murder on the Cape Fear (2 page)

2

“
I can’t erase the image of that dead man’s eyes staring up at me,” I said with a shudder.

“
Have another glass of red wine, Ashley,” Aunt Ruby advised. “It’s good for the heart and it will buck up your spirits. Benjamin, fill Ashley’s glass, please dear.”

Binkie lifted the bottle of red Merlot off the table and refilled my glass. Aunt Ruby is the only one who calls him Benjamin. Ordinarily this makes me smile but at that moment I was still in shock.

We were sitting on the deck at Elijah’s Restaurant, having taken refuge there after two hours of being interrogated by the police. Homicide Detective Diane Sherwood was the lead detective, a woman who has it in for me. She had partnered with my former husband, Nicholas Yost, when he was on the force. The self-satisfied glint she got in her eye when the technician’s lumalite revealed blood on my knees gave away the personal animosity she feels toward me.

“
Naturally there is blood on my knees!” I exclaimed. “I knelt down beside the victim. I was trying to help him.”

“
No blood on her hands,” the teck told Diane. She tried to conceal her disappointment but not before I had seen it.

Diane knows I am no killer, yet the victim’s blood on my hands would have given her a good reason to make my life hell.

Finally, acknowledging we were public figures and known in the community, and that she was acquainted with us personally and knew where to find us, she had let us go.

But she had walked with me to my car. “What do you hear from Nick?” she asked.

“
Nothing, Diane! I do not hear from Nick. We are in the process of getting a divorce. You know that. We have nothing to say to each other. We talk through lawyers.”

I reached for the door handle, then turned. “You are free to pursue him now, Diane. I’ve always known that is why you harbor this personal dislike for me. So go after him. You have my blessing. And if you can get him to settle down, you are a better woman than I am, and my hat is off to you.” I pantomimed the doffing of an imaginary hat.

Then I got into my hot car, slammed the door shut and blinked back tears. Her antagonism was the last straw that broke my composure. Dead bodies were her stock in trade - not mine.

And then Jon appeared, and I forgot all about Diane. I jumped out of my car and threw myself into his open arms.

“
I had a devil of a time getting through the police barricades,” he said and his voice held the tremor of fear. “I knew you were at Two Sisters and the radio said a crime had been committed there. I was so worried.”

He pulled back to study my face. “Thank God, you are all right. When I saw the emergency vehicles here and knew you were inside, I was frantic with fear.” His arms tightened around me so that his mouth was right at my ear. “Now that we are finally together, I don’t think I could live if anything happened to you.”

I leaned back in his arms to look up into his handsome face. Jon is golden and fair, with warm brown eyes, and a wry sense of humor that shows in his expression. But there was no sign of humor then, only deep, deep concern.

We then got into our cars and followed Binkie and Aunt Ruby out of the lot and driven to Elijah’s at Chandler’s Wharf. At six-thirty, the sun was as bright as noonday causing us to gather at a table in the shade of a large green umbrella. A gentle breeze played off the river. The air smelled like early summer, like new green trees, and cool, flowing water.

But Jon was still reeling with excitement, and I could not get the image of the dead man’s stare out of my head. Nor Detective Sherwood’s treating me like a suspect... I reached for Jon’s warm hand. “We’re all here together and we’re safe, and that is all that matters. But that man! Someone killed him. And why did he have Binkie’s briefcase? We just can’t figure that out. Binkie had never seen him before he showed up at the book signing.”

And once again we resumed our speculation about how and why the dead man had stolen Binkie’s briefcase. “What in heaven’s name did he want with that old thing?” Aunt Ruby asked.

But despite our wild speculations, no one had an answer.

“
Is anything missing from your briefcase?” Jon asked Binkie.

“
How would he even know?” Aunt Ruby responded. “That briefcase seems to contain every document he has ever owned.”

“
Now, Ruby dearest, you know that isn’t accurate,” Binkie said, and moved closer to slip his arm around her shoulder. “She’s just upset,” he said to us. “The police are keeping the briefcase and all of the papers they retrieved for the time being. They want me to come in to the station tomorrow to examine it and its contents. I suspect they are checking it for blood. The crime scene technicians bagged it. They can do so much with DNA these days. Maybe the killer got blood or epithelial - that is skin cells - on the briefcase. At any rate,” he told Aunt Ruby, “you’ve got your wish and we’ll be shopping for a new briefcase.”

He was trying to lighten the mood but it didn’t work. Aunt Ruby was upset. Weren’t we all? Jon was coming down from an adrenalin-high when he’d thought I’d been injured - or worse. “Why were you late, Jon? You never said.”

“
Where is Melanie?” Aunt Ruby asked. “I thought you said she was coming.”

“
Yes, where is Melanie?” Binkie asked. “I’m a bit miffed myself that she did not make it to my book signing.”

“
She’s got those investors in town for the weekend and she’s showing them real estate. She rented every room at the Riverwalk Inn for her clients.” Once again I found myself apologizing for my sister and the heedless way she trounced on people’s feelings. Supposedly she had turned over a new leaf. So much for that.

“
When I called her, she said she’d be here at seven, right after she showed one of her prospects a house.”

Actually what she had said was, “We’re talking big money here, Ashley.”

“
Money can’t replace family,” I had responded, “and right now your family needs you. So get your fanny down here fast. Aunt Ruby and Binkie aren’t getting any younger, you know, and things like this really frazzle them.” Me too, I wanted to add.

I sipped red wine and felt it warm my insides and calm me.

When the waiter came, Jon ordered hot crab dip with garlic croutons for all of us. Food would restore us. Food is a blessing, a gift we give thanks for. I love food. I eat when I am upset. I eat when I am happy. When I am stressed. And all the times in between. Because of my fondness for food, I am always fighting the extra pounds. My work is more physically demanding than most careers, still I am not the one who climbs the ladder to repair the roof, or to install the rehab windows. My physical activity is limited to being everywhere on the site and taking long walks around the historic district.

Jon ordered an iced tea. “I’ll be the designated driver,” he said.

“
Or we could just walk home,” I chimed in.

“
Care to share the seafood platter, my love?” Binkie asked Aunt Ruby. And she assented with a nod and a smile. Things were getting back to normal.

“
I’ll have the seafood marinara,” I told the waiter.

“
Blackened mahi,” Jon said.

“
Oh, look, there’s Melanie now. Yoo-hoo! Melanie, dear!” Aunt Ruby called and waved. To us she said, “I knew my darling girl wouldn’t let us down despite how busy she is. You know, they just voted her Wilmington’s top realtor again. I’m so proud of her I could bust. You too, Ashley.”

I looked up to see my dazzling sister cross the deck to our table. Melanie is the prettiest woman on the Carolina Coast. At age thirty-four, she is as gorgeous as she was at twenty-one when she was crowned Miss North Carolina. She had on a white linen pantsuit that was tailored to perfection over a white lace cammie, and high heeled white sandals. With her bright auburn hair bouncing on her shoulders, she caused heads to turn. How does she manage it, I asked myself. Even at the end of a busy day, she looked stunning.

Jon got up to hold out a chair for her and she slipped into it, chattering a mile a minute. “Thanks, sweetie. I’m sorry to be late but I was out at Landfall showing houses to some retirees, then I had to drive back downtown to return my guests to their hotel. Then I got stood up by one of my investors. I waited and waited but he never showed. And supposedly he is looking for a historic house to convert into a bed and breakfast. With the new convention center coming, there will be a market for additional inns and B&Bs downtown. I thought I’d show him Captain Pettigrew’s house.” She gave me a wary glance out of the corner of her eye.

Captain Pettigrew’s house was the house Jon and I were restoring. “That house is not for sale, Melanie. How can you be showing houses that are not on the market?”

Honestly, sometimes her ethics just amaze me. “Besides, what is there to see? The house is basically a wreck. You can’t even go inside because sections of the floor are missing.”

“
Oh pish posh, Ashley,” she said, reaching for my wine glass and helping herself to a sip. “Don’t get your knickers in a knot. When Laura Gaston hears what that house will bring even in its present condition, she’ll sell all right.”

How had the conversation so quickly turned from a devastating murder to Melanie’s latest real estate coup, I asked myself. We were all looking at her, puzzled. Surely, she had heard about the murder. Why, I had told her about it myself when I’d spoken to her on the cell phone.

She caught our astonished looks. “What?” she asked, then quickly got the message. “Oh, yes. How dreadful for you. Tell me what happened. Every detail. I get so involved with business I tend to block everything else out.”

“
Surely not,” I said.

She grinned at me and gave me a light punch on the upper arm.

“
And Binkie,” she apologized prettily, “I tried to get to your book signing but that became impossible. You did save a book for me, didn’t you? I do want to buy one. I love displaying books like yours on my coffee table. They look so interesting. And I’ll read it too, of course.”

“
Melanie, calm down, for pity sakes,” I said. “You’re as hyper as a six year old. Here’s what happened: a man was murdered at Two Sisters in that tiny storage room at the back of the store. I found him. Actually, I tripped over him.” I went on to describe the scene to her. “And you can’t believe how maliciously that Diane Sherwood treated me. Why, she was actually disappointed that I did not have blood on my hands.”

“
Oh, don’t let her get to you, sis. She’s just jealous. I’ve had to deal with jealous women all of my life. Just ignore her,” Melanie advised.

“
But here’s the really strange part, Mel,” I continued. “The dead man had stolen Binkie’s briefcase. We just don’t know what to make of that.”

Melanie gave Binkie a calculating look of appraisal. I could see the wheels in her head turning. Melanie is bright and quick, and woe to anyone who thinks she is just another pretty face. “Obviously there was something in your briefcase that was worth stealing. And I’d say the person who killed the thief wanted it too. That is the only explanation for the papers being strewn about and the only scenario that makes sense. So Binkie, what did you have in your briefcase that was important?”

“
Why, nothing, Melanie. Nothing that anyone would want to steal. My research papers. Some scribblings. Notes to myself for another book.”

Aunt Ruby interrupted. “Didn’t I see a FedEx truck drive up as I was putting the iced tea in the car?”

“
Why yes, my love, you did. I forgot all about that. There was a delivery for me, a padded envelope that I had to sign for.”

“
And what did you do with it?” she asked him.

A light bulb seemed to go off in his head. “Oh my. I put it in my briefcase.”

“
So there,” Melanie said smugly. “I’ll bet that’s it. Something was delivered to you. Someone knew about it and wanted whatever it was. Or perhaps the sender changed his mind and wanted the letter back. Don’t people send you old documents, letters, photos?” Melanie asked. “They know you investigate those things.”

“
Why, yes, people do send me historical documents. But mostly they arrange to see me and show me what they have. To see if there is any interest on my part. But yes, Melanie, you have hit upon something. It was one of those white plastic padded envelopes. I had thought I’d open it this evening in my study. My bride likes for us to keep the house neat, and that means keeping my papers out of the parlor,” he confided with pride. Having a bride to care about the state of his house made Binkie very, very happy.

“
I didn’t want to take the trouble of unlocking the door again so I just stuffed it into my briefcase to be opened later.”

“
Did you happen to notice the return address?” I asked.

Binkie grimaced and shook his head. “I may have glanced at it, but I don’t recall where it came from, Ashley. I was in too much of a rush, distracted by the book signing.”

“
I knew I’d find you here.” Cathy Stanley heaved a huge sigh and plopped down, out of breath, into the remaining empty chair.

“
Cathy! What is going on with the investigation?” I asked.

“
Let me get a drink first.” She raised a hand to the waiter. “Start me off with a glass of sweet iced tea right away,” she told him, “followed by a double martini. Make that two. Yes, I said two. After what I’ve been through, I deserve them.”