Forever on the Bay--A Novel, page 15
CASSIE MARCHED AHEAD of Evan to Bliss Gartshore’s door and knocked, hard.
She wasn’t even going to look at Evan. He’d called their kiss, the sweetest kiss of her life, a mistake. He’d apologized for it like he was the upper-crust gentleman in some Victorian novel, who’d behaved in a less-than-chivalrous way with a housemaid and was sorry for it. He wanted to brush it aside and move on. To be friends.
Fine. If he could brush it aside that easily, she could, too.
The woman who opened the door was nothing like she expected. She was pretty sure Bliss was a woman with whom Josh had had a fling, and she’d expected Bliss to be like several other of Josh’s ex-girlfriends she’d known. Skinny and blond and peppy.
But Bliss was several years older, with dark hair and substantial curves. “Come in, come in,” she said, ushering them in and looking around before she closed the door behind them. “We can talk in my office. My kids are still asleep. Teenagers,” she clarified.
In the office, after introductions had been made, they sat around a small table. Evan opened his mouth, no doubt to take charge because of his vast experience, but Bliss laid a hand on Cassie’s. “I’m so sorry for your loss,” she said, her voice a little choked. “Josh was one of the good ones.”
Her kind words made Cassie swallow hard. “He was. Thank you.”
“What was your relationship with Josh?” Evan’s question was rude enough that Cassie’s eyes widened, but his tone was neutral, not harsh, and Bliss didn’t seem to take offense. “We were...close, occasionally,” she said. “I didn’t want anything serious, and he was looking for love, so our goals were too different for us to be a couple. But we cared for each other, so when he was between girlfriends—more appropriate girlfriends—we’d usually spend some time together.” She tilted her head, looking at Cassie. “I’m sorry. I don’t suppose he told you about me.”
“He just said you were a friend starting a business, and he wanted to help you out.” Cassie looked thoughtfully at Bliss. “I... I could tell from the way he spoke of you that there was something more there than friendship.”
“Did you talk with Josh in the days before his death?” Evan asked.
“I did.” She looked down, then from Evan to Cassie. “There was a man who was calling him frequently, to the point of harassment. I contacted Josh to ask what I should do about the calls.”
Cassie’s heart jumped. If Bliss had information that would lead them to Josh’s killer, put him behind bars...
“What did Josh say?” Evan asked.
“He said he’d take care of it, that I should block his number.” She frowned. “So I did.”
“What kinds of things did the harassing guy say, when he called?” Cassie leaned forward. Maybe it was because she had no other leads, but she felt that Bliss had some information that could help them.
Bliss lifted both hands, palms up. “He wanted me to track Josh down. Got very annoyed when I explained that I was just an answering service.”
“What was he like, on the phone?” Cassie asked.
“Any accents, a style of speech you recognized?” Evan added.
The woman frowned. “He sounded...very articulate. Almost pretentious.” Her desk phone buzzed but she ignored it.
“Is it possible to trace where the calls came from?”
She shook her head. “With cell phone numbers being all over the map, no, not precisely. But...” She paused and bit her lip. “This is a police investigation, right?”
“Yes.” Cassie glanced at Evan. There was a police investigation going on, and Evan was a cop. They didn’t need to remind Bliss of the fact that the two were unconnected.
“Okay. Because I have paperwork, a contract, and part of it is that whatever’s said in people’s messages is confidential. It’s a normal part of the business. But if there’s an active police investigation, then that goes out the window.”
Cassie tried to stifle her impatience as the woman worked it all out in her head. “So...you were saying you couldn’t identify where the calls came from, precisely. But did you get an idea?”
Bliss nodded, slowly. “He said he had classes and important research, how he didn’t have time to track Josh down and it was an emergency to get in touch with him.”
“Classes and research?” Evan glanced at Cassie, and she figured he was thinking the same thing she was: they’d been right, the perp was a professional person, some kind of teacher. “No information about where he was working?”
Bliss shook her head. “I did get the feeling he was local.” Her phone was buzzing continually now, and she glanced at it, then up at them. “Is there anything else? I really can’t stay off the message service for long.”
“Can you give us the phone number you blocked?”
“No.” Bliss shook her head immediately. “No, those records are deleted.” She hesitated. “Also, can you keep me out of the investigation? I’m afraid of this dude. I don’t want to be in his path. I feel like he’s smart and he’d find out where you guys got the number. I’m a single mom. I need to stay safe for my kids.”
As they walked out, Cassie thought about what they’d learned. Josh had had a customer who wanted to get in touch with him and was highly articulate and threatening. Probably someone local.
Evan opened the door for her and helped her up into the truck.
The touch of his hand burned like fire.
She flushed. “It’s not much to go on,” she said. That was what she had to do: stick to the matter at hand. The case. For Josh’s sake.
He nodded as if he wasn’t even listening. “It’s not much to go on,” he said slowly, “but it’s something. A guy who’s very articulate, local, with classes and research.”
She frowned. “Local. I wonder if he teaches, or taught, at Price?” Price was a medium-sized private university just outside Minestown.
“Tell me again what you remember about him.” Evan started to drive through town toward the highway. “We could have something. Does it ring true, the idea that he could be a professor?”
Cassie thought about the guy. “He definitely didn’t seem like a drug dealer or gang member,” she said. “For one thing, I don’t think he was real young. Also, he wasn’t that strong-looking. He was tall, but not a linebacker by any means.”
“Would you recognize him? I mean, you thought you saw him on the bay path...”
“That’s true.” She frowned. “I might. I’m not sure. But Price is a big school. We can’t exactly go sit on the quad and hope he happens to walk across.”
“No,” he said, “but I know a couple of people in security there. I could talk with them, see if there’s anything going on with any of the faculty.”
That sparked an idea. “You know, I went to Price,” she said. “There’s someone who works there that I could talk to. She’d know the gossip, if anyone would.” Her heart picked up its pace. Maybe they’d actually accomplished something today. “Are you going to be up for visiting the campus on your next day off? Tuesday, right?”
“Wednesday. I had to trade.”
“Do you think it would be worth it to—”
“Worth a try,” he interrupted. “We’ll have to leave by eight.” And then he turned up the radio, clearly uninterested in any more talk.
Cassie stewed for a few minutes about his attitude. And then she decided she wasn’t going to stew. “I’ll go,” she said, “but only if we can settle this business between us. I want to be friends, too, like you said. So I promise not to make any more moves on you.”
He looked sideways at her. “You do, huh?”
“I do. I don’t want to hurt our friendship.” She was telling the truth about that, too. Having Evan in her life mattered, even if there would be no more delicious kissing. “It’s important to me, Evan, and...and I think it would be important to Josh, too. In fact,” she added as the brainstorm hit her, “we should do something fun together. As friends.”
“What kind of something?” He sounded skeptical.
“I don’t know, like, a book discussion, or a festival, or a wine tasting.” She felt desperate not to lose him, not to close the door to spending time together. She’d explore the reasons for that desperation later. Maybe.
“Those activities sound pretty date-like.”
“It’s all in how you approach them, right?”
He glanced over. “I guess so.”
“So if I find something like that for us to do...as sort of practice for being just friends...will you do it?” She didn’t add “for Josh,” because that would be manipulative. But she really hoped he’d say yes.
She didn’t want to examine exactly why she hoped that with her whole heart.
He let out a sigh. “Sure, Cass. We can do something as friends. In fact... How about helping me talk to a bunch of preschoolers this week?”
“You’re talking to preschoolers?”
He grinned, the first genuine smile he’d had on his face all day. “We both are. Since we’re friends. Be ready, Tuesday at 9 a.m.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CASSIE WAS GLAD she’d already planned to meet Mary for milkshakes on Sunday night. It would give her a chance to get out of her head and to stop thinking about Evan. Mary was happily single, from what she and everyone said, and that was what Cassie needed to get back to. Thinking about herself, her life, as a happy single woman, not some man’s—Evan’s—girlfriend or wife. Cassie had known she wasn’t likely to have a family of her own since forever. But her attraction to Evan had made her forget.
No more. Mary would be a good role model for Cassie.
They’d agreed to bring their dogs, so they ordered from Goody, the no-nonsense owner of the ice cream shop, and took their chocolate shakes to a table on the patio. “You sit where you can see the sun setting over the bay, dear,” Mary insisted. “I get to see it all the time, but you’re a visitor.” As she sank into her seat, she added, “unless you think you might stay in Pleasant Shores?”
Cassie sat down, and Ace sniffed Mary’s dog and then settled at Cassie’s feet. She thought about what to say. Of course she wanted to be positive about Mary’s hometown, and that wasn’t hard. Pleasant Shores was a great place, and being away from the scene of all her pain—being away from her mother’s pain, too—all of it was helping her start to heal.
Being around Evan, though, spending all this time with him, was making her ache for things she couldn’t have. So his presence here might be a deal breaker.
Not that she could tell Mary that. “I love it here,” she said, “and I’d consider moving here, but...you met my mom. She’s up in Minestown and may need my support going forward.”
“Hmm. She’s enjoying the Ireland trip?”
“A lot, from the texts. We’re supposed to do a video call soon and I’ll know more.”
“You worry about her.” Mary sipped her shake and smiled. “Delicious. Goody is the master of chocolate shakes.”
Cassie took a sip, and the chocolate intensity exploded in her mouth. She closed her eyes. “Fantastic.”
After they’d both enjoyed the shakes for another moment, Mary shifted forward. “So you love Pleasant Shores, and I must say you fit right in. And yet you’re planning to leave at the end of your three-month stint in Victory Cottage because of a sense of duty?”
“I mean...yeah. She’s my mom.”
“She’s your mom, and I’m guessing she wants the best for you. In fact, I know she does. That’s what she said when I met her.”
“Of course.” Why was Mary pushing her on this, making her question herself? “She would never ask me to stay home with her, but I want to help her. The way she helped me all the years I was sick.” That’s what families do, she wanted to add, only she didn’t want to act like she knew more about families than Mary did. Mary was kind, a good person, generous in the community. If she didn’t understand Cassie’s compulsion to help her mother, well, not everyone would.
Not everyone had lost a brother, leaving them in charge of a struggling parent’s peace of mind.
Only Mary wouldn’t drop the subject. “Do you think you’ll need to stay close to her for the rest of her life?”
Cassie sipped more milkshake and told herself not to get defensive. “In the same town, probably. She’s doing better now that Donald’s in her life, and I suspect he’ll propose on this trip, so...maybe that’ll change things. But for now I feel responsible, more than ever since my brother’s gone.”
Mary nodded. “You’re a good daughter. But what about your own dreams? Don’t you want to focus on the business you’re building? And eventually, don’t you want a family of your own, a home, kids?”
Where did this woman get off being so nosy? “Look, there are some issues.” She opened her mouth to tell Mary she was pretty sure she couldn’t have kids—that awkward admission would make Mary uncomfortable, which would serve her right—and then closed it again.
“Health-wise? Emotionally?”
Cassie let out an exasperated breath. “You’re really asking me that.”
Mary sipped more milkshake, reached out and squeezed Cassie’s hand. “It’s the prerogative of elders, dear. Plus, even though the Victory Cottage program offers counseling, you declined it. I know you’re trying to find your brother’s killer—”
“You know that?” Cassie stared at her, amazed. Was there anything Mary didn’t know?
“I know that.” Mary didn’t elaborate on exactly how she knew it. “I also know, since I’ve lost a family member to violence myself, that it’s possible to channel all your energy into investigating and forget about the emotional healing that needs to take place.”
If Mary could be blunt and intrusive, so could Cassie. “Did you lose a brother or sister?” The tone came out challenging, but Cassie was annoyed. She just bet that Mary had lost, at most, a distant relative.
Mary gazed at her for a good thirty seconds, blue eyes piercing. “No,” she said finally. “My five-year-old daughter was killed by her own father.”
Cassie gasped and automatically reached out for Mary’s hand as everything she thought she knew about the woman shifted, settling like a kaleidoscope image into a different pattern. “I’m so sorry. How awful.”
“Yes, it was.” Mary looked to the side, then bent to pick up a straw wrapper someone had dropped. “It wasn’t on purpose. He was trying to kill me. So you see, I know a lot about coping with loss. I tried most of the unhealthy methods before I really opened up to other people and started working through the feelings.”
“Wow.” Cassie studied the older woman and realized, for the first time, that those sharp eyes held depth and wisdom and pain, not just curiosity. “I guess you do know a lot about loss.”
“For a long time,” Mary said, “I cut myself off from moving forward into the future. Are you doing something similar?”
Neat, that, how she’d turned the conversation back to Cassie and her problems. But it felt different now. “I’m trying to move into the future,” she said slowly, “but I have health issues that would make it hard for me to have a family. Emotional ones, too, since my dad, our dad, was an alcoholic. Josh never settled down with anyone to start a family, either.”
Mary nodded. “Are the health issues related to getting pregnant, or related to actually having a husband and kids?”
“Both. The chemo I had may have affected my fertility. But also, I have to pace myself. I tend to get fatigued, and stress doesn’t help. I wouldn’t want to be the kind of wife and mother who was always lying down.” As she heard herself say it aloud, she realized what she meant.
She didn’t want to be the kind of mother her own mother had been.
Mary nodded matter-of-factly. “At my age, I have to pace myself, too,” she said. “But keeping active, seeing people, working on causes I love, all of those keep me going.” She reached down and petted Coco’s head. “Plus this sweet girl. She keeps me on my toes, too, makes sure I do a lot of walking.”
Goody, the owner of the ice cream shop, came out and started lowering the umbrellas attached to each table. She looked over at Ace. “Is that dog neutered?”
Cassie blinked. The bluntness of this town’s elders took some getting used to. “Yes.”
“Good. I don’t want any dogs running wild around here when Cupcake is coming into heat.” She dipped a rag into a bucket and started cleaning off tables. “We had a disaster with that, a couple of years ago.”
Mary leaned down and patted her dog’s side until she rolled over for a belly rub. “You can’t call the creation of this masterpiece a disaster, my friend.” She looked over at Cassie. “A local goldendoodle got loose and, shall we say, fell in love with Goody’s poodle. My Coco is the result, or one of them.”
“Beautiful dog.” It felt like the only tactful thing Cassie could say.
“Why don’t you bring Cupcake out? She’d love to see her daughter.”
Goody puffed out a breath, looked down at Coco, who was still lolling on her back, and bent to give her a quick chest rub. “Maybe I will.”
“Ladies.” The familiar deep voice seemed to massage Cassie’s nerves, and she looked toward the street to see Evan walking past the shop. In uniform. He waved but didn’t stop.
Cassie watched him. She couldn’t, actually, take her eyes away.
When he was nearly out of sight, she looked back to see both older women watching her. “He’s a good man,” Mary said.
Cassie cleared her throat. “He is.” But not for her. She had to remember, he was not for her.
And that was fine. She was an independent woman, like these two happy, independent women. She didn’t need a man. She needed to reach for her own dreams, like Mary and Goody had, rather than moping after Evan.
Mary’s phone buzzed and she picked it up, studied the face and shook her head, her cheeks going pink. “He has to text me every night. I’ve told him and told him it’s not necessary, but he thinks it is.”
