A Fatal Visit (A Harbor Cove Cozy Mystery Book 1) (4 page)

Chapter Seven

Charlotte loved the park. She had loved to visit it with Chase, in the brief time they’d been able to spend together. There was an out-of-the-way playground which they had spent time in, away from prying eyes. Charlotte held Aubrey’s hand as they walked toward it. She was smiling, at nothing in particular.

She looked up at Aubrey. “Where’s Daddy gone?”

“Away.” Her voice sounded dull and empty, even to her ears.

“Where?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you soon.”

“Okay.”

Aubrey sat down on a bench as her daughter ran off and busied herself in the sandpit. She sighed heavily, head in her hands.

~~~

You will not be going to college to drink alcohol and party your life away.
It seemed as if both of her parents’ voices were shouting the words inside her head, chiding her. It was cramped. It was a Saturday evening. She was at a campus party with people squashed into every corner, and everyone had some form of receptacle to drink from. She was almost certain that one of them had been a plastic flower pot. She needed room to breathe for a moment. She wasn’t letting her parents get to her; she wasn’t letting them win. Aubrey just needed some air and that was all. Finding her way to some glass doors, she slid them open and went outside.

Night seemed to have passed overhead quickly, and the air had cooled. People inside the house were now shouting lyrics along to a song she didn’t know. She flicked her long blond hair over her shoulder with one hand. A quieter gathering was taking place outside, on the patio. Shuffling uncertainly through the group, she made her way to a chair. The lawn she looked out onto was beautifully well kept for a frat house. A few shrubs dotted the sides, and it stretched out to a line of trees at the bottom of the grass.

“I hear they have a gardener,” a voice said over her shoulder, as if reading her mind.

Smiling, with a drink in each hand, was young man with short brown hair. “Chase.” He offered her one of the drinks, which she accepted. His blue eyes glinted with a hint of mischief. “Saw you earlier, talking to Mark. Are you a freshman?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Mark is my cousin.”

“Please tell me you’ve seen him drunk before.” She shook her head. “Ah.” He made a face. “Well, tonight may not be a proud family moment.”

Chuckling, a winsome smile spread across her lips. “I’ll pretend not to see.”

“Probably for the best.”

His smile was warm, and so genuine. He reassured her, told her that college wasn’t scary and that you didn’t
need
to do what your parents expected you to do. Hands touched, and their faces flushed. Stars twinkled overhead and a crescent moon shone in the sky above.

“Wanna see something cool?” He stood and held his hand out to her.

Hesitation passed across her face. Then chanting started indoors, and the smell of urine wafted toward her. She grabbed hold. Chase led her across the lawn, right to the bottom where the line of fir trees rose up. He walked along their length, as if searching for something.

“Ah! Here.” He pushed an arm between two trunks and then slid his whole body through. His muffled voice called to her, “Come on!”

Slipping through the gap the same way he had, Aubrey’s breath caught as she broke through the line of trees. They were standing at the top of a steep hill, and down below a river sparkled in the moonlight.  Instinct caused her to reach for his hand, and he pulled her to his side.

“The dorms and frat houses on this side of campus are built along the rise we’re standing on. The trees block out a lot of this view, but if you know where to look…” He beamed at her, and her face flushed red.

Chase took her hands in his and tilted his head. “I think you can be whatever you want to be.”

“Tell that to my parents.”

“Just ’cause they’re dentists doesn’t mean you’re going to end up as one!” He seemed so sincere, so earnest. Tilting his head, he leaned toward her. His lips were grazing her own softly, his hand pressed to the small of her back, pulling her toward him.

Aubrey’s fingers trembled. The bathroom floor was cold, and the light was buzzing. A large moth batted against it. Positive. The pregnancy test in her hand read positive. Her phone lay across her lap. The ventilation fan sputtered to life, filling the room with the sound of its choppy attempt to rotate. Chase hadn’t talked to her in weeks.

And now I’m going to have his baby.

Aubrey’s hands twisted into her hair and she pulled. Hot tears splashed down her face and onto the tiles. She threw the test against the opposite wall and screamed. It fell to the floor and broke into two pieces.

~~~

Green leaves tinted the color of the daylight. Clue trotted alongside, occasionally sniffing at a tree trunk. Nichole walked alongside Skyler, who held the dog’s lead. Her long hair was tucked under a baseball cap. The pathways were cobbled in beige and reddish-brown, and wooden benches painted black were periodically placed along them. The forested park was one of their usual walking routes, and they always allowed the dog to run off her leash and among the trees.

“Mom has been crowing,” Skyler said. “She couldn’t be happier that everyone was wrong about Bryson. And she’s even more motivated to prove his innocence.”

“He isn’t in the clear yet,” Nichole reminded her. Her hair was tied back into a short ponytail. “He and Chase being brothers doesn’t make him not guilty.” She paused for a moment, uncertain. “I’ve often found that the ones closest to a person are involved in the dirtiest secrets.”

“Your skepticism levels the argument, I suppose,” Skyler said as she bent down and pulled grass off Clue’s fur.

The dog took this as permission to bound ahead a ways. She sniffed the ground with fervor. She picked up speed, and Nichole and Skyler had to start into a jog to keep up with her. They reached the top of a gentle hill, and Clue darted off across a patch of grass. Skyler chased after. Rounding a corner, she saw the large black dog leaping over a low fence and promptly sitting down and wagging her tail. She had made her way to an isolated playground. Its swings and slides looked well cared for—if somewhat worn. Skyler closed the gap and heard Nichole running across the grass behind her.

Clue was sitting, intently staring at a woman who was watching a young girl play. The woman had short blond hair and a misty expression on her face. She was reading a book and held a gold feather pen in it, seemingly as a bookmark. Clue began to bark, loud and sharp.

“I’m sorry. She doesn’t usually act like this,” Skyler explained as she reached the dog. “You be quiet!” This quieted her to a low whine.

The woman turned her head slowly, appearing to have only at that moment noticed the red-haired girl and black Newfoundland beside her. At this point, Skyler noted that she was using one of the gold feather quills as a hair accessory as well. In a distant voice, she said, “That’s okay. Sure you didn’t mean it…”

Nichole caught up, putting a hand on Skyler’s shoulder as she panted for breath. “I am far too unfit for that. Why are we running around so much lately?” When she had caught her breath she added, “What’s with that lunatic dog of yours?”

Skyler nudged her and whispered out of the side of her mouth, “That’s
Aubrey
.”

“Who?” Nichole replied, looking confused. “Oh! Her! Talk to her.” She punctuated this with a nudge of her own.

“I was at the restaurant,” she began. Aubrey turned to her, eyes narrowed. “I was there when—” Skyler paused as the other woman’s expression clouded. “When it all happened. When…when Chase Myers died.”

Aubrey turned away from her and watched her daughter. The little girl was laughing and running across from the slides to the monkey bars, and then diverting to the sandpit when she realized the cast on her arm won’t allow her any form of primate acrobatics. Skyler couldn’t help but notice her resemblance to Chase.

“I hardly knew him.” Aubrey’s words sounded distant and hollow.

Skyler turned to Nichole, who shrugged at her. She turned back to Aubrey. “I don’t mean to pry, but…the news has had your little girl’s face all over it. They say she’s Chase’s daughter. And…I know his brother.”

Aubrey’s mouth opened a fraction, and her words come out in a stammer. “I-I wasn’t lying to you.” She paused, looking up at Skyler again. “What’s your name?”

“Skyler Avery, and this is my friend Nichole Chambers.” Nichole offered an awkward wave.

Skyler’s cheeks flushed red as Aubrey spoke curtly, “Well, Miss Avery. Not that I owe you an explanation, but yes, Chase Myers and I share a daughter. We dated once in college, we got drunk together, and a baby was the result of that. He sent money for Charlotte, but up until last month I hadn’t seen him. I hadn’t even heard from him. Not since he told me that he’d ‘sort something out’ for Charlotte. He turned up at my doorstep unannounced. Maybe,
maybe
one day we might have been able to work things out. To work
something
out, at least. And that hope, the hope that Charlotte might have some form of a real father in her life?
That
is what was so devastating about seeing that Chase Myers had bled to death all over the men’s room in my restaurant!” She was almost shouting. “But I barely knew him. I’ve never needed or wanted his money, if that’s what they all think. My life, and Charlotte’s life, would have been much better off if he had never even come to Harbor Cove.” She stood, grabbed her daughter’s hand, and stalked away from the playground.

Skyler turned to Nichole, still a little dumbstruck.

Nichole spoke first. “Well. She either has some unresolved issues, or she’s
really
sick of being asked questions about Chase Myers.”

~~~

Night had drawn in, and the office wasn’t too busy anymore. Aside from Skyler, only one or two other people were sitting at their desks. For some odd reason, the local paper’s offices were painted a violent shade of mauve, with cubicles of emerald. The effect was somewhat jarring, like working inside a large mystic’s caravan. The air conditioning had been whirring away for most of the day, and as a result the room was cool.

She tapped away at her computer, making notes for the article she was writing. Nothing felt particularly definitive yet. She couldn’t outright accuse anyone, not when she didn’t know what was going on. She pulled the baseball cap off her head and glanced around. One person was frantically typing. Another was staring at her computer, her expression vacant as she clutched a paper coffee cup.

Her boss exited the office, long black coat slung over his shoulder. He looked around, and after spotting her, he walked over to her desk.

“How’s the story going, Avery?”

The man smelled strongly of tobacco, and he had flecks of longer hair in his stubble that indicated he’d missed spots when he’d been shaving. Everyone was certain that he smoked in his office. The windows were always open, and more than once the maintenance team had commented that the fire alarm had been disconnected.

“I’m piecing it together. I have a few clues and some suspicions,” she told him.

He nodded. “Good. I want to run a sort of primer on the story in tomorrow’s morning paper. People are itching to know more about the Myers story, especially now that we know the victim’s brother. Give a little bit of dirt on the suspects.” He stopped, expecting a response.

“You want
me
to write that?” she asked. He nodded. “I don’t think there would be much journalistic merit to a piece like that…. I mean, I could end up slandering people who are totally innocent. It wouldn’t just be bad for me…it would be bad for the paper.”

He rolled his eyes. “Avery, I’m not asking you to air their underwear on a flagpole. Just a bit of info on the names that keep appearing and how they’re connected to Chase Myers. Do you think you can manage that?” His tone was sharp, reprimanding. She managed a stiff nod as a reply. “You’ve got a couple of hours before we go to print. Five or six hundred words should suffice.” He turned away and left the room.