Sweetness and Light (A Sweet Cove Mystery Book 5) (10 page)

“I guess the best thing to do would be to split up and spread out among the people.”  Angie nervously pushed her hair behind her ear.  She looked about for Kimberley and hoped to avoid her.

“We’ll chat with people, but mostly, let’s listen in on conversations.”  Jenna headed for the open doors.  “To start with, I’ll wander around outside on the terraces.”

“We should watch for people who seem to be in serious conversations, maybe whispering with others.”  Ellie checked her watch.  “Let’s rendezvous back here in an hour and assess our findings.”

“I think I’ll take the dining room.”  Courtney smiled.  “I’m starving.”

“Who’s surprised by that?”  Angie looked at Mr. Finch.  “Where would you like to start?”

“I was thinking of returning to the room where the service was held.  Since most everyone is out here, that room would be empty and a perfect spot to run into some people having private conversations.”  Finch tipped an imaginary hat to Angie and headed in the direction of the memorial room.

Standing alone at the side of the living space, Angie took a deep breath and scanned the crowd.  She didn’t understand why she felt so nervous.  It couldn’t just be because Kimberley seemed threatening the other night and she might run into her today.  Angie had been in worse confrontations and they hadn’t left her feeling so uneasy.  She wished Josh had been invited.  She hadn’t seen him for a few days and missed being with him.

The way Bethany had described the attendees as “snakes” did not encourage mingling with them.  Angie just wanted to flee out the front door and sit in a quiet garden, but she knew she had to help find the killer, so reluctantly, she squared her shoulders and moved slowly towards a few people standing near the doors.  As a waiter walked by, she removed a glass of champagne from his tray and took a tiny sip in order to appear to be just another mourner invited to the gathering.

She nonchalantly stepped around the periphery of the crowd trying to pick up on what people were saying, when she bumped shoulders with someone.  Turning to apologize, she came face to face with Kimberley Hutchins.  The two made eye contact.  Angie kept her face neutral and didn’t say anything.  After a moment, she turned away and took a step in the opposite direction.

“Listen.”  Kimberley spoke.  “Forget about the other night, would you?  I was in a mood.  I was rude.”

Angie looked back at the young woman.  She felt emboldened by Kim’s attempt at an apology so she decided to ask some questions.  “What had you so angry?”

“Just this whole mess.  Nelson.  Having to start a new job.  Everything.”  Kimberley flapped her hand in the air.  “I’ve been stressed.”

“Did you work closely with Nelson?”  Angie studied Kim’s reaction.

“Yes.  I did.”  Kimberley turned to face the windows.

Angie pressed her luck.  “Do you think the murderer is here at the reception?”

Kimberley’s head jerked around.  “How would I know?”

“You worked at the firm.  Maybe you heard things.  You were privy to information.”

“So?”  Kimberley’s cheeks looked flushed.  “The killer didn’t waltz over to me and introduce himself.”

Angie narrowed her eyes.  “Him?”

Kimberley’s forehead creased with a quizzical expression.

“You said, ‘him.’  Couldn’t the killer be a woman?”  Angie knew she was walking a thin line.  She expected the young woman to whirl and storm away at any second.

Kimberley pushed her hair back over her shoulder.  “I suppose so.  I suppose it could have been a woman.  Who knows?”

“I’ve heard that Nelson had numerous affairs.”

Kim’s cheeks reddened.  “I …I didn’t pay attention to that sort of thing.”

“I wonder if one of Nelson’s affairs became angry enough with him to….” Angie let her words trail off.

“I …well, I suppose that’s possible.”  The young blonde stammered.

Angie took a step closer.  “How do you know Todd Moore?”

“Through Bethany.  She and Todd are friends.”  Kim spoke hurriedly.  “Sometimes a big group of us would go out after work.”

“Did you and Todd ever date?”

“What?  No.  He’s just an acquaintance.”

Angie was trying to fluster Kim in an attempt to get her to slip and say something incriminating.  “You seemed to be having an angry discussion when I saw you with Todd on the restaurant terrace the other evening.  Was everything okay?  Was he pressing you for information or something?”

Kimberley’s eyes flashed and Angie wasn’t sure if it was directed at her or was because Kim was angry about her conversation with Todd.

“It was nothing.  We were both upset over Nelson.”  Kim started to unzip her handbag, stopped, and closed it again with a shaky hand, a look of alarm on her face.

A flash of anxiety skittered over Angie’s skin, but she took a step forward.  “Did you ever date Nelson?”

Kim shuffled two steps back.  The red of her cheeks had spread down her neck.  Her eyes flicked about the room as she shook her head.  “No,” she said firmly.  “I did not.”  The heels of her shoes clicked on the wood floor as she hurried away.

A voice spoke behind Angie.  “Looks like your attempt at making a friend has failed.”  Jenna came up and stood next to her sister.  Angie told her about the exchange with Kimberley.

“Interesting.  I came up empty in my meanderings around here.  I didn’t hear anything of use.”  Jenna stifled a yawn.  “Who knew rich people were so boring.”  She smiled.  “I’m going to the dining room to grab a bite to eat.  You want to come?”

“I’m not hungry.  I guess I’ll wander around in here for a while longer.  Come back after you’ve eaten and let’s join forces.”

Jenna headed away for some food.  Angie stayed near the windows as she continued her walk around the room.  After a few minutes, she stopped and glanced at the groups of people standing around chatting.

A woman spoke to Angie.  “I hate these things.”

Angie turned.  She gave the woman a shrug.  “I can’t find anyone I know.”

“I saw you talking to Kim Hutchins.  You know her?”

“Not really.  I’ve only just met her.  We’re staying at the same bed and breakfast.  How do you know her?”

“I work at Rider Financial.  Kim used to work there until recently.”

Angie said, “Kim told me she’d given her notice.”

The woman gave Angie a surprised look.  “Really? That’s what she told you?  Nelson let her go.”

“He did?  Why?”

“He had a thing for her, but she didn’t reciprocate the feelings.  Nelson thought it best to end their association. It wasn’t done out of anger.  Nelson seemed to really care for her.  Kim was leaving the company at the end of the month.  Don’t spread that around.  Obviously, it isn’t common knowledge.”

“Did you work with Kim?”

“Not really.”  The woman took a swig of her wine.  “We’d cross paths.  She was always busy with Nelson.”

“What do you mean?  You said Kim didn’t reciprocate Nelson’s feelings.”

“Kim traveled with Nelson.  She was his assistant.  She kept his appointments, shuffled him to meetings, researched and wrote his reports, made sure he knew what to say to clients.”

Angie raised an eyebrow.  “You make Nelson sound incompetent.”

“Not so much incompetent, but lazy and disinterested in his work.”  The woman finished off her wine and removed another glass from the waiter’s tray as he walked past.  “Nelson didn’t achieve his potential.  He was a party-boy.  Always chasing women.  If he spent more time sober, he might have been successful.”

“He was successful at the firm, wasn’t he?”  Angie played dumb.

The woman gave a knowing grin.  “If it wasn’t a family firm, he would have been fired.  If he didn’t have Kim keeping him on track and doing his work for him, even his family wouldn’t have put up with him much longer.  Poor Nelson.”  The woman drained her glass.  “I’m going to look for another drink.”  She raised her empty drink glass to Angie and walked away.

Jenna returned just then and Angie told her what the woman said about Nelson.

“She sounds like she had a few drinks too many.”  Jenna watched the woman in the distance.  “Maybe her perception of Nelson isn’t accurate.  Then again, maybe it is.”

“Want to go outside for a breath of fresh air?”  Angie led her sister through the open doors.

The sisters wandered onto one of the terraces and they spotted Ellie and Courtney sitting on a bench on the lawn under an apple tree.  The girls followed the granite steps down into the garden and they squished together with their two sisters on the bench. Other attendees stood in small groups on the lawn mingling with other guests.

“We needed a break,” Ellie said.  “It’s lovely out here.”

“We needed a break, too.”  Angie admired all the flowers blooming in the manicured beds.

Jenna squinted.  “Look over there.  It’s Bethany and Todd.  Over by the pond.”

Angie sat up and peered across the lawn at the two people chatting amiably standing by the garden’s water feature.  “I wouldn’t have known that woman was Bethany.”

Jenna watched them.  “She looks so….”

“Happy,” Courtney noted.

“Relaxed.”  Jenna could see the difference in Bethany’s posture and the way she held herself.  Next to Todd, she seemed at ease, lighter, comfortable.

“See how they look at each other.  It’s so sweet.”  Ellie fiddled with the ends of her blonde hair, and the corners of her mouth turned up in a little smile.  “She seems very different around Todd than she normally behaves.”

One of the wait staff approached and said something to Bethany, and she turned and followed the woman back into the house.  As soon as Bethany moved away from Todd, her posture became stiff and authoritative and her movements were crisp and business-like.  Even her face looked different, with the muscles of the jaw appearing hard, giving off a stern, harsh expression.

“Now she looks like the Bethany we know.”  Angie watched the young woman climb the stairs to the terrace and disappear into the house.  The transformation in Bethany as she walked away from Todd made Angie’s heart ache.  “So which is the real Bethany?”

“Probably both.”  Ellie watched the platinum blonde hurry through the doors into the mansion.  “But the business-like one is the person who is expected to show up most often.”

“Come on, enough goofing off.”  Jenna stood up.  “Let’s get back to work.”

“Into the viper pit we go.”  Courtney put her arm over Jenna’s shoulders.

As Angie and her sisters climbed the stairs back to the house, a thought flickered in her mind and she turned to Ellie.  “If someone can change from happy and loving one moment, to hard and brittle the next minute, could that person change into a killer in order to get what they want?”

A worried look passed over Ellie’s face.  “It does seem possible, doesn’t it?”

Anxiety pricked at Angie’s skin.  “We’d better keep a close eye on Ms. Bethany Winston.”

When they entered the house, Jenna and Ellie headed one way and Angie and Courtney went in the opposite direction.  They spotted an older man talking to Nelson’s sister, Georgia Rider.  He gave her a hug and then moved away.

“Let’s go offer condolences to Nelson’s sister.”  Angie led the way, and when they were next to Georgia, they introduced themselves.

“How did you know Nelson?”  Georgia had a glass of wine in her hand.  Her eyelids looked heavy.

The girls hesitated and were about to say that they were friends of Bethany, when Georgia’s eyebrows went up.  “Oh, are you the young women Chief Martin spoke to me about?  The Roselands, right?”

Courtney and Angie both blinked, surprised that the chief might have mentioned them.

“He said he had some consultants who would be speaking with me.  Young women.”

“Yes.”  Courtney gave a friendly smile.  “Chief Martin calls us in at times to help out.”

Georgia’s eyes widened and she took a step closer.  She lowered her voice.  “Are you psychics?”

Angie’s face paled and she nearly shouted.  “No.”

Courtney kept her composure.  “Why do you ask that?”  She knew Chief Martin would never have revealed their skills to anyone who was not in law enforcement.

“I’ve heard that sometimes police will call in someone who has special abilities to assist in solving a crime.”  Georgia looked hopeful.  “I wondered if this might be the case with you.”

“No, we’re not psychics,” Courtney said. “I’m surprised.  I wouldn’t think someone like you would believe such things.”

Georgia gave Courtney a cold look.  “Someone like me?”

Angie cleared her throat.  “My sister only means that most people don’t believe in anything like special powers.”

“I was hopeful that a miracle would occur and Nelson’s killer would be caught.”  Georgia dabbed at her eyes.  “Do you believe in special powers?”

Angie gave an uncomfortable shrug of one shoulder and fibbed.  “I’ve never given it much thought.”

Georgia glanced around and then whispered.  “Sometimes I sense things.  Out of the blue.  I wish I was better at it.”

Angie’s back felt like a cold hand was sliding down along her spine.  The tiny hairs on her arms stood up.  She chose her words carefully.  “Do you?  How interesting.  Do you sense anything about your brother’s death?”

Georgia looked off out of one of the glass doors.  “Sometimes I get a sensation.”  She turned back to Courtney and Angie.  “But then it’s gone.”  She shook her head sadly.

Angie asked, “Were you and Nelson close?”

Georgia smiled.  “I loved Nelson.  He was much younger than I am.  I doted on him when he was little.  I tried to guide him as he was growing up, help him make the right choices.”  Her eyes clouded.  “I guess I didn’t do a very good job.”

Angie wasn’t sure how to respond to that statement, so she decided to ask some questions.  “I understand Nelson was about to announce a run for the Senate.”

Georgia smiled sweetly.  “He was.”

“Was he excited by the prospect of a run for office?”

Georgia’s brown eyes pierced Angie’s.  “Of course.”

“I was just wondering what prompted his decision.”  Angie held the woman’s eyes.  “A run for office can be difficult.  Your life becomes an open book.”

“Nelson had nothing to hide.  He was a happy, accomplished, well-adjusted man.”  A serene smile played over Georgia’s lips.