Page 21 of Wham Line
“I am,” Indira said with what I almost thought was coolness.“I appreciate that you want to help, but I promise that I’m perfectly all right.”
I glanced at Bobby, but he didn’t say anything, so I spoke again.“The sheriff pretty much told me last night that you were their prime suspect.You had a gun that had been recently fired.You were standing in the alley where we found Mal.And not to put it too bluntly, but Mal was your ex.”
“And the sheriff released me,” Indira said.This time, there was no mistaking the frigid tone.“Because the bullet they recovered from Mal’s body did not match my gun.As I explained to the sheriff—and as I’ll explain now to you, Dashiell, since you seem to think it’s necessary—I heard the shot as I was coming back to the restaurant, so I drew my weapon.When I reached the alley, I saw a man standing over someone on the ground.I called out.The man turned toward me.I saw his gun.I fired a warning shot.”
Bobby didn’t say anything, but he pressed his lips into a thin line and gave a tiny shake of his head; even I knew that you weren’t supposed to put your finger on a trigger—much less fire a shot—unless you were prepared to kill.Warning shots were something they made up in the movies.
Seizing the most important part of Indira’s statement, though, I asked, “The bullet didn’t match your gun?”
“No.Is that sufficient for you, Dashiell?Do you agree that I don’t need your help?”
That didn’t sound like Indira at all; she was never petty, never sarcastic.A flush rose in my face.
“I don’t know if it’s that simple,” Bobby said.“The sheriff released you because she wasn’t ready to make an arrest, but that’s not the same thing as clearing you as a suspect.”
“I understand the difference,” Indira said.
“If I were the sheriff, I’d be trying to find the murder weapon to see if I could tie it to you.The fact that you had a gun that had been recently fired is a big red flag in any investigation; the sheriff’s not just going to turn her back on it because the bullet didn’t match.Until she has something else, you’re going to stay at the top of her list.”
“I’m not concerned.I didn’t do anything wrong.I have nothing to hide.And the physical evidence already proves that.”
“Indira, we’re—” I almost saidtrying to help.But Fox jerked their head in a no, so I changed it to “—we’re trying to consider all possibilities.Have you thought about the fact that someone might be trying to frame you?”
“How would someone frame me?”she snapped.“Nobody knows I live here.”
“But that’s not true.We all know you live here.And tourists come through.They buy from you at the farmer’s market and during the holidays.You’re using your legal name.People write reviews online.They share travel tips on social media.It’s not impossible that someone was raving about an amazing baker and chef named Indira on the Oregon Coast.It’s not like Seattle is on the other side of the world.”
Indira’s lips parted.Then she shut her mouth again, the muscles in her jaw flexing.
“Sparkie certainly seemed interested in you,” I said.“She spent a lot of time chatting me up after we found Mal.At first, I thought she just wanted the inside scoop, but she spent a little too long trying to convince me she was helping me, and then she was a little too sloppy when she started asking about you.I don’t know if she knew you were in Hastings Rock before she came, but she definitely recognized you.”
The wind wrapped itself around the coach house, rising to a howl before dying away again.
Indira’s color worsened, but her voice was firm as she said, “Sparkie can do whatever she wants.”
And then I realized what was going on.“Indira,” I said.“We’re not trying to pry into your life.I know you’re a private person.I hate that we’re in this situation.I know you’ve been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours, and I know you already had to go through this with the sheriff, and I know you hate having to give up the things you’ve protected for so long.I’m your friend, and I love you, and I’m being honest when I tell you that I’m worried you’re still in a lot of trouble.But I also think you should know that whatever you don’t want to tell us, people will probably find out anyway.I’m not saying that as a threat; I’m telling you so that you can prepare yourself.”
Indira looked away.Her cup chittered on its saucer, and when she returned it to the side table, her movements were uncoordinated, and tea slopped onto the wood.
“I don’t think there’s anything left to talk about,” Fox said.They reached to take Indira’s hand and sent a challenging look in my direction.“You should go.”
“No,” Indira said.She patted Fox’s hand, but she didn’t pull away.“No,” she said again.“It’s all right.I’m acting like a child.”She drew a deep breath and said, for a third time, “No.”
The waves broke out against the cliffs.Where the water sprayed above the line of the bluffs, it caught the day’s light and burned white hot.The same white lines burned farther out on the water, like everything to the horizon was roiling metal.
“Mal and I met when I was young,” Indira said.“Younger than you, Dash.Almost as young as Nalini, as a matter of fact.”A hint of a smile touched her voice, if not her face.“And nearly as silly.He was handsome, even though he was barely more than a child too—he was still breaking out, even into his twenties, and he hated that it made him look like a teenager.You didn’t meet Mal, did you?”
I shook my head.
“He’s—he could be very charming.Smart, knowledgeable, interested in you.He had money, and he was on his way to becoming wealthy, which has its own appeal.And he was—” She stopped, and this time, a bent little smile did curve her lips.“He was a bad boy.”
Fox groaned.
“Stop,” Indira said with a laugh, but her hand tightened around Fox’s.“No one’s thinking clearly at that age.”
The comment must have meant something because Fox groaned again, the tone slightly different, and said to me and Bobby as though in explanation, “A red-faced tuba player.My God, I dressed up like Willy Wonka for him.”
I laughed, as much out of surprise as anything.Amusement flitted across Bobby’s face.And just like that, whatever strange tension had been growing broke.
