Page 16 of Merry Murder Season
I stepped into the house, where the group was sitting at the table. “Where are we headingtoday, family?”
* * *
Luckily the day turned out nice. At least with the weather. Being the end of November, we never knew if we were going to get rain, but Amanda and Jim had a sunny day to send them back to Nebraska. Since Beth was staying, I didn’t see the wistfulness in her like I usually did when she walked the beach. “You know even when you go back, you can still come and visit any time. Call itwriting time.”
Beth laughed as she picked up a shell to examine before throwing it back. “It’s my happy place. If this offer from Omaha wasn’t so good, I’d be hitting up colleges out here for my PhD work. I can’t believe you get any work done with this just down the hill. I’d be hanging outhere all day.”
“That’s exactly what I thought the first time I visited. I’d been stuck in my tiny office for so long, I’d forgotten that I lived in California. It was work, sleep, eat pizza or leftover pizza, then back to work. I’d promised myself when I moved to South Cove, I’d go down to the beach every day. That vow didn’t last, but I still come here more days than not. I have a life now and not just the work.” I had worked so hard to get my law degree and then burned myself out before my student loans were even paid off. “Being on the beach resets my brain.”
Beth smiled and looked back where Amanda and Jim were quietly talking together. From what I could see, Amanda was doing the talking and Jim was staring at Beth. I hoped he’d figure out how to deal with Beth working once they got married. Because from what I saw, Beth wasn’t backing down.
As we continued walking down the beach, a couple I recognized made their way toward us. Lille and Dom. I smiled, making sure it wasn’t too big or not big enough. Lille was hard to judge sometimes. “Hey, it must be South Cove Day in Santa Barbara. Isn’tit beautiful?”
Lille growled something I didn’t hear, but Dom stopped in front of us and grinned. “South Cove people are the best. And it’s the cult expert. I hoped I’d see you again before you left. I wanted to tell you again how much I enjoyed our conversation at Thanksgiving. I’m definitely buying your book whenit comes out.”
Beth blushed so hard I thought maybe she was dealing with heatstroke. “Well, I don’t even have a publisher yet”—she swallowed—“but hopefully, soon.”
“Good things happen to good people,” Dom said. “I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. Jill, nice to see you out and about. The book club was really fun. I didn’t know we had one so close or I would have been there earlier. I love talking about books.”
At this, Lille glared at him. “You talk to me all the time about books.”
“Yeah, but you haven’t read the ones we talk about.” He pulled her into a hug. “You really should attend. Your waitress Carrie is there. Jill, you need to talk this one into coming tothe book club.”
I tried not to choke. Carrie would freak out if Lille came to book club. She saw enough of her boss on the days she worked. Lille met my gaze and glared. I finally stumbled out a compromise phrase. At least I hoped. “Some people like to explore books on their own, others like the group discussion.It’s all good.”
Jim and Amanda had caught up with us then, and after a round of greetings, we started back down the beach, but Lille grabbed my arm. I looked up at her.
“Tell Greg he’s looking in the wrong places. Dom and his guys weren’t involved in Chip’s death.” She had lowered her voice, but Dom heard her anyway.
“Lille, leave Jill be. I’m sure Greg is only doing his due diligence for the investigation.” He lifted Lille’s hand on my arm. “Besides, Jill isn’t the oneinvestigating.”
“Ha,” Lille spat out. “She’s always sticking her nose in these things. If you want to know who killed Chip, you should talk to Chris about his backroom dealings. I’m sure she could give Greg a page of people who wanted Chip dead just because of the way he ran hisdrug business.”
“Chip was dealing drugs?” I’d heard rumors that if you wanted something on the illegal side, Chip’s Bar was the place to go, but I’d thought they were just rumors. Not everyone who owned a bar also dealt drugs. Especially those who wanted to keep owning a bar. From what I’d seen, most dealers started sampling the product and got themselves into money issues.
Dom sighed but nodded. “Our club was involved in those deals for years, but we stepped out after too many of our members lost themselves in the culture. I didn’t want to lose any more of my brothers. I know we have a reputation, but it’s something that I’m trying to fix. Anyway, when we stepped out, Chip stepped in and filled the void. I guess he saw it as a way to increase profits.”
“Did you tell Greg this?”
He nodded. “Your husband knows everything I know. And, Lille, he’s not going to arrest me for something I didn’t do.”
The look that passed between Lille and Dom made me think that there were at least a few things that Dom had done that he could be arrested for. Just not Chip’s death.
“Anyway, I’ll see you next Tuesday night for book club.” He took Lille’s arm and stepped away. “I’m looking forward to discussing this romance. Are all heroes bad boys?”
I didn’t answer as they stepped away. I thought maybe it was a rhetorical question, especially coming from a real-life bad boy. I could see Lille’s attraction. Not only was Dom drop-dead good-looking, he was intelligent. Add in his motorcycle and the possible danger he wore like a cape, and he wasfemale catnip.
We’d walked for a few minutes away from Dom and Lille when Beth asked, “Do you think Dom could have killed that man?”
“Beth, it’s none of our business. Greg is handling it.” Jim stopped talking after Beth stared him down.
“I was asking Jill,” Beth said as she turned back to me.
“I don’t know, but I think it’s interesting that he and Lille threw out an alternate suspect. I’ll ask Greg about it the next time I see him. Although he probably won’t answer me. He just takes the information I give him and then checks it out.” I glanced at my watch.“Who’s hungry?”
By the time they dropped me off at the house that evening, I was tired. Tired of playing go-between. Tired of the fighting. Tired of the snide comments. I wasn’t sure Beth and Jim’s relationship could withstand all this negative energy. Something needed to change and soon. But that wasn’t my issue.
I wanted to throw Jim to the lions when we visited the zoo. As we stood there, watching the small pride, Jim gave us a lecture on the patriarchal system in the wild.
