Death Rides a Pony, page 13
‘Oh, gosh, I don’t know if that’s necessary.’
‘Yes, it is. Obviously, at this point, you don’t know where things will end up with him, but nothing can happen if you don’t at least give it a chance. All things considered, the timing is pretty good. The divorce is slowly but steadily proceeding, and now the sale of the house might finally move forward. My only concern—’
‘Gary,’ Summer interjected. ‘The concern is Gary. I was thinking about what you said this morning after we ran into Melody, and you’re right. By now – with the carousel shut down and all the police on the festival grounds – Gary must have heard about what happened to Davis, but we still don’t know what shape his reaction will take. Even though he’s technically required to choose a new realtor, will he actually do so? Or will he drag his feet for months on end so that he can keep living and partying in the house?’
‘That’s a good question.’ Hope hesitated a moment, deliberating whether to continue. ‘Sometimes I wonder if it’s not about the house at all. Maybe what Gary really wants is to hold on to you.’
Summer stopped short and gaped at her. ‘He couldn’t possibly want that! He’s the one who’s been sleeping around, not me!’
‘True, but’ – Hope hesitated once more – ‘just because Gary can’t manage to be faithful to you, it doesn’t mean that he’s eager for your marriage to end. He might be all right with the current separation; in his mind, it could prove temporary. A divorce, on the other hand, is irrevocably permanent and final.’
Although Summer didn’t respond, Hope could see that her sister was seriously considering what she had said. After a minute, they began walking again, and Hope returned to an earlier point in the conversation.
‘Going back to the Green Goat this evening, my concern is Dylan, not Gary. I fear that Dylan might be a little like the attic with its love of revenge. He may want some payback for us sneaking away just now, and it’s possible that the payback could involve your rendezvous with Nate tonight.’
At the comparison of Dylan to the attic, a hint of a grin crept into Summer’s otherwise pensive expression. ‘It’s too bad that while we’re having our cocktails, we can’t get Dylan to spend an hour or two alone in the attic. I can guarantee you that experience would bring an end to his skepticism once and for all.’
‘The downside, however, is that we would have to start worrying again about being arrested. Leaving Dylan alone in the attic could lead to a charge against us for attempted murder, reckless endangerment, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress.’
Summer burst out laughing.
Hope’s own laugh quickly faded. ‘While we’re on the subject of potential arrests and charges, we have to warn Megan as soon as we can. Obviously, she isn’t guilty of anything, but it’s not fair to let her get blindsided by Rosemarie’s accusations. And the same goes for Sean. Since they work together, Megan must know how to get in touch with him.’
‘Speaking of Sean’ – Summer grew serious also – ‘did you notice how Nate reacted to what you told him about Megan thinking she had seen Sean heading in one direction five minutes after he had gone in the opposite direction? Why would Nate consider that to be important?’
‘I have no idea. Even if it actually occurred and wasn’t just a trick of Megan’s eyes in the dark, I don’t understand how it would matter. So what if Sean switched directions? Everybody does that on occasion. You forget something and have to go back, or you change your mind about where you want to go. The only thing that makes it even a tiny bit suspicious is that it occurred after the booths had closed for the evening and Davis had disappeared. But in my mind, that’s not much to get excited about, especially when we don’t even know if Sean and Davis were acquainted with each other.’
‘We should definitely try to find that out,’ Summer said. ‘And we should also ask Megan what else she can remember about Sean’s movements last night. It can’t hurt for all of us to have our stories straight and get our ducks in a row before Nate comes around asking more questions. Do you think that Megan will be at Amethyst’s booth? I was under the impression that she had finished her obligatory shift yesterday.’
‘She had finished her shift yesterday,’ Hope confirmed. ‘But according to her message, there was some problem with the booth today, and as Amethyst’s Director of Activities, Megan is the one who’s required to deal with it.’
‘That’s lousy. Maybe she can get Stanley to fix the problem. Although that might take a while considering that he still hasn’t fixed the strand of twinkle lights in our booth.’ Summer frowned. ‘I hope Megan isn’t forced to wear that hideous dress again. In this heat, it could be injurious to her health. And while we’re on the topic of hideous outfits …’
Hope followed her sister’s gaze and found Melody Witten and the mead booth a short distance ahead of them on the left. Melody was still clad in the pumpkin-orange bikini from that morning, except now the skimpy swimsuit didn’t draw one’s attention nearly as much as the fact that the woman’s skin tone resembled a broiled crustacean.
‘Yikes,’ Hope muttered. ‘Dylan wasn’t kidding about the potential for serious sun damage.’
The booth had no visitors, and with a weary, languid expression, Melody’s raccoon eyes circled in search of something to do or someone to chat with. Her face instantly brightened when she spotted Summer.
‘Hey there!’ Melody called and waved at them.
Summer’s pace reflexively slowed. ‘I guess we’re stuck. We have to go talk to her, don’t we?’
‘I’m afraid so.’
‘Oh lord, it just occurred to me.’ Summer’s own eyes started circling around but with substantially more angst than Melody’s. ‘Gary is probably around here somewhere. Do you see him?’
Hope did a quick visual search. ‘No. Melody is definitely alone at the booth. Maybe Gary and Aaron went to run an errand.’
There was an audible sigh of relief from Summer. ‘Then let’s go visit her fast. But we can’t linger. Sooner or later, Gary will show up, and I really don’t have the energy or the patience for a confrontation with him today.’
Hope nodded. ‘I’ll keep an eye out, and if I spot him approaching, I’ll give you a nudge with my elbow.’
‘Then we’ll hightail it …’
Summer was prohibited from saying anything more, because they were now within earshot of the mead booth. Melody was still waving at them, and it was with such enthusiasm that her bikini kept shifting precariously.
‘It’s wonderful to see you,’ Melody cooed when they had reached her. ‘How nice of you to stop by.’
‘How’s the advertising going?’ Summer inquired, gesturing toward the bikini.
Although Summer’s mirth was barely concealed, Melody took the question seriously, and even more seriously, she shook her head.
‘Not good in the least. Business hasn’t improved at all from yesterday. Our ticket box is nearly empty. I told Aaron that it’s the weather. It’s simply too hot and sunny for people to want to eat and drink.’
A single glance at the passing crowd with its collective arms loaded full of food and beverages proved the statement false, but Melody appeared so genuinely obtuse that neither Hope nor Summer had the heart to point it out to her.
‘Has your business been bad, too?’ Melody asked them. ‘Are you as bored as I am? It was a lot more fun when Aaron and Gary were here. But they left to go to one of the craft beer booths.’
The irony that the two men had departed their own booth offering alcoholic beverages to visit another booth with different alcoholic beverages seemed to be completely lost on Melody. Feeling the same degree of pity for her that she had on their first meeting, Hope took a page from Dylan’s medical handbook.
‘You’re right about it being so hot and sunny,’ Hope said. ‘Speaking of which, I hate to overstep, but you may want to consider covering up. It’s easy to get sunburned on a day like this without even realizing it.’
The possibility didn’t appear to have occurred to Melody, because her brow furrowed slightly, and she poked her forearm with an index finger. The spot went bright white, then promptly returned to broiled crustacean.
‘Golly,’ Melody murmured. ‘That’ll hurt tomorrow.’ She looked up at Hope. ‘Thank you for mentioning it. I appreciate it.’
Hope nodded, but a moment later, she found her own brow furrowing when Melody made no move to pull on a shirt or even throw a towel over her shoulders. Hope felt a sharp nudge in her side from Summer’s elbow, and she was instantly on alert to make a hasty departure. But when no sign of Gary’s imminent arrival at the booth followed, Hope gave her sister a questioning glance. Summer inclined her head toward Melody’s arm. There was a bandage on the underside of the woman’s right wrist that Hope hadn’t noticed before. It was spotted with dried blood.
‘That looks like it hurts, as well,’ Summer remarked to Melody, motioning toward the wound. ‘Did you cut yourself?’
Melody gazed at the bandage as though pondering it intently, and then she answered, ‘I was filling the jelly jars that we use for the mead. The lids have a rough edge.’
‘That’s too bad.’ Summer’s brow now also furrowed. ‘By the way, did you hear about what happened on the carousel last night?’
Hope blinked at her sister in surprise. Did Summer think that it might be Melody’s blood on the carousel platform?
Continuing to ponder the bandage on her wrist, Melody responded, ‘It’s a terrible tragedy. Davis was such a lovely man.’
It was Summer’s turn to blink in surprise. ‘You knew Davis Scott?’
‘Of course.’ Melody blinked back at her. ‘You did, too, didn’t you? Wasn’t he handling the sale of your house?’
‘Well, yes …’
‘That’s what I thought.’ Melody nodded. ‘Davis was our realtor the last time we moved. Aaron was the one who recommended him to Gary.’
Summer’s face contorted, and she made an aggrieved choking sound. It wasn’t hard for Hope to guess what her sister was thinking. If Summer could have cursed someone at that moment, it would have been Aaron Witten for his real estate agent referral.
‘You will stay until Gary and Aaron come back, won’t you?’ Melody pleaded with Summer. ‘I would love the company, and Gary will be sorry that he missed you otherwise. When I mentioned to him that I had seen you earlier, he told me that he had seen you, too. And yesterday also.’
‘He did?’ Summer said, puzzled. ‘But I haven’t seen Gary this weekend.’
Either Melody didn’t hear her or didn’t want to hear her, because she continued, ‘I’m so glad the two of you have started talking again. It’s the first step to a reunion. As I said this morning, you really should try to patch things up—’
‘That isn’t going to happen,’ Summer cut her off crisply. ‘There will be no patching of any kind.’
Again Melody took no notice and went on, ‘It would be fantastic for all of us to be friends again.’
Hope was beginning to wonder if Melody’s brain might have gotten a bit broiled along with her skin. Summer must have been thinking something similar, because both her tone and her answer were mild.
‘You and I are friends, Melody. Why don’t you drop by the boutique one day next week, and we’ll sit down for a pot of tea? A cup of chamomile always soothes the soul.’
‘That would be delightful,’ Melody replied, appearing quite pleased by the invitation. ‘But could there be coffee, as well? Aaron doesn’t like tea, and I don’t think that Gary does, either.’
Although Summer’s mouth opened to respond, she closed it again a moment later without uttering so much as a syllable. Hope gave her sister a slight nod in agreement. There was no point in arguing with Melody. At best, she was only half listening to them. Hope wished that Dylan was there, because he would have been able to tell if the woman was indeed suffering from a touch of sunstroke and what the best course of action was. Thinking about the insidious effect of the sun’s rays on Melody, Hope was starting to feel a little singed herself and decided that it was time for shade, particularly before Gary and Aaron returned from their sojourn to the beer booth.
‘Summer and I have to go now, Melody,’ she said. ‘We need to give an important message to another friend. But maybe you’d like to come with us? Then you wouldn’t be alone, and you could get out of the sun for a while.’
‘Oh.’ Melody looked crestfallen. ‘You’re going away already? But Gary will be so sad. And that makes me sad. I can’t leave the booth unattended.’
‘Yes, you can,’ Summer told her. ‘Nobody is visiting now anyway. And Hope is right. You really should cover up and get out of the sun.’
‘The sun?’ Melody echoed, perplexed. ‘But I like the sun.’
There was a pause as Hope and Summer looked at each other, debating what to do. Finally, Summer shrugged.
‘We’ll see you later, Melody.’ Although Summer gave a cheerful smile, beneath it her expression was troubled. ‘Take care of yourself.’
Summer turned and began to walk away. Hope gave a quick wave to Melody and followed her sister. Melody cooed a melancholy goodbye.
‘After we talk to Megan,’ Hope said, as soon as they were out of earshot of the booth, ‘we have to go back and check on Melody. We’ll do it surreptitiously. If we see from a distance that Aaron or Gary is there, then we’ll give the place a wide berth; otherwise, we really need to make sure that Melody is all right and hasn’t passed out in a charred heap.’
‘Good idea. We’ll definitely do that,’ Summer agreed absently. After a brief hesitation, she asked, ‘Do you think what Melody said was true?’
‘About how she got the cut on her wrist? It couldn’t be Melody’s blood on the carousel, could it? Could she have been involved in Davis’s death?’
Summer gave an agitated snort. ‘Why would Melody want to kill Davis? Davis was such a lovely man. No, I’m not referring to her wrist. I’m referring to what she said about Gary seeing me today. And yesterday. Was that true?’
Hope considered a moment. ‘Well, there are two possibilities. First, Melody could have been fibbing to further her misguided effort of getting you and Gary back together. Has she lied about things previously?’
‘Not that I’m aware of. Melody has always been an irritating combination of ditzy and officious – like when she lectured me this morning on my supposed financial obligations toward Gary – which is why I’ve never really warmed to her. But I can’t recall her ever telling outright lies before.’
‘Then the second possibility,’ Hope said, ‘is that Gary was fibbing.’
Summer nodded. ‘Obviously, Gary has no qualms about being untruthful. He lied for months about his affair. But when we were living together, he never used to fib about little or trivial things. That’s the reason I’m confused. Why would he tell Melody that he had seen me when he hadn’t? What purpose does it serve?’
Hope considered again. ‘Maybe Gary wasn’t lying. Maybe he did see you. But maybe you didn’t see him.’
‘He saw me, but I didn’t see him? Repeatedly?’ Summer frowned. ‘That can’t be right. It would mean Gary was following me. Why would he follow me?’
‘I can’t answer that other than to reiterate what I said earlier about Gary possibly wanting to hold on to you. Don’t forget that when you’re at the boutique and the brownstone, you’re effectively inaccessible to him. But here – with our booth and his booth and the open festival grounds – Gary can wander about and more or less check on you whenever he feels the inclination.’
‘You’re making it sound as though he’s stalking me.’
‘I didn’t say that. I just worry that with the divorce proceedings and the sale of the house dragging on for so long, it might be affecting Gary in unpredictable ways. It must be hard on him.’
‘Hard on him? It’s hard on me!’ Summer exclaimed with a touch of indignation.
‘Of course it is,’ Hope commiserated. ‘But you have much more support than he does. You have me and Gram and Megan, the boutique and the brownstone, and lots of other friends and diversions. What does Gary have to help him through this difficult time?’
Summer’s nose twitched, betraying a hint of amusement. ‘He’s got Aaron, Melody, and mead.’
Hope smiled. ‘Exactly.’
After a pause, Summer said, ‘Then it’s settled. Gary wasn’t following me. He just happened to see me – yesterday and today – when I didn’t see him. It’s nothing but a coincidence.’
Hope didn’t respond, because she knew that Summer didn’t believe it any more than she did.
FOURTEEN
Regardless of whether or not he had been following Summer over the last two days, Shifty Gary was forgotten the moment the sisters turned the corner and saw Amethyst’s booth. To their surprise, there was no one minding the booth. Nor was anyone near it. In fact, it appeared as though passers-by were deliberately making as wide a circle as possible around the booth, which was adorned in the hotel and spa’s namesake purple.
‘Is it my imagination,’ Summer remarked slowly, ‘or does Amethyst’s booth seem to be moving?’
‘I’m glad you see that, too,’ Hope said. ‘For a second, I was afraid that I might have sunstroke like Melody.’
Summer half squinted, half frowned at it. ‘Is it shaking? Why would the booth be shaking?’
‘In theory, it could be an earthquake, except nothing else in the vicinity is shaking.’
‘And we’re too far from the attic!’
Hope laughed.
‘That’s strange.’ The frown overtook the squint. ‘The two big bowls of liquefied pillow chocolates that Megan told us about are still up on the counter. Shouldn’t somebody have gotten rid of those by now?’
‘They’re probably too large and messy to move during the festival. My guess is that they’ll stay there until the whole booth is dismantled at the end of the weekend.’
‘I hope Megan doesn’t get in trouble for leaving the booth unattended.’ Summer gave a sudden gasp. ‘Good lord, you don’t think something bad has happened to her, do you? Or to whoever else was supposed to be manning the booth? That could be why it’s empty.’
