A Fatal Visit (A Harbor Cove Cozy Mystery Book 1) (8 page)

“Was there anything else you found strange?”

Kelly tilted her head as she considered it. “She was quiet, the day before it happened. Spaced out.”

“Preoccupied?” Skyler suggested.

“Yeah, that’s the word!”

Skyler made some scribbled notes. Kelly checked her phone and started tapping on the screen as if she were texting someone. A grey cloud had passed over the sun. She looked up and frowned, pulling a jacket on over her shoulders.

“I only have one or two more questions, Kelly.”

Swatting aside old receipts and defunct lipsticks, Nichole’s hand came into contact with the phone at the bottom of her bag. Her work phone was old, but she only used it to talk to clients.

Pressing play on a video of office sounds on her laptop, she dialed a number on her phone.

“Hi. You’re speaking to Susan at the Perkins & Co. Dental Surgery. How can I help you?”

Nichole affected a nasal monotone as she spoke. “Hi, Susan. This is Jennifer calling from the office of Ms. Skyler Avery. Ms. Avery is not happy with the standard of dental care she is currently receiving. Your practice was recommended to her by a colleague. Would it be possible for me to book an appointment for her with you?”

“Absolutely. When is Ms. Avery available?”
It worked!
Nichole punched the air. “Hello?”
Oh, right
.

“When is your next available appointment?”

“Tomorrow afternoon, 3 p.m.”

“Perfect. I’ll write that down in Ms. Avery’s calendar. Thank you for your assistance. Goodbye.” She hung up the phone and grinned to herself. Then she sent a text to Skyler on her usual phone.

“The only other time I’ve really seen Bryson is one time when he stopped in to chat with Aubrey.” Kelly shrugged. “He seemed friendly enough.”

Skyler nodded. “Thank you, Kelly. You’ve been a real help.”

The young woman smiled at her. “I’d best be off; I’m working later. Can’t believe they kept the restaurant open, really. Thanks for the tea. Bye!” She waved and walked off through the tearoom. Skyler reviewed her notes, circling things in a few places and scribbling out other things. Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

It was Nichole.

“You’re going to the dentist tomorrow.”

Chapter Eleven

Perkins & Co. Dental Practice had a cream and white painted waiting room. Skyler was flipping through a gardening magazine.
Ten Ways to Improve your Tomato Harvest. Truly fascinating.
A child was playing with blocks in the corner while her mother idly tapped at something on her phone. Skyler yawned.

“Ms. Avery is going to hire a new assistant. You know I hate the dentist,” she texted Nichole.

“Ms. Avery will thank me when it gets her closer to solving this mystery,” came the reply.

“If, Nichole. If.”

A man in his late fifties peered out into the waiting room, a clipboard in his hand. “Skyler Avery?” he called. She stood up and followed him. “I understand you’re just here for a check-up today?”

She nodded. “Yes. I believe my…uh, assistant informed you that I’m looking for a new dentist?”

“I’m sure we can help you out.” He opened the door for her and gestured that she sit in the chair. “I’m Thomas Perkins, by the way.” He had a warm smile.

I’m sitting through a dental exam to solve a case.
The cold, clinical feel of the examination made her shudder, but Mr. Perkins did his best to be reassuring. He made small talk, asked what line of business she was in, commented on the weather. Skyler did her best to reply in between having fingers and dental instruments in her mouth.

“Your teeth are very healthy, Skyler. I don’t think you’re going to have any problems. Did you have any questions?”

“Just one or two.” She hesitated as he waited. “I actually know your daughter.”

His eyebrows raised, but his expression didn’t otherwise change. “You know Aubrey?”

Skyler nodded. “I’m…um, trying to solve the Chase Myers case.” He stopped smiling.

“And?” His tone was strained.

Skyler coughed. “I was wondering if you could perhaps answer some questions about your daughter’s relationship with Mr. Myers.”

Anger contorted his features. “Who are you, Ms. Avery, to be prying with questions like that?” He stood up and turned away from her to face the window. “The
only
thing I shall say about Chase Myers is that he
ruined
my daughter’s life.” He looked over his shoulder. “Please leave.”

“You could help me bring some closure to your daughter. Don’t you want that?” Skyler asked, taking a step toward him.

He whipped back around. “If you knew her, you would likely know that she doesn’t need closure. Before Myers, my daughter had a chance to
be
something. Something that isn’t a dropout. I am not placing unfair blame on him. Aubrey understands that her life would be far better right now if she had never met Chase Myers.” He glanced down at the floor and then straight back at her. “Leave, before I call the police.”

“Well if I have to go to the dentist, you have to talk to her friends,” Nichole muttered to herself. “I guess I gleaned a bit of information. And I suppose it is between her and Dustin now…ladyfingers. Maybe that’s what he meant, that it was Aubrey.” She glanced around her room. The previously cascading paper piles were now arranged into neat stacks. “At least it’s a bit cleaner in here now.”

Glancing at her phone, she saw a text from Skyler. “Dentist dad is suspicious. Very angry, very hostile. Starting to get a picture of what might have happened. I’ll be home soon and we can discuss and compare.”

“Discussion and comparison calls for tea and chocolate.” She paused, frowning at herself in the mirror. “We drink an awful lot of tea, don’t we?…I need to stop talking to myself.”

Clue was sitting directly outside her bedroom door, and she wagged her tail as Nichole exited the room. She patted the dog on the head, and Clue followed her into the kitchen. The dog stared at her as she boiled water in the kettle.

“What?” Clue wagged her tail again. Nichole dropped tea bags into a pot. Clue followed the motions with her eyes. “What?” Clue wagged her tail once more. “Fine, but don’t tell Skyler.”

Nichole reached into the cookie jar and pulled out some plain shortbread. Then she tossed it to the waiting dog. When she looked up, Skyler was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, eyebrow raised.

“I made tea.” She held up the pot.

Skyler rolled her eyes. “Bring the chocolate.” She turned away, and Clue followed her out of the kitchen.

Nichole set down the teapot, the mugs and the chocolate on the coffee table. Skyler unwrapped a bar and took a huge bite from it. Clue jumped up onto the sofa as Nichole sat down on the armchair and yawned.

“Ugh. I’m so tired. It seems like I’ve barely slept since all this Chase stuff started.” She stretched. “It didn’t go well, then?”

Skyler shook her head. “He seemed so kind and friendly, but he turned the moment I mentioned Chase.” She poured some tea and took a sip. “If Aubrey’s involved, I think her father knows something. He was almost…defensive. He insists that Chase ruined her life.” She paused. “He might be covering for her.”

“Her friend from the restaurant was mellower,” Nichole said as she broke off a square of chocolate for herself. “She told me pretty much the same things that Aubrey had said to us both.”

Skyler emptied the contents of her bag onto the coffee table. The notes she made on the case and the photos from the crime scene were among them. She spread out the photos and some of her notes.

“Right now, Aubrey Perkins is my number one suspect.” She picked up a notebook and turned to a particular page. Nichole watched over her cup of tea. “She was in the restaurant when the murder took place. As the assistant manager, we can assume that she would have the keys to the locked door in the men’s bathroom. It seems as if she holds a grudge against Chase for leaving her to raise a child alone.”

Nichole nodded. “In the videos we saw, they were playing happy family in the park. But maybe she wanted to draw him closer, to gain his trust.”

“Exactly my thoughts. As well as that, she had copies of the item that was used as the murder weapon with her in the park. One as a hair accessory, the other as a book mark. It’s symbolic. She has an attachment to the golden quill in some way.” She paused, and then her eyes widened. “Not only that, Chase’s fortune was set to go to Charlotte. If he died before she grew up, that fortune would be controlled by Aubrey!”

Nichole had an incredulous look on her face. “I hadn’t even considered that.”

Skyler’s smile faded to a frown.

Nichole read her expression and offered what had been running through her own mind. “There’s too much conjecture in our argument. It would be too difficult to prosecute her based on all this. We need concrete evidence. Short of a full confession, that seems unlikely.” She paused as she thought. “I can’t help but wonder if Dustin was trying to tell us something about Aubrey. Ladyfingers. Prints on the quill maybe?”

“I could call Malcolm up and ask.” Skyler tapped on the arm of the chair. “Either way, we need to completely eliminate other suspicions and firm up the case against Aubrey. We
have
to be certain.”

Nichole nodded and yawned again. “For tonight, can I just get some sleep?”

Skyler smiled. “I’ll allow it, just this once.”

Nichole stood, stretching. Halfway through a yawn, she remembered something. “Oh, something one of Aubrey’s friends said was interesting. Something about Bryson hanging around the restaurant? That he liked Aubrey too?” She shrugged. “Don’t know how relevant that is.”

Skyler thought for a moment, staring out of the window. “If she reciprocated, it’s possible she wanted Chase out of the way? That seems like a stretch, though. I’ll have Mom ask him about it.”

Nichole yawned and stretched all the way to her room. Skyler rolled her eyes.
She is
so
laying it on thick.

~~~

Something vibrated close to Nichole’s head. Something she had decided she was likely about to kill.

“Murder,” she mumbled as she lifted her head from the pillow. Her phone was ringing, the sharp jangling default tone that she’d never bothered to change. “Momma Avery” was the caller. She groaned. “I am so not prepared for whatever this is about.” Nichole sat up and pressed answer. “I hope this—”

“I’ve solved it!” Momma Avery crowed down the phone. “I know how Dustin did it.”

Nichole blinked, hard. “Really?”

Without being asked, Momma Avery launched into a lengthy explanation. “Dustin is an employee at the restaurant. He’d have a key to the mysterious locked door in the men’s room. He chose the quill for the weapon because it wouldn’t be suspicious if his prints were mingled with those of visitors and other staff. After the deed was done, he escaped out of the other door and re-entered through the kitchen. It’s all very simple, really.”

Nichole rubbed her forehead. Her half-asleep brain was struggling to process the barrage of information. “That’s all well and good, but you’re forgetting something.”

The response she received was indignant. “I assure you, dear, I have thought this through.”

“Dustin lacks motive.”

“What?”

Nichole sighed, and her response came out harsh. “He doesn’t have a
reason
to want to kill Chase. He was there, yes. But, from what we can gather, he barely knew the man, other than from anecdotal information!”

“Oh yes.” Momma Avery went quiet. “Sorry, dear. I’m…I just want to solve this now, you know?”

Nichole softened. “We all do. You make a good point about prints on the murder weapon, though. Get some sleep. We’ll work much better on this if we’re all well rested.”

“Quite right. Goodbye, dear.”

“Goodbye, Momma Avery.” The phone clicked as she hung up.

Nichole flopped back down onto her pillow. “I’m giving up. I’m going to become a professional moss grower and not talk to anyone ever again.”