Book Fair and Foul (Ashton Corners Book Club) (12 page)

It was all the encouragement we needed to make up our own minds.

MAYHEM AT THE ORIENT EXPRESS
—KYLIE LOGAN

L
izzie had a plan by the time she got back home from her morning run and it included a morning coffee with Ashley’s ex-fiancé. She fixed herself an espresso and ate a banana with some spoonfuls of almond butter, brushed both cats, who were following her around ready to trip her whenever she turned around, had a shower and quickly dressed.

She phoned Isabel Fox first and was pleased to be able to arrange a reading for the authors. Fortunately, there was an opening on the library schedule for Saturday afternoon and Isabel was delighted to pen them in. They’d have the large activity room from three to five
P.M.
, plenty of time for four readings with signings to follow. And Isabel would have the library email the information to its patrons later in the day. Hopefully, Molly would have some luck with her pursuit of the band gazebo in the town square. That would keep the authors happy, for the weekend at least. But what about next week, if the investigation stretched out that long?

Lizzie planned to stop at the bed and breakfast later and fill the authors in on the new agenda. She was also hoping to corner Caroline for a little question-and-answer session about what Lorelie had said. It was definitely time to talk to A.J. Pruitt and Gigi Briggs. They’d been scarcely seen since the murder. For that she’d need Molly, of course. She gave Molly a quick call to fill her in on the library event and to ask if she was free to go to the B and B later in the morning.

With that done, she drove to the new Target on Cole Street in search of a new cell phone. By the time she’d decided on a model and gotten it all set up, it was later than she thought but there was still enough time to drive over to the Ashton Inn. She hoped to catch Nick Jennings in the restaurant having breakfast, or if not, she planned to call his room and invite him to meet her for a coffee.

She wasn’t sure what to expect—a grieving lover, an angry, rejected and scorned guy or a man in complete control of his feelings and not willing to give anything away. Her questions were pretty basic and would do for whatever mixture of feelings she encountered.

Fortunately, Jennings sat at a corner booth in the hotel’s restaurant, as pointed out to her by the young, giggling server. “Oh, that’s him all right, ma’am. He’s such a good tipper and always takes the time for a nice chat.”

So, maybe not too grief-stricken, Lizzie thought, walking over and introducing herself.

Jennings looked surprised but quickly recovered and invited her to join him. She ordered a coffee and made the usual comments about the nice surroundings until she’d had her first sip. It also gave her the opportunity to size him up.

He looked to be about six feet tall with brown wavy hair cut in a corporate style. She guessed him to be in his forties, not too much older than Ashley. His Michael Kors striped shirt spoke of good taste and a healthy shopping budget.

“I’m real sorry to intrude on your privacy at a time like this,” Lizzie said, “but I was Ashley’s roommate in college and I’m just so shocked at what’s happened. I felt I should make contact with you and see how you’re doing. I understand you two were engaged?”

Jennings cleared his throat. “At one time, yes. In fact, Ashley had just broken it off before leaving on this trip.” His finger tapped the side of his cup. “It wasn’t the first time. I don’t know how well you knew her but Ashley could be quite flighty at times. The last time she walked out on me, it was because I refused to take her with me on a business trip to Las Vegas. Anyway, I relented that time and we made up. I figured this was much the same thing, so I followed her down here.”

“And what would the reason have been this time?”

“Pardon?” He looked surprised.

“The thing she wanted to change your mind about, if that’s why she broke it off?”

“That’s just it. I didn’t know.”

“You met with her down here?” Lizzie asked, knowing the answer.

“Just briefly at the bed and breakfast. She said she didn’t want to talk about it while here and I should go home.”

“But you didn’t.”

“Of course not. I figured it was all part of the game. She was playing hard-to-get. Again.”

Lizzie could picture Ashley acting exactly like this. “Hmm. And you really have no idea why she wanted to break it off?”

“I’m telling you, I thought it wasn’t for real. She could be flighty and was forever changing her mind about things, so I fully expected her to tell me all about it when she got back to New York.”

“But you didn’t leave?” she pressed.

Jennings looked around the room and leaned toward her. He spoke in a soft voice. “I thought she might want time off for a little fling here in town, so I thought I’d stick around and see who the guy was.”

“What made you think that?”

“She did say something earlier about wanting to see somebody here. I knew it wasn’t on book business. So, knowing Ashley, I put two and two together.”

Lizzie wondered if that had been what Ashley had meant when she said she’d be spending more time in Ashton Corners. If so, who could it be?

“Do you have an alibi for the time of her murder?” Lizzie wondered if he would answer her.

“That’s what the police wanted to know. And no, I don’t. I was in my hotel room all evening and morning. Alone.” He glared at Lizzie but after a few moments his look softened. “Look, I don’t know how close you were to her but I’d like to give you my condolences, too. It’s hard when someone so young and so vital dies in such a senseless manner.”

Lizzie started to say they weren’t close but closed her mouth quickly. Jennings was right. It was a shame when such a thing happened and everyone, no matter how far removed from Ashley, was affected.

She thought about that on her drive to Molly’s. When she looked closely, she was sad that Ashley had been murdered. They would never have become friends again, she was sure about that, but they had been at one time, even if for a brief period, and that mattered. Putting things into perspective, it was no longer just a quest to prove her innocence by finding the murderer. It was also something she owed Ashley. Her killer would be found.

Lizzie found Molly out in the garden putting some of her summer flowers to bed, although there weren’t many as the fall foliage had already filled in most spots, and eventually the next cycle of plants would do so also. Colorful sage in a variety of hues, coleus and gomphrena abounded everywhere with a lot of varieties Lizzie had never heard of. The backdrop was the amazing acre of property, most of which was filled with an actual walk-through maze with hedges of holly, originally laid out by Claydon Mathews, now reaching ten feet tall. Molly had a yard maintenance company that took care of the larger areas, including keeping the maze trimmed back and the pathways easily navigated.

Lizzie looked longingly at the maze, wanting to wander through and lose herself to the magic of it all, as she’d done so many times over the years. However, she felt they were running out of time to find out what had happened to Ashley. And there were two more authors who needed to be questioned.

“Hey, Molly. That’s a never-ending job.”

“Lizzie. You startled me. Yes it is, dear, but I get so much satisfaction out of doing it I always reserve this task for myself.” She glanced at her watch. “Oops, it seems I’ve lost track of time. I thought I’d just do a little pruning. How did the fiancé seem?”

“Ex-fiancé, actually. I’ve just had a coffee with Nick Jennings.”

Molly sat back on her heels. Her eyebrows rose, questioning. “Ex? Hmm. And was it useful?”

“Not so much. He says Ashley broke it off just as she was leaving, so he followed her to get some answers.”

“And did he?”

“Not in so many words. She did mention to him that there was someone she wanted to see down here. And I’m sure she wasn’t meaning me. It sounds like she was just being Ashley, tired and wanting to move on.”

“But what were his thoughts on that? If he wasn’t ready to let go . . .”

“He sounds sincere. I think he’s truly upset that she’s dead but he doesn’t have an alibi.” She paused to give Molly a hand in standing up. “Do you think we could go to the Quilt Patch now?”

Molly took a quick look down at her clothes. “Why don’t you help yourself to some coffee from the carafe—it’s fairly fresh—and I’ll just get myself ready.”

Lizzie had just finished her second cup when Molly appeared wearing a denim shirt and a pale red cashmere sweater.

“I feel more like talking to those two now,” Molly said, grabbing her handbag off the counter. “By the way, we’re all set to use the band gazebo for a reading on Sunday afternoon. I thought maybe two to four would be good.”

“Great news. I sent George Havers an email last night and asked if we could get a short announcement in Thursday’s paper, maybe at the last minute. I called him with the news about the library event earlier this morning and once we’re parked I’ll send him this added information. Do you have any ideas for next week, in case we need them?”

Molly nodded. “What do you think about the big talent night that the Ashton Corners Service Club is putting on? It’s a major fund-raiser for them and I don’t see why authors can’t be involved, doing readings. That’s a talent.”

“I think that’s a great idea. I’ve only been to one of them and it was heavily into music, but I agree, writing is a talent and these authors are all performers. We’ve seen that.”

“Good. I’ll check with the club and see if the authors do indeed qualify. If so, we can talk to them about it.”

Lizzie found a parking spot right in front of the Quilt Patch. She took a few minutes to send George a message on her new iPhone. As they made their way inside, she wondered about a plan B in case their luck ran out.

She needn’t have worried as they found Gigi alone in the dining room eating a late breakfast. Gigi looked pleased to see them and asked if they’d like some coffee. Lizzie momentarily thought about giving the coffee a pass but changed her mind when she smelled the fresh brew.

Gigi looked pert, her long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a black T-shirt with Italian cities written in bling and skinny jeans. Lizzie wondered how it would feel to be that thin.

“Do you mind if we ask you a few questions about Ashley?” Molly asked after they’d exchanged comments about activities around town.

“Not at all. It’s sure sad, isn’t it? I can’t believe it’s happened. I mean, it’s one thing to write about murders but quite another to have someone you actually knew and had been talking to found murdered.” Gigi punctuated her sentence with a shudder. “I also heard that, like, you’re the main suspect.” She stared straight at Lizzie, obviously wanting a response. Lizzie decided not to give her one.

“Did you know her well?” Lizzie asked, thinking back to their arrival at Molly’s dinner on Friday. Lizzie hoped that meant Gigi knew something about Ashley’s plans. Although Lizzie couldn’t discount the fact that Gigi could have had plans of her own, namely to murder Ashley. The question was why.

“As well as you can with a basically email relationship. I’d met her at a couple of conferences but she’s always too busy at those, what with all the authors and even some editors in town, and they’re all wanting to see her. We did manage to mark out some time for a coffee at the Readers and Riters Festival last weekend. She was really nice to talk to.”

“Hmm. Do you know anything about how she got along with the other authors?”

“I think they liked what she could do for them. She was like a cheerleader, you know, always up and always ready to support us and our books.” Her look darkened. She opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again.

Lizzie jumped in, wondering what that look was about. “I bet her job was a bit trying at times, especially with four authors to attend to. I get the impression that Caroline and Lorelie can be very demanding at times.”

Gigi stared at her for a moment before answering. “You’ve got that right. They each want all the attention because they’ve won some awards. Well, I’m up for two this year and although I didn’t win last weekend, I’ve got a good chance at the other one. So Ashley and I spent a lot of time discussing promotional strategies. I think the others were miffed. At least Lorelie was downright catty about it.” She sat back, a satisfied smile on her face.

Lizzie wondered if she felt like she’d put one over on the divas.

“You know,” Gigi continued, “she did go over and above for me. I’m planning on a new series, which has been accepted by my editor, and the main characters are a family that runs a funeral home. Don’t look so surprised,” she said with a laugh. “My best friend’s parents ran a funeral home and I spent a lot of time at her place. They lived above the funeral parlor and I guess I was being real ghoulish. Maybe that’s how I got my interest in writing mysteries.”

“Anyway, I thought I might combine this trip to Ashton Corners with some research. My setting is a small Southern town and this sounds about the right size, so I asked Ashley if she could set me up with an appointment at the White Haven Funeral Home.” She glanced down at her hands, a dark expression on her face. When she looked back up, it had passed. “I wanted to talk to them and maybe spend a couple of days shadowing them.”