Peony Street (14 page)

“I never was a good blonde,” Claire said. “Plus a permanent wave on top of double processing is never a good idea.”

“What I’m trying to say is Pip’s not a bad man, he’s just not the man for you. You were still figuring out who you were, and instead you let him decide for you.”

“I really thought I loved him,” Claire said.

“You were both so young,” Delia said. “Chemistry is a powerful force when you’re a teenager. Plus you think you know it all at that age and no one can tell you any different, especially not your mother.”

“I’m sorry I disappointed you.”

“It’s your life to live, sweetie, I just hated to see you make a bad choice. I knew you would eventually be hurt.”

“He’s evil.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Delia said. “Pip’s not too bright, but he’s very skilled at manipulating women to get what he wants. He’s lazy, and likely to quit as soon as something gets difficult. Plus he’s too good looking for his own good. That’s made it easier for him to get his way.”

“That’s him in a nutshell,” Claire said. “You missed your calling, Mom. You should have been a psychologist.”

“I’d never be able to resist telling people what I think they should do,” Delia said.

Claire got the cinnamon rolls out of the microwave and put them on the table. Delia declined, saying her stomach felt a little queasy, so Claire started picking at one side of them. They were even better than she remembered, tender and buttery with way more pecans and cinnamon than anyone else used. Before she realized what she was doing she had eaten two.

“I’m so hungry,” Claire said. “I can’t seem to stop eating.”

“You’ve just been missing our good home cooking,” Delia said.

The phone rang, and it was Dom Deluca tearfully and joyfully reporting the birth of Dominic Junior. He said that Denise’s sister Stephie had broken her ankle rushing down the stairs of her house to go to the hospital, and she would not be able to cover Denise’s appointments for the next six weeks.

“I’m going to be here a week at the most,” Claire protested.

“Even a week would be wonderful,” he told her. “It’s closed tomorrow so you wouldn’t have to be there until Tuesday. Four days. It would be such a blessing.”

Claire said she’d do it, “But only this week,”

She groaned as she hung up.

“You’re sweet to help them out,” Delia said. “I’m too tired to cook for them tonight.”

“Denise’s mother will be cooking enough to feed an army,” Claire said. “Don’t worry about it. Tonight we need to find that book.”

Delia and Claire looked all over the house but did not find Tuppy’s manuscript.

“Your father may not remember what he did with it,” Delia said.

“We can start fresh in the morning,” Claire said. “We both need some rest.”

“I’m at the bakery at six tomorrow morning,” Delia said. “Then I have the front desk at the Inn from noon to five and the bar in the evening.”

“You need to start telling people ‘no,’” Claire said.

“You try that first,” Delia said, “and then let me know how it works out for you.”

At two o’clock in the morning Mackie Pea began to growl low in her throat, and Claire awoke to a tapping on her window. Even though she was half asleep, she knew who it was before she pulled back the curtains. She unlocked and opened the window just a crack. Cold air poured in.

“Go away, Pip,” she said.

“I need to talk to you,” Pip said in that pleading voice Claire knew so well.

“Go talk to Meredith,” she said.

“That’s not what it looked like,” he said.

“I don’t care if it is,” Claire said. “You’re no longer my problem.”

“I need your help,” he said. “I’m in big trouble.”

“Big surprise,” Claire said. “I’m still not interested.”

She began to lower the window sash.

“I know who killed your friend,” he said.

“Wait there,” Claire said.

Claire quickly got dressed and then climbed out the window, much to Mackie Pea’s displeasure. She started to bark in protest so Claire reached back in, picked her up, and tucked her down inside her raincoat.

Outside she could see her breath and noticed the dew on the grass had turned to a light frost.

“It’s friggin’ cold out here,” Claire said. “It’s April, for crissakes.”

“Welcome home,” Pip said.

He held out his arms for a hug and Claire shook her head.

“Ground rule number one,” she said, “no touching.”

Pip hadn’t changed much in the ten years since she’d seen him. He was dressed like a stoner who just discovered reggae music, complete with a Baja hoodie, leather necklace, and pierced ear. His hair was still a surfer dude tangle of sun-bleached golden curls, and the hazel eyes flecked with gold were still fringed with thick long lashes. Not surprisingly there was more sun damage to his skin and wrinkles around his eyes, but just like all handsome men, Pip was aging well.

Claire didn’t feel the pangs of attraction or regret she once had. After all he’d put her through, seeing Pip just reminded her that the shallow nature of teenage attraction was a poor predicator of long-term suitability. He looked like trouble wrapped in ignorant bliss; he smelled like pot smoke.

Claire took a deep breath of clean, crisp air, looked up and was amazed at the number of stars visible in the dark sky. She had forgotten how beautiful night could be away from all the ambient light of the cities she’d lived in.

“C’mon,” Pip said.

Without discussing it first they walked down to the old depot, which was where they used to secretly meet over twenty years before. Back then it had been a boarded up relic, and now it was the “Mountain Laurel Depot Bar and Grill.” They sat on the steps to the platform, facing the river.

“What happened to Tuppy?” Claire asked him, moving as far away from him as she could on the broad stairway, cradling Mackie against her chest.

“What kind of name is Tuppy?” he asked her.

“His last name was Tupworth,” she said. “It was a nickname.”

“Was he your boyfriend?”

“We worked together,” Claire said. “He was Sloan’s personal assistant.”

“How is Sloan these days?”

“Ruthless and evil, same as ever. Now cut to the chase. Who killed Tuppy?”

“It was an accident. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Did you see it happen?”

“No, but I got there right after it happened.”

“Why didn’t you tell the police?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Which just means you’re involved somehow and afraid you’ll get in trouble.”

“I saw you with Scott, earlier. He hit on you?”

“You know, Pip, not everyone lives their day-to-day life as if it’s a porn movie. Sometimes men just talk to me and there’s no sexual subtext.”

“Not straight guys,” he said.

“You have five seconds to start confessing what you know. Five, four, three …”

“You always were a ball buster.”

“Two … one …” and she got up to leave.

“I’m in trouble, Claire,” he said. “I’ve got this situation with these two ladies I’ve been dealing with and they’re both being complete bitches about something that is totally not my fault. On top of that there’s Knox, who I’m pretty sure has a hit out on me.”

“So you’ve been screwing around with Meredith and who else?”

“Knox’s secretary, Courtenay.”

“How is this related to Tuppy’s death?”

“I’m getting to that. Let me finish. You’re always in such a hurry to twist my words and think the worst.”

“And zero,” she said, and stood up.

“C’mon, Claire,” he said. “You never let me finish.”

“Hurry up,” she said. “I’m freezing.”

“Knox bought this condo for Courtenay after he married Meredith, to keep her happy on account of he had been screwing around with her but then didn’t marry her. Meredith’s from some powerful political family and Knox is running for something; congressman, governor, I forget what.”

“Senator.”

“Okay, yeah, whatever,” Pip said. “He has this second post office box where he gets all the mail he doesn’t want anyone to see, right? Well, somehow Meredith found out about it and talked the lady at the post office into giving the mail to her. Knox’s credit card bills were in there and some other stuff. Anyway, Meredith figured out about the condo and all the crap he gave Courtenay. She called him out on it. She was super pissed, and said she was gonna divorce him, take him to the cleaners. He talked her out of it; said Courtenay was blackmailing him, which is bullshit.

“Meredith likes the idea of going back to DC as a politician’s wife and after she thought about it awhile she decided he could keep on seeing Courtenay until after he’s elected, and then they’ll figure something out.”

“Like kill her,” Claire said, “and throw her body down in the Hell Hole where no one would ever find it.”

“That’s a good idea,” he said, “but no, nothing like that; more like pay her off.”

“So how did you get involved?”

“I was doing some odd jobs for Knox at their house and Meredith asked me to work on some stuff at her store. One thing led to another …”

“I get the picture, fast forward.”

“So Meredith comes up with this plan where I bone Courtenay and get her to fall in love with me, and then she’ll quit bothering Knox.”

“I immediately see the flaw in this plan.”

“What?”

“Courtenay likes money and power, and you have neither.”

“Meredith was going to bankroll me, see, so I could buy Courtenay all that crap she likes.”

“I know seducing Courtenay was a cake walk for you, so let’s skip past that part, assume she’s now crazy about you and ready to break up with Knox.”

“Yeah, she is crazy about me but she doesn’t want to break up with Knox, and he doesn’t really want her to.”

“But what about Meredith?”

“After he’s elected Knox is going to pretend to end it with Courtenay but really he’s going to move her to
Virginia so they can keep seeing each other. Meredith won’t know about it.”

“What about you?”

“Courtenay wants me to go, too, but Knox can’t know about it.”

“Does that bother you at all? I mean, sharing her with Knox?”

“Not really.”

“Of course not. Proceed.”

“I can’t see any reason not to go along with it. As long as we keep Meredith and Knox from finding out what’s going on, we’ll be rolling in it.”

“What does this have to do with Tuppy?”

“I’m getting to that. The other night I was at Courtenay’s when Knox was supposed to be in DC. He came back early and I had to climb out the second floor window to get away before he saw me. I was buck naked.”

“So you’re outside in the cold with no clothes on.”

“I was hiding in the bushes trying to decide the best route back to Mom’s house when Meredith’s car turned in the driveway and her headlights almost caught me.”

“She was following Knox.”

“Yep. She was loaded, too. She pounded on Courtenay’s door and liked to scream down the neighborhood. When she stopped long enough to take a breath I heard the window above me open and there comes Knox.”

“Did he see you?”

“He almost landed on me.”

“Was he dressed?”

“Yeah.”

“I would’ve loved to have seen the look on his face when he found you hiding underneath his girlfriend’s window with no clothes on.”

“He was super pissed off but he decided we would be better off working together. He boosted me back up into Courtenay’s window so Meredith would catch me in the bedroom instead of him.”

“Then what happened?”

“I got my clothes on, and Courtenay and I went down to the front door.”

“Meredith was surprised.”

“Uh huh; she thought Knox was gonna be there. She was so pissed.”

“Then what happened?”

“She left. I got the hell out of there. I took off across Marigold and cut through the Davis’s backyard. Phyllis was having a party but the keg was empty so I didn’t stay. I got to Peony Street right after it happened.”

“Who hit him?”

“I don’t know. Meredith and Knox were both outside of their cars, looking at the guy in the road. Then Meredith screamed and Knox slapped her hard across the face. She went down and was just crying like crazy. Knox hauled her up, put her in his car, and took off. I got the hell out of there.”

“Why didn’t you check to see if he was still alive?”

Pip shrugged.

“Why didn’t you call 911?”

Pip shrugged.

“Did Knox come back and get Meredith’s car?”

Pip shrugged.

“If Meredith left Courtenay’s first she must have hit Tuppy,” Claire said, “or she was waiting around the corner to see if Knox’s rental car left Courtenay’s condo and followed him. In that case Knox could have hit him.”