Colleen Coble (21 page)

Libby lifted a brow. “We both know better than that. And I bet you’ve turned up more evidence that Ben was killed, haven’t you? Which brought about the car bombing.”

Amy told her about the money and the wallet they’d found. “I think Tom is beginning to believe there might have been foul play, but it’s so hard waiting to see what he can uncover.”

“What else?”

Libby was way too perceptive. Amy shrugged. “Well, Curtis and I had a little fight.” She told her about the prayer journal and Curtis’s suspicions. “But I know Ben would never sell drugs. Never. It has to be something else.”

“Whatever it is, it sounds like it was illegal.” Libby’s words were gentle. “You need to quit assuming anything. Ben wasn’t perfect, honey.”

Amy tensed. “I know he wasn’t! But he was a good man. I don’t like hearing someone trash his name. Not even Curtis.” Her eyes burned, and her hands shook as she raised her water glass to her mouth.

“Why are you so mad, Amy?”

Libby’s gentle words made her slump back in her chair. “I don’t know. I’m just so . . . so angry that he’s dead. That I didn’t get to say good-bye. That he didn’t get to raise his daughter. It’s not fair.”

Libby reached over and squeezed Amy’s hand. “It’s okay to be mad. It’s not fair. And the whole situation stinks. You can yell and cry all you want with me. I’ll listen.”

Amy swallowed the thickness in her throat. “I guess I’m still just grieving.”

“It takes time, a lot of time.”

She noticed Libby’s gaze wander over her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“Ned Springall just came in.”

“The guy who was surfing with Ben?” Amy twisted to look for the man. She’d never met him.

A man of about forty stood waiting to be seated. His grizzled hair hung down his back in a ponytail, and the sleeveless shirt he wore revealed arms covered in tattoos. He was as tanned as a chestnut and very fit. When Libby beckoned him, he headed their way.

He approached their table with a smile. “Miss Libby, you look like a happy mama. What a fine young man. Congratulations.”

“Thanks, Ned. Would you care to join us? My friend here would like to talk to you. This is Ben’s sister, Amy Lang.”

His eyes were very blue in his tanned face, and he flashed a white smile at Amy. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Amy. I thought a wicked lot of your brother.” His Boston accent put a broad emphasis on the
A
in her name. “And I’d hoped to ask you to help me get a community herb garden going in the plot behind the church. Think I could talk you into helping?”

His manner immediately put Amy at ease. “I’d be glad to. When do you want me to look at it?”

“Would you have time after lunch?”

She nodded. “It shouldn’t take long.” She liked the twinkle in his eyes and his easy manner. “I wanted to speak with you about the day Ben died.”

Heather came to wait on them before they got into the discussion. She looked tired today, but her smile was bright. “Hey, Amy! I didn’t realize I’d see you here today. My boss says I can give you my discount since you’re like family. What can I get you?”

Amy smiled at her enthusiasm. When Heather had first come here, Amy thought she wouldn’t last at the challenging job, but she’d buckled down. “I’ll have the lobster bisque.”

Heather scribbled down the order. “It’s super good today.”

While she took the other orders, Amy took a moment to think about what she wanted to ask Ned. She didn’t want to forget anything. She had so many questions about Ben’s death.

Ned took a sip of his water. “So what do you want to ask?”

She leaned on the table. “You said Ben was leaving for the mainland after surfing. That he’d driven to the beach, right?”

“Right.” Ned nodded.

Amy studied his expression, seemingly open and honest. But who really knew what went on behind someone’s innocent face? She was beginning to think no one ever knew anyone else. “Did you see him drive to the beach?”

Ned’s eyes grew puzzled. “No. I was already in the water when he arrived, and I didn’t pay any attention until I couldn’t find him. I first noticed his car after I called the Coast Guard for assistance, so that’s when I realized he’d driven instead of walked.”

Maybe he was telling the truth. Amy wanted to believe him. “Did you speak to Ben that morning? Did he tell you he was heading for the mainland?”

“He’d told me the day before that he was going back home after we surfed. We grabbed a couple of great waves, then conditions started getting gnarly. The last wave I rode threw me down wicked hard. He went back for one last wave, even though I told him it was looking too dangerous.”

“Did he act upset about anything? Worried?”

Ned frowned. “He wasn’t himself on that last visit.”

“In what way?”

“He was quiet, rather somber. You know what a jokester he was, always kidding around. He liked to go out at night and meet up with friends. There was none of that. Instead, he refused invitations and hung out at the house.”

This was in line with everything Amy had heard so far. “What about Gina? Did he see her much?”

Ned sipped his water. “Yeah, she was at the house most of the time, her and Raine. I stopped by one day. Things were tense.”

“Did you overhear anything that might indicate what the disagreement was about?”

He fingered the ring in his left ear. “Gina was laying into Ben something fierce. Something about a bad idea, maybe? His idea, she said.”

“His idea,” Amy repeated. “What did that mean?”

Ned shook his head as Heather brought their food.

His idea
. Ben always had schemes to make money or increase business. His help had been invaluable to their father. Could it have anything to do with his business? Only her dad would know.

Amy eyed the angle of the sun and nodded to Ned. The large space behind the church was perfect for an herb garden. “I think there’s enough space. You say Gina left this to the town?”

His ponytail swung when he nodded. “How much work do you think it will be?”

“Get a fellow with a tractor in here to till it all up, and we can get the plants in, or even seeds, if you want to do it more cheaply. I can draw up a list of what to plant where and what kind of soil and light the herbs prefer.”

“That would be wicked good of you.”

She touched his tattooed arm. “I have another question about Ben if you don’t mind me asking.”

He put his hands on his hips. “Sure. Don’t know how much help I can be, but I’ll try.”

“You and Ben surfed a lot, is that right?”

He nodded. “Nearly every morning when he was here. That man was a born fish.”

“Did he ever mention why he didn’t marry Gina?” It was a personal question, but maybe he’d been close enough to be Ben’s confidante.

Ned’s smile faded. “Not exactly, ma’am.”

“What does that mean? He did or he didn’t.”

Ned shuffled in his flip-flops. “He sometimes called his fiancée from the beach. I think he was torn between her and Gina, though he never really said so. But he was always a little quiet when he hung up.”

“Did he talk to Elizabeth a lot in the weeks before he died? Their wedding was supposed to be next week.”

Ned nodded. “I’d hear him talking about wedding plans.” He nodded toward the hill. “Here comes Libby.”

Amy turned and waved at her friend, but her thoughts stayed on her brother. How could he have kept two women on the string this way?

T
WENTY
-T
HREE

A
my expected her parents by seven on Friday night. She’d put fresh sheets on the guest room bed and had set out fresh flowers. She gulped when car doors slammed at 6:40. Curtis had originally offered to be with her when she told them about Raine, but after their tiff, she wasn’t about to invite him over. The last thing she needed was for him to say something disparaging about her brother. Plus, she wanted to avoid any confrontation about Raine’s custody. If her parents immediately planned to see an attorney, Curtis would not be able to hold his tongue.

She met them at the door. “You made it. Welcome.”

Her mother, dressed in a tan suit, offered a sweet-smelling cheek. “Amy, you look positively brown. You haven’t been wearing your sunscreen.”

“I don’t believe in sunscreens, Mom.” It was a familiar argument. “I never get burned, and I want the vitamin D.”

Her mother’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t answer as she walked past Amy and sniffed. “You’ve painted recently.”

“I’ve readied a room to see patients.” Amy knew that announcement would not go over well. Her mother thought she should finish her training to be a doctor. And preferably set up practice down the street from where she grew up.

She stepped out of the way for her dad to lug in the two suitcases. “Hello, Dad. Glad you could make it.” He barely paused long enough for her to brush her lips against his cheek before barreling into the entry.

He headed for the stairs. “Our usual room?”

“Yes,” she called after him.

Her mother didn’t follow her husband but wandered toward the living room. “I’d like some iced tea if you have any made up.” She paused to study the pictures of Ben that Amy had put out a few days ago.

Her mother picked up a photo of Ben leaping high to clear a hurdle in high school track. “He still holds the school record, you know.”

“I know.”

Her mother put it back on the table, then went to her favorite chair, a pale lemon armchair by the fireplace.

“I’ll get you some tea.” Amy escaped to the kitchen.

It felt like a boulder was lodged in her stomach. No matter how carefully she approached the subject, it was going to be hard. Should she tell them together or approach her father first? He might be the most reasonable. Her mother was bound to get emotional, but she might be more upset if she thought Amy was trying to exclude her.

When she returned to the living room, her father was on the sofa working on his iPad. He barely grunted when she asked him if he wanted iced tea, so she placed her mother’s glass on a table by her chair, then settled on the sofa beside her dad. She could put it off a few hours, but she’d be sick by nightfall if she didn’t get this out in the open.

The breeze lifted the curtains at the window and blew in the scents from the herb garden: rosemary, cilantro, and oregano. Rosemary for remembrance. This was the time to remember Ben
too. What he wanted. His dreams, the future he never had. If he wasn’t willing to marry Gina, what did that say?

Her mother wiped the condensation on her glass. “You look like you just bit into rhubarb. Is something wrong?”

Amy inhaled and prayed for courage. “Dad, would you put your iPad down a minute? I have something important I need to tell you.”

Her father looked at her over the top of his glasses, then set his iPad on the cushion beside him. “You look very serious. Are you in financial trouble? Or is this more nonsense about Ben’s death?”

She wasn’t about to get into what she’d found out about Ben’s death. “Did you know Ben had a girlfriend here?”

Her mother frowned. “That’s ridiculous, Amy. He was going to marry Elizabeth. The poor girl is still a wreck. Did I tell you I ran into her at the club the other day? She looked positively dreadful. So pale and drawn. She started to cry at the sight of me. Her father wants her to start dating again, but she says she’ll never forget Ben.” She dabbed at her eyes.

How much of Ben’s reluctance to marry Gina had to do with his engagement? If only Amy could ask him.

She inhaled and her stomach tightened. “Ben had a baby with the woman here, Mom. A little girl.”

The words fell into the silence of the room like an explosion. Her mother leaped to her feet. “That is impossible. Ben would have told us!”

Amy reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a picture of Raine. “This is Ben’s daughter.” She extended the picture to her mother, who at first refused to take it. “Look at her, Mom. Her name is Raine, and she is a year old.”

Her mother’s fingers tightened on the picture, and she stared into Raine’s smiling face. “Sh-She’s beautiful.” Her voice shook.

“What’s this nonsense?” Her father got up and snatched the picture out of his wife’s hand. “She looks nothing like Ben.”

“She looks like her mother,” Amy said. “Gina Ireland.”

Her father stared at the picture. “I don’t know any Gina from here on the island. Are her parents the Irelands who own the marina in Virginia Beach?”

“No, they’re from New York. Wealthy. I’m not sure what their business is though.”

Her mother took the picture back. “If she came from a good family, then he clearly wasn’t ashamed of her. Why would he keep something like this from us?”

“I haven’t been able to figure that out yet.”

Her father’s lips flattened. “Are you sure the child is Ben’s?”

“Ben’s name is on the birth certificate. Though I have to tell you all of it—Gina didn’t have a very good reputation.”

Her mother frowned. “Did Ben ever have a paternity test done?”

“I don’t know.”

Her father was looking more skeptical. “Where is the child now?”

“Gina’s brother, Curtis, has custody. He’s pretty amazing, really, and the baby clearly loves him.”