Hollyhock Ridge (6 page)

“That’s great,” said Claire. “I’ve eaten there several times
but I’ve never seen you. You must stay busy in the kitchen.”

Arwyn raised an eyebrow at Claire as if what she’d just said
was too idiotic and obvious to require a response, and then abruptly turned around
to resume flirting with Patrick.

‘Okay,’ Claire said to herself. ‘There were two bitch
indicators in under one minute; I think we’re done here.’

Claire turned as Professor Richmond came in with what looked
very much like two more Eldridge professors. They did not wear pocket
protectors, nor were their pants too short, but they emitted that indefinable
something that instantly told Claire they were not from Rose Hill.

“May I present Torbjörn Vilhelmsdotter-Holjer,” Dr. Richmond
said. “Doctor of Philosophy.”

“Please call me Torby,” the man said, with a shy smile, as
he shook Claire’s hand.

He looked like a blond, Scandinavian giant, and his accent
confirmed it.

“I am from Sweden,” he said.

“And this is Professor Ulrich Von Nedermyer,” Dr. Richmond
said. “He teaches physics.”

“Please call me Ned,” he said, as he shook Claire’s hand.

Ned was short, with a balding head and a full beard. He was
wearing dark socks with his sandals, and his German accent was pronounced.

“Are you from Germany?” Clair asked.

“My mother is from West Switzerland and my father from the
North, so I speak French with a German accent,” Ned said. “It is confusing for
me as well.”

Claire introduced the trio to Patrick, and then Arwyn, who
scanned them, seemed to decide they weren’t worthy of her notice, and abruptly
turned her attention to her phone instead of making conversation.

“We’re here to play,” Doctor Richmond said. “Such is a game
we play, and so we test our strength. Shakespeare.”

“Time is a game played beautifully by children,” Torby said.
“Heraclitus.”

“The distinction between the past, present and future is
only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” Ned said. “Einstein.”

“You never know what day could pick you, baby, out of the
air, out of nowhere,” said Arwyn, without looking up from her phone. “Sun Kil
Moon.”

There was a pause while everyone digested that.

“Oh,” said Arwyn, looking up. “I thought anyone could play.
Guess not.”

“Have a seat,” Claire said to the Eldridge professors.
“We’ll get started as soon as everyone’s here.”

“You need to choose your team name,” Patrick said. “What can
I get you to drink?”

The professors placed their drink orders and got settled in
a booth just as Laurie and veterinarian Drew Rosen came in.

Drew looked more like a tourist, dressed as he was in hiking
clothes. He had longish brown hair and the burnished look of someone who spent
a lot of time in the sun. Arwyn perked up when she saw him, and immediately
transferred her focus from Patrick to Drew.

Patrick introduced them to Arwyn, who merely glanced at
Laurie before commandeering Drew and steering him toward a booth.

“You’re obviously not from here,” she said to him as they
went. “What’s your story?”

Laurie stood a little too close to Claire, and she stepped
away.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll behave.”

“I didn’t know you were playing,” Claire said.

“I left Gonzo and Fozzie in charge at the station,” Laurie
said, “in case there are any jaywalking incidents to be investigated.”

“They’re trained deputies,” Claire said.

“Children shouldn’t be allowed to carry guns,” Laurie said.

“Maybe you’ll have a seasoned crew in Pendleton,” she said.

“They couldn’t be any worse,” he said.

Drew beckoned him over so Laurie went to join the others.

“I guess my team isn’t coming,” Claire said.

“They’ll be here,” Patrick said. “I talked to Sam earlier,
and you know Ed never misses a game. What in the hell else does he have to do?”

Claire served everyone their drinks, and then sat at the bar
next to Pudge.

“I guess you heard Matt Delvecchio’s wife’s gone missin’,”
Pudge said.

He spoke low, as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear.

“No, I hadn’t heard that,” Claire said. “What happened?”

“Left the house this morning before the sun came up and
never came back.”

“That’s odd,” Claire said. “I thought she was afraid to
leave the house.”

“Oh, she’ll go out if it suits her,” he said. “She never
misses a flea market or a tag sale. She only takes a fit of being a-feared if
it’s somewhere she don’t wanna go, like her only daughter’s wedding, or to see
her grandchildren. That woman’s selfish, cold, and turned funny, and that’s a
fact.”

“Maybe she’ll come back,” Claire said. “It hasn’t been
twenty-four hours yet so the police can’t get involved.”

“Kay was the last person to see her alive,” Pudge said, and
raised his eyebrows as if that was alarming news. “Saw Diedre driving down
Peony Street, ’round five-thirty this morning.”

“So she saw her drive by,” Claire said. “That doesn’t mean
anything.”

“What people are asking is what was Kay Templeton doing
outside that early in the morning?” Pudge said.

“Surely no one thinks Kay had anything to do with Diedre’s
disappearance.”

“Kay’s been carrying a torch for Matt Delvecchio since high
school,” Pudge said. “It’s kind of interesting that she’d be the last person to
see his wife alive.”

“Diedre may not be dead,” Claire said. “She may have just
run off somewhere.”

Pudge shook his head.

“Diedre Delvecchio’s an odd duck, that’s for sure,” he said.
“But she is not the type to run off. She just wouldn’t. Mark my word: that
woman is dead.”

“Matt must be frantic,” Claire said.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Pudge said. “He might be kind of
relieved. You ever see the inside of that house?”

“No,” Claire said. “But I’ve heard.”

“They had a plumbing problem a couple a years back, and Matt
called me rather than his own brother; there’s some bad blood there, on account
of Sonny’s divorce. I tell you, that house would give a pack rat
claustrophobia. I’ve never seen anything like it. Stuff piled up to the
ceiling, with just enough space to walk though each room. It’s just like on one
of those shows.”

“Well, Kay had nothing to do with her disappearance,” Claire
said. “You know that, right?”

Pudge shrugged.

“All I know is what I hear,” he said. “And I hear Sonny was
there, too, which makes it all the more interesting.”

“Why is that?”

“Everyone knows Sonny’s got a grudge against Diedre,” Pudge
said. “Diedre helped Karla hide her affair for months before she left Sonny.
They pretended to go places together when Karla was meeting her boyfriend.”

“Doesn’t Diedre work for Sonny?”

“That she does,” Pudge said. “Now ain’t that interesting?”

“I assume all these people are your friends?” Claire asked.

“Why, sure,” Pudge said. “I grew up with the Delvecchio
boys.”

“Then I’d hate to hear how you talk about your enemies,”
Claire said.

“I’m just a-telling you all this so you can warn Kay,” Pudge
said. “My wife tried to talk to her this evening but she won’t listen.”

“Warn her about what?”

“That rich harpy she’s a-runnin’ against has started spreading
the lies far and wide,” he said. “She as much as accused Kay of murder.”

Sam and Ed walked in together, and Claire took a pitcher of
beer and three glasses to their table. Sam, an Iraqi war vet turned technology
genius with recurring PTSD issues, had the usual inscrutable expression on his
face, but Ed looked worried.

“I’ve been calling you all evening,” Ed said.

“My phone ringer must be off,” Claire said.

That wasn’t true; she’d just been ignoring his calls.

“There’s something I need to discuss with you,” he said.

“Excuse me,” Sam said, and went up to the bar.

“Go ahead,” Claire said.

“I’m sorry I ran off right after dinner,” Ed said.
“Something came up.”

“No problem,” Claire said. “I wanted to talk to Kay.”

“Eve’s in town,” he said. “You remember me saying she’s
doing a story on the federal investigation.”

“I do remember,” Claire said. “I also remember you saying
you were going to have Sean draw up your divorce papers so she could sign them
when she got here.”

“Something’s happened,” Ed said. “There’s no easy way to
tell you this …”

The door opened and Eve walked in. She was pretty and
petite, with expertly streaked blonde hair, outfitted in a fashionable ensemble
perfectly proportioned to her figure, except for the pronounced baby bump she
was sporting out in front.

“No need to,” Claire said.

Eve lit up at the sight of Ed, who jumped up to pull a chair
out for her. She made a show of kissing his cheek and then wiping away the
lipstick in a very familiar manner. She barely glanced at Claire, but waved at
Patrick and smiled as if they were the best of friends.

“Good to see you,” she called out to Patrick. “We need to
catch up later.”

“Eve, you remember Claire,” Ed said.

Claire did not offer to shake hands and neither did Eve.

“Nope, sorry,” Eve said. “It’s been a long time since I was
in Rose Hill.”

She said the name of the town in the same way one might say,
“Alcatraz.”

“Congratulations,” Claire said.

Eve reached out and squeezed Ed’s hand.

“We’re so excited,” she said.

“It’s such a surprise, Claire said. “I didn’t know you two
were back together.”

“Back in March,” Ed said, “when I took Tommy to see his
mother in Florida, we had a layover in Atlanta.”

“I can see that,” Claire said.

Sam came back to the table, sat down, saw where Eve’s hand
was, and his eyebrows went up.

“I need your team names,” Patrick called out.

“Team Tardis,” Professor Richmond said.

“Cop, Doc, and Pole,” Laurie said.

“What about you guys?” Patrick called out to Claire.

No one spoke. Eve was looking at Ed, Ed was looking at
Claire, and Claire was looking at Sam.

“Team Awkward,” Claire finally responded.

Sam, who was taking a sip of beer, choked on it, and Claire
patted his back.

Team Cop, Doc, and Pole won, Team Tardis got loudly drunk,
and Team Awkward lived up to its name. Now, after the game, Laurie was playing
the old upright piano, leading the professors in singing a Monty Python song
about lumberjacks. Arwyn and Drew were acting cozy in a corner, and Patrick was
collecting his cut of the bet money from the locals.

Ed and Eve had departed as soon as the game was over.
Claire, who had succeeded in not looking at either one of them since Eve put
her hand over Ed’s, could feel herself relax as soon as they were gone.

“Surprising turn of events,” Sam said.

“Not for me,” Claire said. “I’m used to men promising one
thing and doing another.”

“You’ve had a little too much to drink,” Sam said. “Come on
and let me walk you home.”

“Piss off, you,” Claire said. “I don’t need some man to take
care of me.”

“Be careful, Claire,” Sam said, put a twenty on the table,
and left.

Laurie immediately slid into the vacant chair to the left of
Claire. Claire looked around to find Professor Richmond had taken his place at
the piano, and was playing what sounded like a Cole Porter tune.

“You’re either the most open-minded person I’ve ever met,”
Laurie said, “or your definition of an exclusive relationship needs to be
revised.”

“There is no relationship between Ed and me,” Claire said,
“if there ever was.”

“Can I buy you a drink?” Laurie asked.

“You can buy me many drinks,” Claire said. “You can buy me
all the drinks.”

Laurie went to the bar and returned with a tray bearing six
shots of whisky and a fresh pitcher of beer.

“On the house, your bar-keeping cousin says.”

“He’s a man among men,” Claire said. “Despicable, horny men
who can’t keep it in their pants, but I love him, nonetheless.”

“Bottoms up,” Laurie said.

Although Claire tipped up a shot glass and swallowed the
fiery liquid, she noticed Laurie did not.

“On the wagon?” she asked.

“I’m working the early shift tomorrow,” he said.

After three shots, Claire was ready to unburden herself, and
told him everything that had happened since she quit her job working for movie
star Sloan Merryweather and moved back to Rose Hill. The whole time, Laurie
tended to her shot glasses and kept the pitcher filled.

“So this thing with Ed’s wife happened before you came back
to stay.”

“He’s Tommy’s guardian,” Claire said. “Melissa was in prison
down in Florida …”

“For kidnapping him as an infant from his drug-addicted
mother and assuming her identity,” Laurie said. “Patrick filled me in.”

“Yes,” Claire said. “She served three years of a ten-year
sentence, and Ed took Tommy down there to see her one weekend every month.”

“So you immediately suspect that Eve was already pregnant
and just needed to hook up with Ed to make it seem like it might be his.”

“Yes!” she said. “They hadn’t been together for ten years.
Why now, all of a sudden?”

“I admit it does get my spidey senses tingling.”

“It’s just like him to take whatever she says at face
value,” she said. “He’s so …”

“Stupid? Thick-headed? Slow-witted? Moronic?”

“Shut up,” she said. “He’s too trusting, is all. He thinks
the best of people. It’s a good quality; it just gets him in situations like
this.”

“Name another situation he’s been in that’s like this.”

“He got involved with Melissa, who’s actually always been in
love with Patrick. She wanted to get married and have a father for her kid, and
Patrick was in love with someone else, so she seduced Ed.”

“I’ve met Melissa,” he said. “I can see the appeal.”