I stabbed a piece of chicken with my fork and listened.
“She comes in with a guy who looks like he’s older than her. I always notice them because she’s kind of out of his league. You know what I mean? She’s strikingly pretty, but he’s sort of flabby and plain. Love is a weird thing. You never know who might be attracted to each other. Right?”
“Do you recall his name?” asked Wolf.
“Fred Conway. He usually pays with a credit card. That’s where I saw his name.”
“Big tipper?” asked Wolf.
“Not particularly. He pays a normal tip, nothing out of the ordinary.”
“When did you last see them?”
“Must have been during restaurant week. They could have been here on one of my days off, but that’s the last time I saw them. I remember him liking the crab legs. He asked if we would continue to serve them.”
Wolf looked at Bernie, who said, “End of August. I can go through the credit card receipts if that would help.”
“I’d appreciate that, Bernie. Thank you very much, Brittany. Sounds like this is our first solid lead to find out more about Charlene.”
We chatted about lighter topics while we ate. When we finished, Brittany went back to waiting on tables, Bernie headed to his office to look through receipts, and Wolf said he was going back to his office. I assumed he would be looking up Fred Conway.
I thanked Bernie for lunch and left with Wolf. When we were outside on the sidewalk, I said, “Natasha had spoken to Charlene on the phone. You could track down information on her that way.”
“Natasha? They were friends?”
“Ha! You’re so far behind. They’re half sisters.”
“No kidding?”
“You can probably find Natasha sitting by Charlene’s bed.”
“Thanks, Sophie. I’ll pass that along. It’s not my case, but everyone is upset about it. I haven’t seen anything so brutal in a long time.”
“What happened with Abby? I thought I’d be hearing about her arrest on the news this morning. Did you find her?” I asked. “Wesley is dying to know.” And so was I.
“Is he? Does the name Dusty Lynton mean anything to you?” asked Wolf.
“Not off the top of my head. I meet a lot of people through the conventions and events I set up. You know, I’m introduced but then I never see them again, so I’m never a hundred percent sure.”
“Did you ever hear anyone mention him when you were at Wesley and Tilly’s house?”
“I don’t think so.”
Wolf kept his eyes on me. “He’s young, only twenty-two, but he has a rap sheet that you wouldn’t believe. A small-time crook. He had Abby’s phone in his possession.”
Chapter 18
Dear Sophie,
I would like to learn how to bake. Do I need to take a class, or can I learn from the Internet?
Sweet Tooth in Upper Pig Pen, North Carolina
Dear Sweet Tooth,
You don’t have to take a class. Start with an easy recipe such as a coffee cake or a dump cake. Look for one that doesn’t have a lot of complicated steps. You can graduate to more difficult recipes after you’re comfortable with simple cakes.
Sophie
I took a sharp breath of air. “Do you think he murdered Mia and stole Abby’s phone?”
“I’m not sure. He denies knowing Abby. He claims he found her phone in a shopping mall.”
“But he’s a crook,” I protested. “Why would you believe him?”
“That’s the problem. I’m trying to find the connection between him and Abby.”
“Maybe the phone will give you the answers you need. Maybe there are texts between the two of them.”
Wolf grimaced. “Our forensic technicians are looking at it now. It would be great if they had been communicating. My fear is that Dusty managed to clear the memory.”
“How could he do that if he didn’t have the password?”
“There are half a dozen ways, some surprisingly easy. These low-life types use a lot of stolen phones. They cycle through them, tossing each one after a while, which makes it harder to keep tabs on them. And they know it.”
“Where was the mall?” I asked.
“In Reston.”
“Assuming his story is true,” I said, “it would mean that someone, most likely Abby, accidentally left the phone there. Which would probably mean Abby murdered Mia.”
“I wouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet,” warned Wolf. “We haven’t corroborated his claims.”
“Don’t they have a lot of cameras in malls?” I asked. “That would be an easy way to confirm his story.”
“Don’t worry. We have people on it. I sure wish we could find Abby, though. She appears to be the key to this entire mess.”
Wolf headed back to his office, and I walked home.
It seemed as if everything revolved around Abby. What had Mia been doing at Abby’s house, anyway? They had probably become friendly at Tilly’s. Maybe they shared some interest like yoga or gardening.
I almost overlooked Schuyler as I ambled toward my house. She sat in the end of a tubular slide in a small children’s park, her red hair blowing across her face. She didn’t move or make any effort to wipe it away.
Taking a deep breath, I crossed to her and crouched beside her. “I’m so sorry about your mom, Schuyler.”
She pushed her hair off her face, pulled it together with her hands, and twisted it, revealing a glimpse of a small red heart on the back of her neck. Was that a tattoo? I couldn’t imagine Mia, the overprotective mom, being okay with that. I could envision the argument that ensued when Mia learned about it. Schuyler looked at me with vivid blue eyes. “Thank you.”
“Would you like to talk, or do you want to be alone?”
“Alone.” She said it so softly that I could barely hear her.
“Okay.”
I stood up wondering if I should just walk away and leave her to deal with her grief, when she said, “I wanted a mom like Tilly.”
Remorse. I sat down on the ground beside her.
“I feel so guilty. She devoted her life to me. I was everything to her, but I never appreciated it. She homeschooled me for years. I didn’t really know any other kids until I was ten. She never let me out of her sight. She had to come with me, even when I was invited to someone’s house to play. It irritated me so much. I was the only kid whose mom was always present.”
“You must have been very close to her.”
“I hated her! When I was going into eighth grade, my dad told her I had to go to public school. He told me it was the only way he could get her to cut me loose. You know what she did? She came with me!”
“Oh no!”
“It was so embarrassing. One of my teachers finally threw her out and said she wasn’t allowed in his class. But my mom didn’t understand what no meant. She got a job at the school and checked up on me all the time.”
“That does sound a little bit obsessive.”
“That’s why I’m sitting here. I thought it would be wonderful to be free of her control. But when I scooted down the slide and came to the end, I realized that it wasn’t freedom, it was just the end. Life as I know it has ceased. I resented her for so long, and now I’ll have to muddle through without her. I thought that was what I wanted.” In the tiniest whisper, Schuyler said, “I wished her dead and it happened.”