“If you make it fast. I have to open the shop in fifteen minutes.” She glanced at Torie. “Ms. Bergstrom already asked me questions about when I last saw Bella, and I told her we had a business dinner a few hours before she died.”
Her stiff “Ms. Bergstrom” told him she hadn’t taken kindly to Torie’s deception, and he suspected Torie hadn’t told Amelia why she was really here. They would have to start asking pointed questions if they hoped to get to the bottom of Lisbeth’s death.
“How about we go into the shop? We can ask our questions there while you open things up,” Torie suggested.
Amelia nodded and opened the middle door that led into her shop. Sunlight poured into the space and revealed the glorious colors of the various glass pieces. She lit the candle on the counter, and the scent of vanilla grew stronger.
Still looking at the game playing on Joe’s phone, Hailey followed them into the shop and settled on a chair in the corner where Joe could keep an eye on her.
“Did Bella ever talk about Lisbeth?” Joe asked.
Amelia wrinkled her nose and opened the register to load the trays with change and one-dollar bills. “I’d rather not talk about Lisbeth.”
“You didn’t like her?” Torie asked.
Torie’s tone was prickly, and Joe put a calming hand on her forearm. “It’s important. She was Torie’s best friend, and we believe she didn’t kill herself.” Torie shot him a glance with a question in her eyes, and he gave her a quick nod.
“She was a troublemaker, always questioning how things were done at the resort and trying to get Bella to break up with Jason. She had Bella buy her antidepressants on the street. I was with Bella when she bought them. I didn’t like her influence. Bella and I were the best of friends until Lisbeth came along.”
Amelia glared at Torie. “You should evaluate your choice of friends. It didn’t surprise me to learn she’d killed herself. She was always threatening to do it, and it kept Bella on edge every minute. She’d cancel out on dinners we’d planned because she was afraid of what she’d find when she got back to the cottage.”
Torie raised her chin and stared Amelia down. “I think Bella was lying to you. Lisbeth and I were friends for twenty years. I would have known if she was suicidal. She was the most cheerful, optimistic person I have ever known. And I heard from another source just this morning that Bella planted those pills. Lisbeth had never used them.”
Amelia blinked and braced her hands on her hips. “So Bella lied to me? That’s hard to hear. I will say that Lisbeth seemed to want Bella all to herself. At least according to Bella.”
“Then you’re making statements based on hearsay,” Joe said.
Amelia put an order pad on the counter with more force than necessary. “I’ll admit that much, but I knew Bella very well.”
“Did she ever talk to you about helping with some kind of plan?” Joe asked.
“What kind of plan?”
“We don’t know. According to the other source, Bella admitted she planted the pills to save some kind of plan. We have no other information.”
“Sketchy. I have no idea.”
Torie touched a suncatcher with one finger. “Did Bella tell you I wanted to talk to her about her claim Lisbeth was suicidal? She seemed very upset, almost scared, when I first asked to talk to her.”
“No, she didn’t. When was this?”
“The morning of the day she died. Right after I heard about her claims of Lisbeth’s mental state. I didn’t believe it then, and I don’t believe it now. There had to be some reason she would lie about it. Maybe it had something to do with the argument with the guy on the phone.” Torie glanced at Joe and told him about the phone call.
“What exactly did you hear Bella say?” he asked.
“Just that she was sorry, and he was overreacting,” Amelia said.
“The state police probably know who she was talking to. I’m sure they took her phone,” he said.
“I told them about the argument as soon as I heard she’d been murdered. I knew they’d want to talk to me anyway since I saw her just before her death.”
Torie turned from her perusal of a row of glass paperweights. “Any idea why she would have been in my hotel room? I thought maybe she wanted to talk to me in private about Lisbeth.”
“She didn’t mention you at all so I don’t know.” Amelia went to the door and threw the dead bolt, then turned on the glass Open sign in the window. “I see some customers coming this way, so that’s all the time I can spare. And I don’t know anything more anyway.”
At her terse voice, Joe took Torie’s elbow and moved toward the door into the workroom. “We’ll get out of your hair. Thanks for your time, Amelia. Appreciate it.”
Bella’s death was seeming even more strange. And who was right about Lisbeth—Bella or Torie?
Chapter 27
“It’s Craig.” Hailey handed Joe’s phone back when it rang as they left the glass shop.
Torie waited with Hailey and shamelessly listened in while Joe talked to the state trooper.
Joe ended the call and handed the phone back to Hailey. “Craig wants to meet up at the marina.”
Torie nodded and reversed direction. The marina was in the other direction, and she could already smell the water and hear the gulls.
It was going to be a beautiful day with lower than usual humidity. Puffy white clouds drifted across the blue sky, and the scent of flowers drifted their way along the walk to the wharf. She spotted the state trooper seated on a bench outside the boat excursions office.
Craig waved when he saw them and rose. “So you’re a Bergstrom.”
She bit her lip. “So you heard. I’m sorry, but I wanted to investigate without anyone knowing who I was.”
Hailey moved to the side of the wharf to dangle her feet over with her dad’s phone in her hand, and the adults moved away to talk.
“I’m the police, Torie. It was safe to tell me.”
“I thought about it, but once one person knows, it gets around. An innocent remark here or there, and the whole island knows.”
“I’m not a squealer.”
“I didn’t think you were. Look, I said I’m sorry.”
He gave an exasperated sigh. “Just don’t lie to me again. I won’t let it go so easily next time.”
She nodded and studied the trooper’s face. Why had he wanted to see them?
He answered the question without being asked. “So, you wondered about the bottle of antidepressants. The fingerprinting came back, and there are unknown fingerprints on the bottle. None of them are Lisbeth’s.”
“Bella?” Torie asked.
He lifted a brow. “Why would you think it was Bella?”
“Amelia claims Bella got the drugs for her on the street. And I have another source who claims Bella planted them.” She told him about her conversation with Felicia.
“But the prints don’t belong to Bella. We don’t know whose they are.”
“Maybe Bella picked up the bag with the bottle in it and never handled it,” Joe put in.
“How will you find out whose prints those are?” Torie asked.