I was trying to find a way to broach the questions Emmie wanted me to ask, since apparently, the only way I was going to get to have her again was if she felt like progress was being made on the mystery.
The dinner rush was gearing up. More diners were arriving. Zoe was going to want the table soon.
I glanced to the door. Maybe I could stall and not have to revisit the past. I did a double take.
“Shit monkeys.” Abbott’s mouth opened comically, almost triangular.
Zoe zeroed in on her two newest customers, grabbing two menus as Oakley and Theo walked arm in arm into the restaurant.
Oakley had one hand on her lower back and one on her enormous belly.
“I, um… I actually have to go.” Abbott tried to slide out of his seat.
I grabbed his shoulder. “What kind of reporter runs from a big story?”
Zoe and Emmie where whispering. Cora was standing awkwardly near the bar.
I didn’t need a voodoo doll to get back at Theo and Oakley. My revenge had been delivered fresh from Santa’s workshop and wrapped with a big red bow.
“In fact…” I raised my voice, projecting, like I was in a courtroom with half-asleep jurors and a hungover judge. “I would say this is the biggest story in Harrogate right now. Get your pen ready, Abbott, because it’s going to be a killer of a news article. It’ll be featured in every major news publication from here to Seattle.”
The diners, happy to be getting entertainment with their meal, turned their chairs around to watch whatever was unfolding.
I paused for dramatic effect.
Oakley was the only person in the dining room pretending I wasn’t there.
“What was the plan, Oakley?”
There were gasps from the crowd.
“You’ve been sleeping with Theo.”
There were cries of surprise.
“I won’t call it having an affair, since cheating on a married man is really just a pattern of poor behavior.”
“Hear! Hear!” An elderly woman having an early dinner raised her wineglass.
Emmie grabbed Cora’s wrist, watching me in horrified fascination.
“I’m here as her lawyer and a friend,” Theo blustered. “I would never betray my best friend like that.”
“Really? Because you seemed awfully concerned when you were notified of the last-minute change of his will. Did Brooks know you and Oakley were plotting against him?” I asked.
“Lies! Slander!”
“What I don’t understand,” I said, speaking over him, “is what was the plan? You pretend to be pregnant, Oakley, and—”
“You’re not pregnant?” Cora screeched at Oakley. “You lied to Brooks about his baby?”
“What kind of sociopath are you?” Zoe added.
“There is a baby,” Oakley said hotly. “I have a baby right here.” She gripped her massive belly.
“In order to keep the house, the car, and the jewelry, you had to have a baby,” I said. “And it had to be Brooks’s. Surprise! Guess he didn’t love you after all.”
“I’m surprised you weren’t digging up his corpse in the moonlight!” Zoe hollered, “To try to scoop out whatever was left of his rotting sperm to steal my best friend’s house.”
