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“Just curious. And she’s Owen Duval’s alibi.”
“I know. Strange, huh?” He seemed genuinely perplexed. “I didn’t get it then, but now I think she might have connected with him on more of an intellectual level.”
“So you all dated her. You and Owen and Tyson.”
“If that’s what you want to call it. Ashley and I went out, yeah. Had a thing for a while, or at least I did, but it would never have worked out.” Once more he finished his glass.
“Why not?”
“Because she was hung up on Tyson. That’s why the Owen Duval thing didn’t make a lot of sense to me.”
“Because she was hung up on Tyson Beaumont.”
“Yeah, I mean, I expected that they’d end up getting married one day. But then I hear that she’s marrying some guy she met in college or something. A computer software guy worth a fortune. Kind of blew me out of the water, you know. I didn’t even know she and Tyson weren’t a thing.”
“How did Tyson take it?”
He shrugged. “How does he take anything? How would I know?” “You were friends.”
“Past tense. Remember?”
“But he got over it?”
“Sure. I mean, I guess.” He glanced at his watch again. “Hey, I’ve really got to go.” He finished his drink. “I guess you didn’t like yours?” he accused, and swiped her glass from the bar.
“No, no. I just don’t drink much of anything when I’m driving.”
He gave her the oh-sure look but didn’t ask if she was pregnant, though she saw the question in his eyes. She didn’t explain and hiked her purse strap a little higher over her shoulder.
“He’s never married,” she observed as she climbed off her stool.
“Who? Tyson?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s not exactly a crime,” he said. “Look at me. I got close a couple of times, but it didn’t work out.”
“What about Tyson? Has he ever gotten close?”
“Again, you’re asking the wrong guy. But I’ve never heard that he has. As I said, I thought Ashley was the one he’d end up with.” He ushered her out and locked the door. “Good thing I’m not a betting man.”
He jogged to his sports car and she climbed into her Honda. She wasn’t certain he was telling her the truth, or at least not all of it.
Thoughts of their conversation still lingering, she drove down the long lane and out the gates, noting that the BMW was right behind her. She turned toward town and right before the bridge, Jacob blew by her, the sports car roaring past and practically flying over the river. “Idiot,” she said, though of course he couldn’t hear her. He was flashy. Flashier than Owen Duval or Tyson Beaumont.
But they’d all dated Ashley McDonnell.
And now one of them was dead. The one for whom Ashley had given an alibi.
She wondered about that and headed to Tybee Island again.
Maybe, now that Owen was dead, Ashley McDonnell Jefferson’s story might change.
Owen Duval no longer needed her as an alibi.
There was a chance she could finally tell the truth.
If Nikki could find a way to pry it out of her glossy, tight lips.
