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Chapter 10
Spring was in the air at last. Wonderful meals prepared by Will or from his take-out menu came out of the beautiful kitchen, a mini version of Pam’s.
“This is fabulous,” she cried, seeing it for the first time with all the dust and grime washed away. “I bet you love working in it.”
I grimaced. She obviously hadn’t observed me. “I don’t cook. Will cooks, and we keep the restaurants in town in business.”
“You should take a class with Will. It’s sexy cooking together.”
“Ugh. I don’t think so,” I said. “I don’t want him fantasizing about me wearing an apron, anyway.”
Both bathrooms were finished, with white marble, lots of glass and chrome, and a shower built for two. The half bath had a door added to the outside for visitors who had been on the beach to use instead of tracking sand through the house. There was also a private outdoor shower.
The only thing that was incomplete was the attic renovation. I didn’t feel right about the workmen being up there until the mystery of the baby bones was solved.
Emory Bryant received a jail sentence of a measly eight years. I was upset about it, but it was out of my control. I ran into Eimy Simon after the sentencing.
“Can you have coffee?” she asked. “I’d love to catch up.”
“I can’t, I’m sorry,” I said. “But tell me, how’s everything at work?”
“It’s good! I make enough money to keep the baby in a nice, licensed daycare. I’ll be forever grateful to you for that. We moved out of our tiny apartment, too, into a two-bedroom. You probably heard Ryan and I broke up.”
“I figured, since he’s living with Lisa a few houses down from me.”
“Yes. Thank you for mentioning it,” she said, tossing her hair, and marched away from me.
I nearly laughed but didn’t want to be mean. Instead, I called out, “Karma, baby!”
Lucky for me, I was hired by Jake Stevens a week after the incident. He was intrigued by the baby bones, and although no one had asked him to investigate the case, since I was interested and happened to own the scene of the crime, he said to have at it.
“If you find evidence, we can hand it over to the police. But your ideas won’t go anywhere unless you can back them up.”
“I understand.”
It was good experience, though. He introduced me to Alan Stone. An interesting development occurred when Pam remembered Jack had rented the cottage I now owned one the summer, about ten years before. I wanted to tell Alan.
“Why didn’t she say something sooner, like the day she found the skeleton?” Alan asked.
“She said she just forgot. I don’t think she was intentionally leaving it out. When she was told the baby was possibly her grandchild, she went through a period of grief. She’s just coming out of it now.”
The most compelling items were photographs we’d found in a box in the attic. Apparently, my cottage had been the local hangout for teens that summer. Pam helped me to identify the partygoers.
“Look! Here’s Brent and Lisa. This is Ginger Harrow,” she said.
I looked at the picture to see if a pregnancy was evident but couldn’t tell. She was a thin young woman wearing a T-shirt. Ginger Harrow had been beautiful then. I’d Googled her and found she was still beautiful.
“She’s the mother of the baby, now Mrs. Manhattan DA,” I said. “Who’s this?”
I pointed to a tiny Asian girl hiding behind a veil of silky black hair.
“It’s Julie Hsu,” Pam said. “She was Brent’s girlfriend. But I hear she’s dating that detective, Alan Stone.”
I called him after Pam had finished going through the box with me and pointing out the faces she knew. “I’ve got photos for you. They were in a box in the attic. The police took them for evidence but returned the box, and it didn’t look like they went through it. Pam sorted through the photos, and there’s a pile I think you might be interested in.”
“Yeah, we’re working backward here. They should have asked Pam in the first place. Do you want to meet for coffee?”
“Okay.” I preferred that to having him at the cottage.
