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But first, she had to be ready to leap out onto the sand and pretend she was a runner so she could befriend Shelly Markham.
“Wong had better pay me,” she’d confided to Will.
Waiting at the door, she saw a form coming up the beach from the direction of the marina. It was just nine o’clock, the time she’d seen Shelly run by in the past. Bounding out the door, she ran down the dune just as Shelly passed by, waving.
They’d never met, but Shelly was trying for beach-friendly; Laura knew the drill and waved back. Shelly ran much faster than Laura could go, and she was soon far ahead of her. After a grueling twenty minutes, Shelly passed her going the other way and smiled as she waved.
“Shit,” Laura mumbled.
It appeared that it would take more than one run on the beach to strike up any conversation with Shelly, so the next day, Laura watched out the kitchen window for the door to Dan’s house to open. When it did, and Shelly came out, Laura quickly left out the front so she’d be ahead this time. She was up to Pam’s house when Shelly passed her.
“Hi! I’ll see you on the way back,” Shelly called out.
Laura frowned; if ever there was a veiled insult, that was it, but sure enough, Shelly got to the causeway long before Laura, who had the head start, and on her way back down, Shelly stopped to introduce herself.
“Hi, I’m Shelly Markham. You live in that adorable beach cottage, don’t you?”
“I do. Laura Long. Nice to meet you, Shelly. Where do you live?”
“We’re right across the street from you. It’s my boyfriend’s house. Dan Chua. He’s an attorney in town.”
Well, la di da,Laura thought. “Yes, of course.Dan.When did you move in?”
They talked, slowly jogging south again, and Shelly gave Laura the story of her life in fifteen minutes or less. But nothing incriminating. The thing that got Laura was that Shelly was likeable. She could see why Dan would be driven to have her move in right away.
“I was engaged to Alan Stone.”
Now they were getting somewhere. “Okay, I thought your name sounded familiar. This whole thing must be so difficult for you.”
“It’s horrible. I still can’t believe it. What if this had all happened after we got married? My parents are devastated as it is.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you, Laura. I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable, spilling my guts.”
“You didn’t spill. And you’re fine. You just went through a traumatic experience. The good thing is that your boyfriend is an attorney. He’ll guide you if needed.”
“Yeah, Dan seems like a good guy. I sort of forced myself into his house. I wanted to get out of Alan’s house when I sensed things were headed south quickly, and Dan made that possible.”
“He’s a good friend to have, that’s for sure.”
“Oh, we weren’t friends. But any port in a storm. I’m just lucky he’s a decent man. He could have been a jerk.”
“How’d you meet?”
“I was sitting at a sidewalk café, and he recognized me. We talked, and one thing led to another. It was kind of fast, but right now, I don’t care. I needed a safe place, and he gave it to me.”
“You’re safe with Dan, all right.” Then Laura decided to take a step out. “Did you feel you weren’t safe with Alan? He could have turned the gun on anyone, I guess.”
“No, that’s the thing, I never felt unsafe with him. Annoyed, taken for granted, ignored by him, yes, but unsafe? No.”
“You just never know about a guy. I wonder what made him turn on Lily like that.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Laura saw Shelly bristle.
“He won’t say because he’s denying responsibility. But I think she made demands on him he didn’t want to give her. She probably wanted him to break off our engagement.”
“It’s so weird because I heard he claimed Lily broke up withhimthat night,” Laura said, pushing.
