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“Did you just hear what Shelly said?” Samantha cried.
“She just got caught lying,” Henry said. “She claimed the first time she heard about Lily Porter was from Dan Chua.”
“And guess what! There are cameras outside the drugstore, and Lily lived in an apartment above it.”
“We’ll check those next. If she was stalking Lily…”
“And there are cameras at the marina parking lot,” Samantha said. “I’m going to make a call over there.”
“They’re turning around to go back. Listen.”
Shelly made her unfortunate comment about not loving Dan, and for purely unprofessional purposes, Samantha picked up on that right away.
“Whoa! My lucky day! I think Dan Chua is the hottest guy in Babylon, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel for him being single again. You know he doesn’t allow an hour between babes. The changeover overlaps.”
“Why would you want that?” Henry asked. “He’s incapable of monogamy. I mean it’s legendary.”
“Yet women keep flocking to him. It must be worth it.”
“Whateveritis,” Henry mumbled.
“Listen!”
Shelly and Laura had slowed their pace to a walk, stopping along the way to beachcomb.
“Oh, look!” Laura exclaimed. “Blue glass. My stepmother collects beach glass and has got me doing it, too.”
They squatted, digging around in the freezing wet sand, bringing out one treasure after another.
“I really enjoyed this,” Shelly said when they resumed their walk. “The tragedy doesn’t seem so earth-shattering after all. I’m sorry for the Porters, but their daughter was a skank. I think she probably got what was coming to her. I wish Alan would reveal why he murdered her.”
Chills ran up and down Laura’s spine. There was no compassion for the victim. She decided to let it be; it wasn’t worth getting into a philosophical discussion when they were so close to home, and Laura had had enough.
“Let’s do this again!” Shelly said when they reached Laura’s house.
“We should. Have a great time off work. I need to get busy. The workmen are coming back at noon again today. More dust and noise!”
“I’d love to see what you’re having done,” Shelly replied.
“When things calm down, I’ll have you over,” Laura said, turning to hike up to the cottage. “See you around!”
There, no commitment, no more engagement. She really wanted to be as far away from Shelly Markham as she could, worried that the awfulness would harm the baby growing inside of Laura.
Back inside, she’d call her mother and tell her the pregnancy news, sure that Shelly would tell Dan.
Out on the street, Henry and Samantha stayed out of sight. They needed to get the wire off Laura but didn’t want Shelly to see them.
“The comment about Lily Porter being a skank was an all-time low,” Henry said.
“Yeah, but it’s not admission of guilt. Lilywaskind of a skank, if you ask me. She had two sets of morals, one that she applied to herself and one for everyone else.”
“You know Chua was in a relationship with her.”
“I know that. The guy is transparent, which is a huge plus for a lothario.”
“I sure missed out somewhere along the line,” Henry said, dejected.
“Henry, you’re great. You just need to come out of the closet.”
