AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“His name is… Christ, Solomon? Shane Solomon,” Ash said, wiggling her finger at me in triumph. “He moved here about four years ago. I’m not actually sure what he does, to be honest. I think he’s a bit of a handyman. He does a lot of work on the holiday parks and servicing the caravans, but he’s also done a bit of electric work for me in the shop. Nicole mentioned him once and said he works weird hours. She lives on the same street as him and his van is always coming and going.”
“Huh. Does he not strike you as an unlikely friend for someone as rich as Stephanie?”
“I guess so.” She paused. “I figured she’d just met him through the construction company, and they clicked.”
“I thought she didn’t work.”
“She doesn’t, officially. She’s what Granny would call a ‘kept woman.’ Also known as a stay-at-home wife to those of us living in the twenty-first century,” Ash said dryly. “I always thought Fox Point was a bit of a weird place for the Tierneys to live, honestly. There’s not much rich, posh stuff here. I get that Declan was born and raised here, but still.”
“Seriously.” I frowned. “I just can’t believe she doesn’t have any friends. That seems like a pretty lonely existence. I can’t say I enjoyed living in Bristol, as such, but I have friends there at least.”
Ash nodded in agreement. “No kidding. That’s why I was so surprised when you said she’d approached you and told you everything.”
“It makes sense, though. I did find him, and maybe she needed some closure.” Even though she hadn’t asked me anything about it.
“True. Maybe she just feels like she’s got some freedom now that he’s gone.”
“Perhaps. I don’t know, Ash. It’s so weird. It feels like so many people had a reason to want him dead.”
“They did, and probably rightfully, too. He sounds like he was a right bastard.” She snorted. “So, we really do have just Alan, Guy, and Stephanie. What are you thinking right now?”
I exhaled with a huff. “Guy seems the most unlikely, doesn’t he? Every time I think about it, I just can’t see it. All he had to do is keep blocking his application and he’s got his revenge. His very existence was a thorn in Tierney’s side.”
Ash nodded. “I agree. I’ve tried to work it out, and I just can’t. Not to mention he’s had numerous chances to actually do something over the, what, last twenty years? And he hasn’t. Why would he do it now? Especially right when he’s already being a thorn in the man’s side?”
“That’s what’s bothering me, too. Plus, murder is a big jump from being petty and stopping his bid from succeeding.” I tapped my fingers against the table. “Which leaves us with Alan and Steph. One is his estranged, abused wife, and the other is his hard-done-by business partner who was catastrophically injured on site and wants to retire.”
“Well,” she said, leaning forwards. “I happen to know a little bit about Alan and Declan, too.”
The waitress approached our table a second later, and we both quickly scrambled through the menu to place our orders. Once that was done, we waited until she’d disappeared and turned back to one another, both of us leaning into the middle of the table.
“Do you remember my aunt, Jenny?”
“I think so. Don’t you call her Jelly? Because Noah couldn’t say Jenny when you two were little, and it came out as Jelly and stuck?”
Ash grinned. “That’s her. Aunt Jelly famously cannot keep a job. Honestly, she’s lucky Uncle Clive loves her for her flightiness. I’m surprised the woman hasn’t started migrating somewhere warmer each winter.”
I laughed, biting down on my straw. “Not a bad idea.”
“Agreed,” Ash said. “Anyway, about eight months ago, she did a month-long stint as an assistant at the accounting firm down the street.”
“Only a month?”
“Lottie, focus.”
“Right, sorry.” I mimed zipping my lips.
“Me and Mum had dinner at their place last night. Aunt Jelly and Uncle Clive’s, that is,” she clarified. “Not the accountant’s. That’d be a weird place for us to have dinner.”
“Ash, focus.”
“Sorry.” She snorted. “We got talking about Declan, obviously, and she shared this little titbit with me: he wasn’t just rich, he was filthy, stinking, fucking rich.”
“Like Scrooge McDuck rich?”
“Probably. How much money does he have?”
“More than Donald.”
