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“Not me,” I muttered. “He saw me struggling and offered to help, then introduced himself and thanked me for being so nice to Steph.”
“That’s… weird?”
“I thought so at first, but not really. He’s the only friend she’s got, and he sort of alluded to how lonely she is and how controlling Declan was.”
“What is she, your number one suspect?”
We crossed the road at the lights and finally made it onto the promenade. There was a bit of a queue at the fish and chip shop, but nothing too crazy, so we hurried over there and got in line.
“I don’t know.” I lowered my voice. “Did you know he’s not from here?”
“Yeah. He’s a bit Welsh, isn’t he?” Ash asked, keeping her voice down, too.
“They knew each other in college,” I explained, leaning in. “Apparently, she was the only reason he made through his exams, but they lost contact shortly after.”
“Huh. How’d he end up here?”
“He said he’d moved away, and his family insisted he join them on a holiday a couple of years ago, and it just happened to be Fox Point.”
“Do you believe that?”
“Yeah. It’s a popular spot, isn’t it?” I shrugged. “They ran into each other, got talking, and she confided in him about her marriage. He said he literally went home, finished out his booked jobs, then found a place here and moved.”
Ash’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s a big thing to do on a whim just for someone you once knew.”
“That’s what I thought. I know your grandma said they were just friends, but what if they aren’t?”
We shared a look, shuffling forwards in the line.
“Can you blame her?” Ash said after a second. “I won’t judge her if she was having an affair. I think an abusive spouse is about the only person you can justify cheating on, to be honest.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“I don’t know, I didn’t get those vibes from her. Honestly, she seemed kind of broken,” I replied, just as we got to the front of the line.
Carolyn beamed at us from inside the small building that made up the most popular fish and chip shop in Fox Point. I was never quite sure what to call it—it wasn’t quite a hut, not quite a building, but it was a permanent structure that had been here for as long as I could remember.
And it had always had the best fish and chips in town, so I didn’t really care what it was.
“Ash! Charlotte. It’s good to see you both. What can I get for you?” Carolyn asked, wiping the counter down.
“Just two portions of fish and chips, please,” Ash answered, then looked at me. “Do you want curry sauce?”
“What kind of question is that?” I asked. “You always get curry sauce. You’re a charlatan if you don’t.”
Carolyn chuckled. “Two curry sauces?”
Ash wrinkled her nose up. “Carolyn, you know better than that. One curry sauce, one mushy peas.”
I mirrored Ash’s expression. “I’m regretting this friendship. You’re the charlatan.”
Carolyn laughed again, and Ash tapped her card against the machine before I had a chance to get mine out.
She grinned at me. “I’m not regretting it. Even if you do eat your fish and chips wrong.”
I shook my head and stepped to the side while Carolyn wrapped another order in an extra layer of newspaper and handed it off to the customer before us. “Nonsense.”
Carolyn chuckled and leant forwards. “Finally, five minutes. How are you both?”
