“Hello,” I said, opening the wooden door but keeping the screen door closed and latched.
Kelly Rowley stood on the cement stoop, clutching a leather-bound book to her breast. “Oh hi, Charlotte. I just stopped by to return this.” She held up the slim volume, which I recognized as a copy of Hemingway’sOld Man and the Sea.
“Sorry, I’m here by myself this morning, so I wanted to be a little cautious.” I unlocked the screen door and held it open. “Please, come in.”
After Kelly entered the kitchen, I hesitated for a moment before latching the screen door again. Of course, it would be easy enough for a determined attacker to break through that door, but at least we’d hear them before they got inside.
Listen to yourself, I thought.Imagining someone trying to attack you in your own kitchen on a Tuesday morning.I shook my head as I followed Kelly over to the table tucked under one of the room’s tall windows. A battered oak piece I’d found in the attic when I’d first moved in, the round table was so small that it accommodated only two chairs. But that was enough for its purpose. Alicia and I typically ate our meals there, often alone, since our schedules didn’t always coincide. We reserved the dining room for our guests.
“Mind if I sit down?” Kelly asked, her hand resting on the rounded back of one of the wooden chairs.
“Of course not. Please have a seat.” I waited until she sat before motioning to the smaller refrigerator that held our nonalcoholic drinks. “Can I get you anything?”
“Just water,” Kelly said, slipping a loose tendril of hair behind one ear.
As I grabbed a tumbler from a cabinet, I noticed that Kelly had lost that sleek but simple elegance I had admired upon meeting her. Today she’d yanked her golden hair into a messy ponytail, and instead of her usual classy slacks and blouses, she’d thrown on a pair of rumpled cotton shorts and a knit top with a neckline so stretched out that it kept sliding off one of her slender shoulders.
I placed a fisherman’s rope coaster on the table in front of her before setting down the ice water. “Thanks for bringing back the book,” I said, as I took the other chair. “But you could’ve waited until the end of the week. If you’re still reading …”
“No, no.” Kelly gulped down some water before continuing. “Besides, it was Todd who’d borrowed it, not me. He didn’t mean to take it out of the house, of course, but when we had to pack up and move back to the yacht so quickly …” Kelly’s lashes, surprisingly pale without their usual touch of mascara, fluttered over her light eyes. “Apparently it got mixed in with some of his own stuff in his briefcase. He didn’t notice it until last night when he was going through his things.”
“Well, thanks.” I picked up the book and slipped it into my lap. “As it turns out, I was just headed for the library when you stopped by. I’ll mark itreturnedin the guest checkout card file for you.”
“Thanks. We didn’t want to forget and leave town without bringing it back.” Kelly looked me over. “I hope you’re doing okay. It must be tough, dealing with all this on your own. I have Todd to lean on, thank goodness. Don’t know what I’d do without him.”
I squared my shoulders.Kelly’s just trying to be sympathetic, not unkind.“I admit it would be nice to have someone who couldsupport me, and me them, of course. But unfortunately, I’m alone now.”
“Yes, I remember you saying something about your late husband, so I assumed you were a widow.” Kelly’s gaze softened. “My sympathies. He must’ve been relatively young when you lost him.”
“Not quite forty,” I said, in the detached tone I’d learned to employ whenever I discussed Brent.
“That is tragic.” Kelly cleared her throat. “And I mean that sincerely. You see, I lost my parents when I was young. Never really got over it, despite trying for many years.” She stared down into her water glass as if it held the answer to a particularly puzzling riddle. “Oh, I learned to cope and have a full life and all that. But”—she looked up at me, her eyes haunted—“you never totally get past it, do you?”
“No, not entirely.” I pressed my hand to my heart. “And maybe that’s okay. I wouldn’t want to forget or not care anymore. Would you?”
“No, never.” Kelly took another swallow of water as her gaze swept over the kitchen. “Ms. Simpson is out?”
“Yes, I gave her the day off. She has some family in the area. I thought she might want to get away and visit with them, especially since we don’t have the usual number of lodgers this week.”
“That was thoughtful of you,” Kelly said, setting down her glass and fixing me with a troubled stare. “But since she isn’t around at the moment, maybe it’s a good time to tell you something that’s been worrying me.”
“Concerning Alicia?” I fought to keep my tone light.
“Yes.” Kelly slid one finger around the rim of her tumbler. “I saw her, you see, while you were gone the other night. Outside, I mean. Near the carriage house.”
“Really?” Aiming for a nonchalance I didn’t feel, I sat back in my chair.
“You were out getting ice, I think you said. Anyway, after you drove off, I heard a door slam and noticed Ms. Simpson had stepped outside. I was standing at the edge of the patio, over near that holly hedge. When I saw her marching with such deliberation toward the carriage house”—Kelly, her elbows resting on the table, templed her fingers—“I admit I was curious.”
“Did you see her enter the carriage house?”
“No. As I said, I was on the other side of the hedge.”
“But did you also notice when she left the carriage house area?” I gripped the edge of the tabletop. “She had to have done so before I returned, as she was in the kitchen when I got back.”
Kelly shook her head. “No. Todd called me over to take a look at something in your garden.” She met my inquisitive gaze without blinking. “He doesn’t know as much about plants as I do, so he’s always asking me to identify things he finds interesting.”
“I see.” I drummed my fingers against the table. “Were you in the garden long?”
