But Simon Anderson would know the right people.
Fact four was that Annie needed to find out if John really intended to go back to Jenn. Or if Abigail had been testing Annie.
Yes, Annie needed answers, starting with the photo. Her first stop would be Simon, as Winnie had suggested. Because, if Annie had the most to lose, did Simon have the most to win? Or at least did he think he might have?
Good question,Murphy suddenly whispered.
Leave it to Murphy to be hanging out in a graveyard. At least she hadn’t commented on Annie’s self-admission that she’d been a teensy bit smitten.
I would have been, too,Murphy added, most likely to prove to Annie that, indeed, she read her every thought.
“Ugh!” Annie cried. “What am I going to do, Murph?”
Talk to him, like Winnie said. And talk to those you trust. Winnie and I aren’t the only ones who are on your side, you know.
Drawing in a long breath of Vineyard air, Annie really wanted to believe that.
Chapter 16
Annie made it to the Inn in record time. She knew she should find out if Francine needed her. But Francine surely had seen or heard the latest island gossip, and Annie didn’t want to lose time—or her nerve—by commiserating with her. So she parked quickly, jumped out of the Jeep, and went directly to the cottage. She doubted that Simon could be far because it was only Thursday—he still didn’t have a rental vehicle. Which also made her wonder who had given him a ride to Oak Bluffs the night before.
The screen door was closed, but the main door was open. Annie knocked on the doorframe. “Hello?” she called, trying to sound friendly. “Simon? It’s Annie. Are you there?” She cupped her hand to the screen and peeked inside, but the bright sun behind her dimmed her view. Then she heard footsteps.
“Annie?” a voice asked.
It wasn’t Simon. It was Bill. He was dressed in a wrinkled T-shirt and jeans that looked as if they’d been worn many times since they’d been washed. Compared to the care with which Simon dressed, Bill was definitely a production guy and not a news anchor.
“Is Simon here?”
He opened the screen door and stepped outside, but not before Annie caught a glimpse into her living room that surprisingly did not look trashed. Then she scolded herself for thinking it would be simply because Bill was there.
“Hey,” he said, “that Illumination thing was pretty cool. When Simon first told me about it, I figured it would be hokey. You know, small-town stuff ramped up for the tourists.”
Annie stiffened. “It’s not hokey, Bill. It’s an island tradition.”
“Yeah, we figured that out. Like I said, it was pretty cool.”
She forced a smile. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. But how’d you get there? You could have come with us.” Sometimes being nice was challenging.
“We hitched a ride with some Chappy people—Lottie, I think her name was? Plus her husband and another woman. The ladies were decked out in red-white-and-blue like it was the Fourth of July.” He scoffed, then scuffed his feet on Annie’s pristine porch. So much for him being tidy. “We met them when they were crossing to Edgartown on that sad excuse of a ferry.”
As badly as she wanted to suggest that he might want to be careful what he said about the people of Chappaquiddick or the belovedOn Timein front of, well, in front of anyone, she decided not to waste her time or breath.
“So where’s Simon? Sleeping off all the excitement?”
“Down at the beach. He took one of your porch chairs. I told him you wouldn’t mind.”
Of course she minded. Her Adirondack chairs belonged on her porch. Not on the beach where the paint could get scratched by the sand and scraped by broken pieces of shells. Nonetheless, she smiled. “Okay, thanks. I’ll go find him.” She turned to leave.
“Annie?” Bill called. “You’re not upset, are you? About the picture?”
She spun back around. “What do you know about it?” There was no point pretending she didn’t know what “picture” he meant.
“Me? Not a thing. Scout’s honor.” He held up three fingers as if he were ready to recite the pledge to honor whatever. “All I know is everyone was talking about it at breakfast.”
She cringed. “And what did Simon have to say to ‘everyone’?”
“He wasn’t there. He only had two boiled eggs for breakfast. He tries to do that every day. He says it keeps his mind sharp and his loins lean.”
