“I think we should focus on Tony,” Sophie announced. “None of the others seem to really have anything against Caroline. That’s what made me so sure it had been Corey; he really had a reason to dislike her.”
“Agreed,” I replied as we pulled into our home back in Willow Bay. “I think he’s now the strongest suspect.”
“We have to figure out where he was last night, that’ll be the best way to figure out if he did it. If he has a good alibi, well, we know it wasn’t him. If he doesn’t, well we can keep investigating.”
“Ok, but can we get started on that tomorrow?” Charlotte asked. “This has been a pretty big day, and I am dead tired. I’m going to bed.”
As she yawned loudly, I realized just how exhausted I was as well. Who knew spending the afternoon as a bird and finding a dead body in the evening could be so tiring?
Chapter 12
As the next day dawned, I realized that I had way more important things to deal with than a murderer on the loose. Namely, the fact that I had a date with Jason Black that night.
“Ugh, I’m going to text him and cancel,” I said that morning as Sophie made pancakes, covering my face with a pillow.
“You are so not doing that,” Sophie said. “Besides, I knew you were going to threaten that, so I already took your phone and hid it. You’re going on that date.”
“That’s so unfair. I hate you so much.”
“Yeah, well, too bad. It’s for your own good.”
“Gee, thanks mom,” I replied sarcastically.
“Now remember, do as little talking as possible. Men like to talk about themselves, and you are quite frankly horrendous at flirting.”
“Oh my God! I might not be the best at it, but I’m not that bad.”
“You really are. Remember in middle school when you decided you had a crush on Kevin Maroney? You ended up joining band just to hang out with him, and then you hit him with your tuba and knocked him out.”
“It was an accident!” I protested.
“Yeah, that’s the point of the story.”
“I’m an adult now, anyway.”
“I know, but you have so little experience with men that I just always feel like you’re going to screw things up completely,” Sophie replied.
“Well thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said, rolling my eyes. “We can’t all go around sampling the goods until we find one we like.”
“Are you calling me a slut?” Sophie asked, hands on her hips.
“I am.”
“Well I guess that’s probably pretty accurate,” she replied with mock outrage, collapsing into a fit of giggles. “I’m taken for good now, though. Taylor and I are serious.”
“Good, he’s the best guy you’ve dated, well, ever,” I replied, stealing a pancake off the plate and shoving it whole into my mouth.
“Things you probably shouldn’t do tonight include eating food like that, Liz Lemon,” Sophie scolded, and I laughed with my mouth full. 30 Rock was still one of my favourite comedies of all time.
“I’m going to go ride my bike around town, since it’s such a nice day,” I told Sophie.
“Good plan. I’m taking Sprinkles with Taylor and we’re going to go down to the beach.”
“Are we? I love the beach! I love it so much! You’re the best!” Sprinkles said, shooting up from where he was lying on his bed.
“Ugh, he’s so enthusiastic about everything, that dog disgusts me,” Bee said, and I chose to ignore her complaining. Bee was not on my good side after her adventures last night.
An hour later I’d taken out my mountain bike, made sure it was still in good working order, and headed off to some of the easy trails around Willow Bay.
One of the amazing things about this area is that there are so many things to do. Around the town is a network of around 70 miles of mountain bike trails, everything from easy to expert. Of course, I was decidedly not an expert mountain biker, but I could definitely handle the easy, doubletrack trails that were more designed for families and people looking for an easy ride. There was one trail in particular that went from near our house, behind Willow Bay and made its way ten miles out to a beautiful scenic point overlooking the town from the other side of the bay. I decided I was going to tackle this trail today.
I grabbed a water bottle, changed into my workout clothes and got ready for my ride. The first few miles were in thick forest, which was nice. I could hear the birds singing their morning song, and even saw a doe with her little foal crossing the path in front of me. Eventually, the path opened up on the right to give a beautiful view of the water below, and about an hour later I was at the lookout point. I rested my bike against the back of a bench while I sat in and enjoyed the view. Listening to the sound of the waves rhythmically pounding the shore, the warm summer sun on my face, a soft breeze blowing against my slightly sweaty skin, I thought about how perfect this morning really was.
I hadn’t been on my bike in almost a year, and it felt really, really good. After about half an hour of lazing around on the bench, I headed back into town. At the last second I took a different fork at the end of the path that led me to downtown Willow Bay. I was going to stop at Betty’s Café for some takeaway lunch! After all, I’d just biked twenty miles, if anyone deserved a veggie BLT right now, it was me.
I locked up my bike against a lightpost outside the café, knowing full well that my old, beat up mountain bike wasn’t worth anything, and most bike thieves from Portland never bothered to come down to Willow Bay anyway, but you could never be too safe.
To my surprise, when I opened the door to the café, that same guy in the suit that I’d run into the other day was standing at the counter, grabbing a coffee.
“Imagine seeing you again, it must be fate,” he said with a smile.
“Yeah, sure,” I replied, not really thinking about it.
“I’m Matt, by the way,” he told me, holding out a hand.
“Angela,” I replied, not wanting to be rude by refusing to talk to him. I wasn’t a fan of his fairly obvious flirting, and I really just wanted to eat my BLT in peace.
“Are you from around here?” he asked.
“I own the vet clinic down the street.”
“Oh, nice!” he replied, obviously impressed. Or at least pretending to be. “Well, I’ve got to go. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of each other,” he replied, grabbing his coffee and heading off. I didn’t reply and looked after him, slightly confused.
“What did he mean by ‘We’ll be seeing more of each other?’” I asked, half to myself, half to Betty behind the counter. Her face was grim.
“Haven’t you heard?” she asked.
“Heard what?”
“Matt Smith is some fancy businessman from Portland. Got his MBA from Wharton or something, thinks he knows everything about everything. He wants to buy up a chunk of Main Street and modernize it, bring Willow Bay to the 21st century or something.”