“Yes, but he said nothing about changing the locks.”
“Nana, Nana!” Davey insisted, and Elizabeth turned her attention to her grandson.
This was Tricia’s first chance to look at the boy since David’s revelation about his paternity the night before. No doubt about it, Davey looked nothing like David Black, and she’d been right in thinking he didn’t resemble Deborah’s side of the family, either. Not with that nose and coloring.
“Did you get my message last night?” Tricia asked.
“What? Oh, yes. Sorry. I was upset. I didn’t feel up to making calls. I intended to speak to you this morning, after I opened the store.”
“But Ginny’s supposed to be in this morning.”
“I wanted to get here first, to clean up some of the paperwork, and be on hand to welcome her.” She rummaged through the diaper bag and came up with a box of animal crackers.
There was no easy way to broach the subject other than to just do it. Tricia took a steadying breath before speaking. “I had a rather disturbing conversation with David last night.”
“I haven’t had a decent conversation with him for months,” Elizabeth said, and handed Davey a few of the crackers.
“Did you know David wasn’t Davey’s father?” Tricia asked.
Elizabeth’s mouth dropped, and for a moment Tricia thought she might burst into tears once again. But then she pursed her lips and looked away. Finally, she nodded.
“Do you know who Davey’s biological father is?”
She nodded again, looking down at the child. “But that doesn’t matter. David has more or less said I can keep Davey. I’m more than willing to dedicate my life to bringing him up, but according to the law, David is the boy’s father. He’s responsible for child support until Davey’s eighteen. And I’m going to see to it that he pays.”
“Why?”
“To punish him. If he’d been a better husband, Deborah wouldn’t have felt the need to look for affection from other men.”
There’d been more than one man? “Oh, Elizabeth, that’s so unfair—to David, and to Davey.”
“Feeling sorry for him? Well, don’t. He’s made out like a bandit. Not only has he sold the store, but he’s going to sue the village, that pilot’s widow, and anyone else he thinks he can shake a nickel out of. He had Deborah heavily insured. I found the paperwork in the store.”
So, Tricia had been right. “Is it still there?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “I took it home on Friday. If I hadn’t seen the crash with my own eyes, I would swear that David had my baby killed for the money.”
“Have you told the NTSB investigator this?”
“He doesn’t care about possible motives. All he cares about is the crash. The Sheriff’s Department won’t listen. ‘Not in our jurisdiction.’ ”
Davey thrashed around in his stroller. “Cookies, cookies!” he hollered.
Elizabeth grabbed a fistful of animal crackers from the box she still held and practically threw them at the child. He seemed delighted and picked up a miniature lion, biting off its head.
“Will you one day tell Davey about his real father, or would you rather he hear it from David?”
“He never has to know.”
“You don’t think David will be bitter enough to tell him?”
Elizabeth straightened, and her expression hardened as she crossed her arms over her chest. “I can handle David.”
Tricia had never seen this side of Elizabeth—so coldhearted. Had Deborah carried the same trait—and just kept it better hidden?
“You know that’s not fair.” Why was she suddenly feeling sorry for David Black?
Elizabeth leveled an angry glare at Tricia. “Whoever said life was fair? If it were, my daughter would still be alive. Now I don’t have her, and I don’t have her beautiful store. Instead, it was ripped from me and given to some punk kid who knows nothing about the business.”
The slur against Ginny caught Tricia off guard. “Oh, Elizabeth—that’s so unfair.”
“I thought you were Deborah’s friend—my friend,” she sneered. “Now I see you’re just as rotten as David.” She grabbed the handles on the stroller and turned it, nearly smashing it into Tricia’s shins. “Get out of my way.”
Tricia stood back as Elizabeth strode down the street, head held high, Davey’s childish laugh echoing off the buildings along the empty street.
Shaken, Tricia returned to Haven’t Got a Clue. Miss Marple sat near the door and greeted her with a cheerful “Yow!”
“Glad you think so,” Tricia said. She deposited the newspaper on the sales counter and headed for the beverage station. She needed a jolt of caffeine—STAT! She grabbed the pot, got water from the washroom tap, and filled the coffeemaker’s reservoir before placing the filter and ground coffee in the machine and hitting the on switch. Now to wait the five or six minutes it would take to brew.
She felt torn. While she felt sorry for Elizabeth being locked out of the Happy Domestic, she’d been shocked by her attitude about Davey’s paternity. Of course she was upset—she had reason to be. Life had not been kind to her these past few days. Lashing out at David had to be a reaction to his selling the store and not giving her a chance to buy it. While the entire conversation had been upsetting, she could see why Elizabeth would be angry. She’d give her the benefit of the doubt and ask Ginny about the locks and Elizabeth’s status at the Happy Domestic.
She glanced at her watch. Knowing Ginny, she’d arrive early at her new job—she was probably already in transit. Tricia moved to the front of the store to look out the window, intending to wait for Ginny to arrive.
By the time the coffee had finished, she saw Ginny walk down the sidewalk toward the Happy Domestic.
Tricia poured two cups of coffee into the paper coffee cups intended for her customers, capped them, and headed out the door.
Ginny had already opened the door to the shop by the time Tricia arrived. Tricia knocked on the door, and seconds later Ginny appeared. She noted the coffee in Tricia’s hand and a smile lit her face. “What a wonderful sight on my first day on the job. Come on in,” she urged, and stood by to let Tricia inside.
Tricia handed one of the cups to Ginny. “Just how you like it.”
“I always said you were the best boss. Maybe one day I can be, too.”
“That’s kind of why I came over to see you. Ginny, did you know the locks had been changed since Antonio broke the news to Elizabeth last night?”
Ginny didn’t answer for a long moment. “It wasn’t something Antonio planned on doing.”
“I don’t mean to sound judgmental, but wasn’t that uncalled for?” Tricia asked.
“Please don’t blame him,” Ginny said. “His boss told him to do it last night, right after he talked to Elizabeth. She didn’t take the news well that he’d already taken possession of the store. She was extremely upset—screaming at him. It was David she was angry at, but she took it out on Antonio. He said he’d keep her on, but she grabbed her purse and Davey and stormed out of the store without even closing for the day. Antonio had to call in a locksmith from Nashua and pay double to change the front and back locks. We never did get our celebratory dinner at the Brookview Inn,” she added with a twinge of resentment.
Tricia shook her head and exhaled a long breath. “What about Elizabeth? Shouldn’t she have been told about the locks?”
“That wasn’t my decision,” Ginny said, sounding defensive. “It was—”
“Don’t tell me—Antonio’s boss who decreed it.”
Ginny nodded. “Look at it from Antonio’s perspective. He didn’t think Elizabeth would be coming back to work after all the nasty things she said.” Ginny frowned. “I had hoped my first day would be pleasant. I hoped Elizabeth would at least tell me how things operated, who the suppliers were—that kind of thing. Now I’ll either sink or swim.”
“You’ll do fine.” Tricia braved a smile. “There’s still a little time before you have to open. I should get going so you can take a look around and get familiar with your store.”