We were silent as we walked down the hall. Craig pushed open the door and held it for me to walk through, then followed. I paused under the awning over the door. The rain had started. I pulled my coat tighter around me. I didn’t have an umbrella.
“You should go in,” I said. “You don’t have an umbrella, either.”
He ignored me. “What’s the story with Val and Ava-Rose? How do you know the vet was fighting with our vic?”
I sighed. “You just need to talk to Ava-Rose. But if you say anything about me, I’ll have to kill you.”
“Threatening a cop now?” Craig asked, amused. “Didn’t your grandfather tell you that’s a no-no? Besides,” he added, glancing behind him to make sure no one had come out of the building, “we’ve been getting anonymous tips about ‘strange events’ at the yacht club. From Ava-Rose. Who isn’t really that anonymous.” He sighed. “She’s really got to find something else to do with her time than hang around that place every day.”
At least we agreed on one thing. And I was sure Val didn’t know about any of the “anonymous” tips. “Well, I can’t confirm or deny either way,” I said. “And what tips about the yacht club?”
“If there’s a witness, we need to talk to them, Maddie.” Craig ignored my question.
“I know that, Craig. That’s why I told you to go talk to Ava-Rose. On the down-low. Are you going to talk to Drake?”
Craig stayed silent.
“Fine, I know. It’s part of your investigation.”
I turned to go, but he called my name.
“Stay away from all this, Maddie. I know you.”
I half-smiled. “That’s the problem here. Everyone knows me.”
I watched as he yanked open the door and went back inside the building, then headed back to my car, deep in thought. Thea Coleman and Dr. Alvin Drake. Two completely different people, but both ratcheting to the top of the suspect list. My suspect list, anyway. Trouble was, I only had a hunch one of them knew Holt, and a secondhand account that the other was fighting with Holt right before he was struck and killed.
What were his ties to these people? And was Ethan right about me putting unfair attention on Thea Coleman because of the JJ thing?
I didn’t think so. She legit recognized Holt, and I needed to find out why. Unless I had it all wrong and those two incidents were coincidental and unrelated and Holt had really been run down by some random drunk person. Or someone had taken out a professional hit on him.
I shook my head to clear it. I’d been watching way too much TV.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Where was the car that had hit him? It clearly hadn’t arrived in the one auto body shop on the island or we would’ve heard all about it on the news.
Which made me curious about Thea Coleman’s car, if she was driving one. And where was she staying, anyway? If the cops knew, they certainly weren’t going to tell me. But it shouldn’t be that hard to figure out, if she was at any of the local hotels that were still open. Which was, like, two of them. It might be worth a little investigating after my vet appointment.
Which could also be a mini-investigation. I ducked my head and made a mad dash for my car. Once inside I checked my watch. I had to get home and pick up Muffin.