I sat in my chair for a long time after Leopard Man left, still trying to put all the pieces together in my head. It was a wild story for sure. But it still didn’t explain what happened to Jason Holt. Unless Leopard Man was lying for Thea.
I didn’t really believe that.
Or someone else was responsible. Like his wife, after all. Or Zach McConnell. Or both of them. But figuring that out was the trick.
Then I sat up straight. The ferry passenger lists. I needed to run by the office and get them. It was my last shot at seeing when Lexie and Zach had arrived on the island. If it really was after Holt died.
It was probably my last chance for any kind of clue. The ferries were back up and running today. Unless they were planning on sticking around for this elusive notebook, if they had anything to do with his death they’d get out of Dodge as soon as they could.
I snatched up my things and began stuffing them into my bag, suddenly in a hurry, just as Ellen came to the door. “We’re closing up, sweetie,” she said. “Find everything you needed?”
I nodded. “Yes, thanks. I was just on my way out.”
“I saw you had some company.” She leaned against the door, her eyes bright with interest. “What was that all about?”
“Just catching up with an old friend,” I said. “Leopard Man loves JJ. He hadn’t seen him in a few days.” I focused on gathering my stuff together, hoping she wouldn’t ask me any more questions.
But Ellen wanted to talk. “He’s such a nice man,” she said. “And so smart. I love discussing literature with him.” She moved into the room and hovered over my chair. “Do you think he’s seeing anyone?” I nearly dropped my iPad. “Um,” I managed. “I have no idea, Ellen.”
“I would love to ask him if he’d like to go to a play sometime. Do you think he would?”
“I think it doesn’t hurt to ask,” I said solemnly. “I’m sure he’d be very flattered.”
She beamed. “You’re right. You have to put yourself out there, right? Thank you, Maddie. I’m going to get my courage up next time I see him.” She reached down and rubbed JJ’s ears. “You both have a good rest of your day.”
I thanked her and hurried out. I needed to tell Becky about all this. I loaded JJ into the car and climbed in, scrolling to her number in my favorites. But when I called her, I got her voicemail. They must be crazy busy, given the storm cleanup news and the murder. I left an urgent message, then sped home. I felt antsy and anxious and wished this whole thing were over, that this whole West Coast contingency would leave my island and let us get back to normal.
Luckily, Daybreak Harbor had been spared a lot of flooding, at least in our area. The rest of the island hadn’t fared so well, but the storm had finally passed. I made it to the ferry office in five minutes. It was dead in there.
Rick glanced up as I burst into the office, and grinned, sliding a manila folder containing the printouts over to me. “Here you go.”
“Thank you so much. I owe you one,” I said.
He waved me off. “Maybe Val can pay up on your behalf,” he said with a wink.
Oh, boy. “Thanks again,” I said, and fled.
Back in the car, I pulled the pages out of the folder and spread them on top of my dashboard, scanning the incoming lists from Friday. Lexie Holt was on the afternoon ferry. There was no record of Zach McConnell’s name.
I frowned. That made no sense.
I checked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday just to be sure. Nothing.
I sat back, drumming my fingers against the steering wheel. When had he arrived? And how?
My mind bounced between McConnell and Thea Coleman. If she was that obsessed, as Leopard Man said, on Holt not digging up old memories, she could’ve gone to any length to get rid of him. Especially since she’d killed someone using this method before. I mean, Arkansas sounded like an accident, but who knew?
I grabbed the papers again, searching for her name, starting backwards with Wednesday. It had been a light week. I found her on last Saturday’s afternoon ferry. So she had been here this whole week. I wondered when, exactly, she’d seen Holt here. Was the first time really at my cafe on Wednesday?
Wednesday. Something about the Wednesday passenger list niggled at the back of my mind. I flipped back over and read through it. There were six names on the morning ferry: Shawn Jacobson. Nick Mariani. Ashton Cowell. Jeffrey Hanzalik. B. D. Lawson. Elvin Adams.
B. D. Lawson.
My heart started to pound. I grabbed my phone and did a quick Google search to make sure. Yes, my memory was right.
B. D. Lawson was Zach McConnell’s pen name. Or maybe it was the other way around, but who cared? The point was, Jason Holt’s co-writer had been here on Wednesday. Maybe McConnell had come here under an alias with the sole purpose of offing his former writing partner. I didn’t know his motive yet, but the answer had to be here somewhere.
And this could mean Lexie was in danger, too.