“Oh, hi detective,” Ellie said with a bit of a gulp. Did he know she’d been digging into what happened on the day of Abbie’s death? He’d explicitly told her not to and she hadn’t listened. Was she about to get into a mess of trouble? “Can I ask how you got my number?” she added.
“Your grandmother gave it to me,” he told her. “And please, call me Will. I just got off the phone with her to let her know you can reopen your shop.”
“Oh!” Ellie said, a little more relieved than she wanted to sound. “Well that’s good news. Does that mean that Abbie’s death was accidental?”
“That was the other reason I called,” Will told her. “I was hoping to talk to you briefly.”
Ellie gulped again. Did he want her to come to the station? Was she a suspect? She’d only ever gotten one speeding ticket before, and now she might have to be interrogated. She was anxious, but she managed to keep her voice calm and ask, “Do you need me to come to the station?”
“No,” Will assured her. “But I think it’s a good idea that we talk. Can we meet somewhere?”
Ellie turned her phone away from her before she breathed another sigh of relief. Bringing the phone back to her ear, she tried her best to sound casual as she said, “Sure. I’m at the Grey Dove. Do you know it?”
“I’ve only gotten my morning coffee there every day since I got to town,” Will told her. “I’ll be there in five minutes, is that okay?”
“Yup, that’s fine,” she let him know before she ended the call. She wasn’t sure what kind of questions the detective had for her, but he didn’t sound upset. His tone had been polite, pleasant, and if anything, charming.
Another idea struck Ellie. It was one that wasn’t entirely unwelcome, but worried her just as much as the idea of her being a suspect. She couldn’t deny that she’d felt a spark with Will Murphy. He was attractive, polite, had a good job, and definitely looked like he had good taste in books. If Ellie were looking to date, Will Murphy would be the best candidate for the job.
But she’d only been divorced for a few months and didn’t know if she was ready to date, even someone who looked like real boyfriend material. She didn’t want to pass up a good opportunity, but the timing wasn’t opportune.
“What would you do?” she asked Beau, but her lovable pooch only tilted his head at his mistress’s question. He was happy as long as he got ear scratches, a few treats, and a place on her bed at night.
Ellie tried to shove her worries out of her mind while she enjoyed the brisk autumn air and sunshine on her face. It wouldn’t be too long before she had to take her parka out of storage and Beau’s paw booties as well. He hadn’t been a fan of them, but they protected his sensitive paws from the salt and antifreeze that made its way onto the streets during the winter months.
“Ellie, hey,” Will’s familiar, deep voice greeted her and brought her out of her daydream. She’d been thinking about winter back in Dundurn and how she was actually kind of excited for it, especially since she didn’t need to go outside at all to get to work.
“Hi Will,” she greeted him. He was dressed in jeans and a light jacket, with aviator sunglasses to block the bright sun from his eyes.
“I see you have a coffee, but would you like another?” he asked her. “I’m going to get one for myself.”
“Sure,” she agreed. While she wasn’t usually a coffee drinker, she figured another drink would be a good way to occupy awkward silences that might come up between them. “Just a regular coffee is fine.”
“Cream or sugar?” he asked her before he headed inside.
“Soy milk please,” she told him, and then remembered her earlier conversation with Roni. “And double check that they actually use the soy!”
Will gave her a curious look, but didn’t say anything as he walked inside. A minute later he returned with two grey takeout cups and put one in front of Ellie.
“Thanks,” she said. “So, what did you want to talk about?”
Will took off his sunglasses before he answered her and she stared into his deep, soulful eyes. He tucked them into the front pocket of his jacket and then rubbed the day old stubble on his chin. “Truthfully,” he began, “I wanted to tell you that we are considering Abigail Ainsley’s death a homicide at this time. What the medical examiner found is troubling, to say the least.”
“Oh no,” Ellie murmured. “What did they find?”
“That information is not privy to the public,” Will told her. “But I was hoping to get some more detailed information from you about what happened on Wednesday evening before Mrs. Ainsley passed away.”
Ellie couldn’t help her relief. Will wasn’t there to interrogate her on her part in what had happened, not that she had one, and he wasn’t there to scold her for snooping. As unhappy as she was that the case was officially a homicide, she was glad to know she wasn’t in any trouble herself.
“That’s terrible,” Ellie said. “Do you have any suspects?”
“We have some persons of interest at this time,” Will said. “But that is why I am going to need some more information from you. Did anyone do or say anything strange?”
Ellie debated telling Will about what Roni had told her about Lilith, but decided against it. Putting a murder accusation on someone with only gossip about teenage angst as proof wasn’t a good idea. She was going to have to get more evidence before she threw that idea at him.
“Not really,” she said. “I served the cookies I made and the punch that my grandmother whipped up, but other than that I didn’t see any other food. I don’t think I saw anyone tamper with anything either, but I was kind of occupied playing hostess.”
“That’s fine,” Will assured her. “But was there anything else you could notice? Someone acting weird? Did Mrs. Ainsley seem upset about anything?”
“Not that I can think of,” Ellie told him. “And when I spoke to Dave and Roni, they both said that Abbie was excited, not upset.”
Will’s eyes narrowed at her. “Wait, you spoke with Dave Ainsley?” Will asked.
Oops. Ellie knew she shouldn’t have said that, but it had slipped out. She could only imagine how their conversation was going to turn now.
“I just brought him a lasagna and some books on grieving,” she assured him. “I just wanted to give my condolences to him and it came up that she was excited about something, but he didn’t tell me what.”
“Okay,” Will said, but he was still suspicious. “What about talking with Roni? I assume you mean Veronica Anderson.”
“Uh huh,” Ellie confirmed. “I came for a coffee after my walk and we chatted briefly. She was upset so I consoled her.”
“And why was she upset?” he questioned her. If Ellie hadn’t known better, she’d swear that Will was grilling her, but she didn’t think it was quite that bad.
“Well, she thought she’d had something to do with it,” she told him, and then quickly explained the mix up of dairy and soy milk before he could march inside and arrest the poor barista. Will at first looked like he was about to blow his lid, but as she explained what had happened he calmed down and even chuckled.
“Poor girl,” he laughed. “I’m surprised she didn’t have a meltdown. I’ve seen it before.”
“That’s what I thought,” Ellie laughed with him. “But yes, that’s what we talked about. I was an ear for her to vent to, a shoulder to cry on. That’s all. The subject came up on its own.”
It wasn’t entirely true, but that was technically what they talked about. He didn’t need to know that Ellie had specifically come to the shop to do a little prying, at least not right now.
“Good, good,” Will said with another chuckle. Ellie had to admit to herself that he was cute when he laughed. He was warm and friendly, and she found herself not wanting to get on his bad side for more than just one reason. “I don’t want you to think I’m telling you that you’re not smart enough or something like that, but if there is a murderer active in Dundurn, you don’t want to put yourself in their path. It could be dangerous.”
His words came as a shock to Ellie. Not because she thought he was wrong, but because she hadn’t really considered that before. She hadn’t thought there was any real danger in what she was doing, but if there was a killer in Dundurn, she didn’t want to draw their attention.
“I won’t do anything dangerous,” she assured him. “But Dundurn is a small town. Sometimes I might overhear things that could be useful.”
“And if you do,” Will told her, “I would hope you’d come to me with that information right away. We’d really like to get this taken care of quickly.”
“Me too,” Ellie said. “Actually, there is something else,” she sighed. “A woman named Paige. It’s just something I overheard, but there might be a connection, maybe not. I think she is someone Dave knows.”
“That is good to know,” Will told her. “When we bring him in, we’ll question him on it.”
“Is Dave a suspect?” she asked him, and wished she hadn’t mentioned the name at all.
“Not yet,” Will said. “But he’s the closest we have at this time. When the time is right, we’ll bring him in, but we need more evidence before we can do that.”
That much was a relief. The last thing she wanted was to get Dave in trouble simply for mentioning a name.
“Um, Will,” she went on. “Was I ever a suspect?”
Thankfully, Will laughed at that. “No,” he assured her. “You were a person of interest, but looking at your history, the only thing you had was opportunity. We don’t see a motive or means at this time, so you’ve been crossed off the list.”
“That’s a relief,” she said with a laugh. “Although I guess you know a fair bit about me if you looked at my history.”
“Just the legal stuff,” he told her. “And there’s nothing that stands out there. You’ve led a pretty squeaky clean life.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Ellie told him, though she didn’t want him to think she was boring. Sure, she was a bit of a bookworm, but she didn’t think she was boring.
“You should,” Will assured her. “But thank you for the information, and the chance to grab a coffee. I need to get back to the station. If you think of anything else, let me know.”
“I will,” Ellie promised him, but she wasn’t sure if it was a promise she’d be able to keep.
With her coffee done and Beau itching to get moving again, Ellie made her way to the next place she wanted to check out. She walked back to Main Street in order to go to the clothing store Simone managed, but when she arrived she encountered the first real roadblock of her investigation.
The store was closed, and for now Ellie was at a dead end.