Christie slapped a mosquito. “Oh, that’s terrible. What was the cause of death?”
“Complications from flu.” He stretched out his legs and crossed his ankles.
“Sad. How old was he?”
“Fifty-one, two. Somewhere in there.”
“Was his wife with him when he died?”
“No. His wife died years earlier in a car accident. He never remarried. But Kimberly was with him in those last days, caring for him.”
Christie was silent. So, Kimberly had been with him when he died, and she ended up as the sole beneficiary. She finally spoke, “I gather she got her house.”
“Oh, yeah. Now that the girls are grown, we live in a five-thousand square foot house. We sleep in separate bedrooms and live our lives apart. As long as we keep up appearances to the outside world, she doesn’t care.”
Which makes an affair with Hector all the more likely.
“I’m sorry, Cole. I know it can be tough. I think divorce must be horrible to go through, but why didn’t you leave when the girls were a bit older?”
“I tried. Trust me. But then, they became sick. Doctor visits all the time. Tests. Trying to figure out what was wrong with them. It drained me from focusing on anything but them. For Kimberly, it energized her. She received tons of sympathy, and she ate it up.”
Christie repositioned herself and leaned back on the tree trunk. “You don’t think she had…never mind.”
“What?” He motioned for her to continue. “What were you going to say? That she played a part in their illnesses?”
“I’m just wondering if maybe she had Munchausen By Proxy. Because you said caring for the girls energized her, and the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong, but she got lots of sympathy from other mothers, and thus, attention she craved.”
“I’ve often wondered about it. Especially since—”
“Since what?”
“They left home. There’s this exclusive boarding school in Colorado with a great equestrian program, so we sent them up there for their education. As soon as they arrived, no more problems and they thrived.”
“So, they’re at the school now?”
“No. That was years ago. They both live elsewhere. We rarely see them now. They’re always too busy to come home for holidays and visits.”
Or maybe they knew how toxic their mother was. Christie’s heart ached for Cole. He’d been through so much.
He stood up. “I probably shouldn’t have shared all this. I’m just at my wit’s end.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her up to a standing position. They locked eyes. He leaned in toward her.
“What are you doing? You’re married.” Christie sprang back.
“I’m sorry.” Cole dropped her hand. “I thought—”
“You thought wrong. I don’t know what signal you thought you were getting, but I don’t kiss married men.”
“I said I was sorry.” He huffed.
She strode back toward the stables. He caught up with her. “I mean it, Christie. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Seems like you weren’t thinking. First, you tell me a sob story about your life, how horrible Kimberly is, then you have the audacity to make a pass at me?” She kept walking.
He caught her arm. “Christie—”
“Remove your hand.” He dropped it.
As they reached the house, she turned to him. “I think we should only see each other in a professional capacity from now on. Please call before coming out here.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.” She crossed her arms and stood next to the porch as he clamored into his truck and roared off down the road.
What a fool, Christie.
All the time she felt sorry for him, he was trying to put blame on Kimberly and to cause Christie to question her motives. He even went along with her when she brought up the Munchausen By Proxy. Maybe her father had died from the flu and she’d cared for him during that time.
You know, Cole, when you keep pointing the finger at someone else, three fingers point back at you. Why are you so intent on pushing suspicion onto Kimberly?
She gasped. What if Cole knew that Kimberly was having an affair with Hector, and he killed him but wants to throw suspicion on Kimberly? She needed to get those bottles.
She rang Cole’s phone number.
He answered. “Yes?”
“Cole, what happened to the stuff at Hector’s?”
“It was given away, and his personal items were put in storage. Why?”
“I mean, the contents of his kitchen, like the refrigerator?”
“I threw them all in the bins in the back. Why are you asking?”
“Nothing.” Christie hung up the phone. It had been Cole who had removed the bottles. Not the Websters. But had he done it on his own, or had Emma or Tyler Webster ordered him to do it? What was worse, Cole now knew she wanted those bottles.
That was a dumb mistake, Christie.
Now to get with Trish and see when they could get those bottles. They couldn’t wait.
By the time the pair arrived back at Hector’s, the trash cans had been emptied.
“Great.” Christie looked around for any place that could hold other bags of trash. “I thought you said the trash doesn’t come until after tomorrow?”
“It doesn’t. At least I don’t think so.” Trish dropped her keys in her purse.
“Someone must have come and taken the trash away.”
“Sadly, there’s nothing that can be done now. I guess that’s that.”
“We have to find out who took it.” Christie strode toward the street and the front of the house. I’m going to talk to that neighbor.” As she pointed, the curtain in the window across the street from Hector’s once more fell into place.
Trish grabbed Christie’s arm. “Listen, you can’t just go barging in like a bull in a china shop. I live here. Let me see if I can get any answers from them.”
“Probably a good idea.” Christie nodded.
“Back in two ticks.” Trish walked across the street and knocked on the bright pink painted door. The door cracked open, revealing an older woman spying out. Seeing Trish, she opened the door wider. Christie couldn’t hear the conversation, but the woman smiled and waved at Christie, who waved back. In a few minutes, Trish returned.
“All she’ll say is that she saw white trucks during the day and a blonde woman taking some bags away.”
“Terrific. That doesn’t help narrow it down for us. All the Webster team drive white trucks, and of course, Emma and Kimberly are both blonde. Heck, even Shana May is blonde depending on the day. How good do you think her eyesight is for spotting someone?”
“Hmm. That’s a good question. I would say fairly good. Why do you ask?”
“She may be the only witness who can testify to who went in and out of that house.”
“Oh, that’s too bad.”
Christie responded. “What?”
“I doubt she’s really got a great memory. She called me by some other woman’s name.”
Christie wiped sweat from her forehead. “Ugh, this heat is something I’m not excited about. I guess we’ve done all we can do.”
“Yes, best to leave it. It was probably heatstroke, like you said.” Trish nodded and dug her keys from her purse.
Christie motioned for the pair to get in a vehicle. Once inside the truck with the AC jacked up, she said, “What about my phone though?”
“What about it?” Trish set her bag in her lap and started digging through it.
“I didn’t text Hector. So who did and why?”
Trish shrugged. “Maybe your Pop did it.”
“Pop barely uses the phone. He certainly doesn’t text and he’s the one who found my phone.” She moved an air vent to blow cold air on her.
Trish pulled a lip gloss from her bag and swiped it across her mouth. “Maybe you forgot you texted Hector.”
Christie retorted, “I didn’t forget about texting him. I’ve never texted him.”
Trish sighed and threw the gloss back in the bag. “Just trying to help here. I mean things have been a bit crazy. It wouldn’t be surprising to do something and forget about it. Where did your dad find your phone?”
Christie adjusted in her seat. “On the ground. By the back of the Jeep.”
“Maybe you just dropped it during all the commotion with your dad. Just saying. It could have happened.”
“No, I…” Christie thought back to when she’d last seen the phone. Had she just dropped it and not noticed? But she’d walked by the Jeep all the time. No, she would have seen it. The deputy would have seen it. Except…she had moved her Jeep under the tree, so it would stay cooler in the shade.
Trish wiped a corner of her mouth with her finger. “Look, you’ve been going through a lot. It wouldn’t be surprising if you dropped your phone in all the commotion. Or forgot that you’d texted Hector.”
“But I didn’t. That’s one thing I do know for certain.”
“Okay.”
Trish’s “okay” only placed more doubt in Christie’s mind. Had she texted Hector and simply forgotten? She’d said she was going to contact the Websters about the accident. But she wouldn’t have texted Hector. She certainly wouldn’t have had him meet her by the creek.
“Come on. We can figure it out later.” Trish waved toward the window of the neighbor’s house. “Headed home?”
“No. I’m going to visit some of the new shops on Main Street. Want to join me?”
“Nope, I’ve got to get Jess to another practice. Thanks for the invite.”
After leaving Trish, Christie spent the rest of the day running errands and getting reacquainted with the lovely little town of her childhood. She’d called Pop about catching a movie, but he’d told her to go ahead without him. Arriving home after dark, Christie exited the Jeep and opened the door to see Pop asleep in a chair. She smelled something burning and from the kitchen, a haze of gray smoke twisted into the living area.