As Harley closed the shop’s front door and turned the entrance sign to OPEN, a black Mercedes SUV pulled up to the curb, Rosie the cupcake attached to its roof. Rosie’s cherry had been reaffixed to her mound of icing and the dirt cleaned from her pink foil. In truth, she looked the best Harley had ever seen her.
Stevie, the man with the black Mohawk who had been at the shop with Marcus the day before, stepped outside the SUV and neatened his leather pants.
“Ah,” he said, looking at Harley with a smile, “just the person I came to see.”
Harley came out to meet him on the sidewalk. “But I didn’t think you all would …”
“Bring her back?”
“Yes.”
He smiled again, revealing a row of perfectly straight, white teeth. “Well, after yesterday, this old girl’s pretty famous in our circle.”
He unsnapped the ties holding Rosie to the luggage rack, then lifted her from the roof before carrying her over to Harley. “Where would you like her?”
“Let’s take her to the back for now.” She held the shop’s door open for him. “And I’ll deliver her to Tina later.”
“Sure thing.”
When they had safely deposited Rosie in the storage room, Stevie followed Harley back inside the shop area to the bar.
“This place is pretty cool,” he said, looking around. “Is it yours?”
“I inherited it from my grandfather.”
“Nice.”
“Would you like something to drink while you’re here? A cocktail? A glass of water?”
“I’ll just take some water if that’s okay. And do you mind if I sit for a minute?”
“Please do.” She pointed to the row of bar stools. “Take your pick.”
He removed his black leather jacket and rested it on the bar before taking a seat across from her.
Harley placed a glass of ice water in front of him. “How’s Marcus?”
“Well, his nose is fine—a little bruised, I guess, but his ego … well, that’s another story.”
“I’m really very sorry.”
“I’m not.” He took a sip of water and returned the glass to the bar. “Marcus needs to be taken down a notch every once in a while. It’s good for him.”
“Is he going to press charges?”
He shook his head. “Nah, I think he’d be too embarrassed. I mean getting clocked by a giant cupcake. Are you kidding me?” He laughed. “Besides Beau wouldn’t let him press charges even if he wanted to. He knows what Marcus is like.”
“He does seem like he’s insecure about something.”
Stevie looked at her over the rim of his glass. “You’re very perceptive. And yes, that’s probably why he can be difficult.”
“So why does Beau put up with him?”
“That’s a good question.” He folded his arms at the chest, then rested them on the bar. “And the answer says more about Beau really than it does Marcus. You see, we go way back, the three of us, me and Marcus and Beau. We went to Juilliard together. Took all of the same classes, had all of the same friends. Even shared an apartment at one point.” He smiled, thinking back on what were now the good old days. “And of course, like every other guy our age, we wanted to be rock stars.”
He laughed and repositioned himself on the bar stool. “Anyway, long story short, Beau became successful, beyond successful, and we didn’t.” Thinking on this for a moment, he gazed down at his folded arms and said, “But then again, I always knew he would. Ever since the first time I ever heard him play.” He looked up at Harley. “Have you ever heard him? I assume you must’ve. I mean, who hasn’t?”
“I don’t really listen to much.”
“He’s incredible. I mean, the man has a gift. A true prodigy. And can you believe that before he went to Juilliard, he’d never even had a music lesson? Not one. He learned to play by ear.”
He took a sip of water from his glass. “And I think that’s part of Marcus’s problem, his insecurity, as you put it. Even though he loves Beau, I think he’s always been a little jealous of him. Of his talent and the fact he made it big and we didn’t. And Beau never even graduated. He dropped out after our first year.” He shook his head, as if he were still awed by Beau’s meteoric rise from music school dropout to international superstar.
“And you obviously kept in touch after Juilliard,” Harley said.
“Oh yeah. You see Beau’s not one to make new friends. He doesn’t trust them. He only lets in people who knew him before he became famous, people who knew him back when he was just a broke foster kid. So he hired us as his managers.” He shrugged. “It’s not quite what we dreamed of for ourselves, but the job has a lot of perks. Definitely better than anything we could’ve gotten playing at dive bars and coffee shops.”
He hoisted his weight from the bar stool. “Well, I better head back. Things got a little crazy at the resort this morning.”
He guided his arms through his leather jacket and pulled it to a close. “You know all those people you saw at the resort yesterday? Well, Beau sent them away this morning. Every single one of them.” He pulled his car keys from his pants pocket and held them in his right hand. “But I guess they weren’t really his friends anyway, were they?” He walked toward the entrance. “They were ours. But still, he’s never done anything like that before. Never seemed to bother him until now.”
“Why do you think he did it?” Harley asked, following behind him.
“Don’t know. He just said he wanted to be left alone. Then he locked himself in his room, and I haven’t seen him since.”
“Did he ever mention anyone by the name of Patrick Middleton?”
“Patrick Middleton.” Stevie seemed to search his mind for the name. “That’s the professor he was friends with, right? The rich one. Gosh, I think Beau’s known him since he was a kid. Said he used to help him out back then. And if I’m not wrong, he’s the one who paid his tuition at Juilliard.”
“Paid his tuition?”
“Yeah. Beau didn’t have any money. Not back then anyway. He wasn’t a trust fund kid like me and Marcus. Didn’t have rich parents to help him out. Everything that poor kid got, he had to work for, or it was given to him by that Patrick Middleton guy.”
She touched the back of his shoulder and when he turned to face her, she said, “There’s something I need to tell you … about Patrick Middleton.”
He waited for her to continue.
“He died last night. His body was found this morning outside his house.”
Shock fell over Stevie’s features and he ran his hand through his Mohawk. “No wonder. No wonder Beau’s been acting so weird. He must be devastated. I’m assuming his death was from natural causes, right?”
“They’re not sure yet. They’ve initially ruled it an accidental drowning, but the body hasn’t been fully examined.”
“I really hate to hear that.”
“I wanted you to know because the police will be coming to see Beau, I suspect. To ask him some questions. They’ll figure out he and Patrick were acquainted.”
He followed her train of thought. “Well, Beau was at the resort all night. I can testify to that. We don’t let him get out of our sight much, as you know. It’s not safe. There’s no way he could be involved. Besides, he loved that guy. I’m sure of that.”
“What makes you so certain?”
“Because I know Beau. He’s a loyal guy. Once he loves you, he’s loyal to the very end.”
“That’s good to know. I mean about their relationship.”
He nodded in agreement and passing through the shop door said, “You take it easy.”
“You too.”
On the way to his Mercedes SUV, Stevie passed Ruby Montgomery on the sidewalk, the shoulder-padded mayor eyeing him with disapproval. Stevie, apparently accustomed to raised brows and judgmental looks, offered a cheerful greeting as he got into his car.
Ruby Montgomery barked a “humph” in return and, after neatening her gray pantsuit, she stepped inside Smoky Mountain Spirits.