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When we got to Holly’s house, she wasn’t there. She’d given us a key earlier and had left a note on the counter saying that she was out running errands.
“I’m going to text her about the dress code,” I said.
Grayson grinned at me. “You’re making it sound like you’re back in high school and trying to make sure your shorts aren’t too short.”
“True, ha. I’ll ask her what the attire is supposed to be for the party.”
Holly got back to me right away. “I’m sure business casual will be fine.”
I told her what I’d brought and asked if it would work. There was a longer pause between texts this time. “Take a sundress from my closet,” Holly texted.
I showed Grayson my phone, and he chuckled. “I guess she wasn’t as sure about your outfit.”
“At least she and I are about the same size.”
A couple of hours later, we were cleaned up and ready to go. Holly returned from her errands and helped me pick out the perfect dress from her closet. It was a long floral A-line dress with a halter top. The flower print was in vibrant shades of pink. Luckily, I wasn’t in a vibrant shade of pink because I’d carefully applied sunscreen throughout our beach day. I’d gotten a little too much on one of my knees (I wasn’t sure how I missed spots like that), but the dress covered it up.
“I wonder how big this yacht is,” said Grayson.
“Not sure. Is there such a thing as a small yacht? I thought most yachts were pretty big.” I made a quick search on my phone. “It looks like a fifty-two-foot yacht holds twelve people.”
Grayson said, “The way June was talking, it sounded like there were going to be a lot more people than just twelve. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have gotten an invite.”
We found out minutes later, after reaching the dock, that the yacht was indeed big. This was no fifty-two-foot yacht.
Grayson gave a low whistle. “That’s got to be at least 100 feet. And it has two decks.”
There were already a lot of people there. Upwards of fifty, for sure.
“This can’t be a private yacht, can it?” asked Grayson.
“It’s got to be a chartered yacht.” I pulled out my phone again and looked up the name of the boat, Carpe Diem. “Yes, it’s chartered.”
We joined the line for boarding, and I saw, to my relief, that Grayson and I fit in just fine with what we were wearing. But it was probably a good thing I hadn’t shown up in a black top and black skirt. The women were all wearing colorful dresses. Some men were in seersucker suits, but many of them were in khakis and polos like Grayson.
Inside there was a full bar, caterers manning long buffet tables, and tables covered with white tablecloths. Music played in the background and a man holding a drink in one hand and a cordless microphone in the other was giving an emotional speech about his friendship with Paul Hammond.
I could tell right away who Paul was. The mayor of Charleston looked uncomfortable at the man’s speech. For someone who spent a lot of time in the limelight, he seemed very unhappy being in it tonight. He had a tight smile pasted on his face, which didn’t quite reach his eyes. I could see lines of stress around his mouth and eyes, and he looked tired, as if he hadn’t been sleeping.
Overall, I could see why June had been attracted to him. He had an attractive, sort of fraternity boy look about him. He was certainly young to be a mayor. He wore preppy clothes—a pink checkered button-down shirt and a navy sport coat—with a careless air, although I suspected his appearance was carefully engineered. He had thick, dark hair. When he finally smiled, after the man had stopped speaking, I saw a flash of a dimple and white teeth.
No one else seemed to be walking up to give a toast, and I saw relief cross Paul’s features. His gaze flickered across the room, resting on Grayson and me. That could be because we were standing there awkwardly, not knowing anyone, and not sure if we wanted to get drinks or get food. Paul walked over to us.
I glanced around to see if I could spot June. She was far across the room, surrounded by a large group of people and laughing.
“I’m starting to feel like a party crasher,” murmured Grayson. “I wonder if we’re about to be thrown out.”
“June can vouch for us,” I said. I tried to sound confident, although I was feeling nervous. June gave a loud peal of laughter that reverberated throughout the ship.
“I think June might be plastered,” said Grayson ruefully.
I didn’t have the chance to respond because Paul had quickly stepped up to us, extending a hand. “Paul Hammond,” he said quickly. “I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you.”
I’d seen Grayson in action as a reporter before. He was always smooth, friendly, and seemed genuinely interested in the person he was talking to. It was Reporter Grayson now. He gave Paul a big smile and held his hand out. “Grayson Phillips. This is my friend, Ann Beckett.”
Paul’s smile became more genuine. “Ah, Holly’s friends.” His face suddenly fell. “How is Holly? I’m not surprised she didn’t feel she could make it tonight.”
I could tell he really wanted to know the answer, instead of asking just to be polite.
I said, “She’s hanging in there. Her parents are coming into town tomorrow. She said to tell you congratulations, and that she was sorry she couldn’t make it. She had a migraine.”
Paul nodded absently. “I feel like I’ve fallen down on the job by not going over to see Holly yesterday. Frank and I grew up like brothers. We hung out all the time—even fought like brothers. I loved that guy.”
There was a wild cheer as the music played a disco tune, and Paul grimaced. “Let’s head onto the deck for a moment so we can talk.”
He ushered us to a quiet spot on the deck. The boat had sailed away from the slip and was heading out into the open water. I could already see that there was indeed going to be a beautiful sunset. It was almost as if Paul and June had expressly ordered it for the night.
Paul looked relieved to have escaped the hoopla and general noise of the party. “That’s better,” he said. “I’m just not in the mood for any of this tonight. Frank’s death hit me badly. I wanted to push back the engagement party, but June wouldn’t hear of it.” He looked rather irritated by this.
“I know Frank’s death came as an awful shock,” I said.
Paul let out a big sigh. “It did. I thought the police had somehow gotten things confused. I couldn’t believe something had happened to Frank. I’d just seen him the day-before-yesterday—we grabbed lunch together. I was distracted because of some things going on at the office. I wish I’d known that was going to be the last time we saw each other, although we had a brief phone call later.” He cast a brooding look over the water for a minute. Then he added, “Has Holly heard much from the police? Do they have any leads?”
I shook my head. “As far as I’m aware, she’s only spoken with the police once, when they notified her about Frank’s death.”
Grayson asked, “The police spoke with you?”
If possible, Paul looked even more exhausted than he already did. “That’s right. I believe they were trying to establish a timeline for Frank’s death. Who he’d spoken to last, where he was, what he was working on.” He paused. “I’d spoken with Frank briefly yesterday morning.”
“Do you think your conversation might help the police figure out who did this?” asked Grayson.
Paul shook his head. “Doubtful. There wasn’t much of anything to it. The officer had a couple of questions about the engagement party. I was very busy at the office and was in and out of meetings.”
“So you were able to provide the police with an alibi, then,” I guessed.
“Unfortunately, some of the meetings were around town, so I’m not sure I did. That’s why I was interested in finding out what the police had found out, or if any arrest had been made. I’m not very comfortable being a suspect in a murder case. And I already felt bad enough because I blew Frank off when he called me.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” said Grayson.
Paul shrugged. “It feels that way to me. As I’ve gotten older, sometimes I feel more distracted. I guess it’s just modern life. There’s always a phone notification going off or an email coming in. Everything at work is presented to me as if it were an emergency that needs to be immediately acted on.”
“That sounds frustrating,” said Grayson, sounding sympathetic.
“It is. Worse, because the distraction I mentioned keeps me from being fully present with people I care about. Or even people I don’t care about. I’m just nodding my head and saying, ‘Um-hmm’ and not giving my full attention to what the person is saying. That’s what happened during that last phone call. Frank was asking me about the party, and I was listening with half an ear while I was scrolling through my list of upcoming meetings.”
I said, “It sounds like you simply have your hands full. You’ve got a busy job with a lot of different moving parts. Maybe you’ve tried multitasking to just get everything done each day. I don’t think Frank would want you beating yourself up over this.”
Paul gave me an appreciative look. “You’re right. Thanks. He wasn’t like that at all. Did you spend much time with Frank?”
“Not too much. He would come for family weekends sometimes when Holly and I were in college. He was pretty quiet then.”
Paul chuckled. “You must have caught Frank when he was feeling awkward. Being at his sister’s college during a family weekend sounds exactly like the kind of thing that would make him uncomfortable. Usually, Frank was full of energy, running his mouth. But he was also a real academic.” He made a wry face. “A much better student than I was. The only reason I got an occasional B was because Frank would ask if he and I could study together at the library.”
“Was he always interested in history?” I asked. “I understand he was a relic hunter.”
I spotted a brief, unrecognizable emotion pass quickly across Paul’s handsome features before he smiled and said, “He was interested in history. In fact, he was a double major in college. He was always something of an overachiever. Frank was getting a biology major to help him with his dentistry career path, but he was taking history for fun. I remember thinking that he had lost his mind.”
Grayson laughed. “Was he spending a lot of time studying?”
“He sure was. I was always trying to get him to come to a big party at my fraternity house or something. There were lots of cute girls there. But he’d say he had to study or write a paper or something. There were tons of papers for his history major. I mean, I had to satisfy my liberal arts history requirement, so I took a class on American history. But Frank was taking classes on Middle Eastern politics and women and gender studies. He was constantly in the library surrounded by huge tomes and looking up facts on government internet sites.” Paul’s mouth pulled into a small smile, remembering.
He looked at both of us. “I need to run by and see Holly. I totally understand why she’s not here tonight, like I mentioned. But I need to go pay my respects. I picked up the phone to reach out to Holly earlier, but then I stopped.” He gave a deep sigh. “I’m one of those people who thinks you shouldn’t burden somebody with your own grief. Especially when they have even more reason to grieve than you do. I figured I should wait and see Holly when I can speak to her without choking up. I didn’t want to put her in the position of having to comfort me when she has so much more to grieve.”
There were more squeals of laughter and raucous voices from inside as a different song came on. Paul shook his head. “My head is just not in the right place to handle this party tonight. I should have just rescheduled, even if it meant losing the deposits and pushing back the wedding. I don’t feel right celebrating right now.”
Grayson, who always had the mind of a reporter even when he was away from his beat, asked, “I’m sorry if this is an impertinent question. But there’s one thing I was wondering.”
Paul gave him a crooked smile in return. “You’re wondering if Frank’s and my relationship was impacted by my relationship with June?” He gave a short laugh. “Don’t worry—that’s been something on everybody’s mind. Believe it or not, Frank didn’t harbor any bad feelings about June and me.” He looked down at his hands, which were clasped in front of him. “I’d admired June for a long time. I guess she must have realized it. I never acted on it until they’d both started divorce proceedings. Frank took our relationship in stride. Of course, the police seemed to have their own opinions on whether that was actually the case. Naturally, they thought I had a pretty big motive to get rid of Frank.”
I frowned. “Really? Why? After all, it sounds like Frank granted the divorce and didn’t seem too affected by the end of his marriage.”
Paul shrugged again. “I guess the cops figured I might still be jealous of Frank somehow and wanted to eliminate my competition once and for all.”
I figured Paul’s fiancée might also be a suspect. Grayson and I glanced at each other.
Paul probably guessed what was going through our minds. Perhaps to divert attention away from June and himself, he said, “I gave the police a lead on someone who could be a real suspect. Frank’s business partner had plenty of cause to want him gone.”
“The dentist?” Grayson’s voice suggested that he didn’t, as a rule, find dentists particularly dangerous.
We’d already been told about Carl’s desire to sell the dental practice and move closer to his aging mother. But I was curious to see what Paul had to say.
Paul continued, “Frank told me that Carl had a great offer from somebody to take over the practice, and he wanted to sell it, lock, stock, and barrel. Frank hadn’t been interested in selling at all.”
“Did Frank say why he didn’t want to leave?” asked Grayson.
Paul shrugged. “Why would he? He was perfectly happy there. The practice has its own parking lot, and it’s centrally located. He had plenty of patients. There’s a great deli next door where he could grab a healthy lunch . . . he and I often ate there. He had no reason to move. I’m wondering if his partner might have done him in. He’d have realized that Frank could be stubborn.”
Grayson asked, “What was Frank like? Aside from being a little stubborn, I mean? I know you said he was a good student and very academic.”
I was wondering much the same thing and admired Grayson’s casual manner of asking questions. I hadn’t really known Frank, and I didn’t want to ask Holly about him and risk making her more upset than she already was. Of course, Paul had also been very close to Frank. I wondered if thinking about his friend was going to put him back in his funk.
But it seemed to have the opposite effect. Paul appeared to enjoy the opportunity to talk about Frank. “Well, he sure wasn’t motivated by money. That wasn’t something that had any appeal for Frank. Besides, his family had plenty of money, and he had money of his own.”
Grayson nodded. “So if Carl had tried to tempt him with money?”
Paul snorted. “If his partner had tried to dangle a big payout in front of him to convince him to sell the practice, it wouldn’t have had any effect on Frank. He was a fastidious guy in a lot of ways—even in college. His dorm room was obsessively tidy. Well, tidy on Frank’s side, anyway. His roommate’s side looked like a bomb had gone off. But even though the mess probably drove Frank crazy, he never said a word. He wasn’t an argumentative type of guy. I wasn’t surprised to hear that June and Frank had separated completely amicably.”
“It seems like he was a pretty driven guy,” said Grayson. “He had a successful dental practice, from what I understand, and was equally successful with his hobby.”
Paul nodded. “That’s right. He was one of those ‘slow and steady wins the race’ people. He was hugely routine-driven. I think that’s one reason he could accomplish so much. He always got up at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning and jumped in right away.” Paul shook his head. “I admired that about him.”
I said, “Well, you’re not exactly a slouch, yourself. You’ve also got to be a driven person to be as young as you are and to be mayor of Charleston.”
Paul stiffed a little. “I’m not sure about that. I just did what was expected of me. And I’m usually a pretty outgoing guy, although you can’t tell that tonight. I just exploited my connections.”
It surprised me to hear Paul talk like this about his role in local government. It sounded almost as if he disliked what he was doing or felt almost embarrassed about it. Most politicians, when asked, would go on and on about how it was a privilege to serve the community. Paul seemed as if he couldn’t be less interested in talking about his job.
Since he appeared to be uncomfortable with the subject, I changed it. “Did you and Holly spend a lot of time together when you were growing up?”
Now a smile tugged at Paul’s lips at the memories. “We sure did. Although we didn’t want to. Frank and I were always trying to get away from Frank’s kid sister. But that was easier said than done. Holly had this gift of knowing exactly where we were in the neighborhood and joining us. Plus, Frank’s parents thought we needed to include Holly, so he was always getting lectured to have her hang out with us. Considering how we weren’t the nicest to her, it was amazing she wanted to spend so much time with us. She tagged along everywhere. We tried to lose her one time by climbing a tree, and she scrambled right up after us.”
“Spunky,” said Grayson with a smile.
Paul said, “Yes, but then she fell right back out of it again and broke her arm. We caught a lot of trouble for that, as you can imagine.”
The door to the deck opened, and a woman said to the people behind her, “Here he is! Paul, come on! June wants to dance with you.”
Paul gave us a wry look. “That’s my signal. Thanks for helping me play hooky for a while. It was good meeting you.”