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Grayson said in a low voice, “Well, he was intense.”
I nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”
I saw Lindy standing outside, her arms wrapped around herself, although the weather was humid. She was staring toward the departing Carl.
Grayson and I walked back toward the funeral home. I introduced Grayson to Lindy.
“Are you holding up okay?” I asked her.
Her gaze was still following Carl, now pulling out of the parking lot. She gave a small shrug of a thin shoulder. “I guess. But I can tell you one thing; if Carl doesn’t sell the business soon, I’m going to find a new job. I don’t want to work for him anymore.”
Grayson and I exchanged a quick glance. “Is he tough to work for?”
“He’s just very intense,” said Lindy. “Ordinarily, he’s not so bad. He’s not particularly friendly to me, but he’s polite. He always gets his work done, even though I get the feeling he doesn’t really enjoy his job. But the main problem right now is that I don’t trust him.”
I dropped my voice. “You think he has something to do with Frank’s death?”
Lindy didn’t lower her voice and her tone was full of indignation. “I heard him say he was at the office when Frank died. Absolutely not true. He was in and out of the office that morning. Plus, I don’t think he ever even liked Frank. Their personalities were like oil and water. When this stuff about selling the practice came up, it was even worse. I could tell Frank was avoiding Carl. I was, too. Carl was getting more and more intense and brooding more and more. It was like a heavy cloud in the building. And today? He looked more cheerful than I’ve seen him in a long time, even though he’s at a funeral. And injured himself on the way out the door! I bet he’s already accepted the offer to sell the practice.”
Lindy stopped, shaking her head. “Sorry. You didn’t need to hear me rant today. I think I need to get out of here. Go lie down for a while.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said. “You’ve got to be exhausted. Are you going to take some time off work?”
“Probably. But I need to go in tomorrow morning to take care of some things first. I’ll just arrive super-early so I won’t have to be pleasant to Carl,” said Lindy grimly. “I’ll see you two later.”
As she walked toward the parking lot, I couldn’t help but feel as if she’d been holding something back.
When we walked back inside the funeral home, we found that many of the mourners had finished speaking with the family and were on their way out. Holly spotted Grayson and me and waved us over to where her mother and father were standing. Susan and Ira looked much the same from when I’d known them in college, although now signs of stress lined their faces and their eyes were red. Holly introduced Grayson to them and they gave him a weary smile.
Holly’s folks reached out to hug me tightly. “I’m so sorry,” I murmured to them.
“We just can’t believe it,” said Ira, his voice breaking.
Susan gave me a pleading look, as if I could somehow explain it in a way that made sense to them. “We spoke to him the night before he died. He sounded like everything was fine. Who could have done something like this? We thought everybody liked Frank.”
“Maybe it was just a random accident,” said Ira, eager to grasp at straws. “Somebody just stumbled and hit the bookcases hard. Then ran away when he saw what had happened so he wouldn’t get into trouble.”
Holly glanced at us with tears in her eyes, knowing her dad was trying to make things seem better than they actually were. But I nodded, and Grayson did, too.
Ira looked relieved that we’d approved of his unlikely scenario.
“Enough of all this,” said Susan quietly. “I don’t believe I can think about Frank’s death another moment without losing my mind. We’ve spoken to everyone. Let’s go out and have a nice lunch. I want to get caught up with Ann and learn more about Grayson.”
“A lunch with drinks,” said Ira with a sigh. “Drinks are definitely going to be required.” He glanced at us and said gruffly, “And everything is on us. I don’t want to hear a word otherwise. And we’re going to have a delightful time.” It was a tone that brooked no argument.
I knew Ira was a force to be reckoned with. He was definitely a man used to getting his own way. He must be hating the feeling of being out of control regarding Frank’s death. Holly had mentioned to me that Ira had insisted on meeting with the police to get updates. Unfortunately, they’d had to hold details of the investigation close to their chests. It must be very frustrating for him.
Surprisingly, it was exactly as Ira had commanded: we did have a good time. Part of this was because the family came up with a bunch of funny Frank stories, which put us all in gales of laughter. We ate great seafood at a downtown restaurant, watching as Ira and Susan put away tons of food. They also put away a great deal of alcohol—enough that Holly asked me to drive her car while she drove her parents to their hotel. We followed and took Holly back to her place.
“Whew,” said Holly, as we got out and walked up the walkway to her house. “That was tiring. But somehow, not as bad as I thought it would be, you know? It was hard, but it ended up being exactly what we’d wanted: a celebration of life. I think Frank would have liked what we did.”
“I’m sure he would have,” I said.
Holly was fishing out her house keys when I glanced up at the windows and chuckled.
Grayson followed my gaze. “Looks like we have a welcoming committee,” he said, grinning.
Sure enough, a golden retriever’s excited face was smiling at us from one window and an orange cat’s from another.
“It’s nice to have someone who’s thrilled when you walk in the door,” said Holly, laughing herself.
Murphy nearly bowled us over when we opened the door. He bounced around like he was Tigger. Fitz, in a much quieter way, was just as delighted to see us. He brushed against all our legs.
Grayson said, “I’ll take Murphy for a walk and then play ball with him in the backyard.”
Holly gave him a grateful look. “You’re now officially my favorite person ever. I love Murphy, but right this second, I just don’t think I can summon the energy to handle him.”
Murphy had the wiggles as soon as Grayson had mentioned the magic words “walk” and “ball,” and it was tricky to put his harness on him. But soon, he bounded out the door with Grayson behind him.
Holly kicked off her shoes and stretched out on the sofa. “He’s the best, you know. Grayson, I mean, not Murphy.”
“I don’t know. I think Murphy is probably the best, too,” I said in a teasing voice.
“Are you and Grayson serious?” asked Holly, raising her eyebrows. “Tell me if I’m getting too nosy.”
“We really like each other,” I said. “And I think we’ve decided we’ll see where that takes us.”
“Good idea,” said Holly, trying to suppress a yawn. “Now I just need to find somebody. It’s not so easy.”
“We talked to Carl today at the funeral,” I said. “He mentioned Charleston could be a tough place to meet people. I think the word he used was ‘cliquey.’”
“He’s not wrong,” said Holly with a shrug. She stretched. “Did you get any information from Carl? I’d love something else to share with the police. Every day that goes by, it makes me think justice won’t be meted out for Frank’s death.”
“I guess the process of investigation takes a while. But Grayson and I did talk with Carl. He’s thinking about stepping away from dentistry.”
Holly’s eyes opened wide. “Really? Boy, that sounds like a major midlife crisis, if I ever heard one. I mean, you go to all that expensive school, put yourself through all the hard work and the studying? Then you get out of it?”
“I know. I don’t think he’s totally decided on that, but it definitely sounded like it was a possibility.” I paused. “The bombshell, though, was about Frank’s site.”
“The most recent one? The one he was researching when he died?” Holly’s voice was tight.
“That’s right. He said the site Frank was digging on was a development the mayor was involved with.”
Holly seemed to stop breathing for a few moments. “You mean Paul had a stake in the development? Then Frank found human remains there?”
I nodded. “According to Carl.”
We were quiet for a minute while Holly absorbed this information. Then she said, “So you’re saying that Paul, first off, may have been unethically involved in this development. Following that train of thought, though, let’s assume Frank felt conflicted when he realized there were human remains on the site. He knows the site is important to Paul. Paul is his best friend. Maybe he calls Paul on the phone to let him know what he’s found. We heard from Lindy that Frank had been ruminating a lot on friendship lately. Maybe he was thinking about his friendship with Paul.”
“What do you think Paul would have said?” I asked.
Holly blew out her breath. “Well, he sure wouldn’t have been happy about it. Paul was always motivated by money. I’m sure he would have tried to keep Frank quiet.”
“And what would Frank have done after being told to keep quiet?”
Holly shook her head. “It would have bothered the stew out of him. He’d have been worrying about it day and night. Because one thing Frank was, was ethical. Maybe he told Paul that he could keep quiet about the discovery for a little while until Paul figured out what he needed to do. But Frank wouldn’t have sat on the information forever. He’d have been pushing the envelope with Paul, prodding him to reveal what he’d discovered.”
I said slowly, “Do you think Paul could have killed Frank? To keep him silent?”
Holly looked ill. “I really hope not. They were like brothers. I can’t imagine Paul doing that. But then, if he felt like he was being pushed into a corner, maybe he did. I mean, it wouldn’t just mean the end of a lucrative development. It might mean that his whole connection with the development went public. That he would be up on an ethics violation.”
“Do you think Frank knew Paul’s involvement with the development wasn’t ethical?” I asked.
“I doubt it. Frank didn’t pay attention to that sort of thing. He would have just been looking at the site as a place to dig and relic hunt. He wasn’t going to do any sort of provenance on the site. He probably took it all at face value. If Frank had believed there was any sort of funny business going on, he’d have gone right to the cops, friend or no friend. Like I said, he was ethical. But he could also be clueless.” Holly sighed. “It’s a lot to think about.”
I felt instantly guilty. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to dump that stuff on you right after your brother’s funeral. You were already exhausted.”
“No, it’s fine. I wanted to know.”
I nodded.