Twenty-Nine

True to his word, Denver was at the farm when Megan arrived. He and Clay were sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee and eating donuts Denver had brought with him. The day was cloudy and humid, and a thick fog shrouded the house and muted the sunlight coming into the windows.

“Have some donuts,” Denver said. He fixed her a cup of coffee and put it in front of her. “No word from Dillon. Aunt Eloise is a basket case.”

Megan chose a sour cream donut and ate it in four bites. She shared her conversation with Bibi. “A woman fled the scene. Dillon wasn’t sure if she’d witnessed something or was the killer.”

“And he told King this?” Clay asked.

“He told the police. That could have been the state cops or even the state park folks.”

Denver seemed quiet this morning. His face was shadowed by several days’ worth of beard, and his hair was brushed back, off his face.

“I think I have to face the fact that one of my friends is a murderer,” he said finally.

“It could be Harriet,” Megan said. “I asked King if he was able to confirm her whereabouts the Saturday Chase was killed. I haven’t heard back.”

“Small consolation.” Denver poured himself more coffee. “I got a call from Diana, Chase’s ex-wife. She said she’d been thinking about her conversation with Chase. She assumed he said ‘Moira’ because she expected he’d see a woman while here. She said he could have said More-a or something similar.”

Megan told Denver about her research into pharmaceutical start-ups. “I was wondering if it was a job offer he was entertaining. If he was their chief scientist and the visionary behind their main drug, someone may not have wanted him to go.”

Denver stared into his coffee mug. “Someone like Jatin.”

Megan hadn’t wanted to say it out loud, but yes—someone like Jatin. “He did seem preoccupied with the financial gain.”

“He did.” Denver pushed the cup aside. “Anyway, I did my own research. Called some of my contacts at the pharma companies I use. Still waiting to hear back, but I had the same thought that Chase was leaving BOLD.”

Clay finished his meal and was rinsing out his coffee mug. “Porter and I are fine here today, Megan, if you need to help Alvaro at the café in Bonnie’s absence.”

“Thanks. I’m hoping they discharge her today, but we’ll see. In the meantime, I’ll shoot over to the café, but first I have a stop to make.”

“Where are you going?” Denver asked, concern in his tone.

“I’m going to talk with Martine. I think she’s been holding out on us. If my hunch is right, she’s the person Dillon saw running from the scene.”

“I have rounds this morning. Can it wait until after that and I’ll go with you?”

“Let me call her again this morning. If I can wait, I will.”

Denver didn’t look pleased with the answer. “I’ll let you know what I hear from my pharma contacts.”

Megan watched him leave. She’d head to the barn to tend to the animals, and then she’d be off as well.

  

Megan checked her phone at 8:06 a.m. Martine had accepted her friend request but still hadn’t returned her call or her text. That seemed odd, but then the woman seemed odd, so who knew.

Megan was tidying up the goats’ pen, warding off Dimples’ play head butts and attempts to chew the hem of her jeans, when Clay and Porter joined her.

Clay held up a granola bar wrapper. “I don’t suppose this belongs to you?”

Megan shook her head. “Maybe it was Bibi’s. Why?”

“Found it stuffed in the barn near Camilla’s enclosure.” Porter’s lean, handsome face darkened. “Doubt this belongs to Bonnie.” He held up a comic book.

“Nope,” Megan said. “Before we get too ahead of ourselves, Dillon was here before. Could be he left it then.”

“Don’t think so,” Clay said. “I’m in there daily. No wrappers, no comics.”

“Well then,” Porter said, “either the kid came back to finish his job or he wanted to be with your grandmother.”

“I’m betting on the latter.” Megan grabbed her cell phone from her jeans pocket. “Calling Eloise, Denver, and King to let them know.”

  

By 9:22, Megan was tired of trying to reach Martine. She looked up the boarding house on her phone and entered the address into her phone. She swung by the café first to see if Martine was there. No luck, but Megan did find Xavier and Barbara sitting at a corner table, eating oatmeal and fruit.

“Good morning,” Megan said. “The café treating you alright?”

Xavier nodded. “Can’t say the same for your boyfriend. Any idea where he is?”

“Out on rounds. I think he’ll be by later today.”

Barbara moved over a seat. “Want to join us? Is that allowed?”

Megan smiled. “One good thing about being your own boss is that almost anything’s allowed.” She glanced around. “Speaking of boss’s, where’s Dr. Mantra today?”

“Dealing with her daughter’s craziness, no doubt,” Xavier said. Barbara glared at him and he looked down. “Well, it’s true. The queen bee has her own problems to deal with on top of this mess.”

“I thought the school really turned her around?”

“If you mean they made her into a drug addict instead of a criminal, okay, sure.”

Another withering look from Barbara.

Barbara said, “Harriet’s daughter takes up a lot of her energy these days. She and her mother don’t get along, part of the reason the school worked. Distance. Now that she’s an adult, she has more freedom but very little responsibility. She wanders, and Harriet has trouble keeping track of her.”

“She’s crazy,” Xavier said. “They both are.”

Barbara sighed. “Nothing like airing our dirty laundry.”

“We all have it.” Megan started to rise. “Have either of you seen Martine? We’re supposed to get together,” Megan lied, “and she doesn’t seem to be answering her phone.”

“Speaking of dirty laundry,” Xavier said. Xavier snickered, Barbara’s lip curled into a mean smile.

Annoyed, Megan said, “Okay, well, if I see Denver, I’ll tell him where you are.”

“Please. I think we’ll be leaving tomorrow or day after next, so it would be great to say goodbye.” Barbara touched Megan’s hand. “I hate to leave like this. It’s been a rather awful trip.”

Megan nodded. “I think Denver would like that.” Another lie. She understood now why Denver was so bad at this.