Lindsey turned and glanced in the direction Joan indicated with a tip of her chin. On the far side of the restaurant, tucked into a booth, was Jamie Briggs. Across the table from her was a man in a suit. They were both leaning in, meeting halfway across the table, while they had what appeared to be a very intense discussion.
“That’s her,” Sully confirmed. He frowned.
“He might be just a friend,” Lindsey said. “Maybe he’s here to comfort her after her loss.”
“That’s no friend,” Ian said as he stopped by their table. “That’s her attorney.”
“That explains his shiny suit and pointy shoes,” Mike said.
“I’m surprised they’re meeting here,” Lindsey said. “Wouldn’t she want to do this in the privacy of her own home?”
“She would, but given that all of her household staff has quit, she has to eat somehow, doesn’t she?” Ian asked. “I doubt that girl knows how to boil a pot of water.”
“They all quit?” Lindsey asked. She knew about Liz, but she couldn’t believe they’d all left their jobs, and right before the holiday.
“Every one of them,” he said. “Apparently, she got home from the police station and held a meeting. She told them that since Steve was gone, there would be no end of the year bonuses for anyone since she didn’t know how the finances were going to work without Steve. They all quit on the spot.”
“But she just lost her husband,” Lindsey said. “Maybe she’s not thinking straight.”
Ian shook his head at her. “Steve paid their staff very well to put up with her. By all accounts she was a misery to work for and always has been. She genuinely felt that their domestic staff were at her beck and call twenty-four seven and should be happy to be so. When Liz Lyons had to have her appendix out, Jamie thought she should be back at work the next day. She even called her and chewed her out, accusing her of being lazy.”
“Not to pile on with the gossip,” Joan said, “but I did hear that she fired one of her cleaning people for refusing to give her a pedicure.”
“Ew,” Mary said as she joined them. She leaned over to kiss her mother’s cheek and then her father’s. She ruffled Sully’s hair affectionately and then draped an arm around her husband’s shoulders. Ian beamed at her.
“I take it they’re filling you in on Jamie Briggs,” she said to Lindsey.
“And how,” Lindsey said. “Is she really that awful?”
“Well the pedicure story ranks right up there,” Mary said. “But that’s just one story of many. I think the only reason Steve was able to keep the staff here in Briar Creek as long as he did was because she was gone most of the time, preferring the city. It’d be interesting to hear what the city domestic staff think of her.”
“Maybe she was just super mean because she didn’t want to live here,” Lindsey said.
“No, she’s just a horrible person,” Ian said. “You know, she doesn’t drive. Apparently . . .” He pantomimed chugging a drink before he continued. “There were some issues. When her driver was off and she wanted to go somewhere, she paid her next-door neighbor’s kid, a sixteen-year-old, to drive her to a bar in New Haven on a weeknight, and then she had him sit in the car and wait for her for three hours. The kid was scared to death, didn’t know how to get out of the city, and was out well past curfew. His parents threatened to sue, but Steve settled the dispute with a nice cash payout.”
“Oh, that is bad,” Lindsey said. Liz’s abrupt departure from her job, despite the holidays, suddenly made a lot more sense.
“Quite. Without Steve to rein her in, the staff knows she’s going to make their lives a misery. I think they all decided to get out while the getting was good.”
“You don’t think it makes them look like they know something about Steve’s death and they’re trying to hide it?” Lindsey asked. “Like, maybe Jamie is buying them off.”
“Nah. Believe me, if they knew Jamie had done something, they wouldn’t hesitate to turn her in,” Ian said.
Lindsey glanced back at the table where Jamie sat with her presumed attorney. Whatever they were talking about, Jamie was clearly fired up. Her face was flushed, and she was tapping the table with her forefinger as if driving home her point. Her lawyer nodded as if he was taking in everything she said, but there was a distracted air about him as if he’d rather be anywhere but there.
“What about Tony Mancusi?” Lindsey asked. “I would think if the police believed it was foul play that caused Steve’s death, that Mancusi would be at the top of the list.”
“He is,” Ian said. “At least, that’s what I gathered from what I overheard when the officers were here for their dinner break. Unfortunately, he’s also gone missing.”
“Overheard?” Sully asked.
“Overheard. Eavesdropped.” Ian shrugged. “Same thing.”
“Oh, Ian,” Joan said. “Do be careful. If this Mancusi is dangerous, you want to stay out of it.” She glanced at Lindsey and Sully. “That goes for you two as well. You’re to be married in a matter of days. You can’t risk it all by getting mixed up in something potentially dangerous.”
“We won’t,” Sully said. “But if Steve Briggs was murdered, I’m not going to turn my back on finding out who did it.”
“If he was murdered?” Ian asked. He glanced at Sully with a sympathetic look. “You haven’t heard then.”
“Heard what?” Lindsey asked. Her heart dropped into her feet. She could tell from the expression on Ian’s face that the news was bad.
“The same officers that were in here talking about Mancusi mentioned that the medical examiner has ruled Steve Briggs’s death a homicide.”
Lindsey and Joan gasped at the same time. Sully reached across the space between them and squeezed Lindsey’s fingers with his.
This was a devastating blow. It was bad enough that Steve was dead, but to know that someone had intentionally taken his life? It was just too much.
“Do the police think it was Tony Mancusi then?” Mike asked.
Ian shrugged. “It seems likely after that nasty scene at the party, and he is missing, so it looks bad for him, but it could be someone else. I mean, they were in a law firm together. It could be someone who was out to get the both of them.”
“You mean a case they worked on together?” Joan asked.
“It’s possible,” Ian said. “It could be there is a disgruntled client in their past.”
“Who would know?” Lindsey asked. “Jamie?”
They all looked back at her booth. She and her attorney were still deep in discussion. She looked angry and frazzled while he looked nervous. Lindsey didn’t think that spoke well for their professional relationship.
“Nah, I doubt she knew much of what went on in Steve’s office,” Ian said. “I think it would have to be someone closer to him.”
“Like Nate?” Sully asked.
“Yeah, he’d know if someone was threatening Steve,” Ian said.
Lindsey glanced at Sully, wondering if he was thinking the same thing she was.
“Isn’t it weird how your truck is making such a strange noise all of a sudden?” Lindsey asked him. “I suppose you’ll have to take it in to Nate just to be on the safe side.”
Sully looked at her with a gleam of appreciation in his eyes. “Yeah, it’s the craziest thing.”
“No, no, no,” Joan shook her head. “You have to stay focused on your wedding. No chasing down murderers, no getting into harm’s way, none of that. Save it for the police.”
“We will,” Sully said. “I’m sure Emma has everything under control.”
“Absolutely,” Lindsey agreed. “She’s the best.”
“But since the investigation could shut down the island indefinitely and we still don’t have someone to marry us, we do need to pay attention to what’s happening, don’t you think?” Sully asked. His expression was one of such innocence, Lindsey had no doubt that this was exactly how he had looked when he was a boy trying to get something by his parents.
“The sooner the case is solved, the more likely our wedding is to go off without a hitch,” Lindsey agreed.
Joan looked from Sully to Lindsey and then to her husband and said, “Soul mates. I always hoped he’d find his. And clearly he has.”
Mike nodded. He pointed to Ian and Mary and said, “Just like these two.”
Ian and Mary exchanged a grin and she said, “We just followed your example, Mom and Dad.”
Joan lifted up her napkin and dabbed at her eyes. “We’re not even at the wedding, and I’m beginning to cry.” She sighed and then looked at Sully and Lindsey with a sternness that only a mother could harness. “All right, you two, do what you have to do, but be careful.”
“Of course,” Sully said. “Nothing is going to get in the way of our wedding. We promise.”
The next morning Sully and Lindsey arrived bright and early at Nate’s Garage. Situated on the edge of town, Nate’s Garage was housed in an old gas station. Behind it, down a winding dirt road, was a small ranch house where he and his wife, Naomi, lived with their five girls.
Everyone in town had a story about Nate saving the day. Everyone except Lindsey. Since she didn’t have a car, she hadn’t needed him to rescue her as yet. But he’d long ago won her over with his exceptional skills as a dad.
Last year, Beth had decided to have a crafternoon for some of the tweens who liked to hang out in the children’s area. She’d wanted to teach them to knit and invited parents to come along and help. Lindsey had stopped by the tween crafternoon to see how it was going. They were discussing Black Beauty, one of her favorite books, while they knitted and snacked on lemonade and cupcakes. Much to Lindsey’s surprise, there was only one parent in attendance. Nate.
Sitting in the middle of a circle of eleven-year-old girls, wearing his mechanic’s uniform, he’d clutched a pair of knitting needles in his scarred and calloused hands, breaking only to eat a cupcake while listening to his daughter gush about her love for Black Beauty. Lindsey had decided that he was a perfect dad right then and there. When another father came into the room with his son, looking for books about fishing, Nate had nodded a greeting at the man without dropping a stitch or looking embarrassed.
Sully opened the door to the office and held it for Lindsey. She walked into the garage and waited for him to join her. Beyond the office were two bays where Nate’s three employees were busy working on cars. Ahead of them was one customer, and they waited while Nate talked to her. It was Kerry Tomlinson, and she was asking about her SUV. Apparently, her son, Lucas, had taken it for a ride and managed to break an axle and a torque mount.
“How does a teenage boy manage to break an axle and trust mount?” Kerry asked.
“Torque mount,” Nate corrected her.
Kerry waved her hand. “Just tell me.”
Nate put his hand on the back of his neck. He looked uncomfortable. He also looked tired, as if he hadn’t slept in days. Lindsey felt for him. She couldn’t even imagine how she’d feel if anything happened to her brother, never mind the horror of having him be the victim of a murder.
“It’s pure speculation, Kerry,” he said. “Without being there . . .”
Kerry shook her head as if to say out with it.
“My guess would be he was attempting to do burnouts, donuts, or something like that,” Nate said.
“So this is not something that would occur when one swerved to avoid hitting a stray cat?” she asked.
“It seems unlikely,” he said. “But again, without being there, I can’t swear to it.”
“You don’t need to swear to it,” she said. She adjusted the strap of her purse on her shoulder as if she was putting on a shield and preparing for battle. “Lucas and I are going to be having a long chat about how driving is a privilege and perhaps it’s time he got a job.”
Nate nodded. He looked pained, as if he felt bad for causing the teen in question the trouble that was headed his way.
“I’ll call you when the work is done. Should be by the end of the day,” Nate said.
“Thank you.” Kerry turned to leave but then swung back. She reached across the counter and patted his arm. “I’m sorry. I was so caught up in my own drama that I neglected to mention how very sorry I am about your brother, Steve. Please take your time on the repairs. Your family is the most important thing right now. Besides, it will be an excellent lesson for Lucas to be without a car for a while.”
“Thank you,” Nate said. His voice was gruff, and Lindsey could hear the struggle to keep his voice even.
Kerry nodded at them as she passed, and Lindsey shared a look of acknowledgment with her. Kerry was a preschool teacher, and she used the library’s collection of picture books to supplement her own collection. She’d even had Beth out to her classroom to do story time at her school. She was usually quick with a smile and a funny kid-related tale, but not today. Oh, Lucas was in big trouble.
“Sully, Lindsey,” Nate greeted them. “What can I do for you?”
Sully gave Lindsey a long look. She knew without him saying anything that he wanted to play it straight. He wanted to tell Nate why they were really there, and he wanted her agreement. Lindsey nodded. Sully had known Nate and Steve Briggs all their lives. If he thought this was how they should approach it, then she trusted his judgment.
“How are you holding up, Nate?” Sully asked.
“Better when no one asks me how I’m holding up,” Nate said. His tone was rueful.
Sully held out his hand, and Nate returned the handshake. Sully pulled him in close for a quick hug and let him go.
“Is there anything we can do for you?” Sully asked. “Anything you need?”
Nate shook his head. He looked haggard, as if the grief he was feeling was leaving its mark upon him. “I feel bad that I’m at work, but if I’m not here, I don’t know what to do with myself. I drove Naomi crazy all day yesterday. I couldn’t sit still. I just kept tinkering with things around the house. I’d be fine one minute and then just undone the next.” He looked at Sully and Lindsey through narrowed eyes as if he were staring at the sun and it hurt. “I just can’t believe he’s gone.”
“I know,” Sully said. “He’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, but I’m not his brother. I can’t imagine how it feels to lose someone who’s been with you for your entire life journey.”
Nate’s eyes filled with tears. He blinked, forcing them away. His voice, when he spoke, was gruff. “We’re only eighteen months apart. I’m older than him, but you’d never know it. I was the quiet one. I just wanted a simple life here in Briar Creek with Naomi, but Steve always wanted more.”
Sensing he had more to say, both Sully and Lindsey were quiet.
Nate ran a hand through his dark, close-cropped hair, leaving finger trails in it. He glanced past them out the doors to the small parking lot beyond. He seemed to be somewhere else entirely.
“He was my first best friend,” he said. “I remember when my mom was walking me to preschool when I was four, it’s one of my earliest memories, and she sensed my lack of interest in school, even at such a young age, and she was trying to talk me into it. She said, ‘It’s going to be so great. You’re going to make new friends.’ I stopped walking, looked at her and said, ‘I don’t need friends, I have Stevie.’”
Lindsey let out a soft chuckle. She could just picture a very earnest Nate saying exactly that. Sully smiled as if he could, too.
“And I meant it. We did everything together, fishing, camping, boating, heck, we were inseparable. But then after middle school, we started to drift apart. I wasn’t interested in school, and he was an academic whiz kid. It seemed like all of a sudden, we didn’t have anything in common anymore.
“His friends were all the brainiacs, and my friends were the townies. I spent my time ditching school to hang out at the garage, and he took on AP classes. Then I met Naomi my senior year, and that was it for me. I knew she was the one.”
“I remember when you two were made prom king and queen,” Sully said. “Wasn’t the theme song ‘Wonderwall’?”
Nate nodded. “Yeah, Oasis.” He threw up a rock-and-roll sign and then sighed. “Steve skipped going to that prom so he could study for the SATs. At the time, I didn’t care. Whatever, you know? But looking back, I realize it was kind of a big deal, and he wasn’t there. Oh, he was best man at my wedding, but he had to fly down from Cornell to do it, and I remember it felt like I was inconveniencing him.”
Lindsey felt her heart squeeze. She couldn’t imagine having Jack feel that way about her wedding. Life moments were so important to share with family, and if your family didn’t care, then what was the point of even having one? There was a world of pain in Nate’s words, as if it was just beginning to hit him that he’d lost his brother totally and completely with no chance to ever have the connection they’d once shared. She felt her own eyes well, and she glanced away.
“It was a beautiful wedding,” Sully said. “I remember thinking we were entirely too young to be getting married, and I’m a few months older than you, but then Naomi arrived, and she was so lovely and perfect, I thought, ‘That Nate Briggs is a lucky man.’”
Nate nodded and the memory of his bride pushed away the sadness in his eyes for a moment. “I am.”
“With Steve living here in town, did you reconnect at all?” Lindsey asked. She could hear the hopeful note in her voice and wished she could erase it, but she couldn’t help it. She was invested.
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Nate said. “But he only started living here full-time about five years ago. Before that, I was so busy getting the garage off the ground. It took every second of every day for years. In all honesty, I wasn’t there for him either. Did you know for the first two years of our marriage, Naomi and I lived above the garage?”
He pointed up, and Lindsey glanced at the second floor. Her eyes went wide. The old building did not have much of an attic in its triangular space. Interpreting her look, Nate nodded. “A mattress on the floor, a microwave and mini refrigerator. We had to use the bathroom down here and go to my parents’ house for showers.”
“Wow,” Sully said.
“Yeah,” Nate agreed. “Crazily enough, those were some of the happiest days of our marriage. We were living on dreams and love, and it was more than enough.”
The romance of it all was too much for Lindsey, and she sighed.
“When the girls started arriving, I thought Steve would be the cool uncle, you know? But he wasn’t around enough to really connect with them, and when he was around, he was always studying. Not his fault. His dream was just as all-consuming as mine. I was so proud of him when he got into Yale Law School, but it was such a different life. When my oldest, Maddie, asked me why we never saw Uncle Steve even though he lived in town, it hit me that he and I really didn’t have anything in common anymore except our last name. We both made mistakes, but now they can never be fixed.”
Nate’s hurt was so raw it left Lindsey wishing she could say something, anything, to ease his pain. There was nothing.
“He was your only family?” she asked, hoping that maybe there was another sibling out there.
“Yeah, our folks passed away about ten years ago. Mom first and then Dad followed right after her, as if he couldn’t figure out how to go on without her. You’d think that would have brought us closer, but after the estate was settled, he was off doing his corporate law thing in Manhattan while pursuing Jamie.” He paused. “I was not the best man at his wedding.”
“That’s okay,” Sully said. “We suffered through the wedding together.”
At that, Nate cracked a smile, and they exchanged a knuckle bump. Sully glanced at Lindsey and said, “Over-the-top would be putting it mildly.”
She pondered Jamie as a bride and then nodded. “Got it.”
Nate glanced between them as if realizing he was oversharing and was horrified. “Oh, hey, you two have your own wedding coming up this weekend. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to go on and on about me and Steve. It’s just . . . well . . .”
“It’s all right,” Lindsey said. “We’re all processing.”
He gave her a grateful smile. “So, what brings you two in here for real? Is it the truck?”
“No,” Sully said. He gave his friend a direct look. “I’m going to be straight with you. The police have Bell Island closed off for the investigation, and we don’t know if we’ll be able to have our ceremony there until the mystery surrounding Steve’s death is solved. I hate to intrude on your grief, but we need answers, and we were wondering if you knew of anyone who had an issue with him. An issue that would have driven them to murder him.”