Page 41

Emmett says he took out the loan four years ago.

And that he thought Robert Meade had another loan besides Natasha’s.

He said Meade bragged that he had saved Emmett from buying the bakery so that he could open the Local Crab.

And that he’d made a mistake with the third loan.

All he had was interest in an old truck and a bunch of old carpenter tools.

Meg texted back. So he loaned money to an islander who ran a construction company?

That’s what Emmett thought. He apologized for not knowing more. He asked when the two of us were coming back to the Local Crab. I guess he doesn’t hate me.

Meg thanked him for asking Emmett. She knew it had been hard for Dalton. He liked being on the outside, especially when it came to questioning friends. Then she texted her uncle and asked if he’d found information about a third loan from Meade to an islander.

This time she didn’t get a text back. She got a phone call. “Don’t be mad,” she said when she answered her uncle’s call.

“I asked you to stay out of it.” He didn’t sound happy at all.

“I’m not digging into things that might get me into any trouble.

Unless Meade was connected with the mob or something.

Does Seattle even have a mob?” She smiled and waved when a customer came in to browse.

She used her hand to cover the phone and called out, “Let me know if I can help you find your perfect book.”

“You’re at the bookstore? Not wandering around Bainbridge, breaking into homes and checking car plates?

” Her uncle sounded a little less angry.

“And no, there’s no organized crime syndicate in Seattle that I know of.

But not everyone follows the laws, especially when you get around the drug culture. ”

“I’m trying to stay out of harm’s way, but I knew about Natasha’s loan, and I was wondering if there was a third.” She was trying to keep Emmett out of the discussion.

“You say third, which means you also know about the loan to Chef Harding.” He rolled his eyes but continued on with the discussion.

“There was a third loan, but Meade’s accountant said that the guy never made payments, so he had Meade write it off last year for his taxes.

He had told the accountant that the guy didn’t have a pot to .

. . Well, he didn’t have any money or property. ”

“Do you know who the loan was made to?” Meg waited as she heard papers shuffling on the end of the line. Uncle Troy must still be at work.

“A local. Hold on. I have the report here. My detective went through this information. And it was . . .” He whistled. “Of course it was.”

“You found the name?”

“Nate Baldwin. Violet’s boyfriend. The mayor is not going to be happy.” Uncle Troy groaned. “Small towns, big egos.”

“Nate and Violet broke up. She’s upset about it.” Meg thought about what Violet had told her when she’d seen her in the line for the ferry. Where would Nate have run into Robert Meade? “He worked at the Local Crab. That must be where he met Meade.”

“Probably, but Meade did him a favor and wrote off the loan. Why would he kill him?” Uncle Troy paused, and Meg heard a phone ringing in the background.

“Your aunt’s calling. I need to take this.

Meg, thank you for the information, but I’ve got this investigation handled. I’ll find the killer. I promise.”

He hung up before she could say anything else.

Uncle Troy wasn’t happy with her, but she had more things to add to the timeline.

And more questions. If Nate was a possible murder suspect due to the loan, what would be his motive for committing murder?

Unless he didn’t know that Meade had written off the loan.

As Alice would say, things were getting curiouser and curiouser. She went over to see if she could help the new customer find the perfect book. At least her mind would be taken off finding a killer.

At ten she closed up shop, and she and Watson walked to the ferry to ride over to chat with Cissy.

This time, Dalton didn’t come to find her until they were almost at the Seattle terminal.

“I can walk you to the ticket office, and then I have to get back to work. Just come back the same way. If you get confused, have Cissy walk you past the guard at the front entrance.”

“I have been here before,” she teased and then updated him quickly on what her uncle had said.

“Nate did come into some money a few years ago. He said a relative had passed. I’d heard him talk about starting a construction company, but he never implemented it.

By the time he got everything in place, the lockdown happened, and no one wanted a handyman in their house.

” Dalton walked with her to the place where they would disembark. “Nate always had bad timing.”

Cissy met them at the walkway and instead of going into the ticket booth, she took Meg a different way to the break room. “I need coffee to stay awake for the rest of my shift. Do you want some?”

“That would be great, but I have Watson with me.” Meg glanced down at the dog, who was excited to be somewhere new.

“No problem. They like pets here. During lockdown, most of the ticketing staff brought their dogs in. We had a lot of time to walk them. It was pretty slow.” She opened the door to a brightly lit break room and nodded to a table by the window where you could see the sound and the Ferris wheel.

When Cissy brought back coffee, she also had a bowl of water on the tray for Watson. “I didn’t know if you wanted sugar or cream, but I can go back.”

Meg took the water and put it on the floor, then took a seat. “I hope he can hold it for the way back.”

“We have a pet area next door. They set it up nicely for employees. I think they felt bad calling us into work as essential workers. So they increased our perks.” She put the cups on the table. Before she sat down, she asked again, “Cream and sugar?”

“No, I’m good. As long as it’s good coffee. And it smells like it is.” Meg took a sip. “Mmm.”

“I tell you, we get perks. And our benefit package isn’t bad, either.

Dalton’s is better since he actually works on the ferry.

I think they’re worried about the boat sinking or being bombed, so they pay better for those positions.

” Cissy moved the tray to another table.

“But you came to ask me more questions.”

Meg pulled out her phone and found the picture of Tabitha that she’d taken the day she’d talked to her at A Taste of Magic.

“Your coworker mentioned seeing Tabitha, but have you seen her much? I wanted to make sure we were talking about the same person. I can show you a picture of her boyfriend, too.”

“Lilly Archer’s ex-husband. Yes. I know Tabitha.

She’s always coming with him, and she’s very clingy.

If she could wrap herself around him like a snake, she would.

She’s always giving me an evil eye when I sell him the tickets.

Like I could make him fall in love with me with a glance or a touch of my hand.

Like that old movie about the woman who saves the life of the guy she’s in love with, but he doesn’t know she exists. ”

“ While You Were Sleeping . Yeah, I know that one.” Meg smiled at the comparison.

She hadn’t seen Tabitha with Josh, but she could imagine her acting jealous.

Probably having a hunch about the affair, but not knowing about it.

Sometimes people get a feeling. Meg hadn’t with Romain, but she’d heard from more than one person that they had sensed something was wrong before they had proof.

“So she came with Josh, Lilly Archer’s ex-husband. ”

“Yes and no. Sometimes late at night, I’d see her getting a ticket alone.

She always wore her hair in a ponytail and dressed in a hoodie and jeans to disguise herself, but it was her.

I could tell by her eyes. She has mean eyes.

” Cissy frowned as she remembered something.

“You know, now that I think about it, Josh, the ex, used to come without her, too. He didn’t dress any differently, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes unless he was with her. I hadn’t realized that until now.”

Meg sipped her coffee. Why would Tabitha come over to the island at night? Alone? That didn’t make sense. Now that she knew about Lilly and Josh, his solo ferry rides made sense.

Cissy stood. “Is that it? I need to get you to the pet area and walk you back to the ferry. Then, with this magic elixir, I’m going to try to stay awake until we close the booth. They frown on us sleeping at the window.”

“Sorry. Of course.” Meg followed her to a nice patch of grass in a gated area where you could let your pet play. It even had a divider for big and little dogs. Watson watered a bush, then came back to her, ready to head home.

Cissy walked them to the ferry. “Stop by anytime. Maybe we can double-date sometime. My boyfriend works on the ferry, too, so we’d have to coordinate schedules, but it would be fun.”

She walked away before Meg realized what she’d said and could correct the misperception that she and Dalton were dating. A misperception everyone seemed to be having.

She texted the information about Tabitha to Dalton and Natasha, adding a question to both reports. Who was she meeting with on the island at night?

Dalton was the only one to reply before she got off the ferry.

What do we know about Jolene?