Page 16

CHAPTER 16

We found a private table—not many patrons in the after-dinner hour, which suited us just fine. We placed our drink order, choosing one of the North Carolina brewed ales for starters. Bennie’s was known for its creative drink menu—a mashup of clever cocktails made with local ingredients and regional spirits, or so the advertising claimed. We agreed to try a small-batch bourbon after we ate. When the beer arrived, we placed our dinner orders. Maddie lit up over the skillet cornbread, which came with smoked sea-salt butter and a drizzle of syrup. We both went with the poached pear and arugula salad as our main—topped with toasted pecans and a generous scoop of goat cheese from a nearby farm.

Maddie raised a glass, and we clinked mugs.

“Cheers to us,” she said.

Then she pulled out a copy of the threatening message from her pocket. “While we wait on the food, let’s break this sucker down.” She spread it out on the table so we could both see it, then read it out loud. “Continue this path and death is nigh. Please to avoid friends of PI.”

I had my eyes on not only the words, but also the way the message was punctuated and spaced.

Continue this path

Please to avoid,

Friends of PI.

“First of all, let’s drill down on the path ,” I said, pointing at the word. “Assuming this note was meant for Harmony, and I think we should just go with that assumption for now, what is she doing that her attacker wants her to stop doing?”

“My first guess would be hanging out with us. Or you.” Maddie winced. “Sorry.”

“As much as I wish it wasn’t the case, it’s plausible. But I don’t want to overlook the idea that the word PI was just thrown in there for effect. I’ll get to that in a minute. My point is, maybe she was on a path toward self-destruction. Smoked too much. Made poor decisions. Maybe she acted all sunshine-y but was battling past traumas or depression, and she wasn’t taking care of her mental health.”

“Who leaves a note like that and then whacks a person over the head?”

“The note and the attack could have been two separate situations.”

“Situations like …”

“A burglar who was caught in the act.”

“Gotcha, gotcha, “Maddie said. “So she’s on a dangerous path of some sort that could lead to her death.”

“Well, that’s part two. Death is nigh. Is it her demise or someone else’s? Could be that something she was doing might harm someone else, and this was her warning to get a grip … or else.”

“I see what you mean. Moving on, we have please to avoid , which is weird phrasing. Could it suggest an accent of some sort?”

“That was my first thought,” I said.

“Could also be someone trying to get all poetic on us.”

“That too.”

I tapped a finger to my chin, then sipped on my beer, as Maggie guzzled hers.

I smirked and shook my head. “There are other possibilities for that part of the message. Maybe they meant to write please avoid and accidentally stuck in the ‘to.’ Or maybe they meant they’d be pleased to avoid something. The comma at the end throws me a little bit. Maybe just a poetic punctuation. But it could be a sign-off of sorts. You know, ‘Signed, the friends of the PI.’”

Maddie smacked the table. “I like it. So that smudged thingie, the letter or whatever it is, at the bottom could mean something else. Maybe it’s not a signature at all.”

“Yeah.”

We stared at the note, going quiet. The waiter approached with our food, and Maddie swiped the note off the table.

Once the waiter left, I said, “I’ll say one more thing and then we can get down to enjoying the rest of the evening.”

“Sounds good. Where’s that brilliant mind of yours heading now?”

“In a nutshell, this all seems familiar, doesn’t it? I can’t place it just yet, but I will. And when I do, things won’t end well for our perfumed poet.”