The Perfect Couple(94)

“I stayed at the Winburys’ house,” Feather says, “because I was waiting for someone.”

“Waiting for who?” Nick says. He tries to sort through the major players. Mr. Winbury having an affair with Merritt. Shooter Uxley in love with the bride. Who was Featherleigh Dale waiting for in the middle of the night?

Feather’s full-on crying now.

Nick can’t decide which way to go. Should he raise his voice and play the bully? No, he thinks. That only works on TV. In real life, what works is patience and kindness.

Nick grabs the box of tissues they keep in the interview room for just this sort of occasion. He puts it on the table, plucks out a tissue, hands it to Feather, then eases down into his seat.

“Who were you waiting for, Feather?” he asks, as gently as he can. “Who?”

“Thomas,” Feather says.

Thomas? Nick thinks. Who’s Thomas? Then he remembers: Thomas is Benji’s brother.

“Thomas Winbury?” Nick says. “Are you involved with Thomas Winbury… romantically?” Married man, he thinks. Tag… way, way too old… They were there to commiserate, not confess.

“Was,” Feather says. “But then he broke things off in May”—she stops to pluck another tissue out of the box and blow her nose—“when his wife got pregnant. He said he couldn’t see me anymore. He told me not to come to the wedding. He said if I came to the wedding, he’d kill me. Those were his exact words.”

Nick’s thoughts are hopping now. Like father, like son. Thomas was involved with Feather but broke it off when he found out Abby was pregnant. Thomas tells Feather not to come to the wedding. Threatens her. Maybe he thinks she’ll tell Abby about the affair.

“Do you think Thomas meant it?” Nick says. “People say ‘I’m going to kill you’ all the time. Too much for my taste. Or do you think… do you think he actually tried to kill you?”

There was nothing in the shot glasses, nothing in the bottle.

The water glass.

“Let’s go back,” Nick says. “When you went into the kitchen to get water for Merritt, you said everyone was still back at the table, correct?”

Feather pauses. “Yes.”

“And there was no one in the kitchen?” he asks. “You’re sure you didn’t see Greer? I know you’re terrified of her but you can tell me the truth.”

“No,” Feather says. “I did not see Greer.”

“And you used the restroom after you poured the water?” Nick says. “How long were you in the bathroom?”

“Couple minutes?” Feather says. “The usual amount of time. But I did try to primp a bit as well.”

“So let’s say five minutes. Sound fair?”

“Fair.”

Plenty of time for Thomas to sneak in and drop a mickey in the water glass—or for Greer to do the same.

But, Nick thinks, Merritt wasn’t poisoned, just sedated. Which leads Nick back to the father, Tag Winbury. Tag could have doctored the water before he took Merritt out on the kayak. Then, when she “fell overboard,” she would have been more likely to drown.

What about the cut on her foot?

Maybe she cut it on a shell on the ocean floor when she fell off the kayak? But there was blood in the sand. If Feather is telling the truth and Merritt was wearing sandals earlier in the night, then she must have cut her foot after she got back from the kayak ride. Could she have cut her foot on the beach before climbing into the kayak? But there was no blood in the kayak.

Unless Tag had washed it off.

But if he was going to do that, why not tie the kayak back up?

Aaarrgh! Nick feels the answer is right there… he just can’t see it.

He smiles at Feather again and says, “I’ll be back in two shakes.”

Nick steps outside the interview room to call the Chief.

“Talk to Thomas, the brother,” he says.





KAREN


A knock at the door wakes Karen up. Karen looks over to Bruce and finds him asleep and snoring aggressively.

Another knock. Then a voice: “Betty? Mac?”

It’s Celeste. Karen swings her feet to the floor and carefully stands up. She still feels no pain, which is odd.

She opens the door to see her sad, beautiful daughter standing before her, wearing the pale pink dress with the rope detail that she was supposed to travel in tomorrow. She’s holding her yellow paisley duffel bag.

“Oh, my poor, poor Bug,” Karen says. She gathers Celeste up in her arms. “I am so sorry, sweetheart. So, so sorry about Merritt.”

“It’s my fault,” Celeste says. “She died because of me.”

Karen recognizes this response as an opening for a longer conversation. She glances back at Bruce. He’s still sawing logs, as they say; she knows she should wake him up—he will want to see Celeste—but she senses that Celeste needs a confidante, and there are some things that men just don’t understand.

Karen grabs her cane, steps out into the hallway, and closes the bedroom door behind her. “Where shall we go?”

Celeste leads her to the end of the hall where there is a glassed-in sunporch that is quiet and unoccupied. Karen negotiates the one step down holding on to Celeste’s arm. Celeste leads Karen over to a sofa with bright yellow-orange cushions the color of marigolds.