Liz was disappointed. The footage from the front of the emporium didn’t show anything unusual. As Minna had said, Francie had left around six-ish and Minna at six thirty. Brittany and Nick left together at around six twenty. Edward must have been gone already, leaving Nick to close their shop, as was their usual routine; father and son must have called a truce. At six forty-five, Josie had loaded the plants from inside the emporium into her flower truck, then drove away. Once Liz saw the footage of Agent Pearson walking into the emporium, she switched over to the footage from outside the hotel. Around six, she saw the hair and makeup team leave, carrying large suitcases and a canvas director’s chair like what was used on movie sets. An hour later, a white limo pulled up. She then fast-forwarded to seven forty, when the first fire truck arrived, followed by a Brevard County Sheriff’s car. The footage was grainy and in black and white, but she could picture everything in vivid color, including the inky mass staining the area beneath the right shoulder blade of David Worth’s white tuxedo shirt as he was carried out, lying on his side. After the ambulance pulled away, one of the officers could be seen talking to the limo driver, then the limo pulled away. Ryan looked calm and in charge as he walked up to one of the first responders. And handsome.
As Liz went to turn off the laptop, she hesitated. She rewound the hotel feed to the beginning of the day on Saturday to see if any of the people on their suspect list might have entered the hotel; they could possibly have hidden in one of its many rooms. She saw herself leaving in the morning; Aunt Amelia, shortly after; followed by David Worth. David returned a half hour later. Liz guessed that was just after she’d seen him in the emporium at Gold Coast looking for the “trinket” to give to Regina to get him “out of the doghouse.” In the early afternoon, she watched footage of David leaving the hotel again. A few minutes later, an obviously perturbed David returned. He marched into the hotel, holding something in his hand, most likely the rock with the note. The time stamp on the video said three forty-five. Captain Netherton left around ten in the morning and returned to the hotel around five fifteen. No one else had left or entered the hotel the rest of the day from the front entrance. She knew Betty and Pierre always used the kitchen exit. That meant the only way the killer could have come inside was by way of her father’s office, through his apartment, and into the hallway with the dumbwaiter. It was unlikely that the killer would have used the exterior kitchen door, since Iris and Captain Netherton were eating dinner in the dining room and would have been in and out of the kitchen. She postulated that the killer would have entered between five and seven thirty, because her father had said he’d left his office at five to go to the emporium, leaving the door, as always, unlocked. Unfortunately, the only footage from the hotel camera was the one she’d viewed at the lobby entrance.
Liz powered down the laptop, collected her things, and went back out the door. She would have liked to have had lunch with Pierre, Betty, and Aunt Amelia, but first she wanted to go home and print out the canceled rent checks from the emporium so she could give them to Betty at dinner—the same dinner Liz planned to prepare to also knock Ryan’s socks off.
The first thing she did when she got home was change into her robe. On the short walk from the Caddy to her door, she’d gotten soaked. When she went into the laundry room, she spotted Ryan’s neatly folded T-shirt and shorts. She’d forgotten to return them. Perhaps that was a good thing. Liz didn’t want Kate inferring anything untoward about this morning. She held up Ryan’s shirt and stuck her nose into the collar area, inhaling the lingering scent of his clean-smelling aftershave. “What’s up with you and this Ryan guy, Elizabeth Holt?” she said out loud. She put Ryan’s clothing in a bag and left them by the door. She would give them to him later when he came to the hotel for dinner.
At the thought of dinner, she shook her head. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that David Worth wanted to return to the hotel after being released from the hospital.
Liz made a late lunch of grapes, Pops’s homemade country pâté, and rice crackers. She brought the plate into her office and opened her laptop, putting in her and her father’s shared password, then logged in to the Indialantic’s online banking website. She printed out the previous month’s rent checks from the emporium, feeling lucky that Francie had signed Home Arts by the Sea’s check, not Minna. Betty had checked Minna’s alibi at the gallery, and the owner had said she’d been there at the time of the murder. Francie didn’t have an alibi. If it did turn out that Francie threw the rock at the Worths’ car, it didn’t mean she’d murdered Regina or stabbed David. Nick Goren’s was another signature she needed, because his father had signed the rent check for Gold Coast by the Sea. For Brittany’s check, Liz had to go back two months. What a surprise, she thought sarcastically.
Liz jotted down a note as a reminder to tell Aunt Amelia that Brittany still owed rent for March and April. Brittany also needed to take down the ridiculous sign in her shop that said By Chance or Appointment.
Before going to the Indialantic to prepare dinner, Liz took a long, second shower and went through ten different outfits to wear before she settled on a simple sleeveless turquoise dress and gold flat sandals with straps
