It’s clear that Butch the bartender from the Dirty Habit has gone all out for the occasion. His hair is spiked in every direction at once, hard and crunchy looking as if you could impale yourself if you happened to fall on top of him. He’s donned a spike collar, matching bracelet, and belt to complement his black as night suit. His boots look as if he fished them out of quicksand then maybe lit them on fire, and if I’m not mistaken, the faint scent of something illegal emanates from him, and maybe from Tilly, too.
We all take a seat, and to my alarm Hilary pulls up a chair and lands on the other side of Shep.
“You mind if I join in on the fun?” she squawks it out with a laugh. “What’s a little lasagna among friends?”
Shep ticks his head her way and I get the feeling he’s just too nice of a guy to tell her to beat it. It’s crystal clear the blonde stalker is the reason Shep needed me to play his plus one at the high school reunion to begin with.
Kadie sticks around while we put in our orders, both appetizers and main dishes alike, and, of course, a few extra dishes—for research purposes—and on top of all that, garlic bread and Caesar salad for all. If Hilary hadn’t haunted us with her presence, I would have dubbed this as the first perfect night in Vermont—in my life if you want to draw back the curtain enough. It feels right with Shep by my side. Tilly too. Butch and the silver-clad stalker? Not so much.
Kadie leaves and two things hit me.
One, Hilary is here. I can shake her down and make her rattle like a screen door in a hurricane and Shep can’t say a thing about it.
And two, Hilary is here. That vision I had—she was wearing the very same ridiculous accouterment. And since I have a feeling Hilly isn’t the type to touch a dress twice, I’m guessing that little future-based nugget is on its way to coming to fruition.
My God, Shep is going to spill my secret tonight!
Kadie comes back with a sommelier by her side.
“A bottle of red,” she trills. “A never-ending glass. My compliments. It’s always a pleasure to have old friends under my roof.” She nudges the man popping the cork. “Make it a big pour.” She winks over at Hilary before taking off. I bet they’re in cahoots to get Shep good and drunk. And I’m betting that a drunk Shep will have loose lips.
You know what they say—loose lips sink felonious ships.
I’m in trouble.
Tilly leans in. “This place is snazzy.”
“And there’s free booze,” Butch belts it out like the lyrics to his favorite heavy metal song.
“Nothing is free,” I say, looking directly at the unwanted guest at the table. “In the end, someone always pays the piper.” It comes out like a threat, and Hilary’s eyes widen with a touch of fear.
I’ll admit, there is something extremely satisfying in making her tremble.
“Hey”—Tilly leans toward Hil—“weren’t you and Shep high school sweethearts?”
I make a face at my so-called new BFF. Why did she have to bring that up?
“Yup.” Hilary gives a little giggle as she attaches herself to his arm. “That we were. Let’s just say not only were we inseparable, but a good time was had by all.”
“Well, isn’t that dandy,” I say, carefully removing her hand from his. “And now that Shep has grown out of his experimental phase, he and I are looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together.” I link my arm to his and can’t help but note how strong he is. I bite down over my bottom lip just to keep from grinning like a loon.
Tilly snaps her fingers toward Hilary. “That means you were there the night of the murder. So who did it? Was it you?” Tilly all but hands Hilary’s head over to me on a silver platter.
Well done.
Brilliant segue into the inquisition—I give an approving nod her way.
Hilary’s expression sours and she’s visibly miffed.
“No, I didn’t kill him. Everyone loved Craig.”
“Somebody didn’t,” I point out just as a sea of appetizers lands at our table.
Hilary shrugs. “Well, I don’t know who killed him. But I’m betting they knew Craig, and to know him was to love him.”
I glance at Shep. “So someone who knew and loved him killed him?”
He looks just as perplexed as I do momentarily. “I’m afraid it happens every day.”
Butch waves a breadstick at us. “You know, I’ve heard there are only three main motives for murder: greed, lust, or power. So which was it?”
“Good point.” Shep wields a breadstick right back in his direction. “But we can’t pry into the mind of the killer until they’ve been caught.”
“That we can’t.” Hilary shrugs as she slides a stuffed mushroom onto her plate.
“Hilary?” I lean past Shep to get a good look at her. “Do you know anyone who may have had a disagreement with Craig? Did he have any enemies?”
Shep gives an approving flicker of a smile. “Good questions.”
Hilary frowns as Shep doles out the accolade my way.
“Craig didn’t have enemies,” she snips. “He had friends.”
Okay, if she refuses to go right, we’ll go left.
“So he had a good circle of friends?” I ask. “You and Kadie?” I try my hardest to remember the others Shep introduced me to that night.
Tilly grunts through a bite of calamari, “Don’t forget Oliver.”
“And Oliver.” Hilary sheds a thorny smile over at Shep. “Sheppy and I were great friends with Craig, too.”
A thought comes to me. “Weren’t Craig and Oliver business partners? I thought I heard someone mention it.” Like Oliver himself.
But who knows? Maybe bringing it up will jog Hilary’s memory and she’ll give us a vital clue that has to do with a spat Craig and Oliver had.
Hilary gazes up at Shep as if he cast a spell on her. “Oh, who cares the poor guy is
