Crowned and Moldering

As I reached the dairy section, I heard a man say my name. “Well, well. Sha

It wasn’t a friendly greeting. My stomach clenched as I turned to see Cliff Hogarth standing near the orange-juice display. He was impeccably dressed in a well-tailored black suit with a white shirt and a gold silk tie. He looked wealthy and dangerous and not at all at home in the dairy section of the local supermarket.

Cliff had grown up in Lighthouse Cove, but moved away after high school. Rumor had it that he’d made a killing in the real estate business in Chicago. Then a few months ago he’d returned to town to open a construction company. Ever since then, he’d been making life miserable for me and the other contractors around town. He had tried to poach our crews and thought nothing of drastically underbidding our jobs. It was infuriating and a little scary. The man had no integrity at all when it came to his professional dealings, not to mention his personal interactions. But why would I expect him to? He’d hounded me and a lot of other girls all through high school.

And staring at him now, I remembered that Cliff had dated Lily Brogan during her senior year in high school. How was that for a coincidence? Seeing him on the same day that Lily’s remains were discovered made me question his real motive for moving back to Lighthouse Cove.

Ordinarily I might not be so suspicious of someone, but Cliff was a jerk of the highest order. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he’d been involved in Lily’s death. Maybe that was unfair of me, but I couldn’t help it. The man was purposely aggressive and intimidating.

Paying no attention to him, I opened up the dairy case and took a quart container of half-and-half off the shelf. As I started to walk away, Cliff took hold of my arm.

“Hands off, pal,” I said in my toughest voice.

“You’re still a snob, aren’t you?”

I wrenched my arm back. “And you’re still a clueless oaf.”

He moved closer. I backed up a step. He was big and loathsome, a real bully, yet his breath was minty fresh. It was unexpected and creepy. Without warning, he grabbed my arm again and squeezed.

I struggled to pull away. “I told you to get your hands off me.”

“When are you going to learn that it pays to be nice to me?” he said through clenched teeth.

“You’re wrong. Now let me go.”

“Maybe once I’ve put you out of business you’ll realize you should’ve paid better attention to me.”

“Fat chance of that.” I tried to push him, but he was as solid as stone. “I’m going to scream if you don’t leave me alone.”

“Of course you’ll scream, because you’re nothing but a weak little girl.” He laughed, but his eyes were hard. “By the time I’m through destroying your little company, you’ll be begging me for a job.”

“You’re crazy.” I finally managed to break loose. “Stay away from me, or you’ll be sorry.”

His upper lip curled as he snorted. “Now I’m scared.”

I walked away as fast as I could, but I could hear his evil laugh all the way up to the cash-register line.

Minutes later, I was home and dashing to the kitchen door. I let myself inside and quickly locked the door, concerned that Cliff might’ve followed me home. I tried to shake him from my mind as I stomped on the rug to dry my shoes.

I took a careful peek out the window and didn’t see anyone loitering outside. The lights were on in the garage apartment, and I wondered if Mac might want to join me and my crew for di

I hung up my coat on the hat rack by the back door and rubbed my arms to brush away the chill. The encounter in the dairy section wasn’t the first time Cliff had tried to frighten me, but he was growing more aggressive. A few weeks ago I’d gone to the pub to pick up di

It was such a stupid, sexist thing to say, I’d almost laughed. But he’d had the weirdest, coldest look on his face, so I just turned my back on him. He then yanked me around and said, “Don’t think you can treat me the same way you did in high school. I’ve got power now and I can make life miserable for you.”

The bartender had brought my food just then, and I left without saying a word to Cliff. But he had followed me outside and told me it could be dangerous to walk home alone at night. I’d dashed back inside and called my girlfriend Jane to come pick me up. I hadn’t seen Cliff since, until a few minutes ago at the market.

The phone began to ring and I rushed to pick up the kitchen extension, careful to stand on the rag rug to avoid tracking water onto the tile floor. I was surprised to hear Eric’s voice on the other line.

“Mind if I stop by for a few minutes?”

“Not at all,” I said, relief flooding through me. Not that I’d thought Cliff Hogarth would call me, but hearing Eric’s deep voice helped me breathe easier. “What’s up?”

“I hope I won’t regret asking, but I need some background info on this situation.”

“Situation? You mean Lily?”

“Yeah, sorry. Lily.”

“Okay.” I decided to ignore his line about regret for now. “I’m going out later, but I’ll be around for the next few hours.”

“Thanks. See you in ten minutes.” He hung up, and I stared at the phone for a long moment. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. Oh, I was definitely thrilled that Eric trusted me enough to want to talk. But I was a

I raced upstairs to change out of my rain-soaked blue jeans and into a pair of comfy yoga pants and a warm tunic sweater. In the bathroom, I grabbed my hair dryer and blasted it to get rid of my wet-puppy-dog look.

Speaking of puppy dogs, I glanced over at the bathroom doorway and saw Robbie—short for Rob Roy, since my little white-haired darling was a West Highland terrier—waiting patiently for my attention.

Tiger, my fluffy marmalade cat, had no such compunctions. She pranced into the room and straight over to me, where she, meowing loudly, wove her soft, furry body in and out and around my legs. And there was the difference between cats and dogs. Dogs will wait while cats demand.

“Hello, my darlings,” I crooned over the blast of the hair dryer. “We’re expecting company, so please be on your best behavior.”

Robbie’s bark was loud and enthusiastic, so I knew he understood completely. Tiger ignored the dog and head-bumped my ankles repeatedly. “I’ll feed you—don’t worry. I just need another minute to tame this mop so I don’t scare off the chief.”

A minute later the doorbell rang and Robbie barked again, then ran off down the stairs. Tiger tried to remain haughty and pay no attention to whatever was going on downstairs, but seconds later she strutted away to join Robbie, probably hoping our guest had brought food.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” I said, as though I expected Tiger to convey my message to the chief. I chuckled at myself, gave my hair one more gust of hot air, and turned off the hair dryer. Checking the mirror, I saw that my hair was still a tangle of red curls, but at least they were dry and bouncy, as opposed to stringy and wet. I quickly applied a coat of clear gloss to my lips, and hurried downstairs to greet the chief.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” I said as I swung open the front door. “Come in.”