Chapter Ten

~ Jenna ~

“Hi, Ben,” I say as soon as I step out onto the shop floor. He’s waiting by the wrap desk with his arms crossed, looking even more annoyed than usual. “Thanks for stopping by. I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Did you get the message I left you?”

He nods but doesn’t say anything.

“Good. Let’s go back to the office.”

He follows me across the sales floor to the far door where the office is located.

“Would you like something to drink?” I ask before opening the door. “Coffee, soda, water, OJ, champagne?”

I cringed inwardly. Of course he doesn’t want champagne. But it’s part of my spiel for brides and their wedding party as they shop for dresses and interview me as a potential wedding planner. It rolls off my tongue before I can stop it. The only reason I didn’t offer Jackson a glass of champagne was—well, because I remain hyper aware of the fact that he’s a cop. An on-duty cop, who was here to interview me about murder.

“No thanks,” he says. “I don’t have a lot of time. But I was in the area. I thought I’d stop by.”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

I open the office door and motion for him to enter first. He starts to but he stops. His scowl deepens when he sees Mom sitting at her desk.

“I hope you don’t mind that my mother is here while we talk. She and I share an office and she’s working.”

Mom stops typing on her keyboard and smiles at him. He does not smile back.

When Riley and I dated, Ben was away at college. I’ve never had a chance to get to know him.

I can’t help but wonder if he has always been so somber. Surely, he’d smiled when he’d met his wife, Elizabeth. When they’d dated and fallen in love. However, I don’t know Elizabeth very well either. She and I are in two different stages of our lives. She has kids and a husband…and money. I am childless and married to my job.

“How is Elizabeth feeling?” I ask.

“She’s fine.”

I give him a moment to elaborate, but he doesn’t. He said he was in a hurry. Maybe that’s his way of discouraging small talk?

“Good. Please give her my regards.”

He nods, my cue to get on with it.

“As I said in the message I left you, I spoke with the caterer and florist. We transferred the food into the refrigerators at the club. It’s there when you’re ready for it. If I can help arrange transport to another location, please let me know. I’m happy to help. Fran Holmes is willing to keep the flowers at her shop for a while, but she did say she doesn’t have much room to keep them for a long time. It’s a lot of flowers.”

Ben nods. Again. He doesn’t spend his words frivolously, does he?

If we’re going to get anywhere, I need to cut to the chase. “Have you discussed arrangements for Riley?” The words feel clumsy in my mouth.

“Yeah, we have.” He clears his throat. “Riley’s body might be…uhh…tied up for a while, making a fast funeral impossible. We’ll have a memorial service in the next couple of days. If the people who came in for the wedding and can stay on a couple of extra days, they can attend the memorial.”

“Okay, that’s good to know,” I say. “If you’ll keep me posted on the details, I’m happy to help coordinate bringing over the flowers and the food for the reception, if your parents would like to repurpose everything. I’m available for anything I can help with.”

Ben bows his head and stares at the space between his knees. It reminds me of how Riley sat yesterday when Grace Marie dragged him here.

“Thanks, Jenna. It’s nice of you to offer. It would be a big help to my family. I’m sure you can understand that this is a difficult time for all of us right now. Especially my parents. They’re taking it extra hard. I know it probably falls outside of your contractual duties as wedding planner, but given what’s happened, this is the best way that you can help my parents.

“My father is strangely obsessed about notifying the airlines before the flight for Riley and Grace Marie’s honeymoon takes off tomorrow. He wants to cancel all flights and the hotel reservations to see if we can get a refund.”

It seems like an odd thing to focus on in the moment, but Charles is a businessman and to him the bottom line matters. They’re already paying for a lot of things they wouldn’t be able to use. At least not in the manner they’d originally intended.

“Did Riley happen to mention his honeymoon plans to you?” Ben asks. “We don’t know what airline he was flying. He didn’t use a travel agent. We thought Grace Marie would know the details, but she says Riley wanted to surprise her. She didn’t even know where they were going.”

“He didn’t mention anything,” I say. “Maybe he put the reservations on a credit card?”

“That’s a good place to start. But we can’t get into his place because the police still have it blocked off. As soon as we can get in. I’ll search his email for a receipt and look at his online credit card statements.”

“In the meantime, you might want to call the major airlines and ask if they have a reservation.”

“I did,” Ben says. “A couple of them told me they didn’t have a reservation for Riley Buxston or Grace Marie Taylor. But most of them wouldn’t release any information for security reasons. They said I’d have to send a copy of the death certificate to the corporate office. As long as the death certificate shows that the deceased passed before the flight, we can get a bereavement refund.”

“That’s good,” I say. “That means there’s no hurry.”

Ben shrugs. “We’re all kind of in a hurry to get this settled.”

He pulls a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and hands it to me. It’s a list of the calls he placed and the airline employees who helped him.

“Here are my notes.”

I can’t help but wonder what Ben wants me to do with his notes. For that matter, how can Charles Buxston can be so preoccupied with getting a refund not even twenty-four hours after his son’s death?

It’s not my place to judge, even though it’s easier said than done.

Mom looks up from the computer. “If you have a hard time getting information, you might want to think about enlisting the police department’s help. It’s a long shot, but maybe the honeymoon information holds clues to the identity of Riley’s killer.”

I figure this is my best segue into asking deeper questions. “Ben, do you have any idea who might have killed Riley?”

His eyes are cold, and his face is expressionless. “I have no idea. Frankly, my brother and I weren’t very close. But I do know that he was into some things he shouldn’t have been into.”

“Like what?” Mom asks.

Ben stares at her for a long moment, as if he’s sizing her up. “I don’t know exactly what he was into, but since he’s been back in Hemlock, I’ve seen him with some shady people.”

“Have you heard of a guy named Marco Gianetti?” I ask. “He deejays as Marco Yolo.”

“Isn’t that the guy who was delaying at the reception?”

I nod.

“I don’t know him, but I think he might have been at the Hideaway last night. It’s a dump bar over in Rutherford. Riley wanted to go there for his big night out on the town.”

I glance at Mom, hoping she’s taking notes as she taps away on her keyboard.

I take a deep breath and decide to go for broke. “Ben, after Riley got engaged to Grace Marie, and he and your father mended their relationship, did your dad reinstate him in the will?”

Ben flinches. “That’s none of your business, Jenna.”

“Ben, I’m not being nosy. I’m trying to gather clues that could help us find Riley’s killer.”

He sneers at me. “Jenna, you’re a party planner; you’re not a private investigator. Why don’t you just be upfront and tell the truth? You’re trying to exonerate yourself. Am I right?”

“Ben, you know I didn’t kill Riley.”

“Actually, Jenna, I don’t know that. What I do know is that you were the last person to be seen with him when he was alive.”

“And yet you’re still enlisting my help,” I say. “I didn’t kill Riley. I hope that you’ll work with me to find out who did so that person can be brought to justice. Unless you’re the one who killed him.” I say it to see if the words would make him flinch or elicit any other reaction.

Ben squints at me, like I’m the most unpalatable thing he’s ever seen.

I clasp my hands together because I don’t want him to see that they’re shaking.

“You think I killed my own brother?”

I shrug, trying to act nonchalant. “Think about it, Ben. You’ve admitted the two of you weren’t close. From the way you’ve been talking, I’d say you resented that your parents reinstated him into the will. That alone is a motive. You would’ve inherited all of your parents’ estate. With Riley back in the picture, you’d only get half.”

“Hold on just a minute. That’s not fair.”

“No, what’s not fair is that Riley’s life was cut short. It’s not fair that I’ve been accused when all I did was try to help him. When Riley came to see me, I guess I should’ve called an Uber and shoved him into the back and let someone else take responsibility for him. But I didn’t and, clearly, no good deed goes unpunished.”

The Uber remark is the first crack in Ben’s well-constructed wall. For the shortest second, his face falls. But then he catches himself.

“I have an alibi,” he says. “After I put him in the car, I went home to Elizabeth and she can attest that I was home all night. She has already given her sworn statement to Jackson Bradley.”

“Then help me, Ben. Help me figure out who did this to Riley. He didn’t deserve to die. Not on his wedding day. Not when he seemed to be getting his life together.”

Ben lowers his head, and for a minute I think he might shed a tear.

“How much did you have to drink last night?” Mom asks.

Ben looks up and his eyes are dry. He frowns. “Why does that matter?”

“It matters because it can affect your observation.” Mom sounds tough. Like she used to when I was younger, and I was trying her patience. “This is one of the last places that your brother went before someone killed him. Come on, Benjamin. Help us out here.”

“Look, my brother and I may not have been close, but I agree, he didn’t deserve to die. I want his killer behind bars as much as anyone.”

“Then we’re working for the same cause here,” Mom says. “Let’s work together.”

He nods and seems to soften. “I only had one beer since I knew I had to drive home. But Riley and Todd, they were out to have a good time. They were doing shots. Riley was letting everyone in the place know that it was his last night as a single man. A lot of people were buying them drinks. They were both wasted.”

That echoes what Todd said.

“So Riley was talking about getting married?” I ask. “He was letting everyone know he was walking down the aisle in the morning?”

Ben nods. “Yeah. He loved the attention.”

“So, he could’ve been just doing it for the attention and the free drinks?” I ask.

“What are you getting at, Jenna?”

“When I went to the club to tell the vendors that the wedding was off and the reception wouldn’t take place, I talked to Riley’s deejay friend, Marco. He told me that Riley had been telling him he didn’t know if he could go through with the wedding. Basically, he said the same thing to me after the Uber dropped him off at my place. He was freaked about the wedding. He said he didn’t know if he could do it.

“Did you see anything weird when you were out? Did anything out of the ordinary happen?”

Ben takes a long breath and exhales slowly. I can’t tell if he’s buying time or trying to calm his nerves.

“Riley disappeared for about a half hour. I was about to give up on him. I thought maybe he’d called a car and left. But Todd was still there, talking to some girl.”

“Was her name Brianna?”

“I don’t know.”

“What did she look like?”

Ben frowns, but he looks like he’s trying to remember. “I don’t know. Blonde. Tall. Pretty. Nice tan.” He shrugs and looks annoyed again. “Do you want to hear what I have to say?”

“Of course,” I say.

“Todd told me Riley had gone outside. When I went out to look for him, he looked like he was about to get into a fight with some dude. I don’t know what it was about, but I had to break it up. The guy was roughing up Riley and saying he’d heard too many excuses and Riley’s time was up. I got the feeling that the guy wasn’t a stranger. That’s what I meant about sketchy people hanging around him.”

“You think Riley knew him?”

Ben shrugged. “I can’t say for sure. But I got the feeling that the altercation was about more than Riley saying something stupid or bumping into the guy and making him spill his beer.”

Come on, Ben. Wake up. Your brother is dead and you’re just now figuring out that his getting into a fight with someone who was saying his time was up is important?

“Did you recognize him?”

Ben shakes his head. “I’d never seen the guy before in my life. Then again, Riley and I don’t exactly run in the same circles.”

“Would you recognize him if you saw him again?”

Ben considers the question. “Yeah, definitely. He had a tattoo on his neck. It was a woman’s face and he had those things in his ears—”

“Things?” Mom asks. “Earbuds or headphones?”

“No,” Ben says. “You know those things that people use to stretch out their earlobes—those big circles?”

“Ear gauges?” I offer.

“Yeah, I guess that’s what they’re called. The circles in his ears were about the size of a quarter.”

“Well, the tattoo and the ear gauges will definitely help us identify him. Have you told this to Chief Bradley?”

“I did,” Ben said. “He said he was going to have someone in his department do a sketch, so we know who we’re looking for.”

“That’s a great idea,” I say. “I don’t remember seeing anyone like that in Hemlock.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Ben says. “He was a rough-looking guy. Riley used to hang around with a rough crowd, and a lot of people used to come and go from his life. But after he met Grace Marie, we all thought he’d settled down.”

“Did you hear Riley call him by name? Did you ask him who the guy was?”

Ben shakes his head and for the first time he had the good grace to look sad. “From this side of it, I guess I should’ve. I know I should’ve. But Elizabeth had just called me. She wasn’t happy about our impromptu outing from the start. Then she called and said she was coming down with a migraine and asked if I could come home and help with the kids. So, I was more focused on rounding up Riley and Todd and getting them into an Uber so I could get home to Elizabeth.”

“Wait, so the Uber driver took both Todd and Riley home?”

Ben shakes his head. “Todd wasn’t ready to go home. He wanted to spend more time with that woman. I was annoyed because it was supposed to be Riley’s party, and I’d been counting on him helping me keep Riley under control, so he’d be in at least halfway decent shape for the wedding. At that point, I figured Todd was an adult and he could take responsibility for getting himself home.”

“Do you think the woman Todd was talking to knew the guy who was roughing up Riley?”

“I don’t know, Jenna. The Hideaway isn’t a huge place, but it’s big enough that I got the feeling that not everyone in the joint knew everyone else. That might be a better question for Todd, since he was talking to her.”

“Can you tell me anything else?” I ask.

Ben sighs. “There is something else. I probably should’ve told you this from the start, but before Riley had the confrontation with the tattooed guy, he asked me if he could borrow some money.”

“How much money?”

“Fifteen thousand dollars.”

My eyes fly open. Mom and I glance at each other.

“That’s a considerable amount of cash. Did he say what he needed it for?”

“That’s what’s peculiar. He said he needed it for his honeymoon.”

“But I was under the impression that the honeymoon was already paid for?”

“It was supposed to be.”

“Wait a minute. Let’s back up. Are you saying you think maybe it wasn’t?”

“I’m saying that my brother was asking me for fifteen grand for his honeymoon the night before his wedding.” Ben sighs. “I think the money was for the guy who was roughing him up. After Riley got engaged, Mom gave him a sizable check and told him it was for the honeymoon and Grace Marie’s wedding present. Now we’re back to square one. I need to see if I can find proof that he bought tickets and dig up records of the hotel reservations.”

“Ben, do you have a key to Riley’s condo?”

“I can get one, why?”

“Because I think we need to go there and have a look around and see what we can find.”

“What about the police line?” Ben asks.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” I say. “We need to sneak in because I think we’ll find some answers.”