The Plot Thickets by Julia Henry

Author:Julia Henry [Henry, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Lilly woke up the next morning and stretched. Suicide? She still couldn’t believe it. Though she didn’t know Whitney well, suicide didn’t seem like a choice she would have made, no matter how dire the circumstances. Perhaps she wanted to go out on her own terms. Lilly thought back to the scene, but no clues jumped out. She did wonder about the broken headstone. What was the name? Roy?

As she was getting dressed, Lilly thought about Sasha. The proper thing to do would be to call on her. But then Lilly remembered the rat. The younger woman was likely coerced by Whitney, but still. Sasha was over thirty by now. She could have said no at any point.

When she went downstairs, the house was quiet. She found her phone where she’d left it on the kitchen table, charging. Picking it up and turning it on was rote, and gave her a sense of completeness. Addiction to the steady stream of information and connection was an issue she’d hear people complain about for the younger generation, but she recognized the signs in herself. If she hadn’t been exhausted when she’d realized she left it downstairs last night, she would have come down to get it. Knowing that Ernie or Delia would come and get her if she needed to be woken up was what stopped her.

Three texts. One from Delia: Gone to the historical society. Checking on new cemetery history Minh found. Lilly wasn’t sure what the history was, or how it would be helpful, but Delia would fill her in.

Ernie’s text told her he was going in to open the store, and that she should text him with any updates.

The third text was from Roddy. Let me know when you’re up and about. I thought breakfast at the Star may be in order. She checked the time stamp and then her watch. He’d only sent the text ten minutes ago. She hesitated over the keyboard, and then decided to go old-school and call. Aside from the efficiency, she enjoyed hearing Roddy’s voice.

“Good morning, Lilly. Sleep well?”

“Embarrassingly so,” Lilly said. “Didn’t think about Whitney or what we’d seen until I woke up. Which wasn’t that long ago, if I’m honest.”

“Then you haven’t seen the news?”

“What news?”

“The police issued a statement that her death was being investigated as a possible homicide.”

“Oh no,” Lilly said. “But wouldn’t that be natural? I mean, it looked like she shot herself, but perhaps they need to keep the options open?”

“From what I can ascertain, and I don’t speak social media fluently, mind you, someone in the investigation is leaking information, and the police are playing catch-up. Perhaps Delia could translate for me?”

“She’s at the library,” Lilly said. “I haven’t had coffee yet. You’d mentioned something about breakfast at the Star, which sounds wonderful. I’m ready to go now if you are. Maybe afterwards we should bring a cup of coffee and some pastry over to Bash.”

“I’ll meet you on the front walk in five minutes. Unless you’d rather drive?”

Part of her would rather drive, but she shook off the feeling.

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