Fate Actually (Moonstone Cove #2) - Elizabeth Hunter Page 0,70
say yes when Baxter asked you to marry him?”
“It wasn’t a traditional proposal. We agreed after several discussions that took place over the course of four months.”
“So it took him four months to put enough equations on the whiteboard to convince you that it was a good idea to marry him?”
“How did you know there was a whiteboard involved?” Katherine sounded delighted.
Toni sniffed and smiled a little. “Just figured it was a pretty solid guess for you two.”
“What I would suggest is that you simply live as you are now, with significantly more time spent together to determine if you’re truly compatible as a couple. He can stay over at your place. You can stay over at his. Don’t change anything more than that until after the baby arrives. Isolate the variables.”
“Right.” It sounded so logical when Katherine explained it. “And if I want him to move in with his big scary-looking dog because someone was murdered at the creek behind my house?”
“Yes, there is the murderer variable. Henry moving in wouldn’t be a bad idea. Baxter and I live together and have a dog. Megan lives with her three children up in the hills.”
“And I live with a chickenshit cat about a half mile from where Whit Fairfield was murdered. With a gun in the safe, but still.”
“So reconsidering initial parameters, perhaps Henry and his large canine might be two variables that should be more constant.”
“Are you and Baxter coming over later with the plans?”
“Yes. He went over to the university to see Chimezie, his engineering friend, this morning, but it sounded like he wanted to take a look at the area in person if that was possible.”
“It’s about a ten-minute walk from my house, just down the creek. Easy.”
“Then we’ll see you this afternoon.”
It was late morning and the radio was blaring Bruce Springsteen as Toni tinkered under Bubba’s hood. She’d bought the old Ford a few years before, and one of the primary reasons she’d bought the cottage was the large barn that could house her project cars and her personal tools.
She’d replaced essential parts of the fuel line a few weeks ago and was contemplating the carburetor when she heard a car coming down the gravel drive from the main road.
Toni walked out, slipped her sunglasses on, and watched as Drew Bisset climbed out of his car.
He looked around and nodded. “I understand why you want to live here. Even with the murder and stuff.”
“Yeah, it’s not bad.” She waved him into the barn. “I’m messing around with my truck. Come on in.”
Drew walked into the barn just as Toni jumped back up on the stool that propped her short ass up. She often wished she was taller, but then it would just make getting under cars more complicated.
She asked, “So what’s up with you?”
“Did Marissa’s formal interview this morning.”
She glanced up. “Yeah? How did that go? Was Nico there?”
“He’s a suspect, Toni. He can’t be there.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Whatever. What did she say when you interviewed her?”
Drew glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “She says she doesn’t remember.”
Toni looked up. “She doesn’t remember who she argued with? She doesn’t remember getting beat up?”
“I actually asked a neurologist about it, and he said it would be consistent with the kind of brain injury Marissa had. It’s usually short-term memory loss, but sometimes when a trauma happens, the memory never comes back. The doc said it happens in attacks but also in stuff like car crashes. Documented thing.”
“Amnesia, it’s not just for soap operas anymore?”
“Apparently not. Marissa said the last thing she remembers is you and your friends coming to her apartment.”
“Huh.” Toni had nearly forgotten about that. “It’s been nearly two weeks. She’s got nothing?”
Drew shrugged. “Like the doc said. Maybe it’ll come back, maybe it won’t.”
“Do you think she’s lying?”
Drew took a deep breath. “Possibly. She might lie to protect the father of her children.”
“Come on. That doesn’t make any sense. Nico is helping her out in rehab, bringing the kids around, running errands for her, even though it’s his busiest season. If she could get her memory back at any time and accuse him, why would he do that?”
“Unless he’s hanging around so he can know for sure if any of her memory has returned.”
“Drew, you know Nico. That’s a level of diabolical he just doesn’t have in him.”
“Right now I don’t know anything. I’ve got about four different suspects bouncing around in my head, and that includes your