nose. “I’m not quite ready to admit defeat yet.”
“Yeah. I can see that. You’re pretty ... and you don’t live with your father.” Bobby scowled. “He’s such a jerk. He won’t stop yelling at me to get a proper job and get out of his house. I warned him that I would sue to stay if he wasn’t careful. I saw a guy who did that on television. His parents wanted to kick him out, but he took them to court.”
I’d seen that story, too. I was fairly certain the individual in question had lost ... and rightfully so. “So ... your father was at the restaurant with Vera Axe.” Bobby needed to be led directly to the topic. “I thought it was weird, because he’s a divorce attorney and Vera is a widow.”
Bobby blinked several times in rapid succession and I thought for sure he would go off on another tangent. Instead, he actually managed to focus. “That’s because Vera was trying to divorce Roy before his death. It had been going on for, like, three years. It wasn’t a big deal.”
I begged to differ. “I’m not sure I understand. Why was Vera trying to divorce Roy?”
“You’ve met him. I think the better question is: Why did Vera marry Roy in the first place?”
“If Vera wanted to divorce Roy three years ago, why were they still married?”
“She wasn’t going to get nearly as much money as she thought she would,” Bobby replied, picking at a stray thread on his jeans. “That’s the problem for a lot of women. They watch television and assume they’re going to get piles of money in a divorce. They think it’s true for everybody ... even if that person has zero money.”
I pictured Roy’s office. “I thought Roy was doing relatively well. Are local real estate prices down?”
“It depends on the real estate,” Bobby replied blandly. “Businesses are being snapped up. People have offered your grandfather a ton of money for that restaurant.”
That was news to me. “They have?”
“They want to take advantage of what Hemlock Cove is doing. They’re getting stronger every year because of that witch thing. Your grandfather’s restaurant even has a witch name already established to take advantage of. I always wondered about that name.”
“That makes two of us,” I said dryly, hunkering down so I was on an even level with Bobby. It was obvious he wasn’t going to last much longer before passing out. I had to get my answers now. “Are you saying Vera didn’t file for divorce because she wasn’t going to get any money out of the deal?” That seemed a terrible reason to stay with a jackass like Roy Axe.
“It wasn’t just that.” Bobby started plucking at the grass. “She was angry when she found out he’d been throwing money around on another woman and assumed it was because he was cheating.”
Jackpot! “Who was he cheating with?”
Bobby shrugged. “Some woman who worked in his office. He had to pay her off because she left under suspicious circumstances and everyone assumed it was because of some affair. I don’t know what those circumstances were, so don’t ask. Because I know you’re going to ask. I just heard my father talking and knew Vera was pissed because all the money Roy had put away for their retirement was going to another woman.”
I exchanged a weighted look with Alice. “Do you know who he’s talking about?”
She shook her head. “Roy’s had a bunch of women in and out of that office over the years. I always assumed it was because he was a pervert.”
“It probably is because he’s a pervert. We need to find out which woman he was paying off.”
“Because you think she might’ve killed off Roy?”
“She might at least have some insight for us. Roy might’ve been worth more dead than alive to Vera. Maybe she killed him off because of this.”
Alice’s gaze brightened. “I hadn’t considered that. I’ll ask around and see if I can figure out who it was.”
I nodded and stood, casting a look back at Bobby, who had passed out. “Should we just leave him here?”
“He’ll be fine.” Alice offered up a haphazard wave. “From what I’ve heard, this is a regular occurrence. He’ll sleep it off for a bit and then go home.”
“Yeah, but ... he’s sleeping with his head against a tree.”
“So? Maybe he’ll wake up with a sore back and rethink his decisions. If not, it’s still not our fault. He decided to get drunk before it even