to live there. Right?”
“The manager didn’t know anything about any marriage. He said he suspected she and Frank were dating, but they kept it very quiet around the building.” He set the chair on the porch. “Interesting, don’t you think?”
“Frank is more interesting dead than I realized he was alive. I thought he was just a jerk. Now I wonder what else he was doing with his money to make the world a better place.” We went inside, and Greg went to the fridge to grab the kabobs. I grabbed my laptop.
“Have you Googled Frank besides his wives? I mean, I looked at his charity events, but I thought he was attending those because of Lynda.” Greg paused before he went out to the porch to start the grill. “I’m going to have to dig more into Frank’s financial life than I’d expected at first glance.”
I typed in the shortened version of Cali’s name and waited to see what came up. I didn’t have to wait long. There were a lot of hits on her recent show. Some of her works were highlighted. Kind of a mix of modern art and Renaissance work. One was a picture of the beach, but with my coffee food truck on the side. Fireworks went off in the distance. A piece of South Cove’s history. I bookmarked the page and decided to buy it for the store if it wasn’t already sold. Of course, with the artist missing, I might not be able to purchase the painting.
Greg came back inside, and I showed him what I’d found. Which wasn’t much. He studied the picture I’d found. “She has a nice eye for bringing the scene to life. It feels like you could just walk onto the beach.”
“Yeah. I’m going to try to buy it.”
He looked at me funny. “Did you see the price tag?”
“It’s only a few hundred. I’ll buy it for the store.” I shut down the computer. It wasn’t the time to be talking about finances. “So, how was your day?”
He didn’t miss a beat. If the purchase had made him uncomfortable at all, he hid it well. “Busy. I’m beginning to believe that the easiest answer to Frank’s death is the correct one. A random hit-and-run.”
“So no leads at all?”
He shrugged. “None that look better or worse than any of the others. I’m intrigued by this missing wife lead, though. Maybe that will pan out to be something. I appreciate your help with the research there.”
“Any time.” My tone must have held a bit too much excitement at the thought of helping Greg with future investigations because he laughed and stood, squeezing my shoulder as he walked by.
“Don’t get too comfortable here. You know I’m not thrilled with you poking your nose into these investigations. People die. Other people are killers. This isn’t a book.” He slipped out onto the porch.
“I know it’s not a book, because then I could skip to the end and find the killer.” The window was open, so I knew he could hear me. But maybe he wasn’t paying attention. I stood and closed my laptop. Then I reached for the plates. “Although that is cheating, and I rarely do that.”
“Rarely as in never, or rarely as in always, but you don’t want me to think badly of you for skipping ahead?” He came back inside to get a platter.
“I plead the fifth.” I took the salad out of the fridge, as well as a fruit bowl I’d made earlier. I’d also picked up a loaf of fresh French bread at the store, so I put that on the table with butter. We had chocolate chip cookies for dessert. As I waited for Greg to bring in the kabobs, I surveyed the spread. Not meat and potatoes, but a good dinner nonetheless. At least I thought so.
“And here’s the star of the meal.” Greg set the platter in the middle of the table, then pointed to Emma’s bed. “Go lie down. You know you’re not getting anything tonight.”
Emma looked at me for support, but I shook my head. “Sorry, girl, no human food. You have dog food in the mudroom.”
Instead of heading to the mudroom, Emma plopped on her bed and stared at us, hunger filling her eyes.
“She looks pitiful, like we never feed her.” Greg laughed and then sat down. “This looks great, Jill. Thanks.”
Surprised, I smiled and sat next to him. “Thanks. I wasn’t sure you’d approve.”
“Any meal I don’t have to plan or