Saltwater Secrets - Amelia Addler Page 0,46

it and made excuses for everything that happened. She even brushed off the threat at the barn!

What could have been clearer?

That was Jade’s way though – she never made a fuss. But not Margie. She’d been around long enough to know that some situations required a fuss. And sometimes, the biggest disservice a woman could do to herself was to keep quiet when her heart told her to speak up.

The threat after the fundraiser was the last straw for Margie. She was done keeping quiet. On the night of the fire, she was actually on her way to Jade’s to have a serious talk.

Margie didn’t have to sneak out of the house that night; Hank was busy catching up with some friends, so all she had to do was get in her car and rehearse the speech she’d planned. She was almost to Jade’s house when another car blew through a stop sign and T-boned her car.

Her first reaction was shock – did that really just happen? When she realized that she wasn’t hurt, she was about to get out of the car and check on the other person. But instead of extending the same courtesy, the other driver spun around and drove off in the other direction!

That made Margie even more shocked! She called the police, hoping that maybe they could catch whoever this person was, driving around with a damaged car. But when she was waiting, she got the news about the fire, so instead she abandoned her car and rushed off to the hospital.

It wasn’t until a few days later that she even thought about her car again. Hank pressed her for details to see if she could remember anything about the person that hit her, but frustratingly, it was like her memory was wiped clean.

It was only when she went to pick her car up from her mechanic John that she got a clue. It started the way that all good gossip starts.

“You know, I really shouldn’t be saying this…” he said, scratching the back of his neck.

Margie leaned in closer. “But?”

He sighed. “But you said that you still didn’t know who hit you, right?”

“Right.”

“Well I can’t say for sure, but a buddy of mine came in here with his car busted up. He said he hit a deer – but I’m not so sure.”

Margie raised an eyebrow. “Interesting. And this buddy was…?”

“Eddie. Eddie Mills. Do you know him?”

“Everyone knows Eddie,” Margie said with a sigh. “I made the mistake of hiring him to do some work for me once.”

John laughed. “Yeah, that’s Eddie. I don’t know for sure that he was the one that hit you. But he came in the next day all in a frenzy. Said that he needed the car fixed but he was leaving the island for a while.”

“Why?”

John shrugged. “I’m not sure. But I knew that he left some jobs unfinished.”

While it wasn’t unlike Eddie to leave his work undone, the whole situation made Margie suspicious. If he was the one who hit her, why was he speeding through the night like that to begin with? And he just happened to be coming from the direction of Jade’s house? And then, for some reason, he had to flee the island?

Every time she thought about it, all she could see was Eddie’s smug face, stuffed with hors d’oeuvres at the fundraiser. She thought he was up to something then, but now…

Now she was sure he was up to something.

“Do you know who he was working for? Maybe I’ll stop in and pay him a visit, see how his car is doing.”

John put his hands up. “I can tell you, but remember – you didn’t hear anything from me.”

Margie smiled. “My lips are sealed.”

John told Margie about the handful of jobs he was aware of. The biggest one was an addition to a new restaurant near Roche Harbor. Luckily, Margie knew the owner and was able to stop by and ask how things were going.

“Terrible!” Betty said. “He disappeared without a trace.”

“That’s how he was when I hired him,” Margie said. “It took a lot of convincing to get him to finish the job.”

“Let me know if you see him so I can get on his case.”

Margie nodded. “Would you mind giving me a call, too, if you see him first? I need to talk to him about something.”

“Sure.”

And that was the call that came in on Tuesday – two weeks later. Apparently, Eddie returned from his mysterious trip and started making