Wilmington, NC 05 - Murder On The ICW

on his face. I could not see his face. I'm sorry." And he did seem to be genuinely sorry.
    "Well, what are you doing here? The park is officially closed. The garden crew knows me so they let walk here. You weren't following me, were you?"
    Ali sighed noisily, and avoided my eyes. "Yes, I was following you. I parked my car in a driveway across Airlie Road and walked through the undergrowth."
    "But why! What do you want from me?" I was upset. My knees were hurting, and my hip. Someone had tried to attack me. And Ali was admitting he'd been following me. Then I realized that his presence might have saved me from being injured, or even killed. Obviously, he meant me no harm.
    He said, "I am most sorry, Ashley, but I need to talk to you. Face to face. I thought if I called, you might hang up on me. Crystal said you were kind. That you might help me. Your sister hired a private investigator to check everyone's alibis, I know that much. I want to know where Brie was that day. Who she was meeting with. She is going to fire me, after all I've done for her."
    He stretched out his open palms, pleading. "She will end my career. I want to know who has lured her away from me! What they are offering her so I can counter offer. So can you tell me that? What did the investigator learn? Who did she and her father meet with in Charlotte the day Joey Fielding was killed?"
    Poor Ali. How awful for him. "I honestly don't know, Ali. I never heard. If it's in the report, I never heard about it. I don't think the investigator ever discovered who she met with, just that she was in Charlotte that day. Now it's my turn to be sorry."
    By then we had reached the maintenance buildings and my van. "I'll drive you to your car," I said. I started to open the driver's side door when one of the gardeners waved, called for me to wait, and hurried toward us.
    "Miss Ashley, there was a man looking for you," the gardener said. "I told him you were walking in the park. I thought it was okay. He was an officer of the law. He showed me a large shiny badge. ATF, he said."
    Then he noticed the grime on my face, my torn and dirty jeans, and his face crumpled with concern. "Are you all right, Miss Ashley? Did you fall?"

29

    "I'm making a sweet potato casserole and Aunt Ruby is making chestnut stuffing. We've already bought a smoked turkey breast from a specialty food store. You can make the salad, baby sister," Melanie said. "We'll eat right after the games are over. I've got some of those huge mums and we'll decorate your dining room in the morning."
    She was wearing a pair of superbly fitted low-rise slacks in chocolate brown, a nutmeg sweater set, brown suede boots with kitten heels. My sister can put together a coordinated outfit blindfolded. And she had her hair piece on; the color was so uniform you couldn't tell it was not her own hair.
    The stitches from her head wound had been removed, her driving privileges had been restored, and for the moment she was driving sanely. How long would that last? How long would this new leaf last? I asked myself. Melanie making sweet potato casserole! Indeed! Melanie doesn't cook any more than I do. We both think restaurants and take-out are the best inventions of modern society.
    "Now where are we going?" I asked from the passenger seat. "You said this was urgent."
    But she went on describing the menu, "Jon is bringing the wine. And Cam is bringing dessert. Pecan pie and pumpkin pie. I'm so excited; I organized everything. We'll be like a family again." She started to give me a light punch on the arm, then checked herself.
    "Can you believe it? The man can bake. A regular pastry chef! I'm so lucky."
    "That is good news," I said sarcastically. "We need a cook in the family. You, Jon and I are as helpless in the kitchen as Binkie is. If it weren't for other people's cooking we'd starve to death."
    Now why was I feeling sulky? I was acting more like Brie Bitterman than my own sunny self.
    I chalked up my mood to the skepticism the police had shown when they'd "investigated" my "alleged" attack on Monday. They took my statement, went with me to Airlie Gardens, but we never could find the tree limb or any clues. They seemed unimpressed with my story and thought they were doing their job when they warned me not to walk in isolated places.
    The gardeners confirmed that I'd entered the park alone. They had not seen Ali go into the park, but they told the police that he had returned with me to my car after I'd been attacked.