Page 31 of Whispers of the Lake

I made a mental note that was the day before she stopped answering her phone.

“I remember because I grocery shop on that day every week. She helped me pick up my groceries when I dropped one of the bags.”

That sounded like Eve. She could be selfish, but she was also attentive. She cared for others but had a weird way of showing it sometimes. One thing I knew about Eve was that she respected her elders the same way I did.

“Why are you looking for her?” the woman asked, eyes sliding up to mine.

“Because I haven’t seen her in a few days. I’m going around to gather information so I can figure out where she is.”

The woman studied me a beat before looking past me again. What was she looking for?

“You can come in for a cup of tea. I’ll try and answer any questions you have but we’ll have to be quick. Okay?”

“Of course, yeah. Thank you.”

I wanted to ask why we had to be so quick, but judging by the way she kept peering past me, like she expected trouble, I figured it was best not to. The last thing I wanted was to get mixed up in the crossfire of someone else’s drama. The faster this happened, the better.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“Isaw her when I parked, and I remember wondering why she was on this side of the lake.” Selma placed a teacup on a saucer in front of me with unsteady hands. She’d told me her first name while heating the kettle. Her shakiness wasn’t from fear or worry. It came with age, as something she couldn’t control.

“But she was wearing the gear all the young girls wear now,” she went on. “You know, with the sports bras and leggings that make their behinds look bunched up and bigger?”

I huffed a laugh. “I know exactly what you’re talking about.”

She slid a bottle of honey my way, sugar packets, and a small dish topped with chocolate chip cookies.

“Why do girls wear things like that?” she asked, smiling a bit and revealing dentures. “My mother would have flipped in her grave if she’d seen me in something like that at her age.”

“Fashion trends, I guess,” I said, shrugging.

“Anyway, I think your friend Eve was taking a walk that morning. She saw me when I was collecting the groceries from the back seat of my car. One of the paper bags was a little wet at the bottom and the groceries fell everywhere. Fortunately, it was packaged and boxed things, not my good fruit from the farmer’s market.” She cleared her throat before sipping her tea.

I drizzled honey into my teacup. “Did she seem happy when you first spotted her?”

“I’m not sure. I couldn’t really tell from where I was. Up close she seemed perfectly fine, though. She smiled and helped me pick everything up and carry it into the house. I offered her some water because her cheeks were flushed, and she looked a little hot. She thanked me for it.” Selma’s face changed then. Her brows strung together, and her eyes became cloudy as she smoothed down the napkin on the table in front of her. “Griffin came home while she was in here. He wasn’t very happy.”

“Who is Griffin?” I asked.

“My husband.”

“Oh. Why wasn’t he happy?”

“He doesn’t like having guests over. I’d invited Eddie and his daughter once during Easter. I told Emily I wanted to make an Easter basket for her when we met them and that she should stop by. Griffin came home from work while they were around, and I knew he was upset. Fortunately, Eddie didn’t pick up on his bad mood. I haven’t invited them over since.”

“Oh.” I fidgeted in my chair and looked over my shoulder to the front door. “Where is Griffin now?”

“He’s at work. He’ll likely be off in an hour or so.”

It was none of my business and I didn’t want to ask but . . . “Does he . . .hurtyou?”

Her eyes expanded as she pressed a shaking hand to her chest. “Oh, no, dear! Not at all. He’s just protective.”

It sounded like more possessive than protective.

“I have lapses in memory sometimes, so he worries. He doesn’t want people taking advantage of that. I never know when an episode will happen, but I tell him often that I’m a good judge of character . . . or I like to think so. Your friend Eve seemed like a nice young woman. But Griffin got one look at her and immediately dismissed her. He told her we’d be having dinner soon and that she needed to go.”

“Did she seem bothered by that?”

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