Page 77 of The Beach Hut on Plum Island
“What’s in Gloria’s little black book?” Harriet asked.
“A list of all the eligible men out there to marry me off to,” Estelle told Harriet. “I spent eight years married to a horrible man because of her and my uncle. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I had to keep giving them money. Then, when my late husband died, and the money dried up, they started looking for new matches for me.”
“Estelle!” Harriet said. “Why did you let them do that to you? You’re a grown woman. They can’t control your life.”
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Estelle’s eyes blazed with hate, but Harriet understood it wasn’t for her. “But I’d rather live in fear knowing where my enemy is than live in fear waiting for them to catch me.”
“I don’t understand,” Harriet frowned. “I thought you loved your family.”
“I’ve been forced to be grateful to them for taking me in and giving me a home,” Estelle told her. “But the truth was they were waiting for me to turn twenty-one when I was supposed to get my trust fund from my parents. But the joke was on my uncle and aunt, as my father had nearly gambled that all away. What was left was supposed to be for me to go to college, but my uncle and cousin took it.”
“Estelle…” Harriet’s heart went out to the woman. “Why didn’t you ever just tell us this? We could’ve done something.”
“No!” Estelle shook her head. “You couldn’t. My real mother’s mother was in a nursing home, and her well-being fell to my uncle. My grandmother was the only one that I could talk to, and the only person left that loved me, and they held her over my head like the sword of Damocles.”
“So you became a horrible person and pushed everyone away,” Harriet said. “Latched onto Leon and became a nightmare instead of reaching out for help.” She shook her head.
“It was easier just to go along with it,” Estelle told Harriet with a look of defeat in her eyes. “I learned how to shut off that part of me that cared until I met Finn. I learned how to operate without breaking the thread of horsehair that held that sword over my head.”
“Is that why you put sleeping powder on my pillow?” Harriet’s eyes widened as she wondered if she’d been wrong and it had been Estelle.
“No!” Estelle shook her head, and her face scrunched up in despair. “Where would I even get that stuff from?” Her brow creased. “It’s been banned on Joyce Isles for years. I didn’t even know there was still any left. And you know how much I hate drugs and stuff like that after… Well, you know the incident where Gloria tried to take her life.”
“Yes.” Harriet nodded in understanding. “She has you to thank for being alive. Although that story was very suspect.”
“I know.” Estelle nodded. “It went through my head numerous times.”
“That’s why I didn’t think it was you,” Harriet admitted before moving the subject back to Finn. She needed to find out what went on between them. “What were you saying about Finn?”
“As you know, Finn’s late ex-wife and myself were friends,” Estelle told her. “But as soon as Trudy became a famous skier, she changed. Trudy had always been competitive, but shebecame even more competitive. Suddenly, everything with her became a competition.”
“Why did Finn get a restraining order against you?” Harriet asked.
“I found out that Trudy had been having an affair with her coach a few months after Maggie was born,” Estelle confessed. “Not only was she having an affair with the guy, but they were also plotting to steal Finn’s company. I also found out that Trudy was taking sport-enhancing supplements, and she and her coach were selling them as a side business.”
“Seriously?” Harriet looked at Estelle, searching her eyes for signs that she was lying.
“Yes.” Estelle nodded. “In a secret compartment of my purse, there’s a mobile phone. On it are the messages between Trudy and me. Including her threats that if I went to Finn, I’d be sorry.” She gave a self-mocking laugh. “And I was, as Trudy made me out to be a crazy groupie type stalker fan of hers and Finn’s.”
“Why didn’t you just send him the evidence?” Harriet asked.
“I couldn’t get within ten feet of him or his kids,” Estelle told Harriet. “Then Trudy tricked Finn into taking a drug test for her. She made sure I couldn’t get to him to warn him it was all a setup.”
“Trudy set Finn up to deliberately take the fall for her?” Harriet stared at Estelle in disbelief.
“Trudy was a star. She no longer needed Finn, and she wanted his company,” Estelle added. “I was the one who tipped border patrol off about Trudy and her new husband to them having the sports-enhancing drugs in their car.” She closed her eyes. “I never meant for them to die. I just didn’t want her to set Finn up again.” She shook her head. “Trudy lied about her passport being stolen. She knew Finn would help her. When he got there, she and her new husband were going to stage a fight, and she was going to ask him to take her home.”
“At the border, they were going to load her luggage into Finn’s car, which would actually have been the drugs,” Harriet guessed.
“Right before they were about to go over the border, Trudy and her husband were going to stage a big romantic reunion while Finn went over the border with drugs,” Estelle explained.
“It sounds like Trudy hated Finn.” Harriet frowned. “Why?”
“Trudy loved being the center of attention, but when the kids came along, they shared her attention,” Estelle told Harriet. “Trudy didn’t like that. Then, she got all the attention she needed from her coach. But she also wanted the successful company Finn had built. When they ran that into the ground, Trudy tried to offer Finn a share in it if he’d help them get it back on track, but Finn refused.”
“So setting him up for drug charges again was payback?” Harriet looked at Estelle in disbelief.
“No, it was leverage,” Estelle said. “Their plan was to blackmail Finn into fixing the company.”
