that I swear could have melted steel. Coincidence? I couldn’t say. I only knew that it was aimed right at the spot where I’d last seen Richie Monroe.
“What did I tell you? There’s an aura of impending doom!” Chandra’s comment made me regret that I’d mentioned what I’d observed inside the bar. Now that the concert was over, we were standing outside Levi’s with Luella and Kate. The mini fireworks show wasn’t supposed to officially begin for another half hour, but with the concert being cut short, town officials and the folks from the fireworks company scrambled to get things started sooner. From here, we might not be able to see everything, but we could watch at least some of the show and we wouldn’t need to contend with the crowd that streamed into the park.
I glanced Chandra’s way. “I think it was more like an accident,” I said.
“You can think anything you want, that doesn’t make it true.” She wasn’t supposed to carry her lite beer out to the sidewalk with her, but Chandra had it in a paper cup and figured no one knew. She downed a gulp. “You said so yourself, Bea, Dino and Richie had a fight in your driveway yesterday. Obviously they hate each other. And I bet Dino tried to kill Richie the other night. You know, when he got pushed into the lake. That’s why Richie retaliated today and fixed the guillotine so it would cut off Dino’s head. Admit it, it all makes sense. And it explains why Dino sent a death-ray look at Richie after the guillotine incident. You know, to let Richie know he was onto him and that paybacks would for sure be a bitch.”
As usual, following Chandra’s train of thought was a trip through Convoluted R Us. I didn’t even bother to mention that when Richie went into the water on Monday night, Dino wasn’t even on the island yet. Or that tonight the guillotine was just for show; Dino wasn’t scheduled to put his head in it until the Saturday night concert at the park. What was the use? Instead, I concentrated on the meat of her argument.
“It wasn’t exactly a fight,” I told her, because the more I thought about what had happened in my driveway when Richie delivered the croissants, the more I realized it was true. “It was more like Richie laying into Dino and Dino acting like he didn’t have a clue what Richie was talking about. Richie was madder than a wet hen, but not Dino. He just stood there and acted like he didn’t care about whatever it was Richie said. And later, when I asked him about it, he said he didn’t know who Richie was. In fact, he told me he’d never even been on the island before. Dino said Richie must have mistaken him for someone else because he didn’t know Richie, so he couldn’t possibly know what Richie was mad about.”
“Then it’s just like in
A Tale of Two Cities
.” Sure of her theory—whatever that theory was—Chandra nodded. Kate, Luella, and I? We stared at her in amazement.
“Don’t act so surprised!” Chandra finished her beer and tossed the cup in the nearest trash can. “If you ladies were reading the book like you’re supposed to be—”
“What’s amazing is that you are.”
Chandra twitched away Kate’s comment with a lift of her chin. When she pulled back her shoulders, she looked like a kid giving a book report in front of the class—if a kid giving a book report wore purple shorts; a tie-dyed top in swirls of purple, pink, and orange; and sandals with two-inch-high platforms. “In
A Tale of Two Cities
,” she said, glancing from one of us to the other and daring us to criticize her take on the book, “there are two guys who look alike. One guy’s name is Sydney . . . er . . .”
“Carton,” Luella said. She’d obviously read at least some of our assignment.
Chandra grinned. “That’s right, Carton, and he’s a lawyer. And there’s this other guy named Charles Dubray—”
“Darnay,” Kate corrected her.
“That’s right.” Chandra’s smile froze around the
“What did I tell you? There’s an aura of impending doom!” Chandra’s comment made me regret that I’d mentioned what I’d observed inside the bar. Now that the concert was over, we were standing outside Levi’s with Luella and Kate. The mini fireworks show wasn’t supposed to officially begin for another half hour, but with the concert being cut short, town officials and the folks from the fireworks company scrambled to get things started sooner. From here, we might not be able to see everything, but we could watch at least some of the show and we wouldn’t need to contend with the crowd that streamed into the park.
I glanced Chandra’s way. “I think it was more like an accident,” I said.
“You can think anything you want, that doesn’t make it true.” She wasn’t supposed to carry her lite beer out to the sidewalk with her, but Chandra had it in a paper cup and figured no one knew. She downed a gulp. “You said so yourself, Bea, Dino and Richie had a fight in your driveway yesterday. Obviously they hate each other. And I bet Dino tried to kill Richie the other night. You know, when he got pushed into the lake. That’s why Richie retaliated today and fixed the guillotine so it would cut off Dino’s head. Admit it, it all makes sense. And it explains why Dino sent a death-ray look at Richie after the guillotine incident. You know, to let Richie know he was onto him and that paybacks would for sure be a bitch.”
As usual, following Chandra’s train of thought was a trip through Convoluted R Us. I didn’t even bother to mention that when Richie went into the water on Monday night, Dino wasn’t even on the island yet. Or that tonight the guillotine was just for show; Dino wasn’t scheduled to put his head in it until the Saturday night concert at the park. What was the use? Instead, I concentrated on the meat of her argument.
“It wasn’t exactly a fight,” I told her, because the more I thought about what had happened in my driveway when Richie delivered the croissants, the more I realized it was true. “It was more like Richie laying into Dino and Dino acting like he didn’t have a clue what Richie was talking about. Richie was madder than a wet hen, but not Dino. He just stood there and acted like he didn’t care about whatever it was Richie said. And later, when I asked him about it, he said he didn’t know who Richie was. In fact, he told me he’d never even been on the island before. Dino said Richie must have mistaken him for someone else because he didn’t know Richie, so he couldn’t possibly know what Richie was mad about.”
“Then it’s just like in
A Tale of Two Cities
.” Sure of her theory—whatever that theory was—Chandra nodded. Kate, Luella, and I? We stared at her in amazement.
“Don’t act so surprised!” Chandra finished her beer and tossed the cup in the nearest trash can. “If you ladies were reading the book like you’re supposed to be—”
“What’s amazing is that you are.”
Chandra twitched away Kate’s comment with a lift of her chin. When she pulled back her shoulders, she looked like a kid giving a book report in front of the class—if a kid giving a book report wore purple shorts; a tie-dyed top in swirls of purple, pink, and orange; and sandals with two-inch-high platforms. “In
A Tale of Two Cities
,” she said, glancing from one of us to the other and daring us to criticize her take on the book, “there are two guys who look alike. One guy’s name is Sydney . . . er . . .”
“Carton,” Luella said. She’d obviously read at least some of our assignment.
Chandra grinned. “That’s right, Carton, and he’s a lawyer. And there’s this other guy named Charles Dubray—”
“Darnay,” Kate corrected her.
“That’s right.” Chandra’s smile froze around the
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