Eye of the Beholder

"What are you going to do today?"
    "Me? I'll be busy, too. Didn't I tell you? I've got another hot date with Chief Strood ,"
    "You're going to talk to him again? Why? We told him everything that we saw last night."
    "Seems he wants to revisit the subject of my little parking lot altercation with Guthrie."
    "Oh, no. Surely he doesn't think that you—?"
    The alarmed concern in her voice warmed him for some obscure reason.
    " Strood just wants to clear up a few questions," he said. "Can't blame him. He's got a job to do."
    "Do you think he might try to involve you in this in some way? Why? Strood wasn't even the chief of police here in Avalon twelve years ago. He didn't take the job until after Wilcox died. That was only about five years back."
    " Strood has heard the rumors, same as everyone else in town."
    "I can call Lloyd's lawyer if you think you should have one."
    "Don't worry, Avalon Resorts, Inc., has a herd of lawyers on retainer." Trask smiled slightly. "If I need one, I know where to get one."
    "There is absolutely no way anyone can connect you with Guthrie's accident. Remind Strood that you were with me when it happened."
    "Yeah." Trask smiled to himself. "I'll do that."

    The cloud of morbid curiosity was thick in Cafe Solstice. Every eye in the place shifted toward Alexa when she walked through the door shortly before ten.
    She came to a halt and gazed around at the ring of familiar faces. "I take it everyone has already heard the news?"
    Murmurs of assent went through the small crowd of shopkeepers huddled over their tea and muffins.
    Dylan, propped against a counter, looked at Alexa with a troubled expression. "Is it true that you and Trask were first on the scene?"
    Alexa shuddered. "Yes. It was awful."
    Joanna gazed down into her tea. "Poor Guthrie."
    Brad Vasquez, the owner of the Out Of Body Experience travel agency, shook his head. "The courts should have yanked Guthrie's license years ago. Everyone knew he had a serious drinking problem."
    "He nearly sideswiped me once on that sharp curve on
Bandit Road
    ," Stewart said as he poured boiling water into a pot. "A couple inches closer and he would've hit me. I called him up later and told him that he could have gotten both of us killed."
    Alexa went to the counter to collect her tea. "What did he say?"
    Stewart shrugged. "He got mad. Yelled and screamed a lot. Claimed he'd been in complete control."
    "I wonder how his ex-wife is taking the news," Brad mused.
    Stewart looked up. "Which one? There were at least three at last count."
    Joanna raised her bowed hed . Her face was tight and bleak. "Liz is having a tough time. I talked to her this morning. She and Dean were still seeing each other, you know, even though the divorce was final a few months ago."
    Brad raised his brows. "Guthrie was sleeping with his ex-wife?"
    Joanna's mouth tightened primly. "They had a relationship, yes."
    Alexa glanced at her. "How do you know that?"
    "Liz is a good friend of mine," Joanna said quietly. "I've carried her jewelry designs in Crystal Rainbow for years. She's active out at the Institute. We've served on several committees together."
    Dylan screwed his features into a quizzical expression. "Why'd she marry a mean drunk like Guthrie?"
    "The usual reason." Joanna returned her attention to her tea. "She thought that she could change him."
    "Yeah, I've heard that one before," someone muttered.
    Stewart's gaze was somber. "When you stop and think about it, you gotta admit, there's something really weird about Guthrie's death. I mean, what are the odds?"
    A short, charged silence fell on the small group. Alexa noticed that no one met her eyes.
    "Odds about what, Stewart?" she asked quietly.
    Dylan stirred against the counter. His gaze flickered to Stewart and the others. Then he looked at Alexa. "He means the odds that Guthrie would die now. Like Brad says, he drove drunk for years. By rights he should have run himself off that cliff a long time ago."
    Alexa watched him very steadily. "What are you saying, Dylan?"
    It was Joanna who answered the question.
    "He's saying what everyone else who knew Guthrie in the old days is saying this morning. It's a very strange coincidence that Guthrie died only a few days after Trask returned to Avalon."
    "And even weirder that he was killed at the same place where Harry Trask died," Dylan whispered.
    Alexa's temper flared without warning. "If you're implying that Trask had anything to do with Guthrie's accident, you can forget it.