Third Degree (A Murder 101 Mystery)

Even if you watch someone die, I don’t think that qualifies as “knowing” them. Call me crazy.
    “Well, he was an asshole, plain and simple. But she loved him. Did you ever read some of those ‘Ask Lydia’ posts that she wrote?” she asked. When I said that I had, she continued. “So you know what I mean. You could see how she adored the guy even though he didn’t give her the time of day. And then, the cheating …”
    I thought back to Jane’s revelation that Carter had had an affair with Ginny Miller, something I was still trying to wrap my brain around before going into complete “system failure.” Lots going on and not a lot of ways to process it. “More than Ginny Miller?”
    “Way more,” Kathy said, to the dismay of Jane, who reached out and put a hand on her leg to silence her. Kathy, on a roll, suddenly shut down. I think she realized that she had gone too far. She held her hands up in surrender. “I’m done.” She pushed her chair back and said good-bye to me before going into the house.
    “I’m sorry, Jane,” I said. “I didn’t mean to start an argument between you and Kathy.”
    Jane brushed it off. “It’s nothing that we haven’t discussed in the past. Kathy doesn’t like Lydia. She thinks the whole Wilmott scene is dysfunctional, and I can’t say I blame her. And she loves Tony’s so anyone who disparages him or his food is a creep, in her book.” She laughed softly and I got the impression she was only half joking.
    “I kind of feel the same way,” I said. I stood, picking up my computer. “Thanks for the wine and the information.” I stopped midway between the edge of the pool and the gate to the driveway. I turned back around, something occurring to me. “He didn’t…?” I started, but Jane had already gone into the house.
    I started down the driveway. The Wilmotts were certainly a complicated bunch. But just what was it about them that made Kathy see red at the mention of their names?

Twenty-Two
     
    George Miller was out on bail.
    At least that was the information I got from the latest story in the local paper. So I assumed Ginny was in a better place, mentally, or so I hoped, and that would make her leave me alone. Although things had been quiet on that front ever since the Stop & Shop incident, I never knew when the two of us might run into each other again and have an unpleasant encounter.
    I was back at the house and in bed with Trixie, she and I having reached détente. She was lying at the bottom of my bed, nuzzling my feet with her wet snout while I spent some more time reading Carter Wilmott’s blog, something I hadn’t done since the night he had died. The home page looked exactly as it had when I first logged on; nothing had changed. I wondered if someone would take over the site or if it would eventually be taken down. Since Carter was no longer at the helm, it was hard to say what would happen. I scrolled through and looked for any mention of WIMP but there was none.
    Carter included pictures of himself, particularly if he was reviewing a restaurant. In his restaurant review posts, he was always shown in front of the establishment, holding up a notebook and a pen as if to indicate that he was going to be reviewing the place. I wondered who took the picture and if it was Lydia. I also wondered what kind of service he got at these places, most of them knowing in advance that he would review them unfavorably, because, after all, that’s what he did every time. It didn’t take a genius to know that when Carter Wilmott was eating at your restaurant, you were going down.
    I went back to his very first review and it happened to be the same local waterfront restaurant where Crawford and I had dined a few nights before. When Carter had reviewed it, it had been a popular chain restaurant that specialized in seafood and spectacular views. Carter had given the place one star, and only because they prepared an “excellent dry martini.” My kind of restaurant. In the picture that ran beside the post was a robust and hale-looking Carter, not the winded, pale, and thin man that I had encountered. I remembered having the same reaction when I had looked at the blog the night after he had died. I clicked through the various restaurant review posts, starting with the oldest and going all the way to the newest. Indeed, the man had lost a ton of weight. And it didn’t suit him. He looked far healthier in the earlier posts, despite the small roll of fat