A/N Thank you PerryLovesDella for beta checking. Any remaining errors are because I went back and tinkered some more.

Return to Castle Cove

Chapter 4

The chime over the door rang as someone entered Bo Dixon's Diner.

And then again as that same person exited.

And then yet again when having managed to steel his resolve, that same person reentered the diner.

Mort glanced Mrs. F.'s way curious about what she thought of the spectacle Doc Hazlitt - entirely visible through the restaurant's plate glass window - was managing to make of himself, but she was suddenly very busy examining the menu printed on her placemat despite having just ordered.

Looking a bit apprehensive, Doc approached the booth where Mort was sitting with Mrs. Fletcher and Eve Simpson.

"Ladies. Mort." Seth greeted them all, but managed to do so while keeping his eyes only on his hands demurely folded in front of him.

Mrs. F. didn't look up.

Raising an eyebrow, Mort glanced Eve's way to see if she too was seeing this.

Eve was looking back and forth between Doc and Mrs. F. waiting a little too eagerly for one or the other to say or do something. When she noticed Mort looking at her, she just grinned and shrugged.

Quoting the great philosopher Bugs Bunny, Mort asked. "What's up, Doc?"

Looking a little too tense to appreciate the attempt at humor, Seth got right down to business. "Mort, Flossie told me you would be here. I just wanted to tell you, after speaking to the Coast Guard, I'm revising my estimate of Sybil's time of death. Given the temperature of the water, it could have been as early as 10 to midnight."

Not content to only hear about the reaction to her sequel novel, Return to Castle Cove, secondhand from Corinne, Sybil had returned to Cabot Cove just in time for its release to experience the fallout first hand.

Her welcome home had been a tire iron to the back of the head followed by a not very successful burial at sea.

Her body had washed ashore early the next morning.

Mort's brow furrowed. "Hold up just a minute."

Mort looked over at Mrs. F. but she was still quite studiously examining her placemat menu.

Mort didn't often get to be the first one to solve a mystery when Mrs. F. was around. This might in fact be the first time. "Doc, if you're telling me the time of death was between 10 and midnight and not between midnight and 2 am … Floyd didn't put Noah Harwood in the drunk tank until just before midnight ...

Mort paused and again glanced at Mrs. F., but she still had nothing to contribute so Mort got to be the one to spell it out.

"Which means … Noah Harwood could have been the one to kill Sable - I mean Sybil - because he blamed her and her last book for Murial - I mean Miriam's - murder!"

"Precisely." Seth agreed.

There was only a beat of silence before Seth declared. "Well I'd best be off."

"You just got here." Mort pointed out.

Looking to start something, Eve invited Seth to join them. "Do pull up a chair, Seth. Have lunch with us. Weonly just ordered."

Attention still focused on the menu before her, Mrs. F. said nothing.

After stealing a quick glance Jessica's way, shaking his head, Seth told Eve. "Another time."

With a malicious grin, Eve tried again. "Nonsense. There is no time like the present. Join us. We can all squeeze in. Jessica, dear, I'm sure you wouldn't mind if Seth got a little closer."

Mort wasn't normally one to hit a lady, but for Eve Simpson he was willing to make an exception.

He tried to kick her under the table to get her to knock it off, but given the way that Jessica raised her head in shock, he suspected he missed his target.

Mrs. F. cleared her throat like she was going to say something, but seeming to think better of it, she just went back to diligently examining her placemat.

Mort gave Eve a look as he picked up his hat from its spot on the seat beside him and offered the space to Seth. "Over here, Doc."

Seth turned them down again. "I really should be going."

Eve wouldn't give up so easily. "What's the hurry? You have to eat lunch sometime."

Seth still attempting to be polite in putting off the invitation wasn't fast enough for Eve and her lack of civility. "Let me guess - did something suddenly … come up?"

Seth sputtered but before he could make any actual words come out, Cornelia came by with the coffee pot and an extra cup.

Putting the cup down at the still open seat and starting to pour, she told Seth. "Let me know what you're having, Doc and I'll put it in so it comes out with their order."

Recovering just enough to flee, right before scurrying out the door, Doc told Cornelia. "I was just leaving."

Looking at her watch and obviously pretending to have forgotten something, Mrs. F. told Cornelia. "Actually, Cornelia, cancel my order. I really should be going too."

"Hey! I drove you here." Mort tried to remind her as Mrs. F. too scurried out the door.

Mort's hopes that she was going after Doc were dashed as he watched her get out the door and turn in the opposite direction.

Cornelia shook her head amused. "Those two are really something!"

Sitting back in her seat, Eve's eyes narrowed. "Makes you wonder … just exactly how Jessica threw out her back last month, doesn't it?"

"Not helping." Mort chastised her. "I'm sure Doc and Mrs. F. are both absolutely mortified by what Sybil put in her book."

Eve rolled her eyes. "Please! Did you hear how much Sybil got paid to write her sequel? Jessica has dozens of books out now. She can use one of her hundreds of thousands of hundred dollar bills from her royalties to dry her tears."

"You know …" Going a different tack, Mort warned Eve. "If I were you, I wouldn't exactly be going around encouraging people to think everything written in that book was the … shall we say ... gospel truth?"

Eve scoffed. "I have never and would never make change in the collection plate at St. Bartholomew's!"

Cornelia, still there, backed Eve up. "She wouldn't. To do that she'd have to actually show up to services."

Cornelia winked at Mort.

Mort could have done without that. And he really could have done without Cornelia putting her hand on his shoulder and brushing up against him as she reached over him to top up his cup.

Mort didn't care for that and he really didn't think Adele would care for that either.

"You know, I should really go follow up on that new time of death."

oOoOo

As Mort scurried away, Cornelia & Eve had a good laugh.

"He still hasn't figured out that Sybil gave Jonathan Martin a promotion for her sequel, has he?"

tbc

A/N If you are reading & enoying I would love to know.