Episode #14

Thursday, 5/10/07

A Few Days Later, Late Morning

Rita’s Diner

“Just a regular coffee,” Megan Harper said, not even looking at her waitress, Tracy Dixon. She was too busy thumbing through her wallet, making a careful inventory of her finances.

Damn her parents for acting all high and mighty. She really wanted a double latté, but if she really was cut off, and it strongly appeared as if she were, she was smart enough to realize that she would need to ration her money until she could figure out how to change their minds.

“Hey!” she snapped as Tracy set her coffee cup down on the table. “You forgot my cream and sugar.”

“You didn’t ask for any,” Tracy pointed out, desperately wanting to give the little snot some attitude, but thinking better of it for the sake of her job. It didn’t necessarily matter that her mother owned the place.

“Whatever.”

“Hey, Megan, mind if I join you?”

She was pleasantly surprised to turn around and find A.J. Sterling standing right behind her, a big latté in his hand. Megan smiled broadly to herself. Perhaps today wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

The Sterling Home, Kitchen

“So, what are your plans, now?” Vanessa Sterling asked as she carried two cups of coffee over to the kitchen table, setting one of them down in front of her niece Cal Latimer.

“We really should get back home to Quebec, Aunt Van,” Cal sighed before taking a sip. “We left Will to run the resort while we were gone, but I know Rick doesn’t like to stay away from there for very long. We’ve worked far too hard to make it the success that it is.”

“I can understand that,” Van nodded. “I just wish Will and Sarah could’ve come with you. It seems like forever since I’ve seen either one of them.”

“I didn’t really see the point. Sarah’s away at school and someone needed to take care of the resort. Besides, neither one of them really knew Mom.” Cal’s eyes were focused on a swirl of cream as it floated around in her coffee, her mind drifting to other things. “I made sure of that, didn’t I? I refused to let her have anything to do with either of them.”

“You’ve always known how I felt about that.” Van reached over and patted Cal’s hand. “But they’re yours and Rick’s children to raise as the two of you saw fit. I just don’t think that denying them a relationship with their grandmother was a good thing. Not just for your mother, but for the kids, too.”

“Well, it’s a little late to second guess that now, isn’t it?”

“I do wish you and Rick would stay here in Rosehill. I’ve really missed you and I know Ben’s missed you. You know you always have a home here.”

“Aunt Van, our home is in Quebec. It’s where we’ve been for years. We have a business, a house, a family…”

“But you have family, here, too. In fact, most of your family is here.” Van got up and walked over to the counter so that she could pick up the pot of coffee and refill their cups. “And now you have a house here, thanks to your mother. Your children are grown and out on their own and they have their own lives. The only thing really keeping you in Canada is the resort.”

“Northern Lights is important to us, Van. Rick and I have built that place from the ground up – I designed it and he oversaw every aspect of the construction. It’s like another child to us.”

“And how are two of my favorite ladies this morning?” Cal’s husband Rick Latimer asked as he breezed into the kitchen, first kissing his wife on the cheek and then her Aunt Van.

“Van’s trying to talk us into moving back to Rosehill.”

“Oh?” Rick eyed Van with curious interest.

“Maybe I’m being selfish,” Van confessed, “but now that Meg’s gone, I… I’d feel so much better having you back.” She paused, took a sip of coffee, and then looked up towards Rick. “So you were really impressed with what Andy and John have done with Beaver Ridge?”

“Yes, I am,” he nodded. “I didn’t think that place could ever come back from that fire, but it looks like it’s going to come back better than it ever was. It’s going to be a lot better than when I owned it.” He smiled wistfully, remembering a time long ago.

“I know they’d appreciate any help you could give them. No one knows that place as well as you do.” Van’s eyes subtly darted from Rick to Cal and back again. “After all, you’re the reason the place was such a success to begin with. If it hadn’t been for you, there wouldn’t even be any interest in restoring Beaver Ridge.”

Cal exhaled slowly and closed her eyes. She knew exactly what Van was trying to do.

“Well, seeing that place again really did bring back a lot of good memories.” Rick rubbed his chin with his hand and nodded. “Maybe I’ll see if I can lend them a hand while we’re in town.”

Cal simply shook her head slowly as looked at Van. Why was she suddenly getting a bad feeling about all of this?

Rita’s Diner

“I ran into your sister Vanessa earlier,” A.J. said as he slid into the booth across from Megan. “She said you two were moving back to Rosehill.”

“Apparently,” Megan muttered dryly. “It’s not like I have much choice in the matter.”

“What do you mean?” He leaned forward onto the table, curious as to what she had to say.

“Our parents seem to think that with everything that’s happened lately – you know, my grandmother getting herself killed and all – that it’s a good time for some ‘family togetherness’. They’re forcing us to give up the apartment in New York and move home.” She really tried to hide her disgust with the entire situation, but that was easier said than done.

“More coffee?” Tracy asked, standing at the edge of the table, with a coffee pot posed in the air and ready to pour.

Without even looking at her, Megan silently pushed her cup over for a refill.

After filling the cup and scrunching up her nose at the snotty patron, she shifted her focus to A.J. “How are you today, Mr. Sterling?”

“I’m doing good, Tracy,” he smiled. “And you? It looks like you’ve got quite a crowd in here.”

“Oh, I’m doing okay, I guess.” Tracy was absolutely beaming at him. “They have kept me running this morning, though.”

“Then don’t you think you should see about taking care of this crowd of people instead of standing around chitchatting?” Megan shot Tracy a hateful look. She didn’t much appreciate the little waitress getting in the way of her conversation.

“I guess you’re right,” Tracy glared. “I’ll… I’ll see you later, Mr. Sterling.”

“Anyway, as I was saying,” Megan continued after Tracy had walked away, “why would my parents even think I’d like being stuck here in Thornhill? There’s so much more to do in New York – nightclubs, concerts, shopping…”

“Rosehill’s not that bad,” A.J. laughed. “Actually, I kinda like it. It’s home, you know? Ever since my parents died and my sister and I went to live with Grandma and Grandpa, this has been my home. Yeah, I’ve gone other places and done other things, but no place has ever felt like home to me other than here in Rosehill.”

“You sound like Vanessa.” She groaned and rolled her eyes. “You’d think this town belonged on the cover of a Hallmark card the way the two of you talk. You forget, I grew up here, too. I know what this place is like – dull.”

“Maybe if you’re going to be stuck here – as you put it – you’d let me show you a different side of Rosehill so you could at least make the best of it.”

“I think I’d like that,” Megan smiled as she reached across the table and took his hand. She looked over at him and batted her eyelashes. “Perhaps seeing Rosehill in a new light with you, I might like it here, after all.”

Rosehill Hospital, Research Lab

“Do you have any idea what was going on inside Meg’s head?” Dr. Alex Marriott asked as he slipped on his lab coat. “Why would she yank the research grant if she knew all along she’d left you an endowment in her will?”

“She wasn’t exactly planning on dying,” Dr. Tom Crawford pointed out, looking up from the notes he’d been working on at his desk. “Maybe she just hadn’t gotten around to changing her will because she didn’t think it was an urgent thing to do. Maybe she was planning on changing her mind about the grant eventually. I really gave up trying to figure out why Meg did half the things she did a long time ago.”

“I know the reason she pulled the grant in the first place was because of me and some beef she had with my father.”

“It really had nothing to do with you, Alex,” Tom explained. “She only wanted me to fire you from this project to spite your father; lord only knows why she and Andy were into it. You’re an asset to this research project – you’ve proven that – and I wasn’t going to fire you just to satisfy one of Meg’s mean-spirited whims. Besides, I knew I could get her to change her mind, eventually.”

“But she died, first.”

“Yeah.” Tom’s mind immediately went to thoughts of the gun that the police had found at Meg’s – the presumed murder weapon – as well as his own gun that he’d recently discovered was missing.

“Looks like the hospital board has approved a shift in funds to support the project with the promise of that endowment,” Dr. Andrew Marriott announced as he came into the room. “I don’t know why Meg did it, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth; especially since this endowment has saved this research project.”

“Excuse me,” Vanessa Harper spoke up as she rapped lightly on the open door. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“Vanessa!” Tom exclaimed, immediately going over to her. “How’s my favorite little niece doing?”

“I’m doing good, Uncle Tom,” she smiled. “I’m here to meet Mom. She and I are meeting up with Aunt Van and some others a little later for lunch. Sort of a girls’ day out.”

“That sounds nice,” Tom nodded. “Oh, before I forget, you know Dr. Marriott and… Dr. Marriott?” All four of them chuckled heartily.

“Yes, I do,” she grinned and then nodded towards Andrew. “Dr. Marriott, it’s good to see you again. You, too, Alex.”

“I’ll leave you folks to carry on with your work,” Andrew said, heading for the door. “I just wanted to give you the good news.”

“It’s good to see you again, Vanessa,” Alex smiled.

“You, too.” She lowered her head sheepishly. “You know, you mentioned going out to dinner a few days ago, but you’ve never once bothered to call.”

“I know your family’s going through a lot right now,” he explained, desperately wanting her to know that it hadn’t been a deliberate slight. “I didn’t want to bother you with something like that. You’ve got a lot on your plate right now.”

“Well, I just wanted to let you know that I’ve decided to stay in Rosehill – permanently.” She cocked her head slightly and looked up at him. “We’ve got plenty of time for dinner.”

“Then we definitely need to make plans.”

The telephone rang, grinding all conversation to a halt. Tom, back at his desk, answered.

“Rosehill Hospital Research Lab, Dr. Crawford speaking.” A long pause. “Yes, Lt. Alphonso… Now?” Another long pause. “Of course, I understand. Well, let me wrap a few things up here and I can be down at the station within the hour.”

“Tom, what’s wrong?” Alex asked as Tom hung up the phone.

“It’s nothing,” he shook his head in response. “The police just want to talk to me. It’s a… a consultation on a case.”

It was a blatant lie on Tom’s part. Although the police did want his input on a case, it wasn’t in a professional capacity. The police wanted to question Tom about Meg’s murder, and that fact made Tom increasingly nervous.