Shortcake*

Chapter 35: Poe and Anita

*Copyright: Stephanie Myrick, 2023. Posted to Wattpad ONLY*

"Your parents still call you Noah?" Cleo asked as she sat back in her seat.

"Most people from Shell Bluff call me Noah." He shrugged. "My mom's maiden name is Lincoln, and my full name is Noah Lincoln Clark. I legally changed my name to Link Hart after I moved to LA, and it's what I prefer, but old habits die hard, as you saw with Dexhart."

"Right." Cleo nodded. She didn't run into that issue often because Nico was the only one she was still in contact with from her past, and he helped her choose her name.

"Why did you pick Cleo Knight?" Link asked curiously. "I picked Hart because I was obsessed with the WWE in high school, and Brett "The Hitman" Hart was my favourite wrestler."

"Nico helped me pick my name, and since I have dark hair and violet eyes like Elizabeth Taylor and she's my favourite actress, he suggested Cleo after her role in Cleopatra. Knight because I just liked it." She explained as they pulled up to the hotel.

"I like it. It suits you." Link grinned at her. "You look like a Cleo, if that makes any sense."

"You can definitely look like a name. I worked with a girl on a movie a few years ago who would constantly get called Nadine, even though her name was Nancy. Funnily enough, her younger sister was Nadine, and most people who called her that didn't know she had a sister." They got out of the car, grabbed their bags and checked in. Cleo changed while Link brought in the boxes and cooler to clean and restock them for the next day's drive. When Link changed, they headed to the Edgar Allan Poe museum, dressed casually, with baseball hats and sunglasses. They wandered around for two hours, with Cleo going on enthusiastically about everything she knew about Poe.

"When I first watched that Simpsons episode and heard The Raven, I became obsessed with it." She explained quietly as they wandered from exhibit to exhibit. "I can recite it from memory. I did a whole essay on Poe's life and works for my literature class and got 99%." She frowned at the memory. "Mom docked a point because I missed a comma, which is pretty messed up considering I was in the second grade and wrote a five-page essay on Edgar Allan Poe."

Link shook his head. "Sounds like she wanted to keep you humble."

"She did things like that all the time. Once, I got 100 on a science test about electricity, and she dropped it to 99 because I left my name off it. I was the only student!" Cleo rolled her eyes. "She said it was about following instructions, and there was a place for my name, so I should have filled it out."

Cleo had to admit that it was nice to have a break from everything happening and spend time with Link that didn't involve talking about their situation. Much like Link with the mastiff at Hargroves, She spent a good twenty minutes playing with and petting Pluto and Edgar, the museum cats.

In the Enchanted Garden, they wandered around looking at the various things related to different parts of Poe's life. "I'd love to have a pet raven; I'd call him Poe."

"Ravens are incredibly intelligent and apparently will bring you gifts if you make friends with them." Link watched her pick out a hoodie with "Quoth the Raven, Nevermore." On the back, and an Edgar Allen Poe bobblehead to buy. She had a thing for buying souvenir hoodies/t-shirts when they went places. At Knott's Berry Farm, she purchased a Snoopy hoodie and a limited edition Snoopy Boysenberry figurine, which sat on a shelf in her living room.

"That's true. I have a thing about wild animals being made into pets, or I'd have one." She nodded as they left the museum. "That was great. Is there anything here you want to do?"

"If we were here for more than one night, I'd suggest we do one of those haunted tours, but right now, let's just pick up food and snacks for tomorrow and head back to the hotel. We can eat in our room and watch a movie." Link yawned and dropped an arm around her shoulders.

Her phone rang as they got in the car, so she pulled it out to check the caller ID. "It's Dexhart." Cleo pulled on her seatbelt as she answered the call on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Chloe, It's Richie."

"Hey, Richie." She decided to ignore the fact that he used her old name. "Is everything okay?"

"I have some questions for you. What can you remember about Anthony's first wife?"

"Anita? She was my vocal coach and piano teacher. She left Anthony because she wanted kids, and she and Anthony never got pregnant. Why?" Cleo frowned in confusion. She hadn't thought much about Anita since she left.

"What was her relationship with your parents like?"

"Um, good, I think? She was the choir director and pianist at the church, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember, but I didn't know what her relationship was like with them. Did they spend time together outside of church? Did she ever come to your house and have coffee with them?"

Cleo furrowed her brow as she thought. "Not often, but my parents never spent time with anyone. Why?"

"I've spent the last week interviewing all your parents' old neighbours, asking if they remembered them getting visitors in the weeks before their deaths. Do you remember Mrs. Tate?"

"Yeah, she lived across the street and spent most of her time in her garden. Is she still alive?"

"In her nineties, still sharp as a tack, living in a nursing home in Albany." Dexhart sounded mildly impressed. "She uses a walker, but otherwise is the life of the party according to the nurses there. I spent a few hours with her, and she said Anita stopped in several times in the weeks leading up to your parent's death, and they argued a lot. Want to take a guess as to why?"

"I'm assuming it was probably about Mom and Dad letting me marry Anthony." Cleo guessed. Anita had always been incredibly sweet to her, and she would have been horrified to learn Anthony had married her.

"Ding, ding, ding!" Dexhart said triumphantly. "The last time, your father threw her out of the house and yelled at her to keep her nose out of their business. I did some digging and found out that Anita's new husband is a plumber."

"You really think Anita had something to do with my parent's death?" Cleo laughed in disbelief. "No way, she was the sweetest, kindest, most gentle woman I've ever had the pleasure of knowing."

"Really? Cause her and her husband left New York and disappeared a month after your parents died. They've vanished. No social media, no contact with their families, nothing. And from what I've learned, your mom was the one Anita confided in about Anthony and what she went through with him."

"Come on, really?" Cleo stared at Link, who kept glancing at her in concern.

"From what Mrs. Tate overheard, Anita was livid that your parents let you marry Anthony; she yelled that they were terrible parents and they would get what was coming to them for what they did to you and from what I've learned from her family and friends, she was incredibly fond of you and wanted to help you more, but knew if she did much more than she what she did, you're parents would cut you off from her."

"Okay, well, I don't believe she would do it, but good luck with your investigation," Cleo said firmly, wanting off the call.

"I will figure this out, Cleo, don't worry. Your parents deserve justice."

"Yeah, Thanks." Cleo ended the call and shook her head. "I hope he never finds her."

*Copyright: Stephanie Myrick, 2023. Posted to Wattpad ONLY*