Ghost On Duty (Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 2) (5 page)

But then I looked at him again. Camping out? Really? As though he didn’t have the money for anything else? And yet, the clothes he wore were definitely top of the line. His nails looked manicured. His haircut was exquisite. Hmmm.

He seemed nice enough, but I was surprised at Bebe for taking to him so strongly, so fast. But wait. There might be a method to her madness. Could she be on a quest to make Michael jealous? That had to be it. I’d seen him on the other side of the hall and I was pretty sure she had too. I smiled and shook Gary’s hand and when he accepted her invitation to come to breakfast the next day, I didn’t say a word.
 

Once we were all three in the car, I pulled out my little note and showed it to them. They began to shriek. I’d figured on that. I rolled my eyes and waited for the clamor to stop.

“This is why I can’t show you these things when they happen,” I told them earnestly. “You two do this every time. It’s like you want to make sure that the rest of the universe is informed.”

They didn’t buy it. They thought I was the bad guy for keeping it from them.
 

“We could have come with you. We could have come in from three sides and caught the murderer! You cheated us out of all the excitement.”

“What excitement? The possums? They aren’t even very cute.”

We stopped for ice cream cones. I had a pralines and cream double scoop. We sat at a little table in the corner and we laughed and talked and whispered about my note.
 

“Who do you think sent it? Honestly.”

“I don’t have a clue. I was really disappointed when nobody showed up.”

They went through every name they could think of who might have sent the message to me, but we didn’t find anyone who seemed to fit the pattern very well.
 

By the time we got home, someone was waiting out in front of Bebe’s house.
 

“Isn’t that your detective guy?” Bebe turned to give me a significant look. Jill gave me the same look. So I frowned, not wanting my non-relationship with the detective to become a part of the banter between us all.
 

But I did take a look myself, and sure enough, it was him, leaning against his car as though he were waiting for someone.

I looked at my two accomplices. “My guess is that he’s got something he wants to talk to me about,” I said, knowing full well that had to be it. He wanted answers as to why I was skulking around the courtyard at the Meeting House. “If you two don’t mind, I think I’ll stay out here to talk to him.”

“You don’t want to ask him in?” Bebe said hopefully.

I shook my head. “Sorry,” was all I could muster at the moment.
 

“What do you think he wants to talk to you about?” Jill asked.
 

“The note, of course,” Bebe told her. Then she looked at me. “Does he know about that?”

“No.” I grimaced. “And I’m not sure I’m going to tell him. So keep it to yourselves, okay?”

“We’ll be so discrete, you won’t recognize us,” Bebe said, motioning for Jill to come in, even though she’d been planning to get into her own car and head for home. “But you’ve got to tell us all about this once he goes,” she added warningly.
 

I sighed. Such was the burden of the supplicant niece, I supposed.
 

“Hey,” Bebe called back in a loud whisper. “I just had a thought. What if he’s the one who sent you the note?”

I thought for a second, then shook my head. “Nah,” I said. “He’s mostly trying to avoid me, not set up a meeting place.” I jerked my head in his direction. “Only now, he wants information. It’s written all over him.”

“Oh.” She turned away again and gave Jill a significant look.
 

I knew the detective had probably heard some of that exchange, but I didn’t care. I was still plenty annoyed with him.
 

They went into the house and I went over to where he was leaning against his car.
 

“Hi,” I said, trying to sound cool and collected. “Did you have something you wanted to say to me?”

He didn’t say anything for a long moment. He just stared at me instead, then finally straightened, coming away from his lean on the car, and shoving his hands into the pockets of his slacks.
 

“Come for a walk with me?” he asked, ducking his head toward the vineyards to show where he planned to go.
 

I hesitated.
 

“I think we need to talk,” he said.
 

“Sure,” I said.

I joined him and began to walk, but at the same time, my heart began to race, wondering what he was going to say. I was really dreading this. What was it going to be? The old brush-off?
 

The old “
Yeah, I thought we might be able to make some sort of relationship out of this, but on reflection, I realize we don’t really match up the way I thought and I’m not in the market for that sort of thing anyway. It’s me, not you. Don’t think twice. Just…move along, okay
?”

Let it go…let it go. Hah!

But he surprised me. Instead of going toward the relationship thing, he went straight into murder-land.
 

“I want to know what you were doing by the fountain tonight,” he said. “What made you go out there?”

I looked at his profile against the moon rising in the background and my heart did one of those little summersault things. Darn it all, why did he have to be so tempting?

“I already told you.”

“I didn’t buy it for a minute. Something made you go out there. What was it?”

I turned it over in my mind. Should I tell him the truth? The note was still in my pocket. I could show it to him. And then what? He would take it as evidence, wouldn’t he? But evidence of what? Of somebody trying to give me information? I wanted to remain open to that. And anyway, how did I know what he wanted to do with it?

Okay, enough with this wishy-washy stuff. A few days ago, I would have shown him right away. But I trusted him then. Now—not so much.
 

“I went out to get some air,” I said, trying to sound sassy. “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”

He growled. At least, that was what it sounded like. “C’mon Mele. I know you better than that. You wouldn’t go into a dark, spooky courtyard full of possums for no reason.”

“Maybe you don’t know me at all. I could be the world’s leading possum fan for all you know. And anyway, I didn’t know about the possums at the time. I didn’t know until you uncovered their hiding place. So you see, it’s not so strange after all. I just thought it was a place to get some cool air.”

“Right.”

We trudged along without speaking for a few minutes. I knew he was frustrated with me, but I didn’t really care. After all, he’d pretty much given signs that said there was nothing between us. So why should I go out of my way for him?
 

Okay, I knew that was bratty and obnoxious, but that was the way I was going to play it tonight. Show me some interest, show me some appreciation and affection, and I’m yours forever. Show me disinterest and lack of appeal, and I’m grumpy. It’s just human nature-or at least, it’s my nature.
 

So there!

“How’s the investigation going?” I asked him.
 

“We’ve got some suspects.”

“Persons of interest?” I asked, not trying to hide my sarcastic take on it all.
 

“You could say that.”

“Am I still one of them?”

He hesitated, then turned and faced me. “You know, you wouldn’t be if you’d just be honest with the captain. You act like this is some sort of cat and mouse game. It’s not. You can get into real trouble if you’re not careful.”

“Gee, you said that like you actually cared,” I said, still with the sarcasm.
 

He swung around and grabbed me by the shoulders. “Mele, come on. Take this seriously. I keep trying to convince the captain that you’re as innocent as a newborn lamb, but he’s seeing things differently right now.”

“A newborn lamb?” I said in horror. “What the hell do you take me for? Some little cuddly creature? I’m a woman, full grown. And I can take care of myself.”

“Can you?”

He still had my shoulders and he stared down at me. He looked like he wanted to kiss me. I swear that was in his eyes. And I don’t make these things up out of whole cloth like some women do. I was sure that was what he wanted. I waited, bated breath and all, wondering what I was going to do if he tried it, and he looked at my mouth and I was so sure….

But no. He had second thoughts. He growled again and pulled away, turning and beginning to walk the lines of the vineyard between the well-trimmed vines. I came along beside him, wondering what I was doing wrong.
 

“Remember the good old days, when we were on the same side?” I said mockingly. “Ah, how I long for those times.”

“Cut it out,” was all he said, and we didn’t speak again until we’d turned back down and headed for Bebe’s house.
 

“So what did you do with the parrot?” I asked as we trudged along.
 

He knew what I was talking about right away. “He’s at my apartment,” he said, and he didn’t sound like this was cheery information to him.
 

“No kidding?”

“No kidding.”

“For how long?”

“Until I kill the bastard.”

I suppressed a chuckle. “That bad, huh?”

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it.”

I shrugged. “How about all those guns? Where did they go?”

“Guns?” He looked at me quizzically. “What guns?”

I stared at him. “The guns. The Fort Knox guns. Didn’t you find a ton of guns in his place?”

He shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

“Oh. Hmm.” I stared straight ahead and didn’t say anything for a few minutes. Even I had seen the guns the first time I went to that house. If they weren’t there after Ned was killed—where were they?

“So are you going to tell me why you were out by the fountain?”

I stared at him in the moonlight. I didn’t want to. But he did take the parrot. Good deeds deserve rewards. And anyway, I knew what the note said. I didn’t need it to remind me. Maybe they could analyze the handwriting or something. I pulled it out of my pocket and handed it to him. He stared at it. The moon was high by now and he could read it without a light. He looked at me.
 

“Who wrote this?”

I shrugged. “Your guess is probably better than mine,” I said. “I haven’t got a clue. A young kid put it in my hand and by the time I realized what it was, he was gone. I don’t know who he was. I don’t know who wrote the note. I’m giving it to you and all I ask it that you tell me when you find out who wrote it. Tell me who, tell me why. Okay?”

He nodded. “Okay.” Then looked at me sideways, hesitating as though he wasn’t sure if he should go on.
 

I looked at him and sighed. I knew he was holding something back. “Information is a two way street,” I said softly.

Suddenly, he grinned. “Okay,” he said, waving the note at me. “I think I know who wrote this. I got a note from her too.”

“You did? What did it say?”

“The same sort of thing you got. Only I caught her leaving it on my car, so I got a chance to question her. And then I did some digging. And we may be about to arrest her.”

I threw out my hands, astonished. “Okay, okay. No need for the major build up. Tell me who already!”

“Her name’s Peggy Sanders. She’s the one who shook up the coffee bar the other day when she recommended you shoot Ned between the eyes.”

I gaped at him. “But wait. That means she went right over to the house after we saw her at Jill’s. Because he was definitely dead by the time I got there.”

He shrugged. “We’re checking out her alibi. But here’s the relevant background. She’s actually been to prison before. She did eight years for attempted murder.”

“No! Who was she trying to kill?”

“Ned.”

That was a stunner. “Holy kittens.”

“Yeah, she was his housekeeper and she poisoned him.”

I shook my head, marveling. “No lead between the eyes stuff for her, huh?”

“Nope.”

Suddenly I thought of Peg’s sister, Sue Hatcher, who’d introduced herself to me at the meeting. She didn’t look like a woman whose sister had been in prison for attempted murder. It just showed, you never could tell. Crazy Peg, doing time.
 

“But she still holds a grudge.” I grinned at him. “So I guess I’m off the hook, right?” That was a relief. “And now your captain can forget that I exist.”

“Don’t hold your breath on that one.”

“Why? What do you mean?”

But he was already moving on. Reaching out, he touched my cheek for just a second, then smiled at me as he stuffed the paper I’d given him into his pocket. “Okay Mele….thanks.”

“Sure.” I nodded back. It was nice to think we might be friends again. Unfortunately, it gave me a surge of good feeling that led to a mistake. “And hey, if you want, I’ll take that parrot off your hands. I’ve always wanted to spend some time with a parrot. Maybe this could be it.”

“Seriously?”

He looked as though he couldn’t believe that I would voluntarily take over that hellish job. I knew I was probably going to regret this.

“Seriously.”

“You got it,” he said. “Here’s my address.” He pulled out his cop card and wrote on it, then handed it to me. My heart did a little twirly dance and I was suddenly out of breath. Was I finally going to find out what his first name was? Not knowing had gone on so long it was too embarrassing to ask at this point. But his card! That should have it. Yeah!

“Hey, thanks for doing this,” he said, then hesitated. “But…uh…call first, okay?”

“Sure.” But that admonition put a pall on the whole thing. All the excitement just drained away. Why did he want me to call first? Was there someone there I was going to be unhappy about seeing? Oh shoot. I’d been down this road too many times. Where could I find a guy who came without old relationships attached?

And what the heck was I going to do with a parrot? Maybe feed it to the cats….