Marty Ambrose - Mango Bay 03 - Murder in the Mangroves (22 page)

“Sandy, you’re a genius!” I sang out. “And send Tiko my
compliments.”

“Done”

As the caffeine jolted my brain out of its semistupor, something clicked. “Did you say `Finch and Harris’?”

She nodded.

“Funny you should mention Homer Finch. In those mango
articles that you gave me, there was a picture of Finch’s
father-“

“Old Judge Finch. He lived on Coral Island most of his life.
His son, Homer, followed in his footsteps and went to law
school at the University of Florida”

“I met Homer at Island Decor a few days ago. He seemed…
surly.”

“He’s got the personality of a limp fish, but his advertisement did get that crummy engine out of here.” Sandy positioned the poster so it faced the front door. “And he’s respected
enough to be one of the Mango Queen contest judges.”

I blinked. “He was a judge?”

“Yup. Rumor has it that he was the deciding vote for Gina.”

Homer Finch had made Gina the Mango Queen. Could it
be mere coincidence?

Or something more?

Just then, the phone rang, and I picked up.

“Mallie, this is Nick Billie. I’m bringing in Rivas Fernandez for questioning in Gina’s death”

I gasped. Not Rivas.

He couldn’t be Gina’s killer, could he?

.ave you charged him?” I asked, my hand tightening around
the receiver.

“Not formally. But his fingerprints were found on Gina’s
insulin testing kit and-“

“But he’s her brother. It’s likely that he touched the kit because they lived in the same house” I met Sandy’s alarmed
look. She mouthed Rivas’ name, and I nodded.

“His prints were also found in Island Decor’s stockroom
when I investigated the possible break-in, and Isabel said he
hadn’t been around there for months,” Nick continued.

“Oh” That was harder to explain away. “May I come by
to-

“No” His voice was firm, final.

“Then why did you call me?”

“I wanted to give you a heads-up, the promise of an exclusive story when I make an arrest, and get your agreement
to pull back on any further investigations on Gina’s death
till I call you”

“But-“

“Mallie, I’m not asking this as the island cop, but as a …
friend. Trust me just this once.”

I raised my eyes to the ceiling in frustration. How could I
turn down such an appeal? “Well … I’ve got to clear it with
Bernice, and she’s out today.”

“Does that mean you’ll sit tight?”

“Define ‘tight.”’

His voice took on a distinct edge. “Stay out of trouble.” He
said each word slowly, carefully.

“I promise I won’t do anything without calling you first” I
hung up before he could respond.

“He doesn’t actually think Rivas killed Gina?” Sandy asked.

“Dunno. Nick said he was only questioning him. There were
incriminating fingerprints at Island Decor….”

“Did you tell Nick about the phone calls and the sliced-up
photo?”

I looked down at my hands, suddenly preoccupied with a
dry cuticle.

“I figured you didn’t. That’s why I had to take matters into
my own hands”

“Uh-oh” My head jerked upward. “What did you do?”

She shrugged and pursed her mouth. “I called for an expert
to help protect you”

“A bodyguard?”

“Nope.. ” Just at that moment, the door was flung open,
and Madame Geri strolled in, wearing a fifties-style rockabilly dress with platform sandals-and Marley at her side, of
course.

“Oh, no” I held up my hands as if to ward off an evil spirit.

“She has to cleanse your aura, or you’ll be in grave danger,”
Sandy protested.

Madame Geri moved toward me, a black velvet bag in hand.
“Everything on this island is out of balance right now-you, the mangos, the newspaper. Things are dying, withering on
the vine, and we must work together to bring order back.” Her
words rang out forcefully. I suppose I would’ve taken her more
seriously if she hadn’t been wearing earrings in the shape of
pink owls.

“Just let her do her thingplease.” Sandy helped her unfold a dark cloth and place it across my desk. With a flourish,
Madame Geri set her bag on top and pulled out her exorcism
gear.

My eyes widened as she produced a gem-studded wand, a
jar of glittery dust, a tiny silver bell, and a bag of Cheetos. She
opened the latter and helped herself to a few pieces, then offered some to me and Sandy. I took her up on the offer. What
the heck. A few Cheetos might make the whole process easier
to stomach-literally. Sandy declined.

“Is this going to take long?” I asked, eyeing the wand. That
thing looked almost lethal. A couple of whaps on the head
could probably knock someone out.

“As long as it needs to” Madame Geri threw some of the
shimmery dust on me.

I coughed.

Then she started chanting in a low voice.

“Thank goodness Bernice couldn’t make it into work today
to see this. I’d never live it down” Blinking the dust away, I
helped myself to another handful of Cheetos.

“Bernice’s life will be very unpleasant till I take off the
curse” Madame Geri reached for the wand. “No one can resist its power.”

Sandy bowed her head in respect. I rolled my eyes and submitted to another sprinkling of dust. This time, I knew what
was coming and closed my eyes and held my breath.

Then she picked up the wand and waved it in a series of circular motions.

Right at that point, the phone rang. No one moved. It kept
on ringing.

“May I take that?” I finally piped up.

Madame Geri nodded, without a pause in her chanting.

I picked up the receiver, careful not to entangle the cord in
Madame Geri’s wand. “Hello?”

“Mallie? This is Isabel Morales.”

I took in a quick breath. “Did you find something?”

“Did I ever! I played around on Gina’s laptop till I figured
out her password: honeybuns. That’s what she called Brett:
herhoneybuns”

Jeez.

“You were right; she kept a second set of accounts on it.
The missing bill she invoiced the morning she died was from
Homer Finch for a full day of `legal services.’” She paused.
“Gina paid him only a hundred and fifty dollars.”

“That’s all? Attorneys make more than that per hour.” My
brow knit in puzzlement. “Then Homer’s bill had to be for
something else … something he wanted to hide. Could it be
connected with your decorating business? Had Gina asked
Homer to do some legal work for Island Decor?”

“No. I would’ve known about that. Gina and I made all our
business decisions together.”

“Then it had to be personal,” I mused. Madame Geri upped
the volume on her chant and began to ring the bell right next
to the receiver. Groaning inwardly, I shifted the phone to the
opposite ear.

“What? I didn’t hear you,” Isabel exclaimed.

“Sorry. Madame Geri is doing some kind of aura
cleansing-“

“Wow. You lucky girl. I’ve tried to get her to do me forever.
She’s booked almost a year ahead”

“Yeah, fortune is smiling down on me”

Madame Geri covered me with another wave of glitter dust.
The wand circled faster and faster. Marley flapped his wings.
I was getting dizzy and could barely breathe.

“Okay, that’s enough-I can’t think or hear.” I jumped to
my feet, placing a hand over the receiver’s mouthpiece.

Madame Geri halted ringing the bell. “But I’m not finished.”

“I don’t care. I’d prefer having a dirty aura to this New Age
nuttiness.” I held up the phone as if it were a talisman warding
her off. “Now, back away.”

Madame Geri drew up to her full five-foot-two height and
glared at me, and Marley seemed to mirror her affronted expression. Then, she took a step backward.

“Mallie? Mallie?” Isabel’s voice came through the phone
with a muffled sound.

“I’m here.” I kept a wary eye on our resident psychic.
“Um … make a copy of the bill, and take it over to Detective
Billie. He’ll want to see it right away.”

She agreed and hung up. I needed to talk to Mama Maria
again. She might know why Gina had hired Homer.

Madame Geri set the wand and bell on the velvet square.
The glitter-dust jar was empty. “The only reason I stopped is
because the spirit world directed me to. They told me that your
aura is your destiny, and it needs to remain unchanged”

“What does that mean?”

“You’re on the path you need to be on”

Ironically, I felt let down. “After all that rigmarole, I’m not
even partially cleansed?”

She folded up the psychic paraphernalia inside the velvet
cloth. “I placed a protection spell on you. That may help.”

“Gee, thanks”

“What about the mango balance?” Sandy rushed to help her
tidy up the rest of her aura-cleansing gear.

Madame Geri’s mouth turned down. “The island fruit will
not flourish till the murderer is brought to justice.” She turned
to me. “I’m ready.”

“For what?”

“To go with you to see Mama Maria.” She tucked her bag
under her arm, keeping Marley close. “Let’s roll.”

I gritted my teeth. How in the world did she do that? I absolutely and unequivocally refused to believe that she was the
real deal. I’d worked a psychic hotline as one of my many
undistinguished jobs, and I knew for certain that those Miss
Mystic Wannabees couldn’t foretell a hurricane if they were
standing in gale-force winds. “Just keep that bird under control. I don’t want him messing up my truck.”

“That would be a crime.” Madame Geri stroked his turquoise
feathers.

“Hey, watch it. My poor old truck, Rusty, is doing the best he
can. So he’s had some deterioration. I like to see what you’d
look like after pulling a four-thousand-pound Airstream.”

“Uh-huh” Madame Geri pivoted and headed for the door. I
followed her out to Rusty. We both climbed in and immediately rolled down the windows, the heat from the seats enveloping us in a suffocating embrace. Even Marley seemed to
droop a bit.

I cranked the engine. After a few attempts, it roared into
life and provided a meager wisp of air-conditioning. We left
the windows partially lowered.

“By the way, anyone could’ve guessed that I was heading to
Mama Maria’s.”

Madame Geri said nothing.

“It makes sense. I needed more information about Gina.”

Her silence continued.

“A child could’ve predicted that.”

She smiled.

Drat her anyway.

By the time we pulled up to Mama Maria’s restaurant, it
was close to lunchtime. The lovely aroma of fried food wafted
out and assailed my senses, and for a moment, I was lost in a
fantasy of burritos, tacos, and enchiladas. Yum.

Then I remembered why we were there.

I parked Rusty and took a few seconds to gather my thoughts.
“I don’t want to upset Mama Maria, but I need to know why
Gina hired Homer Finch to do legal work for her.”

“You can count on Marley and me to help. I’ll know just
what to say.”

Oh, goody.

We entered the restaurant and caused an immediate stir
among several lunchtime diners. I knew better than to think I
had much to do with the reaction. It was Madame Geri. People
practically bowed in awed respect everywhere she went on the
island. I found it irritating as all get-out, but what the heck?
People preferred phony psychics to nosy reporters any day.

“Is Mama Maria around?” I asked one of the teenage waitresses. She had blond hair and a sweet face.

“Round back in her house, I think,” the young girl said. “She
got really upset this morning when the policeman came for
Rivas.”

“Oh, no” I motioned Madame Geri to follow me through to
the back door.

The blond placed a hand on my companion’s arm. “Madame
Geri, my boyfriend, Buzzy, says he doesn’t want to get married.
Do you think I should stick around and wait till he’s ready?”

Madame Geri paused, presumably for an instant message
from the spirit world. “You might need to move on…. Sorry,
my dear.”

The girl’s lower lip quivered, and tears filmed her eyes. “I
knew that. But I just didn’t want to believe it.”