Little Ghost Lost (Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 5) (9 page)

He stared at me, made a notation on his calendar, and went on asking me about Jerry, even though he had to know by now that I couldn’t help him there. I had very little to contribute. And then I remembered what I’d seen as we were leaving the neighborhood.
 

“Okay, here’s something that made me look twice,” I said. “Just was I was pulling out of the Pennington driveway, I saw my boss arriving at Celinda’s house. You were there. What was he doing there?”

He looked up at me and shrugged. “They used to be married,” he said.
 

My eyes widened in surprise. “Who used to be married?”

“Celinda and Vance. Didn’t you know that?”

I shook my head slowly. “No,” I said, still reeling with the news. “I did not know that. Wow. How long ago was that?”

He leaned back, thinking. “Let’s see. They got married right out of high school as I remember, and headed for Hollywood. She was going to art school and he was going to be an actor. Ten years later they were both back, no longer married and Vance was no longer an actor. He was working for the city. Celinda was still painting, though. I guess you know that.”

I nodded. “Yes. She’s been really successful from what I hear.”

“I’ve heard the same.”

My mind was working now. I couldn’t keep from letting it show. “Hmm,” I said mostly to myself. “So if Vance goes running to Celinda’s aid like that, there must still be warm feelings of some kind between them. You don’t suppose he was jealous of Jerry and…?”

He held up a hand just like an old-fashioned traffic cop. “Stop!” he ordered. “Cut it out. You are not here to solve anything, just give facts. You got it?”

I nodded, and I tried to stifle my grin, but I couldn’t hold it back. The corners of my mouth began to curl.
 

“I got it,” I said. “I got it and you know very well, I’m only doing what comes naturally. You can yell ‘stop!’ all you want, it’s not going to change the direction of the tide.”

He stared at me, probably shocked that I would talk that way. And to tell the truth, I was a little shocked too. But what the heck! I had to be honest with the man. Something told me we would be on much more solid ground in our relationship if we were more honest with each other.

 
There was a muscle working in his jaw and I had the feeling he would like to say a few sharp words, but something was holding him back. It wasn’t long before I realized what that was.
 

He swung away from me, back toward his laptop and finished up typing my statement, then printed it and handed me a copy and a pen.
 

“Sign please,” he said, his voice tight. “After checking it out, of course.”

“Of course,” I echoed, giving it a glance and signing it. “Anything else?”

He hesitated, then leaned toward me. “Yes. I have something I want to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” I looked toward the door, wishing I was already up and on my way out. “What is that?”

“Your Aunt Bebe.”

I stared at him. “No,” I said. “No, I won’t discuss her. I won’t tell you her secrets. I won’t….”

“Mele, will you just listen for a change?”

I took a deep breath. “Okay,” I said. “What do you want?”

“I…uh…I just talked to Bebe a little while ago. She…she cancelled our date for tonight. She said she had to babysit.” He gave me a quizzical look. “Babysit. Do you have any idea what she was talking about?”

I shrugged. “I assume she is planning to babysit.”

He scowled. “I asked whose baby it was and she couldn’t tell me. I asked if I could help and she said no. And then she laughed.”

“Really?” I smiled, picturing that scene. “Well, you know Bebe. She does love to laugh.”

He stared at me, the very image of a man who is sure he’s being rejected. “Is she just making excuses?” he asked softly.
 

I shook my head, amazed. I’d never thought the man would let me see right into his most closely held vulnerabilities this way. I could almost like him. Almost.
 

“I’m sorry, Captain. I have no idea how she feels about you. She hasn’t told me anything. And I wouldn’t tell you if she had. You know that I couldn’t betray her that way.”

He looked away. I could tell this wasn’t easy for him.
 

“Things between your aunt and me haven’t been the same since that damn Halloween party,” he said. “She can’t seem to get over the fact that I held you for questioning in that butler’s pantry. She can’t see that I had to do that. It was part of my job. It was routine. There was nothing personal about it.”

Funny—suddenly there was a lump in my throat. I thought I was over it. In fact, I’d been annoyed at the time, but not hurt deeply, fundamentally. Bebe had been, but not me. I’d been able to laugh it off. But now, looking at it from another perspective, it seemed worse than it had then. I realized things that had only been casual thoughts at the time. He’d been on a glide path toward arresting me. Me! And on very little evidence.
 

Nothing personal? I begged to differ.
 

“If you could just explain that to Bebe, try to get her to be reasonable about it. I’d…I’d really appreciate it.”

I finally looked up and met his blue eyes. His gaze was tortured, but for some reason, it didn’t move me any longer. “Is that all?” I asked.

He stared at me, then nodded. “That’s all.”

“Good bye Captain,” I said as I rose to leave. “Have a nice rest of your day.”

I was shaking as I left his office. Anger? Pain? I wasn’t sure which. I only knew that there was no way I was going to run interference for the man. If Bebe had decided to dump him, I wasn’t going to complain.

Heck, I’d buy her an ice cream cake and we could have a “throw away the Stone party.”
 

I looked through the lobby area, but didn’t see Jill. The woman at the desk called me over to tell me Jill had gone on back to the Mocha and would meet me there. I thanked her and started out of the building.
 

Tom Hatchett pounced on me before I got two steps out the door. I swear he came bounding out of a bush and cornered me against the stonewall, babbling something about having a right to know whatever I knew about the case.
 

For just a second, I had a tiny twinge of sympathy for the guy, and that was the fatal flaw. I think he could tell, but anyway, he was insistent and I decided to talk to him now in hopes of keeping him from beginning a siege of my house.
 

“Okay, okay,” I said. “Let’s go over here on the stone bench. I’ll spill my paltry beans.”

And paltry they were. I could see the disappointment in his face as I gave him the few things I knew.
 

“I know all that already,” he said, grumbling. “I’m pretty sure I know a lot more than you do.”

“No doubt.” I grabbed my purse, preparing to flee.

“No, no!” he cried. “You can’t go. You must know something. You just spent over half an hour in there. What did you learn?”

I gave him my best long-suffering frown. “What exactly are you looking for?” I said. “Maybe if you gave me some idea…”

“Okay, okay. What I want to know is….” He leaned close and whispered near my ear. “Did anyone say anything about Celinda coming home at 2 in the morning?”

“What?” I reared back to look at him. “But she was in Cambria and had to be called to come home once the body was found.”

He sat back and looked smug. “Sure she was. But she’d been home at least once by then. I saw her.”

I frowned, thinking fast. “Are you sure it was her?”

“Oh yeah.” He nodded, looking pleased with himself. “And she wasn’t the only one. I saw Jerry get in about midnight.”

I nodded. That made sense. After all, he had to come home at some point. If he hadn’t come home, he probably wouldn’t have been murdered. I wondered what time he was killed.

Tom must have been disappointed in my lack of shock and admiration for his news, because he obviously wanted more of a reaction.
 

“So that’s not all,” he said. “I could tell you more names.”

“More names? What names?”

“People who showed up at Celinda’s house in the middle of the night. People who came back out carrying valuables that should have been left where they were.”

I wasn’t sure if he was bluffing or not. “Oh yeah? Who?”

He tried his superior smirk. “Oh no. I’m hanging on to that stuff. I might need it as a bargaining chip later on.”

My first thought was “delusions of grandeur”, but you never did know. After all, the man did keep a close eye on the street. He’d proven that.
 

“So the police didn’t know about Celinda coming home, huh?”

“I don’t think so.” I looked at him. “Why haven’t you told them?”

“Me?” He leaned back and away. “No, no no. I don’t want to get involved. I don’t want Junior after me.”

“Junior? Who’s Junior?”

He looked furtive and rose from the bench. “Nobody. It’s nobody. I’ve got to go.”

And he was gone, hurrying toward the parking lot.
 

I frowned, watching him disappear into an old sedan and roar off in a cloud of exhaust. Was he for real? Was he a little unhinged? Did he keep track of everything that happened in that neighborhood and should I tell the captain?

No. Not right now. Let him find out for himself.
 

Jill was waiting at her shop with a creamy pumpkin latte—just a small one. That taste could get cloying fast. But it was just the thing for a seasonal snack. I sat down at a small table with her and she topped it off with the most delicious peanut butter cookie I’d ever tasted.
 

“We’re testing new recipes,” she said. “We’re going for an extra crispy edge with good crunch, without burning those edges. It’s harder than you would think.”

“Hey, I volunteer for testing duty.”

She gave me a reproving glance. “We have no time for that,” she said.
 

“Really? What are we doing?”

She looked right, she looked left, then she whispered, “Sleuthing. Are you ready for it?”

I started to laugh. “Jill…”

“Eat your cookie.”

I ate my cookie. It was sooo good. I felt some of the tension of the day melting away.

The Mocha was decorated for Thanksgiving with strings of tiny orange pumpkins lit up cheerfully all around the room and the scent of nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger in the air.
 

Jill waited while I chewed and made appropriately happy noises, then said impatiently, “We’ve got a mystery on our hands. So let’s play around with the alternatives.”

I sighed. “I’m not supposed to be meddling in this case.”

“So who’s meddling? We’re just a couple of innocent on-lookers, giving vent to our suspicious minds the way people always do when they play games. Think of us as wildcat charaders. We’re just girls who want to have fun. And if we happen to get a good idea or two…”

She gave me a significant wink and I grinned.
 

“Hush, say no more,” I said with a finger to my lips. “Let’s go to the back booth where we can be private.”

We settled comfortably into the booth, out of reach of most prying eyes, and put our heads together.
 

“What did Roy have to say?” I asked, trying to seem nonchalant.
 

“Not a lot.” Jill shot me a look. “What can I tell you? He was on the phone half the time.” She smiled. “Mostly to some other officers of the law or the district attorney, or somebody. So I did glean some facts when he didn’t think I was listening.”

I was ready to learn. “Great. What did you find out?”

“Okay. First off, Celinda thinks Jerry was having an affair. Roy didn’t name the suspected lady, but I could tell it had to be Astrid.”

I nodded. “I hate to say it, but that fits right in with the vibes I was getting when she talked to Astrid yesterday. I knew she had something against her, but wasn’t sure what.” I made a face. “In fact, I sort of had a feeling there might be something going on between her and Richard.”

“Richard?” She looked blank.
 

“Richard. The silver expert who was helping Jerry sell some of his antiques.”

“Ah yes. Richard. Well, maybe both things were going on. It’s not unusual for the cheated upon to get back at the cheater by doing her own cheating for awhile.”

“True.” I cleared my throat and remembered what Tom had told me. “Okay, here’s some news. Tom Hatchett waylaid me as I was coming out of the station. He told me that Celinda showed up at her house at 2 this morning.”

“What?”

I nodded. “She must have driven down from Cambria in the middle of the night. He saw her arrive. And he also saw Jerry arrive at about midnight. So what do you think? Did she come home to kill him and then dash back to Cambria?”

Jill frowned, looking slightly distressed. “I have a real hard time thinking she could do a thing like that.”

“I know. I do too.” I thought for a minute, tracing the geometric pattern in the wooden table with my fingertip. “But if she came home at 2, and he’d been there since midnight…was he already dead?”

“Was he even still there? For all we know, he went out for midnight pizza.”

“I don’t know. Tom keeps a pretty tight watch on the street and if Jerry headed out, he would probably know it.” I sighed. “I wonder if she told the police about her 2 am visit?”

She snorted. “You put a lot of faith in that nosy neighbor.” She tapped her fingers as she thought about it. “So…do we have the time of death yet?”

I shook my head. “Not that I know of.” I sighed. “Oh, wait. I just remembered something else I learned. Are you ready for this?”

She nodded brightly. “Lay it on me, kiddo.”

“You know my boss? Good old Vlad?”

She rolled her eyes. “His real name is Vance, isn’t it? You’ve got me calling him Vlad too, and one of these days I’m going to mess up and call him Vlad to his face.”

I grinned. “I hope I’m there to witness that. Anyway, here’s the news. He used to be married to Celinda.”

I got a very satisfying stunned silence for all of twenty seconds or so.