Silence Is Golden (A Pet Psychic Mystery No. 3) (9 page)

Frankie pulled her leopard print wrap tighter around her shoulders and shoved her fingers into her spiky red hair to fluff it. "So fill me in why you arranged this dinner again."

"Because of Victoria. Josie is her cousin and she might hold some clue as to who killed her, whether she knows it or not. Thanks for coming with me, by the way. Are you cold?" I pulled my own sweater in around my neck. "I can run Goldie upstairs, and we can eat inside if you want."

"No, no." She lifted her glass of merlot. "I'll have one more of these and be toasty warm." She smiled down at Goldie, lying between our chairs with her snout on her paws. Her own dogs were warm and cozy in the buggy next to her. "Besides, she needs to know you're not going to abandon her. Goldens are people dogs. They don't like to be alone."

I thought about the mess in my bedroom. "I've noticed." I lifted my own glass of merlot. "Cheers to that and staying warm." We clinked glasses with a shared smile. I took a sip and then said, "So apparently, Victoria's Uncle Renny died and Josie—Renny's daughter—came here for the funeral. She lives in Vegas and I hate to judge her, but I'm pretty sure she's an alcoholic."

Just then, Goldie lifted her head. We followed her stare to see Josie climbing out of a cab, none too elegantly. She glanced around, spotted us and weaved her way through the crowd.

"Hey, Darwin." She greeted me with a large smile, then leaned down and scratched Goldie's head. "How's our girl doing?"

"She's doing all right," I said absentmindedly, because as Josie had bent down, the scent of lilacs wafted toward me.
What did that mean? Should I consider the lilac scent a clue once again?
I forced a smile. "Josie, this is my friend, Frankie."

Josie straightened up, wobbling a bit on her pink heels and shook Frankie's hand. "Nice to meet you, Frankie." Her gaze moved to the five carat diamond on the hand she was holding. "Holy crap, is that real?"

Frankie shot her an amused look. "That it is, darling. Why don't you have a seat?" I caught her mumbling, "Before you fall down."

 Josie plopped into a chair, flipping her long hair over one shoulder. "Thanks for hanging with me tonight, girls. Victoria used to hang out with me when I visited. Damn, I sure miss her."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Josie," Frankie offered. "Darwin was telling me you also lost your father recently?"

"Yeah. I mean, that wasn't such a shock, you know, he was old. But, Victoria—" She shook her head. "She was in the prime of her life, just starting to cut loose and enjoy herself."

"What do you mean?" I shifted uncomfortably. It felt wrong gossiping about someone who'd passed, but if her death was foul play, she deserved to have the person caught. Any information that could lead to that wasn't really gossip in my book. Besides, this is what I wanted from Josie... the inside scoop.

Our waiter came by and Josie ordered a Coke. Then she scanned the tables around us, leaned her elbows on the table and motioned for us to move in closer. "She wasn't happy with Eugene. I mean, who could be happy with a guy named Eugene, right?" she scoffed. Then she waved that thought off. "She was in love with Eugene's best friend and they finally started... you know... hooking up." Her penciled eyebrows rose high over glassy brown eyes.

Frankie and I shared a confused look as we all leaned back in our chairs.

"Josie, are you talking about Big Barnie?" I asked.

"Yeah." She frowned. "You know him?"

"No." I shook my head.
But, it's about time I did.
"I met a good friend of your father's though, Jade Harjo. She mentioned something about your dad and Eugene disagreeing on giving your father's Indian artifacts to Big Barnie to sell in his shop. That Victoria also wanted them to go to Jade."

Josie's eyes narrowed. "Huh. I have a hard time imagining that. Victoria would have done anything for Barnie." A look crossed her face I couldn't decipher. "Eugene and Barnie are having some big fight. I think it's because Eugene found out about them. I can't imagine anything else coming between them. They've been best friends since they were kids."

The waiter brought Josie's Coke and we ordered. After he left, she dug through her bag and pulled out a flask.

"Didn't realize this was bring your own booze night," Frankie teased.

"A gal's gotta save money where she can." Josie shrugged, pouring a generous dollop from the flask into her Coke, eyeing Frankie sideways. "I don't suppose you need to worry about that though."

I saw Frankie's face color and she raised an eyebrow at me. "Guess I asked for that one."

 Frankie had lived in Pirate City for a long time before she won the lottery. The place was dangerous and not for the faint of heart. Snide remarks about her not knowing what it was to be poor were never well received by her. I rested my hand on Frankie's arm, hoping to bring her down to a simmer. She took a breath and a swallow of merlot, then gave me a nod. She was okay.

"So, Josie." I changed the subject. "Your father, did he have a lot of Indian artifacts?"

"I guess." She shrugged. "His attic was full of junk. He was into all that Indian and pirate stuff. Supposedly my great-great," she paused, staring at her hand, then lifted another finger slowly, "great-granddaddy pirated with Gasparilla. That's how come there's a pirate skull on the tattoo I got in his memory." She lifted the sleeve of her sweater and showed Frankie. Then she drained half her glass, sending the ice clinking against her teeth. "I'm just grateful Victoria cleared it all out after he died. One less thing for me to do, whether I sell the house or live in it."

"Wow, that's some family history. Is that why he named you after a pirate?" I asked.

She shook her head in disgust. "Yeah, Jose Gasper... aka Gasparilla, in fact. He really wanted a boy."

"Gasparilla's just a legend, isn't it?" Frankie leaned back as the waiter came with our meals. After he served us, he placed a bowl of boiled chicken and cooked carrots on the ground for Goldie. She pushed herself up off the ground and dug in enthusiastically.

I smiled at the waiter. "Thanks, Rocco."

Josie shrugged. "My dad didn't think so. Told folks he had proof Gasparilla was real but when anyone would ask him to put his money where his mouth was, he'd just grin and wink at 'em." She frowned and looked at us sideways. "Anyways, he was just a crazy old man. Victoria was a real sweetheart, though. She didn't think it was right daddy didn't leave me the house. She told me she'd changed her will immediately so I'd have it. Just didn't think I'd be getting it so soon."

I shared a frown with Frankie.

"Your dad sounds like he was an interesting character." Frankie took a bite of steak and chewed thoughtfully. "So, what do you do out there in Vegas?"

"I work a roulette table at the Luxor. Tips are good." She pushed her salad around with her fork and stared at the night traffic, sighing. "Just not good enough."

"Is it expensive to live there?" I asked.

She nodded. "In more ways than one. But then, it's expensive to live here, too. You know Victoria left most of her family money, and believe me she had plenty of it, to the Golden Retriever Rescue. I'm sure Eugene the Bean is pretty sore about that."

"Yeah, I imagine he would be."
Time to bring up the lilac perfume.
 "Mm, you know, Josie, I can't help but ask you about that lovely perfume you're wearing."

She sniffed her wrist. "Oh, this old stuff? Victoria gave me a bottle last time I visited. Said Eugene bought her a few bottles for her birthday cause he loved the smell." She shrugged. "I get compliments on it, and it was free. Can't beat that." Then she drained her glass and changed the subject, a dark look passing over her face. "So, Darwin, tell me about the night you rescued Goldie."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Usually Sylvia unlocks the front door and strolls through with a bright smile, a "
Bom dia
!" and a box full of sweet, sticky treats. Not today. Nope, today she busted through the door, squealing and closing the distance between us surprisingly quickly in her two inch heels before she attacked me, grabbing me and jumping up and down, spinning me in circles. I found myself screaming, then laughing at her huge grin and tear-filled brown eyes. Goldie actually pushed herself up and sat there staring at us with her tongue hanging out. I think she was laughing, too.

"Sylvia!" I tried to catch my breath. "What in heaven's name has happened?"

She just squealed and thrust her left hand in front of my face. A huge, square diamond almost poked me in the eye.

"Holy heaven on a stick!" I grabbed her hand, moving it away from my eye so I could actually focus on it. "That is gorgeous! Is that... does this mean... are you and Landon engaged?"

She nodded, breathless, throwing her hand to her heart over her red silk blouse. "Oh, it was so
romântico
! He made me come up to the stage at his show last night. Then there was all this smoke, it cleared and Mage was sitting in front of me with a rose in his mouth. The ring, it was on the rose. Landon dropped to one knee in front of the whole crowd."

Mage was Landon's black German shepherd. I've seen him use Mage in his magic acts before, but I was sorry I missed this one. "Oh, that is romantic! What did he say?"

"Honestly, I was in such shock, I don't remember the words. Just his eyes, so full of emotion and his hand was shaking as he took mine. I remember, 'Will you be my wife?' and I cry as I say, 'Of course'. He puts the ring on my finger. We kiss and the crowd stands with shouts, whistles, clapping. Mage is barking. It was like a fairytale."

"Oh, Sylvia." I hugged her tight, wiping at my own eyes. "I'm so happy for you. You guys make the best couple. Congratulations."

The squealing and congratulations commenced once again as two of our regular customers came through the door and joined in the celebration.

The morning flew by amidst all the excitement. I waited until Charlie came to work and asked her to keep an eye on Goldie while I ran an errand. It was time I met this Big Barnie character.

 His shop, Treasure Coast Artifacts, wasn't hard to find online. Neither was information on him such as his real name, Barnabus Imbach, his trespassing arrest a few years back, an article on him the
Tribune
did last year and the fact he was fifty years old and never been married.
Is that because he was secretly in love with his best friend's wife?

The cab dropped me off in front of the shop. I had no idea what I would say to him. It wasn't like I could come right out and say, "So, you and Victoria were having a fling, huh?" Or, "Do you deal in illegally acquired artifacts?" Maybe just seeing what kind of person he was would give me a clue.

The inside of the shop was warm and dry and smelled like dust. I shrugged off my sweater and draped it over my straw bag as I took in the place. It was packed full of glass cases, baskets, bins, shelves and tables that held unearthed treasures of every kind. Foreign music played over the speakers. I moved deeper into the shop, spotting Big Barnie standing in front of the counter chatting with another guy. He looked like the photo that had accompanied the article in the newspaper, though his curly dark hair was a bit grown out. He was a big guy, broad shouldered and had an air of confidence about him. King of his castle. A half dozen other people meandered through the shop.

My eyes roamed over a table of animal skulls and bones. Each had a price tag. One giant bone sat at the back of the table and claimed to be from a mammoth. There were baskets of sharks' teeth and small arrowheads. I moved along the wall, studying the hanging framed glass cases with displays of larger arrowheads and spears. As I moved closer to Barnie, I stopped at a wide glass case and peered in at the fossils inside. A pair of large, blue-white rocks caught my eye because of the $950 price tag. Mammoth molars? Now that was cool. Up in the same price range were a couple of six inch Megladon sharks' teeth. I hadn't realized fossils and artifacts could fetch such a steep price. Interesting.  

I heard Big Barnie end his conversation with the guy he had been chatting with, and then he was by my side. His presence felt like a wall. He sure was a big guy. Guess that explained the nickname.

"Anything I can help you with?"

I looked up into cool gray eyes and returned his smile. "My sister lives in Georgia and just loves all things Native American. I was told you could help me out with something to send her for her birthday." Wasn't exactly a lie. I could send Willow an early birthday present.

"You came to the right place, little lady. What price range were you thinking?"

I glanced at the high-priced fossils. "You have anything under fifty dollars?"

He rubbed his meaty hands together and chuckled. "Yes ma'am. Follow me." I followed him over to the counter where he pointed to some jewelry. "I'm assuming you don't want to give her sharks' teeth or arrowheads. This jewelry is crafted by local Native Americans." He unlocked the case and pulled out a few items. "We have spiny oyster shell earrings, beaded necklaces, turquoise bracelets—"

"Oh, she would love that." I pointed to an earthy orange bracelet. "It's her favorite color."

"Ah, good choice." He pulled it from the display case. "Hand painted clay beads." He placed it in my hand.

"It's beautiful. I'll take it, thanks." I handed it back, studying him as he rang up the bracelet.
How to bring up Victoria?
I drummed my fingers on the glass counter and cleared my throat. "I'm so glad Josie recommended your shop to me. I'll have to thank her."