Tea Cups and Carnage (20 page)

I think we both knew the game I was playing, but Greg gave me some rope so he wouldn’t have to say “stay out of it” all the time. Besides, the investigation I was doing was more about Kathi’s family than who had killed poor Darryl.
Keep telling yourself that lie and you’ll feel a lot better about skirting around the truth.

We walked down to the beach and when he left me at the food truck, he gave me a quick kiss. I felt his lips traveling upward to my ears and he whispered, “I was hoping to take you on the carnival rides tonight.”

My body shivered at the promise of the fun we would have together, pretending we were kids for one night. “Maybe you’ll be done before they close the area.”

He grinned. “I’m going to try my best. Come find me when you close up the truck.”

And with that, he was gone, taking the stairs two at a time and jogging over to where I could see the blinking lights on the edge of the beach. The crowd had thinned and when I entered the food truck, Sasha was the only one there.

“Hey, boss.” She looked up from the book she’d been reading as she sat on a stool near the window in case a customer approached. Glancing at the clock, she shrugged. “I didn’t expect you for another hour.”

“Greg had to come down and deal with something.” I wasn’t sure why I was couching my words, the information would be on the late news tonight. South Cove festival costs one man his pride, I could hear the headlines now. Or, more than his pride. I hoped Blake was just roughed up, not seriously hurt.

Sasha yawned and put a book mark to mark her place. “I sent Nick home about an hour ago. We were so slow, he cleaned everything twice, just to make sure I wouldn’t get hit with a rush and he wouldn’t be here to help. He’s a good egg.”

“Yes, he is.” I looked out on the darkening parking lot. “Let’s close up. It’s Sunday and we both need some time to rest up for next week. Do you have plans tomorrow?”

She held up the book. “Other than finishing this, nothing. Olivia is with her grandmother this week. They’re doing vacation bible school and Mom thought it would be easier for her just to stay over.”

“A childless week? What will you do with yourself?” I pulled out the cash drawer and started putting away the money into the bank bag, counting as I went.

Sasha pulled down the windows and started cleaning out the coffeepots. She paused and stared at me. “I don’t know. It’s been so long since I didn’t have little-miss-tag-along to take care of, I’m not sure what people who don’t have kids do with their free time.”

I closed down the truck and sent Sasha home with a few ideas of what she could do this week. When I’d listed off a long bath, she brightened and laughed. “Do you know how long it’s been since I could just soak in the tub? I’m pouring a glass of wine, running a hot bath and staying there until I finish this book or the water turns cold.”

I watched her drive away and turned back to the beach. The moon lit up the beach near the water. The rest of the sand was lit by little white lights that Mary had ordered to be hung from booth to booth. And of course the bandstand had stage lights. I glanced over that way to see if the ambulance had left, or if lights still flashed.

No lights, no truck, no Greg. I scanned the beach but didn’t see him. He might have gone back to the station to do the paperwork on Blake’s incident or he may just be wandering through the crowds. I decided to take one quick stroll through the festival to see if I could find him before heading home. The idea of taking on a few of the rides made my knees a little weak, but I’d love it once the ride was over.

Many of the businesses on Main Street had opened small booths for their wares. The Glass Slipper had a booth and as I walked by, the wind chimes jingled lightly in the breeze, causing the shop’s owner, Marie Jones, to look my way. She smiled and gave me a nod of her head. The woman was amazingly strong and recently had been able to deal with the impromptu appearance of an abusive husband that she’d thought she’d left behind long ago.

I didn’t stop, knowing that Marie liked it when the shop was quiet. She was a lot like me in that regard, she liked her own space and the hard sell would never be in her tool box. People could like her stuff or not, she didn’t really care.

I found Greg over near the dart toss, watching as Nick ran the game. Time after time, Nick broke the balloon, trading his prizes for the next size up, until he finally had a large stuffed dog. He took the dog under his arm and turned around, noticing Greg and I, standing together.

“Now that’s something I never expected.” He grinned at the two of us, standing together. “Mom said you guys were dating, but I never saw you as a couple. You’re both too old to just be dating.”

“You’re skating on thin ice, kid.” Greg warned but in a friendly tone. “I can still run you in for loitering or something.”

“But then you’d have to deal with me losing an employee.” I joked back. “Mama don’t like it when she has to cover everyone’s shifts. Besides, I’m sure he meant that
you
were old since he’d never say that about the boss who schedules his work hours.”

Nick’s face turned so red I could see it in the darkening light. “I didn’t mean to say you were old, it’s just I don’t picture people your age dating. That would be like my mom dating someone.” He caught the shock on my face and shook his head. “Man, I need to just shut up, don’t I?”

I hadn’t been reacting to Nick calling us old, but rather that he didn’t know his mom had dated Austin for several months last year. Either Sadie was very good at hiding her other life from her kid, or Nick was just too self-absorbed to notice his mom doing anything outside of the world they’d built together. “Yep, you’re getting in pretty deep. I might just let Greg arrest you.”

Greg put his arm around me and turned me toward the middle of the carnival. “Come on grandma, I want to take you on Drop of Death before I have to get you back to the old folks’ home.”

“Ah man, so not funny,” Nick called after us. “I said I was sorry, didn’t I?”

“You’re not going to let him off anytime soon, are you?” I put my arm around Greg as we walked together. “In his eyes, we probably are old. They’re the next generation, ready to rule the world.”

“Nick’s a good kid. He just needs some real life experience.” Greg pointed to the first ride, a roller coaster. “I’m not sure we’re riding anything. It looks like the place is shutting down.”

The man who had been running the ride was now pulling up the safety fences and stacking it on a trailer that had been parked behind the carnival. The man was slender, but his arms muscular and covered with tattoos. For a minute, he reminded me of the motorcycle guy. When had we first seen him, Tuesday? Had the carnival already been here, setting up? I glanced around the midway. Most of the people milling around now were carnies, the festival goers having moved to the stage where the promise of one more fireworks show was just about to start.

“Greg,” I began, then stopped. He didn’t like me investigating, but wasn’t this just a random thought? I took a deep breath and dived in. He’d probably already thought of it, but I was going to say it aloud. “Could the motorcycle guy be part of the carnival crew? This all started on Tuesday. Were they in town then?”

Greg stopped walking and looked down at me. Then he looked around the midway at the people getting ready to pack up and leave. “Hiding in plain sight,” he muttered.

I was about to ask him another question, when he stepped away from me and took out his cell. He called Toby and Tim and asked them to meet him at the midway. Then he looked at me like he’d almost forgotten I was with him.

“Sorry to do this, but can you make it home all right?”

I kissed him on the cheek. “No problem. Maybe I can find Nick to walk an old lady across the street.”

“It was a good idea, Jill. And I need to talk to the managers before everyone takes off for the next festival.” He squeezed me. “Sometimes you surprise me.”

“I hope that keeps being a good thing.” I made my way through the maze toward the parking lot. Now, everyone was at the grandstand and as I began to climb the stairs to the parking lot, I heard the first boom. I turned around and sat on the middle of the stairs to watch the show.

Twenty minutes later, the last finale burst dying down and the music ending, the crowd cheered their support. I finished climbing the stairs and was probably home before most of the festival goers had left the parking lot. Another bonus to living so close to the beach.

Emma was on edge, as she’d heard the firework booms. As I let her out, I followed her out to the porch and sat in my swing thinking about the times I’d seen the guy who had almost hit Aunt Jackie. The timing seemed right, and here I’d been, blaming everything that had gone wrong on Kathi and her extended family. Maybe this too was just a coincidence, especially if Greg did find the beefy rider hiding in the carnie crew.

Emma sat at my feet and whined, sensing my mood. Either that or telling me it was time for us to head upstairs and go to bed. I took it for the latter, and we went inside. I double-checked the locks on the doors before I went, unease still prickling under my skin.

* * * *

Monday mornings my alarm was shut off and I got up when the sun woke me. This Monday, I woke with the night still enfolding the morning, not wanting to give up its hold on the day. My coffeepot hadn’t even started brewing when I trudged downstairs to let Emma out. I’d be dead tired tonight after—no make that
during
—the council meeting, but I had too much on my mind to stay in bed any longer.

Checking my cell I saw Greg had left a short text.
One more rabbit hole dug up without a rabbit. Sorry to cut our time short for a false trail.

A lead I’d sent him on, so I wasn’t sure why he was apologizing to me. I should have been the one saying sorry. But maybe that was part of investigating, like inventing, going through all the ways it wouldn’t work before finding the one way it had.

I opened my notebook and started making a to-do list for the day. I had to drop off deposits at the bank, talk to Claire about the lost money, finish the last minute arrangements with the caterer for Friday night, write up something for a partial report to the council on the festival, stop by The Castle and The Coastal Inn and— I paused.

What was I doing at the two places where Ivy had been either staying or seen visiting? Just bringing cookies for Business-to-Business marketing? Or was I hoping that I’d learn something new about the murder or the elusive motorcycle guy who’d hurt Aunt Jackie? And, the thought popped into my head, were they really the same thing?

I added talking to Kathi to my list and then glanced in the fridge. I’d also have to make time for a grocery run as the meal we’d cooked last night had mostly come from the food Greg brought and had cleaned out what little food I’d had in the house.

The coffeepot beeped and I went to fill my cup. Time for some liquid power-up before I started my day of rest with a load of laundry and cleaning the bathrooms. As I sipped the coffee, I added one more thing to the list, after starting laundry and before the bathroom chore. Time to take Emma for a run now that the festival goers had left our beach.

We were on the home stretch of our run when I heard the sound of a Harley revving. I looked up, and stopped in my tracks. There on the edge of the hill where the parking lot sat, a black motorcycle and its oversized rider sat, watching the surf. I felt the guy’s eyes pass over me like I was just another piece of trash that had washed up from the tide.

Even from this distance, I could tell it was the same rider.

I debated going to talk to him or just calling Greg, but before I could do anything, including move from the spot I seemed glued to, the bike engine revved again and the rider turned it toward the highway and disappeared.

Now I did run toward the hill, taking the steps two at a time when I reached the entrance to the parking lot, but by the time I arrived, there was no sign of the guy either in the lot or on the highway that ran between our town and the Pacific Ocean. I walked back to the spot where he’d been parked on the grassy edge.

A piece of silver gum wrapper lay on top of the sea grass. I picked it up using the tips of my fingers to bring it closer to examine it. A strong smell of mint still hung onto the paper and I knew this had come from the rider and not been left from yesterday’s activities. I put it into the second poop bag I always kept on hand. I’d needed to add one more stop to my list, dropping this off to the police station and convincing Greg to check it for DNA or prints or something.

My cell rang as I stood there, staring at the spot. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something.

“Hey Jill, I know the shop isn’t open this morning, but any way you can drop by the bank? I’ve found your deposit.” Claire’s voice boomed over the small speaker in the phone. “Where are you? I swear I can hear gulls.”

“You can. I’m on the beach, just finishing up my run.” I pulled the phone away from my ear and check the time. “I can get there in about twenty minutes, will that work?”

“As long as you’re here before eleven. I have a meeting with my district manager in Bakerstown at noon. He’s not very happy that I terminated his little girl. I’d like to get your problem off my desk, before someone else starts sitting here.”

“That’s nice of you, but do you really think he’ll can you?” That was so cold, firing someone just because they made a good business decision.

“Let’s just say he doesn’t have a rational bone in his body. I don’t suppose you could bring me a large coffee. It’s going to be a heck of a day.”

That made me smile; no matter what, people always wanted their shot of joe in the morning. Luckily, I kept a supply of my favorites at the house to brew for my own enjoyment. “No worries, I’ll hook you up.”

An older couple slowed their pace as they heard my words. When I waved at them, they blanched white and hurried down the stairs. I’d made the wrong impression, again. I put my cell away in my tote and then looked around the area one more time. The food truck gleamed in the morning light. Add one more thing to my already crowded Monday list; I needed to get the truck moved back to its spot behind the shop.