Ghost On Duty (Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 2) (9 page)

I gaped at him. After all, it hadn’t been much more than half an hour since I left the place. “How did you know that? Who told you?”

He shrugged, looking very nonchalant. “I hear things. I’m a trusted member of the class of people who run things in this town.”

I cringed a little at the way he said that. But he was probably right. After all, his family had practically founded the place. So I let him in, offered him iced tea, and we sat in the sun porch among Bebe’s many green houseplants. I felt a little uncomfortable. He looked like he was anticipating real news. I glanced around the room, hoping Dante might show up, but I didn’t catch sight of him.
 

So I sighed and settled back and told him the whole story. I figured—might as well. As a member of the “ruling” class, he was going to know it all soon enough anyway. Heh.

He listened carefully, studying each of my statements in turn, as though he was going to learn something. Then when I didn’t come up with anything really new, except my getting shot at—he looked disappointed.
 

“The man who shot at you. What did he look like?”

“A homeless person. But younger than you would think. He looked as though he lived right out there in the woods someplace. Maybe in a treehouse or something. His hair was dark and wild around his head, as though it hadn’t been combed for a long time. But the funny thing was, he did wear a red scarf around his neck. And I’m pretty sure I saw him back there in the trees behind the house the day I found Ned’s body. So he might have been there when the murderer struck.”

Lance raised an elegant eyebrow as he stared at me. “Or he might have been the murderer himself,” he noted.

I had to give him that one. “Yes. He might have been.”

Lance seemed to remember, suddenly, that he was smitten with me and he took my hand and looked deeply into my eyes. “Thank you for being so honest and forthright, Mele,” he said earnestly. “You’ve been a big help.”

I suddenly remembered the brochure. Where had I put it? I looked around the room and there it was on the side table. Picking it up, I handed it to him.
 

“Lance, I wish you’d explain this to me. I hear you’ve been passing these out. But they seem to be encouraging Village people to sell out to a developer, and I don’t understand how this squares with your passion for the pageant.”

He frowned, displeased. “Who told you I was passing these out?” he said. He crumpled the brochure in his hand. “Pure garbage. Don’t give it another thought.”

“Oh. But…”

He was smiling again, completely dismissing the issue of the brochure as he leaned toward me again. “I wish I could take you to dinner tonight. We have some very good restaurants here in North Destiny Bay. But I’m afraid I have a very important appointment. Something I can’t avoid.”

I smiled at him and despite everything, I felt warmed by his obvious attraction, as I always was. “No problem. I have some things I have to do as well. Some other time?”

“Of course.”
 

Leaning forward, he dropped a kiss on my lips. I blinked, surprised, and suddenly glad Dante wasn’t there, cause I wouldn’t want to have to explain myself. But I couldn’t say I didn’t like it, and I smiled again. He drew back, patted my hand and rose to leave.
 

“You’ll call me if any other surprising developments pop up?” he asked. “You seem to be the one with all the news.”

“Of course,” I said, and showed him out. He drove off with a cheery wave and I wondered if he and I were meant to be.
 

“Hardly,” I told myself with a sigh. “He’ll realize soon enough that I’m probably not ruling class material. Oh well.”

I looked up the address of the printer where I was to go to pick up the ballots. It was right downtown. I’d probably walked past it a dozen times. I’d just picked up my keys and started toward the door when my phone rang. I took a look. It was Peg. I juggled the phone and the keys, trying to get the door open while I talked to her.
 

“Hey Peg,” I said to begin. “You haven’t been arrested yet?”

“No.” She sounded affronted that I put it that way and to tell the truth, I regretted it.
 

“Oh. Well that’s good.”

“Is it?”

I sighed.
 

“Well?” she went on brusquely. “Did you talk to Bobby?”

“Yes, I did. And Peg—I think you’re barking up the wrong tree there. He’s a hustler, but he’s not a murderer.”

“Oh yeah? Are you kidding? You’re going to tell me about murderers? What do you know about murderers? Huh? You don’t know a thing.”

Peg was not endearing herself to me with this attitude. I tried to break into her incipient rant, but she left no convenient opening.
 

“You’re like a babe in the woods. What do you know about murder? Do you know how to poison a man? Huh? Do you know how to make car accidents happen? What do you know about guns? You’ve probably never even held a gun in your hands. Have you? Huh?”

“No. But I was shot at today.”

That shut her up, but not for long. Still, when she started up again, her voice had a whole different quality.
 

“Who? What happened? Was it Bobby?”

“No, it was not Bobby. I went out to Ned’s house to look around and some wild haired guy in ragged clothes and a red scarf came out of the forest behind the house and took a shot at me. So don’t tell me I don’t know anything about murder. I’ll bet the same guy who tried to kill me killed Ned.”

“A red….no!” Her voice was shaking. “Oh no. Not Jasper! Don’t let it be Jasper.”

“What? Who’s Jasper?”

“No!” she half-sobbed, and broke off the connection.
 

I tried to call her back but it was no use. Who on earth was Jasper and why did she care so much?
 

A new mystery. I was getting tired of them.
 

I found a parking place on the street downtown, about a block from the printer. It was already four thirty so I was in a bit of a hurry. I had to walk past the ground floor of the Excelsior Hotel to get there, and just as I was making that trip, I caught sight of Lance going in the large glass front door.
 

For some reason, instead of hailing him and laughing about the coincidence of us meeting this way again after less than half an hour since we’d said goodbye, I found myself drawing back into the foliage that filled the front area and watching him. He walked into the lobby, checked his watch impatiently, then went over to the bank of elevators and stood watching as one after another, each of the six cars emptied out its occupants. He was waiting for someone to come down from his room. I watched, biting my lip. Why did I care? I was half angry with myself for spying like this. But somehow, I couldn’t stop.
 

And then I saw who he was waiting for. I did a double take, thinking it must just be someone who looked like Gary Kramer. I mean, Gary Kramer was the environmental activist saintly person who was hiking the Pacific Trail and camping out at night—living with nature. Wasn’t he?

Or maybe not. He seemed instead to be the guy with money and a cushy position in life if he could afford night after night at the Excelsior. No wonder he turned down Bebe’s offer of sleeping on her couch!

And what on earth could Lance have to talk to him about?

They seemed to be on friendly terms. After talking for a moment, they went into the hotel lounge together and I assume they were going to have a drink. I didn’t go in. I didn’t see how I could pull that off without being seen. Besides, the printer was going to close for the night. So I came out of the greenery and headed over there, thinking hard all the time. What was Lance up to?

I got the ballots. The box wasn’t really heavy and I considered going into the hotel as I walked back by it. Then I reconsidered. What on earth could my reasoning be for trailing those two men into the bar? I could just see myself trying to explain that one and I gave up without too much regret. After all, what did I care what Lance and Gary had in common?

It was already getting dark out and Christmas lights were coming on all up and down the street. Despite the depressing things I’d been involved in lately, holiday lights always lifted my spirits. And I don’t think I’m the only one—people I passed seemed more ready to smile than they’d been earlier.
 

Christmas. A magic time.
 

I took the ballots home for Bebe to deliver in the morning, and then I made myself a little sandwich—left-over shredded kalua pork on some sweet rolls, Hawaiian style, with a little coleslaw and barbecue sauce. Yummy.
 

Aunty Jane stuck her head into the kitchen. “You got company,” she whispered, then vanished.

Chapter Ten

I listened. Sure enough, there went the doorbell. “Thanks, Aunty,” I called out, just so she knew she was appreciated. I went to the front door.
 

And there was Roy, holding Silver in his arms.
 

“Oh!” I muted my first instinct, which was to shriek with happiness, knowing that was usually the worst way possible to greet a cat. Instead I backed off and let Roy put Silver down on the entryway rug, then I closed the door quickly.
 

“Gotcha!” I told the beautiful cat gently. He shook his head and looked around the room as though worried that Sami would leap out and grab him. But I knew Bebe’s gorgeous black cat was out in the back yard with Aunty Jane. I looked up at Roy.
 

“Where did you find him?”

“Out at Ned’s,” he said. “He was meowing around the front door when I got there. At first he didn’t want to be caught, but I lulled him into feeling like we were pals and then I snatched him up and put him in my car.”

I laughed. “Thank you so much! I was really worried about him.”

“Better keep him in for a few days until he learns to see you as his new people.”

“That’s what I was trying to do, but he’s pretty sneaky.” I smiled at Roy, being sweet, hoping for the best.
 

“I still haven’t come by to get the parrot. Are you going to be home tomorrow? I could come by then.”

He looked at me with narrowed eyes, speculating.
 

“What is it?” I asked him.
 

“I’m just trying to imagine how you’re going to get along with this parrot,” he said. I could see that the whole thing amused him and I began to wonder why.
 

“How come? Does he use a lot of filthy language?”

He grinned. “Of course. He’s a parrot.”

“Okay.” I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to look tough. Well, challenging at least. “What does he say?”

His crooked grin told me he thought I wasn’t going to like it. “Parrot stuff. You know.” He raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you hear him the first time you went to visit Ned?”

I thought about that, trying to remember. “I guess so. Oh yeah, I think he was saying things like ‘pretty girl’ over and over again. It was sort of embarrassing, but I wasn’t paying much attention because I was too busy arguing with Ned.” I made a face. “What’s the parrot’s name?”

“His name is Barnaby.”

“I never did see him. I only heard him, What does he look like?”

Roy made a face. “I don’t know. Red and green feathers, big beak, black tail.”

I put my head to the side the stared at him. “So what does he say exactly?”

He started to laugh. “You’re not going to like it.”

“I get the picture. But what does he say?”

He hesitated. “I think we ought to wait and let you experience that for yourself.”

I frowned, getting frustrated. “I can handle obscenities.”

“Can you?”

“Yes!”

“It’s not the obscenities I’m worried about. There’s a common three word saying that’s his favorite. Simple but pertinent, I think.” He grinned again, clearly enjoying this, clearly pretty sure I was going to hate it. “But something tells me it’s not going to be one of your favorites.”

“What is it?”

“It’s no big deal. It might startle you now and then. But you can handle that. You just said so.”

“Come on, Roy. What does he say?”

“Well, mainly what he says is……” He hesitated, then laughed. “Nah. I can’t tell you that. Let it be a surprise.”

“Oh!” I went like I was going to beat my fists against his chest in frustration and he grabbed me, still laughing, and pulled me close.
 

“Hey,” he said, looking down at me.
 

I went all wobbly and weak in the knees. Boy, I really wanted him to kiss me about then. I thought he was going to—again! And he didn’t-again!

I had to admit, this was a true contrast to my bemused reception of a quick, superficial kiss from Lance. That hadn’t ruffled a feather as far as I was concerned—while just the thought of getting something a bit more from Roy was sending my pulse into orbit.
 

I had to make the call—no, it looked like I wasn’t going to fall for the rich guy. Too bad.
 

Thinking back on it later, I wondered how I could be so lame-brained. Roy was obviously not kissing me on purpose. He seemed to think there was something honorable in holding back. I thought that was nuts and I got a little pouty, but still, I didn’t want him to go.
 

 
“Have you had dinner? We’ve got some really good Kalua Pork. Makes great sandwiches.”
 

He hesitated. That made me wonder again who else he had on the line—who might be back at his apartment waiting for him to come home. But he gave me a smile and said, “Sounds great.”

He followed me into the kitchen. Silver was there, ruling his corner as though he’d never been gone and giving the detective a wicked stare.

“Looks like he holds a grudge,” I mentioned.

Roy laughed, then held out his hand so I could see some scratches he’d earned from the capture.
 

“Ouch.” I glared at the cat. “You’d better not do that to me,” I warned him.

I could have sworn that was a grin he gave me back.

I knew Sami was outside and I decided he’d better stay out there for now. He liked to hang out with Aunty Jane anyway. The two cats had not shown any evidence of wanting to be pals, so maybe it would be better to leave some space between them for now.