A Ghost in Time (Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 3) (8 page)

“Bees?” I didn’t get it. “Killer bees? What are you talking about?”

“She’s allergic to bee stings. She goes into anaphylactic shock and if she doesn’t get an antidote fast, she could die. She’d been stung before as a kid and had almost died. So whoever put that hive on her patio probably knew about that. They made sure the bees were riled up, too.”

“Did she get stung?”

“Yeah. Three stings, in fact. But she had an epi-pen to counteract the venom and her apprentices rushed her to the hospital. She was okay.”

“How awful!”

“It wasn’t a pleasant way to be almost murdered.”

I shook my head, trying to avoid thinking about how that must have felt. “Who did it?”

“We never could pin it down. It seemed an open and shut case against her sister and brother-in-law. After all, who knew better about her history with bees? But we couldn’t pin it on them. Not enough evidence.”

I mulled that over for a moment. “But they’re growers too, aren’t they? They would have beehives handy. It seems so very convenient, doesn’t it?”

“Exactly what the department felt at the time. But their hives didn’t match the one someone used against Starflower. A completely different style of hive.”

“How about Star? What did she say? Who did she think did it?”

“Star played dumb, which makes you think she knew very well who did it but didn’t want to pay them back in a public way. Something private, maybe. She was well-known for practical jokes. I’ll bet she took her revenge the old fashioned way—personally.”

I nodded slowly. “You know what? This just reaffirms my feeling that there is more to this so called accident than meets the eye.” I turned and looked at him more intently. “This whole situation doesn’t pass muster if you ask me.”

He raised a dark eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

“This whole thing. Bebe running into Star that way, out of the blue. There’s something wrong. There’s something off. I don’t know what it is, but I just feel….” My voice trailed off. I knew feelings weren’t enough and I knew he wasn’t going to go for it. But at least now my intuition had been brought up and maybe he could start preparing himself to deal with it.
 

He frowned, just like I knew he would. “Feelings aren’t evidence. They’re not even facts.”

I shook my head wishing I knew how to make him understand. “She’s giving you the best she can with all this questioning. Right now, she’s shell shocked.”

He grunted. “I think we all are.”

“You too?”

“Sure. This was a very odd thing to happen.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I know.”

He gave me a half grin and said, “Quit doing that.”

“What?” I was all innocence.
 

“That nose thing.” He shook his head. “You look so damn cute when you do it.”

I had to bite back my smile. “And that’s a problem?”
 

“For me. Yeah.”

“Why?”

He shook his head again and looked away. “It makes me want to kiss you,” he muttered.
 

I couldn’t help it. No matter how much I told myself not to fall for this guy, he kept saying things like that. I needed a keeper, someone to slap me around when I wavered. But I couldn’t resist.
 

“And
that’s
a problem?” I said again, softly.
 

He turned and looked at me and in that shining moment, I saw something I hadn’t realized before. He was trying to resist me just as much as I was pulling myself away. And neither one of us was going to succeed, at least not right now.
 

He kissed me. And I liked it! He tasted sweet and crisp, like a fresh green apple, but heat poured through me like spiked cider. Yeah, I liked it. But it only lasted a few seconds, then he pulled away and said, “There. I did it.”

That made me laugh. “Wow. Brave guy.”

“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” he said looking cocky, but he didn’t follow that up with action. For one thing, a couple of officers were coming our way and as they passed they nodded to Roy. He nodded back, then tried to ignore the way they were grinning. Pretending complete interest in the book I was reading, he picked it up and looked at the title.
 

“
’Sleuthing for the Clueless
.’” That made him sit up and take notice. He gave me an incredulous look. “What is this? How to be a detective? Seriously?” Shaking his head, he handed it back. “I don’t believe it. You’re too cute.”

“I’m serious about this.” Now I was starting to get annoyed. “Don’t patronize me!”

“I’m not. Believe me, I’m not.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “But you know, you’ve got to stop getting yourself involved in murders. It isn’t healthy.”

“This isn’t a murder,” I said defensively. “It’s an accident.”

“Really?” He shrugged. “Maybe.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. It got my hackles up. “What do you mean, maybe?”

He looked so cool and calm and sure of himself. “I never make the final call until all the evidence is in.”

“Wait a minute,” I said, one hand on his arm. I was remembering what Bebe had told me about her own doubts and hoping she hadn’t already been telling them to the police. “Are you suggesting that Bebe might have done this on purpose?”

His gaze was veiled and his chiseled chin rose, just a bit. “I said, all the evidence isn’t in.”

That sent me reeling. I could hardly believe it. “Don’t you dare go accusing her of…”

“Listen.” He stopped me.
 
“We know there was a real war going on between them. And you know it too. We know what Star wanted to do to Bebe. She wanted to have her impeached—and barring that, make her life so miserable she would quit on her own. And we know that Bebe was pretty angry about it. People heard her say some pretty tough things. There have been some tips called in about it. I’ve talked to people who would swear Bebe aimed that car on purpose.”

I thought about Bebe’s note. Was it still stuck on the fridge? I needed to take care of that right away—and that only made me more adamant.

“Ridiculous. Lies!”

“You can’t just dismiss those things. People heard them. It’s all part of the whole.” He held his hands out as though holding the world there. “The big picture.”

“
I’ll
dismiss it,” I insisted. “I’ll dismiss it all day. It’s crazy. There is no way my aunt murdered Star. No way in hell.”

He shrugged, his eyes heavy-lidded. “Evidence is going to be coming in.
 
All kinds of contradictory facts will come rolling in and we’ll have to consider everything and try to map out what belongs where and what’s serious and what’s irrelevant. We’ll piece it all together like a huge jig saw puzzle, and then we’ll have a better picture of what happened and what caused it to happen. And finally, we’ll get to the truth.”

I stared at him. He really believed that, didn’t he? Huh. Still, that was all very well, but I didn’t really care about the truth. I just wanted Bebe happy and out of this situation. It was tearing her apart and it was about to do the same to me.
 

“Listen Mele.” He reached out to touch my shoulder but I jerked it away from him.
 

He reared back. “Come on, Mele, cut it out. Don’t be like that. Be sensible.”

“I don’t want to be sensible. We’re talking about the only close blood relative I have left. The only thing I have left in this world.” My voice broke and I swore softly, wishing I could control these emotions better. Okay, so I was getting a little melodramatic. I was feeling that way too. This was important.
 

“The captain’s going to want a full statement from you, too, you know.”

I cringed, wanting to reject that. “Do I have to give it to
him
? Can’t you do it?”

“What’s the matter?”

“He hates me.”

His mouth twisted. Now he was losing patience with me. “Come on, Mele, toughen up. You know you can do it. He doesn’t hate you. He’s just focused on his job.”

Oh yeah? Fat chance.
 

“He as good as told me that I’m bad for this town. That I should go. He said it’s his responsibility to keep the town nice and safe for nice people to live in, and that I hinder his efforts.”
 

He groaned. “Oh come on. He didn’t say that.”

“Sure he did. And you know what? With him, no doubt about it, I think it’s personal.”

Reid and Bebe came out the double doors at that point and our conversation was over. We stood and each took a step away from the other. There was no doubt this argument was putting a barrier between the two of us.
 

“How did it go?” I asked, looking at Reid.
 

He gave me a smile and said, “Your aunt is getting to be a real trouper at this questioning routine. I think we made some headway. Don’t you?” he asked her.
 

She turned around and sent him a loving look before she gave him a hug. “Thanks to you,” she noted.

“You were great.” He patted her shoulder, but he was starting toward his car. It was obvious he was ready to go. He probably was thinking about Jennifer and those adorable kids he had waiting at home. I sighed, wishing my life was that simple.
 

Roy nodded and smiled at Bebe, gave me a questioning look, then headed on into the station. I could have gone after him to tell him I wasn’t really mad, but I didn’t. I had a feeling he already knew.

Bebe and I walked over to Mad for Mocha where I’d parked. She didn’t speak until we were back in my car and heading home.
 

“Oh Mele, when will all this be over?” she said softly, staring out her window at the passing scene.
 

I wished I could actually tell her that. “You’re holding up fine, Bebe,” I said instead. “The worst must be behind you by now.”

There was no way I could know that, but I had to tell her something. If only I had something good to tell her. If only Sami had turned up. I sighed and shook myself, mentally.
Buck up!
I ordered, all to myself. I took a deep breath and tried to obey my own commands.
 

“How did it go, though?” I asked her. “Did you have any problem with the questions they were asking you?”

She hesitated. “Some of them,” she admitted. “I just couldn’t get beyond…”
 
Her voice trailed off and I wasn’t sure what she was talking about.
 

“Did they get the autopsy results yet?”

She looked at me with alarm. “Autopsy? Are they doing an autopsy?”

I shrugged. “I would think so.”

“But there’s no question about what happened. Is there?”

I took a deep breath. “In my mind there certainly is. I know you think you hit her with your car, but something doesn’t jell for me with that explanation. What was she doing on the road? Why would you hit her? I just don’t get it and I’m hoping an autopsy will shed some light on what really happened.”

“Mele, I know what really happened. I was driving too fast and I came around that corner and hit Star and…and now she’s dead. What more do you need to know?”

I didn’t say anything for a few minutes, but I couldn’t just ignore the issue, so finally, I brought it up.
 

“Did you tell them about the undertaker-looking man?” I asked.

She set her lips. “No, I did not.”

I gritted my teeth. “Why not?”

She looked at me. “Because I think I made him up,” she said firmly. “And I don’t want them to think I’m crazy.”

I felt a shiver go down my back. Something told me she was going to have to face what she’d seen, and soon, if we had any hope of getting anywhere at all. But how was I going to get her to realize that?
 

“Okay then,” I said, and stuck to my driving from then on.

Chapter Ten

I tried to get Bebe to eat something, since we’d skipped lunch, but it was no go. She decided to rest in her room and I left her to it. But I caught Ginny as she was running by and asked her to keep an eye out for Sami. She said she would, then asked me if I’d heard that Star’s ex-husband was in town.
 

“No. I didn’t even know she had one.”

“Oh yeah. It was quite a spectacular blowup when that marriage headed over the cliff. So to speak.” She winced and I waved away her apologetic look. “He was a jerk, and so was she, so you can imagine the fireworks that lit the sky at the time.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Oh—almost ten years ago now. Wow. Time just melts away, doesn’t it?”

“Where’s he been?”

“From what I heard, he’s been up in Alaska, working on the oil rigs or something. Good pay, lousy working conditions. Maybe all that time in the wilderness has calmed him down a bit. He was quite the wild one. Jason Moon is his name. Maybe you’ll run into him, since you’re involved and all.”

“Maybe.” I waved her goodbye and went back in the house to mull that over. So…Star’s ex-husband was in town. Star and Moon—they should both be run over on principle. Had he just shown up because of her death? Who knew? And what did he hope to gain?

It was kind of depressing always looking for motives in everyone’s actions. But that was pretty much the name of the game for me these days. Detective work was a real drag in a way. But at the same time, it definitely gave me a direction and a purpose. And that was sort of cool.
 

I went to my room and read for awhile. “
Sleuthing for the Clueless
” was jam-packed with methods and madness. I couldn’t really tell how much was tongue-in-cheek nonsense and how much was serious sleuthing advice. I was going to have to play it by ear.
 

I went out back to check on the parrot and the yard. Aunty Jane was there, staring at me dolefully. I could tell she still held it against me that I didn’t want to learn magic.
 

“It’s just not me,” I told her. “I can’t do things that go against every fiber of my being.”

“I don’t care nothin’ ’bout your fibers,” she said. “I care ’bout Bebe. I thought you did, too.”

I groaned and went back in. I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich with the new little hand-held toasted sandwich maker—replica of a 1949 original-that Bebe had found on the internet.