Much Ado About Felines (Whales and Tails Mystery Book 4) (12 page)

Every year the Harvest Festival on Madrona Island kicks off with a celebration at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church. Not only is there a huge community dinner but there are games and activities set up for the youth of our island as well. This year Tara, Cody, Destiny, and I all showed up early to help set up the kiddie carnival. One of the things I love the most about community events such as this one is the energy that’s created when friends and neighbors come together to celebrate something that’s important to all of us.

Living on a small island is a lot like being part of a large family. The isolated nature of our existence creates an intimacy that you might not normally find even in a small town. Although the ferry has certainly opened up the world for us, during the long winter months, when the days are short and few mainlanders make the trip west, the few thousand citizens living on the island depend on one another exclusively for both entertainment and support.

“Tell me again why we didn’t rent a helium machine?” Cody asked as he tied the knot on the hundredth balloon he’d blown up for the dart toss.

“No one thought to reserve one. By the time the oversight was discovered it was way too late to bring one over from the mainland, so we’re stuck doing it the old-fashioned way.”

“Maybe I’ll buy a helium machine and donate it to the church,” Cody offered. “That way I won’t have to worry about a repeat blowathon next year. Are you sure three darts for a dollar isn’t too cheap? I’m afraid if we make the game too desirable I’ll be blowing these darn things up all night.”

“Hey, you offered to help,” I reminded him. “Don’t worry; most of the kids who play this have pretty awful aim. As long as the adults don’t decide to join in, we should be fine.”

I glanced around the room. It did look like we had more than our share of teens geared up to play the games this year. While the carnival was open to anyone, most of the time the island’s teenagers congregated outside to hang, while only the younger kids met up with friends indoors to eat junk food and play games.

“Maybe we can recruit some reinforcements to help us blow up balloons once everyone else gets here,” Cody said. “We can even make it a game. Whoever blows up the most balloons in five minutes wins a prize.”

“That’s actually a really good idea. I knew there was a reason I requested we be teamed up tonight.”

Cody winked and smiled at me. “Are my good ideas the only reason you wanted to pair up with me?”

I shot a yet-to-be inflated balloon at him. “Get your mind out of the gutter. We’re in a church.”

“Actually, we’re in a church auditorium.”

I rolled my eyes. “Did you call Danny about tomorrow night?”

“I did, and we’re all set to sweep you girls off your feet.”

“Oh, brother. You really need to stop watching all those soap operas with Mr. Parsons. You’re starting to get overly sappy.”

“You know I’ve always been sappy.”

That was surprisingly true. Cody was famous for displaying a very interesting combination of traits including fearlessness, strength, and intelligence, as well as sensitivity, loyalty, and compassion. And yes, he’d even been known to tear up during a sad movie.

“Did they know you were such a girl when they accepted you into the Seals?” I teased.

“Absolutely.” Cody winked again.

I laughed and kissed his cheek. There was something about this friend of mine that seemed to make me very happy. When Cody first returned to the island I wasn’t sure I wanted him invading my space. Now I didn’t know how I’d ever be happy without him.

“There’s Pink Headband.” I nodded to a woman who was standing in line for the fishing game with two adorable little girls. “I’m going to go talk to her. I’ll be right back.”

“Hurry. We still have a ton of balloons to blow up before we can open and the natives are getting restless.”

“I’ll be back in a jiff.”

A jiff might have been an overstatement. It took me longer than that to make my way across the crowded room. Still, she was one of the only people still on the suspect list I’d made up to deal with Roxi’s murder investigation, and I wanted to either confirm or eliminate my suspicions.

“Are these your daughters?” I asked the woman.

“They are. Lisa and Lori.”

“They’re adorable. And all that black hair. It’s really beautiful.” I glanced at Pink Headband’s blond hair. “I bet your husband must have black hair; the girls didn’t seem to get it from you.”

“Actually, he has blond hair as well. The girls are adopted.”

Good going, Cait.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”

Pink Headband shrugged. “That’s okay. A lot of people make the same mistake. Even when Jason and I are together.”

“I don’t believe I’ve met your husband. Is he here tonight?”

“No. He’s in Afghanistan. He’s in the middle of his tour, so it will be a while until he’s home again. The girls really miss him.”

“I guess you must miss him as well.”

Pink Headband shrugged. “I guess. I do miss having a man around to fix the plumbing and take out the garbage, but Jason and I were having problems before he left. I think this time away will be good for us. He’s a good guy, but he sometimes makes dumb decisions.”

“Yeah, I know a few guys like that.”

If Jason was overseas he couldn’t have been messing around with Roxi. Still, I did get the vibe that the trouble Pink Headband might have been having with her husband was woman-related. I supposed it was possible Jason could have been messing around with Roxi before he left, but somehow I doubted it.

“I guess I should get back to help Cody blow up balloons.”

“Cody West is here? I hadn’t seen him.”

“He’s over at the dart toss.”

Pink Headband smiled. “Wonderful. I wanted to have a chance to catch up with him. I’d heard he was on the island, but so far we haven’t run into each other.”

“You know Cody from before he left for the Navy?” I asked. “I didn’t know you’d lived here that long.”

“I haven’t. My cousin June lived on the island about twelve years ago. I met Cody at a party on the beach when I was visiting one summer. We really hit it off. I was thrilled to hear he’d moved back to Madrona. Do you know if he’s seeing anyone? I’ve always wondered what it would be like to hook up with a man who looks like him.”

I frowned. I looked at Pink Headband’s two daughters, who were listening to our conversation. Was the woman nuts? If you’re hoping to cheat on your husband while he’s overseas fighting for our country, the least you could do is to refrain from talking about it in front of your own kids.

“I do think Cody is seeing someone,” I answered.

Pink Headband looked disappointed. “Is it serious?”

“Serious enough. I really need to go. I’ll see you in class on Tuesday.”

I started back across the room with a scowl on my face. Some people really had a lot of nerve. I didn’t understand a world where cheating on the man you’d committed to love for life was something to be taken so casually.

“Someone steal your puppy?” Tara asked when our paths crossed.

“Puppy?”

“The look on your face was so intense and so angry, all I could come up with was that someone had stolen your puppy.”

“I just ran into Pink Headband,” I explained. “Do you know what she had the nerve to say?”

I restated the conversation I’d just had with her to Tara.

“She really said that in front of her daughters?”

“She really did. The woman has no sense of morality, but I don’t think she killed Roxi. Although …” I hesitated. “She did make a statement about knowing what it was like to be betrayed by someone you thought loved you. Maybe there’s more to her relationship with her husband than meets the eye. Did you ever talk to Jean Poolman?”

Tara nodded. “I don’t think she did it. She was upset about the way Roxi was coming on to Griff, but she didn’t seem upset enough to kill her. I think we need to keep looking.”

“Yeah, I had the same thought myself. Do you know who that kid is who Destiny is talking to?” I asked.

Tara looked across the room. “No; why?”

“I haven’t seen her hanging out with any kids her age since she’s been with us. She did mention she had a friend named Jake who she described as her
only
friend. I don’t want to interrupt their conversation, but if that’s Jake, I want to talk to him about Roxi.”

“Why would you want to talk to a high school kid about Roxi? I know she’d been dating around, but I don’t think even she would date a teenager.”

“I don’t think he dated her. Destiny mentioned that he lived next door to her. I thought he might have seen or heard something.”

I watched as Destiny laughed at something the boy said to her. I was actually kind of surprised she’d wanted to come. She’s been sensitive to the other kids’ teasing about her impending motherhood. It seemed spending time with Tara had been good for her. I felt like she was beginning to accept her situation and even make the best of it.

“You can casually walk over and say hi to Destiny,” Tara suggested. “Maybe she’ll introduce her friend, and if it isn’t Jake she’s talking to, you can simply move on.”

“Good idea.”

I casually walked across the room, pausing to say hi to several people as I made my way toward the young couple. I was probably being ridiculous, but I didn’t want to seem overly interested in Jake and scare him off. I didn’t know if he was the type who would be comfortable speaking to strangers.

“Hey, Destiny,” I said casually as I walked up. “Are you having fun?”

“Oh, hey, Cait. This is my friend Jake.”

“I’m glad to meet you, Jake. Do you go to Destiny’s school? I mean the school she used to go to?”

He nodded. “Destiny told me you’re investigating Roxi Pettigrew’s death. We were just talking about it.”

Thank you, Destiny.

“I am. Sort of,” I answered.

“Cait is really smart. She’s already solved three murders this year,” Destiny bragged.

I smiled at the girl I suddenly felt a ton of emotion for. She sounded so proud.

“I might know something if you’re interested,” Jake offered. “Destiny said I could trust you.”

“I am interested. And you can trust me. Why don’t we find somewhere quieter to talk?” I said. “We can go into the choir room. I don’t think anyone’s using it.”

Destiny and Jake followed me down the hall. I turned on the light and suggested they take a seat at one of the tables. “So what did you want to share?” I asked.

“If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone you got this from me,” Jake began.

“I can agree to that as long as you aren’t about to tell me that you did it.”

Jake laughed. “No, I didn’t do it. I liked Roxi, and Jimmy was really cool. I used to hang out at their apartment all the time before Jimmy died. My parents are a lot less cool.”

“Okay, so what do you know?”

“Roxi was having a really hard time dealing with the situation after Jimmy died. I mean really hard. I was concerned she might commit suicide, so I started stopping by after she got home in the evenings to check on her.”

I frowned.

“I know Roxi went through a marathon dating phase, but it wasn’t like that between us,” Jake qualified. “We were friends and I was worried about her.”

“Okay. Go on.”

“I stopped by maybe a month and a half ago and she had a black eye. She was hysterical. She told me some guy had come by earlier in the day and threatened to kill her if she didn’t return some money that belonged to him. Roxi swore she didn’t have it, that she had no idea what the guy was talking about, but he wouldn’t listen. He said Jimmy owed him twenty grand and if she didn’t come up with it in a few days he was going to make an example of her.”

“Hawk,” I said.

“That’s what I told Jake,” Destiny offered.

“Anyway, I managed to calm her down and told her I would help her figure out what to do. At the time we had no idea what had happened to the money if Jimmy had ever had it, so we had no way to recover it.”

Jake paused. He almost looked embarrassed by what he was about to tell me. I waited quietly and let him continue.

“I guess you know Roxi found an unconventional way to raise the funds, which is what may have gotten her killed. I feel bad it came down to that, but she was scared, and she got to the point where she was willing to do anything to get this guy off her back.”

“Yeah, I can understand that,” I offered. “To a point.”

“It did seem like her plan got the best of her. But that isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about. I might know who caused Jimmy’s accident.”

“Really? Who?” I asked.

“A guy who lives in our complex. His name is Eric Meadowvale.”

“Why do you think he might have caused Jimmy’s accident?” I inquired.

“I didn’t at first, but then Destiny explained about the money and the fact that the accident occurred on the way home from Jimmy’s trip to Seattle. She said that if someone caused the accident to steal the money, they must have known about it. Eric knew about the duffel bags. I knew too, but I didn’t kill Jimmy or steal the money. But Eric might have.”