Much Ado About Felines (Whales and Tails Mystery Book 4) (13 page)

I watched as Jake wove his fingers through Destiny’s. He seemed nervous about telling me what he had, and I suddenly realized he was only doing it because Destiny had asked him to. He really cared about her.

“Okay, so how do you know this Eric knew about the money?” I asked.

“Because I was there when Jimmy told him about it. Me and Eric were over at Jimmy’s. I’m not sure where Roxi was, but she wasn’t home. Eric and Jimmy were drinking beer and we were all watching a baseball game. Somehow we got onto the subject of money and the fact that we all needed it. Jimmy told us that he had hooked up with some guy who wanted to move some cargo, and that he was going to make a lot of money in a fairly short time. Jimmy had had a lot to drink, so he said more than he should have. Before I knew where he was going with the conversation, he was telling Eric and me all about his trips to meet the cruise ship, and how after he dropped the cargo off in Seattle someone would meet him at the ferry with a bag full of money. He didn’t know how much, but he figured it was a lot. We all started shooting the breeze about what we’d do if we came in to a large sum of money. It was all in fun, until Eric started acting strange.”

“Strange how?” I asked.

“He started asking a bunch of questions. Specific questions. Jimmy was so wasted he just kept spouting off about every little detail. I had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Then, a week later, Jimmy was dead. At the time I didn’t realize he would have had the money in the car. Even after Roxi told me some guy was after her for the money, I didn’t make the connection. Then Destiny told me tonight that he was coming back from his trip to Seattle when he had the accident, and that Deputy Finnegan thought the accident was caused by someone wanting to get to the money, and I remembered that conversation.”

“Does Eric still live in your complex?” I asked.

“No. He took off after Jimmy’s accident. Now I know why.”

“I need to tell Finn about this.”

A look of panic came across Jake’s face.

“Don’t worry; I’ll leave your name out of it. I’ll just tell Finn that I got an anonymous tip. It’s possible Jimmy told other people about the money too if he told you and Eric, but it looks like we might have at least one part of this very confusing mystery solved. Thanks for trusting me with what you know.”

Jake smiled at Destiny. “Destiny talked me in to it. At first I didn’t want to. After all the deaths, I was scared to get involved.”

“I don’t blame you. I’ll keep my promise not to mention your name.”

I chatted with Jake and Destiny a while longer and then returned to Cody, who was knee-deep in elementary school–aged kids wanting a chance to pop a balloon with a dart. Cody was really good with them, just as he was with the choir kids. He lifted the smaller ones onto a chair to give them a better advantage and teased the teens, who really shouldn’t even have been playing the game, in an attempt to mess them up. All in all, everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time.

“We’re going to eat dinner in shifts,” Cody informed me. “Your Aunt Maggie stopped by and said she’d send someone to relieve us in an hour or so. I just hope all the food isn’t gone by then. I’m starving.”

I looked around the room. It really was packed. Which was good, because it meant the ladies could buy the linens they wanted for the church.

“If the food is gone by the time we make it into the cafeteria we can grab a bite after. Have you seen where Tara ended up?”

“She’s over at the bean bag toss. I saw you taking to Jake and Destiny.”

“I have news. I’ll fill you in later.”

By the time anyone got around to relieving Cody and me, the food was mostly gone. Tara and Danny hadn’t gotten a chance to eat either, so I called Finn and we headed over to O’Malley’s for a burger and a beer. It looked like O’Malley’s had gotten the overflow from the Harvest Festival; the place was packed. Luckily, we found a booth in the corner that was not only isolated but quiet.

Once we’d gotten our food I shared with the others what I’d found out from Jake. Finn wasn’t thrilled I wouldn’t reveal the name of my source, but once he could see I was adamant about not sharing that specific piece of information, he decided to respect my limitation and focus on Eric Meadowvale.

“I’ll definitely track down this Eric and see what he has to say for himself,” Finn promised. “I have other news as well.”

We all looked at him expectantly.

“The Valdez police department tracked down Hawk, whose real name is Beverly Hawkhorn.”

Everyone at the table let out a little cheer and high-fived one another.

“Hawk is a woman?” I asked.

“No, he’s a man. He just had cruel parents who thought Beverly was a good name for their son. Anyway, he’s in custody and is being transported to Seattle to face charges of murder, assault, and kidnapping. The kidnapping charge should stick because Danny can testify to that, and the assault charge looks good as well with Garrett’s testimony, but we really don’t have any proof that he killed Roxi, and now it sounds like he might not have killed Jimmy. I consider his arrest a victory nonetheless.”

“And the captain of the cruise ship?” Tara asked.

“Unfortunately, he’s already returned to South America. Now that he knows we’re on to him, I doubt he’ll come this way again.”

“So we started with Roxi’s murder and while we’ve wrapped up all the sideshows, we still haven’t solved Roxi’s murder,” I pointed out.

“True,” Finn admitted, “but in the course of following the leads into Roxi’s murder we discovered Jimmy’s accident might not have been an accident, and that’s important. And we learned Garrett was involved with Hawk, which caused me to go out to his place, which probably saved his life, and that’s important. And we were responsible for identifying a smuggling ring that was bringing drugs into our country, and that’s definitely important.”

“Are you sure it was drugs Hawk was smuggling?” Cody asked.

“He had one of his crates in his hotel room. It was filled with heroin.”

“I still want to find Roxi’s killer, but I guess we should take a minute to celebrate the fact that the coast guard found Danny in time, and Finn found Garrett in time, and a man who was bringing drugs into our country will be brought to justice.” I raised my glass in a toast.

“Hear, hear,” everyone chimed in as five mugs filled with O’Malley’s special draft celebrated a day filled with victories both large and small.

“Here he is again,” I said to Tara as the ferry pulled up to the dock.

I watched as the black and white cat strolled up. As he had every Saturday, the cat jumped up onto a bench and waited for the eleven o’clock ferry from the mainland. And, as he had every Saturday, the tall, elderly, dark-haired man wearing dark glasses and a dark suit disembarked and walked up the ramp toward the main street of Pelican Bay.

“I’m going to follow him again,” I announced. “Both Cassie and Destiny are here to help you with the crowd from the ferry and I really do want to figure out what that guy is up to.”

Tara must have been curious as well because she didn’t argue.

“Don’t lose him this time,” Tara instructed.

“I won’t. I’ll come back to tell you what I found out before I have to head over to set up our booth for the street fair.”

“Hurry,” Tara counseled. “The man and the cat are already halfway down the dock and the organizer for the street fair wants all the booths set up by noon.”

“I’ll hurry,” I promised as I left the store and began walking behind the cat who was following the man.

As he had the last time I’d followed him, the man turned the corner where the wharf met Main Street and walked briskly down the sidewalk. I followed him past Herbalities, Ship Wreck, Off the Hook, the Bait and Stitch, and For the Halibut. Two boys on bikes swerved in front of me, causing me to fall back just a bit, but I quickly righted myself and almost managed to close the gap between us when he turned the corner onto Harbor Boulevard and disappeared.

Again.

“No way,” I said out loud.

I looked up and down the street, but there was absolutely no sign of the man or the cat. The only conclusion I could come to was that he was some sort of illusionist who knew how to literally disappear.

“Something wrong?” Tansy appeared behind me as if by magic.

“You’re back.” I hugged the woman. “How was your retreat?”

“Heavenly.”

“We really need to talk about Beatrice, but for now I’d settle for figuring out how the man wearing the dark suit who I’ve been following seems to disappear as easily as you seem to appear. He’s not a witch, is he?”

“No, not a witch.”

“A warlock?”

“No. Just wait.”

I stood with Tansy, silently waiting while droves of tourists gathered around us in anticipation of the opening of the street fair. I couldn’t imagine what Tansy was waiting for me to see, but, with the possible exception of the defective cat she’d sent me, she’d never steered me wrong before. So I waited beside her for whatever was going to happen.

Tansy seemed content to stand serenely, looking at nothing in particular. It was times such as this that I wondered if she was even aware of the activity around her. Two kids on skateboards barreled down the street barely avoiding a collision with the two of us, yet Tansy didn’t even flinch. I could feel the excitement of the crowd around us as vendors set up their booths and the scent of corn dogs, popcorn, and deep-fried onion rings filled the air.

I have to admit I’m not really good at waiting, so I found myself growing impatient just standing there for whatever was going to happen to happen.

After several minutes the man in the dark suit came out of the post office and continued down the street, followed by the black and white cat.

“He was in the post office?” I said.

Tansy just smiled.

“But the post office is closed every day from eleven to twelve thirty so Mr. Baxter can go home for lunch. He begins his day when he meets the five a.m. ferry, you know.”

“Mr. Baxter waits for Sebastian to arrive on Saturdays.”

“Wait? The man from the ferry has his mail delivered here?”

“Just one letter.”

“But why? He doesn’t even live here.”

“Let’s follow,” Tansy suggested.

I walked beside Tansy in the direction I’d seen the man and the cat head after he left the post office. The street and sidewalks were jammed with festival visitors, so I seriously doubted my ability to find the man in the crowd, but Tansy seemed to know where we were going. We turned from Main Street onto Grove Boulevard and followed the road to the end. Located there was the Madrona Island Cemetery, on a bluff overlooking the ocean. The man with the dark glasses and dark suit was sitting on a bench beneath a tree with the black and white cat sitting next to him. Both were looking out toward the sea.

“Does the man do this every Saturday?” I asked.

“Rain or shine.”

“And the cat?”

“She joins him without fail,” Tansy confirmed.

I looked across the perfectly manicured lawn dotted with headstones. In spite of the fact that cemeteries in general are associated with death and horror movies in my mind, the one on Madrona Island is peaceful and serene with its huge shade trees and endless expanses of sea in the distance.

“So the man has a loved one buried in the plot near where he’s sitting?”

“His wife Adeline,” Tansy confirmed. “She passed away a year ago today. Just four days after the couple’s sixtieth wedding anniversary.”

I felt a wave of sorrow wash over me. It must be incredibly difficult to spend the majority of your life with someone only to wake up one day and realize they were gone from you forever.

“I’m sorry. It must be very difficult to lose someone who has been a part of your life for so long.”

Tansy didn’t say anything, but I knew she agreed with me.

“I can understand why he comes every Saturday to visit his wife’s grave, but why the post office?” I asked.

“Before she passed, Adeline arranged to have a friend deliver a letter to the Madrona Island Post Office every week. There were fifty-three in all.”

“Fifty-three?”

“Fifty-two of the fifty-three letters were to be delivered to the post office every Saturday beginning with the one following her death, and the fifty-third letter was to be delivered on the couple’s wedding anniversary.”

“Last Tuesday,” I said.

“Every week Sebastian picks up the letter and has Mr. Baxter read it to him. Then he comes to the cemetery and sits with Adeline until it’s time for the next ferry to leave the island for the trip east.”

“Sebastian is blind,” I realized.

“Yes.”

“He gets around remarkably well. Especially considering that he doesn’t use a cane or work with a service dog.”

Tara smiled. “Sebastian has very heightened senses. His lack of eyesight doesn’t hinder him in most cases.”

“Except to read a letter,” I murmured.

I watched as the man sat very still, never moving or adjusting his position in the least. He really did look like he was made of wax.

“Why did his wife leave him letters if she knew he couldn’t read them?” I asked.

It would have made more sense for her to leave him tapes if she wanted him to have something to remember her by after she had passed.

“Adeline knew Sebastian would become so distraught when she left that he’d find it difficult to go on living.”

“She was afraid he would commit suicide?”

“No, but she
was
afraid he’d simply drift away.”

“Drift away?”

“Sebastian lives in a very real world that exists independently from this one. Adeline was afraid he’d choose to remain there rather than deal with the pain in this existence.”

“You mean an imaginary world?”

“Not imaginary. Just not here, on this plane of existence. Adeline knew it would be important to give Sebastian a reason to maintain a hold on this reality, so she left the letters. She also wanted him to have a reason to get out of the house and to maintain contact with at least one other person.”

“So she arranged for the letters to be delivered through Pete Baxter.”

“Exactly. This created a situation in which Sebastian had to leave his house, take the ferry, and speak to Mr. Baxter at least once each week.”

“If she left fifty-two letters and it’s been a year since she died, this is the last week,” I said. “Sebastian just received his last letter. Will he be okay?”

“That’s for him to decide.”

I thought for sure I was going to cry. I felt my heart breaking for this lonely man who had lost the only person who really mattered to him.

“Do you know what will happen to him?” I asked as a tear slid down my cheek.

Tansy shook her head. “But I do know that his time in this realm is coming to an end. Adeline will watch out for him.”

“From heaven?”

“In a way.”

I frowned and was about to ask her what she meant when suddenly I knew.

“The cat. Adeline is connected to the cat.”

“Yes, Adeline will leave with Sebastian today when he departs on the ferry. Don’t worry about the man or the cat. My sense tells me that things are as they should be.”

I suddenly found myself wanting to sob. I watched as the man and the cat sat silently side by side for the last time in this particular place in time and space. Adeline had given Sebastian a wonderful gift. She’d given him the gift of herself as a bridge to help him deal with a loss she knew he would otherwise be incapable of facing. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it must have been for her to write those fifty-three letters, knowing she would be gone when it came time for him to read them.

“So she knew she was going to die?”

Tansy didn’t answer. I turned around. She was gone.

I never had gotten the chance to talk to Tansy about Beatrice, but suddenly I realized it didn’t matter. Everything has a season, a timing, an exact moment when the realms we can experience through our senses and those we can’t come together in perfect harmony, creating a symphony that reminds us that we aren’t alone. I knew this was one of those moments and, like Tansy, I sensed Sebastian and Adeline would be okay.

I decided to leave the man to his final moments on the island, turned around, and headed back toward the bookstore. I was halfway down Main when Beatrice walked up beside me.

“How did you get here?”

“Meow.”

“Never mind. Maybe now that Tansy’s back your magical kitty powers have been ignited. Do you have something to show me?”

Beatrice began making her way through the crowd. I did my best to keep up with her, but it wasn’t easy; she was small and fast and I was just small. I kept my eyes focused on the tip of her tail so I wouldn’t lose her. I finally caught up to her in the park, where the chili cook-off was being held.

“Chili? Chili isn’t good for cats.”

Beatrice wiped her paw across her face, hiding her eyes as if to indicate that she couldn’t believe how dense I was being.

“You don’t want chili. You want me to see something. Or maybe speak to someone. Okay, who?”

Beatrice trotted over to a booth in the middle of the crowd, where I found Olivia Oxford speaking to Sissy Partridge. Sissy had attended the same high school I had, but she’d already graduated by the time I was a freshman.

“Afternoon, Olivia; Sissy,” I greeted them. “How’s the cook-off coming along?”

“It’s a shoo-in to win,” Olivia assured me. “Sissy has a recipe that was handed down from her great-grandmother.”

“I can’t wait to try it,” I said politely, even though I very much doubted I’d be back to sample Sissy or anyone else’s chili for that matter once tasting began. I wasn’t sure what information I was supposed to get from Sissy or Olivia, so I decided to engage in idle chitchat until the subject I was here to discuss presented itself.

“Although,” I added, “I do need to watch what I eat today. I’m afraid my dress for the ball tonight is already a bit too tight.”

“I haven’t eaten for two days,” Sissy informed me. “I want to look perfect for my first social event as an engaged woman.”

“You’re engaged?” I hadn’t even heard Sissy was dating anyone.

She held out her left hand to display a modest yet beautiful diamond solitaire. “Greg Westlake
finally
popped the question last night.”

Sissy and Greg were dating? This was news to me.

“Congratulations. I wasn’t aware you and Greg were seeing each other.”

“The whole thing happened really fast.” Sissy grinned. “I’m very excited. It seems like I’ve been waiting my whole life for this. To be honest, I almost gave up on my dream of being Greg’s wife when he started dating Roxi, but luckily it all worked out.”

I frowned. “I’m not sure I would call Roxi’s death lucky, but I’m happy things worked out for you.”

“Roxi was nothing more than a last fling,” Olivia assured me. “It’s always been Sissy Greg was destined to marry.”

“I see. Well, congratulations again.”

“Be sure to come back for a taste,” Sissy called after me as I walked away.

“I’ll try,” I answered.

I looked around for Beatrice, but she was gone. I thought about looking for her, but I had no idea which direction she’d taken off in and I needed to get back to Coffee Cat Books to check in with Tara. It was after noon and I knew she was most likely stressing that I’d missed the deadline to have our booth set up.