K J Emrick & Kathryn De Winter - [Moonlight Bay Psychic Mystery 01-06] - A Friend in; on the Rocks; Feature Presentation; Manor of; by Chocolate Cake; A-Maze-Ing Death (retail) (epub)

by Неизвестный

  There was a long moment of muttered words between them that Miranda couldn’t make out no matter how closely she pressed her ear to the door. She would have given anything to hear that part of the conversation.

  “Well,” Algernon finally said out loud again. “I will just find another way to get what I’m due.”

  Realizing that the pair would very likely be coming out of that room soon, Miranda tiptoed away, looking for another room in which to hide. Darting into the first open door she quickly closed the door almost shut and peered back out into the corridor. She saw Algernon stalk away, tucking his shirt in, and she breathed a sigh of relief. There was something about that man which unsettled her. She had already witnessed how violent he could be, up close and personal.

  Miranda turned to look around her and found she was in a rather luxurious guest room with bags in it. Lea’s room! Quickly closing the door tight, she raced across the room to have a quick peek inside the luggage. They were definitely the clothes of a young woman inside the bags, fashionable in a most up-to-the-minute way.

  Miranda could see a cell phone plugged into a charger on the bedside table. Picking it up she jabbed at one of the buttons. It was locked down and required a password to get into anything of interest, but as the phone sprang into life and lit up, Miranda had an a-ha moment of her own; there, as the phones wallpaper, was a photograph of Lea Maroney kissing Jonah Keaton’s cheek. For all that it was a simple kiss on the cheek, it had a certain intimacy about it.

  So, had Jonah been the person who had caused the pink in her aura?

  The table had a single, small drawer in it. Pulling it open on a whim Miranda saw a handwritten note, or at least the beginnings of one. It was addressed to somebody identified only as “K,” and the writer—Lea Maroney herself presumably—was expressing the need for help.

  “I don’t know what to do. I’m so worried that I just can’t sleep anymore.”

  “What do you suppose was keeping her awake nights?”

  Miranda jumped. Kyle had been reading over her shoulder. She hadn’t seen him come into the room.

  “Kyle, I swear to you I’m going to find a way to put a bell around your neck.”

  He smiled at her. “A-ring-a-ding-ding.”

  “Funny. Look, something isn’t right with all this. I’m not entirely convinced of Algernon’s innocence, for one thing. But at the same time, I can’t see what he would stand to gain.”

  “I can!” Kyle said triumphantly. “Just think about it. That picture on her phone tells it all. If Lea and Jonah really were an item then isn’t it probable that Fiona lawyer chick was here to rewrite Jonah’s will to put Lea in it? That would mean less money for Algernon, right? He may well have killed her so that he could claim a larger share of the will once the old man bit it. You heard what he said to Fiona down the hall.”

  “That’s true,” she said thoughtfully. “When you put it that way it makes sense. I don’t know. I still feel like we’re missing something. Why did Morgan Dale run? Why won’t Jonah just admit he was in love with Lea, if that was the case?”

  “Because people are stupid?” Kyle offered as an explanation to both questions. “At least the living are. I swear to you, Miranda, I’m beginning to believe that ghosts are the only ones who truly know how to live.”

  “That’s really insightful and all, Kyle, but how does that help us solve our murder case?”

  As Miranda began to put pieces together in her mind, she heard footsteps stop right outside the door.

  She had to hide. Now.

  Miranda looked desperately around for some place in which to tuck herself away out of sight, finally throwing herself down behind the far side of the double bed. Not the greatest hiding place but there wasn’t anywhere else.

  Holding her breath, she listened to the sound of footsteps approaching her, sweating bullets with the fear that the killer, whoever that might be, was in the room with her.

  “It’s all right, scaredy-pants,” Kyle said, chuckling. “You can come out now.”

  Miranda trusted Kyle more than she trusted most anyone else in her life. Still, under the circumstances she decided to carefully peek up over the edge of the mattress.

  “Miranda?” The voice was unmistakable. It was Sapphire who had found her here. “What are you doing in Lea’s room?” Miranda let out a quick sigh of relief.

  “Um. I’m investigating, like I said.” That was close enough to the truth, she supposed. No need to say she had come in here to hide. She got up on her feet, brushing off the front of her jeans. “Wasn’t everyone supposed to be in the dining room?”

  Sapphire shrugged. “The police are more interested in their investigation than they are in keeping us together. Everyone’s wandering about now. Can I help? Is there anything at all I can do? Maybe a crystal reading would help?”

  Somehow, Miranda didn’t think so. Information would be more useful. “Tell me, how do you know Lea? I mean, where did you meet?”

  “We met a couple of years ago,” Sapphire explained, “at a natural foods restaurant. We were both sitting alone at our tables and ended up kind of chatting and, before we knew it, we were sitting together. We used to meet there regularly.”

  Perfect. “Do you know if Lea had any food allergies?”

  “I doubt it. We pretty much tried everything on the shelves of the natural food store over time, and she never seemed concerned by any ingredients. She never mentioned if there was anything she couldn’t eat. Why? Did you find anything out?”

  Yes, she had, but she wasn’t sure what to share with Sapphire at this point and what to keep secret until she knew more. Some of the clues she had found could add up to very different conclusions, depending on how one looked at them. At the same time, she could see how upset the death of her friend had made Sapphire.

  “Well,” she decided to say, “we did determine this was a murder. The police are searching for Morgan Dale. He ran away from the closet before Jack could talk to him.”

  “That’s suspicious, don’t you think? Oh, I don’t know what to think about this, Miranda. I wish Lea could have been a ghost so you or I could have spoken to her. She might have been able to tell us who had done this to her.”

  “Sapphire…” How could she explain this? “I kind of get the sense that Lea was fine with dying. I have to wonder if that’s why her ghost didn’t hang around even though she was murdered. She was already at peace with it.”

  Next to her, Kyle laid a hazy blue hand on Sapphire’s shoulder, trying to comfort her from beyond the grave. Miranda gave him a nod to let him know how much she appreciated the gesture.

  With a little sigh, Sapphire started to say something that was interrupted by a terrible crash from the floor above, followed by a sickening thud outside of the building.

  All three of them hurried to the window and quickly threw open the curtains to peer out. There, lying face down on the ground outside was the body of a man. They couldn’t see his face, but Miranda recognized the clothes.

  “It’s Algernon Keaton,” she said, turning to look at Sapphire who, in that moment, passed out and dropped to the floor.

  Chapter 6

  By the time Miranda had made her way upstairs to the second-floor bedroom that Algernon had flown out of, Jack was already in there. She’d expected as much. After spending some time attending to a very faint Sapphire there was no doubt that Moonlight Bay’s finest would get there first.

  “Looks like Algernon’s bedroom.” She heard his voice drifting out through the open door, and peered in to see him standing side by side with his colleague, Officer Snopes. They were looking out through the open glass doors onto the balcony.

  “Looks like that wood railing gave way,” Snopes said. “It looks pretty old and was probably rotten on the inside.”

  Miranda paused outside, not wanting to just burst into a crime scene. One of her characters had done that once and it had ended with a stay in jail. No sense taking chances that life would imitate art. Instead s
he listened intently as Kyle rushed in to see what could be seen.

  “I took a quick look at the body,” Jack was saying, “before coming up here. He fell face first into the rock garden below. Not a pretty sight.”

  “Did you see this on the dresser, Jack? This great big long scrape… old damage, do you think?”

  “I don’t know,” she heard Jack say thoughtfully. “It’s kind of low-down. What is it? Ankle height? Maybe from a suitcase being brought through here. Was Algernon on a trip anywhere recently?”

  “No idea. Suicide, you think?”

  Jack waited a long moment before answering. “I doubt it but let’s not jump to conclusions.”

  “Or jump out any windows, eh?” Officer Snopes tried to joke.

  Suddenly, there came a shout from downstairs.

  “Arrest him, not me!”

  Recognizing Fiona Remington’s voice, Miranda hurried to the top of the stairs and peered over the curling balcony railing. She could see that both Fiona Remington and Morgan Dale were being led through the hallway by three uniformed police officers. Apparently, her tip to Jack about seeing Morgan outside had paid off. In spades.

  “Looks like the backup has arrived,” Jack said, as he and Snopes joined Miranda at the top of the stairs.

  “What’s going on down there?” Jack called down to the officers.

  The officers below stopped, craning their necks to look up at them. “Both of them were outside, Detective,” the officer with sergeant’s stripes on his uniform explained. “I don’t know what’s going on yet, boss, but these two really didn’t want to come back here.”

  Jack tapped a finger thoughtfully against the railing. “Thanks, guys. Can you take them both into the sitting room and sit them at opposite ends? It’s as good a place as any now that we removed Lea’s body. I’ll come down and interview them both.”

  As Jack passed Miranda on the stairs he gave her a knowing look. She blushed a little, realizing that he knew she’d been hovering outside the door just now, listening. Did he know that she intended to go snooping about in the bedroom as soon as he and Snopes were downstairs? Probably. He was a very smart man, after all. It was just one of the things she liked about him.

  The moment he was out of view, Miranda raced down to the bedroom and inside.

  Kyle was already there, his body hovering waist deep in the floor, staring at the dresser in the room. “Oh, hey. I’ve been waiting for you, Miranda.”

  “That’s really creepy, you know that, right?”

  “What? Oh, this?” he asked, floating up so his feet were above the floor again. “Sorry, walls and floors just don’t have the same meaning to me anymore. Look, I’ve been staring at the scratches they were talking about, here on this dresser. There’s some shiny flecks in them. Almost looks metallic.”

  “Kyle,” she said, “I think I know what happened here, and I don’t think this was a suicide.”

  “Well, it would help if Algernon’s ghost was here,” Kyle pointed out. “I swear, some people have no consideration in life or in death. Guy was a jerk no matter which side of that window he was standing on.”

  Just as Kyle finished saying that Miranda saw a shimmering swirl of blue taking shape near the bed. Inside, the ghost of Algernon Keaton materialized. His eyes were wide and he was looking all around him. He caught sight of Miranda and his eyes narrowed.

  “Well… speak of the devil…” Kyle quipped with a grin.

  “What are you doing in my room? Get out! Get out I say!” He came speeding across the room and got right into Miranda’s face. She felt the cold all around her and shivered involuntarily.

  “Take it easy buddy,” Kyle said and Algernon’s head snapped around to look at him.

  “Who the hell are you? And what are you doing in my room? Get out before I call the cops.” Algernon puffed his ghostly chest out in an attempt to intimidate Kyle.

  “Back off a bit and we’ll explain.” Kyle said quietly, trying to defuse the situation.

  In that moment Miranda could see by the look in Algernon’s eyes that he finally registered something was wrong. “Why do I feel so strange?” He said much more quietly as he backed off. “I feel so weird.” He held his hands out in front of him and gasped. “What is wrong with my hands…” He looked down. “and my body?”

  Kyle stood in front of him and put a ghostly hand on his shoulder. “No easy way to say this so I’m just going to say it… You’re dead.”

  Algernon just stood there for the longest moment staring at Kyle like he’d gone mad. Shaking his head, he said, “Dead? Don’t be an idiot. I can’t be dead. I can see you… and,” pointing at Miranda, “I can see her… if I was dead I wouldn’t be able to see either of you because I wouldn’t be here.”

  Kyle smiled. “A common misconception among humans. But believe me you are most certainly dead.”

  Algernon just shook his head and said, “No, no, no, no. Why now. Things were just going to come together for me and now… look at me.” More head shaking.

  “One question…” Miranda said interrupting Algernon’s tirade. “Do you remember who killed you? Or anything at all?”

  Algernon just stared at her for a few moments. “Nothing. There’s absolutely nothing. I can’t remember a thing. Why am I like this? It’s just all so fuzzy. I can’t make any sense of anything.”

  “Darn. It would have been helpful if you could have remembered but it isn’t unusual that you don’t.” Miranda explained to him.

  “But what do I do now? Where do I go? What’s going to become of me?”

  “I’m sorry but we just don’t have time right now for you to deal with your unexpected death Algernon. We have a killer to catch.” Algernon started at her blankly and Miranda winced a little at how harsh she had sounded. Even in death Algernon rubbed her the wrong way it seemed. With a sigh, she turned to Kyle. “So now what?”

  Kyle shrugged. “So with Algernon dead who does that leave us for suspects? Morgan Dale, right?”

  “Come on,” was Miranda’s answer. “We have to go catch up to Jack. There’s a few pieces I think he’s missing.”

  Chapter 7

  With everyone gathered in the dining room again, all seated, Jack began to pace the carpet just in front of them. Miranda liked the way he did this. It was like he was preparing himself to reveal a secret the way a stage magician would. The audience was assembled. On with the show.

  “Firstly, I’d like to thank you all for your patience during this investigation and to tell you that I am very sorry that the killer had the opportunity to strike again whilst we were here. Personally, I am now well aware who has committed these crimes. The killer will be brought to justice.” He turned a smile to Miranda. “Should we start from the beginning?”

  She was prepared for his question. “Firstly, I think we all rather suspected Morgan Dale, didn’t we?”

  “I’m telling you, I didn’t do it,” Morgan said, desperately wringing his hands.

  “The circumstances of Lea Maroney’s death seemed to suggest a reaction to some kind of allergen,” Miranda went on, completely ignoring Morgan’s interjection. “As part of the investigation, certain evidence was found in the kitchen. Whoever put it there clearly thought they were being very clever in implicating Morgan. A note easily found on top of the trash suggested that Morgan shouldn’t use peanuts in any part of the menu while Lea was here. Of course, with Lea Maroney being such a regular visitor to this house, Morgan Dale would have had such instructions long ago if she was, indeed, really allergic to anything. Someone wanted to make you look guilty.”

  “Are you sure?” Sapphire asked. “I mean, if the evidence was there…?”

  But Miranda shook her head. “Evidence in a crime of this sort is very rarely ever that easy to find. I was practically stumbling over it. No, this was planted, plain and simple.”

  “I’m sorry I ran,” Morgan said miserably. “I was just so scared after Algernon forced me into that room. I was sure blame would come down on
me somehow. I’ve a bit of a criminal record, you see.”

  “We know,” Jack said. “We checked.”

  Morgan swallowed, and decided being quiet would be the smarter move now.

  Miranda nodded to him before continuing. “While it’s true Morgan might have had a motive, after hitting on Lea and being rebuffed so often, there’s no motive for him to kill Algernon.”

  The assembly gasped, no one louder than Jonah Keaton. Algernon was his son, after all. Algernon’s ghost was quietly hovering in a corner of the room. He looked bewildered and Miranda almost felt sorry for him.

  “Yes,” Jack confirmed, “we know that Algernon’s death was murder, not suicide. We also know the two murders are linked. We’ll get to that in a moment. Right now, I’d like to talk about you, Fiona.”

  Fiona Remington’s head snapped around at that. “Me? Whatever for?”

  “There was apparently some little argument between the two of you. I believe you were both vying for Jonah’s affections?”

  She laughed softly, but without humor. “No, Detective. Or at least, there was nothing of the sort from me. I knew very well that Lea and Jonah were in a relationship. Lea saw me as a threat and kept trying to outdo me. It was a fight I was all too happy to let her win. I told her that I wasn’t at all interested in an old man like Jonah and that she could keep her sugar daddy if the money meant so much to her. I have my own money. I don’t need Jonah’s, and I had no designs on him.”

  “Exactly,” Jack agreed. “Try as we might, we can’t connect you to Lea’s murder. However, you certainly had a motive for killing Algernon. He was continually harassing you, wasn’t he? Trying to get you to change his father’s will in his favor?”

  “Well, certainly,” she admitted with an embarrassed glance at Jonah. “I have no reason to hide that fact now. I never would have done it though. My loyalties lie with Jonah.”

  “Which brings us to you,” Miranda said, turning to look down at Jonah in his electric wheelchair.