Speaks the Blue Jay

by K. J. Emrick

  “All right,” she heard Jack saying into the phone. He turned and saw her now and held up a finger to ask her to wait. “You have officers on their way here, right? All right. Good. I’m going to need them soon.”

  When he hung up, he dropped his head into his hand. “As if things couldn’t get any more complicated than they already are.”

  “What is it?” Miranda asked him. “What’s happened?”

  “One of the Federal patrols found that van you saw. It was ditched not that far away from here.” He scrubbed his forehead with his palm. “It was in the opposite direction from the crime scene, out the way you saw Josh Bates driving away.”

  That was good news. “So they arrested Josh Bates?”

  “He wasn’t there,” Jack said, finally explaining the reason for his frustration. “So, we have the van and not him. He’s still loose somewhere.”

  Miranda felt her eyes go wide. “Jack, what if Bates comes here? Do you think he would?”

  “I don’t know, Miranda. We’re only just learning about this guy. He obviously isn’t who we thought he was. I’d like to think he’d stay away from here because of all the police presence but I just don’t know. He has something to do with this crime, and we know the murderer is here.” He sighed, looking very tired. “So yeah, I think it’s possible he might come here. I also think this whole thing is getting out of hand. Maybe we should just arrest everyone here and bring them to the station. We can sort it out there.”

  “Maybe so,” she agreed. “In the meantime, you need to know that Ben Clark is going off to make an arrest of his own. Oh, and Skye has the key.”

  “And Ben can see me!” Kyle added. “Let’s not forget the important stuff, okay?”

  “The key?” Jack asked, since he couldn’t hear Kyle anyway. “What do you mean, Skye has the key?”

  “The one from the dead man’s pocket, Jack. I don’t know how she got it but Kyle saw her with it. She has it.”

  Quickly his hand went to his pocket. He patted it first, and then shoved his hand inside. He pulled out the leather cord—the murder weapon—first and then his fingers came out with… the key.

  “It’s right here, Miranda. Skye couldn’t get it from me. It wasn’t like I was going to let her hands get in my pocket, right?”

  Miranda felt her gorge rising at the very thought of Skye’s hands anywhere near Jack’s pockets. She turned a harsh look on Kyle, who shrugged with embarrassment. “What can I say, Miranda? She had a key. Those things all pretty much look alike. Now can we tell him that Ben can see me?”

  “I swear, Kyle, if you weren’t dead I would strangle you.” Miranda threw her head back and stared up to Heaven looking for divine guidance. “Fine. We still need to find her because I’m pretty sure she’s the one Ben Clark plans on arresting.”

  “Not if I have anything to say about it,” Jack insisted. “The last thing I need is that hothead messing up this case. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the main suspect. I’ll bet he’s just doing all of this to make Skye look guilty.”

  “Jack, seriously? Skye does look guilty. Everything we know so far is pointing to her.”

  His hand scrubbed at his face again. “Yeah. Well, there’s something else, too. The van you saw Josh Bates in? Turns out that’s registered to Skye Rogers, too.”

  She couldn’t believe it. “Jack! How much more proof do you need? Everything she’s done, everything we’ve learned, tells us she’s the killer. According to Ginger, Skye tried flirting with Caleb, and he turned her down in favor of Ginger. So there’s the motive, I think. Skye’s a woman who’s used to getting what she wants.”

  “Miranda… yeah. Fine. I suppose you’re right.” Jack nodded. “Let’s bring her in and start with that.”

  “Assuming Ben Clark hasn’t arrested her already,” she added.

  “Well, he’ll be turning her over to us if he does. As far as he goes, well, it’s not like I won’t know where to find him later if I need to. He’s a police officer in Melbourne. It’s not like he can hide.”

  “Don’t forget that Ben can see me!” Kyle said again. “He can see me, and I think that might be slightly important!”

  “Oh, Kyle.” Miranda rolled her eyes. “Yes, okay. Ben Clark can see ghosts, Jack. Remember I said before that I thought he might? I know it for a fact now. He admitted it and actually talked to Kyle.”

  “Really? Wow.” Jack looked around for Kyle himself, not seeing anything but the room around them. “How does that happen?”

  “He didn’t really get into it. But the point is, he can see Kyle. That takes away the element of surprise from our ghost partner.”

  “Not my fault,” Kyle muttered. “Never imagined we’d run into someone else who could see me. I’ve pretty much resigned myself to never being seen by anyone living in my whole entire afterlife. I mean other than you, Miranda.”

  “My Aunt Connie could have seen you,” she said, remembering what Josh Bates had told her about her aunt’s abilities. “I suppose there will be other people who see you too, Kyle. We’ll have to be careful in the future.”

  “Do I really want to know,” Jack asked her, “what you guys are talking about?”

  “No. Let’s just go and get Skye Rogers.”

  Chapter 15

  They got to Skye’s room in quick order, leaving Jean-Paul and Sapphire with Butter in the dining room, still without seeing any of the other residents of the Blue Jay. Where were Alfie and Ben Clark? Alfie had an office on the main floor, and she had to believe that Ginger was still in her room, but shouldn’t they have found Ben and Skye by now?

  That led her to a conclusion she didn’t much like. Ben Clark might have gone straight from their little conversation by the stairs to his niece’s room, instead of going to make an arrest. He might be trying to convince Ginger to either stop talking to Miranda or to change her story about Caleb. Ginger had loved the man, and only wanted his killer found, but Ben Clark obviously wanted his niece out of this investigation entirely.

  Well, that was a family matter. Right now, they were going to arrest the killer. Miranda told herself that she would stop into Ginger’s room one last time before they left and let the young woman know that she would always have someone to talk to if she ever needed it. They could exchange mobile information and keep in touch. It was plain that Ginger needed some positive influences in her life.

  Jack knocked on the door to Skye’s room, and they waited. He knocked again, and they waited.

  “Skye?” Miranda called out. “Skye, are you in there?”

  They waited some more, but there was still no answer.

  “Gee,” Jack mused, “if only we had someone who could go in there and look around. Someone who could go right through a locked door.”

  Kyle stared at him blankly for a moment, and then his face brightened. “Oh! Right. That’s me. Okay, secret weapon to the rescue!”

  He phased through the door as Jack kept egging him on.

  “If only we had someone who could go in the room and then report back to us—”

  “Jack,” Miranda said gently, “he’s already inside.”

  “Oh. Heh. You know, this arrangement between the three of us would be so much easier if I could see Kyle too.”

  “You mean, like Ben Clark can.”

  Jack nodded. “Yeah. Just like that. I feel the need to have a long conversation with that man when this is over. He might not be the killer, but he’s got a few secrets I need to discuss. Plus, I really don’t like the way he throws around his police authority.”

  Miranda knew what Jack meant. He would never toss his badge around the way Ben had tried to do when they first arrived. Jack would never put someone down or threaten them just to get his way. Sometimes the job of a police officer required him to be tough and unrelenting but when Jack was like that, it was always for some greater good. Not just because he wanted to. That was just one of the many reasons why she loved him so much.

  In the middle of her thoughts, she hear
d Kyle shouting.

  “Miranda! Get in here quick!”

  “Kyle?” she asked, putting her hand and an ear up to the door. “Kyle, what is it?”

  “What’s wrong?” Jack asked, immediately on the alert, reaching for the pistol tucked at the back of his pants.

  “I’m not sure,” she answered. “Kyle’s telling us to get in there, and to do it now. Kyle? Kyle what’s going on?”

  Jack took a step back and set his leg like a pro quarterback, and Miranda could see he was about to break the door in. “Stand back,” he told her. “I’m not waiting for him to explain it.”

  He clenched his jaw and brought his knee up almost to his chest and then thrust his foot forward…

  Just as the door opened. Kyle was standing there, wearing a shocked expression on his face as Jack tumbled forward right through his blue, ghostly form.

  Under the weight of his own momentum Jack tumbled forward, one foot over the other, managing to turn the fall into a roll at the last second and save himself from breaking both wrists. He sprawled along the carpet, his breath leaving his chest in an explosive burst. He wasn’t quite that graceful getting up again.

  Above him, Kyle brought himself back together, from incorporeal cloud to their ghostly friend once more. “I really, really wish people would stop doing that.”

  “Kyle!” Jack snapped, looking around the room. “I know that was you. Next time give me a little warning, will you?”

  “Right-O!” Kyle snarked. “Now, if you’re done complaining about my help, could you possibly come this way? You’re going to want to see this.”

  “He says it’s this way,” Miranda translated for Jack, “off toward the bedroom.”

  Skye’s rooms were a lot more spacious than Ginger’s. There was a small front room with just enough furniture to make it feel cramped, and what Miranda could see was a small bathroom off to the right, and then a larger space for a bedroom to the left. Kyle led them in that direction. When they got there, Miranda discovered why he’d been in such a rush for them to get inside.

  On the floor, Skye Rogers lay sprawled out on her back, arms akimbo, her eyes open and staring and a drop of blood dribbling from her temple.

  “Oh no,” Miranda gasped, putting a hand up to her face. “Jack, is she… is she dead?”

  He knelt down by Skye’s side, and put two fingers against the side of her neck. Then his hand slid down, and he placed it right in the middle of her chest.

  “Hey.” Miranda couldn’t help herself. Dead or not, she did not want Jack’s hands anywhere near that woman’s breasts.

  Jack looked up at her, a lopsided grin crossing his lips. “I’m just feeling for her breathing. Her pulse is there, but it’s really faint. She’s alive, Miranda.”

  Kyle caught her eyes, laughing at her. “Yeah, Miranda. It’s not like Jack’s going to take advantage when you’re in the room. I’m just glad she’s still alive. I think we’ve seen enough death for one day. Pretty sure Sapphire wouldn’t be able to take it if there was another murder.”

  “Well, so much for arresting her. At least for now. But,” Miranda wondered out loud, “who did this to her?”

  Jack took out his mobile, lifting it up in the air to look for a signal. “I don’t know who did this, but I have a feeling we just missed them.”

  “What do you mean? How can you know that?”

  Giving up on the phone when the best he could do was just a blip of one bar, he pointed off toward the window. “The screen is out of the window. I’m betting if I looked outside, I’d find it lying on the ground.” He grabbed up the handset of the room phone and started punching in the number for the emergency services.

  Kyle took that as an invitation, zipping over and sticking his head halfway through the wall before pulling back inside. “He’s right. It’s down there, sure enough. That trellis we saw earlier is right here next to the window, too. It’s just like a ladder.”

  “You didn’t see anyone inside when you got in here?” Miranda asked Kyle.

  He shook his head emphatically. “No. I didn’t. Oh. There’s a couple of patrol cars coming up the driveway, now.”

  “Jack, your officers are here,” Miranda said. “They’re in the driveway.”

  He hung up the phone before speaking to the operator on the other end. “Okay. This is what we’re going to do. We need to get Skye to hospital. I need you to go downstairs and get my people up here. There’s no reason to call for an ambulance and wait for them to get here. To tell you the truth I’m not sure she’d have that kind of time.”

  “I’m on it,” she told him. “Come on, Kyle. Let’s go get some help for the killer lady. Er, for Skye. I mean get some help for Skye.”

  On the way down the stairs, Kyle made a sound like he was clearing his throat. “You still don’t like Skye, do you?”

  “Well, maybe if she’d died…”

  “Uh, Miranda, was that a joke?”

  “Of course it was a joke, Kyle. I don’t want her to die. I just want her to spend the rest of her life in jail for killing Caleb Owen.”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe we have to rethink our whole murder mystery. How can Skye be the killer if someone tried to kill her too?”

  Miranda started to argue, but then she realized that Kyle might be right. Someone had obviously attacked Skye, hurt her, and yes maybe tried to kill her. Whoever did that had to be the same person who killed Caleb.

  But everything had pointed to Skye. Every detail. Every clue. And if it wasn’t her, that meant the killer had to be one of the other three people in the Blue Jay. At this point she was sure the killer wasn’t Ginger. She was also pretty sure that Alfie was simply clueless, and not homicidal. That left Ben Clark. He’d been on his way to arrest Skye Rogers, hadn’t he? It must have been him in Skye’s room when she was hurt.

  Unless…

  The open window in Skye’s room! Jack had pointed out how that could easily have been how Skye’s attacker got away. Could it also be how her attacker got in? And if that was true, could her attacker be someone who wasn’t staying here at the Blue Jay?

  If it was, then she had a pretty good idea who.

  She met the two patrol officers at the front door and let them know what was happening, and what Jack needed from them. They both knew her, from seeing her with Jack, and they didn’t even blink an eye when she gave them Jack’s orders. One got on his radio to the police dispatcher to notify the hospital. Then they both raced for the stairs ahead of Miranda.

  Back up in the room they found Skye still on the floor, still breathing shallow little breaths. Jack had folded a hand towel from the bathroom and settled it under her head to give her a little comfort. He wasn’t by her side right now, however, and Miranda felt an odd sense of relief when she saw that. He was over by the wall behind the bed instead, looking for all the world as if he was scrutinizing the faded wallpaper.

  When he heard the door open and saw the officers he gave swift instructions to take Skye carefully downstairs and transport her with lights and sirens to the nearest hospital.

  “She’s still unconscious, and that wound on the side of her head is becoming a bruise. Be gentle with her. One of you leave me your portable radio, too.”

  “Yes, sir,” one said to him. Together the officers picked Skye up, and then they were gone. Miranda heard them going down the stairs a moment later.

  Jack went back to staring at the wall. “What are you doing?” Miranda asked him.

  “I found the weapon that was used to hurt Skye,” he said without turning around.

  “You did? Wow. You’re on fire today with finding stuff like that. First the leather cord and now… what?” She gazed around the room, looking for a mallet, or a lead pipe, or a random trophy with blood on it. There wasn’t anything like that as far as she could see. “What is it?”

  Still looking at the wall, Jack pointed at the nightstand next to the bed. Miranda didn’t understand at first. She went to the piece of furniture, still
unsure what she was supposed to see… until she found the darker stain of red against the brown paint.

  “Oh! She hit her head against this. Now I see it. So someone attacked her and slammed her head against this table.” That was odd. It made the attack seem like it wasn’t premeditated. Almost like it was an accident. “Wouldn’t he have brought a weapon with him if he planned on attacking Skye? A gun or something?”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Jack agreed, turning just far enough to see over his shoulder while his hands continued to explore the wall. “If you know you’re going to confront someone, you usually come prepared. What made you think she was attacked by a man? You said ‘wouldn’t he’ bring a weapon.”

  “Because I think I know who did this. Maybe even who killed Caleb Owen. I don’t think he just left by that window over there. I think he also came in by it.”

  He caught on to what she was saying right away. “You think this was Josh Bates, don’t you? You think he climbed up the trellis on the side of the Blue Jay and came in here, attacked Skye, and then left?”

  “Well, he wasn’t with his van when the officers found it. He has to be somewhere. He’s obviously connected to everything that’s happening here.” She shrugged. “I think it’s a good chance.”

  “I have to agree. It does make sense.” Now he turned his hand around and began knocking at the wall with his knuckles. “It’s just possible that we have the entire theory of the murder wrong. Josh Bates killed Caleb. He dumps the body. The body shows up, because of the drought, and now a few days later he’s back to clean up his mess when some mysterious person named Mel calls him.”

  “Right. It was like he worked for Mel.”

  “Only we don’t know who this Mel is,” he rapped his knuckles on a different spot, “or why Josh Bates attacked Skye Rogers,” rap, rap, rap, “or what reason he had for approaching you about your Aunt Connie, for that matter.”

  “So why did he come back here, do you suppose?”