Heaven's a Beach

by J. A. Cipriano

  “Do all humans dance this way?” Michael asked after a moment, his body pressed so tightly against me that it was hard to tell where he ended and I began.

  I shrugged. “Some don’t. Like, if I didn’t know you very well, I wouldn’t do this.” I turned around so that my back was to his front, my arms going over my head to latch onto his hair as I ground my ass into him. Michael’s hands found my hips and matched my every movement with his own.

  His face dipped down by my ears, his voice tickling the side of my neck. “So, since I am your boyfriend, it is alright to rub our bodies against each other in front of others? Should we have sex as well?”

  His words made me shake my head laughing. “No, I mean, yes. We can, and I hope we will, but not right here.” I turned back around, lacing my fingers in the hair at the base of his neck. “I just meant that we can dance however we wish, and most won’t say anything. Or care if I know you or if I’d just met you.”

  “That’s all very confusing.” Michael held me closer, the skin between his eyes bunching together.

  Smiling broadly, I stroked my finger between his eyes, soothing his confusion. “It can be. Humans are fickle. You should know that. What might be okay right now might be forbidden in an hour.” I lifted a shoulder. “But I’m more of a live-in-the-moment kind of girl in any case. And at this moment, I want something to drink. I’m dying here.” I released him and started toward the bar area they had set up.

  Tim was there chatting up a rather well-muscled fellow. When he saw us approach, his eyes lit up. “I see you found your way here. How’s the sourpuss doing?”

  “The sourpuss is fine. Thank you for asking,” Michael answered before I could. “Jane would like a drink.” He said it like there would be no more discussion, and I had to hold back my laughter.

  “Oh-kay,” Tim drew out, meeting my eyes. I shook my head and grinned. “Well, come on over here, my Viking king. Let me show you what I’ve got.”

  I stood at the bar, tapping my fingers on the top and swaying to the music. The person beside me living in a cloud of smoke turned around and bumped into me. “Uh, excuse you,” I snapped. When I saw who it was all the blood drained from my face. “Uh. Abby. I mean, Abigail. How are you?”

  “Fine. No thanks to your no-show.” Abigail took a long drag of her cigarette and blew it in my direction. I coughed and waved a hand in front of my face. “I thought your name was Patty?”

  “Uh, it is. Or was.” I fumbled with my words. “I’m playing around with new names. Patty just seems so 1950s you know?”

  “And Jane isn’t?” Abigail snorted. “Well, whatever your name is. You really screwed us over today when Crystal was handing out assignments. I got stuck with your rooms as well as my own.”

  “I’m really sorry, Abigail.” I winced, feeling bad she had to work twice as much because of me. “Cleaning just isn’t for me.”

  “I got that impression from Rose.” Abigail gestured her cigarette toward the redhead. “She won’t say a negative thing toward anyone, but after a few years of working together, it’s easy to decipher her language. You clean as well as a blind, deaf leper with a case of the chicken pox.”

  I grimaced. I hadn’t really tried that hard. It was a fake job after all. I already had a job. One I was supposed to be doing now.

  “Sorry about that,” I apologized once more and then decided to try my luck. “Hey, I heard from …” I glanced at Rose and then changed what I was about to say. “… around that Crystal and the security manager are dating.”

  “If you could call it dating.” Abigail made a disgusted noise. “It’s more like he bums money off Crystal at any chance he can get, and she falls for his ‘I’m so sad and pathetic, my mother’s in the hospital’ bit every time.”

  “You don’t think his mother is really sick?” I asked, my eyes searching the crowd for Crystal and hopefully the mystery guy.

  “Oh, I know she is, but that ain’t why the dick wad needs the money.”

  “It’s not?”

  Abigail shook her head, putting her cigarette out in the ashtray as she blew out the last of the smoke. This time, thankfully, not in my direction. “Nope. That putz is in debt up to his eyeballs. Credit cards. Gambling. You name it.”

  “Here.” Michael came up behind me and offered me a glass of some colorful mixture.

  “Thanks.” I smiled up at him and then gestured to Abigail. “Michael, this is Abigail.”

  “Abby,” she corrected, a genuine smile on her lips. The first one I’d ever seen on her in the short time I’d known her. “Where did you find this one?”

  “Oh, you know. Just lying around.” I waved my hand in the air.

  “Well, if I had a man like this waiting for me at home, I wouldn’t be spending my days cleaning either. How do you even get out of bed in the morning?” Abigail smirked, her jokes all for fun and not at all leering at Michael like some had.

  “It’s a challenge but one I’m happy to have.” I took Michael’s hand in my own, squeezing it before turning back to Abigail. “So, you were saying about the security manager? What’s his name?”

  “Ernie Slousky.” Abigail pulled another cigarette out and lit the end, taking a long drag. “Why do you care so much?”

  “Oh, uh. I’m just curious is all. I hope to get a different job here at the spa. Maybe in the kitchen or as a waitress.” I hurried to make an excuse. I hated lying to her. Abigail seemed like a great friend if an unorthodox one.

  “This Ernie fellow,” Michael started, his front pressing up against my back. “You were lovers, yes?”

  “Well, aren’t you the perceptive one?” Abigail chuckled, her eyes alight with humor. “Yeah, Ernie and I shacked up a few times. Nothing permanent because I caught him stealing from my purse one time too many. Nobody steals from me and gets away with it.” Abigail gave me a warning look as if I might try to take the cigarette right out of her hand.

  “Gotcha.” I tipped my glass to her with a smile. “Well, we’re going to go dance some more. Enjoy the party.”

  “Oh, I will.” Abigail turned back to the bar where her glass sat and drained it in one gulp. Someone was going to get smashed.

  “So, what now?” Michael asked as we made our way through the crowd.

  I dug through my clutch and pulled out my phone. “Now, we pause our date, and I call Mandy.”

  14

  Mandy asked me to come down to the station to talk about what I’d found out. I asked her why she couldn’t get off her sweet ass and come to me, but she couldn’t. Something about not being able to get away from their murder case without the feds jumping in on them.

  “Are you sure you’re okay with this?” I asked, pulling into the Blessed Falls Police Department parking lot. “I mean, this was supposed to be our date night, and I’m interrupting it with work.”

  Michael looked over at me from his side of the car. “Your work is important to you. I understand better than anyone how sometimes it has to come first.”

  The tone of his voice spoke volumes. It must be hard to be the hand of God. I couldn’t imagine the pressure he probably had to deal with. If I thought God would care or even listen, I’d tell Him to ease up off Michael a bit. But as Michael said, our jobs are important. Not more important than each other but important enough that I wouldn’t want to put my nose in his.

  “Okay, but you don’t have to come in. I can handle this really quick and then we can go back to the party or even go somewhere else.” I squeezed his hand in mine. “Anywhere you want.”

  Bringing my hand up to his mouth, Michael kissed it. “I want to be where you are. The place doesn’t matter.”

  My heart fluttered in my chest. This guy, seriously. If he was any sweeter, he’d be on one of those sappy channels my mother watched endlessly around Christmas time. Really, not all guys are that nice. Just ask my ex-boyfriends. I’m a bitch.

  “Fine, but we’re only going in for a minute to give her the update and then we are out of here.” I gr
inned at him, before getting out of the car and heading inside.

  Thankfully, it was late enough that Smith wasn’t manning the front desk. A younger peppier version of her sat in Smith’s seat and was more than happy to let us into the back without buzzing for Mandy.

  I held Michael’s hand and led him through the maze of desks. More than one set of eyes followed us from police officers and criminals alike. It seemed Michael had that kind of effect on people.

  Searching the back, I tried to find Mandy’s blonde head but came up blank. Thankfully, Officer Cutie – who I now knew as Tie - had set up shop at one of the desks and I hurried over to him.

  “Hey, Tie, I’m—”

  “Jane. Yeah, I remember. You helped with the Granes case a few weeks ago. Are you looking for Stevenson?” He pushed his glasses up his nose, his eyes darting back to his computer screen. “She’s in conference room one with O’Connor.”

  “Thanks!” I started that way, but Tie stopped me.

  “I’m warning you. They’ve been in there for hours with no progress. Tempers are high. So, if you’re going in there, you better have good news.” His eyes moved to Michael and then back to me, his shoulders hunching slightly. “You know, how O’Connor is.”

  “Understood.” I patted him on the shoulder and then gestured for Michael to follow me.

  Darting through the rest of the desks, I found the conference room they had set up shop in. Through the windows I could see O’Connor sitting at the table, his face buried in a file, his hair disheveled and his eyes tired. Mandy was nowhere in sight, and I considered waiting for her before going in, but then O’Connor looked up and saw me. Too late now.

  Pushing the door open, I moved into the room with Michael on my tail. “Hey O’Connor, how’s it going?”

  “What do you want?” his question had no bite to it, making me worry the case they were working on was really getting to them. His weary eyes moved to Michael’s large form, he frowned. “You can’t just bring whoever you want back here. This is an ongoing investigation you know.”

  Michael didn’t seem at all intimidated by O’Connor. Which he shouldn’t. He was a bad ass angel and O’Connor was just a forty-year-old divorced man who used way too much hair product. Still, I had to play nice or Mandy would be up my ass about it.

  “I know, I know.” I held my hands up. The urge to tease him was nonexistent for once. All business. “I just came by to tell you about a break in the burglary case.”

  “Oh?” his brows lifted and the tension in his form dropped a bit. When I didn’t immediately start spouting off details, he gestured vigorously. “Don’t make me wait all day, what is it?”

  I hesitated. “Shouldn’t we wait for Mandy to come back? I’d hate to repeat myself. Where is she by the way?” I glanced around the room covered in file boxes and papers, images tacked to a board like the one they’d used to brief me on the resort case, but no Mandy.

  “She’s on a coffee run.”

  “I didn’t see her by the pot,” I countered, not quite believing his story. Why would she tell me to come down if she wasn’t even here? Freaking sneaky bitch.

  O’Connor scoffed. “You call that crap coffee? It’s more like colored water that a cow shit in then they filtered it through again.”

  I froze. I’d never heard O’Connor talk that way before. Sure, he gave as good as he got when it came to insults, but to blatantly curse and complain about the police department was not like him. If I hadn’t felt guilty about pussyfooting around at the spa, I did now. They needed me on this case, and I’d been playing around.

  “I’m back!” Mandy announced, pushing the door open with an arm full of travel cups and boxes from our favorite bakery. Her eyes found me and then Michael, the edges widening a bit. A flush covered her cheeks - no doubt remembering the time she walked in on us doing it - as she busied herself putting her boxes and cups down. “Jane. What are you doing here? And with … Michael?” she asked it like she wasn’t sure which one she was talking to.

  “Amanda,” Michael inclined his head, his arms crossed over his chest.

  “You guys look nice,” she commented, noticing my halter top and low hip pants.

  “We were on a date.” I leaned my butt on the edge of the table and grinned.

  “Oh. Oh!” Mandy’s eyes widened even further. “That’s great. I’m really happy for you. But what are you doing here?”

  “Exactly what I was trying to find out,” O’Connor growled. He dug around in one of the bags and pulled out a large apple fritter. My stomach grumbled in protest. I knew where we were going next.

  “Like I was just about to tell Mr. Grumpy Pants, I think I know who is stealing from the spa.” I tried to reach for one of the donuts, but Mandy smacked my hand. I glared at her but kept my hands to myself.

  “What do you mean you think?” O’Connor argued, shoving half of the apple fritter in his mouth. Hooligan. “Shouldn’t you know?”

  I sighed. “One, don’t talk with your mouth full. Have some respect for your pastries. Two, I’m psychic. I’m not all knowing. I can only work with what I’m given.”

  “And what’s that?” Mandy asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

  “The manager,” I started, causing a groan from the rest of the room. I held my hands up and frowned. “Now, hold on just hear me out. The manager didn’t tell us everything we needed to know.”

  “So, you’re not trying to pin it on him again?” O’Connor asked, surprise in his voice.

  “No, I’m not doing that at all. I have another scenario in mind.” I leaned forward and snatched Mandy’s cup out of her hand before she could stop me. Taking a long savory drink, I sighed. Coffee. “Anyway, I learned from the maids that Riley and Crystal had been dating until he cheated on her. They were seen fighting on more than one occasion about the thefts.” Mandy took her cup back with a warning glare, her nails digging into my hand. Pursing my lips, I rubbed my hand. “She’s dating the security guy Ernie now, who’s in a shit ton of debt.”

  “Wait a second.” O’Connor waved his second donut in the air. “Who’s Crystal?”

  “The hospitality manager.”

  “Okay,” O’Connor answered, his brows furrowed. “And she’s dating Ernie?”

  “The security manager. Yes. Keep up.” I snapped my fingers in front of him. “Anyway, I heard from Abigail that Ernie is a mooch and tries to beg money off anyone who will give it to him, and his latest victim is Crystal, who’s the head of the maids.” I stared at them trying to get them to get on my line of thinking. “Who has access to all the rooms which were stolen from?”

  “Oh!” Mandy’s mouth opened in a wide O. “So, you think Ernie and Crystal are working together?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who’s Abigail?” O’Connor asked, actually writing this crap down.

  “One of the maids.” I moved over to Michael, who had taken up residence against the wall. “You ready?”

  “Now, hold up a second.” Mandy moved around the table to block our paths. “You can’t just drop this on us and leave. We have to figure this out.”

  I huffed and put my hands on my hips. “Do I have to do everything? I gave you your suspect, who has a motive, and the means to do the job. What else can I give you?”

  “And you’re basing this all off hearsay?” O’Connor scoffed. “I could have done that myself.”

  I sniffed and looked at my nails. “I doubt it. They wouldn’t talk to you. You’re a cop. They’ll only talk to one of their own.”

  “Then why didn’t we put you undercover as staff rather than a guest?” O’Connor countered.

  “Now, let’s not get hasty,” I hurried to stop him from ruining everything. “I needed to get both sides. The spirits can be very fickle when they want to be. They might not have given me anything from the staff. Then I would be stuck without a way into the guest areas.”

  “Fine, but we’re not just going to take your word for it. We’ll have to look up this guy Ernie …” O
’Connor looked up from his paper waiting for me to fill in the blanks.

  “Slousky.”

  “And Crystal?”

  “Don’t know it and didn’t ask. I’m sure you have a list of employees somewhere. There can’t be that many Crystals.” I waved at their mess of papers on the desk before bypassing Mandy.

  Michael stopped me and muttered something in my ear. I turned back to the two of them who had settled in for a long night. “By the way, your timeline for the murder is wrong. It’d be a two-hour time frame, not four.”

  Before they could ask anything else, I ducked out with Michael and headed toward the front. My phone started beeping like crazy, and I had no doubt that it was Mandy wanting me to come back. I’d done my good deed for the night, I had a date to finish.

  “Now where?” Michael asked as we got into the car. He had drunk quite a lot of my blood this time, and I was happy to see that it had the desired lasting effect. I’d hate for him to disappear mid-dinner or something.

  “Now, I’m starving. I want some donuts of my own, and then I want to curl up on the couch with you.” I smacked my lips against Michael’s before starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot. I had a lot of night left ahead of me, and I didn’t want to waste it at the police station.

  Besides, a date with an angel was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. Who’d say no to that?

  15

  “Oh, yeah. That’s it. Just there.” I moaned into the bed, my whole body tingling with excitement. If I hadn’t already been completely nude, I’d have been ripping my clothes off right then and there. I was already on the edge of orgasming. Just a little more.

  “Ma’am, please stop. Or I’m going to stop,” the masseuse complained again.