by Sarah Kelly
“None of this is true,” Anita said desperately to everyone around her, but all eyes were locked on India. “I was attacked!” Anita said.
“No.” India shook her head. “You said you got a call from a man, telling you to meet him by the beach. But you don’t have a cellphone, and when I asked the hotel, they said there had been no outside calls made to your room at all. You made it up.”
“Mom?” Rodney said, his voice heavy with disbelief and betrayal. “Is this true?”
Anita didn’t reply, just stared straight ahead.
“You must have inflicted the injuries on yourself,” India said. “It was quite a clever plan, actually.”
“I didn’t do it!” Anita said with desperation.
“I know you’re only a slight woman, Anita, but because of the rage you felt, you were able to push him over the balcony,” India said. “And then you went back to bed, pretending nothing had happened.”
The camera crews whirled around to Anita.
“Do you deny it?” the red lipsticked woman asked. “Did you kill your husband?”
“I… I…” Anita said, looking around at everyone with wide eyes. “No!”
India’s voice was firm. “Yes, you did.”
Anita looked at her, then at all the cameras, then at her son, appearing totally overwhelmed. Then she dropped her head. “All right. Yes, I killed him.” India heard great relief in her voice, like it had been so difficult for her to hold it in for all this time. She had obviously regretted her actions deeply. Her eyes welled up with tears. “I didn’t mean to! I just pushed him, but when he got to the edge of the balcony, I just… I just kept pushing. But I didn’t… I didn’t mean for him to die. At all.”
India believed her. But unfortunately, it didn’t matter. It was still murder. Besides, she had tried to cover it up and get away with it. She couldn’t have regretted it that much.
Officer Rogers stepped forward, handcuffs at the ready. “Anita Quinn, you are under arrest for the murder of Jim Quinn. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you…”
“Indie,” a soft, deep voice said behind India.
She whirled around to see Xavier, smiling down at her. “Hey.”
He took her handcuffed hands in his. “You were… astounding. Truly. How did you find out that stuff about the argument? About the will?”
India shrugged. “Oh, just a lucky guess, I suppose. I had a strong hunch it was her, and I just needed to make her crack.”
“It was masterful,” Xavier said with a smile. “You’d make one outstanding detective.”
“Private detective,” India corrected. “Can you imagine it, Bradford & Kirby, Private Detective Agency. Or Kirby & Bradford, whichever.”
“Or maybe by then,” Xavier said, a sparkle in his eye, “it might be Bradford & Bradford, if you know what I mean…”
In that moment, it seemed all the commotion died out around them, and they were the only two people in the world. The police lights flashed blue, then white, blue, then white, over his handsome features as he smiled down at her. She felt like the luckiest person that had ever lived. “I know what you mean,” she said.
He looked down at the floor, then back up at her. “Maybe one day, huh? Not too far in the future.”
She swung her hands in his. “Exactly.”
Xavier looked down, as if noticing her cuffs for the first time. “Let’s get you out of these.”
He looked around for a cop, but every single one of them was holding back reporters as Officer Rogers led Anita into the back of a cop car while everyone else stood around and gawped.
India sat down on the step, watching the scene unfold. It was such a strange feeling to know that she, to some degree, had caused this. Though it was the energy that whispered the secrets to her, and Luis who taught her how to use her powers, she was the channel for it all. She felt, more than ever, that she had been in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. Nothing made her feel more alive than being in the thick of a mystery, searching for the truth. For justice. She had a strange thought then, that perhaps there was some mysterious force working underneath the happenings of the world, directing her towards where crimes were about to happen. It sure was a coincidence, that in just a few short years she’d been faced with all these cases. She smiled to herself as she watched the police car with Anita drive away. Though Jim Quinn was no one’s hero, and Anita wasn’t exactly an evil mass murderer, the truth had to out. India strongly believed that a life, or a world, for that matter, full of secrets and illusions and lies, wasn’t worth living in.
But as Xavier came back with a cop to unlock the cuffs, a knot twisted itself in her stomach again, at the realization that she was forced to keep her own secret. The two things she wanted most in the world were in stark opposition, one force pulling her one way, and the other threatening to tear her in two. How could she solve mysteries without her powers? And yet, how could she keep a secret from Xavier? She was sure if she told him, her powers would just wipe out, never to be seen again. Plus, some horrible punishment would be heaped on top of it, she was sure. But in that moment, rubbing her wrists, she made up her mind that she would find a way. She’d find a way to tell him, and to keep her powers. Never mind if it seemed impossible. She would do it.
***
The next morning, India and Xavier were packing up the car to leave. Valerie and Nadine had insisted on baking up a storm, forcing them to take cheesecake for when they took one of their rest stops, plus chocolate cupcakes, blueberry muffins, and a loaf of freshly baked bread cut into sandwiches.
“Mom!” Xavier said, wide eyed at all the food packed up on the table. “You didn’t need to do all that.”
“It’s a ten hour journey,” Valerie insisted. “It’s the least I could do. If it were me I’d get a hotel half way and stay a night before going on.”
Xavier gave her a side hug. “It’s all right. We’ll be fine.”
“But I won’t be,” Nadine said, pouting. “I’m going to miss my big brother, and my new favorite sister in the world.” She launched herself at Xavier and India in a big hug.
“Yep,” Demetria said from the kitchen, grinning. “You’re an honorary part of the family now. Just like me.”
Mark and Eric came in from the driveway, where they had been examining the car. Eric wiped the grease off his hands with a rag. “You’re good to go, guys.”
India and Xavier looked at each other for a moment, and she knew exactly what he was thinking. He had been right, that Eric and Demetria looking at each other in the suspicious way they had done was nothing to do with the murder, but India was curious all the same. She knew Xavier was, too.
“Ooh, yeah, let me just ask you about something real quick, Eric,” Xavier said. “Come, India, didn’t you say you’d seen something strange about the car the other day?”
“Oh yes,” India said quickly, hurrying after them.
“If you don’t get it fixed, you’re going nowhere,” Valerie called out after them. “You’ll stay here until that car is 100%.”
In the driveway, Eric looked at them expectantly. “So? What’s up?”
Xavier leant against the car hood. “Look, I’ve known you for how many years? Like fifteen? Twenty? So I’m just going to be straight with you. Yesterday, we saw you and Demetria looking at each other in a real worried way. Now if it’s something that’s none of our business, that’s fine, but we were just wondering if something was up. If we could help you with anything.”
Eric turned, puffing out a long stream of breath. “Boy,” he said. “We were really scared, I don’t mind telling you.”
“Why?”
“Well, we thought… because of something that happened in the past, that, well, we might be suspected of killing Jim.”
Xavier smiled. “You’re in the clear now.”
“Yeah,” Eric said, giving a weak smile back. “But I guess I could still be charged with something. I… got real mad.”
India listened on with interest, and Xavier just looked at him, casual as anything. “And…?”
“I was the one who gave Jim his limp. I was the one who messed with the brakes all those years ago.”
“Wow,” Xavier said. “Why would you do that?”
“Well… he… tried to make a move on Demetria,” Eric said. “And when she turned him down, well, he got grabby, and said all kind of horrible stuff to her. Insulted her, cursed at her, all sorta stuff. And I just… I tried to keep it all inside and do nothing, but every time I saw him, I just wanted to wring his neck. So I did what I did. I can’t say I’m proud of it, but it’s the truth.”
Xavier was silent for a moment. “I don’t think any man who loves a woman could blame you, really. I mean, you should have gone to the cops, really, and had him charged, but I understand why you did what you did.”
Eric gave him a small smile back. “Thanks. I still feel guilty about it. I mean, he could have died. But, well, he is dead now. So… I don’t know. I’m just glad this is all over and wrapped up. I was scared we’d get in trouble and people would think we killed him.” He looked at India. “But you blew that all out of the water. Thank you.”
India felt her cheeks flush. “Oh, thanks. But it was nothing, really. And Xavier and I did it all together.”
“Well, then,” Eric said. “You make a great team.”
Xavier reached over and took India’s hand. He smiled at her, and his eyes had a deep look in them, like he was really looking at her, perhaps for the first time all over again. “We do, don’t we?”
India grinned. “You bet.”
They packed up the goodies and their cases into the back of the car, and said one last round of goodbyes to everyone, full of hugs and kisses and promises to visit some time soon. Valerie even shed a tear or two, and cuddled into Mark as she wiped them away.
“We’ll see you real soon!” India said, leaning out of the drivers seat window to give them a wave.
“Bye!” Xavier said, waving until they were out of sight. He then put his hand on India’s knee as she drove. “Back to Benton Point, In?”
She smiled, already imagining the soft lap of the waves up on the beach, and the ocean breeze whispering through her hair. She heard the windchimes of her little lemon yellow Key West cottage. “Let’s go home.”
The End
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The India Kirby Witch Mystery Series
Book 1 – Dying to be a Star
Book 2 – Dying to be Married
