by Tasha Black
“But Chief—” Natalie began.
“I’m going to have to ask you to let this go,” Chief Baker said. “We’re not going to investigate this as a force, and I’m asking you not to investigate it on your own. You’re not thinking clearly right now, but I know you care about this community. You wouldn’t want to upset everyone over something that’s clearly not a murder.”
When he used the word murder it gave her a moment of pause. She had been thinking there was a little more to it. But would someone really murder the mayor?
“I want you to take the rest of the week off, with pay,” the chief went on. “Take some time and mourn. We’ll be here when you get back.”
“Thank you,” she heard herself say. Her voice sounded far away.
“This force is a family,” he said, thumping her once on the back. “Call if you need anything. Try to get some rest, and remember to eat. Margaret will stop by with a casserole.”
Margaret was Chief Baker’s wife. She was famous for her numerous, inedible casseroles. And for her warm hugs.
“Thank you,” Natalie said again, grabbing Barker Posey’s leash. “I’ll just get her out of here.”
3
Spenser
Spenser strolled down the street, past the shops of Stargazer, watching the colorful leaves drift onto the sidewalk ahead of him.
Halloween decorations festooned the store windows. Spenser eyed them with suspicion.
From all he could glean of human behavior, humans did not wish to be frightened. They went to great lengths to avoid scary surprises, especially when it came to their children. Spenser had tried, but could not fully piece together the reasoning behind the many ratings for movies.
His friend, Dr. Bhimani, had explained that the ratings were aimed to warn people about what things in the movie might frighten children, without ruining the story.
Now suddenly the whole town seemed to be celebrating this strange holiday. Monsters, witches, and ample gore were on public display.
And somehow the whole thing was designed for children.
He spotted a mannequin in a store window that was holding its own severed head, along with a sign that warned patrons they might lose their own heads when they observed the shop’s low prices. Apparently, there were distinctions between what was considered fun-scary, and what was just plain scary, that were lost on Spenser.
He finally reached his destination and stood outside for a moment, feeling restless.
His brothers Hannibal and Fletcher both had mates now, filling their lives with love and pleasure.
Only Spenser remained alone.
It was no surprise to him. While his brothers had adapted easily to this new world, Spenser still struggled to understand humans.
His mate would help him, when he found her. For now, it was still difficult.
His brothers had suggested that he go someplace where people shared his interests. They explained that he might be more likely to find his mate in such a location, and that even if he didn’t, he might make some friends.
The glass storefront he faced had a sign in the window.
The Silver Club - Fun Activities for Adults - Every Day of the Week - All Are Welcome
Spenser was an adult and he liked fun activities. Besides, he had come to understand that the word adult was often a satellite word to mating activities.
How he longed to find a woman to call his mate.
He was here today because they were hosting something called a Puzzler’s Brunch. And Spenser’s favorite human activity was solving puzzles and crosswords. If this place wasn’t the key to finding a mate, he had no idea what was.
But somehow, now that he was here, it was hard to go inside.
A pair of young women walked past, eating ice cream cones.
He nodded to them, and they both giggled, their eyes running hungrily all over his body. He felt a shallow frisson of desire, but not the inexorable pull he knew a mate’s gaze would bring.
Frustrated, he pushed open the door of The Silver Club.
“Well, hello there,” a lady said, her voice rough and raspy.
He looked down to see that she had dark brown eyes and a head of fluffy white hair.
“Hello,” he replied, noticing with disappointment that she was also not his mate.
“My name is Darlene. Are you looking for someone?” the woman asked.
“No,” Spenser said. “I am Spenser and I am looking for the Puzzler’s Brunch.”
“Well, this is it,” Darlene said, spreading her arms wide.
A large table at the center of the room was set up with jigsaw puzzles. Four other people, all with white hair, sat at the table, chatting, eating fruit and danishes and putting together the pieces to form cohesive images.
He’d been hoping for word or logic puzzles, but jigsaw puzzles were fun as well.
“Come on in,” Darlene said. “Everyone, this is Spenser.”
“Marge,” one of the women said, tapping her own chest. “My, aren’t you a tall one. You can’t reach the puzzle on the top shelf, can you?’
Everyone turned, as if in great suspense.
Spenser walked to the big bookshelf that lined the far wall. Sure enough, a lone puzzle box sat on the top shelf.
He lifted it down and handed it to Marge, after blowing some dust off the top.
“Ohhh,” Marge said, looking as pleased as if he had handed her a briefcase full of intergalactic credits.
The others gave him a small burst of applause.
“Wonderful,” another lady whispered to Darlene, who had seated herself at the table.
He had only retrieved a puzzle, but their response was gratifying.
Spenser smiled benevolently down at the group.
“Sit down, son,” a man with wrinkled brown skin and an impressive beard told him, indicating the chair next to him. “I’m Al.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Spenser told him.
“What brings you to the Silver Club?” Al asked.
“I am new to Stargazer,” Spenser said, carefully not saying he was an alien. Lots of people were mistrustful of aliens on this planet, though they loved making movies about them. “My brothers thought I might make new friends if I visited a place where other people had the same interests.”
“What are your interests?” Darlene asked.
“Puzzles and crosswords,” Spenser said. “I like solving things.”
For a moment he felt a little silly not being interested in something more important.
“Well, you came to the right place,” Al laughed, and slapped him on the leg.
They puzzled on quietly for a little while. Spenser wasn’t sure what the picture was meant to be, but most of the pieces were red and white.
Darlene and Al seemed to be fond of looking for edges, which left Marge and Spenser to do the middle parts.
That suited Spenser fine, he preferred a challenge.
Down at the other side of the table, two more guests were working on a different puzzle.
“Why can’t I find this one?” Marge complained after a few minutes. “It should be white with a red stripe.”
“May I see?” Spenser asked.
She pushed a collection of pieces his way sadly. The middle piece would connect them all if they could find it.
He studied the shapes.
Marge was right, the missing piece should be white with a red stripe, but there appeared to be a shadow moving across the image.
He scanned the spread-out pieces on the table, sliding his hand through them, looking for something specific.
“Here,” he said triumphantly, handing her a piece.
“But this is gray and red,” she said.
“Just give it a try,” he told her.
Her face lit up as it clicked into place.
“How did you know?” she asked.
“It was the shadow making the white part look gray,” he told her. “Not everything is exactly what it seems.”
&
nbsp; Al clapped for him again.
“That’s a life lesson too,” Darlene agreed.
“You have such good eyes,” Marge decided, beaming at him. “You remind me of my grandson.”
She painstakingly removed a tablet device from her oversized purse and swiped through photos until she got to the right one. “There he is.”
Spenser gazed down at the picture. In it, Marge was smiling up at a young man who had an arm around her.
Spenser could see no resemblance between himself and the boy whatsoever. But he sensed it would be impolite to mention it.
“That’s a very nice picture,” he told her instead. “You two look very happy.”
“Thank you,” she told him, putting her tablet away. “He lives far away, but I do love seeing him.”
Darlene winked at Spenser from across the table as Marge fussed with her bag, as if approving of what he had said.
His brothers had been right. He had made friends.
But he was no closer to finding a mate.
4
Natalie
Natalie wandered the streets of Stargazer, Barker Posey’s leash slack in her hand, trying her best to process what had just happened.
The big dog wasn’t capering or pulling. She walked along slowly, looking about as lost as Natalie felt.
Who was Natalie without her mentor?
She had already begun asking that after his misguided efforts to better the town had gotten him into hot water. But now he was dead. There was no working through that.
And who was she without her job?
She’d just been dismissed from doing the only thing she really wanted to do at a time like this - work. And she was banned from investigating the case, if there even was one.
Apparently, she was now just someone who wandered the streets aimlessly with a very large dog.
Her phone buzzed, startling her temporarily back into her surroundings. She ignored the phone, but looked up at the building in front of her. The glossy, painted door had brass numbers hanging from it.
221B
“Seriously,” Natalie said to herself.
She might have thought she was wandering aimlessly, but her feet had brought her straight to Crescent Street - straight to Violet Locke.
And also to Violet’s friend, Jana Watson, and the three aliens who had somehow helped Vi solve the case involving the mayor’s attempted good deeds.
Much as she did not want to ask Vi for help investigating the mayor’s death, Natalie had been told in no uncertain terms that the department wouldn’t look into it.
So the options were to work with Vi, or to work by herself. She supposed her feet had carried her here for a reason.
It still wasn’t an easy decision.
If only Vi had just an ounce of humility, it might be different. But she had all but rubbed her victories in the police department’s face each time she solved a local mystery before the department could.
And there was an even bigger reason to stay away. A big, muscular reason, with a smile that made her feel like…
“…melting,” a familiar deep voice intoned.
She turned to see Spenser headed her way. And there was that smile. She felt her cheeks flush.
“What?” was all she could manage.
“Hello, Officer West,” the big man said. “I was just saying that I was glad to see you, because my ice cream is melting.”
Sure enough, he was carrying a gigantic, melting dish of ice cream in each hand.
“Wow,” she said. “Hi.”
“I couldn’t decide between sundaes, so I bought both,” he explained. “Now I need help eating them, and opening the door.”
He wasn’t wrong. There was no way he could get inside on his own with all that ice cream.
She took an instant to consider, but it was impossible to say no.
Good looking man, good looking ice cream, and she certainly had no place else to go.
“Is it okay for me to bring the dog inside?” she asked hopefully.
“Of course,” he said. “But I think we should eat these on the patio. They seem very messy.”
“That sounds nice,” Natalie replied, realizing that it did.
“My key is in my pocket,” he told her, glancing down at his front right pocket.
“Oh, uh, okay,” she replied, eyeing him guardedly.
She could barely look at him without wanting to climb him like a tree. Did she really want to stick her hand in his pocket?
Yes. Yes, she did.
But she probably shouldn’t.
She contemplated what a bad idea it was as she approached him and reached out her hand.
Up close like this, she could smell him, spicy and warm over the sweet, fruity scent of the ice cream. And she found herself wanting nothing more than to lick that melted ice cream off his hands until he begged for more.
Instead, she slid her hand into his pocket as quickly as she could and tried to ignore the hard muscle of his thigh long enough to snag the key and pull it out.
Her cheeks were practically on fire as she unlocked the door. She could sense his presence behind her, and feel the lust pouring off him as if they had been interrupted in the middle of lovemaking instead of just opening a door.
The hallway was dim. As Natalie’s eyes adjusted, her other senses amped up.
She could smell the tang of the cherries on top of Spenser’s sundaes. Barker Posey was panting loudly, and she was momentarily glad for the big dog’s presence. Between the dog and the ice cream, it was very unlikely that they would somehow start making out before they reached the back door. She could already see the light pouring out of the transom. They just had to make it a few more steps.
Sunlight burst in, nearly blinding her.
“Officer West,” Jana Watson blurted out, her bright voice filled with surprise.
“I’m not here on official business,” Natalie said right away.
“Oh,” Jana replied. “That’s good…”
Natalie could hear the unsaid Then why are you here? even though Jana was far too polite to voice it.
“Here, I’ve got the door,” Jana said. “Guys, Officer West is here.”
Natalie wondered what they’d been doing outside.
A ridiculous image of them all trying to pull the thumbtacks out of a crime map and hide it away before she made it out came into her mind. She had to close her eyes to shake it.
She felt almost guilty looking out at the patio and seeing Violet and Hannibal chatting over a glass of iced tea while Fletcher pulled weeds from the tiny lawn.
“Hi,” she said, with an awkward wave.
“Officer West,” Vi said. “This is a surprise.”
“I’m not here on official business,” Natalie assured everyone again. “And you can call me Natalie.”
“Natalie,” Vi said thoughtfully, trying it out.
“I found her standing outside with her magnificent dog,” Spenser offered.
“That’s not her dog,” Vi said, before Natalie could correct him. “That’s the mayor’s dog, Barker Posey.”
“You’re right,” Natalie said, hating herself for being impressed. After all, how many Saint Bernards were running around Stargazer?
“Something’s happened to the mayor,” Vi said.
It wasn’t a question.
“Yes,” Natalie said, trying to think of the right words to explain it, but coming up short.
Suddenly, she was completely exhausted. It was too hard to decide where to begin, how to tell them what happened and why she was suspicious.
Her head felt like it was made of lead.
“Why don’t you sit down?” Jana suggested, indicating a spot at the picnic table.
Spenser sat beside her, and she felt oddly sheltered by his big body.
He pushed both sundaes toward her.
She chose the hot fudge and he pulled the marshmallow back with a smile, as if he’d gotten the one he wanted. Or he was just happy that she had.
/> She toyed with the whipped cream with her spoon, suddenly feeling like she might never eat again.
“Take a bite,” Jana suggested, sitting down across from her. “You’ll feel better. When was the last time you ate?”
It had been morning.
She dipped her spoon deeper and took a bite instead of answering. The flavors exploded in her mouth, the cold ice cream invigorating her even as the hot fudge warmed her. Maybe she wasn’t going on a hunger strike after all. Still, resisting ice cream for almost ten seconds had to be a personal record.
“Oh, wow, that’s so good,” she said, closing her eyes.
“Why don’t we let Barker Posey off the leash?” Vi suggested. “She looks like she could use a nap.”
Natalie handed over the leash and Vi unsnapped it.
Barker Posey trotted around the yard, sniffing things.
“She smells our landlord’s dog,” Vi said.
“She’s going to find Maybelle’s water bowl in a minute,” Jana said, smiling.
Sure enough, Barker Posey bounded back onto the patio a moment later and Natalie could hear her slurping water, though she couldn’t see past Spenser to get eyes on the dog.
“Keep eating,” Spenser advised, as though she had looked in his direction for a clue about what to do next.
She took another bite anyway, not because he had told her to, but because it was good.
The others gave her space. There was no sound except the birds calling to each other in the little garden and Barker Posey’s rhythmic slurps.
“The mayor is dead,” Natalie heard herself say around a bite of banana.
“Oh,” Jana said sadly.
Spenser patted Natalie’s back with a giant hand.
Vi nodded to herself as if this was exactly as she had suspected.
Natalie resisted the urge to slap her. Barely.
Fletcher came over and sat beside Jana.
“Chief Baker thinks it was an accident,” Natalie said. “There’s an open box of treats on his desk, and it’s pretty clear that he died of an allergic reaction.”
“Anaphylaxis?” Vi said, shaking her head. “That doesn’t make sense. He was never without an EpiPen.”
