“No. I looked in on her, but she’s sleeping like the dead.”
Gigi gave her a sidelong glance. I stared at her.
“Oops. Not the best word choice, I guess.”
“Hardly,” I answered.
“Who would’ve thought Jason had it in him to be a killer?” Ember said, and took a sip of coffee. “Then again, after his attack on Seth at the café, I’m not surprised.”
Here we go. “Oh, come on,” I said. “You were just as shocked as the rest of us.”
“Momentarily,” she admitted, “until I realized we know nothing about Jason. He’s only lived here for what, a few months? Who knows what he was doing before he came to Emerald? For all we know, he could be a serial killer.” She stretched her arms over her head and yawned. “At least we found out before he got too involved with Raine. We could’ve ended up with a serial killer for a brother-in-law.”
“Stop saying that,” I said, exasperated but not surprised by her flippant attitude. “He’s not a serial killer. We don’t even know for sure he killed Seth.”
Ember dropped her arms and looked at me incredulously. “Are you serious? We saw him standing over the body. Grant caught him holding the weapon. He had blood on his hands. What more do you want?”
“He said he was trying to help Seth, not kill him.”
“And you believe that? Why would he help him after what happened at the café? He was ready to kill him then.”
“No he wasn’t.” I didn't believe that Jason would have killed Seth at the café—hit him, yes; but kill him? No.
“So, if you think Jason is innocent, who killed Seth?”
“I don’t know. Maybe Grant had something to do with it. He’s the one who would benefit the most.”
“How could Grant have done it?” Ember argued. “He was the one who found Jason.”
“Maybe it was a set-up or something. Maybe Grant paid someone to do it.”
“And have Seth’s body conveniently placed for him to find and then blame the nearest person?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t believe Jason did it.” I remembered the scared look on his face. “Whatever happened, there’s more to it than what we saw.”
“You just don’t want to believe for Raine’s sake. You can’t protect her from everything, you know.”
“I know that, and I’m not trying to.” With our parents gone and Gigi running the café when we were younger, it had fallen to Ember and me to watch out for Raine. Ember liked to take the if-it-doesn’t-hurt-her-let-her-do-it approach. I was the opposite. Poor Raine. It was a miracle she’d made it through life this far without the need for medical attention or mental health therapy.
“Jason is not a murderer,” I said with as much conviction as possible. I leaned forward on the table and looked Ember in the eyes. “And I don’t want Raine to think she’s responsible for Seth's death.”
“Of course she’s not responsible. I never said she was.”
“It would be a real shame if it turns out he did do it,” Gigi said. “He seemed like a very nice young man.”
“That’s what they said about Ted Bundy,” Ember said. “And you only met him once, Gigi. You didn’t see the fight at the café. ”
“You never told me you met Ted Bundy, Gigi,” Ray said with a smirk.
“She meant Jason, and that’s not funny,” Gigi said.
“Oh come on, sure it was. Anyway, it sounds like an open and shut case to me,” Ray said. “Something Matt will appreciate, I’m sure.”
Thank you, Ray, for changing the subject. “Speaking of Matt, have you talked to him this morning?” I asked Ember. “He said he needed statements from us, but I want to get over to the gallery as soon as possible and pick up our stuff.” I pulled my list out of my pocket and grabbed Gigi’s pen. I crossed out everything I’d had on the list for yesterday and started making a new one.
“You’re not going to work today, are you?” Gigi stopped typing and looked up.
“No, but we can’t just leave everything at the gallery.” I wasn’t looking forward to going back to the scene of the crime, but we had a business to run, and I didn’t think Martin would appreciate having all our stuff laying around his gallery.
“You’re so old school. I don’t know why you don’t do that on your phone,” Ember said as she watched me write my list.
I ignored the comment. I’d heard it before. “Did Matt call?” I repeated.
“Oh yeah, he did. He said he would get here as soon as he could.” Ember sighed heavily. “I wish that new chief would show up. I can’t believe it’s taking this long and now Matt has to deal with this murder thing. I don’t think it’s fair.”
“It isn’t fair,” Gigi agreed. “Poor Matt and Dennis have been working without a supervisor for so long. Mind you, Chief Maxwell wasn’t the most helpful, was he? We can only hope the new man will be a bit more involved.”
It was no secret that the majority of Chief Maxwell’s time had been spent with his feet up on his desk, napping.
“I’ve heard some good things about Chief Bishop,” Ray said. “Straight shooter, no-nonsense kind of guy. Just what the island needs.”
“What is that supposed to mean? Are you calling Matt a slacker?” Ember challenged Ray.
“No, no, far from it,” Ray said hurriedly. “Matt’s a good man, but he can be a bit lenient, if you know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t know what you mean. Please, do explain.” Ember crossed her arms across her chest. Uh-oh. Don’t push her, Ray. She knows how to throw a curse, and I don’t mean the sweary kind.
I got up from the table and took my cup over to the sink. “I think Ray just means that Matt is compassionate. Like when those kids had the big bonfire on the beach last week, instead of charging them with illegal burning, he drove them home to their parents’.” I nudged Ray with my elbow. “Right, Ray?”
He looked down at me and was about to argue when he saw the warning look in my eyes. “Right. Yeah, compassionate. That’s what I meant.”
“What is that you’re washing?” I said to change the subject. I was sure I could feel Ember’s eyes burning a hole in my back. She was ready for a fight, but I wasn’t going to let it happen.
“This,” he said, holding up something shiny, “is a horseshoe. I found it when I was cleaning out the fire pit in Puffin.”
When Gigi started the campground, she’d decided that instead of numbering each campsite she would name them after local birds, so there were campsites named Chickadee, Sandpiper, Heron, and so on. Puffin was one of the more popular spots. It had the best ocean view and was always fully booked well before camping season began.
“I’m going to hang it over the door of the welcome booth,” Ray finished.
“After you scrub out my sink,” Gigi said, looking at him over the edge of her laptop.
“Sorry about that. Should’ve hosed it off outside, I guess.” He picked up a sponge and started swirling it around in the sink. Drops of dirty water splattered onto the counter.
Gigi rose from the table, walked over to the sink, and took the sponge from Ray’s hand. “Never mind, I’ll do it. You’re only going to make it worse. Go and get on with your work. Shoo.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He looked at me and winked. “Your grandmother is a hard taskmaster.”
“Go.” Gigi aimed her finger at the door.
Ray scurried out the door.
“Men,” Gigi said as she started scrubbing the sink. “I swear they were put on this earth just to drive women crazy.”
“Not all of us, I hope.” Matt stood in the doorway, smiling.
Chapter 11
Matt walked over to Ember and planted a kiss on the top of her head.
Ember stood up and hugged him. “You look exhausted,” she said. “I hope you got some sleep.”
“Some,” he said and pulled out a chair and sat down. “After taking everyone’s statements last night, I had to wait for the coroner. Dennis had to go over to Diamond in the p
atrol boat to pick him up.”
“And what about Chief Whosits, did he show up yet?” Ember asked.
“I spoke to him this morning, and he said he would be here later today.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Ember said. “It’s not fair that you have to do all the work and he takes his sweet time getting here.”
Matt rubbed Ember’s back and smiled at her. “Hey, it’s fine. The guy just got appointed to the job, and Diamond’s a bigger island, more cops, more politics, more everything. He’s got a lot on his plate.” He stroked her hair and her shoulders dropped a little. “I’m not complaining.”
“And you don’t have a lot on your plate? I hope you told him what’s happened. He can’t expect you to do this all on your own,” she said.
Matt nodded. “I did, and he said it sounds like I’ve got everything under control.”
“Of course you do,” Gigi said. “Why wouldn’t you? You’re a fine police officer.” She reached in front of Ember and patted Matt’s hand.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Gigi.”
“Yeah, a police officer with no life,” Ember said and pushed her chair back from the table. She walked over to the coffee maker and refilled her cup.
“Come on, Ember,” I said. “Leave Matt alone, he’s doing the best he can.”
“Easy for you to say, you don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Ember!” Gigi looked shocked. “That was uncalled for.”
“Jeez, Em,” Matt said. “Take it down a notch.”
“That’s okay.” I put my hand up to stop them before they started tearing into Ember. “She’s right, I don’t have a boyfriend. I have an ex-husband, and as crappy as that whole situation was, I do remember what it was like waiting for him when he was out of town working. It sucked.” Of course, it then sucked a whole lot more when I found out why he spent so much time away.
“I wasn’t even talking about Devon.” Ember looked at me and gave me a tight smile. “I’m just fed up. I think this Chief Whoever is taking advantage of Matt.”
“It’s Chief Bishop,” Matt said, “and he’s not taking advantage of me.”
“What about the family, Matt? How are they taking this?” Gigi asked. “It must be devastating for them.”
Matt leaned back in his chair. “The sister is pretty torn up, understandably. Grant, on the other hand, is threatening to bring in his lawyers and sue everyone.”
“Sue who, and for what?” I asked.
“I have no idea. I get the feeling that’s his go-to response when things don’t go his way.”
I wasn’t surprised. A dead family member must have really thrown a monkey wrench into his plans.
“Matt, can I get you a cup of coffee?” Gigi offered.
“Thanks, but I think I’ve already drunk about a gallon of the stuff already. I’m just going to get the girls’ statements and then I’ve got to get down to Seth’s cottage and have a look around.”
“How is Jason?” I asked.
“Upset, of course, and scared.”
“He should be scared,” Ember said. “You can’t go around murdering people without consequences.”
“Ember, why don’t you just wait until we have all the facts,” I said.
“Bree thinks Grant did it.” Ember said to Matt.
“And you think Jason’s a serial killer,” I retorted.
“Why do you think Grant did it, Bree?” Matt asked.
“I didn’t say that exactly, just that it was a possibility. Before the car alarm went off, Grant took a phone call and went outside. Doesn’t that seem like a convenient coincidence?”
“He told me about that. He said the call was from Seth.” Matt pulled a notepad from his pocket and flipped through it until he found what he was looking for. “Okay, here it is. Grant said the call was short. Seth told him, ‘If you want my land, meet me out back,’ then he hung up.” Matt closed the notepad and looked up at us.
“Maybe Grant is lying. The guy has a pretty obvious motive for wanting Seth dead—his land. How can you be sure it was Seth?” I asked.
“I can’t be sure. We never found the phone at the crime scene.”
“How convenient,” I said.
“But,” Matt continued, “I did call the number that was displayed on Grant’s phone, and the voicemail said, ‘You’ve reached Seth Bateman.’”
“There you go,” Ember said. “Like I said before, Jason was caught red-handed. Isn’t that enough?”
“How about innocent until proven guilty? Right, Matt?”
“Bree’s right, Em. I’ve just begun the investigation, and I haven’t ruled anyone out at this point. I know it doesn’t look good for Jason right now, but nothing’s been proven either way.”
“Well, I think you’re both blind,” Ember said.
“Why don’t you go and see if Raine’s awake,” Gigi said to Ember. “Let her know Matt is here to talk to her.”
“Fine,” Ember said and strode out of the kitchen. She stood at the bottom of the stairs and shouted up for Raine to come down and talk to Matt.
“You didn’t need to shout,” Gigi said. “Matt, you’ll have to excuse my darling granddaughter. Apparently she’s lost her manners this morning.”
“Along with her mind,” I said under my breath.
“I’m not deaf, you know,” Ember said, glaring at me as she walked back into the kitchen and dropped into her chair.
“Girls,” Gigi warned. “Enough.”
Raine shuffled into the kitchen. Her hair was a tangled mess and she wore her blue bathrobe with the pandas on it, but underneath I could see she still had on the clothes she’d been wearing last night.
Gigi walked over to her wrapped her arms around her. “How are you, sweetheart?” She smoothed Raine’s hair back from her face. “Feeling any better?”
Raine shook her head and pulled away from Gigi’s embrace. She slumped down in the chair next to me.
“Matt just wants to ask us a few questions about last night,” I said. “Okay?”
Raine looked across the table at Matt.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make it quick,” Matt said. He pulled a pen from his shirt pocket and flipped open his notepad.
He spent the next twenty minutes asking each of us to explain what happened at the gallery, as well as the incident at the café.
“And then you intervened and stopped the fight?” Matt looked up at me from his notepad.
“Uh, yeah,” I said slowly.
Ember snorted.
“What’s so funny?” I asked her.
“Breeze Middleton, the Great Intervener. We should get you a superhero cape.”
“I’m glad you’re so amused,” I said. “Would you rather Matt wrote down what really happened?”
“Of course not, I just think it sounds funny. Lighten up.” Ember got up from the table to refill her coffee cup.
“I don’t know what you see in her, Matt,” I said as I watched her walk to the counter, “but it can’t be her sense of humor, because clearly she doesn’t have one.”
Ember turned to look at me as she filled her cup. “And you would know because—”
“Stop it!” Raine stood up and pushed her chair back. “Someone was killed because of me and you think it’s something to joke about.”
Raine ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs. We heard her bedroom door slam.
Ember walked out into the foyer. “I was just kidding,” she called up the stairs.
“Just leave her be,” Gigi said to Ember. “I think you’ve done enough.” She turned to Matt. “Do you have everything you need?”
“Yes,” he said and stood up. “I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s not your fault, Matt,” I said. I directed my words at him, but I looked at Ember as she stood in the doorway.
“I’d better get going.” Matt gathered up his notepad and pen. He whispered something to Ember as he walked by her. Her face turned red and she followed him out into the hall. I don’t th
ink he was too impressed with her behavior.
A few minutes later we heard the front door close and Ember walked back into the kitchen. She picked up her coffee cup and leaned back against the counter.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you girls,” Gigi said, “but you’re both acting like children.” She lowered her head at Ember and said, “You need to have more compassion,” and then she looked at me and added, “and you need to grow a thicker skin and not let your sister antagonize you.”
“And you should have been stricter with them, Georgina.” We all turned to look at the door to the mudroom. I could have sworn Ray closed it behind him, but it was open and Violet was sitting there, pointing a paw at Gigi. “You let these girls run wild when they were younger. It’s no wonder they act like children.”
“Kindly keep your mouth shut, Violet,” Gigi said. “I don’t need parenting lessons from you.”
“Who said my mouth was open, hmm?”
“You know what I mean.”
It was true: When Violet spoke, her mouth didn’t move. Her voice had no physical connection to her actual body, a fact I was grateful for. It would have been too creepy to see her cat lips moving when she spoke.
“In my day children were seen and not heard.”
“That’s because in your day only dinosaurs roamed the earth,” Gigi shot back.
“I’m leaving,” I interrupted and got up from the table. I didn’t want to be drawn into an argument between Gigi and Violet. It could go on for hours.
“I’ll come with you.” Ember must have been thinking the same thing. “Let me just run upstairs and throw on some clothes.”
“Hurry up,” I whispered to her as she ran past me. I hurried into the foyer, grabbed my keys, and slipped out the door. As I closed the door I could hear Gigi and Violet arguing the merits of spanking children. Violet was all for it, of course.
Chapter 12
Ember and I made our way into town. As I glanced over at the ocean it struck me that only twenty-four hours had passed since I’d last made this trip. So much had happened between then and now it felt like a lifetime ago. I sighed.
Stuck in the Middle Witch You (A Middle Witch Mystery Book 1) Page 7
