High Jinx

by Shannon Esposito

  ‘Excuse me? M.J.?’ They both turned to me, her striking light green eyes settling on me behind the gold mask. It was like being hit with a jolt of electricity. ‘Sorry, I just wanted to introduce myself. I don’t think we’ve met.’ I held out my hand. ‘Elle Pressley.’

  ‘Lulu Dutrey.’ Impossibly, her smile rose a few watts. ‘Nice to meet you,’ she said with a soft, unfamiliar accent. It almost sounded southern, like Mississippi-type southern, but with an edge of something else.

  I shook her dry, firm hand. ‘I hear you own The Gumbo Pot on 10th?’

  ‘You heard right.’ She gave a confident nod. ‘Have you been?’

  ‘No, sadly I haven’t had the pleasure. I’ve heard good things about it, though.’

  ‘Well, if you’re a fan of Cajun come on in and ask for me when you get there.’ She winked. ‘I’ll give you a good discount.’

  ‘Cajun? Yes, I’m a fan. Are you from New Orleans then?’ This would fit. She had that otherworldly, magical air about her. Visiting there was on my bucket list, or rather my future braver self’s bucket list.

  ‘Louisiana, yes, but the north side. But my mom did drag me down to New Orleans regularly for her business. Interesting place.’ She turned her attention back to M.J. ‘Sugar, I’m going to go scout out a bottled water. Be right back. Nice to meet you, Elle.’

  ‘She seems pretty great,’ I said to M.J. as we both watched her navigate the crowd. ‘How long have you two been together?’

  He didn’t pull his attention away from her until she was completely out of sight. When he finally turned to me he had this look on his face, like a guy who couldn’t believe his own dumb luck. ‘Actually, Lulu and I have been friends for years. But we just started dating four weeks and two days ago.’ He smiled sheepishly.

  I smiled back. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who counted days. ‘Well, friendship is a great foundation for a relationship. And it’s obvious you two are deeply in love.’

  His face pinked under his mask as dropped his head to stare down at his black patent leather shoes. ‘Yes. I’m a lucky guy.’

  Devon sidled up beside me, apparently finished with Selene. He clinked M.J.’s glass. ‘To us lucky guys.’

  M.J. sipped his champagne then rocked back on his heels. ‘You know, Elle, since you haven’t been yet, why don’t I take you two to Lulu’s restaurant tomorrow night? My treat.’

  ‘Oh, we couldn’t—’ I started to protest.

  ‘No, really,’ M.J. said. ‘She has to work so it’ll give me an excuse to be near her.’ He leaned in. ‘And a chance to get off Moon Key and away from family for a little while.’

  ‘I heard that.’ Selene sidled up to wrap an arm around her son’s shoulder. ‘Go. It’ll do you good to be around people your own age for a change.’

  M.J. kissed his mother’s cheek and then held his free hand out to Devon. ‘It’s settled then.’

  ‘OK. I guess it’s settled.’ I smiled up at Devon as he accepted M.J.’s hand.

  Devon gave him his address and then the Beckleys moved on, deeper into the crowded room.

  We watched them go. ‘So, did you find out anything from Selene?’

  Devon shrugged. ‘She stands by her statement that she went upstairs to be with Cali. Cali was apparently very upset by the fight with her father, but Selene couldn’t get her to take her prescribed sedative. She wanted Selene to confront Michael about cutting her out of the inheritance before she did.’ He waved to someone across the room and then added, ‘Also, she said Sven left the party when she went upstairs.’

  I thought about that. There was no way to prove that Sven actually did leave the party at that time. ‘Well, at least we know for a fact one part of that is true: Cali definitely wasn’t on any kind of sedative when Detective Farnsworth was questioning her. She seemed angry as a hornet. Oh, thank you.’ I took a dog treat from an offered tray and gave it to Buddha, who’d sprawled out on the dark bamboo floor safely between our feet. ‘I heard Selene mention Breezy’s name. Did she say if she believed Breezy is guilty?’

  ‘She said it was a shock to hear Breezy had been arrested. But she doesn’t have any reason to believe the police have it wrong.’

  I sighed and leaned my head against his chest. None of us had a reason to believe it yet, really. That was the problem. Poor girl. She was the definition of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Rita finally approached me about an hour and a half into the party. ‘It’s time, Elle.’

  My stomach did a little flip as I bent down to give Buddha a parting scratch under his lion mane, which was not easy in Hope’s little black cocktail number. ‘Wish Mommy luck.’

  Devon pressed a kiss to my lips when I stood up. ‘Luck,’ he whispered.

  FOURTEEN

  There were three chairs set up in front of the runway. I recognized Blair, the dog acupuncturist in the chair on the left, but I stopped in my tracks when I saw who was occupying the one on the right. Alex Harwick. Seriously? That was it. If Flavia didn’t get me an evil eye thingy I was getting one myself because I was definitely cursed. What was he even doing here? He knew nothing about dogs … other than how to act like one. I forced myself to keep walking. Would it be childish to ask Blair to trade seats?

  ‘Well, hello there, Elle.’ Alex greeted me with his signature glassy-eyed creepy smile.

  ‘Alex.’ I swiped the stapled papers off my seat and plopped down in a very unladylike fashion. I began to flip through the pages of contestants. Leaning away from Alex, I addressed Blair. ‘So, we check off these little boxes?’

  ‘Yep,’ she said. ‘Score them one through five for originality, level of detail, difficulty and audience score. Which means how much the audience loved it, basically.’

  ‘Got it.’

  ‘Vera McNab is giving us ten grand to let her dog win,’ Alex whispered.

  My attention moved from the paper to Alex’s face. I expected him to be laughing but he was serious. ‘What?’ I jerked my head to see if Blair had heard him. She nodded.

  ‘You guys can’t be serious!’ I whispered. ‘We can’t take a bribe to fix a pet costume contest. Who would even bribe the judges at something like this?’

  ‘People with more money than sense.’ Alex shrugged his college football-player shoulders. I noticed his tux was straining against them. Probably the tux he wore to his high school prom. He seemed like the type of guy who’d get stuck in the glory days of his past. ‘She wants to win, and people with her kind of money get what they want.’

  Blair swept a blonde bang off her red sequined mask and out of her eye. ‘Yeah, the grand prizewinner gets an Alaskan cruise.’

  I looked back and forth between them. Did they even know how insane this was? Vera McNab’s vacation house was on mansion row. She could buy a hundred cruises to Alaska … probably even her own cruise ship. I shook my head. ‘Well, I’m not going to be bribed.’

  ‘Suit yourself. Me and Blair’ll split the money, and she’ll still win ’cause there’s two of us.’ Alex winked a bloodshot eye.

  ‘Congratulations, you can count.’ Seething, I dropped the papers on my lap and crossed my arms. This gave me a pretty good indication of his character, not that I needed another one. ‘What are you even doing here?’

  Alex stretched out a long leg that ended in scuffed black dress shoes. ‘Rita told me yesterday how she was in a bind because one of the judges backed out and everyone she knew had a dog in this fight. I told her not to worry, I’d save the day.’

  ‘Lucky us.’

  The DJ came on, announced the contest would be starting in five minutes and asked everyone to gather round the runway. Good, this couldn’t be over soon enough.

  Alex leaned a bit too close to me for my comfort. His breath smelled like beer and onion dip. I twitched. Did he just sniff my hair? ‘So, still hot and heavy with Devon Burke, I see.’

  I tried to unclench my jaw but it wasn’t working. ‘We’re dating, yes.’

  ‘Well, when that doe
sn’t work out, you just give ol’ Alex a call. I know we’re meant to hook up, Elle. But I’ll wait till you figure it out, too.’

  Yeah, because a guy who refers to himself in the third person just lights me up. I had to look at him. I didn’t want to but I had to know if he was mocking me. Unbelievably he looked completely serious. At that moment I realized he had no idea that he creeped me out on a level even I didn’t fully understand.

  Then I thought about how he had important information for Devon’s parents’ case. How he’d told the police about Clyde Lynch bragging at the bar the night Devon lost his parents and then recanted. Maybe I could use his affection for me to our advantage. I couldn’t put it that way to him, though. Hey, Alex, why don’t you do me a favor and help out the man who looks like he wants to punch you in the face every time he sees you? I bit my lip. I’d have to think about that, but meanwhile I’d better not burn any bridges with him.

  ‘Yeah, sure. I’ll keep that in mind, Alex.’ I didn’t sound sincere at all, and I’m sure I grimaced, but Alex just nodded sagely. Like Petey, social cues were not his thing.

  There was a drum roll and a spotlight suddenly lit up the runway. Here we go.

  ‘Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to get this party started. Y’all have been very patient so we’re just going to jump right into the contest. Without further ado, may I present our first contestant, Sissy Berry and her little Shark, Bruno! Give ’em a hand, folks.’

  We watched as Sissy coaxed her little white dog onto the stage. Everyone clapped and whistled as the dog peered out from the blue felt shark mouth. Sissy sashayed down the runway and made it almost to the end, where Bruno turned a nervous circle and then peed.

  ‘Oo!’ the DJ laughed as Sissy shook her head and held up a hand in a helpless gesture. ‘Well, hopefully the judges won’t take too many points away from Bruno for that. When you gotta go you gotta go! Am I right, folks?’

  The crowd laughed good-naturedly as Rita hustled over and laid a linen towel over the yellow stain. Sissy picked up her little wiggling shark and took a bow. A few whistles followed her off the stage.

  My attention moved from them to Devon, who was standing at the end of the runway with Buddha, where he had a good angle to take pictures. His camera was raised but he was staring at Alex beside me. He was not a happy camper. Nothing I could do about that right now, so I kept my focus on the contest.

  ‘Next up, we have Miss Lilly Founders and her two golden retrievers, Lacey and Lex. Aren’t they adorable, folks? Anyone have any rice to throw?’

  More clapping, hooting and whistling as Lilly led the canine bride and groom down the runway. They trotted happily alongside her, tails high like flags, grinning in the typical happy-go-lucky golden fashion.

  I marked their scores on my sheet, giving them extra points for a happy marriage. You see so little of that these days.

  ‘Next up we have an amazing work of art! Give it up for Violet and Ghost.’

  I watched Violet sashay through the kitchen doors to the delight of the crowd. Ghost didn’t seem so sure of himself and kept glancing up at Violet with those expressive, pale blue eyes. His head was perfectly placed in the mounted photograph to replace the head of the Weimaraner Cinderella in the famous William Wegman print of the same name. Ghost had a black velvet sheet draped over the rest of his body so he looked like a walking photograph. It was quite effective and the crowd obviously agreed, cheering so loudly they scared him. Poor Ghost kept trying to back up into Violet’s legs. She eventually got him the full length of the runway, though, and took her bow at the end. I ticked off all high marks.

  Right after that it was Vera McNab and her golden-doodle Parker’s turn on the runway. Parker’s tail waved from the backside of a pink gown while her tongue dangled in front from an orangutan costume complete with stuffed furry arms. An orangutan in a prom dress? Well, I’d have to give her high points for originality and Parker was adorable. I couldn’t help but feel put off by Vera’s bribe, though, so I didn’t applaud on principle.

  Alex nudged me. ‘Not too late to share in the dough.’

  My body stiffened as his breath tickled my ear. ‘No, thank you,’ I said as politely as possible through clenched teeth.

  ‘Suit yourself.’

  The rest of the contest went pretty smoothly, barring the occasional costume mishap or the few rambunctious dogs who wanted to bark along with the crowd’s cheers. When this happened it just seemed to wind the crowd up more. Everyone was having a good time. I glanced at Rita. She seemed very pleased.

  ‘OK, ladies and gentlemen. That was our last contestant. Time to go fill up your plates and your drinks while the judges collaborate and figure out the winners.’

  As the knotted crowd began to disperse, I went to find Rita. I didn’t mention Vera’s ‘gift’ to the judges, but I’d decided Devon’s idea was a good one and would at least balance out the fraud that was about to go down. She agreed to give out more than one prize package, so I went back to address my fellow judges.

  ‘All right, here’s the deal. I know you two are going to give Vera McNab the grand prize, but Rita’s agreed to give spa packages to three other winners. Those will be chosen by adding up our points as intended.’

  This seemed to make everyone happy, especially Violet, who won one of the packages.

  I couldn’t get away from Alex fast enough and went to find Devon. He was standing with Violet, Jarvis, Beth Anne and Whitley.

  I ignored Devon’s irritation for the moment. ‘Hey, Whitley, I saw you and Maddox were crossed off the contest list. Is he all right?’

  She nodded, her black mask with black feathers a startling contrast to her pale skin and silver hair. ‘Yeah, he’s got some kind of stomach bug … or he swallowed another sock, which he usually yacks up if that’s the case. Either way, I left him at home so Gary could keep an eye on him tonight.’

  ‘Poor baby. Hope he feels good as new tomorrow.’ I turned to Devon. Time to let him vent. ‘Speaking of which, I think Buddha probably needs a potty break.’

  The night air hit me and I shivered. The cold front had officially arrived and the warm, humid air had been swept away and replaced with crisp, clean air with a bite. The heavy clouds had also disappeared. Now the sky was just an endless, clear midnight blue filled with stars.

  Devon must’ve noticed me shiver because he removed his tux jacket and draped it over my shoulders. ‘Wimp,’ he teased. He led Buddha into the grass with his head bowed. I followed.

  ‘So, what did Alex have to say?’ I could hear the shape edge of anger in his voice.

  ‘Not much. Just stuff about the contest.’ I wasn’t about to give him another reason to hate the man.

  He grunted. ‘I don’t like the way he looks at you. He’s arse over kick for ya.’

  I glanced up at him, stifling a smile. ‘He’s what?’ I noticed Devon used more Irish slang when he got emotional about something, and it was very endearing.

  He started fussing with his camera, not looking at me. Snapping a picture of Buddha, he sighed. ‘He’s just … he likes you. And I don’t trust him.’

  While his jealousy made me secretly happy, I knew it would only hinder my plan. ‘Yeah, about that … I was thinking maybe we could use that fact to our advantage. Maybe I could get him to give the police his statement again.’

  Devon jerked his head up. ‘Absolutely not, Elle. I’ll not allow you to use yourself as bait.’

  Of course, I knew this would be his initial reaction. He needed time to think about it, to realize he had few options. Alex’s testimony could really help. I wrapped my hand around his arm and gave him a reassuring squeeze. ‘I know how you feel about Alex and I don’t trust him, either. Just a thought.’ Then I changed the subject. ‘Did you happen to notice how Selene seems to favor Cali over M.J.? I don’t think I could do that if I had kids.’

  We followed Buddha’s lead through the gardens as he gave each spot in the grass a good sniffing and marking. Devon nodded, looking dis
turbed. ‘I did notice. Seems like the girl could get away with murder in the eyes of her mother.’

  Maybe that’s exactly what she did. ‘I wonder if Selene was even mad when Cali took that money for the tell-all story about their family?’

  Devon angled his head and pressed his lips against mine. The warmth that suddenly flowed through my body was welcomed. Then he ran the back of his index finger across my cheek. ‘Good question. Let’s go find out.’

  I pressed myself fully against the solidness of him and had a sudden urge to head back to the beach bungalow. Instead, I asked, ‘How do we do that?’

  ‘The way people have been findin’ out things for centuries … we’ll ask.’

  Turned out Selene and company had headed back to their suites after the contest was over. But that was OK. We had a date with her son tomorrow night.

  FIFTEEN

  We rolled up to The Gumbo Pot in the white stretch limo M.J. had picked us up in about nine thirty Sunday evening. I wouldn’t normally venture out this late but apparently the restaurant closes at ten and Lulu wanted to be able to sit down and join us after she was done cooking for the night.

  ‘This place is beautiful,’ I said to M.J. as we stepped into the cozy restaurant. And it was. The front of the place was all windows covered in gauzy white curtains and strings of pale pink lights. The back wall was brick with shelving housing hundreds of bottles of wine. The chair backs were heart-shaped scrolls and fresh wildflower bouquets sat in the center of every table. I don’t know what I’d been expecting. Maybe checkered tablecloths and Mardi Gras beads hanging from the ceiling? I ran a hand over a jeans-clad hip, hoping I wasn’t too underdressed as the hostess led us to a table by the window. Too late to worry about it now. There were only three tables occupied at this late hour anyway. No one to judge me but myself.

  ‘I’ll let Lulu know you’re here.’ She smiled pleasantly. ‘Enjoy.’