High Jinx

by Shannon Esposito

  ‘She’s not there,’ M.J. said quietly. ‘Cali said she flew out Sunday morning to Germany for a book convention, so I don’t even know if she knows Oliver’s dead yet.’

  ‘Speaking of Cali, where is she?’ Lulu asked. Her eyes blazed like a hot gas fire. ‘She should really be here to honor her father today. It’s time for her to let go of whatever grudge she has against him.’

  ‘She’s here.’ M.J. rubbed the bridge of his nose. ‘Somewhere. Pouting because Sam left.’

  ‘You know, your mom really should’ve let Breezy come to the wake.’ Lulu crossed her arms over her stomach. ‘She knows the poor girl didn’t kill Michael.’

  ‘She didn’t say anything when Breezy came to the funeral. But until the police clear her, she can’t have her coming to the house.’ M.J. shrugged. ‘She’s trying to be fair.’

  ‘Fair? Is it fair that someone who actually cared about Michael can’t come to celebrate his life, but that dirt bag trainer can show up with flowers and Selene defends his right to be here?’ Lulu swiped at her nose with the back of her hand.

  Devon and I shared a glance and then I thought about Sven. Selene said he’d left the party when she went upstairs with Cali, but how do we know that’s true? If she left his side at that point, he could’ve gone anywhere. Including the back kitchen.

  M.J. immediately went to her, kneeling on the stone in his dress slacks without hesitation. ‘You’re absolutely right. Mom should have never let him near the house today. It was tacky and Dad didn’t deserve that. Unfortunately I can’t do anything about it, but I’ll talk to her about Breezy, OK?’

  ‘Yeah, yeah.’ Lulu’s shoulders fell and she gave him an apologetic smile. ‘Sorry, it’s these baby hormones. They make me crazy.’

  M.J. rested a hand protectively on her belly. I suddenly felt like we were outsiders intruding on a private moment.

  ‘You know, I’m not feeling very well,’ I said. ‘Do you think it would be rude to duck out early?’

  M.J. shook his head and stood. ‘Not at all. This is a stressful time and we appreciate you coming.’

  We said our goodbyes on the way out and made our way to the Jeep. I heard the rumble of a garage door. Drained from my emotional reaction to being in the kitchen, I was leaning on Devon’s arm and not paying much attention. That is, until Cali drove by us in a black Cadillac. Startled, I only caught the first two letters on the license plate: TR.

  ‘I’m telling you, that was the Cadillac that ran me off the road,’ I said as Devon cranked up the Jeep.

  ‘You know the Cadillac is the car of choice for wealthy people, right? It holds its value so they are a dime a dozen on this island. And have you seen the way people drive here? I’m sure someone running you off the road was just an accident. If they really wanted to hurt you … car versus bike wouldn’t be very hard to do.’

  I stroked the outline of my new evil eye pendant under my dress. ‘So, you don’t think it’s possible Cali killed her dad and tried to run me over because I’ve been asking too many questions?’

  ‘Anything’s possible.’ Devon suddenly wasn’t paying attention. His gaze was focused over my shoulder. I turned my head to see what he was staring at as he slowed the Jeep to a crawl.

  ‘Isn’t that … Eloise?’ I asked as we passed Oliver’s mansion. It had to be. She was throwing bags in the trunk of the sports car I’d seen in their garage earlier. ‘Isn’t she supposed to be in Germany?’

  Devon glanced at me. ‘I guess she came straight back as soon as she heard the news about Oliver … or she never left.’

  He brought the car to a full stop as a man emerged from the front door, carrying a leather satchel.

  ‘Is that … Sven?’ But I didn’t even have to ask. There was no mistaking the six-foot-seven bulk of man.

  TWENTY-ONE

  ‘I never liked that woman.’ Beth Anne had her arms crossed, her calm from class fading as I told her about seeing Eloise as we were leaving the Beckleys. ‘She’s been after Carl since she first laid her beady little eyes on him. She’s one of those women that have to take every man within a fifty-mile radius.’

  ‘So, you think she would’ve cheated on Oliver?’

  ‘I don’t have to think, I know.’

  ‘What about with Sven? We also saw him at her house last night.’

  ‘Sven? He’s like the Moon Key gigolo. He keeps the bored socialites here happy and they keep him rich.’

  So it wasn’t just Selene? He could have been having an affair with Eloise, too. Is it just a coincidence that both women he was sleeping with now had dead husbands? I moved Sven to the top of my suspect list.

  ‘Beth Anne, do you think you can find out if Eloise even went to Germany like she told Cali she was doing? And if not, why didn’t she go? Devon is going to mention it to Detective Farnsworth to check into, but you know how overworked they are. Who knows when he’ll be able to get to it.’

  She held up a hand. ‘Say no more. I’m on it.’ She clipped Shakespeare’s leash on and gave me a one-armed hug. ‘I’ll call you later.’

  ‘Thanks.’ As she was leaving, Lulu was coming in the door. Surprised, I went over to greet her. ‘Hey! What are you doing here?’

  She squeezed me in a tight hug and then bent down to scratch Buddha’s ears as he ambled over to sniff her. I noticed she looked tired. ‘I picked up some of Breezy’s clothes for her from the Beckleys and brought ’em to Novia. Thought I’d stop in and say hi. Do you have time for lunch?’

  Disappointed, I said, ‘Oh, I have my second class starting in fifteen minutes.’ Then I had an idea. ‘Why don’t you stay and do some yoga with us? It’ll be relaxing after all the stress lately and good for the baby. Then we can have lunch afterwards.’

  She moved to the side as a few clients started coming in. ‘But I don’t have a dog.’

  I laughed. ‘I can’t imagine you’ve followed the rules much in your life.’

  Her face melted into a genuine smile and she shook her finger at me. ‘You know me too well, Elle. All right, I’ll stay.’ I noticed her fingernails were bare and manicure-free, too, which made me feel better. Being around all these high-maintenance women was making me question my own priorities way too much.

  ‘Good. I’ll just grab you a mat.’

  ‘I do feel better, thanks. Now, I’m starving so you have to eat lots of food with me so I don’t feel like a pig. My treat.’ She wrapped her arm through mine as we headed to the café.

  I laughed. ‘Well, at least you have an excuse, but believe me, you don’t have to ask me twice. I do not subscribe to the rabbit diet the women on this island are so fond of.’

  ‘See, this is why we’re friends. I don’t trust anyone who can’t appreciate the importance of a tasty meal.’

  The place was packed so we had to wait a few minutes for someone to leave before Marisol led us to a table by the window. ‘Enjoy, ladies.’

  Buddha sniffed the edge of the table to see if there were any treats yet and, finding it lacking, did a few turns and plopped himself down on the cushion between us.

  ‘This place does good business,’ Lulu looked around, impressed. ‘Maybe I should allow my customers to bring their dogs.’

  ‘You do good business, too,’ I said. ‘I’ve seen it packed.’

  She waved her hand. ‘Yes, it’s all good. I’m not complaining. I don’t even care about making money as long as I can keep cooking.’ She rubbed her stomach. ‘Though I don’t know how a baby is going to fit into that. I keep some pretty long hours.’

  ‘Thank you,’ I said to the waiter as he poured us filtered water and then set some in a bowl next to Buddha. ‘A baby will change your life, sure. But you and M.J. will figure it out. At least you have support and a partner. I watched my mom struggle to raise me alone and it was tough for her. And me.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Elle.’ She sighed. ‘Yeah, my mom had financial support from my father, but that was it. He left us when I was four and the pressure from his family finally got to
him. Mom was lonely and it was hard on us. I don’t want that for my baby. But …’ She let her hands fall in her lap and stared out the window. Then she glanced back at me, tears shining in her eyes.

  ‘Oh, what’s wrong?’ I leaned closer to her as she dabbed at the corner of her eyes with a napkin. It disturbed me to see her upset. ‘Lulu?’

  She tried to smile. ‘I think M.J.’s going to ask me to marry him. I saw a call from a jeweler on his phone and he has this big thing planned on his yacht Friday evening.’

  ‘Oh.’ I bit my lip. Should I tell her she’s right? ‘And that would be a bad thing?’

  ‘I don’t know. Maybe in time. It’s just that everything’s happening so fast. I feel like ever since I watched that little “pregnant” sign appear on that stick I’ve just been catapulted into this brand-new plan for my life and I kind of feel like I’ve lost control. Like I don’t have a choice anymore. As a woman who’s always prided myself on my independence, it’s hard to take. I feel like by protecting this baby, I’m betraying myself.’ A tear fell then as her face crumpled. ‘Maybe even betraying this baby. Oh, Elle, I’m afraid I’ve made a terrible mistake. My father passed away and I was a mess. It began as him comforting me and one thing led to another … it was a mistake. And now …’

  Wow. That’s not how M.J. saw it at all. On one hand, my heart ached for her as she opened up to me. On the other hand, I found myself enjoying the closeness, appreciating her trusting me with these doubts. ‘Well, you could have a really long engagement.’

  ‘We could but …’ She moved her gaze to mine, her fingers playing with the knife restlessly. She licked her lip and I could see the struggle playing out on her face. She wanted to tell me something difficult. She opened her mouth and …

  ‘Elle!’ Beth Anne appeared at our table, a whirlwind of energy. ‘I have the scoop!’ She pulled up a chair, tossed her plaid Ralph Lauren handbag on the table and leaned in. I glanced at Lulu – she was shutting down. Opportunity missed. ‘So, Eloise had spread the word around that she was going to a book convention in Germany but guess where she was really going? A private little vacation with Sven. They were both still on Moon Key when Oliver died.’

  Just then my phone vibrated. It was a text from Devon:

  Salma checked the list from the Halloween party. They did not interview Sven. He was gone before the police arrived. Farnsworth is going to try to bring him in for an interview.

  ‘Whoa.’ I placed my phone back on the table. ‘Apparently Sven was gone from the Beckleys’ party before the police arrived. Detective Farnsworth is going to track him down for questioning. Could Sven have so much power over these women that they’d help him get rid of their husbands?’ I thought about Selene. No, she really seemed to care about Michael and treated Sven as a fling. But he did bring her flowers, which shows an emotional attachment. Maybe, if Sven was the killer, he acted alone.

  Beth Anne shrugged. ‘I think most of the women know he’s just a roll in the hay. Nothing serious, so no. But maybe …’ Her eyes got that sparkle that they do when she’s putting together a plot. ‘Maybe Sven starts to get possessive of the women and wants to get rid of the husbands to protect his financial security? So he offs them on his own.’

  She might be on to something. ‘Or maybe just the husbands who start to protest?’

  I moved my gaze to the window, biting the inside of my cheek until the sharp tang of blood made me stop. Breezy only had a little over a week left before they’d officially charge her with Michael’s murder. But I wasn’t sure I wanted to put myself in danger by poking around trying to expose the real killer, not to mention put my friends in danger.

  When I’d asked Devon why he was letting me ask so many of the questions in this investigation – since it had become obvious it wasn’t just for Breezy’s sake – he’d told me the best thing to do when you fall off a horse is to get right back on. At first I was mad. But then I realized it made sense. In his own way he was trying to help me, to make sure everything we went through didn’t feed my anxiety and fear. Once fear is allowed to take up residence, it’s paralyzing. I’d learned that the hard way. God, I needed this whole thing to be over for Breezy’s sake and my sanity. I made my decision and for once it wasn’t based on fear.

  I turned back to my friends and clutched my hands together on the table. ‘Well, there’s only one thing to do. Lulu, you have to talk Selene into bringing Sven on the yacht on Friday. She has to make sure he’s there so we can figure out some way to get him to talk. Even if we have to confront him directly.’

  She shook her head, her springy curls emphasizing her protest. ‘I don’t know. M.J. won’t like that at all.’

  ‘That’s why you have to explain to him that we’re just doing it to set Sven up – to see if we can figure out if he had any part in the death of these two men. I’ll have Devon talk to M.J., too. Between the two of you he should listen.’

  ‘How are you going to get Sven to talk, though?’ Beth Anne asked. ‘Oh, I know … we could get him really plastered. Or maybe you could get hold of some of that truth serum – that’s a real thing, right?’

  Lulu blinked hard but was nice enough not to squash Beth Anne’s idea. Who knew? Maybe if you’re rich enough, anything’s for sale. ‘He’s obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed. Surely we could get him to slip up. Maybe we could get him angry enough to blurt out the truth.’

  ‘Or we could seduce him.’ Beth Anne bit the red tip of her index fingernail and wiggled her eyebrows.

  I sighed. ‘We may have to try both. Beth Anne, maybe you could play the part of a bored housewife looking for a little fun,’ I said. ‘We’ll have to play it by ear. But one thing we have to make sure we do is record any interactions with him.’

  Lulu still looked doubtful. ‘All right. We’ll need all the girl power we can get. Are you sure you can make it Friday night, Beth Anne?’

  ‘Of course,’ she said, grabbing both our hands. ‘I wouldn’t miss helping y’all out for the world.’

  ‘Lulu, do you think Cali will be there, too?’ I asked.

  ‘She’s supposed to be. I overheard her and M.J. have a big blowout over it. He said she will be there or he’ll make sure their dad’s plan to cut off her inheritance goes through. She said fine but she’s not going to act like she’s happy to be there … along with some choice words I won’t repeat. They’ve really been at each other’s throats lately.’

  ‘Yikes.’ I wasn’t so sure having both the murder suspects on one yacht was a good idea, but it was time to force the situation. Devon would be there for protection and there’d be plenty of other witnesses. What could possibly go wrong?

  I rubbed the evil eye pennant under my T-shirt just in case.

  TWENTY-TWO

  I was pacing the bungalow Thursday evening, waiting to hear back from Lulu. Phase one of our crazy plan was complete. She had talked M.J. into convincing his mother that he was willing to accept Sven and wanted him to be there when he proposed to Lulu. I couldn’t believe Lulu had actually talked M.J. into it. He really couldn’t refuse that girl anything. But would Selene go for it? And would Sven even be available to go? Maybe he took off with Eloise already. Devon said Farnsworth hadn’t gotten around to finding Sven to interview yet. He and Eloise could be living it up in Mexico by now for all we knew.

  ‘You’re going to wear a hole through the floor,’ Devon said without looking up from the paperwork he was meticulously combing through. Salma had split the workload of sifting through the boat lot’s financial records with Devon and Quinn. They’d been going through it for two days, surviving on caffeine judging by the coffee cups piled up around them.

  ‘Urg,’ I growled, flopping down on the sofa. ‘I’m going crazy. I wish she’d call already.’

  Buddha came over and pressed his rubber shark against my knee, repeatedly causing the thing to squeak until my brain was in danger of exploding. ‘You win, boy.’ I stood. ‘I’m taking the dogs down to the beach.’ Grabbing my phone, I ch
ecked one more time to make sure I hadn’t missed her call or text.

  A change of scenery did nothing for my anxiety or disposition. I was still pacing, only now I had sand under my feet instead of a hardwood floor. The beautiful weather barely registered. I was a woman obsessed. Finally, at Buddha’s insistence by following me and panting, I plopped down in the sand and placed a hand on either side of his head. He lowered himself to sit in front of me, tongue hanging, his keen eyes watching my face.

  ‘You would be an awesome emotional support dog.’ I sighed. ‘Who am I kidding? You are an awesome emotional support dog and I don’t know what I’d do without you.’ I leaned over and kissed his nose. His tongue caught me right on my eye and I laughed. That only encouraged him and he jumped on me, intent on licking the rest of my face, his paws planted firmly on my chest. ‘Ow, ow!’ I tried pushing him off but only succeeded in falling backward, which gave him the access he needed. ‘OK,’ I snorted. ‘Off!’

  As Petey ran over to see what he was missing, I wiped my drool-soaked face with the back of my hand and pushed myself up before he could get in any licks. Buddha was sitting there squinting at me and panting, looking completely proud of himself.

  I dug my phone out of my pocket as I felt it vibrate. Two words from Lulu made my heart skip: All set.

  M.J. had timed the evening so we’d be on the water for the sunset; therefore we were having cocktails by their pool before we took off. He and Devon were hunched over an iPad when I approached with Devon’s rum and coke.

  Despite M.J.’s agreement to lure Sven on board and question him, I noticed he was keeping his distance from the man. Selene, on the other hand, couldn’t keep her eyes or hands off him. Maybe she didn’t just consider him a ‘roll in the hay’ after all. Beth Anne and Carl were doing their best to chat up Cali, but it didn’t look like it was working as Cali had her face buried in her phone, completely ignoring them.