by Joyce Lavene
“That was your previous life, right?”
“Don’t sound so skeptical. You know what you know. I know what I know.”
“Whatever that means.”
“It means I like the Rib Shack, and I’m willing to go look for an old key, even if it is with you.”
And that was that. We went back to the table where Kevin had cleverly engaged Tim in the hunt for the old key. Everyone looked at me as the last holdout. “All right,” I said, giving in. “But you better be there at eight A.M. tomorrow when the SBI comes to interrogate me.”
“I’ll be there,” Kevin said. “I got your message.”
“But it won’t be an interrogation.” Tim took a gulp of his beer and lounged back in his chair. “They want to corroborate a few things. That’s all.”
“Like whether or not I’m psychic.” I glanced at Kevin. “Chief Michaels said I shouldn’t offer that information.”
Kevin’s eyes narrowed, and his face took on a different personality. I guessed this was his professional law enforcement face. “Why would he say that?”
“I’m sure you didn’t understand what he meant,” Tim said. “The chief would never tell you to lie.”
“He didn’t tell me to lie,” I clarified. “He told me not to go into any explanation about finding Miss Mildred’s watch on her dead sister. He said to tell them I was out looking for her like everyone else.”
“I’m sorry, Dae,” Kevin said. “But they already know. Believe me, it’s not as big a thing as the chief is making it out to be. Maybe he’s afraid it will call into question his investigation skills. No one in local law enforcement likes it when the state or federal government comes in on a case like this.”
That didn’t make me feel any better. “I don’t know what to say now.”
He put his hand on mine where it rested on the red and white checkered tablecloth. “Just tell them the truth. You didn’t do anything wrong. You have nothing to hide.”
The contact lingered and I felt my mind clouding over, exactly as it had when I saw Miss Mildred’s watch. If a person isn’t concentrating on looking for something in particular, I don’t see anything. In this case, Kevin had the key in the forefront of his mind. I saw where it was right away. “It’s in the drawer behind the cash register,” I blurted out.
Everyone looked at me. Kevin moved his hand away slowly. It made me wonder if he’d held my hand to comfort me or to see if I could find the key.
“Are you talking about the key?” he asked.
“Yes. It’s an old skeleton key. And it’s in the drawer behind the cash register in the bar.” I smiled at him and ate a few French fries as our food arrived. I was showing off a little, but it was exciting.
Shayla groaned, and Tim complained, “I wanted to go over there, Dae.”
“Me too,” Shayla added.
“You guys can still come over,” Kevin assured them. “I think Dae might be a little quick on the draw anyway. There’s no drawer behind the cash register. It’s up against the wall. There isn’t anything behind it. I sanded and repainted that whole area. There’s nothing there.” He held out his hand. “Want to look again?”
I realized then that he had held my hand to see if I could tell him where the key was. It made me a little surly, I’m afraid, since I realized something else when he was touching me. I felt more than friendly toward Kevin, despite my protestations to Shayla. “I don’t need to look again. It’s in a drawer behind the cash register in the bar. Take it or leave it. Once I see something, I don’t need to look again.”
“Okay.” He put his hand down. “We’ll all go look after dinner.”
“No thanks to you, Miss Kill Joy,” Shayla hissed across the table.
“No need to be so hard on Dae,” Tim said. “Speaking of which, there might not be anything for the SBI to ask you about tomorrow. When we arrested the boy who took your purse today, we searched his motel room and found a hundred purses stuffed in the closet. He’s been here a few weeks from Virginia Beach. Seems like he has a record there for doing the same thing. The chief and I figure he might have gotten a little rough with Miss Elizabeth when he stole her purse.”
“So you found her purse in his closet?” I asked, hoping he was right and it was an outsider who had killed her.
“Not exactly. Not yet anyway. It’s taking a while to go through all of them,” he explained. “But by this time tomorrow, we could have all the answers.”
I recalled the way the purse snatcher had shoved me against the wall when he’d taken my purse. If he’d done something of that nature to take Miss Elizabeth’s purse, I could understand how she could have been hurt—or worse, in this case.
“And that’s how it goes from a simple purse snatching to armed robbery,” Kevin said. “They find out they can do it, and it escalates.”
“Poor Miss Elizabeth. I hope he killed her dead before he left her out there.” Shayla sighed as she nibbled at a barbecue chicken leg.
“Shayla!” I couldn’t believe she’d say something like that.
“What? I was only hoping she wasn’t left out there, unable to get any help. I’d rather be dead than out there in the dunes barely alive with the gulls and the turtles eating me. You ever see what they can do to a body?”
“Well, we don’t know for sure yet what happened,” Tim said. “I hope we can get a confession from this boy and put it all behind us. The chief and I don’t like loose ends.”
He smiled at me and winked. I’d lost my appetite after Shayla’s remark. The conversation turned to the upcoming dance in the park and other less gruesome things. Everyone was done eating a few minutes later. Shayla and I stepped outside while Tim and Kevin paid for dinner.
“I hope Tim’s right about this kid being the killer,” Shayla said after taking a deep breath of night air, which was sweetly perfumed by the roses blooming near the restaurant entrance.
“So do I. It’s bad enough it happened. I don’t think any of us wants to think someone who lives here did it.”
“I guess it was a close call for you today,” she suggested. “I mean, that boy could’ve killed you too.”
“If he had, I promise I would’ve come back and told you.” I knew Shayla’s one earthly goal (besides money, great boyfriends and everyone’s respect) was to find proof that there was an afterlife. We’d talked about it many times. Shayla and I believed the souls of the dearly departed were never far away. Proving it was another thing.
“You’re a good friend, Dae O’Donnell. If I go first, I swear I’ll come back and visit you too.”
I smiled and encouraged her. We didn’t write anything in blood, so I was probably safe. I believed in the afterlife too, in ghosts. But I didn’t need to prove anything. There was only one person I wanted desperately to see again.
Duck Road was crowded as we walked down to the Blue Whale Inn, on the Atlantic side of town. It took a good fifteen minutes to get there from downtown Duck, a long walk compared to the five minutes between my house and Missing Pieces.
We passed the walk-through where Kevin and I had found Miss Elizabeth. I couldn’t keep from shivering as we neared the spot. The wind off the ocean stirred the sea oats, some of them still smashed flat from the investigation. They’d have to be replanted. I made a mental note to put the public works guys on it.
“The real estate agent said the inn is close to two hundred years old,” Kevin told Shayla as we approached the front of the impressive structure. A large fountain with a mermaid in it splashed in the middle of the circle drive. There was still a place to tie your horse right off the big, wide veranda.
“He’s probably right,” Tim agreed. “This place has been here forever. My grandpa told me it had a speakeasy in the basement during Prohibition. People came out here from all over, even with the long ferry ride from the mainland.”
“Every place out here had a speakeasy,” I added. “We were famous for bootleg rum. Some of it was smuggled in, but some of it just washed up. People out here ha
ve always taken advantage of what the sea brought them.”
“It’s a great old place,” Kevin said proudly as he opened the front door. “I found ledger books and old trunks full of stuff in the attic. I don’t think anyone moved anything out of here when the last owner left.”
“Probably because he died and there wasn’t an heir.” Tim followed Kevin into the inn. “It was years before it could go on the market. Then it sat empty for at least twenty years. Must’ve been a mess to clean up.”
“Not so bad.” Kevin flipped on the lights.
Shayla and I toured the old-fashioned lobby. There was a high desk on one side and a large, circular seat in the middle. A few chairs were scattered on the expensive-looking rugs.
“Good furniture,” Shayla observed. “It looks like it’s straight out of the fifties.”
“I suppose he could leave it this way and advertise it as a retro place to stay.” I went behind the tall desk where a bell still sat on the counter. The telephone was one of those heavy black landlines everyone used to have out here.
“Are you two coming into the bar to look for the key or not?” Tim demanded from the doorway.
“This is like a treasure hunt.” Shayla picked up an old Tiffany lamp from the marble-topped table. “You could use some of this stuff in Missing Pieces, Dae. Maybe then you could sell something.”
I made a face at her and thought about the dog painting I’d sold to Kevin. I didn’t see it in the lobby. Maybe he hadn’t had a chance to put it up yet. Not that I was worried about it. It wasn’t one of my important pieces. Still, I like to know the things I sell are appreciated.
I followed Shayla and Tim into the bar area. The bar itself was amazing. It was a large wooden slab, smoothed and polished to a mirrorlike finish. It appeared to have come from a single tree. There were cute old bar stools with rattan seats set up to it and a large number of tables near a big bay window that overlooked the Atlantic. The faint smell of cigar smoke permeated the entire room. I could almost hear the tinkle of ice cubes in glasses of bootleg whiskey and the laughter of the Blue Whale’s patrons enjoying themselves.
“Wow!” Shayla circled around the room a few times. “Look at this! This place could become the hot spot for the whole community. I hope you’re going to have food too.”
“I hope to,” Kevin assured her. “I have a lot more work to do before I open. I’ve been living on the ground floor. I haven’t done any work on the other two floors yet.”
“What are you going to call the place?” Tim asked, playing with an old dartboard.
“The Blue Whale. No point in looking for a better name. I like the sound of the one it has.” Kevin ran his hand down the polished bar top, then glanced over at me. “I’d also like to find that key so I can open the locked room on the third floor.”
As I stood by the window overlooking the seashore, I nodded my head toward the ancient silver cash register that rested between antique bottles of whiskey lined up against the mirrored back wall. “The key is behind the cash register. Honestly, either you believe me, or you don’t. That’s where I saw it.”
Tim shrugged. “I think she’s always right.”
“Give me a hand,” Kevin said. “Let’s see.”
Together they moved the heavy cash register to the bar behind them. Shayla let out a little screech as they started to put it down on the glossy surface. Before the metal could come down on the wood, she’d thrown a towel under it. “Geez Louise! You don’t have any idea what it costs to refinish wood, do you? The two of you are such men.”
“Maybe so,” Kevin replied. “But I still don’t see anything back here. There’s no mysterious drawer.”
I was looking out the window, not really paying attention to the goings-on by the bar. There was something on the beach—a figure or object that faded in and out as the moonlight came and went with the clouds. I stared, trying to determine what it could be besides one of the legendary ghosts said to prowl the Outer Banks from time to time. I’d never actually seen one, but I knew plenty of people, including Gramps and Shayla, who had.
“Dae? Are you still with us?” Shayla demanded, waving her hand in front of my eyes.
I blinked and whatever was out there was gone. “I thought I saw something on the beach. Maybe a ghost.”
“Duh! Where are we? If there wasn’t a ghost out there looking for its head or some pirate treasure, we wouldn’t be in Duck.” She turned my head toward the bar. “This is much more interesting than some old ghost. Help the man find his key.”
“You know, you see ghosts all the time. You might give the rest of us some consideration.”
“You see treasure all the time,” she countered. “You might give us the same consideration.”
“Did someone mention treasure?” Tim asked with renewed interest in his voice.
“We don’t know what’s in there, do we?” Shayla nudged me toward the bar. “And we won’t if Dae doesn’t find the key.”
Kevin had been systematically poking and pushing at the section of mirrored wall behind where the cash register had been. “I don’t see anything.”
“It’s there.” I sighed, walked across the room and stepped behind the bar. “I can still see it very clearly. These old places used to have hidden panels and rooms. The owner probably built them to hide things from pirates. During Prohibition, they used them to hide profits from liquor sales—as well as the liquor. You just have to know what to look for.”
I stood before the mirror and closed my eyes so I could picture the space I’d seen in the vision from Kevin.
“Do you need to hold my hand again?” he offered.
“Hey! She already did that,” Shayla protested. “Let’s remember which side of this double date you came in with.”
“Nope.” I opened my eyes and stared at the ornate molding that separated the mirrored area from the wood paneling beneath it. “It’s right here.”
I pushed at the molding, but nothing budged. It was there, cleverly disguised. It didn’t help that Kevin had painted over it. I couldn’t make out where the sides of the drawer were hidden.
“It’s here.” I puzzled over it and stuck my fingers under the bottom of the molding. I heard a popping sound and my fingernail snapped off. “Ouch!” I cried as the drawer opened. “There was a little lever at the bottom. And here it is!” I turned around and held out the old key.
“Great!” Shayla snatched it from me. “Ick! This thing is revolting.” She handed it to Kevin, then wiped her hand on the edges of the towel that was protecting the bar.
“Anything else in there?” Kevin wondered. He wiped off the key on his jeans.
“There are a few receipts, I think.” I opened the drawer all the way. “And a list of different kinds of alcohol. Maybe a shopping list. And an old gun.”
“A gun?” Tim and Kevin were instantly at my side.
I lifted the gun out of the drawer and looked it over. “It’s an antique derringer. Pearl handle. Probably one shot. Ladies and gamblers liked them.”
Tim whistled. “You know your guns.”
“In my business, it pays to know a lot about everything.” I handed the derringer to Kevin since he was its owner now. “I’m sure it could tell some stories.”
“Any money in there?” Shayla tried to see in the drawer too.
“This is a beauty!” Kevin appreciated the piece. “No telling who it belonged to.”
“Or what it was used for,” Tim added.
“Who cares?” Shayla was done with the find. “Let’s go upstairs and open the door.”
Kevin pocketed the derringer after examining it to make sure it wasn’t loaded. “That was completely amazing, Dae! I know everyone says you find things, but you really have to see it to believe it.”
“Blah. Blah. Blah.” Shayla tugged at his arm. “Wait till I read your palm, Kevin. Now that will be something amazing. What Dae does is okay, but nothing compared to what I can do.”
I ignored the double meaning behind
her words. Shayla could be so needy sometimes. I’m not a psychologist, but I’m sure her insecurity had something to do with her childhood. Her mother had abandoned her and her fisherman father when she was very young. If I hadn’t known that about her, I would’ve stopped being friends with her a long time ago.
“Now ladies,” Tim said, “you don’t have to fight over Kevin. I’m here and willing to do whatever is necessary to keep you happy.”
Now that surprised me. In all the time I’d known Tim, I’d never heard him say anything like it. He always focused on me. Perhaps there was more to him than what I already knew. I still didn’t want to marry him, but it gave me some food for thought.
“All right.” Kevin smiled at Shayla. “Let’s go upstairs. Do you want to take the elevator?”
She giggled. “An elevator? That sounds great! Maybe Tim and Dae would like to take the stairs and meet us up there.”
I knew how to take a hint. Besides, I’d seen the old wrought-iron elevator cage in the lobby. I got the creeps when I looked at it. “We’d rather take the stairs,” I told them. “Third floor, right?”
Tim puffed out his chest. Clearly he thought I wanted to be alone with him. “Don’t be scared, Dae. I’ll take care of you, like I always have.”
I could hear the elevator motor pulling the cage up to the third floor as we started up the stairs. The stairwell was dark and probably filled with things I’d rather not see. Every so often, I heard a squeaking sound and wasn’t sure if it was a bat or a rat. In a building that had sat empty for so long, anything was possible.
“This is some place.” Tim huffed a little as we climbed to the second floor. “I think we should’ve taken the elevator.”
I looked out the window on the second-floor landing. This side didn’t face the beach. Bushes were spread out along the drive and down to the road. Their shadows seemed to move as the clouds passed through the moonlight. A few cars went by, their headlights fading quickly into the distance.
“I hate elevators. Even the safe ones with music and lights. I wouldn’t go in that elevator for anything.” I stepped on something hard and bent to retrieve it. The feeling of time slowing told me it was something important.
