“Hmm,” Leanne said. “Who was your source on this?”
“Don, the guy who owns the hardware store.”
“Oh, he would know, if anyone did,” Kaillie said, nodding. “Ok, so that might actually be legit.”
“Plus, if anyone in this group of suspects actually fits the bill as being a vampire who spends time in the human world, it’s probably Evan,” Leanne mused. “He only spends a little bit of time on the island, he has black hair and eyes, and he’s super pale.”
“That’s racist. Don’t say things like that,” Kaillie scolded.
“What?”
“We don’t know that vampires have to look like they do in the movies.”
“Yeah, after all, movies say they can turn into bats.”
“Fine, fine,” Leanne said, raising her arms up in surrender. “I take back what I said about him looking like a vampire. But his lifestyle would lean towards it. After all, what if he’s not going back to Seattle when he leaves here? What if he’s going to the paranormal world?”
That was a good point.
Before I had a chance to say more, our food arrived, and the three of us spent the next few minutes digging in. I was so engrossed in the delicious burger that I didn’t even notice Kyran slip into the booth next to me.
“Afternoon, witches,” he said in a low voice. “I’m assuming you know what I know?”
“Aunt Lucy told us,” Leanne answered, the first of us to swallow what she’d been eating. “So there’s been a vampire in town.”
Kyran nodded, his normally rather cheerful expression completely solemn. “Yes. And let me tell you, the authorities in the paranormal world are not happy about the way the body was left out for all to see. They’re normally able to smooth things over when the bodies are hidden, but this is more difficult. Questions will be asked. Humans do not normally kill each other in this way.”
“Unfortunately, it was as much of a surprise to us as it was to you,” Leanne said. “We had no idea there was a vampire in our midst. We’ve been thinking about it, and we don’t think it was just a crime of opportunity. We think someone purposely murdered Barry Blackburn.”
“I agree,” Kyran said. “Normally, a vampire would simply feed on a human in the middle of the night. They really dislike the daylight hours. But in this case, Barry was killed just after the sun came up, just before six in the morning.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“I went and had a look at the crime scene and overheard some of the investigators,” Kyran replied. “As an elf, I have some powers that even witches do not have.”
“Look, we want to help,” Kaillie said. “Please let it be known in the paranormal world that we’re going to do everything we can to figure out who the vampire might be. Is there anything you can tell us that could give us a nudge in the right direction? Could a vampire be a redhead, for example?”
“It would be rare but not impossible,” Kyran replied slowly. “I also suspect whoever did it has been using magic to hide their appearance. Vampires have sharp teeth normally that they like to show off as a form of aggression. Whoever did this wouldn’t want them to be seen by humans; that would make them stand out far too much. But if the killer used magic to hide his or her teeth, there is nothing to say they didn’t use magic to change other parts of their appearance in the human world, either. As far as I’m concerned, it could be anyone.”
“Do you know of any vampires that have made the human world their permanent home?” Leanne asked, and Kyran shook his head.
“No, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened,” he replied. ‘Vampires are a very secretive bunch, and they’re often extremely isolationist. They have families and their communities, but it’s not rare for a vampire to abandon them and move to places like New Fang on their own. It would be just as easy for a vampire to say they were moving to New Fang and come to the human world instead with their vampire features hidden by magic. The last case I know of was a few hundred years ago. The vampire ended up being shot by a silver bullet at the OK Corral, and died.
“Wait, really?” I asked, and Kyran nodded.
“Yeah. Ordinarily a vampire living in the human world permanently would have to change his or her identity every thirty years or so, otherwise the humans would get pretty suspicious about their total lack of aging, but in this case he was actually killed here in the human world. It’s one of only a handful of cases in history in which a paranormal was killed in the human world.”
“Wow,” I said, impressed.
“So you need to be on the lookout for anyone,” Kyran said. “The magic used to change a vampire’s appearance is strong. They will also likely have used magic to be able to be outside during the day more often, as well.”
“Ok, so all our suspects are still suspects,” Leanne said. “It could be the redhead after all.”
“Exactly,” Kyran nodded. “And you say there were a lot of humans who wanted this guy to come to harm?”
“Well, that wanted to stop the development he was in charge of, at any rate,” Kaillie said. “Which they’ll probably have succeeded in with his death.”
Kyran nodded. “Ok, I don’t believe in coincidences. My guess is Barry’s murder was targeted and not random.”
“We agree,” I said. “Is the paranormal world bringing anyone in to investigate?”
Kyran shook his head. “No. It was discussed, but even in the middle of peak tourist season here, there’s no way that any witches and wizards we send over will be able to properly act like humans for long enough to get information. It was decided it would just make everything worse. I mean, you saw what happened when Tina brought her friends over.”
“Right, we had to explain to them what a radiator was,” I said, nodding.
“Exactly. No, the paranormal world is asking that you look into things as subtly as you can. They’re asking for your help.”
“And the Marcet family will answer!” Kaillie replied with force. I couldn’t help but be reminded of a similar scene in The Lord of the Rings and giggled to myself.
“I thought you would be interested in showing the paranormal world that you’re willing to help them where needed,” Kyran said with a sly smile. “Anyway, I’ll be around. Find me if you need anything, and thanks for the help. Oh, and try to keep Aunt Lucy out of trouble.”
“We’ll do our best,” Kaillie promised, and as soon as Kyran left, Kaillie was practically bouncing up and down in her seat. “They want our help! You guys, they really want us to help! If we solve this, it could be huge! Maybe they’ll ease up the restrictions and let us visit and let us see the world we know nothing about!”
“Calm down, calm down,” Leanne said gently, laughing. “We have to actually find the killer, first.”
“Right. Well, we have our suspects, don’t we?”
“We do, and we went through them, and I’m not talking about the case anymore until I finish this burger,” I replied, taking a huge bite out of mine.
Chapter 8
When we got home later, I went into a solid food coma and ended up watching The Lion King on TV. Cleo came in and sat on the couch, cuddling with me while pretending to be the world’s most independent cat until she started watching the TV. She was completely fixated on the screen, and I had to say, it was adorable.
“Do you like the movie?” I asked her at one point.
“Shush, you’re interrupting,” came the reply. I took that to mean she didn’t want to have a conversation. When the movie ended, Cleo jumped off the couch before I had a chance to ask her again what she thought, and I shook my head at my cat. She was a strange one. Cleo was short for Cleopawtra, and she considered herself to be a queen among cats. She did carry herself very regally, and she had a majestic air about her.
“Your cat’s kind of ridiculous,” Leanne said when the movie finished, shaking the bottle of white wine she was holding towards me, offering a refill.
“Thanks, but I’m good,” I replied. “Sh
e is ridiculous. I think she liked the movie though. Maybe I should put it on for her during the day when we’re out.”
“So you’re that kind of familiar owner,” Leanne laughed.
“Hey, nothing wrong with making sure your familiar is entertained during the day!”
“That is true. And Cleo doesn’t seem to be super into toys or anything like that.”
“I asked her about that one day; she said a queen does not put on a spectacle, and that if I wanted to see what happened to leaders who reduced themselves to being entertainment for others, I should read up on what happened to the Roman emperor Nero.”
“Yikes,” Leanne said, chuckling. “Your cat is serious.”
“She really is. I want to know who taught her Roman History. Anyway, I’m going to bed.”
“Good night. Hopefully tomorrow we manage to get a bit more info on our suspects.”
“Sure thing.”
There was definitely one advantage to working in a coffee shop: we were basically the town de-facto water cooler, and there was always someone to talk to.
Whether they had anything worth listening to, on the other hand, was another matter entirely.
The next day started off like any other. Janice popped in and got her coffee, then a steady stream of customers started flowing through as well. It was late July, which meant peak tourist season here in Enchanted Enclave, and I was glad I’d had a few months of practice with the point of sale system before things got really busy. Leanne and I usually had a few minutes to ourselves here and there in the afternoons, but most of the time we were completely packed until almost noon.
While a lot of those people were tourists spending a leisurely morning at one of our tables or grabbing their food to-go so they could enjoy a pleasant walk in the warm sunshine, a hike in the woods, or just sitting on the beach watching the waves come in before having a swim, a lot were the locals we had gotten to know, and most of them had something to say about Barry Blackburn’s murder.
“You know, it had to be Sean that did it,” Kyle Johnson said when he came in mid-morning. Ever since we had solved his wife’s attempted murder, he was a regular at the coffee shop. “I feel awful for Barry’s family. I didn’t even lose Karen, and I know how completely crushed I was after she was attacked. I can’t imagine how they’re feeling now.”
“Do you know Hugo Joplin?” I asked. After all, the two of them worked in construction.
“Sure,” Kyle replied, nodding. “Good guy. Very passionate.”
“He was arrested for assault a while back. Do you have any idea what that’s about?”
Kyle nodded, and then gave me a strange look. “Oh, no. No, you can’t think Hugo did this.”
I shrugged. “Word on the street is that he threatened Barry to have the workers strike.”
“Yeah, because that’s the kind of guy Hugo is. He’s very much one of those guys who think labor have all the power if only they would unite and use it. Sounds a bit like commie stuff to me, but I have to admit, a lot of it makes sense. And just because he wants us to organize to stop this stupid hotel from going up doesn’t mean he’d kill someone.”
“That’s true, but I mean, he does have a record.”
“That? It was a stupid bar fight. Nothing more than that. Hugo had too much to drink, the Seahawks lost, and some guy started spouting off racial slurs. Hugo took offense and punched him in the face. There was a bit of a dust-up, and when the smoke cleared, the cops ended up charging both of them. I’m telling you, Hugo’s not your guy.”
“Ok,” I said, going to the microwave to grab Kyle’s muffin that I’d heated up for him. “So you think it’s Sean. Any particular reason other than the fact that he was the most outspoken opponent of the project?”
“Yeah,” Kyle replied. “He threatened Barry three days ago in front of me and a bunch of other guys at another site. We were building that new house on Oak Lane, in the lot at the far end, and Sean shows up. He tells Barry to stop reporting him to the cops. Barry says he does no such thing. Sean says he knows it’s a lie, he knows Barry paid off at least two people on the municipal council, and that if he doesn’t stop the new development, Sean will make sure Barry pays for it.”
Kyle stopped, took a deep breath, and then continued.
“Barry asks how, and Sean pretended to load a gun and shoot it at him. Barry’s face goes white, and he starts yelling at him to get off the private property or he’d call the cops. We all heard it. None of us told on Sean since we’re all honestly on his side. There’s a bunch of construction work to do here on the island without that hotel, and Karen and me, we moved here because we like the lifestyle, we like being close to nature, we like being able to let the boys grow up in a small, quiet town. We don’t want to live in Disneyland.”
“Yeah, I can understand that,” I said. “Coming from San Francisco, it’s really idyllic here.”
“And we want to keep it that way. Don’t get me wrong, I love the tourists. I’m thankful that they come here and that they spend their money here to keep our economy going. But there has to be a balance. We don’t want to end up like Venice and Barcelona where locals are being forced out because of rising prices thanks to an influx in tourism. Besides, I’m sure the people who actually come here appreciate the peace and quiet as well and don’t want to find themselves surrounded by thousands of other tourists no matter where they are on the island. Getting away from people is the whole point, isn’t it? Well, I guess it’s all a moot point, now.”
“Do you know what’s happening with the construction?”
“Totally stopped,” Kyle said. “We got word that day; until all the legal stuff is sorted out with Barry’s death, work is halted at the hotel site.”
“Interesting,” I said. “That’s what I figured, but it’s nice to have confirmation. Anyway, thanks for the chat.”
“No problem. I’m sure they’ll find out who did it sooner or later. I hope they do. I didn’t like Barry, but my kids live on this island and I don’t want to know there’s a murderer among them.”
I nodded. “Agreed.”
As Kyle left and I swapped roles with Leanne to use the coffee machine – she had gone to serve other customers while I had my chat; we worked very well that way – I thought about what he had said, that Hugo wasn’t the kind of person who would kill and that Sean had threatened Barry just a few days before the murder. Maybe my list was all wrong; maybe Sean should be the main suspect. Either way, neither men had been crossed off my list.
Chapter 9
I had made about fifteen, maybe twenty coffees on the machine, running through everything I knew about the case when Aunt Lucy walked in followed by the full gang of Floozies. She was wearing an oversized fake cheetah-fur coat and enormous bug-eye sunglasses. And she was carrying a cane. Oh my goodness, an actual cane. And not the kind old people use to steady themselves while walking. No, this one had a silver skull on top with crystals where the eyes went. My Aunt was dressed like some sort of fifty-something pimp, and I had to admit, she was pulling off the look.
The rest of the Floozies were lined up behind her, and they were all wearing sunglasses as well, although none of them stood out quite as much as my aunt.
She immediately made her way towards me. “You can tell your boyfriend that he can suck my lady parts,” she told me, and I raised my eyebrows.
“I’m going to go with ‘no, thank you’ on that one. What did Ross do?”
“Accused me of interfering in a police investigation, that’s what.”
“Well, were you?”
“Maybe, but that’s not the point. I’m not investigating the murder. I’m investigating something completely different.”
“Oh? What are you and the Floozies looking into?”
“I can’t tell you. You’ll snitch to the cop.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Well, I’m not telling him off for you. You’re a smart woman. You could have done whatever it is you were doing without getting ca
ught.”
“We didn’t get caught. We went in looking for answers, and we were treated quite disrespectfully for women at our time in life.”
“You know, if you go in and ask the police for information about a crime, I don’t think it counts as disrespect if they refuse to give you that information.”
“It figures you would take his side. Anyway, I come bearing information.”
“Oh?”
“The police are keeping the fact that the body was drained of blood all to themselves. They have no idea what to make of it, but they think he was killed elsewhere and the body dumped at the site as a message.”
“Right, they don’t realize he actually could have been killed at the construction site. Hey, there would have been security cameras there, right? After all, Barry had to figure there was a good chance people would want to do some vandalism.”
“That was the other thing we found out, courtesy of Dorothy, as I had the same question. There are security cameras on site, but they were turned off at the time of the murder.”
I nodded. “Ok, so it definitely was premeditated then,” I said, almost to myself.
“Agreed. But then, that’s none of my business. We have more important things to look into.”
Uh-oh. “What exactly are you trying to find out about?”
“That’s my business,” Aunt Lucy said with a wink. “But don’t you worry about us. We know how to handle ourselves. You’re the ones going after a killer.”
“How do you know we’re…” I started, but I trailed off. Aunt Lucy had already turned and was heading back out the door with the rest of the Floozies. I made a mental note to call Ross in case he knew what Aunt Lucy was angling about. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her. I knew no matter what she was doing, Aunt Lucy’s intentions were good. But then, the bull in the china shop probably just wanted to get out of there, too. He still did a decent amount of damage on the way.
A Cauldron of Hot Coffee: Enchanted Enclave Mysteries Books 1-3 Page 35
