Murder at the Mayan Temple (A Starling and Swift Cozy Mystery Book One)

by M. J. Mandrake

  “You think June could have rowed into the entrance at high tide?” she asked doubtfully.

  “No. But maybe she had an accomplice.” He shrugged. “We can’t get DNA results on the hair for a while, and it’s certainly not enough for a conviction, but I don’t think we should rule it out.”

  “So, June, the dog, and the murderer are in a boat, rowing toward the ruins at high tide during a hurricane?” She rubbed her temples. It seemed like her headache had settled into position behind her right eye.

  “Very unlikely. But not impossible. We have to look at everyone.”

  She winced as she brushed the cut under her hairline. She needed some sleep. It was hard to keep the facts straight when her body was screaming for rest. At the same time, she didn’t know how she was going to get a wink of sleep.

  “True, including me,” she reminded him. She wasn’t trying to be difficult. She just didn’t see why they had to keep such an open mind when there were more obvious candidates. Although now that Daniel Van Horn was ruled out, she wasn’t sure who to suspect. Someone who forged a note, had a service dog or had the loyalty of a service dog, had the strength to row the canoe or was in cahoots with someone who could row the canoe, had a motivation and the passion to stab someone through the heart.

  “You’re bleeding,” Leander said. He pulled out a folded, white handkerchief and pressed it to her temple.

  “Oh,” she said, “thinking too hard, obviously.”

  “Here, sit down.” He steered her toward the bed and she sat on the edge, holding the cloth to her wound. It was dark in the room and the rain lashed the window, but it didn’t seem as threatening as it did downstairs. Maybe because she trusted the person she was with. Leander was on her side. She didn’t have to figure it all out on her own.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” she said.

  He looked down at her, unsmiling. “I have to be honest. I don’t feel― this is really bad, you know. I’ve never heard of a group of suspects being sequestered together without any police presence. This could go really wrong.”

  “But you’re here,” she reminded him. “You’re the police presence.”

  “I can’t really call for back up. Maybe it’s the storm, but remember how the chief didn’t show when he said he would. Even if we do find out who killed Jace, I’m not sure how I can contain him until the storm is over and he can be put in jail.” He seemed frustrated and exhausted. “Chica is probably more help to you right now than I am.”

  “Maybe we don’t confront him until it’s safe to do so?” Kitty suggested.

  “That’s probably the safest.” He lifted the handkerchief and bent down to look at the cut. “I think the bleeding has stopped for now. You might need stitches.”

  “If we ever get out of here,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant, but the little wobble of anxiety at the end of the sentence betrayed her.

  He cupped her cheek, fixing her with a look. “You will. I promise you that.”

  Kitty felt her mouth go dry. She wanted to thank him for being strong and courageous, or tell him how wonderful it had been to be working through the evidence with him, like partners. Like friends.

  He held her gaze. She felt like all her thoughts had gone fuzzy around the edges as she looked back at him. All the worries and negative thoughts faded away. She was filled with the most irrepressible feeling of lightness and optimism. Everything was going to be okay― as long as she stuck close to Leander. With him, life made sense. On second thought, it didn’t even have to make sense. It was just somehow better.

  No.

  She looked away. Absolutely no fuzzy thinking allowed. Not now. Not ever. And especially not with someone like Leander. What did she know about him? Nothing.

  “I think you’re right. Chica is my only hope of getting out of here in one piece.” She stood up, walking around him. “The only problem is that she doesn’t get files from the coroner.”

  The corner of his mouth went up. “True. But if you give her an email, I’m sure they could put her in the loop.”

  “Excellent.” She headed for the door. “I’d better go downstairs.”

  “Sure.” He looked like he was going to open the door for her, but she got there first. “I’m going to check my messages again and I’ll be right there,” he said.

  “Come on, Chica.” Kitty started down the hallway, clicking her penlight. Its battery was dying already. Perfect. She was going to go through the night without any light.

  She tried to shake the cobwebs from her brain. She really needed to be more careful. One handsome man who didn’t work on a cruise ship, and she was falling all over herself.

  At the end of the hall, she turned the corner and whispered to Chica, “Fat lot of help you are. Aren’t you supposed to warn me when I’m in trouble?”

  Chica look up at her, tongue lolling out of her wide mouth. She seemed to be saying, “Huh? What trouble?”

  “Yeah, just inches from disaster. No big deal,” Kitty muttered. “I thought you had my back.”

  Chica made a sound in her throat. It was the sound she made when she found Raven and Rook eating her food. Sort of a “my life is so hard” kind of sound.

  “Whatever.” Kitty knew she was taking her irritation out on Chica, but her emotions were pulling her one way and then the next. She wasn’t used to the chaos. Drama wasn’t the norm. Her life was blended sunrises and sunsets in long successions without any real change. Or it had been until yesterday.

  When they reached the kitchen, June was slicing some hard white cheese and laying it out a plate. There were rows of fresh tomato slices alternated with black and green olives. A roll of cured salami waited, unpeeled. She glanced up and said, “Not much in the house that doesn’t need to be cooked, but we can have an antipasto plate.”

  “That sounds wonderful. Can I help?”

  June handed her a knife and the salami. They worked in silence for a few minutes. Kitty thought about the bracelet and the blond hair trapped in the chain. It could have been from one of the girls Jace was flirting with on the ship. It didn’t have to be June’s. But she knew that was simply her reluctance to address the issue.

  “Can I ask you a personal question?”

  “All right,” June said. Her voice was light, but there was a wariness in her eyes.

  “Did you ever fight with Jace?”

  She shrugged and went back to arranging the plate. “Everybody did, once or twice. He wasn’t a very nice person.”

  Kitty swallowed. She was working on a hunch and the only way to move forward was to eliminate the possibilities. “I’m sorry to keep asking. I know this must be very hard for you. But did you ever physically fight with him? Or somehow… get close to him?”

  June had gone still. Her eyes filled with tears. “You know, don’t you? I can tell that you know,” she whispered. “I’m so ashamed.”

  Kitty tried not to react, but inside she was wondering what it was about Jace that women loved so much.

  “I’m the level-headed one, the parent that thinks about others’ feelings.” She wiped her eyes. “I just lost control.”

  Kitty patted her awkwardly. “Humans are a mystery. Passion, love. It’s all so complicated.”

  June frowned at her. “Passion? Oh, no. You’ve misunderstood. I caught him trying to sneak a girl back to their cabin. And then I caught him promising this guy on the ship that he could get him some nice bling worth a lot of money. That’s the way he said it, too. Bling! As if they weren’t my mother-in-law’s heirloom jewelry pieces.”

  “Oh. So… No romantic…”

  June wrinkled her nose. “No, not at all. I told him he was the worst person I’d ever met. And then he said something that made me so mad I slapped him, hard.” He voice trembled. “And then he grabbed me by the hair and shoved me out the door of the cabin.”

  She put a hand to her head, remembering. “I couldn’t tell Daniel. I knew he’d kill him.” Her eyes went wide. “I mean, not literally, of course.”


  “Of course.” Kitty wanted to give June a hug, but they were both holding large knives. “It’s okay. I understand.”

  June let out a long breath. “I don’t want the boys to know, either. It’s just shameful, tussling with a family member.”

  Chica let out a low bark, ears cocked. She pointed toward the front of the house.

  “I’d better see what she wants. And don’t worry. I won’t say anything to them,” Kitty said.

  “Thank you,” June said gratefully and went back to placing olives in tidy rows.

  Kitty followed Chica out to the living room where she started toward the stairs.

  Kitty said, “Nope. No reason to go up there. Whatever it is you like about him, you need to get a grip.” It was a little hypocritical to be mad at Chica for having a crush on Leander when she was the one who’d been gazing into his eyes like a fourteen-year-old.

  Chica looked back and forth, as if searching for something. She was alerting Kitty to something, but there was no one around. the living room was empty. Kitty listened hard, but didn’t hear anything.

  “Let’s go back to the kitchen. It’s stormy. you probably heard the wind at the door.”

  Chica reluctantly followed her back across the living room, and then as they passed the large picture window, there was a cracking sound and a dull thud. Kitty jumped to the side and grabbed Chica, her heart pounding.

  When all seemed quiet, Kitty peeked outside. Earlier, there had been a small palm branch on Leander’s embassy car, but it was now dwarfed by the twenty foot long piece of tree that had broken loose in the gale.

  “We’d better go up and let him know,” Kitty said and headed back upstairs. Chica pushed her way in front and went directly to Leander’s room where she waited politely for Kitty to knock. as eager as she was to get back to Leander, Chica would never nose the door open uninvited.

  The door was cracked and Kitty could hear his voice from inside. Kitty hesitated, glancing at Chica. Her dog had wonderful manners, but that didn’t mean Kitty was above a little eavesdropping. She leaned closer.

  “―I’ll call as soon as I can get out of here. Just don’t worry. Everything is fine. Just a little wind and rain. I’m sure the news makes it look horrible.”

  A short silence.

  “I know. I love you, too.”

  Kitty stood there frozen as the words echoed in her head. I love you, too. She really knew nothing about this man and she was right not to trust him. She’d told him everything about herself, and he’d given her nothing in return.

  Knocking sharply, she waited a few seconds and pushed open the door.

  “Hey,” he said, standing up from where he’d been sitting on the bed, his phone in his hand.

  “A tree branch fell on your car,” she said. “Just wanted to let you know.”

  “That was the crashing noise? Great.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Okay. But wait, don’t leave yet. I want to show you something.”

  Kitty paused outside the doorway, not willing to come in any further. “Sure.”

  “Another photo from the morgue. He sent it earlier today, but it just came through.”

  It was the ceremonial knife found in Jace’s chest. The blade was tinged with blood and it was missing the handle, which had been found under the altar. Kitty frowned. The knife wasn’t complete. “The tip is gone. Is it still in his heart?”

  “That’s the mysterious part,” Leander whispered urgently. “It wasn’t there.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.”

  ― Lao Tzu

  A sound of pounding footsteps had Kitty backing into the hallway. Blake and Tyler appeared at the top of the stairs, wide-eyed with excitement.

  “Your car got hit by a branch!” Tyler said.

  “It’s totally crushed.” Blake was grinning. Apparently having a car totaled in the driveway was better than anything they’d seen on the tour so far.

  “I’d better go check it out,” Leander said.

  He was halfway down the hallway when Kitty called out, “I think it’s too dangerous. You should stay inside until it’s over.”

  “Let me see if I can get some things from the trunk. I didn’t want to― bring them inside.”

  Kitty followed slowly behind him. Probably something to do with his girlfriend or wife. Clearly he had someone back in― wherever he lived. Kitty wondered how the woman would feel if she’d seen Leander with his hand against Kitty’s cheek. He’d say it was just a friendly gesture, but Kitty knew better. She wasn’t blind. She could see when a man liked her.

  She fumed as she went down the stairs. Of all the stupid scenarios, having a messy romantic situation was not on her list of possibilities for this trip. And talk about terrible timing.

  Or was it? Maybe he was trying to keep her from focusing on the murder. Maybe he was hiding something besides a wife. Something very bad.

  As she reached the bottom, she rolled her eyes at herself. Maybe Leander was a player, but he probably wasn’t a murderer. He was trying to catch the killer and get out of there as fast as she was. Why else would he take her down to the beach?

  You almost died, her brain reminded her.

  Well, so had he. And why would he keep sharing all the information from the coroner?

  It was ridiculous to think Leander was somehow a villain. The shock of the murder and the near-death experience had rattled her. She was starting to see evil lurking everywhere.

  Leander peered out into the storm. The group had arrived and were trying to get a good look at his car.

  “I think I can reach the trunk,” he said. “I don’t want everything in it to get wet. There are some important papers I need. Don’t lock the door, okay?”

  Daniel snorted when Kitty translated for Leander. “The windows are probably going to get broken during the night. You can just crawl back in.”

  “Naw. If you spend the night outside in this, you’ll be dead. Two hours, tops. You’ll get blown into the river or something. Plus, it’s really cold.” Blake stepped away from the windows. He was holding a mug of hot chocolate and Kitty wondered if there was any left.

  “It’s only about sixty-five degrees. Probably not cold enough to die from exposure. Maybe from falling branches, though,” Eric signed, coming to stand next to them.

  “If you have shelter, you could survive it,” Ron said, setting his coat on the table by the window.

  “Right. You don’t have to worry about the cold as much as the animals.” Ashley pointed toward the dark wall of trees and vegetation directly across from the road. “If you stand out there long enough, I bet something comes out of that jungle looking for dinner.”

  Penny’s eyes went wide. “So, if the branches break the windows, we might have jaguars in here?”

  “Pythons!” Elaine said, pulling Toto close.

  “Crocodiles, probably,” said Blake. “I saw a show where they found a twenty foot crocodile.”

  “Nobody is going to be fighting jaguars or crocodiles,” Kitty signed quickly. “Leander, you’d better go. They’re going to be planning your funeral before you get out the door.”

  He grinned at her. “A few hymns and put me in the ground. Nothing fancy.”

  “I’ll make a note,” she said. “But wait. You don’t have a coat. Anybody have one he can borrow?”

  “Mine is upstairs. I can go―” Tyler started to say.

  “Here, what about Ron’s?” Kitty passed Leander the insulated windbreaker without waiting for an answer.

  “No,” Ron reached out to take it back, and then realized how rude he seemed. “I mean, it’s not very warm. Let me get you something else.”

  “It’s fine,” Leander said, slipping it on. “I’ll just run out there and come back.” He pushed open the door, fighting against the sudden rush of rain and wind.

  Chica was looking at Ron and as much as Kitty wanted to watch Ron’s face, she only glance
d his way a few times. He stood as still as a statue. Liliana was a few feet away, watching Leander but not stiff with anxiety and fear. Kitty noted a drop of sweat trickle down Ron’s temple.

  The door slammed behind him and everyone stood watching him slog toward the car. His head was down, hands in his pockets. Soon, he was only a dim figure outline by the splatter of raindrops.

  Walking around the back of the car, he seemed to struggle with the trunk for several minutes until he finally opened it, pushing the branch to one side. Seconds later, he’d closed it again and was returning to the house, a black soft-sided satchel slung over one shoulder.

  He stepped into the foyer and forced the door closed behind him. Even in the dim light of her penlight, Kitty could see he was soaked to the skin. He shook his head, slapping one ear to dislodge some water. “Wow. Felt like someone threw a bucket of water on me.”

  “Let me dry off the coat,” Ron said, hovering beside him.

  “Sure, and thanks for that.” Leander started to shrug out of the windbreaker. Kitty made the smallest motion to get his attention, and for a moment she wasn’t sure he’d seen her. His expression didn’t change, but then he paused.

  “Oh, I left my keys are in the pocket.” Searching through both pockets, he handed the coat to Ron. “No, never mind. They’re in my jeans.” He smiled at Ron but the man didn’t return the smile. Instead, he swiftly felt inside the pocket of the windbreaker, and looked up at Leander, his posture changed completely.

  “Give it back,” he signed.

  Kitty translated but Leander made no move to return what he’d taken.

  Chica jumped to her feet, a low growl echoing in her throat. Callie ran a few steps to the right, then the left, as if panicked and unsure what to do.

  “Get your dog under control,” Ron signed furiously at Kitty and Chica started to bark.

  “Callie, honey. Come here,” Liliana said, trying to get between them.

  The golden retriever snapped at her and Liliana jumped back with a shriek. “Ron! She tried to bite me!”