by Pam Moll
“Granny, leave the investigation to the police.” I eyed her. She folded her hands over her lap and looked away from the TV.
“This happened in your backyard, Mo. Aren’t you curious? We know he had a lot of enemies, so now which one of them did him in? Things like this don’t happen in Bay Isles.”
“Times are changing,” I said ominously. Boy were they ever.
“Oh, my stars. You and Snickers need to stay here tonight. It will be impossible for you to sleep at your apartment alone.”
She had a point. “I should go check on the Bean first. Then I can come back here for the night.” I wanted to see if Erica had called the store or anyone had heard from her.
She shook her head. “No, it’s dark out. You need to rest, you’ve had a long day, sweetie. Can’t you call the shop instead?”
“I’ll take Snickers. I’ll be back here in time to watch your favorite show.”
She accepted that.
After a delicious dinner of baked chicken with fresh parsley, I took a quick shower and sat on the bed. I logged on to my iPad and searched the internet for uses of cyanide. After reading, I learned it was a substance found in almonds and lima beans in non-lethal amounts, and I wondered if Jim’s death was a culinary mistake or a premeditated murder. I know I’d die if I had to eat lima beans.
On further searching, I found another use of cyanide. It was used in photography to develop films.
So, I just needed to find a mint-growing photographer?
Before I shut down my iPad, I searched for wheelbarrow replacement tires to match their tread patterns I spotted in the sand at the beach this morning. I rolled over the image and zoomed in. I noted the features of the tires and their tread that helps make it easy to maneuver and confirmed the load capacity was up to 250 pounds. I frowned when I read that the tire fits most garden and marine carts. Most?
I cleared the history on my browser, turned off my iPad, and crawled up the steep steps to the attic.
One of the many wardrobes in the corner of the huge space held castoffs of previous generations. I opened the wooden closet and pulled a red sweater off the rack. With my red hair, bright green eyes, and the red sweater I might be mistaken for a leprechaun. I needed to blend in, so I hung the sweater back up and selected a black shirt with tiny shell-shaped pearl buttons that fell to the floor.
“Why not?” I said.
I opened a nearby chest and shuffled through a pile of hats, scarfs, and wigs. A small wool black classic sailor’s cap would work great over my hair. The damp night air near the beach always turned my red hair into wild frizz.
Granny had accumulated a lifetime of vintage clothing and costumes. It looked like an actress had lived here. I glanced around for another item: driving gloves.
I took the golf cart and Snickers, and drove over to my café.
I was in such a zombie-like state, I almost missed my cell vibrating and flashing in my pocket. I pulled over to answer it.
The caller ID lit up.
Well. Well. It was Deputy Lucky, call-me-Drew, on the line.
But first, coffee.
~ words from a T-shirt
CHAPTER TEN
“Hello, this is Molly,” I said, thinking that it must have been mental telepathy that he should call, since he had been on my mind all day.
“Mo, this is Drew.”
“It is you.” I hadn’t wanted to come across too excited, and this response said I didn’t expect to hear from him.
“Were you expecting someone else?” He sounded disappointed.
“No, what’s up?” Why was I reluctantly responding? Could he be calling me to ask me out on a second date? That is, if you could call our coffee meet-up a first date.
He managed to keep his voice neutral and said, “You said I should call you if I had any other questions.”
“Oh, is that it?” Why would my brain naturally think he was calling for a date?
“Yes. Did you expect something else? Is this a bad time?”
I didn’t reply to that question, and instead said, “I’m headed to my coffee shop. Do you want to meet me there? Um, to ask me questions?” I hoped he’d agree. Coffee twice in one day, that would be my kind of a man.
“No. I’d like to come by tomorrow.”
“You’re coming to the shop to fix the tile, right? Can you ask me then?” I was as curious as a cat about his questions, and had a few of my own for him after my talk with Felix today.
“Can I stop by your apartment? It’s a little more private.”
“Depends on what time. I’m staying with my Grandma tonight.” He wanted to interview me at my apartment? Alone? Maybe he could come to Granny Dee’s. Though I felt quite comfortable with him, knowing Lucky as we all did, and being a law enforcement officer and all, but I didn’t want to give him the wrong impression by saying that a meeting at my apartment was okay.
“Oh, good idea to stay with her. I’ll call you tomorrow to make sure you’re home before I come by, okay?”
“Sure thing. Thanks.”
We said our good-byes. I stared at my phone and wondered what he wanted to discuss with me. Did cops make house calls? Or was this social?
Aurora and Bales were closing the café again. They both talked a hundred-miles-an-hour when Snickers and I entered the Bean.
“I told Bales that you found the body.” Aurora hugged me. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, it was horrible. I can’t stop thinking about it.” It really did bother me all day. I was sad over the death, but my curiosity was in overdrive.
“Well, the local News is now saying it’s suspicious. If you ask me, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in this town who liked that guy.” Aurora bent down to pet Snickers as he walked by to find his cozy corner in my office.
“You reap what you sow,” Bales said.
“Still, that’s a horrible way to die.” Aurora physically shivered.
“Did the news say how he died?” I asked
“Drowned, right?” Bales handed me a stack of pink message slips.
I had promised Deputy Drew I’d not discuss the death. “It’s an open investigation at this point.” I didn’t look up as I thumbed through the messages. I noticed the reporter, Leslie Dallas, had called. It seemed everyone in Bay Isles had called the café to ask me a question or to see how we were doing. I was missing one message I wanted to see.
“Did Erica call?” I asked.
“No. Not a word from her,” Aurora replied.
“That’s not like her. I hope everything’s okay.” I placed the messages in my backpack.
“Nice shirt and hat,” Bales said.
“If you’re planning on robbing a bank,” Aurora commented on my all black outfit.
“Do you think Erica had anything to do with Jim’s death?” Aurora asked.
“What?” Why would she think that? I thought I had been the only one that saw them fight.
“The police were here asking for her. They said they went to her house and no one was there. Why would they go to her house? They interviewed us here at Bean,” she replied.
Bales turned to leave the backroom to check on a customer who had just entered the café.
After Bales was out of earshot I asked, “Aurora, do you think Erica is associated with the dead fisherman?”
“It’s just odd that he shows up dead, and then no one can seem to find her. It’s like she left town or something. Sounds suspicious to me, that’s all.”
“Well, let’s try to refrain from starting rumors.” I tried to fix her with my gaze to reinforce the point.
She didn’t meet my eyes. “Is there anything else I should know?” I persisted.
After a moment of awkward silence, Aurora said, “Well, there’s another reason I’m worried about Erica. “
I raised an eyebrow. “And that would be?”
Color drained from her face and she nearly blurted out, “She used to be married to Jim.”
My brain strained to digest what
Aurora had just shared with me. Erica had been married? I stared out the back door. The sun had set hours ago, but it was still tinting the black sky red at the horizon.
“Are you sure?” I turned to look into her dark eyes.
Aurora nodded. She looked worried and a little shaken, and her anxiety was infectious.
“They were married in high school,” Aurora said. “No one knew. They went to the courthouse for the paperwork and one of Jim’s friends performed the ceremony on a fishing boat.”
“But why didn’t she ever mention it? And when did they divorce?” I wondered what county they filed in.
Some of the color returned to Aurora’s cheeks. “That’s the thing. She has never mentioned him at all. Not the marriage thing and definitely not a divorce.”
“Who else knows? How’d you find out?”
She shook her head, debating how to answer. “It’s a long story. One of those, a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend stories.”
“Small towns are always a hotbed of rumors and speculation.” My stomach tightened at the inference. It was just too horrible. If they had been married and divorced and now Erica was missing, this would look bad for her. There had to be another explanation. Wouldn’t the Palma Sheriff’s Department have known it? Detective Lacey asked about all my employees, and not specifically Erica. Hadn’t she?
“This could be true. I mean, why make something up like that. Besides, everyone makes mistakes in high school. I mean, you’ve met the guy. Wouldn’t you have divorced him too?” Aurora smiled.
I grinned. “You have a point.” My employment application hadn’t asked marital status. I could easily research the county records. My sleuthing tended to be more by the seat of my pants, and I was a go-on-instinct-methodology kinda of a girl but investigating by the book made sense here.
“Did Erica ever work for Jim?”
A slow smile spread across her good-natured freckled face. “Yes, come to think of it, she did at the Island Grille. He bartended one summer, and she was a waitress. Why?”
“It’s just that when Felix was here dropping off cupcakes, he mentioned something about Erica still working for her ex.”
Aurora paused. “They were so young then. I don’t know if Felix would have remembered her working for Jim. Felix used to visit his cousin Jack from New York in the summers. Growing up, the Grille at the Marina had been a favorite hangout of Jim and Erica along with many of their high school chums. They practically had a table by the pool with their name on it.”
I nodded. Aurora was referring to the marina pool that bordered the restaurant. Patrons could be served by the restaurant while at the pool.
“Summer time in Bay Isles, especially July, is as mean as an old man with sciatica. We all used to hang out at the pool after a day at the beach or after boating. We used the pool water to get the salt and sand off of us. “
Aurora was right about the South Florida summer weather. The endless heat had me visiting the marina pool several times. Last summer was my first summer in Bay Isles and I hadn’t expected apocalyptic temperatures, sticky humidity and buckets of rain showers that only occurred during the brief moments of the day when I was forced to step outside. But I couldn’t complain about the heat and humidity, that was the price Floridians paid to avoid the cold during the winter months. When I lived in the Northwest, a late snow storm was the worst. By March the only salt and ice I wanted was in my margarita.
“They met at the pool or did they work together first?”
“Hmmm. I can’t remember. I do know that after Jim started bartending, he got Erica a job.” Aurora shook her head. “We all couldn’t see what they had in common. Erica was so sweet and well Jim,” she lifted her eyebrows as she met my interested gaze, “he was a miserable, greedy, mean little man.” She crossed her jean-clad legs. The beaded fringe at the hem rattled as she swung a foot in irritation, or was she nervous?
“Wait a minute,” Aurora said. “Come to think of it, I remember Jack, Felix’s cousin had a run in with Jim one summer. It was when Erica and Jim worked together.”
“A run in?”
Aurora went on to explain the fight the two had over Erica. “It was more of a scuffle. But insults were thrown, and it was well-known around town the Doughty cousins had it in for Jim.”
“Do you think they still held a grudge?”
“That summer they hated each other. Jim was then and still is, −or was −, years later a self-centered, overbearing blowhard if there ever was one.” Aurora’s demeanor changed, and she had a hostile look in her eyes. “But as far as Felix, well, he lived out of state most of the time, and skipped a few summers coming back to Bay Isles. I never really noticed any conflict between them after he returned. Most people disliked Jim, so it wouldn’t stand out.”
“I’m going to poke around a few places. Can you help me?”
“You know you can always count on me,” Aurora said.
“I need you to look into Felix’s background. I need to know who he hangs with, where he went to school, who he dated and whether he has been in trouble in the past and –”
“− why are you starting a Wikipedia page for him?” Aurora gipped.
I rolled my eyes. “He arrives in Bay Isles and then a body appears. We don’t know much about him other than the summers he spent here.”
I thought about Jim’s past. It wouldn’t hurt to see who else may have wanted him to be out of the picture. “Would there be anyone else that could have poisoned Jim?”
“The only thing Jim put any energy into was fishing, bartending, harassing people and chasing other women.”
I thought about how I had wanted to banish him from the café forever.
“Could there be a jealous spouse or boyfriend out there that discovered Jim’s affairs?”
“A jealous lover? That’s a solid motive. But I can’t see some guy plotting to kill his wife’s boyfriend with poison, − maybe with his fists or a gun, but not poison. Plus, most of his affairs were on the down-low.”
I kept trying to sort the pieces to the puzzle and kept getting stuck.
“You’re right. Poisoning isn’t an opportunistic sort of murder. It had to be planned. Someone had to buy the poison and then hide it in something he ate or drank.”
“I hate to say it,” Aurora paused, “but Erica’s looking pretty fishy, if you ask me. No pun intended. I mean there’s motive especially if there’s any money involved.”
I let out an exaggerated sigh. “But no proof. And killing her ex is a little extreme for the prize money,” I said, my heart sank in my chest.
“And where has she been? She wouldn’t have skipped town?” Her expression softened. “What are we going to do about it, boss?”
I blew out a breath and rose from the chair. “I need to get to Erica. I’ll go by her place tomorrow morning.” I touched Aurora’s arm. “I hate to ask you this, but can you open tomorrow?”
“Sure thing. Be careful. If the police are looking for her, she’s probably already a suspect.”
I still couldn’t grasp that Erica would have had anything to do with Jim’s death. But where had she gone? I wished there was something more I could do. Deep down, I was convinced that Erica was innocent.
Then a thought came to me. “Does your dad still have breakfast every Tuesday at the Seahorse with Tony?”
Aurora’s dad was the Bay Isles dentist. His long-time friend, Tony, worked in the Ten Cent bridge tender’s house. At times, the drawbridge had experienced its share of mechanical breakdowns, and last night was one of them.
“Yes. Why?” Her eyes narrowed.
“The drawbridge was stuck in the up position last night, so no one could go on or off the island. I sure would love to see the video, before and after the bridge broke. Hopefully the camera worked.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Did you check the webcam website?”
“Good idea. Those are usually still photos, though, and show current conditions. I wondered what it showed last night, i
f anything.”
“I’ll ask.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
“And let’s keep their relationship news to ourselves.”
She nodded.
I made a quick stop at my apartment before returning to Granny’s house.
She was right. My place would have been an eerie place to sleep tonight. I looked out my bayside windows, and all I could envision was a body covered with seaweed.
After collecting a few clothing items and my Holly Fest crafts that Henrietta promised to help with, I left my apartment and walked down the boardwalk toward the place the body had been found. I wanted to check out something.
The fresh air felt great and the combination of sea salt, fishy aromas, and boat fuel filled my nostrils.
When I got to the spot on the beach, I hesitated. A few bundles of flowers were scattered around the boardwalk where the body was found. Kinda creepy, having this happen right behind our shop.
A cardboard sign was posted in the sand with a stake: Jim the fisherman, RIP.
I looked up toward my apartment and noticed my window. There was only one other window in the apartment building that could view this spot, and it was from my neighbor’s living room. Sure enough, there was a gap in the curtain in Mrs. Reynold’s window. Maybe it was my imagination, but I thought I saw a shadow. A minute later, I saw the shadow for sure. I got goosebumps.
The apartment would have been a ringside seat to a view of the body, and anyone who may have put it there. I could stop by Ms. Reynold’s place tomorrow. She was gone but it looked like someone was staying there. I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask if they’d seen or heard anything.
The noise I had heard the other night still played over in my brain, but I couldn’t pinpoint it. It wasn’t a boat or car door or any familiar sound. It had been … oh why couldn’t I remember! It had been unique.
“Let’s go, Snickers. Granny is going to be worried if we aren’t back soon.”
He barked at someone walking up the boardwalk.
I held the leash tight. “It’s okay,” I said to him, but meant it more to comfort my skittish heart.
