Life is Better Brunette

by Diane Bator

  Shawn nudged him. "Are you crazy? Did it escape you that you're threatening Gary del Garda? This guy can make you disappear so no one will ever find you. Ever."

  Gilda stared at her wineglass. Over the past few months, Gary had become like family to her, and she was always jarred when someone reminded her of his occupation and capabilities.

  She kept her voice low. "What is it you know?"

  Gary gave her a sideways glance. "I know you and I will need to have a private chat about a few things one day soon."

  "About Miss Claudia?"

  "That and more." He tossed back the rest of his drink.

  Kane cleared his throat. "You realize all that head-to-head whispering you're doing over there is drawing uninvited attention."

  Gilda glanced up and groaned when she spotted Fabio and Thayer weaving through the crowd toward them.

  "Great," Shawn scoffed. "Looks like we're going to need a bigger table, lads."

  "I agree." Fabio patted his shoulder. "Preferably somewhere a lot quieter."

  Randy sipped his beer. "Maybe at the police station?"

  "No. This venue works." Fabio shook his head. "This way we have all the main players in their natural environment. What could be better than that?"

  Gilda met Kane's questioning gaze. "What do you mean all the main players? Do you think someone here in the pub killed Miss Claudia?"

  Fabio shrugged. "Don't you?"

  All eyes turned to Gilda.

  She shivered and sipped her wine. "I don't know what to think."

  Thayer folded his arms across his chest. "Well, then come with us, and we'll tell you what you should be thinking. It has to do with the evidence you found."

  Everyone at the table seemed to turn her way.

  "What evidence?" Gary asked.

  Gilda had no idea. "I guess I should go with them and find out."

  "Not without me, you don't, love." Kane shoved Randy out of his way and came up nose to nose with Thayer. "Back off. Gilda doesn't need you to boss her around, mate. She's got Mick and me for that."

  As Gary stepped aside to let Gilda pass, he grabbed her arm. "You don't have to go anywhere with them. I'll call my lawyers and have you out in five minutes."

  She laid her hand on his. "Thanks, but I didn't do anything. I have a feeling they're trying to make it seem like they have some idea who killed Miss Claudia and are using me as bait. Since they're not actually arresting me, they can't hold me there for long. Can they?"

  "I'll make a couple calls." Gary promised. "You'll be released before you even get to the station."

  Thayer took Gilda by the bicep and nodded toward the front door of the pub.

  On their way out, Gilda kept her eyes open for anyone who seemed out of place. Only one person's presence struck her as odd. At the far end of the bar near the wall, sat Aislin Chadwick sipping from a tall glass with a straw. Since there was no way Gilda and Kane had arrived without anyone noticing, why hadn't Aislin come to join them or at least to say hello?

  Aislin turned and wiggled her fingers at Gilda before she slid off her stool. As if reading Gilda's mind, Aislin glided up to her and whispered harshly in her ear, "Watch out for the man behind the curtain."

  Gilda turned to grab Aislin by the arm but was met by a vacant stare. Before she could get a grip on her, Aislin disappeared into the raucous crowd.

  "What are you doing?" Thayer turned and tugged her toward the front door.

  "Aislin said something." She frowned. "I just wanted to make sure I heard her right."

  "Aislin the psychic?" He paused then dragged her out the door behind Fabio.

  Gilda caught up to Fabio. "Yes. She said to watch out for the man behind the curtain."

  Fabio raised one eyebrow. "Maybe she was referencing The Wizard of Oz."

  Thayer laughed. "That's funny."

  "Actually, a few people have called Miss Claudia the wicked witch. I guess I shouldn't be surprised someone else referenced the same story," Gilda said. "But who could be the man behind the curtain?"

  "How should we know?" Thayer shrugged.

  Fabio leaned against the wall and signaled to someone else in the darkness. "In the movie, the man behind the curtain was the Wizard. He wasn't what he appeared to be. A fraud. Everyone thought he could help them, but he didn't really do anything. They ended up solving their own problems and gave him the credit."

  "Sounds a little bit like me." Gary emerged from the back alley and strolled toward them.

  Gilda took a step back. "Geez! Where did you come from? We left you inside."

  "There's a back entrance not far from where we were sitting." Gary lit a cigarette. "Our local police wanted me to join your little party out here."

  Fabio nodded. "I want you to make it perfectly clear to Gilda for once and for all that she has no business poking around in this case. She needs to go home and stop asking questions or else I'll lock her up for her own safety."

  Her jaw dropped open. "Lock me up? Seriously?"

  "No one wants you to get hurt," Thayer said.

  Gilda put her hands on her hips. "Then tell me what's going on right now, or I'm going back inside to question people."

  Gary blew out a puff of smoke. "They can't tell you anything, or they'll put you in even more danger."

  "Look, we all know I don't know who murdered Miss Claudia." She held up both hands at her sides. "In fact, I don't know much of anything. All I did was find her body and talk to a couple people. That's it. I don't have any information. I don't know anything."

  "Then how do you know about the man behind the curtain?" Thayer asked.

  "I told you, Aislin said something to me when we were leaving about watching out for the man behind the curtain. I tried to ask her more, but she was gone."

  "Did she say who the man behind the curtain was?" Fabio met her gaze.

  "No." She sighed. "Do you want me to try to find out or should I just go home, lock the door, and keep my nose out of things?"

  Gary smiled. "You've tried that before. It doesn't work. It seems to me you have this magnetism that draws the bad guys straight toward you. Fabio, I think you should just deputize this lady and teach her how to use a gun."

  "No." Thayer's voice echoed even louder than Gilda's as they both objected.

  Fabio shook his head. "That's never going to happen."

  "Then you'd better fill her in on what you know," Gary said. "Because, like it or not, she's going to be involved in this case no matter what we do or say."

  "I've told her all she needs to know." Fabio widened his stance. "Why don't you take her home and get her out of here before she causes any problems?"

  "What kind of problems?" Gilda asked, more than slightly offended by his attitude, especially after he'd supposedly taken her into his confidence earlier. "All I was planning to do tonight was sit and listen to what was going on. Now we all have to miss out on all the gossip and anything incriminating because you wanted to drag us all outside for a chat."

  Thayer shifted and glanced toward the door. "Don't worry. We're not missing anything in there. Do you really think anyone would admit to anything with me or Fabio inside? The pub has video cameras, courtesy of the police department. Who do you think changed the meeting location at the last minute?"

  She huffed. "That's low, but a good idea. So, what do you want me to do?"

  "Go home." Fabio met her gaze. "Have a glass of wine, take a bubble bath, whatever you need to do to calm down and keep out of trouble."

  Gilda took a step toward the pub door. "Fine, but just let me talk to Kane and let him know I'm going home."

  Thayer jumped in front of her. "Don't worry. I'll let him know. Just get going before Fab blows a gasket."

  She lowered her voice. "Why is he so wound up around this case? He's usually not so intense about shutting me out."

  He glanced at Fabio and Gary, who seemed engrossed in a whispered conversation. "Fabio's known Miss Claudia for years and is afraid he overlooked something that could
have prevented her murder."

  "Like what?"

  Thayer shrugged. "No idea. I do know Fabio and Gary have spent a lot of time together outside of the police station lately. I'm not sure if it's related to the case, but it doesn't sit well with our superiors since Gary's got a bad reputation."

  "I guess not." She met his gaze. "Thanks. I'll see if I can get anything out of Gary on the trip home."

  He took her hand. "Just keep me in the loop."

  "You too." Gilda shook off his hand.

  Gary walked her to his Buick and opened the passenger door. Once they were seated alone inside, he turned to face her. "I know this doesn't make sense. Fabio told me he talked to you on the beach earlier about Sullivan, and now he's stonewalling you."

  "Yeah. I noticed that."

  "He has his reasons."

  "Just take me home." Gilda sighed.

  "Don't shoot the messenger, honey." Gary started the car. "I'm just helping out an old friend to solve a murder."

  "Me or Fabio?"

  He smirked. "He's much older than you. Let's just say I have a stake in bringing Miss Claudia's killer to justice before more bad things happen."

  Gilda studied him as he drove around the block and headed to her house. "What do you know that I don't?"

  "A great deal, which is the way it has to stay for now." He stopped at the intersection and patted her hand. "We all just want you to be safe. You do know that, right?"

  "Deep down, yes." She sighed. "On the surface, it looks more like you and Fabio are hiding something than trying to solve a murder."

  "Ouch." Gary said nothing more until he'd parked across the street from Gilda's house. "Do us both a favor. Go home and read a good book or watch some mindless TV. Just stay out of trouble."

  Gilda left the warmth of his car and crossed the street to her house. When she looked back, he'd already pulled away from the curb. Whatever he and Fabio were hiding from her and Thayer, it didn't seem to have much to do directly with her.

  She contemplated going back to the pub but knew the police would still be there watching the patrons and listening to every word said. Instead, she climbed the steps to her house as her cell phone dinged in her pocket.

  Gilda let herself inside and locked the door behind her before she fished out her phone to check the message from Aislin.

  Watch out for the man behind the curtain.

  Her heart fluttered.

  "What does that mean?" she asked the empty room. Was it really a reference to The Wizard of Oz or could it be about the person who killed Miss Claudia?

  She poured a glass of sparkling water and sat back with the television remote. Mindless TV sounded like a good option. She flipped past cooking shows, news debates, and cartoons until she found an old movie. The Wizard of Oz. How ironic.

  Gilda watched for nearly half an hour before a sudden thought occurred to her. The man behind the curtain. Gary had driven her home after their tête-à-tête with Fabio and Thayer and then drove away. Usually when bad things happened, he'd sit parked outside her house all night to keep an eye on her. Watching over her.

  Gilda crept to the window and peered out the curtain. Sure enough, Gary's Buick sat parked across the street. As she released the curtain back into place, her stomach lurched. Was Gary the man behind the curtain?

  With shaking hands, she called Mick on speed dial and spent half an hour on the phone making him promise to return to Sandstone Cove as early as he could the next day.

  It was nearly midnight, almost Friday, by the time she hung up and the last thought on her mind as she fell asleep was about Marion and Razi. Since she hadn't heard from either about how their date went, she decided to call Marion in the morning so she wouldn't interrupt anything.

  In the end, she didn't have to wait that long.

  "Hey, did I wake you?" Marion sounded ready to burst.

  Gilda groaned. "Of course you woke me. It's three in the morning."

  "I know. I just got home." She giggled. Marion rarely ever giggled.

  "From where?"

  "What do you mean 'from where'?" She shrieked, "Wake up!"

  The blankets flew to the floor as Gilda jumped. "Holy cow. Why did you do that? You scared me half to death."

  "I had to. You were asleep on the most important night of my life."

  "Okay, I'm awake." Gilda sat on the edge of her bed and rubbed her eyes. "Spill it. How was your date with Razi?"

  Marion gushed about the dinner, the restaurant, how good Razi looked in black dress pants and a silk shirt with the top two buttons undone. She went on and on about how they'd spent over two hours at her house in front of her fireplace talking about life in general and sipping a lovely brandy he'd brought as a gift until he finally announced he needed to go home.

  "To be honest, I really wanted him to stay. But I didn't want to seem…"

  "Easy?" Gilda yawned.

  "Desperate."

  Gilda pulled her blankets back onto the bed and laughed. "I don't think you have to worry about that. He knows you well enough."

  "Yeah, I know." Marion sighed. "But the more we talked, the more I started to think he deserves someone way better than me. Someone who's already seen the world and done as many things as he has."

  Gilda flopped back onto the bed and pulled the blankets to her chin. "It's the middle of the night. Do we need to have this conversation right now? Can't we save this for when I'm coherent?"

  Marion sniffed. "Don't you care about my feelings?"

  "Of course I do." Gilda clapped one hand over her eyes. "It's been a weird night."

  "I take it you went to the town hall meeting Kane mentioned."

  "Yeah." She was surprised Kane had said anything about it. "Do you want to meet for coffee in the morning? You can tell me all about your hot date then. I'll buy."

  Marion hesitated then gave a low chuckle. "Sure. Do you want to at least hear about who we saw at the restaurant?"

  "Elvis?" Gilda gazed at the ceiling. She'd prefer the extra five minutes of sleep. "I thought most of the town was at the pub tonight for Miss Claudia's town hall meeting slash wake. I can't imagine who you saw at the restaurant."

  "Adam Vines."

  Gilda sat up as the hairs on the back of her neck prickled. "Who's Adam Vines?"

  "Are you kidding me? You hang out with Gary del Garda. How can you possibly have no idea who Adam Vines is?"

  "Humor me." Gilda got up and paced around her bedroom. "Pretend I'm still asleep and clueless."

  "Adam Vines is one of Gary's henchmen," Marion said. "He was at the restaurant with some old guy I couldn't get a good look at. I think he's the dude who owns the smoke shop."

  "Fergus? That's interesting." She hesitated. "Come to think of it, he wasn't at the pub tonight. I wonder what they were chatting about?"

  "I'm not sure, but when I walked past them once, Gary's name came up," Marion said. "So, what happened at the town hall meeting?"

  Gilda huffed. "No idea. Fabio and Thayer dragged me out before I could talk to anyone, and then Gary drove me home. They all keep telling me I need to butt out. The more questions I ask, the more they try to shut me out."

  "Get used to it. It's the old boys' club." Marion chuckled. "Get some sleep, and don't worry about things. We'll get together in the morning, then go get some answers."

  CHAPTER NINE

  Gilda had a few restless hours of sleep before she rolled out of bed and got dressed. She pushed aside the curtain and peered out the window to check on Gary. He was gone, and a small, white car with a large man wearing black sunglasses sat in his place. One of Gary's goons. Could he be Adam Vines? She should have asked Marion for a description.

  After she texted Marion about meeting for coffee that morning, she took a deep breath and walked out the front door, pausing to take a picture of the man to show Marion later. He never even flinched. She guessed he'd fallen asleep.

  Without a second thought, Gilda headed for Armadillo Street as the shops began to open. She expec
ted the area around the fabric shop to be quiet since the police should have finished their investigation by now. Instead, all of Armadillo Street seemed to buzz with activity. Store owners mingled in the street to watch officers hauling box after box from the fabric store, which now had graffiti spray painted across the front window. The front door hung half off its hinges.

  Fabio, who came outside, directed several officers on where to put the boxes.

  "Hey. What's going on?" she asked.

  "This isn't a good time, Gilda." He never glanced at her.

  "Miss Claudia's dead. Who would be so awful to vandalize her store?"

  Fabio huffed. "Go to work and mind your own business, Gilda."

  She blew out a breath. "Fine. I have to run anyway. Promise you'll text me when you have a minute. I have some questions."

  "You always have questions." Fabio finally turned to face her, his nostrils flared. "Let this one go, Gilda. Go to work and leave this case alone."

  "But I…"

  "Gilda, butt out!" he roared.

  All the officers around him froze and stared as she shrank away from his rage. He'd always been so patient with her before. What made this case so different?

  The Healing Spirit Gift Shop remained silent, no lights on and no sign of Kane or Aislin. Gilda wasn't so concerned about seeing Kane, but she really wanted to talk to Aislin after her cryptic message the night before.

  Gilda's stomach lurched as she sauntered over to Randy, who leaned against the outer wall of the tattoo shop smoking what certainly didn't look or smell like a cigarette. "What's going on? I thought they would have wrapped things up here by now."

  He offered her a drag. When she refused, he shrugged. "They were. Then someone broke in the door and spray-painted the front window last night. Now they're taking everything out and guarding the place like it's Fort Knox."

  "That is odd."

  When Gilda walked across the street past the smoke shop window, she caught a glimpse of white hair. Fabio had believed Fergus was out of town, yet there he sat behind the front counter. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she ducked inside the store and closed the door. Hopefully before anyone on the street noticed.