Ghost On Duty (Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 2)

by Winters, J. D.

  “Sure,” I said, smiling at him. I still didn’t get it, and I still wasn’t sure what would make him mourn or celebrate, but I did feel the emotions he had churning inside. I knew this was important to him and I wanted to help him if I could.

  The vote was scheduled for three in the afternoon and they were only expecting those who were directly involved this time. I went home for lunch and found Bebe about to leave, looking as though she’d been crying.

  “Where are you going?” I asked her, alarmed.

  She looked defiant. “I’m going to get a Christmas tree.”

  “A real one?”

  “Of course. Isn’t that what you told me? That’s the only kind that counts. You need that fresh pine aroma.”

  “Or spruce.”

  “Whatever. You know what I mean.”

  “Of course I do. But…Bebe, why are you crying?”

  “Don’t ask. I’ll just start a flood.”

  “Okay.” I gave her a one-armed hug. “Uh…does it have something to do with you deciding all of a sudden to get a Christmas tree?”

  “Yes.” She sniffed and her lip quivered. “Mele, I’m thirty five years old and I don’t have any kids. By this age, I always thought I would have kids. I have ornaments, you know. Boxes and boxes of ornaments for the tree. I got them when Jimmy and I…when we started thinking about having kids. But then… .”

  She hiccupped. I wrapped her in my arms.

  “Oh sweetie,” I cooed. “You have plenty of time for kids. Don’t be sad.”

  Her sigh was heartbreaking. “If Jimmy hadn’t died… .”

  Bebe and Jimmy Miyake had met when he came to Hawaii to study tropical plant cultivation. His family had developed Miyaki Farms and the emphasis was already moving from fruits and vegetables to cut flowers. They fell in love and she came to California to marry him. They’d been the perfect couple—until cancer had destroyed all that.

  “Oh Bebe, I’m so sorry you lost Jimmy. He was such a good guy.”

  “And he would have been such a g…g…good father.”

  “Yes. The best.” I took her hand. “Come on. Let’s go get a tree.”

  She brightened. “You want to come with me? Don’t you have to get back to the Village?”

  “That can wait. This is more important.”

  She smiled at me and I smiled back and we went to the lot and bought a big, very aromatic tree. We brought it home and put it up and Bebe seemed to brighten as she organized the ornaments, talking about her childhood in Hawaii, talking about Christmases with Jimmy.

  I was about to leave for the village when I got the call I’d been expecting all day. Captain Stone wanted to see me. More questioning.

  “Sorry,” I told the assistant who called me firmly. “I have a community meeting to handle this afternoon. I won’t be able to come in until tomorrow.”

  After some hemming and hawing, the assistant made an appointment for eleven the next morning. I hung up feeling happy that I’d stood up for my rights—so to speak.

  But Bebe was frowning. “I don’t like that man,” she said. “He seems to have something against you. Can’t he see how naturally innocent you are? What kind of an investigator is he, anyway?”

  “You know, Detective McKnight said that too.”

  “What?”

  “That Captain Stone doesn’t trust me.”

  “Oh!” She put down her box of ornaments with a decisive slap. “That does it. I’m calling Reid Carrington.”

  “Who?”

  “Reid Carrington. He’s over in Destiny Bay. We’re related to him. He’s a cousin twice removed or something. But he’s also a really good lawyer. I’m going to call him and see if he’ll help us.”

  I groaned. I wasn’t guilty of anything and I didn’t feel that I needed to bring out the heavy guns until someone tried to charge me with something. “Don’t do it yet,” I told her. “Let’s wait and see what happens when I go see the captain tomorrow.”

  She reluctantly agreed, and I began pulling things together and getting ready to go to the meeting. I wanted to be early to help set things up. Before I left, I went out back to see how Barnaby was doing. He seemed strangely mute.

  “Polly want a cracker?” I asked him.

  I could have sworn he turned up his nose—or beak—at that one.

  The aviary was pretty spacious. I only hoped he enjoyed himself even if there weren’t any other birds except those flying by. The food Roy had left was going to run out soon. What did a parrot like, anyway? I supposed I was going to have to take to the internet and learn a few things.

  I turned away, and there was Aunty Jane.

  She didn’t look up. As she leaned over the patch where she was weeding, she hummed a Hawaiian song, stopping and standing up to do a hula move now and then, before going back to her task. I stood and watched her and tears filled my eyes. All of a sudden, the sweet older woman seemed to embody all of my childhood, all of my heritage. She touched my heart.

  “Aunty Jane, please take good care of Bebe. She needs a permanent friend, and you’re elected. Okay?”

  The ghost gave me a sideways glance, then went back to her work. I could tell she’d heard me. She looked like the cat who’d just gobbled down the canary. Feathers were still in the air. She made me laugh.

  “Aunty, Aunty, you just do what you have to do. You bring Hawaii to us like the scent of plumerias. That’s enough. That’s your task. And we love you for it.”

  I did think of her as Bebe’s personal ghost, though I knew she probably really wasn’t. For all we knew, she might be off haunting people all over the valley in her spare time.

  I think the case could be made more strongly that Dante was mine. Mine all mine. And yet, how did I know that? He could be out haunting lovely ladies by the dozens most of the time. Or maybe some old ghost flame of his had come back and needed a place to stay, “just for the weekend.” Huh.

  Do I sound bitter? Nah.

  But just the thought of sharing him with others made me feel a little resentful whenever he seemed to be off doing something else. Still, there was certainly nothing I could do about it.

  I turned to go into the house, and just as I did, Barnaby finally said something. I thought I heard him, so I stood still and listened, hoping he would try again. And then it came out, loud and clear.

  “Sheeeee did it!”

  I listened harder. That couldn’t be right. But he said it again.

  “Sheeeee did it!”

  Over and over.

  She did it, she did it. Was this a joke? As if I hadn’t had enough people suspicious of me. Now I was harboring a parrot who was accusing me?

  “Sheeeee did it!”

  Arrgghh! This was too much. I slammed the door as I went in and called out to Bebe, “How do you get a parrot to go mute?”

  She thought for a second. “Put a cloth over his cage.”

  “But he’s in an aviary.”

  She listened and heard it. A wide grin began to spread over her face. “Oops. This is going to be a problem, isn’t it?”

  I glared at her. “Could be.”

  She laughed.

  Bebe came along as she and I both had to be at the village for the vote. I let her drive as I was going to be going out with Lance afterwards.

  “Lance, huh? Not Roy?”

  I turned away. “No. Not Roy.”

  The meeting hall was only half full this time. We set up the voting area and supplied pencils and paper cups. There were enough chairs to allow eight voters at a time. The ballots had qualifying information that had to be filled out, and then the all-important question. Should the lawsuit be allowed to go forward? Or should it be cancelled.

  Lance came in looking as though he hadn’t slept for a week. I was shocked at how haggard and careworn he looked. He was getting worse every day.

  “Lance, are you sick?”

  “What? No, of course not. I’m fine.”

  “You look like you need to go lie down.”


  He shook his head. “This whole situation is taking its toll on me,” he admitted. “I’ll be glad when it’s over and things get back to normal.”

  After showing his mother to a seat alongside the podium, he immediately called the meeting to order, set up the voting parameters, enumerated the consequences, and ordered the voting to begin. I helped Bebe and a few other workers hand out ballots and show those who were having trouble how to vote. It took less than half an hour, and then we helpers took the results to a back room and counted. We didn’t have to count twice. The vote was overwhelming. Almost everyone wanted the pageant to go on. The announcement was made and a loud cheer went up.

  “That doesn’t mean the same people will decide against the offer made by the developer,” Lance told the crowd. “I know you will all think long and hard before making that decision. It’s something that could change lives.”

  He glanced at his mother and I had the impression he would be giving quite a different speech if only she hadn’t been there.

  I went to meet him as he came off the platform. “Are you alright?” I asked.

  “Of course.”

  But he wasn’t. I could see it. His hands were shaking.

  “I really want to understand, Lance,” I told him earnestly. “Are you for people holding firm or not? I don’t get it. I mean, how could you be encouraging people to sell out to a developer if you’re committed to carrying on your family legacy with the Pageant?”

  He touched my chin and smiled at me. “Sweet Mele. I know this is going to be hard for you to get right away.” He frowned. “Life is complicated. It’s not a straight road. There are twists and turns and we have to be nimble to keep up.” He shook his head. “I have to think of a way to explain it to you so that you can understand what is going on and all the implications this entails.” He looked up as though he’d had a bright idea. “Listen. Have you ever been out to my family’s ranch, Rancho Verde?”

  I shook my head.

  He smiled lovingly. “Let’s go. I think when I show that to you, when you see what I’m dealing with, you’ll get it.” He tugged on a bit of my loose hair in an affectionate manner. “Come on. Go with me.”

  “But what about your mother?”

  “Her friend Gladys is taking her to dinner. She’s well taken care of.”

  “Oh. Well then, I’d be glad to go out and see your ranch. Just let me tell my aunt.”

  He glanced over to where Bebe was chatting with her usual friends.

  “Oh no, let’s not bother her,” he said, taking my hand and starting toward the parking lot. “Come on. Now that I’ve had this idea, I want to take you there right away.”

  “I think I should…”

  “Don’t worry. We won’t be long. We’ll come right back.”

  “But…”

  “Hurry. We don’t want to miss the last bit of light. You won’t believe what the sunsets look like over the ocean.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  I gave in and we got into his late model, very slick-looking car and raced out onto the highway, going fast. He talked all the way.

  “We’ve hardly had time to get to know each other, Mele, but already I feel as though you could be very special to me. You have a depth, a sense of empathy that I can sense in you. You’re different from the others. You can see further, make connections, understand the muddled thing that is my existence. I know you can.”

  “Uh oh,” was all I was thinking.

  “Let me tell you a little about me, about my life,” he went on. “I grew up in a wealthy, important family and I was expected to learn how to manage, how to lead. We were the main family in the area, the founding family. We had it all. And then, little by little, everything began to melt away. Now there’s not much left.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Yes. It’s been very difficult. No one understands how hard it is to go from wealth to poverty. And we aren’t quite there yet, but we’re not far from it.”

  “But you have this ranch.”

  By now we’d reached Rancho Verde. We’d driven in under the arch that told the name. The acres and acres of cattle land spread out before us. I expected Lance to turn in toward the beautiful ranch house I could see up on the hill, but he didn’t. He turned and ran along the edge of the cliff instead.

  “I’m taking you to my favorite place.”

  “Oh.”

  “It’s been hard trying to hold onto this land. And understand—my mother must live in the manner she is accustomed to. I have to keep up the luxuries she depends on.”

  He pulled over to the side and turned off the engine.

  “Come with me. We’ll walk out on the cliff and watch the sunset. You’ll be amazed.”

  “Okay.” I still wasn’t scared. I have to admit I was getting a little nervous. He was sounding less and less like a truly balanced man. But I wasn’t scared. Not yet.

  He took my hand and we began to walk. The edge of the cliff was very near. I could hear the waves crashing against the rocks below. I shivered as the cold ocean wind hit my face.

  “Here, take my jacket,” he said, placing it on my shoulders.

  It helped a lot. And I thought—see, he’s still feeling friendly toward me. It’s going to be okay.

  “Yes, it’s been hard,” he said again. “But I’ve never been trained in any sort of profession that makes good money. I was supposed to manage what we had, not bring in new resources. The ranch is mortgaged to the hilt and the bank is about to call the loan. At this point, all we have left is our share in the consortium that holds the Village. The money that brings in, at this point, is just not enough.”

  “So you decided to sell out?” Was that it? He was selling out his share to the developer and he hadn’t told his mother yet. That was what had him so nervous, so upset.

  “Yes. I just have to get enough of the homeowners to go along with this, and I’ll have plenty of money to last beyond the end of my mother’s life.” He pulled me around to face him. “You understand, it’s for her. It’s all for her.”

  “But Lance, does she know you’re doing this?”

  “Of course not. She must never know.”

  “So you’re just pretending to want the pageant to go on.”

  He waved that away. “Pageant, smageant,” he said dismissively. “It’s cute and all, but it certainly isn’t worth all the hullabaloo.”

  I gasped.

  “Mele, don’t you see? I need the money. The developer has promised me a good advance as long as I get enough people on board…”

  “Lance, how can you do this?”

  He looked crestfallen. “You still don’t understand,” he complained. “I thought once I brought you here and explained it all, you might be on my side.” He tried to take me in his arms. “We could be good together, Mele. You’re bright. My mother likes you. Together, the three of us…”

  “No, Lance. No!”

  “No?” He looked sad. I almost felt sorry for him.

  Turning away, I began to walk in the opposite direction, hoping he wouldn’t follow. No such luck. He was right beside me. I reached into the pocket of his jacket and felt something in the bottom corner, something light, something airy. For some reason, I pulled it out and stared at it. It was a red scarf. The red scarf Jasper had worn? It sure looked like it.

  “Lance,” I said, holding it up. “What’s this?”

  “Hmm?” He looked and shrugged. “Just a scarf of my mother’s. Give it to me.” He held his hand out.

  “No,” I said, backing away. “No Lance. I think you got it from Jasper. Didn’t you?”

  He gave a heavy sigh as though all hope was lost. “Well, that’s that, then,” he said. He turned my way. “I wish things could have been different.”

  I tried to ask him more about the scarf, but no words would come out, and when I looked at his face, it had hardened. He started toward me. Suddenly I realized the truth. Now that he hadn’t been able to talk me over to his side, he was going to throw m
e over the cliff. Just like Ned.

  “Wait,” I managed to blurt out. “Wait Lance! What are you doing?”

  “I’m sorry, Mele. I was hoping you could see my side of things.”

  “Then tell me,” I said desperately, backing away but only ending up closer to the edge of the cliff. “Explain it to me. Why did you kill Ned?”

  “Oh Mele,” he said in true sorrow. “You really don’t understand anything. I didn’t kill Ned.”

  “Then who did?”

  “Well, if Captain Stone knew the truth, he would try to pin it on my mother. But she couldn’t help it. She didn’t mean to kill him. It just happened.”

  “Your mother?” I could hardly believe that. The woman looked like an ethereal spirit—almost an angel. And suddenly it came to me. “Is your mother the lady in white that Ned had all the pictures of in that room?”

  “You saw them, did you?” He sounded bitter. “The old fool. His crazy love for my mother was behind it all, you know. He and my father were rivals for her love in college. My father won. But Ned couldn’t take no for an answer. He followed them up here after they married and tried to do all he could to ruin their love. That was why he bought up the shares of the consortium when he had a chance. He had money and my father was losing it. He tried to buy it all. And when he couldn’t do that, he tried to ruin the pageant, knowing it was my father’s pride and joy. He was a hateful creature and he deserved to die.”

  “And your mother killed him?”

  “Not exactly. She went to him, to try to convince to drop his lawsuit. She thought she could appeal to his better nature, and to the love he’d had for her for so many years. But he took her out on his cliff-side patio to show off his wonderful property, and when he tried to kiss her, she fought him off. In the process, he fell over the edge on his own. It wasn’t her fault.” He sighed. “But we all know Captain Stone wouldn’t have given her any leeway. He would have thrown the book at her.”

  A sad story, but it didn’t help me much. I looked at the scarf in my hands. “So why did you kill Jasper?” I asked.