Spirit Lake

by Vickie McKeehan

  “Can you believe this?” Lianne said. “It’s a good thing you came in yesterday to shore up the stock.”

  “Who knew? I might as well get busy and make more.”

  With Lianne working the counter, Gemma tore into a fresh shipment of cacao beans from Belize. She discovered these were decidedly sweeter than the ones her usual vendor shipped from Central America. She set to work grinding them into powder. To get new flavors, she crushed poblano peppers and tossed in lavender, changing out one herb for another. She experimented with hibiscus, violet, and magnolia petals, switching to sweet, savory sage flowers until she liked the consistency and the taste of each. She added cinnamon to some and a dash of nutmeg to others.

  Making notes as she went, she whipped up her creations in separate bowls until she had just the right blend. The next step was pouring the molds, then slipping the trays into a chilled cooler to set.

  After twenty minutes, she took them out and began dipping each piece into its own savory ganache, depending on whatever flower she’d used. The last step was adding the coyote logo to the top.

  Ninety minutes of work had produced two display cases filled with new stuff. The different aromas floated out the door and seemed to bring in foot traffic faster than the two women could keep up.

  “Whoever heard of a run on chocolate?” Lianne lamented as she bagged candy for a group of teenage girls heading to the beach. “This is the busiest we’ve ever been. What gives?”

  “No idea. But I’m willing to chalk it up to the height of tourist season.”

  Vince Ballard overheard that last part. “I don’t think it’s tourists. I looked down the street this morning and what do I see? All these people gathered outside your shop. I recognize a lot of faces. These are locals. The way they’re acting, you’d think you were giving away chocolate-covered cannabis in here.”

  Gemma let out a laugh. “Nothing like that. It’s been a crazy Monday.”

  “After a crazy Sunday,” Paloma muttered, following Vince into the shop, dragging her cane on the floor. “You want to know why the people show up today and buy your chocolate after so many months of ignoring you? They finally come through your door to pay homage to the woman who is worthy of taking Marissa’s place. They respect you because they’ve heard that you’ve seen the three legendary shamans. They’re convinced the power lies within you now.”

  “So now I’m worthy because of the three stones? Because Salisaw pronounces the quest complete?”

  “Respect must be carried out through the generations and earned. Whether you like it or not, it’s the way of your people. In their eyes, you’ve been promoted.”

  “Whatever it is, she’s hit the motherlode,” Lianne remarked, picking out several pieces from the glass case and arranging them on a plate. “Take a taste of the new flavors and tell us what you think.”

  Vince helped Paloma over to one of the tables where they both sat down to sample the various truffles.

  At the first bite, Vince closed his eyes. “If I’m not mistaken, this is hibiscus, isn’t it? I bet this would go great with my white zinfandel.”

  Paloma followed suit, biting into a different kind. “Mmm, not bad. There’s a smoky flavor in there somewhere. Chipotle maybe. I do believe you’ve finally found your niche.” She shifted in her seat and stared up at her granddaughter. “Van went to work this morning worried about that body being found on our land, couldn’t sleep last night because of it.”

  “Van isn’t a suspect.”

  “But he said Lando questioned him last night.”

  “That’s because Van’s the owner of the property. I went over this already when I drove him and Nova back to your house. I’m telling you Van is not a suspect.”

  “Did Lando actually say that?”

  Gemma winced at getting backed into a corner. “Not in so many words, but I can tell you he doesn’t think that. I can’t give you details. It’s an ongoing investigation. And it belongs to Lando. You want stronger assurances then get them from him.”

  Paloma picked up on Gemma’s fretful state. “Wedding jitters getting to you?”

  “No. Maybe. I don’t know. Look, I don’t want to be dragged into the middle of this thing. Lando goes where the evidence takes him. That means Van has nothing to worry about. Now do you want a chocolate soda or keep giving me a hard time about stuff?”

  “Sure. Vince and I came in to get our fix, didn’t we? And to ask if you need a flower girl. Nova says Allie would love to do it. Plus, Daniel could be your ring bearer.”

  Gemma sighed and looked over at Vince who had a stupid smile on his lips.

  “Ain’t family grand?” he crowed.

  Which summed up Gemma’s thoughts exactly. Having family was great until they crawled out of the woodwork to offer unsolicited advice or stuck their nose where it didn’t belong. “It’s a small ceremony. I’m not sure a flower girl or a ring bearer…”

  “Every wedding needs a flower girl,” Paloma insisted. “And it can’t really be a wedding unless some cute little guy holds the rings. Daniel fits that bill and he already has a suit to wear. He wouldn’t even need to buy a new one.”

  Talk about pushy, Gemma thought. “By any chance did Nova watch the royal wedding recently?”

  Paloma cackled with laughter. “She did. Got up at the crack of dawn to do it, too.”

  “That explains why Nova initiated the wedding talk yesterday.” Should she bring up flower girls and ring bearers to Lando? She doubted he’d care about what kind of getup Allie or Daniel would want to wear. “The bridesmaids’ colors are lilac.”

  “I’m sure Nova could come up with something appropriate that wouldn’t clash.”

  Gemma was grateful when Lianne joined them at the table and they could switch places. She pushed Lianne into a chair and went back to working the counter. “Take a break. I’ll get those chocolate sodas going. You want one, Lianne?”

  “Sure,” she answered. “Do we know who that body belonged to yet?”

  “Not yet. The girl has to be from out of town, though. No one’s missing from around here,” Paloma muttered. “I hope no one thinks Van had anything to do with this mess.”

  While blending the drinks together in between bagging up Natalie Henwick’s order, Gemma grunted at Paloma’s comment. Feeling trapped, she glanced up at the clock on the wall, wondering when she could get out of there. Noon couldn’t come too soon to suit her.

  At the police station, it had been an equally hectic morning for Lando. Once he got Suzanne Swinton off to her training class, he had to deal with street assignments. Dale was the obvious choice for beach patrol while Payce stayed close to downtown, walking the beat there. Jimmy had an issue with his cruiser when it refused to start. He decided the vehicle had been tampered with in some way, writing up an official report on the problem.

  After sending it off to the repair shop and getting the guys into the field, Lando took a call from Jeff Tuttle just as he was walking out the door to take Gemma to lunch.

  “I might have gotten it wrong about the young female found at the farm. I know I said she’d been dead since Thanksgiving, but it was more like around Christmastime.”

  “Why the difference?”

  “Insect activity in November versus December. I checked it online myself.”

  “Any way to tell the cause of death yet?”

  “That’s impossible with what little I have. But she didn’t get out there naked by herself. I’m listing it as undetermined for now. It would be great if you could find more bones, especially the skull.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.” After ending the call, he radioed Jimmy, Dale, and Payce, with one goal in mind. He sent them back out to the property to search for more bones. “While you’re at it, look for anything that might ID her, pieces of clothing, a purse, even shoes. The clothes didn’t just disappear into thin air.”

  He called Zeb and begged for help from him, explaining Tuttle’s change of heart. “Combining our forces means we go over
the ground using a more detailed grid search to make sure the sheriff’s department didn’t miss anything last night.”

  “How could they find anything once it got dark?” Zeb pointed out.

  “That’s why we need to go over the same ground again. I’ll be able to meet you there as soon as I run an errand. I promised Gemma I’d take her to the jeweler’s. We need to come up with another ring.”

  “Leia mentioned it. Take your time. One of the elders has a huge metal detector and a ground penetrating radar unit. I’ve borrowed both before. I’ll take those out there and maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  “Thanks. Keep me posted.”

  But when he told Gemma about the search as they ate sandwiches down at Lighthouse Landing, she reacted as he hoped she would.

  “I’ll go out there with you to look. I don’t mind spending the time away from the shop.”

  “You sure?”

  “Isn’t that why you brought it up? Besides, the rush should be over by now. I can’t imagine selling out all the candy I made this morning, not in one afternoon.”

  “I’ll take the help then. I need as many volunteers as I can get.”

  She wadded up her trash and tossed it in the nearest bin, then stood up. “Maybe we should bring them something to eat.”

  “That’s my girl. I like the way you think. We’ll stop by the restaurant and see what Mom and Leia have on hand.”

  They brought sacks filled with burgers, sandwiches, and tacos. When Lando pulled up, the hungry guys swarmed around the SUV like children who’d been waiting for the ice cream truck.

  “Anything yet?” Lando asked Zeb, sliding his sunglasses down his nose.

  Zeb shook his head. “We started with the northwest corner perimeter. But we’re only halfway to the eastern border of the property. Figuring the wind blows out that way toward that patch of cottonwoods, we’ll spread out that way next in case anything got stuck in the trees. It’s a slow process. May take a couple of days to cover the entire place.”

  “I figured as much. I spent half the morning sending out inquiries across the country about missing females.”

  “Any response?”

  “Nothing promising. Yet.”

  “How’d the ring shopping go?”

  Gemma made a face. “We haven’t made it there yet. I wanted to help do this. That girl, whoever she is, deserves to have her name back. Did you look in the barn yet?”

  “Sheriff’s deputies combed through it last night with flashlights,” Lando said.

  “Do you mind if I do another walkthrough?”

  “Come on, I’ll take you up there. I’ll show you the bus, the one you didn’t seem too interested in yesterday.”

  They started walking that way. “I was trying to let you and Van bond over your love of engines.”

  Lando bumped her arm. “He’ll come around, Gemma. You’ll see.”

  “I’m not so sure.” She told him about the conversation she had with Paloma and the woman’s suggestion that Van’s kids participate in the wedding. “I resent being put on the spot like that. I even reminded her it was a small, intimate ceremony. Now, I’m afraid to say no for fear she’ll stop liking me.”

  “But it’s our wedding.”

  “I know. But if I have to defend my position I’m not sure it’s worth creating animosity over something so trivial. What difference does it really make if we include the kids and give them a role?”

  “None, I guess. Any way you look at it, we can’t afford to start off our marriage with ill will among family members.”

  “Exactly. Look what happened the first time.”

  Their tour of the barn produced nothing out of the ordinary. A disappointed Gemma opened the double doors to the rear of the structure and scanned the woodlands behind it. “I don’t think the killer made it this far onto the property. He certainly didn’t bother coming up to the barn and going inside. He was anxious and in a hurry. In fact, I’m not sure he even knew the building existed, especially since he dumped her out in the dark, closer to the road. More than likely it was a stranger who didn’t know the area very well.”

  “You see all that?”

  “Not sure where that came from,” she uttered in a bewildered voice. “But doesn’t it make sense?”

  “It does now, which means we’re looking in the wrong grid.”

  “How so?”

  “Let’s say he disposed of the body on a cold December night near the roadway, easier access than risking wandering around in unfamiliar territory in the dark. Animal activity is at a premium after he drives away. The animals live back in those woods there, back near the only water source.”

  Her eyes widened. “The creek.”

  Lando took off toward the copse of trees with Gemma trying to keep up. They dodged low-hanging branches, rutted pits, and high weeds. The ground was soft in places where it had rained last, leaving muddy puddles to avoid.

  “Hey, slow down. Wait for me to catch up.”

  “Sorry.”

  “What kind of animals are back here?’

  “Fox, coyote, maybe a wolf or two, and the usual raccoons and possums.”

  They soon came out of the forest into a small clearing where a stream babbled over the rocks lining the creek bed.

  She tugged on his sleeve and pointed to a low-lying area near the water. It looked eerie with the light filtering through the trees. “Lando, there, up against that rock. Isn’t that…?”

  “The skull? Yeah. It’s wedged in there pretty good.” He reached in his pocket to retrieve his cell phone to call Tuttle. But before he could punch in the number, the device dinged with an alert. “Before I left for lunch, I forwarded my office phone to my mobile.”

  He walked several steps away so that he could listen to his voicemail. Once the message had run its course, he spun around to face her.

  “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “There’s a missing teenager from Missouri. Joplin. She’s sixteen. Her name’s Piper Pierson. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Kirby Doss got in town around Christmastime, didn’t he? Ginny Sue said so herself. Could he have brought his girlfriend with him? Did they slip away together on the bus and make the trip out here to California?”

  Lando started walking away.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I have to call the judge to postpone Kirby’s bail hearing tomorrow.”

  Once Lando directed the search to span along the shore of the creek, more bones were discovered, bits of clothing, and a knockoff handbag, which contained a library card with Piper Pierson’s name on it.

  Tuttle brought his team of crime scene techs back to bag up the evidence. “You don’t mess around when it comes to searching, do you?”

  Lando lifted a shoulder. “We got lucky.”

  Gemma poked him in the ribs. “You were right. Piper’s death wasn’t related to the others.”

  “You’re the one who figured out it was someone unfamiliar with the area. We make a good team.”

  “We do, don’t we?”

  Word eventually reached Ginny Sue, who showed up at the end of the road with Luke in tow. “I’m still trying to comprehend how my own nephew could’ve done such a thing. I talked to my sister just now. She said Piper’s parents had warned Kirby to stay away from their daughter, but he wouldn’t listen. He must’ve done this right after they arrived in town.”

  “That’s just it,” Lando began, “how did he get out here without a car?”

  Ginny cleared her throat and leaned on her boss for support. “I let him borrow mine. How was I supposed to know what he wanted it for?”

  “Did you ever see Piper Pierson that night he got into town?”

  “No. But Kirby acted like he was hiding something that first night. I thought he was just upset over being shipped out here, pissed off that he was forced to leave Joplin and his friends.”

  Luke wrapped his arm around Ginny Sue. “No one’s blaming you. You
couldn’t have known what Kirby was about to do.”

  Seeing Ginny Sue so distraught and unable to go on, Luke told Lando the rest. “The parents suspected Piper had taken off with Kirby right away and turned her in as a runaway. But as the months went by without a word from her, they convinced the police that Kirby might’ve done something to her.”

  “But I never got a call from the Missouri authorities to check in until I put out the alert this morning,” Lando cited, his tone laced with contempt. “If Gemma hadn’t come across those bones when she did, Kirby would’ve walked out of jail this week and probably taken off for parts unknown. As it is, I’m surprised he hung around here this long.”

  “Ginny Sue’s prepared to be a witness,” Luke offered. “Anything to help.”

  “She’ll need to testify before the grand jury later this week. Take her on home now and make sure she knows what’s expected.”

  “If it’s okay, I’ll bum a ride back to town with you guys,” Gemma piped up, rocking back on her heels. “I need to get back to the shop.”

  To Lando, she whirled on him, bunching up his shirt then yanking him in for a kiss. “One mystery solved. Tying this mess up in a tidy package is one less thing to worry about on our trip out of town. Please tell me this won’t keep us from heading to the cabin. You can’t back out now. I’m holding you to it. I’ll see you at home tonight.”

  “I’ll try to wrap up the charges in two days. That’s a promise,” Lando stated before watching her walk off with Luke and Ginny.

  “You guys are staying at the cabin?” Luke asked, matching her stride for stride on the way to his car.

  “Come hell or high water, we’re getting away from this madness, if only for a few days.”

  “What’s gotten into you?” Luke wanted to know.

  “What do you mean? Can’t we decide to take a break for a few days away from murder? People doing this kind of thing to each other is hard to digest. We need to focus on us. Two days tops. A weekend. Is that too much to ask?”

  “I thought you did all that focusing living together.”