It wasn't enough I could feel the waves of hurt coming from him. It was also plain as day in his eyes when he finally did approached me.
"Let's talk over here." He motioned me to the side, away from a direct view of Josie. As he pulled out his notepad and rubbed the back of his neck, I had to fight back the tears. I knew finding me with yet another victim was not making him happy right now. Add this to our already strained relationship, and I didn't see how we would survive.
"Okay. Start from the beginning." His jaw was set hard as he looked up at me, frustration darkening his eyes.
"I wasn't trying to investigate anything, Will." I crossed my arms, trying to stop my body from shaking. "Honest. Josie came into the boutique the other night, scared out of her mind because she was being followed by some thugs she recognized from Vegas. Apparently she owed some money to a guy named Deacon." I inhaled a deep, shaky breath. "We took her over to stay with Eugene that night because she didn't feel safe staying at her father's house. She thought the thugs knew she'd been staying there." I moved my gaze from his hand scribbling in the notebook to his face, fighting the urge to smooth the wrinkles in his forehead. "Then tonight, she left me a message to meet her here." I pulled my phone out of my pocket and played the message for him. As he listened, I glanced over at Willow, who was talking to another officer. She had her head bowed. I felt bad she had to go through this.
"Do you know why she would want to meet at this specific residence?"
"No. Well, maybe. We had dinner with Jade Harjo and her daughter Kimi tonight. Kimi mentioned Josie had always been in love with Big Barnie, which surprised the heck out of me because Josie told me it was Victoria who was in love with him..." I caught Will's raised eyebrow. Right just the facts, not town gossip. "Anyway, this is his house. Maybe she wanted to show him whatever she found. But there was no answer when we got here, and we were about to leave when Goldie ran around the side of the house and found Josie like... that." Goldie leaned hard against my leg. I reached down and rubbed her ear. "What do you think happened to her?"
"Don't know yet. All right. You can go home now. I'll call you if there are any more questions." He shut his notebook with a smack.
I couldn't take it anymore. I touched his arm. "Will?" He looked at me without a response. "Is that the only reason you'll call me?" I heard my voice break.
He glanced down at the ground and then back up at me. "We'll talk, Darwin. I just need some time." His eyes softened but there was no smile. "Go on home."
Willow and I were silent on the drive back home, both of us trying to process the events of the night. I had so many emotions to sort through, I couldn't even think straight. I was slowly realizing underneath the sadness was anger. Anger at whoever took Josie's life and anger at the way Will was just shutting me out. I didn't feel like me trying to alleviate his grief warranted such a strong reaction. Then it hit me, he wasn't reacting just to that one action. It was me. My gifts. He wasn't comfortable with them. At all. Could he ever be? That was the real question.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The next morning, Frankie showed up with the paper a half hour before we opened. This was becoming her routine when something major happened in St. Pete. She didn't really seem all that surprised when I told her I already knew about Josie's death because Willow and I had been the ones who found her. I briefly wondered what this said about my growing reputation for being in the middle of trouble.
I broke off a piece of the lemon cake she'd brought and shared it with Goldie while Frankie read the article to me and Willow. Goldie licked her lips and slapped her paw up on my knee for more.
"Local artifact shop owner and St. Pete native, Barnabus Imbach, was held for questioning in the death of Josie Desoto. Mr. Imbach said he was out for a drive and didn't know Miss Desoto was at his residence. A source stated he could not verify his whereabouts."
"He must have come home after we left last night," I said to Willow. She sipped her tea and nodded.
"Miss Desoto's body was discovered on the back porch of Mr. Imbach's residence on Banyan Street by unknown persons." Frankie stopped and grinned at me. "Hey, Will managed to keep your name out of it this time."
"Small comfort," I said. "So, Big Barnie was just driving around? That sounds a bit fishy. Does it say anything about how she died?"
"No, just that it's an ongoing investigation." Frankie paused to take a bite of her cake.
I shook my head. "Well, if she was the one who killed Victoria, I guess that investigation is closed."
"Was she a suspect?" Frankie asked, surprised.
"Yeah. Turns out a black rental car was used to run Victoria down and the credit card used to rent it was in Victoria's name. Josie would've had access to her credit cards and she had a record for theft. Plus she had motive. Victoria told her she would leave her dad's house to her in her will."
"And she needed the money." Frankie shook her head. "She was a messed up soul, but I still wouldn't have pegged her for a killer."
"Desperate times and all that," I said. Though Frankie was right. Maybe she was just so drunk, she didn't really know what she was doing. "Anyway, the other suspect high on the list is Tara Scarpetta."
"The dog show rival we saw at the restaurant?" Willow asked.
"Yeah. She had motive. Besides being rivals, Victoria could have discovered Tara's extra-marital activities."
"But, how would Tara get a hold of Victoria's credit card?" Frankie asked.
I shrugged. "She could have taken it out of her bag at a show, I guess."
"That would have to be premeditated. Not just a random act of anger. Why would she do it?"
I thought about that as I sipped my tea and checked the clock. "Maybe Victoria was blackmailing her with the information. She didn't need the money, but she did want Goldie to be the first golden retriever to win the Westminster Dog Show. Tara and Bo were obstacles to that dream."
"Hm. Okay let's go back to Josie. Say she was the one who ran down Victoria." Frankie licked her fingers and frowned. "Then who killed Josie?"
"If someone did kill her, it could have been the Vegas thugs she was hiding from."
"You don't think it was actually Big Barnie, even though she was dead on his back porch?"
I shrugged. "If he did do it, wouldn't he move the body so he wouldn't be implicated?"
"Or," Frankie said, "he would leave and pretend like he wasn't home when it happened."
"Is it always this exciting in St. Pete?" Willow frowned at me, emphasizing the word "exciting".
I knew between the stories Mallory went home with and what she had gone through in her short stay here, she was probably getting really worried about my safety. Luckily, Sylvia came in at that point and interrupted my answer.
* * *
That evening I couldn't sleep. Again.
"Hey, what are you doing up?" Willow asked.
"Just brushing Goldie. I think the fur balls lining the walls were starting to mate."
Willow came around and sat on the sofa, her arms crossed. "Couldn't sleep, huh?"
"No." I sighed, running the Furminator over Goldie's stretched out body for the millionth time. She glanced up at Willow, rolled over to give me better access to her tummy and sneezed. "Bless you."
"Want to talk about it?"
Did I want to talk about what? The fact that every time I fell asleep now, Zach was waiting there for me with those smoldering dark eyes and touch that consumed me like fire? No. Definitely did not want to talk about that. Did I want to talk about finding Josie tonight? No, not really. Will? I sighed and uncrossed my stiff legs, stretching them out on the wood floor. Yeah, maybe. Goldie rolled over and pushed herself up to get some love from Willow.
"I don't know."
"Look, Darwin, I'm sorry I was mad at you when you left home. Well, not really mad as much as hurt. But, I'm here now. Let me make it up to you."
I glanced up at Willow. How could I refuse an olive branch like that?
"It's just th
e more I think about Will being mad at me, the angrier I get. He's making me feel like the people in Savannah did, you know? This is why I came here and didn't want anyone to know about our family. I was tired of being judged, of feeling bad about myself because of what other people said about us. And here I go again. I open up to one person, who supposedly loves me, and I'm right back in the same place. Judged and feeling bad about myself."
Willow stroked Goldie's ears. "Will seems like a nice guy, Darwin, but he's the first guy you've dated. Maybe he's not the right one for you. Love means acceptance and if he can't accept who you are—"
"I know," I interrupted. "But, say I date someone else. Eventually, I'd have to expose myself to them, too. Then wait to see if they rejected me. I can't even imagine going through this again." I groaned. "Plus I don't want to. I really do love Will. When I think about not having him in my life, my heart physically hurts."
"Guess everyone can't be as lucky as dad. Mom accepted him without question."
"She was seventeen. We accept everything without question at that age. We're not jaded yet."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Checking the clock again, I sighed. The day was going about as fast as a herd of turtles. Willow and Sylvia kept trying to cheer me up with food. I just wanted to go home and immerse myself in a big old tub full of water until I was a prune. But I had one thing to do before that.
As we locked up, I turned to Willow. "Mind driving me over to Eugene's house? I need to at least offer to help with any arrangements he needs to make with Josie. He hasn't even gotten over his wife's death yet and now he has to deal with another funeral."
"Yeah, sure." She grabbed Goldie's leash as I locked the door. "I wanted to check on the Mound tonight anyway, before it gets dark. We can swing by Eugene's house after that."
As we pulled around the corner onto Mound Place, we spotted a patrol car parked by the entrance. Two officers were just exiting the wooden fence barrier. I recognized the young, lanky one from the pirate ship wedding.
"Hey." I waved, as we got out the car. "Officer Starks right? We met at Mike Mann's wedding on the pirate ship."
He pointed at me with a nod. "Oh yeah, Detective Blake's girlfriend. Darwin, right? Couldn't forget a name like that."
Girlfriend. I forced out a quiet, "yeah," and nodded toward the Mound. "So, what's going on? More trouble?"
"More vandalism last night. I wouldn't be out here if I were you girls. We're going to start patrols around the area."
"Any theories?"
"Probably just unsupervised teenagers with nothing better to do. But since a neighbor was assaulted, we're taking the vandalism more seriously."
"Mind if we take a look? We'll be quick."
"Go ahead. It's still open to the public for now. Like I said, though, you're taking a risk being here at night."
"Thanks, Officer Starks."
I nodded at Willow as the patrol car eased away, knowing she wanted to fix whatever the vandals did. "Go ahead. I'll take Goldie for a little walk."
The stars were out. Goldie happily sniffed the grass along the side of the street. It would be a perfect evening if not for the questions bumping around in my head.
Willow looked tired when she slid back into the car. She sighed.
"How bad was it?"
"It was a pretty deep hole. I fixed it, but left the police tape so Jade and Kimi could bless the ground. Your theory about someone looking for artifacts does seem more and more plausible every time one of these holes shows up."
"Yeah, except there's nothing there. Remember what Veronica said? Archeologists have been all over it. There was nothing but some shell tools found."
Willow gave the Mound one last glance before pulling away. "Maybe someone buried something there recently?"
"And what? Forgot where they buried it?" I let my head fall back against the seat and closed my eyes. "Well, let's just hope the police patrols can put a stop to it. Whatever or whoever is buried there deserves some peace."
I must have dozed off because before I knew it, we were pulling into Eugene's driveway. Goldie started whining. I picked Gator up off the backseat and gave it to her for comfort. "Stay here, girl. It's okay."
There were no outside lights on, but I could see lights on inside through the beveled-glass windowpane that ran the length of the door. As I approached, movement caught my eye. Through the window, I could see someone walking up the stairs. I squinted through the glass at the distorted image. Was that...?
A woman with long, dark hair was climbing the stairs. My heart sped up. I flattened myself against the door in case Eugene was close by and peered back through the window. Was that Kimi? Was she wearing Victoria's robe? Curse the beveled glass.
I squat-ran back to the car and slid in. "Go, go, go," I whispered.
"What's wrong?" Willow quickly backed out of the driveway.
"I don't want Eugene to know that I know," I whispered, staring at the house to make sure he wasn't coming out the door.
"You're not making any sense," Willow said, adjusting her rearview mirror.
"None of this makes any sense." I sat up in the seat and clicked my seatbelt in place. "There was a woman in there with long, dark hair. I think she was wearing Victoria's robe. That is just so wrong." I didn't mention the woman looked like Kimi. Willow was really fond of her and what if I was wrong?
Willow took in that information. "So, Eugene has a girlfriend already? He didn't really seem in the dating frame of mind."
"No, he didn't. It's a bit soon for a woman to be walking around the house like she owns the place, don't you think? What if he was having an affair while Victoria was alive? And don't you think it's strange the witnesses said it was a woman with long, dark hair who hit Victoria and now such a woman is in her house?"
"You think it's his mistress and she killed Victoria?"
"I don't know." I took out my phone and called Will. "What I do know is we now have another dark-haired woman to add to the suspect list." Of course, the main evidence was the black rental car and the fact someone used Victoria's credit card to rent it. Which means they would have had to have access to her things. Being in her house would definitely give this new suspect access. And if it was Kimi, she would've known her mother was meeting Victoria that night.
I rolled my eyes. "Of course, he's not picking up," I mumbled and left a message.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
I decided I needed to throw a dinner party. It would be a great distraction to get my mind off of Will and a good excuse to invite Kimi over. I planned on bringing up the fact Eugene might already be seeing someone to see how she reacted. Would she be embarrassed? Jealous? I'd find out tonight. Besides, if nothing came of it, Willow was thrilled with the idea of spending time with her and Jade.
"Mmm, that smells amazing!" I hurried down the stairs with my hair still wet from the quick shower. "You always were the best cook."
"Thanks." Willow grinned, her face flushed from the warm kitchen. "I still have to cook the stuffed mushrooms. How long do we have?"
"About an hour." I pulled out a can of Goldie's food. She began turning circles in the kitchen and let out a small woof! "I'm hurrying," I said. "Someone's appetite is back in full force. Must be all the yummy smells in here."
Willow plucked the can from my hand. "You go finish getting ready. I've got everything covered here."
"Thanks, Sis. It's really great to have you here." I gave Willow a quick hug and she shooed me from the kitchen.
* * *
Frankie showed up first, toting Itty and Bitty in a green designer bag that matched her outfit; her boyfriend, Jack, by her side.
"Hey, y'all. You look fabulous, as always, Frankie." I gave her and Jack a quick hug. "Come on in."
"Thanks for the invite, Darwin," Jack said. "Nice to see you."
"You, too. Been awhile." I motioned to the basketful of wine bottles on Jack's arm and laughed. "Looks like y'all raided someone's wine cellar."
"What?"
Frankie chuckled. "You did say this was a party? And oh my good gracious, what is that delicious smell?" She shuffled into the kitchen where Willow had just removed the stuffed mushrooms from the oven.
"That's the dinner part of the dinner party." I shook my head as I showed Jack where to put his offering.
Sylvia and Landon arrived next with a bakery box I didn't even dare open. Jade and Kimi also arrived with some of their own delicious smelling offerings. As laughter and conversation filled the townhouse, I was trying really hard not to think about the fact that Will should be here. And the fact that he hadn't even talked to me in four days. How could I feel alone with all these happy souls around me? Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Darwin. Be grateful for the wonderful people who are here.
"Oh, just squeeze it in anywhere there's room," I said to Jade, who was eyeing the table for some place to unload her food.
"Okay, I think there's a spot right there." She pushed aside a plate of deviled eggs. "Perfect. Oh, hey, sweetheart." Jade reached down and scratched Goldie, who had trotted over and sat in front of her, her tail swishing the floor. "Yes, I brought you a treat. You must smell it, smarty girl." Goldie inhaled whatever Jade gave her and licked her chops, eyes locked on her pocket hopefully. "Oh, and who do we have here?" Jade asked as Itty and Bitty came over to see if there were any more handouts. "Aren't you two just precious?" She squatted to give them some scratches under their dainty chins.
"Those are Frankie's dogs, Itty and Bitty," I offered. "They'll mooch off you all night if you let them."
"Sorry I don't have any more treats. I'll sneak you two something later. Don't tell your mom."
"You need a dog, Mom." Kimi walked over shaking her head. "Where do you want the frybread for the chili, Darwin?"
"Just squeeze it in anywhere." I rearranged the cheese and veggies to try and give her some room. "Wow, lots of amazing food here. I hope everyone's hungry."
"Estou! I could eat a horse." Sylvia pulled Landon over to the table. "Smells delicioso."
Silence Is Golden (A Pet Psychic Mystery No. 3) Page 12
