by Lena Gregory
Quince looked out over the water, squinting against the harsh glare of the sun.
Okay. Now what? She wished Bee were there. He always had such an easy way with people. “Did you know him well?”
He scoffed. “Too well.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
He finally turned to meet her gaze, his jaw clenched tight, fire blazing in his eyes. “Trust me, Fred DiCarlo’s death is no loss.”
Cass’s cell phone rang, and she glanced at the screen. Luke. She had to answer.
“It was nice to meet you. Thanks again.” Quince started back toward the parking lot.
Darn. She swiped her finger across the screen as she watched him go. She’d have to find him again later when she had more time. Speaking to Luke couldn’t wait. Besides, if she didn’t answer after leaving a message she might have found the murder weapon, he’d think she was in danger. “Hey, Luke.”
Chapter Twelve
Cass picked Beast up from the house and walked back along the beach toward Mystical Musings. She’d have made it on time if she’d put him in the car and driven, but she enjoyed her time with him in the mornings, as did he. Why should they miss out on their time together just because the scene Piper had caused in the diner and Cass’s trip to the lighthouse had held everything up? Besides, after she’d finished explaining what she’d found to Luke and promising up and down she wouldn’t repeat anything, she’d driven down the boardwalk, and it had been fairly empty.
Beast jumped at a seagull as it dove low toward the water.
Even though she knew he just wanted to play, she had to wonder what he’d do if he ever actually caught one of the elusive creatures. Hopefully, she’d never find out.
Cass turned away from the shoreline and headed toward the boardwalk. “Come on, boy. We’re late.”
When he didn’t fall into step beside her, she turned and looked over her shoulder.
Beast pranced into the water up to his chest.
Cass groaned. She’d just had to think it, hadn’t she? Had to think he hadn’t needed an emergency grooming appointment in a while. She had no one to blame but herself for this one. She ran toward him. “Beast, no.”
He barked at the flock of birds.
“Beast. Come.” She strode toward him, holding the leash’s clip ready.
He turned and looked at her. Waited for her to wade into the water and reach him.
“Good boy.” She bent over, intent on unburying the hook on his collar from the thick mane of fur surrounding his neck.
He undulated and danced out of the way, sending up a wave of water that even managed to soak her hair.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, Beast.” She yanked up her leggings, waded farther into the ice-cold water, and tried the scowl that always seemed to work for Bee. “I do not have time for this today. I’m already running late. Now get over here.”
He jumped, submerged, and came up wearing his happy face and shaking water everywhere.
She brushed water off her face, swiped an arm across her lips, but couldn’t rid herself of the taste of salt. “Oh, come on, Beast.”
He cocked his head, and she’d have sworn he smiled.
Okay, apparently whining wasn’t going to work. She firmed her voice. “Beast, no.”
He lowered the front of his body in acquiescence, or maybe ready to pounce.
Short, firm commands. That’s what Herb Cox had drilled into her over and over, whenever she found time to show up for training classes. She took a deep breath, sucking more salt water into her mouth. Okay. She could do this. She backed to the edge of the water and stood her ground. “Beast. Come.”
She slid the clip open with her thumb.
Hmm . . . Herb hadn’t told her how long to face off with him before trying something else. “Beast. Come.”
He bounced toward her, then away again, obviously not ready for playtime to be over. Then he barreled straight at her.
She braced herself an instant before he jumped.
But he stopped short, cocked his head, and looked up the beach toward Mystical Musings. Then he took off running, sending a surge of water over her leggings on his way by.
Oh, well, at least he’s out of the water.
Brushing herself off as best she could, Cass hurried after him. Terrified he’d resume his playful disobedience and run out into the street, Cass refrained from calling to him again, opting instead to quietly follow him toward the shop.
When he reached the back deck, he hurried up the stairs and sat beside the back door. He glanced back at her, and his tongue dropped out the side of his mouth as he sat panting.
Now what?
She was already close to an hour late opening the shop, Beast was not only fully soaked but loaded with sand from his mad dash up the beach to the shop, and Cass was pretty much soaked from head to toe. She tried to spit out some of the wet sand that had somehow made its way into her mouth. Wiping her mouth with her arm didn’t help, since that was also covered in sand.
She reached Beast and clipped his leash to his collar, then simply stared at him.
He slumped and lowered his head, peering up at her from beneath his lashes.
At least he understood he’d done something wrong. No sense reprimanding him after the fact, since he wouldn’t understand. She sighed and petted his head.
Now she just had to figure out how to fix this mess.
Cass gripped Beast’s collar, unclipped his leash, and wrapped it through the deck railing before securing it once more. “It’s only for a couple of minutes, Beast. I promise. I just have to grab a couple of towels.”
She opened her soaked bag and pulled out her key ring, then tried to wipe the gritty coating of sand off on her shirt. No use. Giving up, she unlocked the back door and pushed it open, then froze.
“Oh, hey, Cass. Took you long enough.” Bee looked up from whatever he was sitting at the table reading. The instant his gaze landed on her, his mouth fell open, and his hand fluttered to his throat. “Heavens to Betsy, girl, you look like something the cat just dragged in.”
She glared at him. “Ha ha.”
He glanced out the large back window at Beast curled in the shade beneath the overhang, apparently exhausted from his morning romp in the bay. Bee’s lips curved upward.
She pointed a finger. “Don’t you dare.”
His shoulders started to shake.
“Bee . . .”
And, with that, the dam burst. He laughed so hard he had to clutch his stomach, sucking in ragged breaths in an effort to gain some semblance of control. “Oh, owww . . .”
Cass ignored him and marched toward the counter, her dignity in tatters. She dialed the groomer and prayed someone would pick up. “Come on, come on, come on . . .”
Nicole answered on the sixth ring. “Hey, Cass, it’s been a while.”
“Well, he made up for it this morning.” She pressed a hand against her ear and tried to ignore Bee’s hysterics in the background.
“How bad?” To Nicole’s credit, though Cass could hear the humor in her tone and had no doubt she and Bee would share a good laugh over it later, Nicole kept her voice steady. Of course, she was probably, in Bee’s words, laughing her keaster off on the inside.
“He’s soaking wet and his fur is loaded with enough sand to fill a child’s sandbox.”
“Oh, no.” Her voice hitched. “Umm . . .”
Good cover.
“Where are you?”
“I just got to Mystical Musings, and I haven’t even opened yet.”
“All right. Sit tight, I’ll be there to pick him up in a few minutes.”
Relief rushed through her. “Oh, thank you, Nicole. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.”
“Of course I do, Cass, or I wouldn’t offer. I’m on my way.” She said goodbye and hung up.
Cass whirled on Bee.
He held up a hand. “I’m sorry, Cass, I can’t . . .”
Propping her hands on her hips, she tapped her f
oot while she waited for him to get a grip. “I thought you were going home to bed. What are you even doing here?”
“I couldn’t help myself.” He sucked in a few more breaths, wiped the tears that had trickled down his cheeks, then patted the stack of papers in front of him. “I came back here to pick up the folder Levi brought me and started skimming through the transcripts from Kitty’s journal and just had to read them.”
She glanced at Beast, still happily sleeping on the back porch.
“So, why are you doing it in my shop, instead of your own? Or even better, why aren’t you curled up in bed with them?”
“Oh, Cass.” He waved a hand. “Don’t be like that. I wanted to share my discovery with you, and I knew you’d be here soon, so I let myself in.”
Interest piqued, she peered over his shoulder at the pages, though she did rethink having given him a key. “What discovery?”
He shrugged. “How do I know? I haven’t discovered it yet.”
The wind chimes above the front door clinked, and a couple walked in.
“Besides, if I get tired, I can always crash on your couch in the back room.” He wiggled his fingers, shooing her toward her customers.
Just what she needed, Bee snoring up a storm while she was trying to work. She sighed. “Do me a favor, Bee, and keep an eye on Beast until I finish up here?”
“Sure thing.” With customers in the shop, Bee’s attitude changed. All business, he shifted his chair so he could see out the back window and still peruse the journal.
The woman appeared older, her hair styled meticulously with enough hairspray to burn a new hole through the ozone layer, makeup so thick it gave her face a permanently pinched look, and a designer sundress covered in brightly colored hibiscus flowers. Diamonds the size of key fobs hung from both ears.
The gentleman accompanying her wore jeans, a sport jacket over a plain white T-shirt, and an apologetic expression.
“Good morning.” Cass started to smooth her hair as she approached the couple, but only succeeded in getting her fingers tangled in the rat’s nest that had somehow managed to get full of water, sea salt, and sand. She smiled, and heat crept up her cheeks. “Sorry, a mishap with my dog.”
Bee snickered, then sighed and shook his head.
Cass ignored him. Or, at least, she tried to. “What brings you in this morning? Are you looking for something special, or did you just want to browse?”
Cass very much hoped it was the latter, so she could excuse herself, go to the back room, and make some attempt to freshen up. The drying salt tightened her skin, and the sand in her clothing had begun to itch. Soon after inheriting Beast, she’d started leaving a change of clothes in the back room. If only she could escape for two minutes.
The woman reached out to Cass across the counter and gave her hand and energetic pump. “Actually, we are in desperate need of your help.”
Of course you are.
“If I told Stanley once yesterday, I told him a thousand times, don’t take your wallet with you. Put your cash in your pocket with your driver’s license, and leave your wallet in the safe back at the hotel.” She plopped a purse the size of a small suitcase on the driftwood countertop. “It’s not like I don’t have enough credit cards in here if we see something we want. But did he listen? No. Of course not. And now he’s gone and lost his wallet.”
Of course he did.
Bee kept his head buried in the journal, a little too interested in Cass’s opinion, but kept glancing at Beast through the window, so she went with grateful instead of annoyed.
Cass checked the clock. Nicole should be there any minute.
“. . . and that nice maid at the Bay Side Hotel suggested you might be able to help him find it. Not that I believe in psychics, mind you. Personally, I think they’re all a bunch of quacks, but at this point I’ll try anything. We have tickets to a Broadway show next weekend, and did he take them out of the wallet like I told him? Of course not. So now, not only are we out all of our credit cards, ID, and cash, he went and lost our tickets too. And, let me tell you, those tickets were not easy to come by.”
Bee lowered his head even farther and massaged his temples, his arm conveniently blocking his face from view if the woman ever paused long enough to notice him.
“Well?” she demanded.
Cass jerked her attention back to the woman. “Uh.”
Stanley rolled his eyes and stuck his hands in his pockets.
Cass’s heart went out to him. No wonder he hadn’t listened to her about the wallet. Or the tickets. If this was normal for his wife, he’d probably tuned her out somewhere soon after she’d said I do.
“If you’d like to take a seat and make yourselves comfortable, I’ll be happy to see if I can help.” Cass gestured toward the back table. “Can I offer you something to drink?”
“No, thank you.” The woman turned her back on Cass and Stanley and strode across the shop.
He leaned over and blocked his mouth with his hand. “Her name’s Loretta. She hasn’t told you, but she’ll be insulted as all get-out if you don’t remember it later.”
Bee looked over, caught sight of Loretta striding toward him, and straightened up immediately, his expression frozen somewhere between deer-in-the-headlights and you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me.
Stanley coughed and followed his wife.
Nicole stuck her head in the back door. “Hey, Cass. I’m taking him now.”
Grateful for the distraction, Cass ran to say goodbye to Beast and to ask Nicole to feed him once she’d given him his bath, which she easily agreed to. Cass would have to remember an even bigger tip than usual when she picked him up.
With Beast taken care of and Bee frowning over whatever he was reading, Cass took a seat at the table. Not her normal seat, because Loretta had already claimed that one.
It’s going to be a long day.
Cass took a deep breath, cleared her mind, and turned her attention to Stanley. “Okay, Stanley, can you tell me where you last remember having your wallet?”
Bee gasped.
All eyes turned to him.
“Oh, sorry.” He pointed to his pages, offered a sheepish smile, waved them off, and went back to his reading.
Scratch that. It’s already been a long day, and it’s not even noon yet.
“I’m sorry about that. As I was saying.” Cass cleared her throat and looked straight at Stanley, trying to focus his attention away from Bee and back on her. “When is the last time you can recall seeing your wallet?”
“He most certainly didn’t have it when we got to the wine shop this morning. I stood there waiting for him to take it out and pay, and he just kept patting his pockets and looking confused.” Loretta crossed her legs, propped her elbow on the table, and rested a finger against her cheek.
Cass shifted her chair to face Stanley, keeping her profile to Loretta. “It would help if you could tell me exactly what you remember, Stanley.”
He turned his chair to face her and clasped his hands between his knees. “Last I saw it, it was on the nightstand beside the bed at the hotel. Next thing I knew, it was gone.”
“If you’d have listened to me and put it in the safe, we’d know where it was now,” Loretta said.
“Oh, no, he didn’t.” Bee fanned himself with his silk scarf, gaze riveted on his pages.
Loretta gave him a sideways glance.
Cass pounced while she was sidetracked. “Please, try to focus on me, Stanley. When did you see your wallet?”
He rolled his lips in and tilted his head.
Cass waited him out.
Loretta sucked in a breath to say something.
Bee put his pages down, leaned closer to her, and whispered, “Cass can hear the voices better if it’s quiet,” then winked at Loretta, shot Cass a thumbs-up, and went back to reading.
With a harrumph, Loretta clamped her lips closed.
Stanley scratched his head. “Put it on the nightstand when I got back to the hotel last night. It
was gone when I got up.”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Stanley. It didn’t just get up and walk out on its own.”
“Nope.” He clasped and unclasped his hands.
“Pushed.”
You have got to be kidding me today. A dull throb started across the top of her head.
“I saw that wallet on the nightstand when you were in the shower. I remember thinking it shouldn’t be there; you were going to lose it.”
“Lighthouse, pushed, slid, more, now, tell, find, lost . . .”
Cass pressed her hands against her ears and squeezed her eyes closed.
“Well, I never,” Loretta huffed.
“Oh, no way.” Bee set the papers down and leaned over them, his scarf pulled up over his mouth.
“Move, move, move . . . Lighthouse. Go. Pushed. Lighthouse.”
Ahhhhh . . . If you just tell me where that darned wallet is, I’ll go to the lighthouse the instant I lock the doors.
Cass sighed, fully intent on apologizing to Loretta, when a vision slammed through her.
A hand holding a brown leather wallet, hovering beside a lamp, long crimson nails tapping against the leather, tap, tap, tap. Pause. Tap, tap, tap. Pause.
Her gaze shot to Loretta. “Did you pick the wallet up when you found it on the nightstand?”
“What?”
“Stanley’s wallet. You said you saw it on the nightstand. Did you lift it up? Hold it in your hand?” A quick glance at her hands confirmed the long red nails.
She frowned. “Actually, I think I did. I remember I was going to yell at him about it, but he was showering, so I picked it up to confront him when he came out.”
“And did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Did you confront him?”
“No, my daughter called, and I talked to her and the grandkids for a bit, that whole FaceTime thing they have now, you know, makes it easy to keep in touch—”
“Were you holding the wallet while you spoke to them?” Cass tried to gently steer her back on topic, but her head was beginning to throb, and she just needed Loretta to go.
Poor Stanley just sat staring in wonder.
“Of course, I wasn’t holding the wallet. How ridiculous would I look talking to them while standing there clutching a man’s wallet?”
