I put that thought away as Detective Brandle stood to greet me.
“You holding up?” he asked me, concern evident in his basset-hound eyes.
“Surprisingly, yes,” I answered. The fact that I had just talked with Finn was partially to credit. Knowing he was alive and now having a mission before me made it much easier to think about tomorrow.
Detective Brandle held the door open for me as we stepped inside the whimsical sweet shop. It might sound pathetic, but I seriously missed the place while living in Tampa. No one brewed a better cup of chai (or coffee, so I’m told) than Sweet Thangs. Not to mention their sweet treats. If Sugar & Sass ever folded, I was marching right over here and asking Marigold for a job.
Speaking of Marigold, I was happy to see her working behind the counter. I swapped out her freshly laundered shirt, courtesy of Aria’s butler, for an iced latte and a frosted sugar cookie in the shape of a flip-flop. As promised I picked up Detective Brandle’s order as well.
“And he’ll have—” I left it open for Detective Brandle to fill in the blank.
“A skinny latte,” he added.
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. His wife would be proud.
“And an oatmeal raisin cookie,” he added with a wink. “I figure it has whole grains and fruit,” he turned and said to me. I wasn’t sure if that made it a health food, but I wasn’t going to argue.
With our drinks and cookies in tow, we sequestered ourselves at the far end table—the one I usually chose when discussing cases with friends. How weird was that? I’m betting most people didn’t have their own favorite table to talk murder at their local coffee shop.
“Okay, so here’s what I have for you. Last night a woman attempted to break into the pool house at the Delgado’s where I’m staying. I’ve already showed it to Agent Cooper, but he was less than forthcoming if you know what I mean. Seeing you know you can trust me, I’m hoping you can steer me in the right direction.”
I handed my phone to Detective Brandle and was silent while he watched it a few times. Instead of talking, I swirled my drink and took some time to just be.
Finally, Detective Brandle looked up at me and said, “How much do you know about Alexia Denisovich?”
That was easy. “Not a darn thing.” A name like that I was sure to remember. “Is that her?” I asked, tapping my phone screen.
“It is. Back in the day, she had her hand in the area crime ring thanks to her family connections.”
“What type of family connections?” I asked.
“Her father is Mafia. Think old school Russian Bratva. Alexia learned from a young age the ins and outs of the crime business. Took full advantage of her knowledge.”
I nodded my head. Okay, I could see that. A lot of people went into the family business, albeit usually on the right side of the law.
“Was she friends with Finn?” I asked casually.
“You could say that.” Detective Brandle suddenly looked very uncomfortable. His expression confirmed my uneasiness.
“Ziva, Alexia was Finn’s wife.”
“Wait, what?” If anything, I was expecting girlfriend or former flame to come out of Detective Brandle’s mouth, not wife. Forget keeping me safe, I was betting this was partially the reason Finn had been reluctant to talk about who she was.
“What happened?” I asked.
“As far as I know, she disappeared about the same time as a set of four Rembrandts did. Neither have been seen since.”
I called on my years of being a Beauty Secrets Representative and not speaking my mind to keep my emotions in check. This further explained Agent Cooper’s pity. Lovely. I tried to mentally regroup.
“I see the wheels turning. What are you thinking?”
I wanted to tell Detective Brandle everything—Finn’s suspicion’s, the bounty on his head—all of it, but I couldn’t. One, it implied that Finn was guilty. No matter how many questions I had about Finn’s past, I didn’t want to destroy his future. The fact that he was married before didn’t change the fact that I loved him now. Telling Detective Brandle everything also implied that I’d been talking with either Finn or someone else with inside knowledge. I didn’t feel like trying to explain either one. I also didn’t want Detective Brandle to get charged with obstruction of justice, something I knew Agent Cooper would slap us with if he knew we had information that we neglected to share, or downright lied about, which I would do in a heartbeat.
I shook my head and got back on track.
“I was thinking, what if she killed Cody?” I asked.
“I thought you didn’t know the victim?” Detective Brandle said, picking up on my slip-up.
I stopped myself from slapping my hand over my mouth. I could’ve lied, but I didn’t. “I don’t trust Agent Cooper. He has it out for Finn and I don’t know why. I don’t want to give him any more ammunition.”
“Fair enough. So walk me through it. What’s Alexia’s motivation? And why is Finn hiding?”
Detective Brandle had me there. “Motive? I have no clue. But I could say the same thing for Finn. He had no reason to kill Cody.”
“What’s Crime Solving 101?” Detective Brandle asked me.
“Um, always bring donuts on stakeouts?” I guessed.
“Always look for the motive. Find out who had the most to gain and start there.”
I nodded in agreement. Of course, Detective Brandle was right.
“Do I think Finn’s guilty?” he continued. “No, no I don’t. But I don’t know where he’s at and I certainly don’t know what Alexia’s up to.”
“Me either. On both accounts,” I answered truthfully. Sure, I knew Finn was alive and in hiding, but I didn’t know where. I now understood why Finn wouldn’t tell me. I couldn’t get into trouble because I honestly didn’t know.
“Here’s a question for you: How was Cody murdered?” I asked. There was blood on my hands, but I didn’t examine the wounds.
“Gun shot,” Detective Brandle said, picking up his latte and blowing on it to cool it off.
“And I didn’t wake up? How is that even possible?” I hissed across the table.
“Silencer?” Detective Brandle offered up.
I gave him a look that said come on. “Really, you think so?” I loved my beauty sleep, but I didn’t think I was dead to the world.
“No, I think Cody was murdered and put on the boat. Maybe it was a message to Finn.”
I blinked a couple of times. A message. From The Sugar King. Yeah, I could see that. I swallowed hard. My sugar cookie no longer looked appealing.
Oh sweet sugar.
Now what was I going to do?
My mom called while I was driving home from chatting with Detective Brandle. I thought about ignoring it again. Horrible of me, I know. But I didn’t.
I took a deep breath and answered the phone.
“Hey, Mom. What’s up?” I asked.
“What’s up? Don’t ‘what’s up’ me, missy. You know very well I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Do you have any idea how many people have been ringing up my phone? Cecelia Smith has not stopped calling me for the past 24 hours. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to tell the President of the Southern Tea Society that my daughter hasn’t even called me? No, I bet you don’t.”
“Mom, I’m sorry—
“You’re sorry? I thought I raised you better than this, Ziva. I’ve been sick with worry. What in the heavens is even going on over there? The police wouldn’t even let me come near you.”
“You were there?” I hadn’t even seen my mom at the docks.
“Of course I was there. The second I got the call from Mrs. J., I made your father drive me down, but they stonewalled me. Next thing I know, you’re taking off. And did you bother to call your mother? No. No, you didn’t.”
My mom sounded an awful lot like me talking to Finn this afternoon.
“Everything is okay.” I said the words even though I knew it was a lie. My mom knew it too.
“O
h honey, I hardly think so. Your father and I were talking, and we think it’s best if you came and stayed with us for a while.” Notice she didn’t ask me if I wanted to come and stay.
I opened and closed my mouth a few times like a fish gasping for air while I thought of the best approach for turning my mom’s offer down.
“That’s really sweet, Mom. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the offer, but I’m already staying at Aria’s.” I could’ve added something about the merits of Aria’s high-tech security system and the plantation guards, but I didn’t think that would help my case. Instead, I thought of something else. “Plus, I have Captain Jack with me. I know how much you don’t like it when he jumps up on your furniture.”
As ridiculous as it sounded, I knew my mom was rethinking her offer if it included my puppy. She definitely wasn’t an animal lover—well, an animal fur lover. Despite the fact that Captain Jack wasn’t a shedder, my mom broke out the lint roller every time we stopped over. Her perfectionism ran deep. I would argue deeper than our Puerto Rican roots.
The line was silent for minute and I let the empty air continue. When she didn’t offer a counterargument, I said, “Listen, I promise I will call you as soon as I know something.” When she started to protest, I added, “and I’ll check in with you tomorrow. Okay?”
Reluctantly, my mom agreed. I let out a sigh when I hung up the phone, more exhausted than I ever thought possible.
7
The next morning Agent Cooper called me first thing.
“The place is yours,” he said by way of greeting.
“The house is clear?” I asked, making sure I understood him. Understandably, I hadn’t slept well the night before and needed an extra boost of caffeine to get my neurons firing.
“Yes, you’re free to return, but I don’t advise it. You’re better off taking shelter until Finn is found.”
I yawned in response to that. I wasn’t going anywhere and Agent Cooper would never understand. There was no point in arguing. So I didn’t. Instead, I thanked him for the information and suggestion, and clicked off the phone.
It was just after eight o’clock in the morning. I had a little under an hour before I was scheduled to meet Inez and Marion for our little search party at the docks. After that, who could forget the float-building party at the fire station? Better hop to it, I thought to myself. Captain Jack didn’t agree. After letting him out to go potty, he jumped back up in bed and curled up in the thick, down comforter.
“Sorry, buddy, it’s time to go back home,” I said, scooping him up. I swear my pup sighed. Oh yeah, he had a taste for the finer things in life.
I felt mighty guilty on my drive over to meet the ladies, but what could I say? “No need, ladies, Finn is perfectly safe. He’s just hiding out from the cops. No worries.”
No, that clearly wasn’t an option. All I could do was play along and hope that we would discover a clue that would help me out and not somehow incriminate Finn further.
There was also the issue of Kat. Where had she gone?
With a small amount of time to spare, I walked Captain Jack down the dock and back to our houseboat. A little remnant of crime tape was still stuck to the side dock. I untaped it as I stepped on board and put Captain Jack down. It’s one thing to know that your house is back to being yours, and it’s entirely another to walk into your home and see it completely disarranged. While the police hadn’t trashed it, they had definitely collected plenty of evidence. Looking at my stripped-down, bare bed was only the start of it. Captain Jack, having followed me into the bedroom, seemed to sigh once more.
“Don’t worry, buddy. I’ll buy us some nice new bedding. You like Egyptian cotton?” I asked, bending down to scratch his ears. He sneezed on my hand. I took that as a yes. In the meantime, I grabbed our set of winter jersey sheets in the hall closet and remade the bed. Standing back to admire my handiwork, I realized that it would take a lot more than clean sheets and new bedding to make the bed feel comfortable again.
I didn’t have much time to think about it as Marion knocked on my door a minute later.
“We’re here,” Marion said.
I slid open the living room’s glass door and poked my head out to the deck above.
“I wasn’t sure if you wanted us to come meet you over here or upfront, so I volunteered to come and ask,” Marion said. Her expression was a mixture of concern and sympathy. Like I said, if anyone could understand what I was going through, it was Marion. Even though her husband had ended up murdered, she still got the happy ending she deserved. I was hoping for a fairytale ending as well.
“Let me just grab my sweater, and we can walk over to Murphy’s. The house is still a mess,” I said.
“Oh, I remember that. It’s an unsettling feeling, isn’t it?” Marion said.
“Yes, yes it is.” In fact, I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it.
A moment later, I met her dockside and we walked the short distance down the dock to where not only Inez was waiting but also a dozen other people. Vicki and her boyfriend, Jeffery, Marion’s new husband, Dr. Rich Michelson, Aria and Vince, Marigold, even Mrs. J. was standing by.
“I’ve been looking for him since day one,” Mrs. J. reminded everyone. Yes, because she thought he was guilty.
Vicki had a binder in her hand, which reminded me of my old beauty bible that I used to carry around with me. It had contained clients’ orders, product catalogs and contact information. I wondered what she had in hers?
I didn’t have to wait long to find out. When we approached, she pulled a piece of paper from it. It was a flyer with Finn’s picture on it. “I hope this is okay. I took it off of his website,” she said to me.
It was a cropped photo of Finn on his boat. While the picture was a close-up of his face, it was from a photo I knew well of him proudly displaying the mahi-mahi he had caught. A broad grin lit up his expression. Even though I knew he was missing on his own accord, it still brought a tear to my eye. The photo had been from a happier time, and it was something I longed for with such intensity, it was hard to explain.
“Now don’t you go crying, dear. He’s just fine,” said Inez. She wrapped me in a one-armed hug. “I know he is. What we’re going to do is put these flyers up all over town and check in with shops on Main Street. People just don’t disappear. Someone had to see something. They probably don’t realize what they know. We’ll figure it out.”
Vicki also had a flyer with Kat’s picture on it. “I know she doesn’t live in town, but I thought we could ask around,” Vicki was saying as she passed the flyers out to the volunteers.
Randy, from Red’s, stepped up to shake my hand. “Don’t go thinking I’m a nice guy now, but I thought I could take some of ’em flyers. See if anyone saw anything.”
“That’s a brilliant idea. No one’s seen either one of them since they left your place.” Even Finn had no idea where Kat was. I then thought of something, “Was Kat seeing anyone?” I asked Randy.
He looked at me like I was crazy. Not to speak ill of my sister-in-law, but remember how I said she was a firecracker? Most of her relationships were the same way—explosive. They seemed to start out hot and bright but fizzled out just as fast.
“I’ll give my son a call. See if he’s seen her,” Randy said.
“Kyle’s back?” Last time Kat broke up with him, he headed out of town for cooler waters up north. I didn’t blame him.
“Two weeks ago. Let me give him a call,” Randy added.
“Where do you want me, boss?” a voice called behind me. I whipped my head around so fast I made myself dizzy. Standing in front of me was my dear friend and Tampa store manager, Izzy.
“You know you couldn’t keep me away with those strong mental vibes you kept sending out through the ether,” she said. Did I mention she was psychic? Only problem was, she didn’t deal with death, and I found myself with a whole lot of morbid energy finding me.
“You know he’s okay, right?” Izzy whispered in my e
ar when she leaned forward to give me a hug. I knew she meant literally.
“Yeah, I know. But I’m not sure about his sister.”
“Do I know her?” Izzy asked.
I handed Izzy the flyer of Kat. Izzy scrunched up her face in intense concentration and then her face went blank.
“What, what is it?” I asked, horrified at what she was about to say. “Is she—”
“Dead?” Izzy filled in for me. “No. Well, I don’t think so. She’s out of range.”
“What? But you picked up my vibes all the way in Tampa,” I said.
“You’re also one of my best friends. I’m tuned into you. This chick I’ve never even met.”
I let out a sigh.
“It’ll be okay. We’ll find her. Does Finn know where she’s at?” Izzy asked.
“He didn’t even know she was missing,” I replied.
“Okay, let me do some research. In the meantime, where do you want me?” Izzy asked.
“Um, I…” I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead, trying to think about what needed to be done here. I wasn’t good at coordinating such events.
“How about I go check in with the shop here,” Izzy offered.
“Yes! That would be awesome,” I practically shouted. “Wait, what about Tampa?” I asked, which should’ve been the first thing out of my mouth when I saw her.
“Smooth sailing. I even have backups on standby in case someone calls in, which they won’t.” Izzy tapped her forehead in a knowing way. What I wouldn’t give to be intuitive. It would save me a ton of stress, that’s for sure.
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