by Raven Snow
Otsuya sat down in one of the chairs. Lady looked at the remaining one and then back to Crispin. “Go ahead,” he urged. “You two spent this morning walking around in the hot sun. I need to stretch my legs anyway.”
Lady thought she should probably argue a bit for politeness’ sake but screw it. She was tired. “Thanks,” she said quickly before sitting down.
“No problem.”
Conners leaned back in his chair, regarding them all while he spun his pen in his fingers. “I can’t believe Shannon let you all back here without giving me a call first.”
“Well,” began Crispin, carefully, “her mother’s funeral was yesterday. Anyone would be out of sorts, wouldn’t they?”
Conners’ hard expression softened some. “You’re right. She was the one who insisted on coming back to work immediately, though. Something about her wanting to keep busy. I know the feeling, but she’s been so out of it, it’s like we don’t even have a receptionist. I wish she would at least take a couple of days off. We’d still pay her. Not that she really needs it. She’ll be rolling in money soon enough.”
“Did you hear about what happened with the will reading?” asked Lady.
Conners nodded. “How could I not? Word got back to us pretty darn quick. She’s back in the morgue already. I’ve never seen someone get buried and unburied so quick. Of course we don’t have the experts suited for the kind of examination that’s about to take place. We’re having those come in from out of town. They should be here this afternoon or maybe tonight. It’s easy to get all turned around going in and out of Dark Lake.”
“And what do you think?” asked Crispin.
“I think it’s a waste of time.” Conners leaned back in his chair, still spinning his pen. “But it’s worth checking.”
“Even though you think it’s a waste of time?” asked Lady.
“Sure. I suppose I would want someone to figure out I was murdered if they buried me thinking it was natural causes.” Crispin tossed his pen into the air with a flourish but failed to catch it. He went on like that hadn’t happened. “Hopefully it’s just a waste of taxpayer money and we can put a neat little bow on things as soon as possible.”
Lady could see his reasoning. If the death of Lucette was actually a murder, that would cost Dark Lake a lot more resources and be a much bigger blow to the town. She glanced to Crispin. It felt awkward, being the one to speak up the most. Surely someone else would be better suited to chatting with Conners.
Crispin caught Lady’s look but hesitated for several long, awkward seconds before speaking. Conners was actually starting to speak before he rushed in and cut him off like he’d never get a chance to ask a question again. “If she was murdered—sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Conners rolled his eyes. “Continue.”
Crispin took a deep breath before starting again. “If she was murdered, Lucette I mean…”
Conners nodded. “Right. I don’t know anyone else I might have confused her with, but go on.”
“Do you have any theories? About who murdered her? If she was murdered?” Crispin’s face was more than a little pink by the time he finished adding question after question.
That actually got a smirk from Conners. It looked charming on him. The perpetual stubble and tousled brown hair really sold it. “I don’t think I should go sharing every little thing with your lot. What do you think?”
“Yes,” Otsuya said immediately. “I think you absolutely should.”
Lady inclined her head in Otsuya’s direction. “I’m with her.”
Crispin raised his hand a little before Conners could say anything, drawing his attention. “When was the will drawn up? You should at least be able to tell us that much, right?”
“Sure. That much is public knowledge.” Conners didn’t have to consult any documents to give Crispin the answer he was looking for. “It was around six years ago.”
Crispin nodded, silent for a bit as if taking the time to commit that to memory. “Thanks.”
“Is there anything else you can let us know?” Otsuya pressed. “Like… some more public knowledge?”
“Not that I can think of. Sorry if you guys feel like you wasted a trip down here. Next time call first… so I can be gone.”
“Are you sure there’s not anything else you can tell us?” Lady tried to wink, but she wasn’t quite sure it worked out. “Like, you know, stuff you couldn’t put in your report officially because it was—” She waggled her fingers.
“Jazzy?” guessed Otsuya, frowning at her hands.
“No! Magical.” Lady did the hand motion one more time to demonstrate.
“Magical,” Conners repeated. His expression turned thoughtful and he moved his hand like the pen was still there. He seemed to realize it wasn’t abruptly and with a glance to his own hand. “I don’t know. I haven’t looked into it yet. There’s no use in it until I have the whole story. I’ll wait for the guys they’re sending down to finish. No point in forming a bias before they’ve come up with something.”
“Except you’ve already got kind of a bias, right?” Otsuya asked. “You don’t think it was a murder at all.”
“Okay, fine, maybe a few things come right to mind. Mom had me up way too late talking about it last night.”
Lady had to turn that statement over a couple times in her head. “She wasn’t at the funeral.”
“No, she wasn’t,” Conners confirmed. “She couldn’t stand that woman, and she’s happy where she is. Didn’t feel like going to the will reading. It’d mean seeing the Antonie family, and she won’t stand for that. Anyway, if you think the whole town doesn’t know every little thing about what happened, you’re crazy. Not that I’d recommend going to ask Mom about them. She’ll talk your ear off for hours.”
“Wait.” Lady glanced back at the office door, not like she had heard someone there or heard anything when she looked to it. “But you have Shannon Antonie working the front desk.”
Conners smirked again. It was less charming this time. “Mom repellent.”
He didn’t have to explain himself to Lady. She had met Ms. Comfrey. She had a tendency to be overly friendly in the sense that she alone was content on deciding what was best for you. Besides, Lady had a problem with overly friendly people. She had a hard time jumping into a conversation when people were having a one-sided conversation with her. When she did jump into the conversation, it was invariably rude.
“Seriously though,” Conners continued, even though he had sounded pretty serious about that first part. “Shannon is harmless. She was raised too rich for her own good, but she didn’t go out and get an easy job that paid too much for doing too little. Her husband is the mayor. He gave her a job like that when they first married, but she says she hated it. She works hard and means well and I’ve never seen her meet a person she didn’t like. I’ve seen her mad, but… I dunno. Maybe it’s all an act. She’s gotten so used to compensating for her mother’s rudeness that…” Conners trailed off and shook his head. “Naw. I don’t think that’s it.”
Lady had met Shannon several times. She was definitely an odd bird, but then again so was everyone in Dark Lake. Like Conners had said, she was pretty sure Shannon was harmless. “Well, Lion likes her, so that’s one point in her favor, I guess.”
Conners’ dark eyes narrowed. “Who’s Lion?”
“You know Lion.” Otsuya cocked her head like it should be obvious. “You’ve been to Fisherman’s Inn. You’ve met Lion.”
“The cat?” Conners repeated the word like anything named Lion wouldn’t be a cat. “The cat is here?”
“He’s not back here,” Lady pointed out, like that made a difference. “He’s up front with Shannon.”
Conners swore as he stood. He motioned Crispin out of his way with no small degree of impatience. Crispin scrambled aside and the door was opened.
“Well, I guess that’s that, huh?” Lady asked, looking from Crispin to Otsuya.
“I don’t know,” said Otsuya. Bizarr
ely, she was on her hands and knees, reaching under the desk. “I want to rescue that pen he dropped. It’s been driving me crazy.”
Crispin squatted down, presumably to help her. Lady was a little more concerned about her cat. She hurried out of the room and up to reception. It seemed that all of the police station had gathered there. Not that there were many of them. There was a young, cowed-looking officer and a middle-aged man holding a leaking paper cup. Lion stood on the center of the desk, batting his big golden eyes and meowing with every ounce of fake innocence he possessed.
“Don’t let cats in the station,” Conners was lecturing wearily.
“What if a person in need comes in with a cat?” asked the young officer. “If I was in need, I’d bring my pet.”
Conners rubbed at his temple. “I have yet to see someone run in here for help while holding a cat. If it happens, you have my permission to put the cat in the bathroom and a sign on the door. It would probably be scared. I don’t want to even think about what would happen if the dogs came through.”
“The dogs should be able to ignore distractions like that,” said the middle-aged man.
“Ralph, you know as well as I do we have the lousiest police dogs that ever existed. And go pour that coffee down the drain. Use a mug.”
“I told you. I lost it. And I don’t want to buy a new one because as soon as I do the old one will turn up and—”
“Then use mine!” Conners motioned them all away. “Go on. You’re all behind on paperwork. Go.”
The young officer hurried off. “Thanks boss,” said Ralph, sloshing some of his coffee while he followed.
Shannon had her hands steepled in front of her face. “This is my fault. I’ll get that.” She spun in her desk chair and opened a cabinet. There were paper towels and a large collection of spray bottles inside.
Lady opened her mouth and stepped forward to get her attention. Really, this was all her fault. She hadn’t meant to get Shannon in trouble, not on a day like this. Conners raised a hand only Lady saw and shook his head quickly. Shannon wanted to stay busy. This was her staying busy.
“Next time I’ll use one of my breaks when a cute cat comes.” Shannon scratched Lion between the ears on her way by him. She knelt down and started making quick work of cleaning the mess.
“Yeah, you do that,” said Conners. He looked behind him at Otsuya and Crispin. They only entered the room about ten seconds before that. Lady had barely registered them entering until they were suddenly standing there. She doubted Conners had seen at all, his back to the window as it was. How had picking up a pen taken so long?
“You guys should probably get going.” Conners’ suggestion came off as more of a command. “Make sure you take that cat with you.”
“Got it.” Lady picked up her tote and opened it. Like the good cat he was, Lion dutifully hopped in.
“Oh!” cooed Shannon. “That is so cute! He’s so well-trained!”
“Thanks,” said Lady, not really sure how else to respond. The comment felt like it was meant more for Lion than her. “And thanks for your time.” She said that last part to Conners.
Conners nodded. “Go on. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
Lady said one last goodbye and waved her hand in farewell. She heard Crispin and Otsuya also voicing their thanks before they followed her, but she didn’t stick around for it. She didn’t want to watch while Shannon’s face darkened. Lady had noticed the sudden suspicion creeping into her features. There was no way she couldn’t suspect that what they were ultimately there for was to find clues about her mother. They wanted to solve the mystery and take all that money away from her.
Chapter Six
It was too hot in the car to sit and talk. Lady insisted they drive around the block, even if they didn’t know exactly where they were going next. She needed that air flowing in through the windows, and it wasn’t like there were many people on the road. Crispin didn’t even argue. Already there were beads of sweat on his forehead and neck.
“So, guess what we found in the office?” Otsuya had turned in the front seat so that she could look at Lady while Crispin drove. She’d gotten shotgun again.
The wind was loud and stung Lady’s eyes. It felt so good, though. She was sad to lean out of it but had to if she wanted to answer Otsuya’s question. “A pen?” she ventured, her voice monotone.
“No!” snapped Otsuya. “Well… yes, but do you know what else we found?”
Lady had figured something like that must have happened. They took long enough getting to reception. She had to admit, though, she was a bit surprised. Crispin didn’t seem like the sort of guy to do that sort of thing.
As if reading her mind, Crispin cleared his throat. “For the record, I was against all of this.”
“You were the one who opened the notebook first!” Otsuya shot back.
“I—” Crispin didn’t actually seem to have an excuse before he opened his mouth and shut it.
“What was in it?” Lady leaned forward in her seat so that she could hear Otsuya better. She didn’t have a problem with a little underhanded espionage.
Otsuya smiled. It was a sinister smile, a smile that meant she was up to no good and glad Lady was right there with her. “He had some notes. They came from when he talked to his mom on the phone, I think. There were a lot of doodles on the page like he got bored, you know? He’s really good at drawing little cartoon bugs. Anyway! There was some writing here and there, and there was this juicy bit.” Otsuya paused as for effect.
Lady reached out and gave her friend’s shoulder a shove. “Just spit it out.”
The smile never left Otsuya’s face. “He had written, ‘What if the old woman knew she was going to die?’ Something like that. Then there were a bunch of question marks.”
Lady waited for more. When none was forthcoming, she gave Otsuya another little shove and sat back in her seat. “That’s not anything useful.”
The smile finally faded from Otsuya’s face. “What? Sure it is!”
“If her will is true, no kidding she knew she would be murdered.” Lady gave her lap a pat, inviting Lion to sit on it which he did.
“Okay, fine. There was more.”
“Then tell me.”
“I don’t know if I want to. What if it’s not useful?”
“Come ooon,” Lady groaned and stretched out the last word. “Are we a team or what? If she really was murdered, we need to figure out where to go next.”
“I would definitely like to know where we’re going next,” said Crispin. This was his third time driving around the same block.
Both of her teammates turning against her seemed to turn Otsuya around. “Fine. Most of the notes were really scattered, like maybe they only make sense in his head. I think I saw what Conners was getting at, though. I think what he was saying was that the old broad was spending so much time indoors because she saw her killer outdoors a lot. It was someone planning to kill her, but she didn’t know where, just that it might happen eventually. Either she’d die of natural causes some day or this person would up and murder her.”
“I didn’t see any of that,” said Crispin, sparing a surprised glance at Otsuya before looking back to the road. “That makes sense, though… now that I think about what he did write. Nice work.”
“Thank you,” said Otsuya with a curt nod. “It’s nice to be appreciated.”
Lady considered all that. “That sounds creepy… which is plausible in a place like this.” She gave a little involuntary shiver. “Unfortunately, it’s still just guesswork.”
“Guesswork from a detective, though,” Otsuya pointed out. “That’s the kind of guesswork that’s worth bonus points.”
“True enough.”
“Seriously, where are we going?”
Lady bit down on her bottom lip and tried to think about the best course of action. “If neither of you have any better ideas, I was thinking about it last night and…” She trailed off a little, hesitant to suggest what she was abo
ut to. “I was thinking about what happened last time there was a death. Remember the kelpie?”
“I guess,” said Otsuya, like a kelpie appearing was a daily occurrence.
“Well, I was wondering if Lucette’s death triggered anything. The energy of a traumatic death can create all kinds of things, right? A murder sounds pretty traumatic to me. Sudden heart failure doesn’t. So, we should go to the place where she died and if there’s nothing there…”
“She died in bed,” Crispin said, bluntly. “In her private home. I may have snooped around where I shouldn’t by opening a note pad, but I’m not going to be involved in any breaking and entering.”
“I will,” said Otsuya, almost before Crispin had even finished speaking. “Let’s ditch him and just the two of us go. How about it?”
Lady shook her head. “I’m not too keen on breaking in either. I was just trying to think up a way to get into the house in a way that won’t get us kicked out. I thought about asking Shannon, but that seems… weird.”
“We could go to the grave,” suggested Crispin. “There might be something there. Hauntings happen too. If Lucette was upset enough about her death then she might have risen from the grave. She might be a restless spirit.”
“Are ghosts a problem in Dark Lake?” asked Lady. “I can’t believe that was a thing I just said, but are they?”
Crispin shrugged. “They aren’t really a problem. Not if you didn’t wrong them in some way. They’re like your kelpie. Part of that was the deceased person’s spirit made manifest. Ghosts are a little like that but more single minded. They’re less likely to lash out at you unless you’re in their way. They’re mostly just turned around, lost, mostly chill.”
“Lucette doesn’t sound like the sort of person to become a chill ghost,” Lady muttered.
“No, probably not,” Crispin agreed with a sigh.
Something else occurred to Lady. “They took her out of the ground already, though. Her grave will be empty.”
“Doesn’t mean her spirit wouldn’t still be there,” said Crispin. “I think it’s worth checking out.”
