Spirited Away

by Lena Gregory

  “You’re so silly. I’ve never seen anyone get so excited about food. Well . . . except maybe Bee. Hmm . . . I wonder how his diet’s going. He hasn’t mentioned it lately.” She stopped beside him and waited, as Herb Cox had taught her to do during one of the many training sessions Beast mostly ignored. Herb had also told her she could make him stop turning in circles before every meal, but she didn’t have the heart to curb his enthusiasm. “Sit.”

  Beast plopped down, his whole back end wagging frantically against the floor. Getting him to sit before she put his bowls down was one of the few training exercises she’d been able to manage. That one had been easy, since he didn’t get fed if he didn’t sit.

  “Stay.” She put the bowls down.

  Though Beast stared at the bowls, head down, ready to pounce, to his credit, he didn’t budge until she released him. Then he shot forward like a cannonball and practically inhaled his food.

  Leaving him to devour his dinner, she dumped the remainder of the coffee in Bee’s mug down the sink, washed the mugs and the coffeepot, dropped the used filter in the garbage, and put in a new one. She tied up all the garbage, including the glass from the damaged case, and set the bags beside the front door. She’d throw them in her trunk on the way out and take them home with her. Since there was no food in the bags, it would be easier than lugging them down the beach to the Dumpster she shared with several other stores.

  By the time she was done, Beast had finished eating, and she washed his bowls, put the food bowl away, and left the water bowl on the floor. She bent and slid her fingers into Beast’s thick mane. How she’d ever lived without the giant Leonberger, she had no idea. “Come on, boy. We’ll go for a walk, and then you have to be good for a bit while Mommy goes out to dinner, okay?”

  Beast whined as if he’d understood every word she said. Who knew? He probably did. She spent enough time talking out loud to him all day long. She wondered briefly if other people talked to their pets like they were people, then decided it didn’t matter. Beast was one of the best friends she’d ever had, and he seemed to enjoy their conversations as much as she did.

  She grabbed the leash and a small garbage bag from beneath the counter in the back room. As much as she’d love to walk along the beach, this time of year brought too many people, even in the evenings, for her to walk him on the public beach. Maybe after dinner she’d take him out to the stretch of beach by her house, where there would be few if any tourists.

  She started to clip the leash to his collar, but the tinkle of wind chimes stopped her. She’d been certain she’d locked the door after Bee left, and it was too soon for him to be back.

  Beast barked once and lurched toward the doorway.

  Thankfully, Cass was still holding his collar. Keeping him against her side, she poked her head between the curtains into the shop.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Emmett stopped short when he spotted her and held up a cardboard box. “Sorry. The door was locked. Figured you were gone, so I used my key. Wanted to get the a/c up and running.”

  “No problem, Emmett.” Since Emmett did all her handy work, including the renovations to the upstairs, it had made sense to give him his own key. That way he could work after she closed and after he’d finished working at the garage. “Come in. How are you?”

  Beast ran for Emmett the instant she let go of his collar. Since he was naturally wary of strangers, she was able to keep him at the shop all day without him harassing the customers too much, though there were times she had to put him in the back room, but when friends came in, all bets were off.

  Since she already knew Emmett didn’t mind, loved Beast, actually, she didn’t bother apologizing. She simply waited until they were done saying hello, then approached Emmett and gave him a hug.

  He squeezed her tight with one arm for just a moment, then stepped back and looked down at the box in his hand. Emmett was a sweetheart but not the most affectionate person, nor the most open.

  Getting information out of him was going to be like pulling teeth, but she was definitely going to give it her best shot. “Are you okay?”

  He blushed all the way to his hairline. “Fine, thanks.”

  “Are you really?”

  “I don’t know, Cass.” He crossed to the counter and set the box beside the register, then pulled off his red baseball cap and smoothed his long graying hair. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I know, Emmett.”

  “Really?”

  It broke her heart that he’d have thought anything different. “It was never a question in my mind.”

  He blew out a breath and fitted the cap back on. “Thank you.”

  “Of course.” As much as she wanted to offer him reassurance, she couldn’t repeat Luke’s statement about believing he was innocent. That wasn’t her sentiment to share, and she’d never betray his trust. “I’m sure Luke and Tank will figure that out too.”

  “Then why’d they arrest me? I had to be arraigned and post bail and everything.” For Emmett, that was pretty much akin to rambling.

  “I’m sorry, Emmett. I know you’re going through something awful right now, and I wish there was something I could do to help, but you’ll—”

  “Actually, I wanted to ask you about that.”

  “About what?”

  “You know . . .” He gestured toward the back table. “That stuff you do.”

  “Readings?”

  He shrugged. “Whatever they are. I thought maybe . . . you know . . . you could maybe . . . get in touch with someone that could help. Maybe tell me who the real killer is?”

  “Oh, Emmett.” What could she say? She’d never turn him away, but she really wasn’t sure what she could do for him. Unless he had some knowledge of who the killer was, it was unlikely she’d be able to figure it out. “Come on in and sit down. Do you want anything? A drink? Something to eat?”

  “Nah, thanks. Sara’s making dinner.”

  “How are things going with you two?” She didn’t want to ask outright if Sara was being supportive. She was one of the kindest women Cass knew, but she also had a teenaged daughter to think of.

  Emmett sat in the chair Bee had vacated. “We’re good. She says I’ll beat this.”

  “And she’s right. You will.”

  Emmett took his hat off and fidgeted with the brim, running his finger along its edge.

  Thinking Emmett might need a little space, knowing how hard this must be for him, Cass sat opposite him rather than next to him. “How’s Joey doing? Does he know what’s going on?”

  Emmett nodded and folded his hands together on the table. “That’s why I’m here. I’d never ask you to do this for myself, but there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my son, and he needs me.”

  “Of course he does, Emmett, and you can ask me anything. You’re my friend, and I would do anything in my power to help you.”

  He nodded and lowered his gaze. “I know. It’s just . . .”

  “Just what, Emmett?”

  “I’m scared,” he whispered. Tears shimmered in his pale blue eyes, then spilled over and ran down his cheeks. He swiped them away. “Not for me; I deal with what I have to. Very few things could be as bad as what I went through with . . . Anyway, not much can bring me down, but I’m scared for Joey. We don’t have any family. It’s been the two of us forever. All of this, everything that’s going on now, well, it made me wonder what would happen to him if I wasn’t here to take care of him.”

  “Where’s Joey now?”

  “With Sara. She’s amazing, but I couldn’t ask her to support him if I had to go to prison. It’s not like there’d even be life insurance or anything. Any savings we ever had got eaten up when Tanya was sick.” He paused and fitted his hat back on. Pain creased his features, carving deep lines into his forehead and around his mouth.

  Emmett had never spoken to Cass about his wife, and she waited silently, giving him a moment to collect himself and decide what direction to take the conversation.
/>   “Anyway, Sara barely supports herself and Jessica. I can’t ask her to take on the burden of another mouth to feed.”

  The logistics of what he was saying ran through her mind, and she turned them over and over trying to figure out what he could do, but Emmett was right. She didn’t know his financial situation, if he owned his house and business outright or had loans and mortgages to pay. It seemed the latter, based on the number of odd jobs he took on in addition to his work at the garage, but the situation with Dirk had reminded her things weren’t always as they appeared. Then again, if he owned anything of value, he wouldn’t be so upset.

  “Don’t worry about it right now, Emmett. Nothing’s going to happen to you. You hear me?”

  “You can’t know that.” He paused and met her gaze, then frowned. “Can you?”

  She ignored the question. Though Emmett showed up to all of her group readings, she honestly didn’t know what his beliefs were. He might just enjoy socializing, especially since he’d gotten close to Sara Ryan while at the readings. The fact he was asking her for help might indicate some level of acceptance. Or it might only show his level of desperation.

  “You are not going to jail for this, Emmett, but just so you know . . .” She reached across the table and laid a hand over his clasped ones. “If anything ever happened to you, I’d take care of Joey. I promise you that.”

  He looked into her eyes. “You’d do that?”

  “Absolutely, and I don’t even have to ask to know Bee and Stephanie would help me. It wouldn’t be you, but I can promise you he’d be surrounded by love and have all the support he needed. Always.”

  Emmett sobbed, his broad shoulder shaking.

  Knowing he wouldn’t want to be coddled, Cass got a box of tissues from the shelf and put them on the table, then waited.

  After a few minutes, Emmett wiped his face, blew his nose, and met Cass’s gaze. “I don’t know how I can ever thank you.”

  “You just did. Now, let’s see what we can figure out.” She set the colored pencils and a stack of paper back on the table, then changed her mind and pulled the crystal ball closer to her. “I can’t help if I don’t know what happened, though.”

  “I’m not gonna lie; I was angry when I left here last night, really angry.”

  Could it really have only been last night that Dirk was found? It seemed like ages ago. Probably lack of sleep. “How’d you get arraigned and post bail so quickly?”

  “I’m pretty sure Tank and Luke had a hand in that.”

  “See, even though they can’t say it, they must believe in you too.” That was the best she could do to offer reassurance on that front.

  Emmett nodded and looked down at his clasped hands.

  Cass hadn’t realized just how alone he’d been since his wife’s death. “So, what happened last night? How’d you end up at the garage in the middle of the night?”

  “I stopped home, but I couldn’t relax. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep, and I was getting on Joey’s nerves.” He smiled affectionately at the mention of his son, a man clearly comfortable with his role in his son’s life, both good and bad. “He was supposed to have a big math test today. He didn’t do so well in math this year, so it was either summer school or repeat calculus next year, so he opted for summer school. It’s been a lot of work to cram into two months, and he’s been stressed about it.”

  “He’s a good boy and a good student. He’ll get through it.”

  “Yeah. Well, me pacing around the house agitating the dogs wasn’t helping matters, so I took the dogs and went to the garage. Figured I’d get some work done, work off some of the tension, ya know?”

  She knew exactly what he meant. She’d come into the shop more than once in the middle of the night when she couldn’t sleep. And Bee did his best work overnight when there were no interruptions. Plus, she could see where Emmett’s two huge mutts pacing the floors would probably have made studying impossible for Joey.

  “Anyway, I hadn’t been there more than ten minutes when the dogs started fidgeting and then barking. I heard someone yelling and went out to see what was going on. Dirk was out there, madder than I’ve ever seen him. Just lookin’ for someone to take it out on. And I wanted to punch him so bad it hurt. But I thought of Joey, heard Tanya’s voice in my head, telling me Dirk Brinkman wasn’t worth leaving my son for.”

  “Help him.”

  Cass jumped, startled by the woman’s voice.

  Emmett continued without interruption, so she could only assume he hadn’t heard anything, but a niggle of an idea started to form.

  “. . . went back inside and that was it. My head wasn’t in it anymore so I decided to leave. It took about ten minutes for me to clean up the stuff I’d taken out to work on.”

  Cass recalled the meticulous way Emmett kept his garage. Not only did everything have its place—tools neatly arranged, hanging from hooks or tucked away in boxes—but Emmett’s was the only garage she’d ever been in with clean floors. No stains, no grease, nothing. Maybe Emmett’s need for order came from a more difficult time in his life, not unlike Cass’s own.

  “The minute I opened the door, those hounds bolted for that car, howling like crazy. I looked inside, then opened the trunk, worried Dirk did something to the car, and there he was.”

  “How would Dirk have gotten the trunk open?”

  “Lock on that thing’s been busted forever.”

  Convenient? Maybe, but she believed him.

  “And that’s it. I called the police, and Tank and Luke showed up.” Emmett flopped back in his chair, defeated. “So, are you gonna help me?”

  Help him. The same words the imaginary woman had been repeating all day.

  Luke and Tank’s voices protested in stereo in her mind. She ignored them, much as she would have in real life.

  “Of course I’ll try to help, though I don’t honestly know what I can do.” The thought that had begun to surface earlier came screaming back. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Yeah.” Apparently he was back to his abrupt answers.

  “Do you know a woman with long blond hair and big blue eyes. And a small crescent-shaped scar right here?” She pointed to the outside corner of her left eye, not that she’d seen the scar on the woman, but the sudden knowledge of its existence filled her as if she had.

  Emmett paled. “Why do you ask?”

  “Just humor me. Please?”

  He shrugged, pulled out his wallet and opened it, then laid it on the table and turned it toward her and tapped the woman’s picture staring out at her. “That’s my Tanya.”

  Ice cold gripped her as she stared into the smiling features of the woman from her vision.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cass rested her head against the booth’s seat back and closed her eyes, thankful for a moment of peace before she’d have to recap her day for Bee and Stephanie. The rhythm of the pop music pulsed through her. She’d left Beast at Mystical Musings with Emmett to fix the air-conditioning and prayed it would be fixed tonight and cooled off by morning. She didn’t have it in her to suffer another day in the sweltering heat.

  “Do we get to hear what’s going on now?” Bee looked at her over the top of his open menu.

  “Yes. Let’s order, and I’ll tell you everything while we wait for our food.”

  Stephanie closed her menu and laid it on the table. “Sounds like you had an eventful day.”

  “You don’t know the half of it.”

  “That’s right, we don’t,” Bee whined. “Because you haven’t told us anything.”

  The waitress approached and pulled a pad from her pocket. “Good evening. What can I get for you?”

  The woman wasn’t familiar to Cass, and for one fleeting moment she wished they’d gone to the diner instead. James Ingram, the owner of Island Grill, didn’t live on Bay Island, and instead of hiring locals he mostly hired people who enjoyed spending the summers on Bay Island but couldn’t afford the astronomical prices many of the inns charged d
uring the height of tourist season. Then again, going to the diner would have given her the comfort of familiarity, but it wouldn’t have offered the same anonymity the grill did.

  Stephanie ordered a Caesar salad.

  In need of something more substantial than greens, Cass ordered a steak and shrimp combo with mashed potatoes with a side of garlicky string beans. And a Caesar side salad.

  Bee lowered his menu a little. “Are you done now?”

  “Ha-ha.”

  He grinned and pointed to something on the menu. “I’ll take today’s special.”

  They handed their menus to the waitress and she hurried off.

  Cass was pretty sure the special of the day consisted of a variety of fried seafoods with rich creamy sauces. “What happened to your diet, Bee?”

  “What do you mean? I ordered seafood. That’s good for you.”

  “Not when it’s fried.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t see what difference it makes. Seafood is seafood. Right?”

  Cass let it drop. Bee was in no dire need of a diet, though a lifestyle change probably wouldn’t hurt. His cholesterol levels had to be through the roof with all the junk he ate.

  “Thank you for waiting outside for me when you got back to the shop. I’m sorry I held you up.” If he’d have come in while she was speaking to Emmett, she might still not be aware the woman trying to contact her was Emmett’s wife.

  “No worries. When you didn’t come right out, I peeked in the window and saw you with Emmett. I figured you were trying to help—he made air quotes around the word help—then wiggled his fingers. “I didn’t want to get in the way of any of your hocus-pocus.”

  “I appreciate it.” Her connection to Emmett had been tenuous at best. The slightest interruption would probably have made him clam right up.

  “Yeah, well, wouldn’t want to get whammied or anything,” Bee mumbled.

  “Very funny.” Cass sat up straighter before she risked dozing off. She’d already tried Bee’s patience making him wait so long. But where to start?