A Cup of Death

by K. J. Emrick

  “Okay, okay, you win,” Jack said, lifting one hand in surrender. “It’s the Slumber Way Motel over on Highway 19. Just barely inside the town limits of Moonlight Bay. We’ll zip over there, ask the clerk some questions, and look around Leon’s room. Then we’re going right to my place and going to bed.”

  “Hmm. You had me at ‘you win’ but going to bed with you sounds good, too.”

  “I’ll say it does.” There was a purr in his deep voice that she definitely liked.

  “Ugh,” Kyle griped. “Why don’t you two get a room?”

  Miranda laughed at her friend playing the part of a prude. “Well, we are going to a motel, Kyle. There’s plenty of rooms there, I’ll bet.”

  “What did Kyle say?” Jack asked her, looking in the rearview mirror as if he might be able to see the reflection of a ghost there.

  “He said we should get a room—”

  “I don’t believe it!” Jack shouted.

  “Why not? Kyle likes to see us happy.”

  “What? No, not that,” he said. “Behind us. That same car from before is behind us.”

  She turned around, but all she could see was headlights. Then she caught a glimpse of the license plate. Yes. The very same car. “What do we do? Should we pull over and let him pass so we can follow him? Remember, we’re in a rental van. He won’t know you’re a cop.”

  “We don’t have to worry about following the guy,” he said, pointing of to the side. “See? Lucky for us, he’s pulling into that diner. The Dinner Plate. I’ve eaten there before. Really good fries.”

  They waited for the car to come to a stop and turn off its lights, and then Jack did a smooth U-turn and came around, pulling their van into the nearly empty car park on the opposite side. There were only five cars there, including theirs, but it was getting close to eleven o’clock at night now. It wasn’t surprising there was hardly anyone here.

  Miranda’s eyes were rivetted to the man as he quickly scurried across the pavement and ducked into the diner. She couldn’t see his face but he was wearing a black hoodie and looked to be about average height and well built.

  They got out of the van and walked past the parked vehicles, and Miranda had a good look at all of them. She didn’t recognize any. Except the one that they had followed here.

  As Jack pulled open the door of the diner, Miranda could smell a mix of appetizing aromas flooding out of the kitchen. All of the people in the place were sitting at the same table. Four of them. They didn’t look up as Jack and Miranda came in. They were all in very intense conversation with each other.

  “Maybe we should sit down and order something,” Miranda suggested.

  “Well it would be rude not to,” Jack agreed. “Besides, you did say you were hungry.”

  Kyle floated along with them, straight through tables and chairs. “Great. I used to be a food critic and now the best I can do is watch you two eat overdone burgers and greasy chips. There is no justice in the universe, I can tell you that.”

  A bright-eyed waitress suddenly appeared before them, brandishing two long, laminated menus. “Table for two?”

  “Yes please. This end, if you don’t mind.” Jack smiled before he and Miranda set off behind the waitress. “Um. For privacy.”

  “Sure thing, Sir,” the young woman said with a grin before showing them into a little booth just off the door. A decorative, frosted glass wall rose above the booth partition, with curling green ivy designs around the edges. It wasn’t a perfect screen, but it would definitely help hide them from the table on the other side of the room. “Is here okay?”

  “It’s perfect,” Jack said, appreciatively noting the glass partition just as Miranda had. “Yes. Thank you.”

  “I’ll give you a few minutes and come back for your order.”

  They waited until they were alone and then Miranda whispered to Kyle. “Go see what you can hear.”

  “Right-O!” he said out loud, not having to worry about anyone hearing him.

  After a moment where Jack drummed his fingers on the red and white checkered tablecloth, he said, “Kyle’s gone to listen in on them, has he?”

  Miranda smiled, and gave him a nod.

  Jack chuckled and pretended to read over the menu. “It’s really handy having a ghost around to do my detective work for me.”

  “For God’s sake, don’t tell Kyle that, he’ll be unbearable,” Miranda laughed.

  The people at the other table were still there and talking when the waitress came back with two glasses of water, and Miranda could see Kyle still listening in. Jack ordered something just to stall for time. “Um. A burger and fries for me. And a lemonade, please.”

  Miranda ordered the same, and the waitress gave them a plastic smile as she went off to have the kitchen fill their orders.

  When the man driving the mysterious car had parked here and hurried inside, Miranda hadn’t gotten a chance to see very much of him. It was dark out now, and bad men always seemed to find the cover of darkness somehow. She saw Jack casting the same sort of glances over at the table of four people as she was. The driver in the black hoodie was there, with his back to them, hood pulled up over his head. Even now in the evening, it seemed like too much clothing considering the heat wave that had struck this fair part of Australia.

  “Okay, let’s see.” Miranda leaned her head forward, to let her hair fall across her face and hide the direction of her prying eyes. That was when she realized her hair was a mess, after a weekend of camping and no time to really take care of herself once they got home. Whatever. It would have to wait.

  There were two men, and two women at the table. The man sitting opposite the one in the hoodie was facing them. He was an older man of only average build, and average height from what she could see of him sitting at the table. Unlike the guy in the hoodie he was dressed for the weather in that shirt and khaki pants. His dark brown hair was streaked with gray and swept to one side in a boyish sort of style that looked too young on his weathered face. His eyes were piercing above a hawkish nose and he was sternly discussing something in hushed tones, jabbing his finger at hoodie-man. To Miranda it almost looked like he was in charge of the group. Or at least, in charge of the conversation.

  To either side of the table sat the two women. They were as different from each other as Betty and Veronica had been in those old Archie comics. The one on the left sitting next to the man in the hoodie was younger, and blonde, and dressed in a frilly purple dress. On the other side of the table the woman wore her dark hair in a long braid down her back. She was older by ten years or more, but her body was still defined very nicely in those tight shorts and that sleeveless top. Her scowl would have been enough to stop a Swiss clock, though.

  Jack toyed with his water glass while he watched the group of four. “Is Kyle still over there?”

  “Yes, he’s swooping back and forth, following the conversation around the table. I can’t imagine what’s taking him so—”

  She bit off the rest of that sentence as the waitress came back, carrying a tray that had their burgers and lemonades. She placed them down along with two straws and smiled that same rehearsed smile before zipping away again.

  “Our waitress isn’t too worried about giving great service, is she?” Miranda asked, taking a sip of her drink.

  “Let’s just enjoy our food and wait for Kyle to come back.”

  Miranda decided that ‘enjoy’ must be a relative term in the world of Jack Travis, because the burger could best be described as rubbery. Tomato sauce and mustard from squeeze bottles on the table didn’t improve it much.

  She was halfway through hers and trying to decide if it would be worth finishing the rest when Kyle zipped back. “Well, speak of the Devil.”

  “What a thing to say about your spirit guide,” Kyle grumped at her. “Seriously? The devil? Completely different area code, my dear little mortal. Although I did meet him once. Not pleasant, let me tell you.”

  “You did not,” she argued. “Kyle, you ca
n’t be serious.”

  His only answer, was a wink.

  “What’s he saying?” Jack asked. He seemed to utter those particular words a lot whenever Kyle was around.

  “Nothing,” she answered Jack. “I mean, nothing important.”

  Kyle folded his arms and floated a little sideways. “Hey, everything I say is important. I’m a spirit guide. You should be writing down all my pearls of wisdom, not comparing me to ancient demons with huge chips on their shoulders.”

  “I will give you all the attention you want later, Kyle, I promise.” She pushed her plate aside, happy for the excuse, and tried to keep her face turned toward Jack even as her eyes found Kyle up over his shoulder. This way it wasn’t too obvious that she was talking to an empty spot in the air. “For right now can you please fill us in on what you heard?”

  “Well, the blonde one with the chest? Her name is Janice. Get this. She’s Leon Peniston’s wife. Or widow, to be more precise, but she must not know about it yet. Every five minutes she’s wondering where her Leon is. In between she’s over there flirting with the guy in the hoodie tracing her finger over his hand, toying with his coffee cup, that sort of thing. Some people just can’t be faithful to one partner. I swear. What is the problem with people?”

  Miranda had to bite her tongue, remembering how her friend had jumped from boyfriend to boyfriend himself back when he was alive. There never had been a man good enough to hold him, was how Kyle had put it when he was alive. Apparently now that he was dead he had become a lot more concerned with propriety. At least for other people.

  “Miranda?” Jack prompted in a loud whisper.

  “Oh. Sorry.” She was going to have to get better at relaying Kyle’s words, if she expected Jack to keep up with the conversation. “The blonde is Leon Peniston’s wife, and her name is Janice.”

  “Seriously?” He was obviously surprised to hear that. “She’s a little too happy for a woman whose husband just died, don’t you think?”

  “She doesn’t know, is what Kyle is saying.”

  “That’s right,” Kyle confirmed. “Keep up, Jack. She was talking about going back to their motel and waiting for him. I doubt she’s waiting for a corpse.”

  “Unless she’s the one who poisoned him,” Miranda suggested, “and she’s trying to give herself an alibi.”

  “Hmm. Yes. I didn’t think of that.”

  “What?” Now Jack’s eyes grew wide. “She’s the one who killed him?”

  “No, Jack, I mean…” Miranda took a breath. This was hard, being their go-between. “I was just thinking out loud. All I know so far is that the blonde is Leon’s wife. She’s acting like she doesn’t know he’s dead and talking about going back to their motel room to wait for him. Give me a minute to hear the rest of what Kyle found out.”

  “Yeah,” Kyle said, sticking his tongue out in Jack’s direction like a little kid. “Anyway, I don’t know if any of them are aware of the murder. Each of them are wondering where Leon is. It’s like they expected him here at this little meeting of theirs.”

  “Okay,” Miranda said, getting that tidbit tucked away into her mind. “What about the others. Did you get their names?”

  “Uh… oh,” was Kyle’s answer. He managed to look chagrined, even in his hazy blue ghost state. “Um. I maybe should have started with this part.”

  “What? What part?”

  “Well, see, I don’t know who the other guy or the woman are, but the guy in the hoodie?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Um. That’s Josh Bates.”

  “What?” Miranda said, much more loudly than she’d meant to. She grabbed hold of Jack’s hand, and pulled him down low in the booth, ducking herself down with him. “Kyle! I swear to you if you weren’t already dead I would throttle you to within an inch of your life!”

  Miranda quickly filled Jack in. Josh Bates, the erstwhile tour boat captain who had shown such a keen interest in Miranda and in her Aunt Connie, the same man who had been tied up in a murder and car theft ring just this weekend, was sitting not a hundred paces away with his back turned to them.

  Jack rubbed at his shoulder as she finished giving him those details. Josh Bates was also the man who had shot at Jack and barely missed killing him. Instead the bullet had only grazed that shoulder.

  There were a lot of reasons to be wary of Josh Bates. There were a lot of reasons to want to see him behind bars, too.

  Just then, the waitress came over to ask how everything was. The question wasn’t halfway out of her mouth when she noticed them hugging the table top. She blinked and clutched her notepad tight in her hands.

  Without another word, she turned, and walked away.

  “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” Jack told her. “First, Kyle. You’re going to keep an eye on the four of them. Can you do that?”

  Kyle had sunk down with them, and now he was just a head bobbing up over the table top. He looked ridiculous, especially with that deerstalker cap still on, but his face was serious as he set his jaw. “Yes. You can count on me.”

  He floated down, down, down, until he was sinking through the floor. Miranda guessed he planned on watching Bates and the others from shoe-level.

  “He said yes,” Miranda relayed to Jack. “He’s off.”

  “Okay. Good. Next,” he said, already taking out his mobile and texting a message. “My officers shouldn’t be too far away, if they’ve even left your place yet. I’m messaging with one… good. He’s on his way here. Two minutes, tops.”

  Miranda let out a little yelp as Kyle’s head floated back up through the middle of the table.

  “Uh, guys?” he said.

  “Not now, Kyle,” Miranda scolded him. “You’re supposed to be watching them!”

  “Well, I was, but—”

  “Why is he here?” Jack asked in dismay. “He’s our secret weapon. Our stealth guy. He’s not doing us any good over here.”

  “Well, if you’d let me explain,” Kyle tried again.

  “I know, Jack,” Miranda said. “He’s trying to tell us something.”

  “Yes, I am,” Kyle grumbled. “I’m trying to tell you—”

  “Tell him to spit it out,” Jack said.

  “He’s trying,” Miranda said.

  “Yes, I am,” Kyle said in frustration, “if you would both just shush and let me finish!”

  “Oh, here’s our backup already.” Jack looked out the window to see the two patrol cars that had been at Ragged Rest pulling up outside, lights flashing and tires skidding on the pavement. “They made good time. Okay. Miranda, I need you to stay here, understand?”

  From the concealed holster at the side of his belt, Jack took out his snub-nosed revolver he often carried off duty.

  Miranda nodded. “I won’t pop my head up until you tell me it’s safe.”

  “Good. Kyle, if you could maybe go back and let us know if anything’s going on with those guys?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” Kyle said, throwing his hands up in the air. “If you would just listen—”

  The officers were already coming in the front door of the diner, guns out and held down at low ready.

  Kyle sighed. “Too late. Thanks for nothing, I guess.” He floated down into an empty seat and crossed his ghostly arms over the table top.

  Jack jumped up from his seat and fell in line with the two officers as they approached the other table.

  “Josh Bates!” Jack called out loudly. “Stand up and show me your hands.”

  Miranda saw Kyle roll his eyes, and then toss his hands up. “Why does no one ever listen to me?”

  Finally catching on that Kyle was upset about something, Miranda stood up, and looked over at the other table. There was only three people there. The mystery man with the weathered face, and the two women.

  Josh Bates was gone.

  The man leaned back in his chair, looking at the officers with a toothy grin, totally unconcerned. “Is there a problem, guys?”

 
Kyle floated down until he was standing right next to Miranda. “See? Nobody ever listens to me.”

  Chapter 4

  “I don’t understand,” Miranda said, not realizing she was speaking her thoughts out loud.

  “It’s actually very simple,” Kyle answered. “When the waitress saw the two of you hugging the tabletop like you were expecting trouble, she immediately went over to the only other customers in the place and told them to expect… well, you know. Trouble.”

  “What?” She couldn’t believe it. “That waitress warned them and let Josh Bates get away. Are you serious?”

  She started looking around for the woman who had served them. She wanted to have a word with her.

  “I don’t think she did it on purpose,” Kyle said. “I mean, I don’t think she meant to warn Bates to leave. She was just worried something was going to happen. You notice she’s gone? As soon as she tipped those four people off she booked it out the back door along with the cook and Josh Bates, too. The place is empty except for us, Jack and those cops, and those three over at their table.”

  “Fine, but when she gets back we’re going to have words.”

  Kyle didn’t argue with her, which was a good thing because Miranda was livid. They’d had Josh Bates, right there, and now he was gone again. It was their chance to find out exactly what was going on and they’d blown it.

  Everything came back to her, Miranda thought to herself. It was all connected to her, and to her Aunt Connie. Even the dead man on her doorstep today. The victim’s wife was sitting at that table, with Josh Bates.

  It was all connected, but what did it all mean?

  Miranda took several steps closer to Jack and the other officers. They’d already put away their guns, just as soon as it became obvious there was nothing dangerous here. They still weren’t letting anyone leave. Not until Jack gave them the say so.

  The mystery man watched her approach from where he was standing, flanked by the women, and his eyes focused on her intently. It rather unnerved her.

  “You are Janice Peniston?” she heard Jack asking the blonde.