“You can’t beat yourself up over that,” Daniel said. “You don’t know that you could have stopped anything and you did make an effort to see him.”
“I guess you’re right, but this pain still stings.” She scoffed as she realized, “I guess like a jellyfish does.”
Daniel was quiet for a moment and then said, “We always wish we had more time with the people we care about. I think my wife and I had a very good life together. Just too short. We traveled a lot. We went dancing. And I took care of her at the end when she was dying. But after I lost her, I felt guilty too. I was afraid that I had squandered time with her when we thought we had all the time in the world. Could I have taken a job that didn’t require me to be at sea for periods of time? But these thoughts are toxic. If you showed someone that you cared, then you did your best. That’s what it sounds like you did.”
Daniel didn’t often talk about his wife. This time Lydia held his hand. She squeezed it and looked out toward the water. There were no people splashing in the surf. The sand was nearly deserted.
“Maybe I’m looking for a crime when it’s not there,” Lydia admitted. “Maybe I think that if Mr. Gardner was murdered, it’s something I can solve. There’s something I can do. But maybe it was just an accident.”
“Your instincts about crime have proved to be spot-on before,” said Daniel. “I think you should trust your gut.”
“I’m not sure exactly what my gut is telling me right now. Except that I’m getting hungry. I think some dragon fruit taffy sounds like a tasty snack.”
She wiped away her tears. Then, she and Daniel started walking toward her taffy shop.
* * *
When Lydia arrived home, she still hadn’t processed all of her feelings. She felt like something was wrong about the way Mr. Gardner died, but was this her grief looking for answers when there were none to be had.
Sunny tried to cheer her up. She licked the salty remnants of Lydia’s tears off her face and then cuddled next to her on the couch as Lydia went through the mail. Most of it was junk mail that she could throw out, but there was one item that she was very glad to see. Though Lydia always loved getting postcards from her Aunt Edie and seeing where her world travels took her, she was grateful for the timing of this message.
“Look, Sunny,” Lydia said. “Aunt Edie is in England.”
The front of the postcard featured a picture of Big Ben near the London Eye Ferris wheel. The back had Aunt Edie’s writing that read: Cheerio, Lydia! I’ve been having a jolly good time in merry old England. I see landmarks and museums during the day and visit the pub in the evening. I’ve seen so many things on my travels that make me think of you and your brother. You are both such wonderful people. I’m proud that you’ve grown up to be so determined, loyal, and strong. That’s all for now. I’m off to tea! Love, Aunt Edie.
Lydia let the words soak in. She suddenly felt as determined as the message complimented her to be. Daniel had also told her to trust her instincts.
“I only have suspicions that something is wrong with Mr. Gardner’s death,” Lydia said aloud to her dog. “But that’s enough for me to start investigating and get some answers. I know Leo might not like it, but he cares about Mr. Gardner just as much as I do. Come on. Let’s sniff out some clues.”
Sunny let out a bark of agreement.
6
Another Attack?
The next afternoon, Lydia headed to the police station armed with what she had learned from peering through Mr. Gardner’s windows again with Sunny at her side.
She marched over to Leo’s desk but saw that he wasn’t alone. The designer who had decorated their porch in the hopes it would help it sell faster was seated next to him. Suzanne Peppercorn laughed at something Leo said. They had sandwiches in front of them, and it was clear that Leo was on his lunch break. However, what Lydia needed to tell him couldn’t wait.
“Oh, hi, Lydia,” Leo said as she approached. “You remember Suzanne?”
“Yes,” Lydia said with only a drip of sarcasm. “I do remember the woman who has been at my house multiple times, preparing it for sale.”
“It’s good to see you,” Suzanne said with a smile. “Leo has been regaling me with stories of some of his recent cases. He told me about how caught the killer of a librarian who had figured out some corruption in town so Leo broke both cases, how he figured who killed a psychic on the boardwalk with his own almost supernatural deductive powers, and how he singlehandedly saved you from a murderer who was poisoning taffy.”
Lydia didn’t remember those events quite the same way, but she wasn’t going to sell her brother out.
“Yes. He’s very impressive,” Lydia agreed.
Suzanne grinned at Leo who was hiding how nervous he had been at what Lydia’s response to his stories would be. The truth was that Lydia liked Leo and Suzanne as a couple. They had known each other in school and now were getting to know one another again. They got along well and seemed to make one another happy. Uncle Edgar had also given his blessing to the match from beyond the grave. In fact, Lydia was certain that he had played matchmaker when he left instructions on how Leo should sell the family home after seeking Suzanne’s design advice.
Lydia was sure that Suzanne would start to pick up on when Leo was being boastful and embellishing his accomplishments a little bit. She knew that Leo was trying to impress the person he’d had a crush on since they were children.
However, Lydia really didn’t have time to analyze their relationship. She needed to tell Leo what she has discovered.
“He also told me about your neighbor’s passing,” Suzanne said. “I’m so sorry to hear that. It sounds like Mr. Gardner was like an uncle to you. And I suppose your real uncle was like a father. Well, I’d just like to express my condolences.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you doing all right?” Leo asked.
“Not really,” Lydia asked. “But it’s partially because I believe that Mr. Gardner was murdered, and I hate thinking that someone would want to kill a nice man like him.”
“Murdered?” Suzanne asked, setting her sandwich down. She looked at Leo. “I thought you said that he was killed by the jellyfish in the area and that’s why we need to stay out of the water.
“My sister is a little upset and isn’t thinking clearly. She’s beginning to see murders everywhere. It was the jellyfish that killed him.”
“I am thinking clearly,” Lydia said. “Very clearly. I’ve noticed several things strange about Miles Gardner’s death, and I think they all point to foul play. Firstly, he did tell me that he hated going into saltwater. As I said before, it doesn’t make sense for him to decide to change this preference just when stinging jellyfish come into the area.”
“And I explained that he might have thought that he was in shallow enough water to be safe,” said Leo. “And sadly, he knew that he wasn’t in good health anymore. Maybe walking in the water was on his bucket list.”
“Also, his car was still in his driveway,” Lydia pointed out.
“It’s not unheard of to walk to the beach from where you live,” Leo responded. “You’ve done it before.”
“Yes. When I’m not in a hurry, it’s a nice walk. But it is a long one. I don’t know if Mr. Gardner would have chosen to make it. Also, I looked in his car, and there were some wrappers from my taffy left on his seat. That means he drove to the boardwalk.”
“He could have wanted something different. In fact, maybe he decided to put his feet in the water because it was a long walk and he had gotten hot. Maybe he just wanted to cool down.”
Suzanne was looking at one sibling and then the next as they made their points as if she was at a tennis match and was watching the ball fly back and forth.
“And it is his feet which revolve around my final important point,” said Lydia. “You said that he was barefoot and was walking in the shallow water. But you didn’t find his shoes out there, did you?”
“No,” Leo admitted. “But they could
have been carried away with a wave. He was probably holding them and dropped them when he was stung.”
“That’s not what I think. I don’t think there are any shoes to find. I saw the shoes that he was wearing in his house through the window. And it looked like his shoe rack didn’t have any empty places.”
“But what does that mean?” asked Suzanne.
“I think it means that someone brought him to the beach when he wasn’t wearing any shoes,” said Lydia. “I think this means there was foul play involved. Maybe he was drugged.”
“But he wasn’t,” said Leo. “I have the autopsy report right here.”
Lydia paused. “You do?”
“Yes. And I would have told you about it, but I wanted to finish my lunch first.”
“It’s okay,” Suzanne said. “You can tell her. I admit I want to know now too if it was murder.”
“There were no drugs found in Miles Gardner’s system other than the prescribed amount of his pills for his condition. What killed him was the jellyfish. He was stung by a poisonous Man O’War.”
“The Man O’War?” Lydia asked. “But didn’t the expert you spoke to say it was rare for these parts?”
“Rare, but not impossible to be here,” said Leo. “And it looks like there definitely are some here. Now we won’t just have a warning on the beach. We’ll have to have a ban on going in the water until they’re gone.”
“I thought that the stings would have aggravated his heart condition,” Lydia said. “I thought that someone placed him in harm’s way. I didn’t think he was poisoned by a Man O’War.”
“Lydia, I know your heart is in the right place, but I’m the detective. Not you. I’m the one gathering all the facts. Will you let me handle this?”
“Well,” Lydia said, hesitating. “Will you look into his shoes?”
“Fine. I will look into what happened to his shoes.”
“Prince Charming,” Suzanne joked. Then, she blushed. “I mean because he was looking for the second glass slipper. And the person who wore both.”
“So, thank you for your input,” Leo said, starting to usher Lydia away. “If you want to reiterate to your lifeguard friend that we’ll have to keep everyone out of the water, it would be appreciated.”
Lydia tried to think of another point she could make that would force Leo to look for someone else involved in Miles Garner’s death than a seemingly gelatinous creature. However, before she could think of something or Leo could get her out of the building, Detective Grey ran up to them.
“Sorry to interrupt your lunch, but we have a situation.”
“What is it?” asked Leo.
“Another body washed up on the beach,” Detective Grey said. “It also looks like he was the victim of the poisonous jellyfish.”
Leo turned to Suzanne. “I’m sorry. I’m going to have to cut lunch short.”
“That’s all right,” Suzanne said. “I think I lost my appetite today anyway.”
“Rain date?” he asked.
“Of course,” said Suzanne.
“You know,” Lydia said, thinking fast. “I bet Suzanne would love to see you in action – doing your police work to protect people. And since there’s no killer on the loose, maybe this is a crime scene, she could visit. What do you think, Suzanne? Do you want to see my impressive brother in his element?”
“I do have the day off,” Suzanne said, considering it.
“You would have to stay behind police lines,” Leo said. “But if you’d like to watch, you could.”
Lydia smiled as it was agreed that they could go. Leo might think that he was going to impress his date, but Lydia was going to keep an eye out for clues.
7
The Body at the Beach
“This might have been a bad idea,” Suzanne said. “I was thinking about seeing Leo in action. I wasn’t thinking about how there would be a dead body. I don’t know if I can face it.”
“It will be fine,” Lydia assured her. “You won’t have to look at it. And if you understand the work my brother does, you’ll understand him better.”
Suzanne nodded, but she had lost her enthusiasm for the idea. Lydia and Suzanne were making their way to the proper stretch of beach that was being marked with crime scene tape and traffic barricades. They reached the edge of the tape and waited.
Suzanne waved at Leo and then held onto Lydia’s arm as the detectives examined a man’s body on the shore.
“Leo is very brave,” Suzanne said quietly.
Lydia nodded, but her attention was focused on the dead body. She didn’t know much about jellyfish stings, but there were marks on his skin that must have been made by the sea creature. She was trying to identify the man but didn’t recognize him. He wasn’t someone that she had seen on her street before, and she couldn’t make any connection between him and Mr. Gardner.
Leo started yelling orders to the uniformed officers about how to best secure the area since it was outdoors. Lydia could tell that he was showing off for Suzanne’s benefit. It was clear that Detective Grey also knew that this was what was happening. Lydia had never seen the serious man roll his eyes before, but he did now. Then, he must have said something about talking to the civilians because Leo happily nodded and started walking toward them.
“I imagine this isn’t too much fun for you,” he said. “But this is just a day in the life of an Ocean Point detective.”
“Do you often have dangerous creatures in the water?” asked Suzanne frowning. “Maybe I shouldn’t have moved back here.”
“No,” Leo said quickly. “That’s not what I meant. We don’t have lots of dangerous creatures here. You shouldn’t move again.”
Suzanne’s frown changed into a smile at his reaction. “Well, there are a few things I really like here.”
Leo seemed inspired by this seeming compliment and puffed out his chest. “I am glad to hear that. And I’m glad you could see me work. We need to make sure that everyone in town is aware of the danger. It seems like this man ignored the warning after Miles Gardner died.”
“You’re sure he was killed by the Man O’War?” Lydia asked.
“The fill-in for the medical examiner should be here any minute to confirm it, but yes. I believe that’s how he died. And I did notice that this man is not wearing shoes either, but I hope you’ll note how he is dressed. He’s in swimming trunks. He obviously wanted to go swimming in the ocean despite the danger.”
“Poor guy,” Suzanne said. “He made a bad decision.”
“Do you know who he is?” asked Lydia.
“He doesn’t have any identification on him, but we’re confident we’ll be able to figure it out soon. He has a distinctive scar across his chest that wasn’t caused by the jellyfish. It’s almost shaped like a question mark.”
“Like a question mark,” said Suzanne. “I think I know who that man is.”
“You do?” asked Leo. “You know him because of the scar on his chest? So, you’ve seen him shirtless?”
“If he’s who I think he is, his name is Rusty Smith. Well, he goes by Rusty. That might not be his real name.”
“And how exactly do you know him?” asked Leo, betraying some insecurity.
“He’s a contractor. I believe he lives here and he services the few surrounding towns.”
“Oh, so you know him from work,” said Leo, sounding relieved.
“I worked with him once,” Suzanne said. “He loved to talk about his scar. He thought it made him seem rugged.”
“Do you know if he liked swimming?” asked Lydia. “Enough to go into the water with dangerous creatures in it?”
Suzanne shrugged. “He did say he liked living by the beach, but we weren’t close. I don’t know much about his habits.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” Leo said. “I mean, I’m glad that you didn’t just lose someone important to you.”
Leo cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable about how his potential jealousy had arisen. However, he didn’t need to s
uffer long. A man appeared on the scene, and Leo addressed him.
“Dr. Adams, what took you so long?”
The man looked flustered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect something like this. I’m not used to being the medical examiner in town. I’ll do my best until the current M.E. returns, but I will be very happy when he does.”
“It looks like he chose a bad time to go on vacation,” Lydia said.
Dragonfruit and Dread Page 3