Dragonfruit and Dread

by Allyssa Mirry

“I think I’m a good judge of character,” Daniel said. “I did realize that she was faking her injuries. Before you walked up, I was questioning her about exactly where she was and how this attack occurred. I told her it was beach safety, so I had to be thorough with my questions. She was squirming because it was all lies. But, then you came and interrupted it.”

  “Then, it might have been the first time ever that Amber was happy to see me,” Lydia joked.

  Before she could say anything else, her phone started to ring. Seeing it was Leo, she answered it immediately.

  “Hey, Lydia,” he said. “I wanted to thank you for making sure Suzanne got home and wasn’t too unnerved by the crime scene.”

  “I think she was impressed with what you do,” Lydia said.

  “You don’t have to try and flatter me. I’m going to tell you what the most recent autopsy report says. I figure it’s the only way to get you to stop being so suspicious.”

  “What does it say?”

  “That Rusty Smith’s cause of death was also the result of the poisonous stings of the Man O’War. He wasn’t murdered unless you think fish can comprehend malice. He died early this morning. He must have gone for a sunrise swim. That’s all there is to it.”

  Leo hung up, and Lydia was frowning again.

  “What is it?” Daniel asked.

  “Leo thinks a fish is the killer, but I still think there’s more to this crime.”

  “So, what do we do next?”

  “I’d like to find out more about the victim,” Lydia said. “I have some people looking into the clients he might have upset with his subpar work, but I want to know more about the man himself. Maybe it will help me figure out how he was killed.”

  Daniel nodded. Lydia planned on tracking down Not-Too-Rusty Builds’ offices and determining what she could find there. She hoped she might find the means of his murder.

  10

  The Crumbling Construction

  “You’re sure a contractor lives here?” Daniel asked.

  “Well, I did hear that he wasn’t a very good contractor,” Lydia responded.

  They were standing next to a beach house that had definitely seen better days. The paint was peeling, and there were cracks along the path to the front door. The house claimed to be the address for Not-Too-Rusty Builds that Lydia found after a little poking online. It looked like Rusty had either worked from home or went to client’s addresses. He found no need for another office.

  Lydia walked up to the door and peered through the window on it. Figuring she might as well test it, she twisted the doorknob. To her surprise, it opened.

  “He didn’t lock the door?” Daniel asked.

  “I think the lock is broken,” Lydia said, looking at the doorknob. “I don’t think it can lock properly.”

  Daniel shook his head. “Based on the upkeep of his home, it’s hard to believe he built and repaired houses for a living.”

  “True. But if the door is open like this, then what we do next can’t be breaking and entering,” Lydia said, taking a step inside.

  “I’m not completely sure that Leo will see it that way,” Daniel said, but he followed her inside.

  The inside of the house was in better shape than the outside. Nothing seemed to be falling apart, but there still was some disorder in the house. Lydia didn’t get the sense that it had been pulled apart by someone searching for something. She thought it was more likely that the owner was a messy bachelor.

  “What are we looking for?” Daniel asked.

  “I’m not completely sure,” Lydia admitted. “But we should keep our eyes open to see if there’s anything that could relate to the murder. Check for means, motive, or opportunity. Maybe there’s something to show how Rusty got to the ocean that night, or maybe he has a datebook that could show what his plans were supposed to be today. Or maybe we could find another motive for his murder amongst his belongings.”

  Daniel walked further into the house and then called out to her, “I think I found his office.”

  Lydia joined him and agreed. It was even more disorganized near his desk than it was in the rest of the house.

  “I don’t see a datebook,” he said, “but some of these documents look official.”

  Lydia skimmed through the papers on his desk. “It looks like he was being sued by a flower shop for a job that he failed to finish. He also made errors with a doctor’s office.”

  “And these look less official, but could still provide motive,” Daniel said, indicating to some handwritten letters.

  Though they weren’t exactly threats, the letters did express their displeasure at Rusty’s work on their homes and how they expected him to make it right. The letters seemed to be from two people: Jules Lester and Phil Terry.

  “Do you know either of these people?” Lydia asked.

  “I think I know Phil Terry,” Daniel said after thinking about it. “I think his son takes the swim lessons I teach at the community center.”

  “I don’t know them,” Lydia said. “Though there does seem to be something familiar about the flower shop, Mama’s Mums.”

  “Anyone who was involved in these lawsuits or sent these letters could be a suspect.”

  “Agreed. But let’s see if we can find anything else to shed light on what happened to Rusty Smith.”

  Lydia and Daniel searched the house without finding anything except for evidence that the owner was untidy. Lydia decided she might as well check the backyard too. A contractor might have tools for burying something. She was about to voice her random thought that there might be treasure hidden in the backyard that could have been the reason for the man’s death, but she did tell Daniel she thought they should check it out.

  “Wow,” they both said in unison when they stepped outside.

  It was clear that this was the area that Rusty used to impress people whose homes he might work on. The backyard looked like the perfect place to relax on a summer night. There was a fire pit, a jacuzzi, and ornate lawn furniture. There was even a TV placed behind a protective barrier behind an outdoor bar.

  “You know, Lydia,” Daniel joked. “If you are looking for a new house soon, this might be the place to consider. The backyard is amazing.”

  “This does seem like where Rusty spent all his money,” Lydia said. “And probably a good deal of time.”

  “It’s not possible that anyone killed to get this backyard, is it?”

  “Maybe someone was upset that theirs didn’t turn out the same way.”

  They started examining the yard, though Lydia thought that Daniel might be admiring the amenities more than he was looking for clues. Lydia looked around and then noticed something. There was a towel on the ground and there was some something else askew too.

  “Wait a second,” she said. “The Jacuzzi cover doesn’t look like it is completely on, does it?”

  “No,” Daniel agreed.

  They walked closer to the Jacuzzi, and Lydia lifted the edge.

  “There’s no dead body in there or anything crazy like that?” Daniel asked.

  “It looks empty,” Lydia admitted, though she continued removing the cover anyway. “I guess it’s nothing after all. I just got the sense that the cover was hurriedly put back on. Like Rusty didn’t have time to put it properly in place. And maybe he dropped his towel too.”

  “Or the killer did,” said Daniel.

  Lydia groaned. “If that’s the case, I shouldn’t have touched the cover.”

  However, soon, she found that she was happy that she did. As she examined the inside of the Jacuzzi, she noticed something caught in the vent. It was long and almost translucent.

  “What does that look like?” she asked, trying not to get ahead of herself without a second opinion.

  “It looks like a tentacle,” Daniel said.

  “I thought so,” she agreed. “We need to call Leo. We just found the real crime scene.”

  11

  Leo’s Arrival

  “And what exactly were you
doing here?” Leo asked.

  He looked extremely annoyed when he had arrived with Detective Grey, though Leo confirmed that it looked like a tentacle was caught in the Jacuzzi. He had called in some specialists who would be able to remove it without any chance of encountering the poison.

  Now Leo and Detective Grey were questioning Lydia and Daniel in front of the house. Lydia smiled sweetly.

  “Would you believe that we were looking for a contractor to help with some projects around the house to help it sell faster?”

  “No,” Leo said. “Suzanne would have mentioned these projects to me.”

  “What about that we were looking at this house because we knew it was about to come on the market?” suggested Daniel. “Lydia is going to need a new place to live after you sell the family home. And this does have a very impressive backyard.”

  “I’m not going to move into the house of a murder victim,” Lydia said.

  Daniel pointed his head towards Leo, and she realized that he was repeating the joke because it might make for an excuse to explain why they were there.

  “Stop it,” Leo said. “I know you both came here because you were investigating Rusty Smith’s murder. But now because you were in his house, the scene is compromised.”

  “We came here because it didn’t seem like you were considering this a real murder,” Lydia protested. “You just thought that the Man O’War killed him. You didn’t think that foul play was involved, but clearly, there was. Would you have searched his house if we hadn’t called you?”

  The two detectives exchanged a look.

  “We might have,” said Leo.

  “Or you might not have,” said Lydia. “I knew something was wrong with these two deaths, and I needed to figure out what it was. Now I know that Rusty Smith was killed here and then placed in the ocean.”

  “It does look that way,” Detective Grey admitted.

  “The Man O’War was in the Jacuzzi,” Lydia said. “That animal couldn’t have been there for too long because the conditions aren’t ideal, but it was there long enough to sting and kill Rusty Smith. Whoever murdered him must have known about Rusty’s habits and when he liked to go in his hot tub.”

  “With the broken door, it would have been easy for someone to enter and set up the trap,” said Daniel.

  “And the killer almost got away with it,” Lydia said. “Because it really was a Man O’War that killed the two men, when the bodies were found in the water, it looked like they were the victims of wild sea life. But it was really cleverly executed.”

  “If the killer cleaned up better, it would have been very hard to prove,” Daniel agreed.

  “Though Leo and Detective Grey might be able to track where the Man O’War came from. I don’t think it’s an animal that the average person can go fishing for,” said Lydia. “It might have been stolen from an aquarium or came from a black market deal.”

  “Yes,” Leo said, cutting in. “This is something that Detective Grey and I will look into.”

  “What we really need to do is figure out the connection between Rusty Smith and Miles Gardner,” Lydia continued. “There doesn’t seem to be an obvious one. Rusty Smith didn’t work on Mr. Gardner’s house while I lived here. And I never heard Mr. Gardner complain about his house.”

  “Lydia,” Leo said firmly. “Stop.”

  “What?” Lydia said. “I’m just giving you the information I have right now.”

  “I need you to stop investigating. I appreciate that because of you we now know that this was definitely a murder, but you need to stop getting involved with this case. It’s a police matter, and we are the police. Not you.”

  “It’s against protocol to have civilians interfere with our cases, and you’ve already done your fair share of interfering,” Detective Grey agreed.

  “We’ve taken notes on what you told us. You’ll have to come in and give an official statement soon, but that’s the only thing you should be doing for this case now.” Leo sounded a little softer when he said, “It’s for your own protection. There’s a killer out there with a poisonous animal as his murder weapon doling out revenge of some sort. I don’t want to see you get hurt. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to my little sister. Please promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”

  “Fine. I promise,” Lydia agreed.

  Leo gave a nod of approval. Then, he and his partner walked through the broken door and back through the house.

  Lydia and Daniel walked in the opposite direction to leave.

  “Are you really going to stop investigating?” Daniel asked.

  “Of course not,” Lydia said. “I promised not to do anything stupid, but I don’t think there’s anything stupid about finding justice for Mr. Gardner’s killer. I cared about him, and I’m going to do what I can to help.”

  “I didn’t really expect you to stop.”

  “Leo is a great investigator, but he’s been coming at this case from the wrong direction since it began,” Lydia said. “And I think he is a little distracted right now because he’s smitten with Suzanne.”

  “I hope being smitten doesn’t make everyone an ineffective investigator,” Daniel said with the hint of a smile.

  “I don’t think it necessarily does,” Lydia said, hoping she wasn’t blushing.

  “So what should we do next?”

  “I think we should look into the people who sent Rusty Smith those letters. Why don’t you see if you can talk to Phil Terry since you know him?”

  Daniel nodded and agreed.

  “And I’ll see if I can track down Jules Lester,” Lydia continued. “Trina might know who she is and we can see what exactly Rusty Smith did wrong at her house.”

  “It sounds like a plan,” Daniel said. “But be careful. It looks like it’s going to rain.”

  Lydia looked up and saw the dark clouds beginning to roll in.

  “Good thing we told Leo about these clues before the bad weather arrived,” Lydia said. “Though I don’t know how grateful he’ll be if he’s stuck in the rain looking at clues.”

  Daniel chuckled. Then, they went their separate ways. They both had suspects that they needed to question.

  12

  Falling Rain

  “It’s nice that we get to do some investigating together,” Trina said, happily. “Even if it is in the pouring rain.”

  “I have to admit I’m not excited to get out of the car,” Lydia said. “But I guess getting soaking wet shouldn’t be as scary as facing a killer.”

  Trina drove along slowly because of the heavy falling rain. The friends were headed to Jules Lester’s house to try and discover if she was guilty of double homicide.

  “Do you really think it could be her?” Trina asked.

  “I’m not sure. But she was upset enough to write to Rusty Smith. He was probably ignoring her calls and emails too, so she sent a physical letter. And that does mean that she knew where he lived.”

  “And he was killed at home,” Trina finished. “So, it’s possible that she put the deadly jellyfish in his Jacuzzi.”

  “What have you heard about her at the salon?” Lydia asked.

  “Well, it’s like I told you. Jules Lester was the one person who was brought up at my salon when I asked about shoddy contractors in the area. Then, I was disappointed that you had already heard about her when you called. But maybe this just makes her a better suspect. Several ladies told me that she was irate with what Rusty Smith did to her roof. She wanted to sue him, but she didn’t have the money after all she spent.”

  “And what do you think of her? Do you think her anger could have translated to murder?”

  “She doesn’t come into the salon,” Trina said. “I don’t really know her. I only know what people said about her.”

  “I guess it’s a good thing that we’re going to talk to her then. We can get to the truth ourselves.”

  They arrived at Jules’s Lester’s house soon after that, and they made a break for the porch. Despite how quickly
they ran, they still got wet heading for the door. Trina knocked on the door desperately. A woman holding a cat opened it and peered at them.

  “Hello, Jules. I’m Trina Nichols, and this is Lydia Doherty. Nancy Guenther at my hair salon said that you used Rusty Smith as a contractor. We wanted to ask you a few questions about him.”

  “You weren’t thinking of hiring him, were you?” Jules asked.