Speaks the Blue Jay

by K. J. Emrick

  Kyle rolled his eyes. “Okay, tell you what. You stay here and gather all the information you can about this soap opera, and I’ll go and see if I can get a bead on what Skye is doing. Okay? Fantastic. Bye-bye now.”

  Miranda really wanted to give him a piece of her mind, but he was long gone before she could, phasing right through the wall and into the rest of the building. Besides, Ginger was still talking.

  “I know I sound angry with my uncle when he goes on about the difference between our ages, but the truth is that it made me feel a little self-conscious. I knew that between the two of us, me and Skye, that Caleb could easily fall for blonde and buxom over whatever he saw in me. I was worried she’d steal him away if I ever gave her the chance.”

  “Did you think that there was something between Caleb and Skye?” She put as much surprise into the words as she could muster, to show Ginger how appalled she was at the very idea. Really, she didn’t care one way or the other, except that love triangles often led to murder…

  “Oh, Miranda, I’m not sure what I thought,” Ginger lamented in a helpless way. “I just wondered why it was that Skye always seemed to come ‘check’ on Caleb as if I didn’t know how to take care of him myself. It seemed kind of, I don’t know, inappropriate.”

  “Did you ever ask him about it?”

  Ginger grimaced. “Of course. He said they just used to know each other and then he’d point out that it was me he loved and that seemed to make everything all right whenever he said that, you know?”

  Miranda thought she could follow that logic. However, the questions were mounting with every new answer. “Ginger, how is it that you actually came to stay here at the Blue Jay? There must be better places than this for a young woman such as yourself to live. Couldn’t you find an apartment closer to the heart of town? Or maybe something in a bigger area?”

  “Why?” Ginger said with a furtive look. “Don’t you live in Moonlight Bay? If it’s good enough for you shouldn’t it be good enough for me, too?”

  “Well, yes, but I’m not actually from here. And, where I live is… different than this. Um. More livable, you might say.”

  “I’ll say,” Kyle agreed, returning from wherever he floated off to. He sank down from above to settle onto the couch next to her. “Give me that place of ours over this wonderful Bed and Breakfast any day.”

  Actually, where Miranda lived was practically a mansion compared to this place. Ragged Rest was an estate home that she was looking after for her uncle. It was a beautiful home, with a sloping back yard that led right down to the water. Compared to the Blue Jay, Miranda Wylder was living like a queen.

  Miranda tried to glare at him, because if this was his idea of scouting around for Skye Rogers he was doing a lousy job of it. He ignored her completely, listening instead to Ginger talk about her life and what brought her here.

  “Yes, I have to admit this isn’t quite my style. Half the time the hot water doesn’t work and there’s practically no mobile service and the food is nothing to write home about, that’s for sure.” Ginger looked around her room, at the small touches she had brought in to make it more homey, and this time her shrug was full of resignation. “Yes, I suppose this really isn’t my kind of place. The thing is, I’m living off a stipend from my parents while I’m between jobs.”

  “Ah. So money has to last.”

  “Exactly,” Ginger chuckled. “It’s enough, as long as I’m careful. I think my parents feel guilty, so they’re more than willing to pay my way for a while.”

  “Guilty?” Now that was interesting. “What do they have to feel guilty about?”

  Ginger looked uncomfortable, but since she’d brought it up she needed to explain herself. “See, I’m adopted. They kept it from me for years and when they finally told me, it was hard on everyone. I don’t mind, personally, because they gave me a great life and a good home. Sure, there were rough times but there were good times, too. My parents—my adopted parents, I mean—they still feel like they might have screwed my whole life up or something. So, they agreed to give me enough to live on while I find my feet, so to speak.”

  “But if you’re adopted…”

  “Yes,” Ginger said with a curt nod. “Ben isn’t really my uncle. He’s only about ten years older than I am, for that matter, and now that I know I’m adopted it’s just hard to take him seriously as any kind of authority figure over me. It all came to a head over Caleb, when he tried to keep us apart.”

  “Wow!” Kyle said, holding both hands to the side of his face in a dramatic way. “Now there’s a plot twist!”

  Miranda had to agree, although it seemed not to have anything at all to do with the real mysteries going on here at the Blue Jay. Mysteries, plural. More than one.

  Finally, she caught Kyle’s eye, reminding him that he was supposed to be doing something. Throwing his hands up in apology, he faded back up through the ceiling and away.

  “So anyway,” Ginger continued, “Uncle Ben actually suggested that I stay here, somewhere that he could keep an eye on me and somewhere that he knew that I could afford. I guess he’d been coming here for a while before that. When I started renting a room here is when I first met Caleb, and things just developed from there. That was, oh about a year ago I suppose.”

  “She’s been between jobs for a year?” Kyle asked out loud. His voice which was coming through the ceiling was abnormally clear, as though he was in the same room. “What exactly does she do that makes it so hard to find work?” Kyle continued. “Is she like a nuclear physicist or something?”

  “Ginger,” Miranda asked her in a more rational manner, “what do you do for a living?”

  “I’m a news reporter. Or rather, I want to be one. I was a member of my school’s newspaper and then I got a job right out of high school at this fly-by-night magazine startup. It folded after just a couple of years, which I guess was inevitable, I’ve worked at a few other papers over the years but nothing long term. Now I’m trying to find another job somewhere, but they seem very hard to come by.”

  Miranda sat back on the couch cushions. Well. Now things were becoming clearer. Ginger was here at her uncle’s invitation. That meant Ben was used to spending time here. A lot more time than she or Jack had realized. A detective from Melbourne, taking his days off this far away at a rundown Bed and Breakfast. Not only that, but he was obviously friends with both Skye Rogers and Caleb Owen before Ginger ever came on the scene.

  She supposed it was possible that Ben was coming here specifically to be with Skye. A pretty girl like her could get a man to do a lot of stupid things.

  Maybe, she thought, even kill someone.

  Interesting.

  Ginger dabbed at the tears at the corner of her eyes, behind the lenses of her glasses, taking a shaky breath that filled her lungs.

  “Are you feeling any better now?” Miranda asked her.

  “Yes, I think I so. Thank you.” Ginger actually managed a smile. “I suppose I just needed someone to talk to. Someone who wasn’t going to judge me. I mean, Alfie was great about me and Caleb. He knew we were together, and he treated us like a real couple. Nobody else did. Thank you for listening to me properly.”

  “You’re welcome,” Miranda said, getting up to leave.

  In truth, she had wanted to ask Ginger a little more but if she wanted to stay in Ginger’s good graces, to get more information later, then she was going to have to leave it at that for now.

  On her way out of Ginger’s room, she found herself thinking about the same questions. Ben Clark was a police detective. It seemed unlikely that he was friends with a man like Caleb Owen, someone who was in the business of stealing cars. It seemed obvious that Ben knew about Caleb’s extracurricular activities, just from the way he had acted in the dining room.

  Look, if you knew what Caleb was really like, you wouldn’t be arguing with me on this!

  The cop and the criminal, both of them connected through Ginger Peck.

  Then there was Skye Rogers. The c
op and the cute blonde, in that case, connected by… well, Miranda didn’t want to think about how they were connected.

  So which of these people was the killer?

  “Miranda!” Kyle was shouting as he suddenly appeared through the ceiling again. “You have to come. You have to come quick!”

  “Kyle?” Miranda kept her voice down low, because she was still right in front of Ginger’s room, even if the door was closed. “What’s going on?”

  “It’s Skye. I found her.” He was acting for all the world like he was out of breath, even though he was a ghost. “She’s upstairs. You have to come and see!”

  “Why? What’s she doing?”

  “She has the key! She has the key that Jack took off the dead man!”

  Chapter 14

  “Where was she?” Miranda said to him. “Where did you see Skye?”

  They moved quickly down the hallway, not meeting anyone, and Miranda had her foot on the bottom step before she realized that Kyle hadn’t answered her.

  She stopped where she was, turning to him with a questioning glance. “Well?”

  “Um. Well, I really can’t say?”

  “What!” She realized that she’d shouted it, and immediately dampened her voice. “Kyle, how can you not know where she was?”

  “I’m sorry, but that’s what happens when you get from place to place by floating through walls! I was here, I was there, I don’t know exactly where I was when I finally found her.”

  “But it was definitely here, in the Blue Jay?”

  “Well, of course it was,” he said indignantly. “I am a spirit guide. I know what I’m doing.”

  “And it was definitely up on the second floor?”

  He managed to look embarrassed, even through the hazy blue ghostliness of his appearance. “I’m pretty sure.”

  “Kyle!”

  “I got turned around! You try being a ghost sometime. It’s not as easy as I make it look.”

  Miranda didn’t even bother commenting on that. She looked up the stairs, wondering if she should start going door to door, looking for Skye. Would she be in her room? Caleb’s room again, maybe? Or somewhere else entirely? Finding Jack and telling him about this seemed like the wiser course of action. Wiser, and quicker.

  She looked up the stairs again, and then grimaced at Kyle, and decided there was nothing for it except to find Jack. She turned away from the stairs and took a single step down the hallway.

  Almost running right into Ben Clark.

  “Is something wrong, Miss Wylder?” he asked her, his hands on his hips. “Did you and my niece have a nice conversation?”

  She refused to let him intimidate her even though yes, standing here in front of him she was definitely intimidated. He might be a killer. If she showed him even the slightest bit of weakness, then she would be giving him power over her. She’d written this scene into any number of mystery books, where the heroine had to stand up for herself, or else give up.

  She wasn’t the kind to just give up.

  “Actually,” she said to him, “Ginger and I did have a good chat. I found out lots of things about her, and you, and about Caleb Owen too.”

  “Is that a fact?” He grinned smugly. “Well, seems we both have secrets for the other to find out.”

  He turned his face, to look directly into Kyle’s eyes.

  “You do see me!” Kyle shouted, jabbing a finger in Ben’s direction. “You see me!”

  Ben reached up and swatted at Kyle’s hand. “Not polite to point, mate.”

  Miranda couldn’t believe this. “How can you see him? Are you psychic?”

  “I don’t go in for titles, Miss Wylder. I can see ghosts. That’s how I’ve been able to see your friend here traipsing everywhere through the Blue Jay. It’s not nice to spy on people, you know.”

  “It’s not nice,” Miranda told him, “to kill people.”

  “So, you think I’m the killer, do you? Even though we have so much in common?” He snarked at her.

  “Very funny,” she mumbled. Her mind was reeling. It was true. He could see spirits. He had the same ability that she did. “So if you can see ghosts, did you see Caleb Owen’s spirit? Were you here when he died? Did he come to you?”

  “Now what would make you think that little weasel’s ghost would come to me?”

  “Listen pal,” Kyle said to him, effecting a tough guy stance, “you aren’t fooling anyone. Well, I mean, you fooled us because we didn’t know you could see me. But you aren’t fooling us anymore. Tell us what happened to Caleb!”

  Ben gave him a long stare before leaning in closer. “Boo.”

  Kyle jumped back involuntarily, much to Ben’s amusement.

  Miranda felt the frustration welling up inside of her. Here was an essential piece of the mystery and she couldn’t tell anyone about it. She had moved to Moonlight Bay, in part, to keep her privacy. People knew her as Miranda Wylder, bestselling author. She did not want them to know anything about her psychic abilities. She did not want to be looked at as a kook, a sham, an attention-seeking nut job. Something similar had happened to a famous actress and although the woman had survived to continue her acting career, her reputation was forever tainted by her beliefs.

  Miranda didn’t want that for herself. She just wanted to remain quietly in the background and enjoy her life in private.

  The mysteries that seemed to swirl around her apparently had other ideas.

  Jack. She could tell Jack. She would tell Jack. For now, she had to deal with Ben Clark by herself.

  “Listen, Ben,” Miranda said to him, “if you saw Caleb’s ghost you should tell me about it. I have a lot of experience in helping the dead cross over and helping them solve the mystery of their death. We can help each other.”

  “Assuming,” he said drily, “that I’m not the killer myself. Is that it?”

  She held her ground with him. “Let’s assume for the moment, Detective Clark, that you’re a fine upstanding police officer who just happened to have a friend who was a car thief, and that you’re not a murderer.” His eyes widened when she said it. “Yes, I know what Caleb was up to, just the same as you did. So maybe you can tell me why you didn’t arrest him, hmm?”

  “That’s police business,” Ben said, so quickly that Miranda was certain he was covering something up. “Besides. Like your boyfriend keeps telling me, I’m not the lead detective here. Whatever Caleb was up to in Moonlight Bay wasn’t really my concern, now was it?”

  “He was still a criminal. How much did you know about his organization? Did you know who his partner was?”

  He actually smiled, like the question meant nothing to him. “I know it wasn’t me. You and your dead friend here can just go hold your hats in your hands. I already know who the killer is. I’ll have this whole thing cleared up within the hour while Jack Travis is still chasing his tail. See you around, Miss Wylder.”

  He flicked her a salute with two fingers and turned to leave. Kyle floated around and stood right in front of him.

  “Now, just a second, you!”

  Without breaking his stride, Ben walked right through him. Kyle’s image dispersed into a blue fog of shimmering particles before he drew himself back together.

  Over his shoulder Ben gave Kyle a salute of a different kind. One that only had a single finger.

  “Hey!” he exclaimed indignantly. “That’s seriously rude!”

  “We need to get to Jack,” she told him. “I don’t care if Ben is as rude as the Grinch himself, I only care if he’s the killer.”

  “He said he wasn’t,” Kyle pointed out. “He said he knew who the killer was, and that he was going to make an arrest. You know who he means, right?”

  “Yes.” She did know, and the answer was so obvious that she should have seen it all along. Skye Rogers. Somehow, she’d gotten her hands on the key from Caleb’s pocket. She’d been searching through Caleb’s room and now Miranda realized it was that key that Skye had been looking for, not the murder weapon. The car
that dumped the body was registered to her. She was a pretty woman, and she knew it, and she’d been using her good looks to throw everyone off.

  Never trust the pretty ones, Miranda thought to herself.

  “Miranda?” Kyle asked. “Are we going after Skye, or after Ben, or are we going to find Jack?”

  “Jack,” she said. Things were heating up, and he needed to know about everything they’d just learned.

  “So, dining room?” Kyle said, raising his eyebrows.

  “Dining room,” she agreed.

  “You sure I shouldn’t go track Ben?” Kyle offered. “That way we can find out if it really is Skye he’s going to arrest, and what he’s doing, and who else he’s flipping off.”

  Miranda knew Kyle was just steamed at the way Ben had treated him. Her friend didn’t want to help solve this mystery so much as he wanted to get back at Ben Clark.

  “Stay with me, Kyle. You can’t do anything if you follow Ben around anyway. He can see you, remember? You won’t be able to stay hidden.”

  He pouted, his lower lip sticking out, just like a little child. “Fine. Let’s go find Jack, then.”

  He was in the dining room still when they found him, using the wall phone to have a conversation with someone. It looked very serious. Miranda figured it must be, if Jack had allowed all of the suspects to wander around loose to make a call. Even Alfie Parker was gone. Sapphire and Jean-Paul sat at the end of the table as they had before, their heads bent very close together. Miranda took it from the smile on Sapphire’s face that their conversation was just as serious as Jack’s, but in a different way.

  “Well, look at those two,” Kyle cooed. “Looks like the crush is becoming a lot less secret.”

  “Yeah, it’s nice to see.” She spared a smile for her friends, wishing she had time to sit and bask in the glow of a love that was just starting to blossom. They had to find Skye Rogers though, and figure out what she was doing with that key. Not to mention Ben Clark was off to arrest someone. Most likely, Skye herself. Did he have it right? Was she the killer?