by Tonya Kappes
Murderer.
“No. Just me and you. The horse knows where to go.” Oscar gathered me into his arms and held me snugly. “This is exactly what I need.” A sigh escaped his lips.
I looked up into his big blue eyes. The same eyes that were relaxed yesterday before this whole mess happened were now back to the same eyes that had left Whispering Falls. Filled with worry. Fear. Anxiety.
I parted my lips and raised myself to meet his kiss. Memories of our wedding night were pure and clear as if it had just happened. As his kiss deepened, the passion rose up in me like the hottest fire, clouding my brain of anything I really wanted to tell him.
I closed my eyes and let myself get lost in his kiss before I leaned into him and settled in for the ride to the Loop. His broad chest heaved up and down with each breath he took. And each release was longer than the last as the stress melted from his body. So many times I had watched him after his long days at work decompress and become the Oscar I had married. The man of my dreams.
The horse climbed the island terrain. The path was big enough for the carriage and the sides dropped off like a cliff. The lights from the beach grew smaller and smaller as the horse pulled the carriage higher and higher.
The moon was out but the stars had yet to dot the black midnight sky for miles. Oscar’s arms were warm around me as the salty breeze nipped at my bare arms.
When the horse stopped, Gene was waiting with a cheese platter, vegetable tray, fruit plate, and a bottle of wine with two glasses sitting on a blanket with lit tiki-torches overlooking the sea.
“Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Park.” Gene bowed down in respect. “The sun will be setting within the next twenty minutes. After that we will be here to pick you up in a couple of hours. You are welcome to do whatever it is you like. No one can see you or hear you unless you call from the phone.” He blushed when he looked at us.
Oscar had a big grin on his face. I knew what he wanted to do, but I wanted to talk to him about Mr. Victor and why I thought he should be looked at as the killer along with Violet.
“We will be back in a few hours to pick you up,” Gene said after Oscar helped me out of the carriage.
Gene got in the carriage and he and the horse moseyed back the way we’d come up, leaving us to do whatever it was our hearts desired.
“What on Earth are we going to do with all of this?” Oscar spread his arms out wide in front of us. It was the most spectacular view. The light blue water looked peaceful, not like the churning the night before as it gulped up the life of Patrick. “Especially when the sun sets.” He pulled me close, giving me a never-to-forget kiss that made my toes curl.
We sat down on the blanket. Oscar handed me a glass of wine.
“To us.” The glasses clinked and we both took a sip. Even with everything going on, I was blissfully happy. I felt fully alive when I was with Oscar.
“To us,” I repeated, taking another sip.
“There you are,” the exasperated voice called from behind us. “It took us forever to get up here.”
Patience Karima had sweat dripping down her face. Her housecoat was unzipped to the top of her bosoms. Mr. Prince Charming trailed alongside her with his tail dancing in the air. I swear he had a grin on his face.
“Shoooweee.” She stuck her hand in her bra and pulled out a tissue. She wiped her face and then fanned herself with it. She offered it to Mr. Prince Charming. “You need a dab.”
Mr. Prince Charming batted it away.
“I’m telling you.” She plopped down next to Oscar and grabbed one of the vines of grapes. She huffed and puffed, “It took me a minute, but I did it.”
She plucked a big round grape off the vine and threw it in her mouth.
She stuck her hand in her bra again and pulled out a key. She held it up.
“Got it.” She grabbed the wine glass out of Oscar’s hand. “You don’t mind do you? I’m thirsty.” She tipped the glass all the way up in the air and let the liquid fill her mouth. Pweft, pweft. Wine shot out of her mouth like a fountain and all over Oscar’s face. “That’s not grape juice.” Her nose curled in disgust.
Oscar’s brow pulled into an affronted frown and he jumped up. He didn’t look back at us before he started to stalk toward the path.
“Before you go and get mad,” I scurried toward an angry Oscar. “Hear me out.”
He stopped and turned.
His mouth shifted open, he closed his eyes and slowly shook his head back and forth.
“I’m not so sure Violet killed Patrick.” I talked fast in order to save what little marriage I suddenly had.
“Don’t you think I already know that? Tell me something I don’t know.” His head shaking got faster. He ran his hand through his hair. “I can’t believe this.”
“Patrick’s family has been coming here for years. He and Violet were lovers. I would bet anything on it.” It was not confirmed, but there had to be more than just a friendship.
“What does that mean?” Oscar seemed to be interested now.
“I’m just saying, let me talk to Violet and see what her real history is with Patrick.” I shrugged. “I can give her some girl time that I’m sure she craves since she never gets any and I’m sure I can pull the history of Patrick out of her.”
I put my hand on his arm.
“The evidence is the evidence.” He thrust away from me. Disappointment sat on his face. I’d broken the promise and he knew it. “Do you think Mr. Victor would plant his daughter’s own hair under Patrick’s fingernails if he loved her so much?”
“Well,” It was something I hadn’t thought of. “No. But. . .” I snapped. “But Juliette would.”
“Now you have lost your mind. And she isn’t helping.” He pointed to Patience. “I’m going to get in contact with the Order of Elders and see if you can go home while I stay here until Patrick’s murder is solved.” His eyes stabbed me. “The old-fashioned police way. And the key?” Oscar looked over at Patience. “What is that?”
“I asked her to get me the key to Mr. Victor’s living quarters or office so I could take a little look around.” I knew Oscar would never go for it. It’s not going to hurt me looking around. Me and you are a team, in or out of Whispering Falls, I thought.
I pointed to him and before I knew what I was doing, lightning shot from the tip of my finger and my thoughts became a reality. I jerked my finger back and curled it in my palm. I’d completely forgotten about that darn finger spell.
“I know we are a team and yes, you can look around. Just don’t get hurt,” he was agreeable.
Patience’s mouth dropped. Her eyes darted between me and my finger. I curled it in my palm and put my hand behind my back.
Oscar sat on the blanket and grabbed cheese and a cracker before pouring him some more wine.
“It’s pretty, isn’t it.” He lifted his chin and looked over the scenery.
“Since when could you do that?” Patience asked in a whisper. She bent down and looked at my finger. “That is one trick I’ve never seen you use.”
“It’s temporary.” My mind reeled with how I could cover up my big boo-boo. Not only had I put a spell on Oscar to agree with what my mind was thinking, I had also let Patience Karima see me do it. A big no-no according to Aunt Helena. “And a big secret. Understand?”
“Understand.” Patience couldn’t take her eyes off my finger.
“Crap.” I glanced over her shoulder, the sun had already set and Oscar was chowing down on the fruit and cheese.
Chapter Eleven
“Good morning.” Oscar was in a chipper mood. He bent down and kissed my head.
He was already dressed and had a cup of coffee on the bedside table next to me.
“Last night was amazing at the Loop.” He stood next to the bed and glanced out over the ocean. “Just look at this place.” There was an infectious smile on his face.
I turned over on my belly and looked out at the view.
“Who on Earth ever thought of putting a hot
el room in the middle of the ocean?” he asked. “So.” He turned back to me. “You are going to go and look around Mr. Victor’s office to see what the history of Patrick’s family has been?”
I never thought of that, but it was a good idea.
“And you need to find out where exactly he sent Violet yesterday. So talking to her would be a great idea.” He was so agreeable.
I continued to look out at the calm blue sea while I rubbed my fingers together. Too bad the spell was only temporary because I was enjoying agreeable cop Oscar.
“I’ve got it covered.” I rolled back over. Mr. Prince Charming was lying at the end of the bed curled up in a little ball. “I’ll be safe.”
“You better be.” He ran his hand over my bedhead before dipping his lips to give me a kiss on the top of my head. “I’ve got to go meet Officer Teabody at the lodge.”
“Okay.” I sat up and reached out to pet my ornery familiar who didn’t seem to be too worried about my safety.
Meow. He finally moved after Oscar had walked across the bridge and was walking down the beach toward the lodge. He walked over to the table and sat next to Madame Torres. Her face floated inside the glass ball. Both of them watching as Oscar kicked up the surf on his way to meet Officer Teabody.
“It’s a shame that we haven’t really been able to enjoy our honeymoon.” I frowned recalling how excited we were to live somewhat of a normal life for the next few days.
“You will.” Madame Torres bounced around inside her ball. Her eyes blinked. Her lids were painted in yellow. Her dark lashes drew up when she opened her lids. The red rouge on the balls of her cheeks matched her lipstick. “It will come when it will come.” She winked. Her face was replaced with a large diamond.
Her words were so simple but held so much more meaning. My eyes narrowed when I noticed the floating gem. Mr. Prince Charming smacked the glass ball with his paw and Madame Torres went black.
There was no time to spare and I needed to help out in any way that I could. I reached over and grabbed the flip phone. I opened it and waited to see what would happen.
“Can I help you, June?” Gene’s young voice asked.
“I’m looking for Violet. Is she there?” I asked.
“Yes, ma’am.” He clicked off. I waited for him to click back on the phone but instead there was a knock coming from the front of the room. There was a shadowy figure on the other side of the flowing curtain.
“Did you ask for me?” Violet asked.
“Please come in.” I got out of bed and grabbed my bathing suit before I headed straight to the bathroom. “I’m going to get my suit on and I’ll be right out.”
I heard her walk into the villa. There wasn’t any more movement. When I walked out of the bathroom, she was standing near my suitcase. My potion bottles were on top of my clothes where I had left them.
“I wanted to ask how you were doing.” I noticed the bags under her eyes were dark and sagging. “I know that it has to be lonely here with no girlfriends to talk to.”
Her broken voice was a mere whisper. “I know you saw us talking yesterday.”
“That was you?” I asked, pretending that I didn’t know.
“I’ve known Patrick since we were children. His family came here for their vacations initially, later it was for Peter. He loves the sand and beach, so they started to spend summers here.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “After we started to get older, our attraction for one another grew and he was and is the only man I have ever made love to.”
I gulped.
“While he was off to college, I was here. My father insisted I learn how to run the island and that I didn’t need a college education when I told him I wanted to go to the states to be with Patrick. Father was beside himself. Neither his parents nor my father knew we had the intimate relationship we did until I told my father about my love for Patrick.” Another tear trickled, but I wasn’t falling for the murderess sympathy card. “His parents still continued to come with Peter. They would go on all day excursions because Patrick’s father was always on the hunt for a diamond mine.”
“Diamond mine?” My gut tickled. My intuition set a big alarm off. Madame Torres was trying to tell me something. I was going to have to get better at reading her.
“Yes.” She turned toward the bay and continued to tell me her tale, “They own P&P Jewels.”
“As in the national chain?” I asked remembering how I would stand in front of the P&P Jewels window admiring the charm bracelets on display. I had wanted a charm bracelet so badly. Oscar knew it. So when Mr. Prince Charming had shown up with the small turtle charm hooked onto his dingy collar, Oscar had given me his mom’s old bracelet to attach the charm.
P&P Jewels was everywhere. And their commercials too.
“Patrick and Peter.” She smiled and brought her hands up to her ears where she played with a diamond stud earring. “Patrick gave these to me the last time we made love.”
“When was that?” I asked.
“A year ago, after his parents died. Peter was having a hard time so Patrick brought him here.” Violet turned to me. “Patrick had slipped away with me for a few hours. He even told me he loved me. We made love and he promised he’d be back. It was the last time I’d seen him until he showed up yesterday with her.”
“Was he with Juliette a year ago?” I asked.
“I don’t know. He didn’t mention her.” She blinked back more tears.
“And she’s why you killed him?” It seemed like a fair question.
“Killed him?” The look of disgust clouded her face. “You think I killed him? Why on Earth would I do that?”
“Scorned woman would probably be at the top of the list.” I rubbed my finger and thumb together to be ready just in case I needed a little help. “You couldn’t stand seeing him with her. Plus I’m now sure that the drinks you accidentally spilled on her was far from accidental.”
“It was an accident.” She shied away. “I had lost all sense of myself when I saw it was Patrick and her together. Father had told me we had a wedding party, which wasn’t unusual for the island. Conveniently, he left out that it was Patrick and her.”
She sat down on the chair and hung her head. It was second nature for me to try to comfort anyone in distress. I laid a hand on her. Instantly my intuition told me that she was broken inside. She was doing everything she could to keep it together. But my intuition didn’t tell me if she was guilty.
“Let me get you some water.” I walked over to the water bottles on the table next to my suitcase and slipped the potion bottle out of my bag.
Violet’s head was still in her hands as she mourned the death of her one and only true love. Lightly I tapped a couple drips from the potion bottle and used my finger to stir it. Since I didn’t have all of my heartbreak potion ingredients with me, I tapped into Violet’s ache and summoned my newfound finger gift to do the magic for me. A bolt of lightning surged out of the tip of my finger and into the glass, creating its own perfect storm of healing a heartache.
“Here.” I handed her the glass. “Drink all of it so you can be hydrated.”
She took the glass. Tears glistened on her heart-shaped face. She almost looked angelic. I believed what she had said but could she really kill the man she loved?
“I have to tell you that Patrick had red hair stuck under his nails and was gripping some red hair as well.” I knew that if she couldn’t explain why, that was she was going to be Oscar’s number one suspect. No matter how much I would tell him that she wasn’t the killer, he went by the hard evidence.
“I’m not sure why.” She shook her head and held the glass with both hands to try to steady her trembling. “I took them night diving because my father insisted. I dropped them off at the dock and they went on their way.”
“What did he say to you yesterday when I saw the two of you at the trees?” I wanted to hear it all. Things that might not be clues to her sometimes were the biggest clues of the case.
“He
told me he had written me a few times and they came back as return to sender. He even said that he’d told me about him and Juliette falling in love. Something he never expected. He was happy that his parents had gotten to meet her before they died.” She took another drink. She licked her lips and continued, “I reminded him of our promises to each other and he said that he had Peter to think about and at one time living on the island was perfect for Peter, but now Peter was doing so much better that he wouldn’t have to sell the business and move here. I told him he could move his headquarters here, but he insisted he couldn’t.”
“He was willing to sell the business?” That seemed strange.
“He wasn’t into the diamond mines and he only did what his parents wanted him to do.” She paused for a second. “Like I did with my father. My father saw Patrick leave my villa last night and told me if I didn’t stop Patrick from contacting me, he would. I told my father I couldn’t promise anything and I was going to crash the wedding. Father sent me to the mainland.”
“So that is where you were yesterday?” I asked.
“He sent me to the textile store to pick up more fabrics.” She folded her hands in her lap.
“So this,” I pulled the hanky Patrick had given me out of my bag, “was made by you?”
She took it from my hands. A smile curved on her lips and she pressed the hanky to her cheek. Her eyes closed and she inhaled through her nose.
“It smells like him,” she whispered. “Now he’s dead.”
She downed the rest of the water and then stood up.
“I’ve taken enough of your time.” She set the glass down on the table. “You don’t need to worry about my problems. Enjoy your honeymoon. My father would die if he knew I told you all of this.”
“Don’t worry.” I reached and grabbed her hands, giving them a light squeeze. “Your secrets are safe with me. I just want you to feel better. And know that I’m so sorry you had to go through all this.”
“What was it that you needed to see me for?” she asked.
“Nothing. I wanted to give you this.” With my back turned, I dug deep into my suitcase until I felt another sunscreen bottle. With my grip around the bottle, I closed my eyes and pictured Violet on the beach, her red hair, her freckles, the sand and the sun. I tapped the bottle with my finger and let the magic transfer to the bottle, sending the perfect SPF into the bottle for her.