A Canary in the Canal Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #8 (Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery Series)

by Anna Celeste Burke

  “The lobby is spectacular with the hanging gardens—like an oasis amid all the palms,” I replied. “Other than the lobby and the kitchens, I didn’t see much, but I’ve seen all the publicity photos.”

  “You just have to see the orchid house. You’ll love the spa too. You go through a hot tub circuit either before or after one of the rejuvenation experiences. Aromatic baths are situated in an idyllic setting. Water at different temperatures in the baths all originates from a natural hot spring.”

  “Yes, it sounded lovely when I read about it in brochure materials that PR prepared. Those materials also said the hotel wouldn’t open for guests until March.”

  “Yes, yes, yes,” Max said. “That’s still true for paying guests. The director of the Hotels and Resorts Division decided we should have a preopening for invited guests. We want you to relax, try out all the amenities, and give us your feedback before it opens. Don’t worry about what to do with Miles and Ella, they’re invited too!”

  “You do know that I’ll have to talk this over with Jack, don’t you?”

  “Of course! That’s what I suggested in the first place. After all, it’s his anniversary too. Ask him about the bowling alley, the 3D cycling, and the virtual hang-gliding experience. See what he says,” Max chuckled as if he’d just pulled a fast one on me. Jack had never said a word to me about any of it.

  “All right. I’ll call you in the morning,” I said. Max didn’t raise an objection. That was too easy, I grumbled to myself. With my hand still on the phone, I tried to find a reason to object but was unable to come up with one. Max’s special requests, even the ones masked as invitations, seldom go off without a hitch. Speaking of hitches, I needed to make the next move in my efforts to contain the disaster du jour. I picked up the phone and called Rebecca Hardesty. Much to my surprise, she answered before the second ring.

  “Rebecca, it’s Georgie Shaw.”

  “I’m glad you called. I’m sorry I was so rude at the restaurant. Most people have the wrong idea about Melody, and I get sick of hearing about what a bad person she was.”

  “No problem. When we lose someone we care about, it’s hard not to be upset. I’d like to hear more about the Melody you knew and cared about so deeply. Are you able to do that any time soon?”

  “I’d like to try. Can you come here to my apartment in Irvine?”

  “When?”

  “Now. I really need to speak to someone.”

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I was instantly worried about how distressed she seemed. Depressed might be a better word. I’d already typed her address into my phone, and with a map, I knew exactly where she lived. “I’m on my way. I’ll be there in less than twenty minutes.”

  “That’s good. Thank you.” I grabbed my bag and hustled down the hall to Carol’s office.

  “I’m on my way to visit Rebecca Hardesty,” I said.

  “You seem worried. Has she been threatened?” Carol asked.

  “No, I didn’t hear any fear in her voice. She apologized for the scene she made, but that’s not all that’s bothering her. If she was a brunette instead of a blonde, do you think she’d look like Melody?”

  “I don’t know. With no makeup, all those freckles, and the wild, curly hair, I didn’t notice a resemblance. They could be the same height, although I’d bet Rebecca weighs more. Are you thinking they’re related?”

  “I don’t know. Let me get out of here. I promised I’d get to her apartment as soon as I could.”

  “I’ll walk you to the elevator so you can keep moving,” Carol said as she popped up from behind her desk. “I’ll use my indoor voice. I have a couple of things to tell you.”

  “Go ahead,” I said.

  “Duke is a lawyer named David Draković. There’s not much about his early days other than a mention that he came to the U.S. from Ukraine. Here’s what I wanted to be sure you knew before you left. There are rumors that the police have investigated him more than once, suspecting he’s involved in illegal activities. He was even indicted as the moneyman behind a series of assaults. The case fizzled, and there are a few references to him as ‘the Dragon bird,’ a variant on the Phoenix.”

  “As in the mythological bird that rises from the ashes,” I said, nodding.

  “Yep. One more thing. Melody isn’t his first client who went missing or was found dead.”

  “Good grief, why isn’t he their lead suspect? I can’t believe Doug didn’t already know that when he interviewed Jack and me yesterday.” Carol was frowning with worry practically stamped in big letters on her forehead. “Don’t worry, Carol, I bet Jack and Doug are watching every move he makes.”

  “I already told myself that. At least now you understand why I asked you if Rebecca Hardesty was being threatened.”

  “I’ll ask her about Melody and Duke. If she even hints that Duke threatened Melody, I’m going to ask Rebecca to let the police take her into protective custody. If she won’t do that, I’ll insist on taking her somewhere safe while this mess is sorted out. Thanks for the top-notch sleuthing.”

  “Why don’t you call Jack and leave him a message about where you’re going.”

  “That’s a good idea,” I said, sighing deeply. “I’ll do that before I get into my car. Promise!”

  “Cross your heart?”

  “Yep,” I said and crossed my heart as Carol had done earlier.

  15 Enter the Dragon

  “Jack,” I said when he answered my call.

  “Georgie, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I’m happy I reached you, that’s all. I’m on my way to speak to Rebecca Hardesty, Melody’s former roommate. I met her today at a restaurant in the theme park. It’s a long story and only one part of what Carol and I learned today.”

  “That’s good because I have lots to tell you too.”

  “Carol and Brett aren’t the only ones joining us for dinner tonight. Ann is too. It’ll save you and Doug the trouble of interviewing them again if you can speak to them directly about the new information they have to share.”

  “If you’re sure they wouldn’t rather share their information with Doug down at the station,” Jack responded.

  “Ha-ha. Please don’t ask them to do that,” I replied.

  “I won’t mention it unless I have to get tough with one of them. If there’s no new crisis, I’ll get home by five. We can catch up, and then you can tell me what else I shouldn’t say in front of them. Not all the news I have to share is good, by the way.”

  “No one’s dead or hurt, I hope.” My voice had taken on a pleading tone.

  “No, nothing like that. Burton, our burglary suspect, claimed he had a ‘birds-eye view’ of what happened to our dead singer and wanted to make a deal.”

  “That sounds good, not bad. Did he tell you what he meant by that?” I asked, hoping this mess might be over soon.

  “No, he stalled again and wanted us to take what he told us to the D.A. and get immunity for any charges related to the burglary. Doug told Burton that unless he started singin’ like a canary, he was going to take the fall for the den of thieves he imagined were his friends.”

  “I told Burton that it wouldn’t take much effort to tie him to other burglaries where they’d succeeded in getting away with the goods. I wanted him to see it was in his best interests to tell us what he knew and take his chances with the D.A.”

  “That must have given the young fool a reason to speak up,” I said as I stood in the lobby, trying not to sound as anxious as I was to get going.

  “You’d think so, but he said we hadn’t even asked him for alibis for any other heists, so we were playing games with him. Burton finally shut up when Doug told him that one of the investigators who were looking into the burglaries found an expensive piece of jade in the storage bin at his apartment. Burton looked shocked.”

  “If you don’t have a deal yet, it must not have been enough to get him to move.”

  “He clammed up and said he needed time to think. Dou
g and I left, and when I got back after lunch, he’d been released on bail.”

  “Can they do that without informing you ahead of time?”

  “Technically, Doug and I aren’t working the burglary case, so they informed the lead on that team, but not us. Doug had filed paperwork to get the D.A. to let us hold Burton as a material witness in a murder investigation. Without any written testimony about what he’d seen, Doug hasn’t gotten far, so our dirty bird has flown the coop.”

  “Shoot!” I said. “He’s not connected to Melody’s lawyer, is he? I mean, David Draković didn’t bail him out, did he?”

  “No, he’s not. How did you find out about Draković?” Jack asked, lowering his voice.

  “His name came up when I interviewed one of Melody’s supervisors. Not his legal name, but his nickname, Duke.”

  “He’s bad news, Georgie. Please tell me you haven’t tracked him down and read him the riot act.”

  “Nothing like that. I have no desire to ever meet the man in person. Carol found out who he was by searching online. They also call him the Dragon or Dragon Bird. That’s much more ominous than Duke, which makes it sound like he’s a Labrador Retriever. Anyway, I promised Carol I’d check to make sure you’ve got him under surveillance given his shady past.”

  “Let’s just say he’s on our radar,” Jack said. “Stay away from him and reassure me that Carol didn’t hack into police records.”

  “She didn’t have to do that to find plenty about a notorious public figure like him,” I said. “I just got off the phone with Max a few minutes ago, and I understand we also have anniversary plans to discuss.”

  “Uh-oh! Whatever he said about his New Arcadia anniversary scheme, it’s not true. I’ll explain as soon as I get home,” Jack said. “Right now, I’ve got to see if Victor Burton has gone home to stay with his mother or an old school chum. We already know he’s not at his apartment. Please stay out of trouble.”

  “You too!” I added. “I promise not to contact Duke if you stay away from Max.”

  “It’s a deal! Love you,” Jack said.

  “Love you more,” I added as I hung up and moved as fast as my poor beat up, post-fifty body would allow.

  I pulled up at a meter near the corner on the left side of a one-way street at the Mo-Jo Apartments in less than twenty minutes. The complex was newly built, with a hip, modern vibe. I spotted a coffee shop on the first floor of the complex. The Mo-Jo apartments must be one of the “work/live” developments that had become so popular. Workspaces were available on the ground floor with residential flats above.

  I was about to climb out of my car when a man came around the corner. I immediately realized who he was, and looked down at my phone as if I were checking on something. I did my best to remain inconspicuous while keeping an eye on him. In pricey leisurewear and cross trainers, he looked more like a boxer or some other sports figure than a lawyer.

  Enter the dragon, I thought with Jack’s warning ringing in my ears. My heart rate sped up and I froze.

  Not far behind, and on the run to catch up with him, was a younger man. He was familiar to me too, but I couldn’t place him. One side of his face was red, and he rubbed it as if it was sore from taking a punch. His mouth was twisted into an angry snarl.

  “Duke, if you ever touch her again, I’ll kill you.” That drew a laugh from the man who I could now see in my rearview mirror.

  “Go ahead and try. Or maybe I ought to call the police and report that you threatened to kill me.” He stopped talking and searched the area around him. Then he pointed to an unmarked car parked catty-corner to me. “Smile, you’re on dashboard TV.”

  The young man glanced at the car, slunk away, and disappeared around the corner. Duke smirked as he slipped into the driver’s seat of a ridiculously expensive Bentley sedan. I don’t care what anyone says, no car is worth several hundred thousand dollars. Once he’d pulled away from the curb, he drove up alongside my car and paused.

  Then the creep rolled down his tinted window and winked at me. I suddenly felt lightheaded, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me pass out. Since he must already know who I was, there was no reason to cringe or hide. I stepped from my car feeling defiant, and I pointed him out to the police car across the street. Duke burst into laughter, gunned his engine, and took off around the corner with his tires screeching.

  The car parked across the street didn’t move. When I peered at it more closely, I could tell there wasn’t anyone in it. He’d been bluffing. No wonder he had such a good laugh. That didn’t make me want to wait another minute to get inside the building and find Rebecca.

  “Come in,” she said. She’d been crying and was using a bag of frozen peas as an ice pack.

  “What did he do?” I asked.

  “Slapped me because I told him to get lost.”

  “Do you want me to call the police?” I asked.

  “They won’t care,” Rebecca replied gruffly.

  “The one I call will. He’s also my husband and warned me less than half an hour ago to stay away from Duke Draković. You should too.”

  “He won’t allow that,” the young man who’d threatened Duke said. He was drinking a bottle of beer and handed Rebecca a glass of white wine. Up close, I quickly remembered who he was while he held the cold bottle of beer against his cheek.

  “I heard you were Rebecca’s ex-boyfriend, Greg. Did you come crawling back after Melody dumped you?” I asked.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Ms. Shaw. I wish you’d stay out of it. We don’t need your help.” He was trying to be brash, but there was fear in his eyes.

  “I came here to speak to Rebecca, not you. My only advice for you is not to go around threatening to kill people at the top of your lungs. At least not until the police have cleared you of murdering the woman who recently dumped you.” Rebecca, who’d been standing there as taut as a wire being pulled in both directions, suddenly snapped. As her knees buckled, I grabbed her wine glass, and held on to her until we moved closer to the couch. She sank down on it.

  “You see what you’re doing, Ms. Shaw?” The jazz bass player said. I didn’t find him cute in the least.

  “Tell her to get lost like you told Duke, Rebecca. Don’t be shy about using the same language you used with him.”

  “Did you really do that, Greg—threaten to kill him?”

  “Why not? I’m not afraid of that bum.”

  “If they heard your threat, the police won’t care if he’s a bum or not.”

  “The police?” Rebecca asked.

  “Yeah, so the crooked big shot lawyer says. They weren’t sitting out there because of me, or you, Rebecca,” Greg said. “If what he said was true, that means the cops are after Duke, and it’s about time.”

  Rebecca leaned forward as if she might get sick and put her head in both hands. When she lifted her head, she made eye contact with Greg.

  “We need a minute, Georgie. Will you excuse us while we take this into the kitchen, please?” I expected Greg to blow her off, but he stood up instead. He was a little unsteady, making me wonder how many beers he’d already consumed. “Can I bring you a glass of wine when I come back?”

  “That would be nice, thanks.” I relaxed as the drama seemed to have subsided. I went to a window to see if there was any sign of a Bentley. Thankfully, there wasn’t. The supposedly unmarked police car was gone, which made me wonder if the car had been part of the effort to keep Duke “on the radar.”

  When I turned around, trying to decide where to sit, I noticed something interesting in one of the room’s corners. A desk had been set up in front of a wall of shelves and cupboards. A vintage typewriter sat on one of the shelves. I stood still and listened until I caught the murmur of voices in the kitchen grow a little louder.

  Hoping I had another minute or two, I dashed to the shelf and examined the typewriter. I ran my fingers over the letters. When I hit the “e” key, my heart rate sped up. In the note to Kay, the �
��e’s” hadn’t lined up with the rest of the letters. The “e” key on this typewriter was slightly bent.

  I grabbed a piece of paper from a bin nearby and slipped it into the typewriter. I hit the key and confirmed my suspicions. As I ripped the paper from the typewriter and stuffed it into my purse, Greg bounded into the room and stomped toward the door.

  “I’m going, I’m going!” Greg shouted.

  “I haven’t seen one of these old Royal typewriters since I was a kid,” I said, trying to sound casual as Rebecca followed Greg to the door. She didn’t react to my interest in the old typewriter. I was relieved, although if she wasn’t the person who wrote the nasty notes to Kay, she had no reason to care that I’d noticed it. “Is he all right?”

  “As all right as he ever is,” Rebecca said in an annoyed tone. “He’s almost as bad as my sister when it comes to getting into one mess after another.” I tried not to overreact to Rebecca’s revelation.

  16 Birds of a Feather

  “I noticed a resemblance when we met. I guessed you were cousins, not sisters,” I added as I accepted the glass of wine Rebecca offered me.

  “Half-sisters, to be more precise,” Rebecca said as she walked to the couch. “We have the same messed up mother, but different fathers. When my parents parted ways, I went with my dad. Poor Melody was born a year later and ended up in a worse situation than I did. My dad held down a job and tried to keep me from running wild. He died last year, and I miss him. Nobody cared what Jackie did. I went to school, but by junior high, Melody was good at skipping classes whenever she wanted to do it.”

  “Did you go to school with Melody?”

  “Part of the time,” Rebecca said as she sat down on the couch. “Since I was older, I switched to middle school and then high school before she did. One of the dumbest things my dad did was to move only a mile away from my mother. Mom was a drama queen, and living nearby, I didn’t escape all the chaos. After Mom remarried and had a daughter, my father wanted the two of us to be close.”