“Brrrrr,” Luna whispered, shivering. “It’s cold out here.”
“I know. It’s starting to really feel like winter,” I agreed. She snuggled in more tightly around the back of my neck, my hair falling all around her like a fluttering curtain. It didn’t take us very long to whip back to the Senior’s Center, and this time, I meant business. I knew exactly what I was looking for, what to ask. I leaned my broom against the building and strolled right in, Luna still curled up around my shoulders. I marched straight up to the front desk, where Janelle was seated and smiling brightly.
“Well, hi again!” she chirped cheerily.
“Hi, Janelle,” I greeted her, smiling back.
“You must be very popular here to come back so often,” she commented. “Most of the time, we don’t get the same visitors over and over like this. The people who do visit seldom come back often. It’s kind of sad, actually. I think our residents really appreciate seeing someone come by so frequently. Probably makes them feel loved.”
“Mhmm. Yes. That is why I come here so often,” I said, lying through my teeth. It felt awful, just downright scummy, to lie to someone as nice and genuine as Janelle. Now that I thought about it, I could actually remember her a little bit from school. She had been awfully quiet, the kind of girl you could easily miss if you didn’t actively seek her out. She always sat in the back of class and doodled pictures.
When I wracked my brain, I could remember one solid memory of her back then. We had been put into a group together for an assignment in Augury class, to learn the basics of fortune-reading and predilection. We were assigned the task of creating our own tarot deck, recalling the archetypes and arcana from memory. Janelle had turned out to be the star of our little group, because she was very artistic. She designed each card herself, drawing and coloring in the beautiful, intricate designs like it was nothing at all. We were all so impressed with her that we had to tell the professor that she deserved a higher mark than the rest of us because without her solid art skills, our project would not have done as well as it did. And that was all I really remembered about Janelle.
“Hey, Janelle, do you still draw?” I asked suddenly.
She blinked at me in confusion at first, startled, as though she had never been asked that question before. Then a slow smile crept over her sweet face. She nodded. “Yes. I do. Not professionally or anything because, well, this is my job. But I do make art for fun on my down time. I’m surprised you remember that!”
“Yeah, your tarot deck was one of the coolest projects I ever got to work on,” I told her honestly. Her face lit up and her cheeks went pink.
“Oh, thank you. That’s so sweet. I haven’t thought about that in a long time,” she laughed, shaking her head. “I think I still have that homemade deck kicking around somewhere in my parents’ attic, probably. Anyway! Did you need to sign in again today?”
“No, actually, I was wondering if I could look at the records again,” I told her, hoping that our bonding moment was enough to make her less suspicious of my intentions with their security records. I had a feeling they didn’t normally show this kind of stuff to just any random person who walked in off the street.
“Oh? For the same day as before again?” she asked, frowning slightly.
I quickly smiled, trying to put her at ease. “No, no. I was wondering if I could see today’s sheet. Maybe from about an hour ago? I just want to see if my, uh, relative’s friend has been out and about today.”
“I thought it was your friend’s relative?” she asked, only the tiniest edge of doubt in her voice. I waved my hand dismissively and laughed, perhaps a little too loud.
“Yes, yes. You’re right. Sorry, slip of the tongue,” I said hastily.
She smiled again, and I relaxed. “Alright then,” she said, rifling through some folders in front of her. She extracted a sheet and handed it over to me.
I checked it, scanning for Elton’s and Gertrude’s names. They were nowhere to be found. They hadn’t signed out. My heart skipped a beat. If they were out today - and I knew they were, because I saw them with my own two eyes - and didn’t sign out, then who was to say Elton didn’t do the same thing at the time of Susanna’s murder? The sign-in sheet wasn’t a solid alibi. It could be tampered with, ignored, misinformed.
I was onto something. I handed the sheet back to Janelle and spun back around to leave, only to come face-to-face with Xander Forsetti, who was looming over me with a sour look on his handsome face. I gulped. Uh oh.
“Hello, Miss Mani,” he said in a low, soft voice. He took me gently but firmly by the arm and led me away toward the entrance. Oh no. I was really in for it now.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Just visiting someone,” I lied quickly. He saw right through me.
“No. You’re not. You’re following some kind of lead, I assume, because why else would you be here? You don’t have any relatives here,” he said.
“Maybe it’s not a relative I’m visiting. Wait. Why do you know that?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. “Did you do a background check on, like, my entire family tree or something?”
A flash of something like embarrassment crossed his face and was gone. “No. Well, yes. It’s my business to know things like that.”
“Why? Am I a suspect?” I said, crossing my arms.
“No. You aren’t. But you are meddling in a police investigation. And you did break into the police station. And you just might be obstructing justice if you don’t tell me exactly what you were doing here and what you found out,” he explained matter-of-factly.
“Oh, so we’re comparing notes, now, are we?” I said, kicking myself inwardly for being so coy with a police officer. What was wrong with me? I could feel Luna bristling around my neck, picking up on the tension here.
Xander sighed and ran his hand back through his blond hair. The gesture was equally charming and worrisome. I had a feeling he was going to lay into me, tell me off for talking back to the chief of police in town this way. But instead he just lowered his voice, leaned in closer, and said, “Artemis. A woman is dead. If you know something, you have to tell me.”
I bit my lip. He was right. This wasn’t some scavenger hunt for clues, some fun murder mystery game. This was murder. I whispered, “Okay. Fine. I saw Elton and Gertrude in the woods. They were meeting up to, well, to kiss, like they’re together or something.” Great. What was I, twelve years old? I was definitely avoiding my big girl words when it came to describing the relationship. “So I came back here to check the records, see if they were supposed to be out of the center today.”
“And?” he prompted.
I shook my head. “Neither of them are checked out. I don’t know how they got past security and tricked the staff here, but they lied. As far as the center knows, they’re still here and have been all day.”
“Great,” Xander mumbled. “Elton and Gertrude, that’s just great.”
“What?” I asked, urging him to tell me his thoughts. He hesitated for a moment, and then to my surprise, he actually told me what he was thinking about.
“Since you’ve come this far already on your own, I’ll tell you this. But it is a secret, okay? Extremely important, confidential, alright? Keep it to yourself.”
“Okay. Yes. I get it,” I said, moving my hand in a circular motion to hurry him up.
“The reason Susanna was meeting with a lawyer before she was killed was because she was making Elton Kolbeck the sole beneficiary of her will,” he explained, barely louder than a breath. “He was set to inherit half a million dollars.”
“What?!” I burst out. Xander clapped a hand over my mouth, his blue eyes flashing with warning. I nodded and he took his hand back.
“Sorry,” I murmured.
“Yes,” he said. “It’s true.”
My brain was running along faster than I could keep up. So if Elton was cheating on Susanna all along, maybe he was just using her to get at her money. Maybe Gertrude was his true l
ove all this time, and Susanna was nothing but a cash cow to him. Easy money. All he had to do was play the role of Senior’s Center Romeo and rake in the cash. He had to lot to gain from Susanna’s death, as long as she died believing that he was in love with her.
But so soon? Why would he kill her so soon after being named in her will? It would make things look so suspicious, and it had. Unless he had another reason for cutting her life short. What if she had found out about his cheating? What if she found out about Gertrude and he decided to kill Susanna before she could change her will and cut him out of the money?
“Artemis,” Chief Forsetti said, jerking me back to the present moment. “You’re going to keep that information to yourself, right? Promise me.”
“I promise,” I told him earnestly. “But Chief. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you told me, but what does this mean? Does it mean we’re working together on this?”
“It means,” he began slowly and cautiously, “that I am a police officer using whatever resources are available to me to solve this case. And that includes you.”
I raised an eyebrow, trying not to smile. “Oh, so I’m a resource now instead of just a meddling civilian?”
I could tell he, too, was fighting a smile. But he was better at maintaining his composure than I was. He simply gave me a curt nod. “Don’t let it go to your head.” He gave me an almost imperceptible wink, then coolly turned and walked out of the building, leaving me standing there alone with my heart inexplicably aflutter. A little shiver ran down my spine.
“Artemis,” Luna warned. I swallowed hard. She could always pick up on those little tense moments so well, even though she was just a cat.
“I know, I know. Pull yourself together, Arti,” I whispered back. What the hell was wrong with me? Getting all twisted at the totally non-sexual wink from a man. Not just any man, the chief of police who could very well turn me in for any number of crimes ranging from petty to felony. No. I was single for a reason, and I already had something important on my plate.
To solve this case.
Chapter 16
Back at the B&B, I tried to clear my head by trying out a few changes I was thinking about for the new and improved house. Admittedly, I was starting out pretty conservatively: rearranging chairs on the deck.
Well, in theory I was rearranging chairs on the deck. In practice, I was staring at them hard, arms crossed and brow knit.
“You’ll never move them with your mind, if that’s what you’re waiting for,” Luna said from the roof behind me. I rolled my eyes.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“I’m not telekinetic either,” Luna said. “Believe me, I’ve tried to get canned food open more times than I can count.”
“No, dummy,” I said, glancing back at her. “The deck chairs. How should I move them?”
“They’re comfortable to me in any position,” Luna said lazily. “Besides, they’re fine the way they are. They’re supposed to let you see the sunset, right? Well, the sunset happens right there. You’ve got a front-row view.”
I fought the urge to bite my nails, not taking Luna’s advice to heart.
“You’re overthinking this, Arti,” Luna said, hopping down from the roof and rubbing up against my leg.
I frowned, about to protest, but I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, and I checked it. “Oh,” I said in mild surprise. “Diana’s here.”
“Coming over for sushi night, I hope?” Luna asked, purring, but I ignored her as I went back inside through the glass doors to meet my sister.
Di was looking like her usual self, in a professional, slim black pantsuit with a white pinstripe shirt under it. She was in the kitchen by the time I got in. I had to admit, she was looking a little less stressed-out than usual. We hadn’t seen each other very much since the murder last month, which had had her at wit’s end for about a week straight. It was nice to see her looking a little more relaxed.
“Hey, Di,” I greeted her warmly, meeting her hug.
“Hi, Arti,” she said, and I noticed her gaze was roving around the room. “How’s it uh, going?”
I gave her a puzzled look. “Good. What’s up? You seem a little distracted.” I followed her gaze and realized it was going to the countertops, and I put two and two together in my head. “Mom didn’t send you, did she?”
Diana tilted her head back and forth with a reticent frown. “I mean, not exactly, but-”
“Di…”
“She’s been texting me about it all day,” Diana admitted with a sigh. “I have no idea what she wants me to do.”
“So what, you decided to come over to make sure I’m not having popcorn ceiling put in?” I said with a laugh, raising an eyebrow at my sister. “Or does she want you to come tell me I shouldn’t mess with perfection?”
“A little bit of both?” Di ventured with a sheepish grin, and I rolled my eyes, turning around and holding my hands out to the kitchen.
“Ok, but like, look at this place, Di,” I said. “Really look at it. We’ve got a lot of good stuff I wouldn’t dream of changing.” I pointed to the beams and other exposed wood in the interior that gave off that vibe of a deluxe log cabin that we were famous for. “The wood, mostly. The wood is very good. Windowframes? Fantastic. Natural lighting? Incredible, wouldn’t dream of touching it.”
“That’s fair,” Di said, giving the place a judicious look of her own. That was encouraging, if cautious, because Di had always had the better sense of style in the family. Of course, that made things a little tricky for me trying to redesign the place. Maybe that was really why Di had swung by, to make sure I wasn’t making a disaster of the place.
“So you know what I’m talking about when I say the place has a natural, kind of cozy feeling, right?”
“Sure,” Di humored me, pouring herself some coffee.
“The walls, the counters, and some of the decor,” I said, gesturing to the eggshell walls, the gray granite counters, and the whale and fish imagery hanging from the walls here and there.“Don’t you think it’s a little, I don’t know, dated? Touristy?”
“Arti, we’re a literal tourist destination,” Di pointed out with a flat look.
“I know,” I said. “But we don’t need to look like it, you know? Isn’t the whole point of a B&B to make it feel like guests are staying with relatives instead of a hotel?”
“Well, the way you make it sound, this place does kind of feel like a distant great-aunt’s house,” she said with a faint smile, and I slumped, staring at her.
“Di, you’re not helping.”
“It’s not my job to help,” she said, “I’m just a humble principal, it’s not my place to make big calls like this outside the Academy walls.”
“But Mom sent you over here to watch over me,” I said, putting my hands on my hips.
“Not to watch over you,” Di assured me, rolling her head around on her shoulders. “Arti, it’s Mom. You know she’s only worried that if you start changing things around, it won’t be the same place she built up and lived in for so many years. It’s not even that she’s worried about changing perfection, she’s just worried that it won’t be the same B&B anymore.”
I frowned, putting my hands on the counter and looking out the window for a few moments. “Well, Mom did always like the cozy and familiar kinds of things in life.”
“That’s why she married Dad,” Diana said with a wink, and I smiled. I took my phone out and twirled it around in my hands.
“I think I know what might make her feel better,” I said. “If I’m going to make changes, moon knows I need some help. I’ll get Mom over here and see if she wants to help me pick out a few things, maybe just face the music and tell her some of the things I have in mind.”
“There we go,” Di said as I got to the answer she wanted me to get to from the very beginning. I gave her the stink-eye.
“You know how I feel about getting the little mind-game treatment you give your students,” I said.
She rolled h
er eyes. “I do, but apparently, you’re now too distracted chasing murder mysteries around to figure it out on your own.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “I can kick you out, you know.”
Diana giggled and set a now-empty coffee mug down. I didn’t have time to wonder how she hadn’t scorched her mouth to death before she glided past me and headed toward the door. “I don’t have time to stick around for the bloodbath and/or daughterly bonding; I’ve got a PTA meeting to moderate. Tell Mom I said hi!”
“Let me know if you need backup,” I called after her, “I don’t want to have to solve two murders in one week!”
After she left, I zipped to work tidying up the place. Beth, my housekeeper, was off that day, and I had never been above tidying up on my own. The place wasn’t exactly a mess, either, but whenever Mom came over, I always felt like it had to be impeccable.
That was probably a side-effect of growing up with a mother who never shied away from being honest when I was doing a less-than-stellar job at anything. Thanks, Mom.
But I had to admit, I took things to extremes. When I heard the door open and Mom call “Helloooo!” I was halfway through organizing my pots and pans by size and color. In a panic, I pointed and whispered “auferteroa,” and the pots quickly floated into their cabinets with only a mild round of clanging.
“Hey Mom!” I called back brightly, smoothing my clothes reflexively and sweeping into the living room to meet her.
“Oh good, you haven’t changed anything yet,” she said, her eyes moving around the place almost as quickly as Di’s had. I rolled my eyes.
“Yeesh, you two don’t have any faith in me at all here, do you?”
“Oh, you’re fine, honey,” she said, meeting me for a quick hug and moving into the kitchen with me. “I just remember that time you got a hold of some of the paint your father was using for the shed and decided to redecorate your room.”
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