Dying to be a Star: The India Kirby Witch Mystery (Book 1)

by Sarah Kelly

  “Who would think to do that?” India thought through the suspects. “So we have Mark, Gianna and Hayden. All in the house at the time.”

  “Unless it’s an outsider.”

  “I don’t think so,” India said. “I think it was the same person. But why did they kill Answer? Maybe she found out about the first murder and confronted them.”

  Xavier placed the cheese stuffed crust back in the box. He always saved them until last. “But why wouldn’t she just have told us? It was only a few hours since we took her oils, until we came back to bring her in for questioning. Surely she couldn’t have found out in that window of time?”

  “It does seem unlikely,” India admitted. “This is all so confusing.”

  Xavier moved closer to her and weaved his arm around her waist. “Why don’t we just stop thinking about it for now. We’re in such a nice place.”

  “You’re right,” India said, snuggling into his shoulder. “We should just enjoy the peace and quiet for now.” Still, her thoughts tied themselves into knots about motives and means and suspects.

  Xavier sighed as he picked up another slice. “You’re still thinking about it, aren’t you?”

  “I’m trying not to.”

  “Me too.” He pulled away. “It’s changed everything.”

  India heard the sadness in his voice. “What do you mean?” she asked, concerned.

  “It’s nothing for you to worry about,” he said. “It’s okay.”

  “I can tell that it isn’t. Please don’t shut up like a clam on me. Tell me.”

  He sighed and looked out over the shoreline. “Well, you see how my job can be sometimes. It’s either a drag doing parking tickets, or… well, I’ve got Kimble on my back at times. And…”

  India put her hand on his arm, trying to be supportive. “And…?”

  “Well, I used to really enjoy coming out for pizza with you. It was like, the one place where my headspace could be totally clear. I didn’t have to think about work or anything. But now…”

  India felt a lump rise in her throat. She knew what he was going to say.

  “But now I just… oh, I don’t know.”

  “You feel like you can’t switch off,” she finished for him. “And it’s not…” Her voice threatened to dry right up. “It’s… not the same.”

  He looked down at his feet. “No, it’s not.”

  India felt an ache in her chest. She reached over to his chin and turned it toward her. “Zave…”

  His eyes, as they briefly met hers, were wide and full of anguish. He quickly snapped his gaze away. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Let’s just go.”

  “But I thought you’d want to do this case together,” she said. “I thought you’d be happy.”

  He stood up and dusted the sand off the front of his slacks. India looked down at the pizza box and realized he hadn’t even touched the stuffed crusts, his favorite.

  “I don’t want to leave our conversation like this,” she said. “Please, just talk to me. We can work it out.”

  “Sorry, In,” he said. She was glad to hear him call her by that name. “I have to work this out by myself.”

  She wanted to keep pushing, to get their connection back. That connection that made her feel safe, and loved, and all warm inside. But she sensed it was not the right moment. “All right,” she said, picking up the pizza box. “We’ll talk another time.”

  On the way back to the car, he put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I didn’t mean to make you sad or anything.”

  It felt like a storm raged in her chest. She didn’t know whether she wanted to cry or to beg him to talk or to push him away. Through the chaos, she heard a whisper. Luis said, Everything is all right. Everything will be just fine.

  With a new sense of calm, she looked up into Xavier’s earnest dark eyes. Feeling her heart swell with love, she wrapped her arms around his chest and squeezed him tight. “It’s okay. We’ll work it out in the end.” Holding onto that faith helped her. He was her lighthouse in stormy seas. There was no way it could all fall apart. She couldn’t let that happen.

  CHAPTER 7

  They say a good night’s sleep fixes a lot of things, but India woke up feeling just as bad about things between her and Xavier as she had the previous night. Plus, her calm confidence that everything would work out was replaced by a gnawing worry at the pit of her stomach. She gobbled up two pain au chocolat and a plateful of cantaloupe slices, but still felt empty.

  She couldn’t imagine going to work, sitting at the top of that lifeguard stand and doing nothing all day. She had enjoyed her work before, basking in the sun amongst the palm trees, in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Now, all she’d be able to think about would be the murders, and she just knew she’d be itching to jump right off the stand and go barrelling into the beach house with a thousand questions. She’d worked Saturday before the party where Onyx had been killed, and had Sunday and Monday off as usual. But Tuesday had rolled around far too quickly and she felt drained and wired, both at once. There was no way she’d make an adequate lifeguard, the way she was feeling.

  Still in her pajamas, she made a quick call to her colleague Brett, whose girlfriend had just had their first baby. Money was tight for them and he took overtime and extra hours wherever he could get them. “I’m there,” he said.

  “Thanks, superstar,” she replied.

  “You heard about the murders, right?”

  She didn’t have the energy to go into an explanation. She’d have to fill him in another time. “Yeah, just horrible.”

  “My girlfriend’s pretty shaken up about it. Always jumping and looking over her shoulder. Hope you’re okay, living there alone.”

  “Oh, I’m fine,” India said. “They’re not targeting random people. Definitely not. I think most everyone in Benton Point is safe.”

  But when she hung up the phone, she felt uneasy. Even though it was a bright morning, and everything was normal, she couldn’t help imagining some killer hiding in her closet, or by the side of her house, waiting to snatch her as she left to take the bus. Her heart pounding, she tried to coax the killer’s face into view – was it Gianna? Mark? Hayden? – but all she could think of were the horror movies she and Amy had devoured in their teens, squealing, clutching each other, and accidentally knocking the popcorn bowl down and pieces spilling all over the living room. Michael Myers. Freddy Krueger. Ghostface.

  The wind chimes began to tinkle outside, and she jumped, clutching her chest. In a moment she realized there had only been a strong breeze, and she laughed at herself. Trying to shake herself out of her jumpy mood, she switched on the TV and flicked it on some kiddy cartoon station.

  She went to fix herself a banana peanut butter smoothie, trying to get the case out of her mind. Maybe Xavier was right. Everything seemed to have been consumed by it – their time together, and pretty much every waking thought she had. Maybe today she’d head out to the gym and try to sweat some of the stress away, before catching a movie and a KFC in the next town. By the time she would get home, Xavier would be off from work and they could have their sorely needed chat. Perhaps another tender kiss…

  But as she chopped the bananas, she heard the Scooby Doo gang deliberating. It had been one of her favorite shows as a kid.

  “This sure is a mystery,” Fred said.

  Velma’s voice rang through the room loud and clear. “Who was that figure we saw down at the lake?”

  “The butler did it,” India said, laughing. “Or the rich old white guy who invited you there in the first place.” As she scooped the peanut butter into the blender, she wished real life were that simple. And soon, her compulsion had gotten the better of her.

  She called Xavier.

  “Hey,” he said. “Last night… Let’s not dwell on it, right?”

  India smiled. “Right. I just wanted to let you know that I’m going back to the house today, to try speak with everyone else. I just can’t
get the case off my mind.”

  Xavier let out a long breath. “I know you can’t. I can’t either. It’s like we’re obsessed.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “Well, go ahead if you want. It’s a free world. Kimble will get annoyed if I tell him, so I won’t, but try not to poke them too hard. He’ll be coming to question them in the next couple of days, I guess, and he won’t be pleased if they’re fed up of answering questions.”

  “Okay,” India said. “I know I’m overstepping my bounds, but…”

  “I know,” Xavier replied. “I was thinking, let’s go out tonight. But not to Frankie’s. Let’s eat something totally different.”

  India smiled. “Like what?”

  “What about Indian? I feel like something real hot.”

  “Perfect,” she said. “I’m putting on the pounds with all that pizza dough.”

  “Still look beautiful to me, babe.”

  “You’re sweet.”

  “No, you’re sweet,” he said. “Anyways, gotta go. You know why.”

  That meant Kimble was breathing down his neck.

  “All right, babe,” she said. “See you later.”

  Now, down to business. She took a quick shower and slipped into a billowing black dress. After pulling her hair into a sleek inside out French braid and slipping on her darkest aviators, she was out the door and waiting on a bus to take her up to the mansion. Time to catch a killer.

  ***

  “Oh my god,” Gianna said, looking up at India on the step. She rummaged through one of the plastic bags in the hallway and drew out a bottle of olive oil, a package of salad, and a bag of expensive looking vine tomatoes. This time, she was her usual put together self, with bright crimson lips and a white dress covered in deep red poppy print. Her auburn hair was arranged in perfect waves. “You again.”

  “Yes,” India said. “Hi.”

  A delivery truck was parked in the driveway, and a uniformed man carried shopping bags into the kitchen. Gianna took only her three cherry picked items and stalked behind him to one the granite kitchen counters. India manoeuvred around the bags, followed her into the kitchen and stood a little way off, wondering if Gianna was a killer. Her lipstick reminded India of blood.

  “I know you must be pretty sick of me right now,” India said.

  “I’m sick of this whole business,” Gianna said, retrieving a knife and chopping board. She got to work on the tomatoes and lettuce. “I just want to get out of here. To go home.”

  “Where is home, may I ask?”

  She glanced back at India, her eyes bright with anger. “Not that it’s any of your business, I don’t know. I travel with my clients.” She looked over at the uniformed man, who was obviously listening. “You can leave now,” she said, as sharp as the knife edge.

  India tried to tread carefully. “I don’t mean to be rude, but you just said you wanted to go home. Then you implied you don’t really have a fixed home. So what did you mean?”

  “I don’t know what I meant,” Gianna snapped. “This murder business is frying my brain.”

  India could understand that. But was it frying her brain because she was terrified, or because she was cracking under the weight of her guilt? “Are you scared they might target you next?”

  “Of course. But more…”

  India sat down at the kitchen table, trying to give off a casual, friendly air so Gianna would open up. “More…?”

  “Detective Kimble’s made it plain we’re the three suspects, me, Mark and Hayden, and he thinks the two murders are connected, with the same killer.”

  India thought the same.

  “So if it’s not me, which it isn’t, I have to face the fact that either… my employer, or… Hayden… is the killer.”

  India spoke softly. “I can understand why you didn’t want to tell me about you and Hayden before. You wanted to protect him, didn’t you?”

  Gianna sighed as she arranged her salad in a bowl. “Yes. It wasn’t that I thought he did it. I thought it was Answer, to be honest. But now she’s dead, I suppose that’s not true.”

  “Unless…” said India, her excitement mounting as an idea formed in her head. “Maybe Answer was Onyx’s killer. And then someone killed her in revenge. Maybe Hayden, because he told me that even though he loved you, he was still very fond of Erica and cared about her a great deal. Or maybe it was Mark who killed Answer. It was totally clear he hated her.”

  Gianna shook her head and sat down at the kitchen table. “I don’t know. It’s all too scary to even think about.”

  “What about you and Answer? Did you get along?”

  “I didn’t kill her, if that’s what you mean.” Gianna picked at a lettuce leaf, then dropped it back down in the bowl. “I can’t eat this. I need a cigarette.”

  India watched her as she pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up. “You didn’t seem to like her all that much last time we spoke.”

  “Look, I don’t really know,” Gianna said, taking a drag. “I don’t think she was as holy as she made out, but I haven’t got anything against her. I barely even talked to her. We both did what we were employed to do for Erica, and that was it.”

  India nodded, believing her. She wondered if Gianna had killed Onyx, then tried to frame Answer by putting poison in her essential oils. Maybe then she’d spread the news of India and Xavier coming over to test the essential oils, and then either Hayden or Mark had killed Answer, trying to avenge their beloved Onyx? After all, it seemed both men had deep ties with her. But how would Gianna know they were testing the essential oils, unless Answer had told her? That seemed unlikely, given their lack of relationship. India’s mind raced, trying to make sense of it all. She decided to go back to her initial theory, that Answer had indeed killed Onyx, for the 50% cut she was promised in the will.

  “Did you know,” she said gently, “that Hayden was going to propose to you?”

  Gianna paused, her eyes widening. “No. I had no idea.”

  India got the sense she was lying, but played along. “Yes, he had a ring picked out in your favorite color.”

  “An emerald?” Gianna asked, then took another drag.

  “Your favorite color is green?”

  Gianna’s eyes darted from the left, to the right, and then back again. “I think so.”

  “Not purple?”

  Something in Gianna’s demeanor softened. Relaxed. “Ooh, I forgot about purple. That color is gorgeous.”

  India forced a smile. “It is.” Something was definitely off, but she had no idea what. “Would you have accepted his proposal?”

  “Definitely,” Gianna said, then blew out a cloud of smoke. “Looks like I dodged a bullet there, huh?”

  “So you think he did it? That he killed Onyx because he wanted her out of the way, and then Answer because she knew something? Or maybe Answer killed Onyx for the money, then Hayden murdered her because he found out?”

  Gianna put her head in her hands, her cigarette poking out between her slim, manicured fingers. Her nails were bright red that day. “I have no idea.”

  India paused for a moment. “And where were you when Answer was killed?”

  “I was out taking a walk around the grounds.”

  Classic murder mystery excuse, India thought. “Did anyone see you?”

  Gianna sighed. “No.” How convenient. “But I didn’t do it. And I’m struggling to believe that either Mark or Hayden would be capable of such a thing.”

  India tapped on the table, beginning to feel anxious for a reason she couldn’t put her finger on. “I don’t see who else it could be. Other than you.”

  “Maybe it was someone else at the party, and then they sneaked into Erica’s room and killed Answer.”

  “That’s a good point,” India said, remembering something that had slipped her mind. “I don’t think it’s an intruder, but why was Answer in Onyx’s room anyways?”

  Gianna sniffed. “Looking for money, probably.”

  A
long silence followed. Gianna took a long drag from her cigarette and blew it out through her nose. “Maybe it was Mark.”

  “Go on.”

  “Or maybe it was Hayden. To know the man you’re sleeping with is a cold-blooded killer? You don’t know what that’s like.”

  India frowned. “Why do you say to know? It’s like you know Hayden did it.”

  Gianna shot to her feet. “It’s just words, okay? Don’t put me on the spot. I don’t even know what I’m saying these days. Like I told you, my brain is fried.”

  “Okay,” India said calmly, hoping she could calm Gianna down enough that they could discuss further.

  “I don’t even know why I’m talking to you. This whole thing is a nightmare. That’s the last I’m going to say to you, forever.”

  “But that seems a bit—”

  “I don’t care what it seems.” She was shouting now. “I don’t want to speak to you again. Ever. Don’t come and ask me any more questions, or you’ll regret it. Is that clear?”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  With that, Gianna stalked out of the kitchen and slammed the door behind her.

  India sat at the kitchen table feeling more confused than ever. Why had Gianna just switched so quickly?

  There were so many theories swimming around in her head, too. Was the killer the same for both crimes, or different? Was Answer killed in revenge for the first killing that she herself had committed? Or was she knocked off because she’d found out who the murderer was? It seemed there was no way to tell.

  India had a gut feeling that Gianna wasn’t the murderer, but immediately she recalled Luis’ words from a previous meeting. Listen to your intuition, but don’t you go trusting it, okay, girl? All kinda things can mess it right up, ‘specially our own feelings. Just hear what it have to say, but don’t believe it’s the truth right away. Test it.

  She took a long breath out of her mouth, like she was exhaling smoke, too, and told herself she could do this. She was capable. She could crack this case. It was hard to keep the faith with her mind tangled up, but she’d just have to unpick all the thoughts and theories, and get them in order. Surely the truth would out eventually.