“So-how did you like your tour of my beautiful farm?” she asked, giving me a one armed hug as she passed me. “Did Hank show you everything?”
“I guess so. What he showed me was awesome. I knew you were doing well, but just seeing all those fields and fields of flowers was out of this world.”
She looked pleased. “Yes. Jimmy’s family built a wonderful business here. I only wish he could have stuck around a little longer to enjoy all this success.”
“I’m sure he would be proud of what you’ve done with it.”
“I hope so. And I managed to keep the land. It wasn’t easy. Kyle tried every way he could think of the wrench it away from me.”
“What did he want it for?”
“More grapes, of course. As if he didn’t own half the grapes in the universe already.” She looked a bit embarrassed. “Well, that’s an exaggeration, but doesn’t it seem like everywhere you turn, grapes are staring you in the face?” She grinned suddenly. “He was especially angry about that little spit of land we have that shoots right through the heart of his vineyards and ends just below his pool area, practically dumping out into his house. He hated that we had that. And if he’d been nice about it, I might have negotiated something with him. After all, that small area takes about half of Hank’s time. Somehow something is always going wrong there. We’ve got it planted in red roses right now.” She laughed. “I liked to kid him, saying it was the heart of the valley, all those red roses. That made him gnash his teeth and growl.”
Interesting, but not quite what I felt we needed to talk about, and she looked like she was floating away on memories. Silence reigned again and I realized I was going to have to stir the pot if I wanted to get anything out of her.
“So, did you get a chance to talk to Caroline?” I asked her as I hung the damp towel on the oven door.
She looked up as though she was surprised I was still there.
“Yes,” she said. “We had a long talk.”
I waited a couple of minutes but it soon became obvious she wasn’t going to volunteer much more. “Did she confess to you?” I asked bluntly, partly because I was just tired of all this walking on eggshells around the subject.
Bebe didn’t act surprised to be challenged in quite that way. She just sighed and slumped down into a chair. “No,” she said, then looked at me. “How do you know I didn’t do it?”
I sat down across the counter from her. “Did you?”
She shook her head slowly. “I didn’t have as much reason as others,” she said carefully. “But I had my own problem with the man.”
My breath caught in my throat and suddenly my heart was beating wildly. I was scared—scared of what she was going to reveal to me. I didn’t say a word.
She looked at me. “You do realize he was a scum bag, don’t you? You know he used people and threw them away. You heard Sherry.”
I put a hand to my mouth. “Aunt Bebe, tell me you didn’t kill Kyle Madronna.”
She put her hands on either side of my face and looked so sincere, butter wouldn’t have melted in her mouth—or whatever that crazy saying was.
“Baby darling, I didn’t kill Kyle. I never even wanted to. So you can rest easy on that score.”
I believed her. I felt relief coursing through my body. “I’m sorry. But, it’s all so unnerving…”
“I know.”
“And someone did.”
“Yes. I suppose so.”
“Who do you think it was?”
She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. “I don’t want to speculate. But I do want to tell you about me and Kyle.”
I shook my head. “You don’t have to.”
“Yes. I do.” She made a face and gave a short laugh. “I realize this is more to try to ease my sense of guilt than to enlighten anyone, but here goes.” She looked at me questioningly.
I took in a deep breath and steeled myself. “Okay,” I said in a shaky voice. “Tell me.”
She nodded, but it still took time to gather her thoughts and find a way to open up. She put her elbows on the counter and leaned forward, her chin on her folded hands.
“Kyle was already set up like the king of the valley when I moved here, right after Jimmy and I got married. I was in awe of him at first. He seemed important and rich and full of arrogance. But little by little, I learned to deal with him. Still, he was always the rich guy up the hill.”
I nodded. I could see that.
“After ten years of marriage, Jimmy died. It was a crazy time for me. Losing Jimmy made me lose my mind, in a way. It was like my brain was a Rubik’s cube and all the little blocks that made it up went out of whack. I did all sorts of things I never, ever do. Kyle was the sort of predator who sensed weakness and came in for the kill. You know what I mean?”
I nodded again, even though I wasn’t really sure I did know.
“He and Caroline weren’t married yet, but she was around, and she had become my best friend pretty quickly. We really got along. And I was flattered—like an idiot—when Kyle acted like he was attracted to me. I was weak. He came after me. And when I found myself about to have an affair with Kyle, found myself in that jerk’s arms with his mouth on mine…” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as though she could clean up the memory retroactively. “I was such a fool, such a lost soul. I hardly knew what I was doing. But when he said something nasty about Caroline, it seemed like the cube went back into order, like every little chunk clicked into place again, and suddenly I could see reality. I came to my senses and ordered him out of my house, out of my life. It just came to me in a flash and I acted. Thank God. And I tried to stay as far away from him as I could from then on.”
“So you never actually….?”
“No.” She shivered. “It would have been an insult to Jimmy’s memory.”
I nodded. “Did Caroline ever know?”
“I never told her. Who knows what Kyle might have said.”
“Wow.” I took a deep breath and tried to smile at her. “I can see that you regret what happened…but actually, nothing much did happen, did it? You got your strength back and took care of it. So… .”
She shook her head. “Something happened alright. I developed a deep anger toward the man. And the way he treated Caroline, once they were married, only made that worse.”
I nodded. I could see that.
“I’m going to the police. Tomorrow. I’ll tell them everything.”
I made a face. “Why?”
“Why?” She thought for a minute, then smiled at me. “Because I think Adrian did it. He’s every bit as despicable as his father was. He has the most motive as far as I can see. And I know he’s making Caroline miserable. I wouldn’t put it past him to try to frame her for the whole thing. I just want it all to stop.”
“How will throwing the light of suspicion on yourself stop anything?”
She threw her hands out, palms up. “I don’t know. But maybe they’ll stop harassing Caroline for a bit and start looking around at other people a little more closely. The poor thing is about to have a nervous breakdown.”
“So you think you should have one instead and save her the trouble?” I took her hands in mine. “Bebe, you don’t have to try to make this your mess to clean up. You didn’t do it. You can’t throw yourself on that pyre. The truth will out.”
I went on in this vein for some time but she didn’t budge. The best I could make of her reasoning seemed to be that her having almost succumbed to Kyle’s attempts at seduction had been so heinous, she had to pay back humanity by giving herself up for the hate crime of disliking the man too intensely. It didn’t make a lot of sense—but then nothing did lately.
Her cell rang. It was Michael. I glanced at the clock and noted that it had been over an hour since he’d offered to give Sherry a five-minute ride home. But that was just me being cynical again.
Bebe looked relieved and I gave her a wave to indicate I was off to bed, and she waved back. I pulled out my own cell and saw
that Nolan had texted about an hour before. Seeing his name gave me a surge of adrenalin, but I fought it. I hesitated, then decided against just deleting his message, sight unseen. I clicked it open.
Hey Mele-heard about the murder. You okay? Give me a call.
It gave me a start to know he knew about what was going on in my neck of the woods without me telling him-but why not? He was a detective in Santa Barbara so of course he saw it all. And it did give me a tiny, tiny warm feeling to know he’d cared enough to try to contact me. But I wasn’t going to answer. It was much too soon for that. So I shut down my phone and blocked Nolan out of my mind and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.
I was brushing my teeth when I saw him in the mirror-my ghost, my apparition. I gasped and choked on the toothpaste, then whirled. But of course, he wasn’t really there. Only in the mirror.
I looked there again and stared at him. He was hazy, but clearer than I’d ever seen him before. My heart was pounding so loud, I was sure Bebe could hear it from the kitchen. I stared some more and tried to catch my breath.
He was gorgeous. Tall and strong, his shoulders wide, his faint smile just knowing enough to be intriguing. His glossy dark brown hair was badly in need of cutting, with curls falling down over his forehead. His skin was golden brown, a startling contrast to his brilliant blue eyes. He was so obviously from the islands, and also “hapa haole” as we say in Hawaii—half Hawaiian, half Caucasian-just like I am.
He was smiling as though he knew me-and in a way, I suppose he did.
“Who are you?” I managed to get out in a husky voice, still staring at him in the mirror. “What do you want?”
He looked pained, as though he wished I’d left well enough alone and dispensed with the questions. And slowly, he began to fade.
“No, wait!” I cried. “Tell me who you are!”
But he was gone. I put a hand to my mouth, holding back any more words and feeling like I had to cry.
“Mele?”
Bebe was knocking on the bathroom door.
“Are you alright?”
I pulled the door open and faced her. I was shaking like a leaf. “Bebe.” I grabbed her hand and made her come with me into the bedroom. I sat on the bed and pulled her down next to me.
“Okay,” I said, my voice quaking, “first tell me about Aunty Jane. Who is she?”
Bebe shook her head. “You saw her again?”
I nodded.
Bebe looked incredulous. “She talked to you?”
“Sure.” I searched her eyes. “You see her, don’t you?”
She nodded her head slowly, looking bemused. “She never talks to me.”
“But…she takes your roses.”
“Of course. How am I going to stop her?”
My mind was in a whirl and I wasn’t sure what I was asking, what I wanted to tell her, what I wanted to know. I took a deep breath.
“Do you see him?”
Her eyes widened. “Who?”
“The man.”
Bebe shook her head slowly. “No. I’ve never seen a man.”
I took a shuddering breath and tried to calm myself.
“You do?”
I nodded. She started to smile.
“Is he very handsome?”
I nodded again and her smile became a grin. I started to pull away, getting angry. Couldn’t she see how important this was to me right now? But she only held on more tightly and made me face her.
“Mele, listen. I see Aunty Jane. I’ve seen her since I was a kid in Hawaii.”
“How did she follow you here to California?”
“You’re asking me?” She put a hand to her throat. “How do I know? She’s been here from the beginning, just as though she was sent along with me to help in my new marriage in the old-fashioned way.”
“That’s…that’s nuts.”
Bebe sighed as though I was taking it all too seriously. “Granma Kalena, our tutu, used to see her, too. No one else sees her, but now you do. I never get close enough to talk to her. But now you have.”
I stared into her eyes. “Why me?”
“Why not you? Grandma Kalena taught you well. I was never such a good student of the old ways.”
I just shook my head.
She smiled and sighed. “At night, I hear the Menehune,” she offered.
That made me smile too. “What do they sound like to you?”
She thought for a minute. “Just voices, mostly whispering. Mostly I can’t tell what they’re saying. But they feel so real. You know?”
I nodded. I’d heard them too. “I know.”
She shrugged. “But that’s all.”
“And you don’t see him.”
“No.”
I looked at the moon through the open window. “His name is Dante. I don’t know how I know that. I first saw him when I was fourteen.”
“Dante. Sounds Italian, not Hawaiian.”
“I know.” I shrugged. “Maybe that’s just a name I made up for him on my own. I’m not sure.”
“Mmm. He sounds romantic. And I think that is probably the point.”
I wanted to ask her what she meant, but when it came down to it, I was scared to. I was afraid there would be something there...something about me that I didn’t really want to know.
She threaded her fingers with mine. “How often do you see him?”
“I…well, lately, a couple of times. But I hadn’t seen him since I left Hawaii at eighteen. Five…almost six years ago. I thought…I thought he was sort of part of adolescence.”
“Uh oh. Wish fulfillment dream?”
I winced. I wasn’t one of those. “No. Nothing like that.”
“Hmm.”
“Why is he back?” I looked deeply at her as though if I looked hard enough, I might find my answer. “Am I just crazy? Did Granma Kalena brainwash me?”
Despite all this, I thought of my grandmother with nothing but love. She’d practically raised me, since my mother was mostly absent even before she actually took off for good. When my grandmother died, she left a hole even bigger and more painful than my mother left when she disappeared. And both happened around the same time, when I was fourteen.
“Granma Kalena was a wonderful woman. She was determined to teach us the traditions of her clan, to make sure we didn’t forget.”
“Right.” I was skeptical. “She was a little nutty herself, don’t you think? And she wanted us to be nutty in the same way.” I sighed heavily. “And now it seems I am.”
“You’re not crazy.”
I smiled at her, though my lips were trembling. “Maybe not. But I’m not sane either.”
“You’re plenty sane. Once you settle down and get used to being here….”
“Yes, I know. Once I stop being paranoid, I’ll be fine. I’ve heard it before.”
She drew me into a tight hug. “I know you’ve been through the mill, darling. Your mother disappeared when you were still really a child and your father was never very hands-on in the affection department. It was hard for you and I know you were damaged.”
Damaged. Was that what they called it when you were a small child and everyone who made up your immediate family seemed to abandon you, one by one? Probably. Well, I certainly had my share of that.
But I shook my head hard, denying it all. “I’m fine.”
“Yes. You’re very fine. And you’ve done it all yourself.” She kissed my cheek. “Relax now. Let life carry you for awhile. Just be you and enjoy it.”
“I’m trying.” I thought of Nolan and how he’d broken my heart and how I might never love again and I couldn’t help but wonder why Dante was stalking me now. Did it have something to do with that? What was the use? I was going to have to tell him to leave me alone. Just as soon as I figured out how to do that.
Chapter Ten
That bike ride must have really tired me out because I fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow. And that was lucky, because I woke up again at about 2, my eyes wide open and
staring into the night, and I knew it was going to be awhile before I would be able to sleep again.
What had woken me?
Voices. I’d been dreaming.
But wait. I could still hear them. Just a low buzz. I held my breath and tried to make out the words. It was probably just the menehune again. That made me smile. It was almost as though my Hawaii was calling me back, wasn’t it?
“Come back, be a child of the tropics again. We miss you, Melelani. Come back.”
Suddenly there was a deep, abiding ache in my heart, a longing for…what exactly? I wasn’t sure. But I couldn’t stay in bed any longer. I got up and went to the window and looked out at the moonlit night. The moon had touched the landscape with silver, as though a handful of fairy dust had been tossed into the wind. It looked so very different from the day. I stared out, wondering if I should go out and join the night dreamers.
Sami was climbing on the fence. He walked along it in the moonlight, stopping to sniff, and then, suddenly, he stretched up and poked his head into one of the birdhouses. Silly cat.
That was when I realized there was someone in the front yard, someone searching for something. Again.
I couldn’t see well enough to tell who it was. I couldn’t quite get the angle to where the person came into focus. But I should be able to tell once I threw open the front door and confronted them!
I started down the hall, trying to keep as quiet as possible so as not to scare the intruder off before I got a crack at him. Anger was boiling up inside me.
And then it came to me in a flash—this was nuts. Someone had just been killed in that front yard, killed in broad daylight. And I wanted to go out there in the dark? Was I crazy?
I hesitated, wondering if Bebe had a gun, or maybe even a sword. I’d feel a little better if I was armed with something to protect myself. Oh well. No time for that now. How could I let this opportunity slip away just because I might get killed? No time for wimps. I steeled myself and pulled the front door open as quietly as I could and stepped out onto the porch.
Someone or something was crouched behind the camellia bush just off the steps.
“Hey,” I said as boldly as I could manage with my voice shaking the way it was. “What are you doing here?”
A Ghost for Christmas (Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 1) Page 6