The Coral Killer

by Anna Travis

  “Hi!” she called. “The chicken smells good!”

  “Thanks!” the man said. “What are you up to, miss? Enjoying the boats?”

  “Yeah,” Ruby said. “I’ve always loved paddling up into the neighborhoods. So much to see. And things change constantly, with all the vacationers coming and going… You on vacation?”

  “No,” he said. “I grew up over on the mainland, up by Jensen.” The grill sizzled and hissed, and the man flipped the chicken with a big metal spatula. “I live here now, but not sure if I’ll stay.”

  “Really?” Ruby asked, her curiosity peaked. “Why not?”

  “Eh, I don’t know,” he said. The man rubbed a hand through his salt and pepper hair. “I retired, but now that push comes to shove, I’m not sure I was really ready for it. The quiet’s driving me nuts. They had an opening for a science teacher, so I’m going back next week. Pretty long drive though, so I might move back.”

  Ruby paddled in place. Her eyes darted towards Grumpy’s house, and she was certain she saw the curtain wiggle. She turned back to the griller.

  “Is that what you taught before? Science?” Ruby asked. Maybe if she was friendly, he would give her some information on Grumpy.

  “Oh, yeah,” he said. “Wouldn’t want to teach anything else!”

  “You sound like my little brother,” Ruby smiled. The guy was starting to remind her of Timothy and his computers.

  He waved the spatula at her.

  “You look familiar. Have I seen you around here before?”

  Ruby glanced over at the Driftwood Lane side of the canal and tried not to frown when she saw Grumpy’s eye peering around the curtain. Before she could answer, the teacher snapped his fingers.

  “You’re the rental girl, right? With the SUP board the other week!” he said. “You found that poor cleaning lady, didn’t you?”

  Ruby’s face turned crimson.

  “Yeah, that was me,” she admitted.

  “What on earth are you doing here then?” he asked, a look of concern spreading across his face. “I would think this place would give you the creeps.”

  Ruby pulled out her water bottle and took a little drink. Her ice was long gone, and the water was starting to get warm.

  “Well, to be honest,” she said, “I was hoping to find some closure.” Ruby tilted her head towards Grumpy’s house. “The neighbor came flying in when we found the cleaning lady, grabbed the snake and everything. But when I saw him in here the other day, well, he was really rude. Even got security to make sure I left. Made me wonder, you know?”

  “I’ll bet,” the teacher said. He shoved his hands in his khaki pockets. “That doesn’t really add up… Are you talking about Gambino?”

  “Yes!” Ruby said.

  “That doesn’t surprise me a bit,” the teacher said. “Gambino is a total grump. And he’s always digging around the bushes, it’s weird.”

  “Lots of people mess with their bushes,” Ruby said.

  “No, not his bushes. The bushes in the rental house next to him,” the man paused. “Where you found that lady dead.”

  “What? Are you sure?” Ruby asked. “Have you ever seen what he’s doing?”

  The teacher shook his head, and Ruby turned her board. She frowned at Grumpy’s house and then turned her best smile at the teacher.

  “Well, your grill has my stomach growling,” she said and started paddling. “I think I’m going to head home. Good luck with the teaching!”

  “Thanks! Oh, hey— Wait!”

  Ruby lifted her paddle out of the water, coasting a bit.

  “Do y’all ever offer those eco tours?” he asked. “You know, the ones where you paddle around in kayaks and check out the science stuff?”

  “Of course we do,” Ruby said.

  “Man, that’s great!” he said. “The school told me I need to take the lab kids on a science trip once a semester. Maybe we could work something out?”

  Ruby beamed and pointed at the logo on her hat.

  “West’s Quests… Just check out the website. I’m sure we can come up with a great field trip for you, Mr…?”

  “Fletcher, miss!” he called, turning back to the grill as it hissed at him again. “And thanks! I’ll check it out!”

  Chapter Thirteen

  G rannie met Ruby as she came in through the porch door.

  “There you are, Ruby,” she said. “What have you been up to?”

  Ruby hung up her keys. “I went for a paddle after Joe came to watch the rentals.”

  “That’s nice dear,” Grannie said as they headed into the AC. “Do you have plans? I was thinking you could head over to the Nest early with me. Phoebe is making lasagna, and the poor dear has taken it into her head to do it from scratch.”

  “Oh, my,” Ruby said with a shake of head.

  “Never does anything by halves, does she?” Grannie said with a smile. “I figure we can either help Phoebe, or at the very least keep Peter out of the kitchen while she’s pressing noodles.”

  Ruby laughed. Either one would be very helpful to Phoebe, who had high ambitions that were rarely restricted by practical limitations.

  “Just let me rinse off and throw on some clean clothes, all right?” she said, and headed upstairs.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Not long after, Ruby and Grannie pulled up into the West family driveway. Ruby parked around the back of the house and they climbed out of the Jeep. Grannie started towards the house, but Ruby grabbed her by the hand.

  Ruby peeked around the side of the Jeep, scanning the yard.

  “What is it?” Grannie asked.

  “Just want to make sure Peter’s not testing his trebuchet…” Ruby peered up into the tree house and sighed with relief. A red hammock swaying about ten feet above the tree house.

  “Peter?” Ruby called. “Is that you?”

  The hammock shifted and Peter’s head popped out.

  “Course it is!” he bellowed. “You know my hammock’s the red one!”

  Ruby grinned up at him. “I take it we’re safe from egg launching at the moment?”

  Peter saluted Ruby and Grannie.

  “Proceed! Full-speed ahead! All systems go!”

  The ladies shook their heads and giggled as they started for the relative safety of the porch, where they found Ruby’s mother sitting in a rocking chair.

  “Hey, Mama,” Ruby said as she hugged her. “I take it Peter’s moved on from medieval history?”

  Mama West laughed.

  “Yes, but now he’s turned the tree house into a battleship, I think,” she said, sounding somewhat relieved. “He’s been researching the Navy lately.”

  “Oh, good,” Grannie said. “I was hoping to avoid the egg trebuchet!”

  “I’d keep an eye out though,” Mama said with a shake of the head. “I think he’s been pretending that thing’s a canon this week. But at least it’s bolted to the tree house—gives you an idea where to watch out!”

  The women laughed, but then Ruby’s mother dropped her voice.

  “Would you mind checking on Phoebe dear?” she said softly. “She knows how to make the noodles, but I think she may have forgotten how long it all takes.”

  Ruby winked at her mama and went to go find her sister.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  A puff of flour met Ruby as she entered the kitchen.

  “Hey Phoebes!” Ruby called into the fog. “How’s it going?”

  Phoebe waved a hand to clear the air in front of her. There was flour in her blond hair, along with a tiny piece of egg shell.

  Relief spread across her face and Phoebe pulled open a drawer. She grabbed a frilly apron and shoved it at Ruby.

  “Ruffles? Really?” Ruby said, her eyebrow going up.

  “Come on Rubes, tomorrow’s laundry day. I’ve kinda gone through most of the others this week,” Phoebe said, pressing the apron at Ruby. “I thought camping skills month was going to be the end of me, but the kitchen stuff is way harder than I thought it would be
! Mama’s job is no joke!”

  Ruby took the frilly apron and tied it on. She knew exactly how Phoebe felt. All of the West children learned to cook simple meals when they were small, but around fourteen years old the expectations went up. Both of their parents had a whole list of things that they expected their kids to be competent with before they finished high school. It made for an interesting educational experience, and it certainly got rid of any illusions that being a “grown-up” meant getting to do whatever you pleased.

  “Phoebe, what on earth made you decide to do the lasagna from scratch?” Ruby asked.

  Phoebe’s face turned slightly pink. She turned to the pile of flour on the work board and quickly cracked a couple eggs into it, stirring like a mad woman.

  “Oh, no big deal, really,” she said lightly. “I just heard Judah and Ian talking the other day, and Judah said he was praying his future wife would be able to cook half as well as you and Kylie. Ian wanted to know if the two of you really are good cooks, or if Judah’s just biased…”

  Ruby bit her lip. The man was insufferable.

  “And that’s when Daddy spoke up,” Phoebe said. She dropped her voice an octave in attempt to imitate their father. “My girls have many talents! Phoebe’s working on cooking this year, too. She’s at lasagna this week, I think!”

  “Phoebe, why on earth didn’t you stick with the box noodles?” Ruby asked. She stuck a hand on her hip.

  Phoebe mashed harder at the new lump of pasta dough, and she blew a lock of hair out of her face.

  “Well… Ian started talking about the pasta his Gramma used to make, and he and Judah just seemed really impressed by the whole thing, and, and— Aw, Ruby! What was I thinking? I can’t get it all done by dinner time!”

  Phoebe pressed her hand to her face in a panic, leaving a trail of flour.

  Ruby grabbed her little sister in a hug.

  “Phoebe,” she said firmly. “You do not need to impress that deputy, or any other guy for that matter!”

  “Deputy?” Phoebe said, looking confused. “Do you mean Ian? Eww! He’s almost twice my age! I just want Judah to talk about me the way he does you and Kylie. He thinks you two walk on the moon…”

  “Ha!” Ruby said. “Well, in that case you should hear him talk about your art. As for cooking, he was just trying to keep the subject on us girls so his new roommate doesn’t find out that he and Joe cook just as well as Kylie and me. They went through the same skill list! Now, as far as dinner goes, Phoebe, you can’t be a blessing if you’re stressing ‘bout impressing—”

  “You sound like Mama,” Phoebe said.

  “I will take that as a compliment,” Ruby said. She reached up and picked a fragment of eggshell out of her little sister’s hair. “And now I’m going to quote daddy. ‘Play to your strengths, and work on the rest little by little.’ Peter’s still on pantry duty, right?”

  Phoebe nodded. Peter had been in charge of pantry upkeep since his tenth birthday.

  “Good,” Ruby said. “There will be plenty of fresh milled flour, he’s always proud of that! You make those melt-in-your-mouth butter rolls of yours, and that excellent pasta sauce of yours. I can make the noodles, and Tali is in charge of salad still, right?”

  Phoebe nodded again.

  Ruby clamped the pasta press tightly to the counter.

  “Ruby?” Phoebe asked in a quiet voice.

  Ruby looked up at her sister.

  “Thanks.”

  Ruby picked up the little pile of dough her sister had been struggling with.

  “Phoebe girl, I’m always here for you. But don’t forget about Mama. She’s the pillar around here. How else do you think Grannie and I knew to come over early?”

  Phoebe started to pull out the veggies she needed for her sauce, but then she straightened up and gave her big sister a nod. She headed out to the porch, and Ruby could just hear Phoebe ask Mama and Grannie if they wanted to keep the girls company in the kitchen.

  Ruby smiled, cranked the handle on the pasta press, and made a mental note to tell Judah to be sure to compliment the sauce and rolls.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Ruby had long since forgotten the frilly apron when Judah and Joe arrived, and they teased her something fierce when they saw it. She was just about to chase Joe down for a flour-covered hug when she realized the boys were not alone. They had brought their roommate, and he too was chuckling at her ridiculous apron.

  She stopped dead in her tracks, sharp words forming on her tongue, and made the mistake of catching Mama’s eye.

  Be nice, Mama mouthed.

  Ruby gave her mother a small nod, and then a thought flashed through her mind. She really didn’t know Ian Prescott at all. He could be a total Jesus freak, or, far more likely, he was the boys’ latest rescue mission project. Maybe her brothers were dragging him everywhere, church included, because he needed Jesus.

  Her conscious tweaked guiltily, and she whispered a prayer. Lord, help me not to get in the way of whatever You are doing in Ian’s life.

  When she looked up, the rest of the family was heading for the big table, but Ian was standing right next to her. He gave her a wry grin.

  “You praying for patience, or something?” he asked.

  Ruby nearly choked. The only thing left to carry to the table was the second pan of lasagna, and she ducked her head to avoid his eyes and grabbed for it.

  Ian was too quick, though, and snatched up the pan.

  “I’ll get it,” he said, ignoring the fact that she had not answered his question. “So? How’s the investigation coming?”

  Ruby untied her frilly apron. Was he taking her seriously, or making fun of her?

  “I paddled into the Cove today,” she admitted. “Have you questioned the neighbor? Mr. Gambino?”

  Ian shifted, and Ruby stared at him, wondering if the heat from the pasta pan had made its way through the pot holders yet.

  “Briefly,” Ian said with a shrug. He shifted his feet and the lasagna again, but he still did not move towards the table.

  “If you wanted to talk, maybe you should have offered to carry the salad,” Ruby said. She wadded up the messy apron and stuffed it in a basket full of used kitchen linens. “Well, I think it was him. I talked to another neighbor today. Found out Gambino’s always messing about in other people’s bushes. Especially the renter house we found the body in.”

  Ian stared at her, obviously not convinced. Ruby felt the heat rising in her face.

  “Look,” she said. “I didn’t get to tell you before, but Gambino showed up on the scene really fast. Suspiciously fast. There’s no way he had time to get out of his house, down the stairs, and up into the rental when that lady screamed. If he’s that fast, or can hear that well, then he had to have ignored the cleaning lady when she died, ‘cause you know she screamed her head off when that snake started chewing on her.”

  “Chewing?” he asked, his eyes widening.

  “Yeah, that’s what corals do,” Ruby said. She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Wait? Do you mean you haven’t done any research on them?” Did this guy even want to figure out who killed the cleaning lady? She jerked out a chair and thumped into it as Ian lay the lasagna on the table with the rest of the food.

  He blew on his fingers with relief. “Well, I’ll talk to Gambino again tomorrow—”

  “Ahem,” Mama said. She nodded towards Tali and Peter. “No murder investigations at the table. The forks have ears.”

  Peter laughed, but Tali picked up her fork and twirled it around.

  “Why do y’all keep saying that?” she asked. “I don’t get it.”

  “Good,” Daddy said. “Phoebes, this smells delicious! Time to pray.”

  Phoebe beamed as they all closed their eyes to pray. Ruby cracked her eyes open to see Grannie chuckling beside her as Tali studied her fork.

  “Amen!”

  For a short while there was no talk of anything but salad, rolls, and pasta as the family passed the food around the massive square ta
ble. Talk turned to life, and several conversations broke out. Ruby had sat as far away from Ian as possible, so she wouldn’t have to worry about being polite and could enjoy dinner with her family.

  “So, Grannie,” her dad asked. “How’s business?”

  Grannie smiled. “Oh, pretty good! The rentals are steady this time of year, but I think we really hit on something with that adventure trip Joe just flew. I was hoping to talk Timothy and Kylie into covering some of the beach rental shifts once a month… I think we could really go somewhere with the adventure camping, and there’s a lot of young girls out there who could learn a thing or two with Ruby. Could be a real ministry opportunity, you know? Run some of the trips for the big spenders, but put together some trips for girls. Maybe youth groups or something. We’d take a loss there, but I think we could make it up elsewhere. What do you think, Ruby?”

  Ruby beamed. “That sounds awesome!”

  People commented on the idea for a while, and Ruby drifted into a pleasant daydream about backpacking. Suddenly she remembered the eco tour and snapped back to earth.

  “Oh! Grannie! I forgot to tell you,” Ruby said. “I got a lead for a school eco tour. I paddled past the Cove today, and ran into a retired teacher who was going back to work. Said he needed a field trip for the science lab students… A Mr. Fletcher.”

  Before Grannie could answer, Ian Prescott jumped into the conversation.

  “Fletcher?” he asked. “I had a science teacher named Fletcher. The guy hated teaching… Couldn’t wait to retire!”

  “Hmmm,” Ruby frowned. “Well, must be a different Fletcher. Said he missed teaching and was going back next week. He was really nice.”

  Ian frowned, and Ruby turned away icily. She stabbed at her salad, and Ian returned to the conversation nearest him.

  Mama gave her a small, meaningful look, and Ruby had to pray for more patience with Ian Prescott.

  Chapter Fourteen