Murder for Two

by Louise Lynn

  Near the main desk again, Maggie halted and regarded me. After a moment, she nodded. “You shouldn’t pry into people’s lives and accuse them of being a murderer. You gotta be careful what you say to people.”

  She cracked a faint smile and I knew I had been forgiven.

  The attendant dropped the telephone from his hands and gasped, causing Maggie’s smile to fade and her to roll her eyes at him.

  “Well, I’ll need to reprint all these papers anyway.” She faced us again, and a slight blush of color had returned to her cheeks. “Meantime, how about you guys accompany me to feed the otters?”

  “The otters?” Ivy said, practically squealing.

  “Yes. We can talk in private there.” Maggie spared the attendant a glance, who was unashamedly eavesdropping. “Joshua, hand me some VIP passes. These guys are with me. Students conducting research.”

  “S… sure thing, Maggie.”

  Joshua extended the passes to Maggie, who handed us each one. I slung the lanyard around my neck and Maggie jutted her jaw toward a staff only exit. We followed her through, and on the other side, there were no more tourists.

  Another shapeless hallway saw us enter a passageway that led to the otters.

  “We were told they closed the exhibit recently. What happened?” I asked, softening my voice so I didn’t provoke her.

  I could tell she was already in a foul mood, and I probably hadn’t helped any.

  Maggie paused outside a steel door and typed into a security lock. “The night before Jenny’s death, there was a break-in.”

  “Oh no! Were any of the fish injured?” Ivy looked at me and her eyes widened. “Are the otters okay? The pups? Baby Ollie?”

  “They’re okay now,” Maggie said, pushing open the door. “But they weren’t when I found them the morning after. One of the tanks had been smashed open when the crook burst through the air vent. There was glass everywhere, even in the pools, and a few otters nearly cut themselves or swallowed the small pieces. I had to pick shards from their coats with tweezers.”

  “That’s awful!” Bile rose into my throat at the thought of the ordeal and my hands balled into tight fists. We pushed into the otter exhibit. “Did you find out who broke in?”

  “No. They were gone by the time we arrived,” Maggie said, then she sighed.

  We followed her into the exhibit, her brown utility boots squeaking with every step. The room wasn’t as tall as some of the other enclosures had been, but it was wide and spacious. On the middle of the floor, a transparent enclosure devoured my line of sight. The otters. Rocks surrounded the edges of the pool and all along the surface, blankets of kelp floated and shimmered in the light.

  Some of the sea otters were asleep on the water, wrapped in the layers of kelp. My heart melted at the sight of them, all of them holding hands so neither drifted away while they slept. The larger otters stood upright on the rocks, sniffing in our direction as we approached. While Ivy and I gushed over them, Maggie disappeared into a room, only to return a moment later with a bucket full of fish and plastic balls.

  The otters jumped at the smell of their food, and while Ivy held her nose, the gorgeous creatures came swimming toward Maggie, their bodies long and sinuous. She climbed into the enclosure and tossed in a few fillets, followed by a handful of hollow balls, which I realized were stuffed with fish.

  Across from us, at the other side of the exhibit, a black veil had been drawn around a rectangular sculpture. I figured it was the enclosure that had been destroyed, still under construction, which made me wonder.

  “Who’d want to break into an aquarium?” I said, watching Maggie swish the toys around in the water.

  “We couldn’t distinguish who it was from the surveillance video, only that he was tall and well hooded. Since nobody was hurt and nothing was stolen, the police dropped the case as a high priority, and focused on Jenny Walker. Can’t say I was pleased about it, given how the glass could’ve injured my pups.”

  “I’m… I’m just glad they’re okay,” I replied, my voice shaky.

  I watched the otters chase after their toys. Some of them remained chewing on their fish, gazing at us with large, glistening eyes.

  Mysterious hooded figure? Could it also be the same vandal who destroyed the Christmas display? The same person who clearly didn’t want me to find out who killed Jenny Walker?

  “And you said this was only a week ago?”

  Maggie nodded grimly, but said nothing. That meant they broke in before Jenny was killed.

  “Did they mess with any of the other tanks or take anything?” I asked, heart pounding and thinking about the box jellyfish and its deadly poison.

  Maggie shook her head. “Not that we could tell. All we found was the smashed otter enclosure and a business card.”

  Ivy straightened. “A business card?”

  “Yeah. It was within one of our main jellyfish exhibit, if I remember correctly.”

  Then the jellyfish did have something to do with it.

  “That could be a good indication of who broke in,” I noted. “Who did it belong to?”

  “I thought so, too, but considering nearly everyone and their dog were given the stupid business card that day, it’s hard to tell. The name was Wyatt Edwards. Don’t worry.” Maggie glanced at me, in particular. “I already spoke to him about it. He knows nothing, only that he handed out several of his cards.”

  Or he was creating a good alibi.

  “And you believe him?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  She bit her lip for a moment. “Yes. I do,” she answered. “Anyway, the case probably won’t be solved until they find the old hag’s killer.”

  “I hope it will be soon. And, FYI, I didn’t think you killed her. But scalding her just before she died… come on, that’s suspicious, even to you, Maggie.”

  “Of course it was suspicious. But just like I told the detectives, I wouldn’t throw my career away—my whole life—just to end Jenny Walker’s rude insults. A pair of earbuds can do the trick just fine.”

  I smiled at that. “Maybe for you, but not for the one who had to serve her. Can I ask one more question? How do you get into the tanks of jellyfish? To feed them, I mean.”

  “There’s a door in the catwalk above the tanks, but you can’t see it from the exhibit.”

  I nodded. “Are they locked like the otter display?”

  Maggie frowned by answered. “No, but after what happened here, we may have to rethink that.”

  I couldn’t blame her. And it meant our burglar had easy access to deadly jellyfish.

  “Where’s Ollie?” Ivy cut in, clearly no longer suspecting it was Maggie.

  I couldn’t blame her. We had a new target now.

  Wyatt Edwards.

  Why on earth had he been following us? And, more to the point, why did he run away? People didn't run like that unless they had something to hide.

  Unless they were guilty.

  “He’s over there with his friend. By the den, above the rocks. Can you see him?”

  “I can now.” Ivy beamed, her eyes straying toward the shelter.

  I could just make out the pup on top of his friend’s chest, both of their coats shining bright in the exhibit lights. My cheeks ached from smiling at them too much.

  It wasn’t before long when Maggie climbed out of the enclosure and put the buckets away. When she returned, wiping her washed hands onto her sweatshirt, she walked us out of the exhibit and toward the main entrance.

  “Listen. About this whole Jenny Walker thing…” Maggie’s expression softened, and she fumbled around in her pockets. “It comes as no surprise that the old hag and I weren’t exactly best buds. But on Friday, you caught me on a bad day. I’d already spent hours cleaning glass from the exhibit, and when I saw how terrified my pups were, I guess I just lost it with the old hag and her vile remarks. Sure, I always found her to be deplorable and a grotesque human being, but I never wanted her dead. I’m not a murderer.”

  I touch
ed the side of Maggie’s arm. “Thanks, Maggie. And hey, you’ll stop by Maritime soon, won’t you? This time, your order’s on me. I’ll even throw in a piece of cake.”

  Maggie’s face lit up at the prospect of a freebie. “Of course. I’ll see you guys tomorrow?”

  “Not me,” Ivy sighed, sulking. “I have to help mom in her shop tomorrow morning and then mail out her Christmas cards. Yay.”

  Maggie laughed. “Well you have fun with that, Ivy. Oh, and Olivia, take this.”

  She handed me the aforementioned business card and, without another word, walked back into the aquarium.

  I held up Wyatt’s card and said, “Whoever broke inside wanted one thing and one thing only.”

  We both replied at the same time. “Poison.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “How do you milk a jellyfish?” Ivy asked suddenly, and I blinked at her from my spot on the living room couch in my apartment.

  She was sprawled on the armchair, her phone in her hand, and she still wore her black hat from yesterday’s service. I had opted for a laptop, but my eyes stung from looking up information about the box jellyfish and its poison. Turned out, not much was known about it, even by scientists.

  “Why would you have to milk it?” I asked and stood up to stretch, dislodging Buttercup from my legs in the process.

  I hadn’t put up many decorations yet, but I knew soon I’d come home from the tea shop to find my apartment dotted with wreaths and bows and oversized candy canes. Mom still hadn’t found enough space for all her decorations in her own part of the house. That meant Ivy and I were next to be assaulted with holiday ornamentation.

  “Isn’t that how they get poison from snakes and spiders? They make them bite something and the poison comes out. But how do you that with the jellyfish tentacle?”

  That was a good question.

  “Point taken. Also, how did Maggie and the others at the aquarium not notice a jellyfish was missing?”

  “Did you see them? They’re hard to count with all their legs and nearly invisible bodies.”

  I wandered into the kitchen and poured some milk into a mug for cocoa. “I guess. But whoever did it had to know exactly which one to take, and they did it to no doubt kill Jenny faster than the digitoxin alone.”

  That was one thing I’d found out in my research. Box jellyfish could kill a person within two minutes, if stung. If ingested, I had no idea how long it would take.

  Ivy tossed her phone onto the table and rubbed her face. “It doesn’t look good for the handsome Englishman, does it? He was talking with Jenny right after she left the shop and right before she died. Maybe he slipped it into her tea then?”

  I nodded and popped the mug into the microwave. “And we know he was at the aquarium both that day and today, which is extra suspicious. Not to mention him arguing with both Jenny and Matthew.”

  Ivy grumbled and pulled her knees to her chest. “Why are all the cute guys either gay, married, or murderers?”

  I wondered the same thing myself. “Do you want some cocoa to cheer you up?”

  “Only if it comes with extra whipped cream,” Ivy said and wiggled her toes in her fluffy pink socks.

  “Deal,” I said and fixed an extra mug for her.

  We sipped our cocoa in silence and I glanced out the window at the neighborhood sparkling with lights around me. From our spot at the top of the hill, I could make out the neighborhoods that stretched far below and the Ferris wheel turning in the distance.

  Emerald Cove, the street Jenny and Matthew lived on, was to the left, and I noted a dark splotch that was the Walker’s rooftop. They never decorated for the holidays, as far back as I could remember, so on a night like tonight, their house looked like a black spot in a sea of yellow, blue and red twinkling lights.

  My mind wandered back to that first day I’d met Wyatt. He’d said something about moving to town. Then, that argument he’d gotten in at Jenny’s memorial with Matthew. I definitely heard him say something about escrow and that the contract had already been signed, but Matthew had shrugged him off and refused to speak with him.

  The pieces clicked together in my mind, one by one, and a cold pit formed in my stomach.

  “I think Wyatt was going to buy Jenny and Matthew’s house,” I said and turned to Ivy.

  She stared at me, a whipped cream mustache on her upper lip, and quickly licked it away with her tongue. “Why kill Jenny then?”

  I scrunched my nose. “Dave Johnson said Jenny wanted to sell, but maybe she changed her mind. You know how she was. But we need to find out if Wyatt was trying to buy Matthew’s house as soon as possible.”

  “How do we do that?” Ivy said and took a slow sip of her cocoa. “Break into his office?”

  I thought about that for a moment, then shook my head. Breaking and entering seemed like a bad way to prove my innocence and someone else’s guilt, unless there was no other option.

  “No, but we’ll have to talk to Matthew again, without being creepy.”

  Ivy’s eyes widened, and she suddenly stood. “If Jenny changed her mind and didn’t want to sell the house, then Matthew canceled the deal, or however it works, that means…”

  “He’ll go after Matthew next,” I finished, and she nodded once.

  Good thing we hadn’t put on pajamas yet.

  I grabbed my coat from the closet and finished my cocoa in one gulp. “Come on!”

  “What are we going to tell him?” Ivy said and shoved her feet into her boots.

  “We’re caroling? People still do that, don’t they?”

  “In movies,” Ivy said and shrugged. “Remember the last time we tried. No one gave us anything. Most people slammed the door in our faces.”

  I snorted at that memory. “Well, I’m sure that had with your demand for Christmas candy in exchange for a song more than anything else.”

  Ivy shrugged, completely non-pulsed. “What’s the good of caroling if you don’t at least get some eggnog out of it?”

  “To spread peace and joy?” I offered and swept down the stairs, Ivy fast on my heels.

  Though, tonight, it was going to be used to catch a murderer.

  Chapter Seventeen

  We hadn’t even reached the truck when Mom’s voice stopped us dead on the spot, her body hanging out of the living-room window.

  “Where are you girls off to? It’s past dark!”

  “We’re not kids anymore,” I grumbled under my breath, though I had to smile at her practically falling out of the window.

  While dressed in a penguin bathrobe with a face mask on and her hair curlers still in.

  “Just going to the convenience store for popcorn. Want anything?” Ivy shouted, but Mom waved her off.

  “Be careful out there. Stay safe. And don’t talk to strangers.”

  “We never do, Mom.”

  We blew her a kiss and climbed into my truck. We’d have to drive through town again to reach Emerald Cove. It was a good way for us to check on the shop, too, with a vandal on the loose.

  Not that it was top of my list with the killer and all, but still.

  “Hey, where’s that business card Maggie gave you?”

  “In the glove compartment.”

  Ivy rummaged through the compartment, which was jam packed with old CDs I’d forgotten I had. She pulled out the white card along with her phone from her back pocket. After a moment, she began reading.

  “W. J. Edwards, CEO of SEPOA; a non-profit organization specializing in Animal Welfare Law. Do you think this is true?” Ivy asked.

  “What? That Wyatt’s a crazy murderer and a representative for vulnerable species? I hope not.”

  The idea of him being such left a foul taste in my mouth and my gut stiffened.

  “SEPOA, SEPOA…” Ivy scrolled through her phone, its light a sharp glare against the windscreen. “Seeking Ethics to Protect Our Animals. Wyatt Edwards, founder and highly-esteemed animal rights activist and attorney. Based in California. Former real estate broker. T
hat would explain his hold on Matthew, I think. The escrow.”

  I nodded my agreement, but my knuckles turned white around my steering wheel. Sure, he had mentioned that he loved animals. But the stoic businessman, who’d always been so utterly professional, was the CEO of an animal welfare organization?

  A killer who protected vulnerable animals. I’d heard it all now.

  I cursed the day I ever served him. I mean, how did he manage to sleep at night, or look at himself in the mirror, never-mind eating one of my gingerbread muffins?

  When I drove by Maritime, Ivy screamed, causing me to slam on the brakes. “What is it?”

  “Our shop… Oh my gosh, look!”

  She pointed toward the porch, which bathed under the glow of streetlights, had been decorated in a myriad of brand new wreaths. Piles of them stood out against the darkness, some of their bells glittering in the lights.

  “What the…” I stopped my truck and veered toward them. Ivy followed closely at my side. “Did we miss the Wreath Fairy or something?”

  “Beats me,” Ivy murmured, pursing her maroon lips.

  Our eyes flitted over the wreaths; some of them made with holly and leaves, others sparkling with bells and tinsel. I counted at least twenty of them, all different sizes and colors.

  Ivy picked up the one hanging on our door. She flicked over a small note attached to the center. “It’s from Carly,” she said, mouth dropping wide. “How adorable!”

  Had the town secretly been plotting to replace our destroyed wreath display?

  Tears swam into my eyes, and I wiped them away with my hands. “Man, I love this town. Look at this… unique one.”

  My hands wrapped around a wreath made entirely of white spray-painted ivy. Though, I had to applaud whoever tried to make it. It was poorly out of shape and chunks of ivy were missing from around the edges.

  “Something tells me this one’s for you.”

  Ivy took the wreath from me and scrunched up her face. “It’s…”