Ghost On Duty (Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 2)

by Winters, J. D.

  “Because he was wearing my mother’s scarf, the one she’d worn when she’d gone to see Ned. It’s her signature Christmas scarf. She always wears it at this time of year. Everyone knows that. And once I heard that Jasper was wearing it, I knew he’d seen what had happened.” He shook his head, deep in sorrow. “And sure enough, the phone calls began. Blackmail. He wanted money to keep from going to the police with what he’d seen.” Lance shrugged. “I had to protect my mother.”

  “And you shot Roy in the process.”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t mean to hit him. I only wanted to scare him off so I could slip away unseen.”

  “Lance.” I put a hand on his arm and looked up into his face. “Lance, you’ve had some bad luck. I’m truly sorry for it. But you went too far when you killed Jasper. I’m afraid you’re going to have to pay for that.”

  He looked at me candidly. “Not if no one ever knows about it,” he said. “And once I’ve taken care of you, who will be left to accuse me?”

  “Lance! No!”

  He lunged at me, obviously thinking to push me over the edge of the cliff. Adrenalin surged and I leaped away and began to run along the cliff. I never had a chance. He tackled me and I went down, rolling to just inches away from the edge.

  I scrambled to my feet, looking for a chance to run inland, but he was standing there, looking hard and huge and very scary. No longer the urbane gentleman. Had he ever really been that?

  I started toward him, then zig zagged, but he was too fast for me, throwing me back toward the cliff. I was breathing hard and my blood was pounding. I was pretty sure my own heart would kill me if Lance didn’t manage it. It was hopeless. I didn’t see how I was going to get away.

  And then, Dante was there. Wow, that ghost did show up in the nick of time. He gestured to me, and in my panic, I couldn’t figure out what he meant. He kicked a rock over the side and pointed, and finally I got it. There was a ledge just below the lip of the cliff edge. If I could get down there before Lance pushed me over where he wanted me to land, I might be able to save myself. But could I?

  He was coming at me again. It was now or never. I slipped over the edge, praying I wouldn’t build up too much momentum to stop myself on the ledge. My feet slid in the loose rocks. The surf crashed against the rocks below. But I held on the ledge, and I sighed with relief.

  Lance couldn’t come down there without risking a headlong plunge into the surf below. I crouched there, waiting to see what his next move would be. He hesitated, looking down at me, then went back from the edge. I waited, listening. What was he doing?

  Suddenly he appeared at the edge again, and with him he had a long, heavy stick. He was going to try to push me off the ledge and into the rocks. I pressed up against the side of the cliff and tried to look for another way down. Nothing I could see. I looked at Dante. He was looking worried.

  “Lance, no!” I shouted.

  “Sorry Mele,” he said in return. “A man’s gotta do what he’s gotta do.”

  He reached over with the stick again, and it hit me in the side of the head.

  “Oh!” I cried out, hurt and reeling. I slipped, coming perilously close to the edge. Another jab like that and I would be over.

  I looked up. He was coming again. The stick was plunging down toward me. I felt a scream building in my throat and ripping out into the salty air.

  And then I saw Dante come up behind him, and the next thing I knew, the stick was sailing past me, and so was Lance. He hit the rocks and lay very still.

  I looked up. Dante was grinning down at me. I loved that ghost with all my heart. If only he could find a way to pull me back up over the cliff.

  But it didn’t really matter. Suddenly, Roy was there, looking down, and Captain Stone was over his shoulder. I don’t even remember how they got me up, but they did, and there I was standing on the cliff looking down at Lance’s body.

  “Poor guy,” I thought, but I didn’t dare say it aloud. Because, of course, he was his own worst enemy and he’d hurt a lot of people. It was probably a good thing he’d died the way he had.

  “Another body, huh Ms. Keahi?” Captain Stone said through what seemed like gritted teeth. “And this time, it was almost yours.”

  I didn’t bother to answer him. I had blood all over from the wound in my head. Roy had his arm around me, helping me to the car, and I was too spent to even ask how they’d known to come out there and find me.

  But somehow, someway, I had a feeling Dante had something to do with it.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Opening night for the Victorian Village Tableau came too fast but in the end, we were ready. Bebe and Jill and I walked the length of the area just as the street barriers were taken down and the crowds began to queue up to get in for their stroll through Christmas celebration history. At least 19th century history.

  “I’ll bet they can see these lights from space,” Jill noted, and we laughed, appreciating the irony. But she was right. The two-block section was ablaze with lights. Every house had animated Christmas elements, every fence was strung with blinking lights, every tree drooled with ornaments, most of them mechanized or twirlers. It was a frenzy of happy celebration and just seeing the enchanted looks on the faces of the children who were pouring in made it worth all the effort.

  “Of course, you realize they didn’t have electricity in most of Victorian days,” Jill lectured us. “There was gas lighting in the cities but that was very different.”

  Bebe and I rolled our eyes and laughed at her, but before we could tease her unmercifully, Bebe caught sight of some Carrington cousins from Destiny Bay and we were suddenly surrounded by people I was supposedly related to, but had never met before.

  But they knew Bebe and she tried to remember all the names as she introduced Jill and me to as many of them as possible.

  Reid Carrington was there, the lawyer Bebe had almost called to save me when things were getting rough, along with his wife Jennifer and their adorable twins in strollers. He was handsome as a movie star and Jennifer was gorgeous and full of life.

  We talked about how we happen to be related—Bebe and my mother are both Carringtons and cousins with Kane and Malia, Kai and Max Carrington in Hawaii.

  “We should all get together and have a big Carrington Family Reunion,” Reid said.

  “We could have a mini-one right now if you invite these people to Christmas morning brunch at Mar Vista,” Jennifer threw in.

  Reid nodded. “Good idea. That’s old Calvin Carrington’s estate in Destiny Bay. They do Christmas morning every year.”

  “He and Aunt Julia are the patriarchs or whatever you call it, I guess,” Jennifer said with a friendly smile. “I hope you can make it. Every one of you.”

  I thought that was nice, including Jill like that. We waved them off as they continued down the street, but we turned back to drop Bebe off at the house where she was joining the choir singing carols while young girls in red velvet dresses passed curled song sheets out to those in the crowd who wanted to sing along. Jill and I enjoyed it all for another half hour, and then we slunk back to Mad for Mocha to get something to drink and somewhere to sit down for awhile. Before long, Bebe joined us.

  “That was fun,” she said. “And I’ve got to go back at the top of the hour. But I need a break and I knew I would find you two here at the coffee bar.”

  “We can hear the music from here,” I told her. “So it’s not like we’re turning our backs on them all.”

  She wanted nothing but a tall glass of water and she sighed as she finished drinking it down. “That hits the spot,” she said. “Now, we finally have some time to ourselves. Soooo….”

  She patted my hand and smiled at me. “You need to fill me in on exactly what happened these last few days. I never had a minute to sit down with you and get the full story.”

  “Same here,” said Jill. “Come on, Mele. Educate us.”

  I groaned. I didn’t really want to go over it all again. I bit my lip and de
cided that maybe I could get away with a quick version, just hitting the highlights.

  “Okay you two, listen up,” I said crisply. “This is the one and only time I’m doing this.”

  “Just as long as you don’t leave anything out,” Bebe warned.

  I glared at her. “Okay, here goes. This all began years ago when Lance’s father, Gerald Mansfield, fell in love with his mother, Mayellen. The problem was, Ned Barlow fell in love with her too.”

  “A common problem,” Jill noted. “People don’t usually kill for it.”

  “No. But Ned was a determined suitor. Even after Gerald and Mayellen got married and moved to North Destiny Bay to live in the family mansion, he didn’t forget her. He worked for years, making big money, in order to be able to follow them here and buy his own mansion not far away.”

  “Creepy,” said Jill with a shudder.

  “Yes, wasn’t it? Not only that, he had a whole room in his house plastered with pictures of her, mostly in flowing white dresses. He supposedly spent hours a day just staring at those pictures.”

  “Ugh.”

  “Meanwhile, Lance’s father had a lot of bad luck and they were bleeding money. Little by little, Ned bought out things they owned, until he had controlling interest in many of their remaining enterprises.”

  “Like the consortium that owned the Victorian Village.”

  “Exactly.” I gave her a smile in appreciation. She was actually listening. “And Ned began to push his weight around. Lance’s father died, leaving Lance to try to keep the home fires burning while Ned was running around blowing them out.”

  “So we come to the present situation.”

  “Yes. Ned was suing to wreck the Christmas program at the Village, just because he could. At the same time, Lance was failing at everything he tried to do to save the ranch and the other properties. Everything was melting away for him. He was getting desperate. And that was when Gary Kramer came into the picture.”

  “The rat,” Bebe muttered, but I ignored her.

  “Gary was the representative of a development company that wanted to buy the land where the village is and turn it into a very fancy assisted living home for the wealthy. He offered Lance big bucks for any of the residents he could convince to sign up to sell out to him.”

  Bebe frowned. “But Lance always acted like he wanted Ned’s lawsuit squelched so it wouldn’t ruin the pageant.”

  “Yes. That’s part of what was making him so crazy lately. He was working at both ends against the middle. He desperately needed the money. And yet he couldn’t let his mother know he was ready to sell out his father’s heritage.”

  Jill shrugged. “You almost have to feel sorry for the guy in a way.”

  “In a way. But not really. After all, he murdered somebody.”

  “Okay, so that’s another thing I don’t get. How did Lance’s mother kill Ned?”

  “She went to see him, hoping to talk him out of the lawsuit that was ruining everything for the pageant. It seems he got so excited with her there, he got carried away and tried to kiss her and she gave him a shove and the next thing she knew, he was flying down over the cliff and landing on some very jagged rocks. She ran home and told Lance. He told her not to worry, he’d take care of it, and he thought things would die down soon enough. But when he heard that Jasper, Peg’s son, was running around with her red Christmas scarf that she wore every year, he knew Mayellen must have dropped it and Jasper must have picked it up at the crime scene. And once he began to get the blackmail phone calls, he was sure of it. So he went over and stalked him in the woods. Jasper wasn’t expecting that, and he got shot.”

  “And Detective McKnight?”

  “Well, it seems that we kind of interrupted things by showing up that night when we did. We just wanted to take a look for Jasper, after he’d shot at me that afternoon. Roy was pretty sure he could find his hiding place given time and a little light. In the meantime, he just wanted to get the feel of the place. So there was Lance, bent on getting rid of a blackmailer, and we walked into the scene. Luckily, Lance didn’t see me, but he shot at Roy hoping to scare him off so he could make his getaway. The bullet grazed his upper arm, but didn’t do any lasting damage.”

  “That’s good.”

  “It was funny how Lance thought you might throw your lot in with him after all that. What an ego!”

  “You know, I think he thought I would feel sorry for him and want to help him and his mother. And I did, to a degree. But not enough to join forces with a murderer.”

  “So he tried to kill you, too.”

  I sighed. “Yeah. I’ve about had it with these people who think killing other people will solve all their problems.”

  “Tell me about it,” said a low, masculine voice. “The story of my life.”

  We all three jumped and gasped and then laughed a bit nervously. There was Detective Roy, slouched against a barstool. We hadn’t even noticed him come in.

  Bebe looked at her watch. “Oh, I’ve got to get back.”

  Jill jumped up, too. “Hey, I’ll go with you.”

  She stopped to whisper some instructions to the barista she was leaving in charge, and the two of them flew out the door like scalded cats. I didn’t even have time to say I would go along.

  I looked at Roy. He unfolded his long body from the barstool and sauntered over to the table where I was still seated. “Can I join you?” he asked, and then stood there, waiting to see if I was willing.

  That impressed me. At least he wasn’t acting like an arrogant throw-your-weight around type.

  I’d said I would stand firm in my determination not to fall for this man and I still meant it. I did know that the Janice person was no longer staying at his place. She’d gone down to Los Angeles and I hoped she never came back. But that didn’t mean everything was okay now. Still, we had a few things to discuss between us.

  “Sure,” I said. “In fact, I have something I still need answers to.”

  He sank into the seat and looked at me questioningly. He was carrying an oblong box and he set it on the table. I looked at it, curious, but not about to ask what it was.

  “What’s your question?” he asked me.

  “First, I need to know. Did you ever find out what happened to the guns in Ned’s house?”

  “Oh sure. Jasper had broken in and stashed them in the cave where he hung out when he lived back there behind the house. It was well-hidden against the cliff rocks, but we finally found it—and the stock pile of weapons.”

  I nodded. “Good. And here’s another question. I want to know how you and the captain knew I was out at Lance’s ranch—and that I was in trouble. You never did tell me that.”

  He shrugged. “We’d spent some time going over the case at the station and we’d narrowed the suspects down to three men, including Lance. I remembered that you were going to be seeing him at the voting and I got a little jittery about it. I tried to call you but I couldn’t get through.”

  “Yeah, my cell was out of juice,” I said, feeling dopey. When was I going to get the habit of charging my phone in a timely manner?

  “My arm was still useless, so I got Detective Arnold to drive me and we went by your aunt’s place. Nobody answered the door, but I could hear Barnaby squawking in the back yard. He was yelling your name…”

  “What? He doesn’t know my name.”

  “Are you sure about that? It sure sounded like it. Anyway, I went around to see what all the noise was about.”

  “That parrot.” I shook my head, biting back a grin. “He’s hopeless.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t get much out of him. But that older lady came out to help me.”

  “Older lady?” I swallowed hard and my voice got a bit shaky. “What older lady?”

  “Hawaiian type, straw hat and muumuu. She said you were out at Rancho Verde with Lance Mansfield.”

  I gaped at him. “She said that? In real sentences?”

  He looked at me as though I were a bit daft. “Yeah. Rea
l sentences. Just like everybody else.”

  “Okay.” I grabbed his arm. “Tell me what she said. Exactly. The very words.”

  He thought for a minute. “Okay, she said, ‘Mele goin’ out to see that rancho verde place with that Lance fella’. Better go quick. I think she gwanna need you.’”

  I stared at him. He’d done a pretty good imitation of her island accent, but that wasn’t what had stunned me. Aunty Jane had spoken to him. Real words. And he hadn’t noticed that she was a ghost. This was a true first, and I could hardly believe it had really happened. He not only saw her—he heard her. I mean—he wasn’t even Hawaiian!

  “How did she know?” I whispered, more to myself than to Roy. But it came to me in a flash. Dante. He must have communicated to her somehow—even though he was out there at the ranch with me.

  Oh, my dearly beloved ghosts! Without them…. Tears came into my eyes.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  He picked up the box and opened it, drawing out a beautiful white orchid lei. The next thing I knew, he’d put it over my head and it was resting on my shoulders.

  “Oh,” I said. “It’s…it’s beautiful!”

  “Merry Christmas,” he said, and touched my cheek for barely a second. His eyes were glowing in a way that sent chills down my spine.

  “Wow.” The lei was gorgeous, fat and crisp. “Where did you get this?”

  He shrugged. “My aunt and uncle have a florist shop in Destiny Bay. I went by there today and thought of you when I saw this.”

  “So that’s how you know the names of orchids.”

  He barely smiled, looking restless. “Come on. Let’s go out and walk down the village street. I want to feel the magic. How about you?”

  I smiled. I’d promised myself I was going to avoid Roy. I’d said I didn’t need the aggravation. I’d sworn off him. But tonight was a wonderful night and I needed him to help me celebrate. After tonight, who knew? But tonight—

  I looked at him. He was so handsome and his eyes were warm and affectionate.