by Cassie Page
“No.”
She shook her head, her large hat dipping towards the table. “No, we’re looking at a relocation.”
She pointed to a clump of leaves. “This is the door of the building, meaning you are closed off from others, or will be when you move. Does this make sense to you?”
He just stared back, speechless.
“I think your cup is also telling you to be careful or you might have an accident.”
He leaned forward, flushing with irritation. “Where do you see that?”
“Here. It’s very plain. An alligator. That’s always a warning to be careful.”
She tried to put some spin on that warning to give it a positive vibe. “I had a client once who had an alligator show up in her reading. It upset her when I told her what it meant. So we went over everything that the alligator could be pointing to. It turned out that her car was due for a service check that she had been putting off. She didn’t want to spend the money. But after the reading she decided to have a mechanic check it out. So this mechanic, she said,”
Tuesday saw the look of surprise on the man’s face.
“Yeah, there are women mechanics. Her brakes were down to the metal. Of course, she took care of it immediately. So the reading didn’t mean she was going to have a serious accident, just that she should take action to prevent one. Do you need any maintenance on your car or in your home? This might be a good time to have it checked out.”
He looked a little green as she continued. He signaled the waitress and asked for a cup of coffee. When it came, he knocked it over reaching for the sugar and splashed Tuesday’s skirt. He barely noticed.
“Of course, an alligator can mean treachery. You have that warning doubled up over here. See this cabbage? Treachery again. You might want to keep a close watch on your wallet or change your passwords so you’re not a victim of identity theft. There are people out there who will steal anything. I know, it’s hard to believe. You want to have good feelings toward your fellow man. I can tell, you are an honest soul, but not everyone is as ethical as we are. So I would say that this is a time to be on the alert. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Considering the situation you’re in.”
She was surprised at how quickly he was on the defensive. “What do you mean my situation?”
“Just that they found a dead body yesterday on a building site. Probably murder.”
Alarmed, he said, “You were there? You saw that?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact, I did. I was right up close. And I’m telling you, it was majorly gross. You don’t want anything like that happening to you.”
She started to explain that she’d lost an important hat there, but he’d had enough. He got up to leave, reached into his wallet and threw some bills on the table and ran out into the street.
Tuesday called after him to ask if he had any questions and give him her business card in case he was ever in LA, but he was gone. She scooped up the money and counted it. Good luck for her. He’d left enough for the tea and pastries, her fee and a hefty tip. The reading would almost pay for her plane ticket.
Chapter Seven: The Moving Finger Writes
7:1
Tuesday, Noon
When Tuesday got back to Olivia’s, nothing had changed. Cody was still unpacking furniture and Olivia was still on the phone at her desk.
Olivia waved and smiled, wrote, Matt on a notepad, and Tuesday went upstairs to give her some privacy.
Olivia didn’t like what she was hearing.
Matt was saying, “Olivia, I’ve got interesting bad news and more just plain bad news. Are you sitting down?”
Olivia switched the phone to her other ear and gestured to Cody to take the last of the cardboard boxes outside, then she said, “Give it to me straight, Matt.”
He reminded her that he was going to get a search warrant for Victoria’s house on the grounds that she and the baby might be in danger.
Olivia’s hand flew to her mouth. “Don’t tell me you found more bodies.”
Matt quickly reassured her. “Oh, no. Sorry, nothing like that. But we found some very suspicious objects in the house. Some pottery shards, a badly battered basket and what looked like a petrified finger.”
“A finger?”
“Yeah.”
Matt paused for a second, then explained, “It’s old, like thousands of years old according to the coroner’s best guess. We have to have it tested. But this confirms the story you overheard about Jed finding something that would shut down the project. If you’re building on an Indian burial ground, you’ll have the feds on your head and all kinds of grief raining down on you.”
In a flash, Olivia flashed forward to the uprising it would cause among environmental groups, Federal agencies and the State’s experts.
“Oh, you bet we will.” She could all but see the protesters’ signs. “Grief doesn’t cover it,” she signed mournfully.
This could seriously prolong restarting construction, and might shut it down entirely.
Matt went on. “I have a call into Scott Pierce. It’s time to talk to him about this. So that’s the bad interesting news, bad if you’re trying to erect a building, interesting if you’re into ancient Native American artifacts.”
Olivia said, “And the garden variety bad news is?”
“Apart from having to report this to a boatload of government agencies, with more warm bodies investigating and trampling our crime scene, we still have no sign of Victoria and the baby.”
Olivia had to handle this news one piece at a time. “Speaking of crime scenes, has Jed’s death officially been confirmed a murder?”
“Well, we can’t think of any other reason he would end up in that patch of ground. The coroner found a wound from a blow with a sharp instrument, but apparently the Governor’s shovel did some damage also, so that might be it. I won’t go into the gory details. I can hear your stomach churning. They’re waiting for the test results later today before they release an official report, but we’re treating it like a suspicious death.”
“Yeah, I’m not surprised.” Olivia toyed with a paperweight on her desk as she did some thinking out loud.
“This isn’t going to be good news for Charles and the team. A few shards may not cause a problem as far as land rights are concerned, because the property was otherwise cleared by the state. Arrowheads and such wouldn’t necessarily mean there is an undiscovered tribal village under there. But if Jed found human remains, even very old, he may have stumbled on a burial site. That’s when the party starts. Since we have Federal funds,” she dropped her head in dismay, “I don’t even want to think about all the laws involved.”
Matt sounded as irritated as she was. “What I can’t understand is why the environmental report didn’t disclose Indian sites. Everybody knows this area is prime Native American land. The Miwoks have lived all over Marin County for hundreds of years. I would think every square inch of northern California would have been mapped out by now. How could this be a surprise?”
Matt hated inefficiency, even one involving a commercial building site. He’d made great strides in tightening up Darling Valley’s small police force in the short time he’d been here.
But Olivia knew that this problem would cause a further drain on his department’s resources, already popping at the seams over the discovery of Jed Fisher. Olivia noticed that even in the midst of a cooling off period for their relationship, she was still as concerned about his problems as ever.
She continued in a matter-of-fact tone. “Well that’s a big question. How did that happen? Some heads are going to roll over this one. I’ll handle explaining the finger to Charles, but I don’t want to go near Scott Pierce until he digests this news. Oh, and by the way. You better call Scott soon. He told me he has to go out of town.”
She heard Matt’s pen hit his desk. “Well, he better get it together pronto, because he has to report this to the state environmental agencies in Sacramento.”
Olivia checked the time and winced.
“I have to see a client soon. Let me know if you hear any more about the environmental consultant. I’m still hoping Jed’s death was an accident and the artifacts are insignificant. If luck is on our side, we could set up an exhibit to show what was found on the property, maybe a history of the site going back a few hundred years. If there is no evidence that the property is historically or archeologically important, the finds won’t have done us any harm. As soon as you release the scene and take down the crime scene tape that is.”
Now there was more irritation in Matt’s voice. “Yeah, easier said than done. It’s going to take forensics a while to sort out evidence, footprints and the like, and determine what’s related to a potential crime and what isn’t. We’re looking at footprints over by the logging area where our guy was in charge of operations. The rain left a lot of clear prints, which is good. But some of them are also partially washed out by the rain. Hard to tell which ones are fresh. We also found a few prints of dress shoes. Some of the attendees must have wandered over there. But the more time passes the more the evidence degrades.”
Olivia told him about her suspicion that Russ Bower had made an excursion into a secluded portion of the woods with his pretty assistant before the ceremony began.
“That accounts for two sets of prints. We also found another set of men’s sport shoes plus work boots that match the ones Jed was wearing. Looks like they stomped around a lot and I’d wager that one set belonged to the killer.”
Olivia sat up straight. “Are you saying the guy who wore the dress shoes was the killer? That excludes the building crew, right?”
“Forensics says it could be a number of brands. It’s the tread and the heel and so forth that ID’s it and we don’t have that. But I think I’ll put Bowers on my list, ask him a few more questions. Listen, I gotta run, too, Olivia.”
Impulsively she threw out an invitation. “Would you like to come over for dinner tonight and relax with Tuesday and me? Nothing fancy. I’ll pick up some take out from Paymoor’s or Victor’s.” She added, “She’d love to see you,” to make it seem casual, to hide her heart sliding up into her throat.
“Can I call you later and let you know? It’s going to be a busy day and I don’t know if I’ll be able to get away.”
Olivia was hoping he’d jump at the chance and felt deflated at his response. “Sure. As I said, nothing fancy.”
Before he hung up he said, “I hope I can make it work.”
Her heart beat faster at the thought of sitting across the table from Matt. If she was missing him as much as she realized she was, why couldn’t she make up her mind about committing to him?
7:2
Olivia hung up and called upstairs to Tuesday. “Are you interested in going for a little drive?”
Tuesday came walking into the kitchen buckling her polka dot linen belt around her poodle skirt, a circle of brown felt appliqued with a pair standards, one black dog and one white. Poodle skirts were a fad during her grandmother’s teenage years. Her skirt stood almost straight out to the side, thanks to the twenty petticoats that she had picked up at her favorite consignment shop in LA. Her short sleeved pullover and small neck scarf completed the classic look. Except for her over-the-knee black boots and blue hair, she could easily be mistaken for a 1950’s starlet.
Olivia took one look at her and said, “It’s not that fancy. You didn’t have to change your clothes.”
Tuesday explained her unexpected tea leaf reading with the guy who had spilled coffee on her skirt. She twirled around to show off the extravagant collection of petticoats.
Laughing, Olivia said, “On second thought, I’m not sure you and your skirts will fit in the truck.” Then she smiled admiringly. “You almost look like a dancer in Oklahoma.”
Tuesday fist pumped. “Yes. That’s it. Hadn’t thought of it. I was thinking this was more of an Audrey Hepburn vibe, but you’re right. I’d need ballet flats to do Audrey justice.”
She burst into some lines from the musical, but Olivia stopped her.
“You’ll have me dancing and kicking my heels in the air in a minute and I don’t have time.”
Tuesday checked her watch. “What are you up to? Where are we going?”
Olivia gathered up the things she needed for her day; her phone, iPad and wallet. She slipped her purse over her shoulder, weighed down now by her electronic items.
“I have to go to see my client to check on the pool house. It’s supposed to be ready for a big party on Friday. She’s avoiding me and I can’t think why. Except that I think Hamish Walsh is backstabbing me.”
Tuesday made a face at the mention of the other designer. “Oh yuck. Him. So what’s your plan?”
Olivia paused, leaning against the refrigerator. “Well, I happen to know that Marguerite has a standing appointment with her yoga teacher in about half an hour. If I get there just before Judith arrives she won’t be able to dodge me. I know Hamish is trying to get her business. Even though she has all but promised the job to me if the cabana goes well, nothing is in writing, yet. So legally he could steal her away. I have to stop that.”
Tuesday held her finger up, an idea coming forth. “If we could figure out who is leaving you death symbols, we could hire her to put a hex on Hamish.”
Olivia said, “Her? Why do you assume it’s a woman?”
“Because men don’t put much stock in the occult. Or at least they won’t admit they do. It’s a female realm.”
Olivia said somewhat apologetically, “Listen, when we get to the Fredericks, would you mind waiting in the truck while I talk to her? It won’t take long and then we can grab some lunch before I have to get back to work. How about the fish place?”
Tuesday remembered Jesse, the cute owner and gave an enthusiastic yes.
“I’m really sorry, Tuesday, when we made plans for you to come up for the groundbreaking, thought we would have time to play. But now I have even more work. I have to keep the team in line. I don’t want the contractor or the architect going after Charles with lawsuits if the police keep the site shut down for a while. Plus, I have to manage the public relations on this.”
“Well let’s go then.” Tuesday grabbed her lingerie purse, a plastic horror in the shape of a corset a friend had picked up for her in Las Vegas.
Olivia made a face. “Stylish,” she smirked, “if you’re into vulgar.”
“Your taste is all in your mouth, Miss Prissy.”
“You mean like this?” Olivia flourished her cobalt blue Prada tote to get Tuesday’s attention.
Tuesday waved her corset bag back at her. “Trying to make me jealous, girlfriend? Let’s just see whose bag catches the most looks.”
“Oh yours will get the looks. But mine will get the purse envy.”
Tuesday laughed. “I don’t know how you can stand Darling Valley. I wouldn’t live in a town that doesn’t love my corset purse.”
They trooped down the stairs and out to Olivia’s truck.
Tuesday climbed in and said, “Don’t you worry that your conservative clothes show a distinct lack of imagination? I would think that would be a handicap in a designer.”
Olivia placed her phone in a holder on the dashboard, turned on the ignition and they were under way. Scott Pierce called almost immediately. She flicked on the speaker, whispering to Tuesday, “This won’t be pretty.”
As soon as she said, “Hi, Scott,” he blasted her about the news from Matt.
“How much did we pay in fees to those environmental jerks and they file a report without doing full due diligence? Now my job is shut down and I’m going to have to pay a consultant to do the work over?”
His voice rose to a high pitch.
Olivia mouthed, “I told you” to Tuesday, then spoke sweetly to him. “I’m so sorry, Scott. I feel the same way. But I wouldn’t jump to conclusions about who has to pay what right now. This is all so new and we will have to sort that out. Will you let me know when you’re going to meet with the consultant? I’d like to sit in.”<
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Scott did some more grumbling, then hung up.
The two friends took advantage of the ride up the hill to the Fredericks’ mansion to catch up on their news.
Olivia asked, “So what’s up with Clipper? Are you two on or off?”
Clipper was the retired detective turned highly paid private investigator that Tuesday met while trying to hunt down a killer threatening her tea leaf client, the actress Holley Wood. Clipper was as eccentric in his own way as Tuesday, which made them soul mates, except for one tiny wrinkle.
“We adore each other, when we can see each other. But he’s always out of town on cases. I’m afraid absence won’t make the heart grow fonder. So we’re taking a time out to think things through. How about you and Matt?”
Olivia glanced at the side of the road for a second while she gathered her thoughts. “I don’t really know how to explain what’s going on. He’s definitely my dream man and he says I’m the woman for him. But we’re never in the same place at the same time. I don’t mean we’re geographically apart, like you and Clipper. But he proposed a few months ago, quite on the spur of the moment, and I went running like my hair was on fire. When my nerves calmed down and I was ready to say yes, he backed away.”
Tuesday pulled down the visor mirror and applied some lip gloss. “I know girlfriend. You told me all that. How many late night phone calls did it take to talk you down from your panic that it was really over? Are the two of you still being stupid about this? If ever two people belonged together, it’s you two.”
Olivia shook her head. “I don’t know why you say that. We’re so different. Matt is very reserved. It took a lot for him to open up about his feelings. About anything. His family, his work, me. Of course, we are very close now, but I’m afraid he’s going to go back into his shell. And now that my business has started to take off, I don’t really have much time for a relationship.”
Tuesday dropped her lip gloss back into her corset and snapped it shut. “DVF and BD. That’s all I’m saying.”