Silence Is Golden (A Pet Psychic Mystery No. 3)

by Esposito, Shannon

  Frankie cleared her throat and raised an eyebrow at me when she caught me staring out the window again. She turned to the waitress. "Give us a few more minutes, hon."

  "Of course," she said, leaving us.

  "A toast." Frankie lifted her glass. "To enjoying every minute of life because you never know what's coming at you next."

  We all clinked glasses. "To sisterhood," I added, suddenly grateful to have found such a good friend in Frankie. "Blood and otherwise."

  The wine was delicious, smelled like dark cherries and warmed up my insides as it blazed a trail to my belly. I took a deep breath and released it slowly. "I just should've maybe offered to go with him, you think? I mean ICU's pretty serious, right?"

  Willow set her glass down slowly. "And what could you have done?"

  "I don't know." I shrugged. "Said the right words, held his hand, comforted him." Used some magick to ease his anxiety.

  "I'm sure his dad's in the best of hands, sugar," Frankie said. "And if he felt it was necessary, he would have asked you to come with him."

  "I could help solve Victoria's death, then he wouldn't have to rush back."

  "Well, I'm putting a freeze on serious matters tonight." Frankie tapped my menu. "You need some food, wine and laughter. You can worry and feel guilty all you want tomorrow. That's an order."

  I straightened my spine with a laugh. "Yes, ma'am."

  After we finally ordered, we shared some girl talk and stories. Willow was totally enthralled by Frankie's homeless life before she won the lottery. She wanted to go visit Pirate City. Frankie suggested Willow accompany her on Sunday when she served the homeless breakfast at Mirror Lake.

  Willow also told Frankie about our visit to the Mound and the guardian spirit she had sensed.

  "Oh! You think it was the spirit dog?"

  "Could have been," Willow said. "But Darwin and I didn't sense any malice, whatever it was."

  "Are you psychic, Willow?" Frankie's eyes widened. "Can you feel energy from spirits? We had a really good psychic at Landon's Halloween party last year. Wasn't he great, Darwin?"

  I choked on my water. The psychic in question was Zach and yeah, he was good. Too good. "Mhm," I managed.

  I had to kick my sister under the table when she opened her mouth to answer Frankie's question. After throwing me a narrowed gaze, she simply said, "No."

  "She's just sensitive," I offered, feeling Willow's gaze on me. I knew it bothered her I was keeping our family gifts secret in my new life. It wasn't something we had grown up doing, and mom had tried to instill in us the belief they were indeed gifts. But, I didn't see it that way. Besides, it was my life, and she needed to respect my choice whether she agreed with it or not.

  "I can't imagine why someone would keep digging up the place," I said, shifting the attention off my sister. "We met some of the neighbors who are out there keeping an eye on it at night, though. Nice folks."

  "I still think it's kids who haven't learned to respect history yet." Frankie broke a steaming roll in half and buttered it. "I wouldn't mess with any sacred ground, that's for sure. That's just asking for some bad juju in your life."

  I was just about to answer when I noticed a familiar face a few booths down to our left. "Tara Scarpetta."

  "What's that, sugar?" Frankie asked.

  "Oh," I nodded toward the booth, "Tara Scarpetta's here. She's the lady who owns Blackbeard's Bountiful Treasure, the golden retriever that was Victoria and Goldie's biggest rival when... you know... before Victoria died."

  Frankie pretended to rub her neck with a precious-stone-laden hand as she turned and eyed Tara. Not that she had to worry about being caught staring. Tara only had eyes for whoever was across the booth from her. "Oh yeah. I've seen her around. She's a realtor, friends with Betsy Mills. You know the gal who comes in with the three standard poodles?"

  "Yeah, I know Betsy. Well, Tara is also the owner of a black BMW and the witness to Victoria's hit and run described a black car. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. Will said they've got the word out to all the area body shops to see if anyone brought in a black car for front end repair recently. They're checking out her car, too."

  "The police think someone would kill over a dog show rivalry?" Willow asked.

  "I know, right. Frankie was just filling me in on how cutthroat the show dog world is. And Tara thinks Victoria poisoned her dog before a big show. So, revenge? Taking out the competition? Who knows what would motivate someone to kill. Especially if they weren't trying to kill Victoria, but maybe Goldie."

  "Oooo, yes." Frankie nodded. "I never thought of that. Goldie could have been the target. And Tara's dog was Goldie's biggest rival?" She swallowed a sip of wine, stared thoughtfully behind her and then pushed back from the table. "I've got to use the ladies'." She winked.

  I watched as she feigned surprise while passing Tara's booth and struck up a conversation with her. Tara seemed uncomfortable and struggled to hold a smile. When Frankie walked away, Tara rested her forehead on her palm for a second and then started digging through her purse. She got up alone from the table, clutching a bouquet of flowers and headed my way.

  "Tara, right?" I called before she could scamper past our table. "You're Bo's owner?"

  She stopped and stared at me, her face flushed. Then her eyes narrowed, and I felt a swell of heavy, dark emotion flow from her. Anger? Embarrassment? I couldn't tell.

  "I remember you. You were with that detective at the dog show. And you had Goldie with you." She clutched her bouquet closer to her chest. "You've adopted her then?"

  "Yes." I smiled up at her and rested my chin on my hand. "She's a doll. Terrible what happened to Victoria, isn't it?" I eyed her flowers and wondered if she was a fan of lilacs.

  "Sure. Yes. Terrible. Guess Goldie will just be a house dog now, with that scar and all. Poor thing." Her mouth moved into a slow smile. "You girls enjoy your dinner."

  "She doesn't seem like a very nice person," Willow said as we watched her leave.

  I frowned. "No, she doesn't."

  Frankie had an ear-to-ear grin when she sat back down.

  "Okay, spill it, Frankie. What in heaven's name was that all about?"

  "That, my dear Darwin, was about a certain someone having dinner with a certain male someone who is not her husband."

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  I had just given Goldie a bone to keep her busy when Charlie came in a bit early. Oh good. Time to do a little more digging.

  "Hey, Willow, come on. I'll take you by Big Barnie's shop before we go to lunch today." Besides my ulterior motive, I knew she'd enjoy all the artifacts he had there.

  We wandered around the store for a bit. I was enjoying watching Willow go crazy over all the stuff. As we made our way to the back of the shop I overheard arguing. I hadn't seen Big Barnie since we'd been there. Was that him yelling at someone?

  "You go on and browse. I'll be right back," I told Willow. I ignored her questioning glance.

  There was a small hallway in the back with a door marked "restroom" and across from that another door marked "office". The yelling was coming from the cracked office door. I flattened myself against the wall and moved my ear in front of the crack.

  "Don't lie to me. I followed you last night. I know what you were doing and there is only one reason you would be doing it. How..." I recognized the voice. It was Eugene. "Oh my god, it was Victoria, wasn't it?"

  "Don't you dare blame Victoria," Barnie growled. "You didn't even respect her when she was alive. You damned sure better respect her now that she's not here to defend herself."

  I bit my lip. What was Barnie doing last night? Did Eugene catch him at the Mound illegally digging for artifacts? And if so, what did that have to do with Victoria? A loud bang made me jump.

  A harsh laugh and then Eugene said quietly. "Jesus, you were in love with her, weren't you?"

  There was a pause and then Barnie's voice, raw with emotion. "She was an amazing person and deserved better."

  Another l
oud bang, maybe a chair being thrown, and then Eugene's voice was right by the door. "Stay out of my way and keep your hands off of what's mine from now on."

  I leaped across the hall, flung the bathroom door open and hopped inside as Eugene emerged. His face was red and an angry bruise formed a half-moon under one eye. I closed the door as he stalked out and waited a few minutes before I snuck back out into the shop.

  "So, do you think Eugene could have known about the affair and killed his wife in a fit of rage?" Willow asked as we drove to lunch.

  I thought about that. "I guess anything's possible. But, by their argument it sounded like Eugene had just found out about it. Otherwise, he probably would have confronted him before now."

  "How do you think he found out?"

  "Well, it wouldn't be a stretch to think Josie told him. After all, that's how we found out."

  Willow glanced at me, confused. "Why would she do that?"

  "Who knows? I have a feeling Miss Josie doesn't do a lot of thinking before she speaks."

  "Her brain is probably pickled." Willow frowned. "The mess people make."

  "Amen, sister."

  * * *

  It was after ten and I had just removed some baked treats from the oven when my cell rang. Hopping over Goldie, who was lying in the kitchen hoping I would drop something, I grabbed my phone off the counter. It was Will.

  "Hey," I said, relieved to hear from him. "How's your dad?"

  "Not good." I heard him blow out a long shuttering breath. "I'm on my way back though."

  My heart broke for him. I could hear the worry and frustration in his voice. "Do you want to stop by when you get in?"

  "No, no. It'll be late. I just needed to hear your voice."

  Smiling, I removed my oven mitt and walked over to plop down on the sofa. "Glad I could be of some service. I felt so helpless."

  "There's nothing you could have done. They only let immediate family into ICU and only for a short period."

  My mind searched again for something I could do. I could relieve some of his worry now that I'd been practicing again, but he was still getting used to the idea that I get psychic visions from animals. My Elemental magick would most likely send him running for the door.

  "Anything exciting happening there?"

  "Well, are you up for a little gossip that pertains to Victoria's case?"

  "Hit me." A pause. "Ouch. Sorry, bad pun."

  I chuckled. "You asked for it. So, Frankie and Willow... oh, I haven't even got a chance to tell you my sister, Willow, showed up here on Monday. Drove from Savannah, which was a shock because none of us girls learned how to drive. But she does now. Anyways, we were having dinner and who is there at the restaurant but Tara Scarpetta with a man that was not her husband, according to Frankie. Oh my heavens... I just had an epiphany. What if Victoria found out Tara was having an affair? That would be some piece of information for an enemy to have over her. She could have run down Victoria in a fit of rage. Or to keep her quiet."

  "Whoa, Nancy Drew." Will laughed. "Let's stick with the facts."

  "Facts are just the building blocks of a story, Will. We need the whole story." So you can solve this case and go spend time with your dad. "We need motivation. Oh, and also something else. I overheard Big Barnie, you know that unscrupulous artifacts dealer who is supposed to be Eugene's best friend, he was yelling at Eugene. It sounded like Eugene had just found out about Barnie's affair with his wife."

  "So, you were eavesdropping on a private conversation?"

  "No!" I said, louder than I meant to. "If they wanted it private, they shouldn't have raised their voices and maybe shut the door all the way."

  Will made some sort of noise that sounded like he was in pain. "Anything else?"

  "Oh, yeah, one more thing. One of my customers told me about an attack at the Pinellas Point Mound, one of the neighbors was patrolling the Mound and got hit in the head with a shovel. Twice. He's in the hospital with a concussion."

  "That's terrible, Darwin, but I don't see how that's related to the case."

  I twirled a piece of bang as I thought. "I don't know. It just feels like it is somehow. I mean, Victoria was meeting Jade Harjo to give her an Indian artifact she found while cleaning out her uncle's house after he died. What if her death didn't have anything to do with someone wanting her or Goldie dead... but someone wanting that artifact? And an Indian burial ground is being vandalized, maybe because someone is illegally digging for artifacts. Just seems like too much of a coincidence. Plus, the guy who got hit with the shovel, his wife said he thought it was a woman who hit him. He's just too embarrassed to tell the police that."

  "I don't know. Seems like a stretch. If the person did kill for the artifact, why did they leave it in her backpack?"

  I suddenly remembered Jade Harjo's words on the Mound: Funny thing was, your Detective Blake showed me the artifact and I don't know why she was in such a hurry to get it to me. It was just an arrowhead.

  A piece dropped into place. "What if that arrowhead in Victoria's bag wasn't the special artifact she wanted to give to Jade? Renny collected all kinds of artifacts and didn't want them sold for profit, but wanted them reunited with the Native Americans where they belonged. So, maybe she was bringing Jade the arrowhead and something else. Something that the killer did take from her backpack?"

  "What would be important enough to kill for? It would have to be worth a lot of money. Besides, she was an unarmed woman, if someone wanted something she had, it would have been easier to just rob her. No, I think the theory about Victoria finding out about Tara's affair seems more plausible. She's already a top suspect because of the whole dog show rivalry. But then again, I'm exhausted so not sure how straight I'm thinking."

  I sighed. "Sorry, guess it doesn't help I'm throwing all these theories at you with the day you've had. You know, your job is hard."

  Will laughed. "I think you'd make a great detective, Darwin. But meanwhile, please stay out of trouble. I don't need to be worrying about you too right now."

  The fatigue drew out his words, and I felt so desperate to do something to ease the worry I could hear in his voice. "Can you do lunch tomorrow?"

  "I'll have to let you know. Seems I have some new questions for Victoria's husband."

  "You're welcome," I teased. "Good night."

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  I was just about to flip over the closed sign Thursday evening when Josie busted through the door and stumbled across the boutique, knocking into the treat table and falling behind the counter. Sylvia, who had just been about to pour us some tea, shot me a startled look. I flipped the sign and locked the door. We both walked over and stared down at her. She was huddled on the floor, holding her knees and mumbling to herself. Large black sunglasses hid most of her face.

  "Josie?" I said calmly. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

  She lifted her head and pulled off her glasses. Her face was ashen, her eyes bloodshot. "Check the door. Is anyone looking in here?"

  We both turned our heads and stared at the door.

  "No. No one's there." Was she having some kind of alcohol-induced hallucinations?

  She collapsed against the counter and took in a shuddering breath. "They found me. I saw 'em. I'd know Deacon's thugs anywhere." She shoved her hands into her mussed hair and began to sob. Goldie dropped Gator and came over and nudged her elbow. Josie swiped at her nose with the back of her hand and gave Goldie a hug. "Thanks, girl."

  I kneeled down in front of her while Sylvia stood with her arms crossed. Willow watched the whole thing from the tea table. "So someone named Deacon is looking for you? Why?"

  "Money. Why else? Money makes the world go round. Money and pain." She snorted.

  "So you owe him money?"

  She cringed and dug in her bag, pulling out her flask with shaking hands. After a deep swig, she sagged and nodded. "A lot of money. Their kind of interest adds up fast and when you hit a losing streak... well, let's just say I dug my own grave."

>   Sylvia mumbled something in Portuguese and then touched my shoulder. When I glanced up, she flicked her chin toward the door.

  "I'll be right back." I patted Josie's knee.

  When we got out of earshot, Sylvia looked hard into my eyes and shook her head. "I know you like to help stray things, Darwin, but this girl is bad news. What she's talking about, owing gambling debt money, is very dangerous. Could be to the mob. They own Las Vegas. We cannot have that kind of trouble."

  I pressed my lips together. "I know. You're right. I'll get her out of here."

  "Josie?" I waited for her to open her eyes. "We've already closed the store. Can I give you a ride home?"

  "No." She rolled her head back and forth. "They've probably been watching me. I'm sure they know I've been staying at dad's place."

  "Is there somewhere else you could stay for a few days?"

  She blew out a sigh. "Yeah. I guess I could go to Eugene the Bean's house. He's got a good alarm system. Guess I'll be skipping this town sooner than I wanted to. I'll need to talk to him about selling dad's house for me anyway."

  * * *

  Willow pulled up into Eugene's driveway. "Wait here," I told her.

  I could feel Josie's body shaking as I helped her to the front door. She kept darting glances at the street. I rang the doorbell for her.

  As we stood there waiting, I asked for her cell phone and put my number in. "Call me if you need anything."

  She squeezed my hand. "Thanks for being so nice to me."

  The door cracked open and a startled Eugene stood in front of us. "Josie? What are you doing here?"

  He looked bad. He had tried to cover his bruised eye with a thick layer of foundation. And what in heaven's name is he wearing? I tried not to stare, but my gaze kept slipping back down to the black and red silk robe. I had heard of people not washing pillowcases of their deceased loved ones to hold on to their scent, but was it normal to wear their clothes? I hoped he was getting help with his grief. It seemed like he was one false step from going over the edge.

  "I need a safe place to crash... just for tonight," she added when she saw him start to protest.