by Lena Gregory
“We don’t know yet.” Luke kissed Cass’s cheek and rubbed a hand up and down her arm, leaving a trail of warmth behind. “How are you doing?”
“I’m okay.” Despite a reality check from Chief Rawlins.
He nodded. “Bee said you witnessed an argument between Piper and Quincy Yates and his new girlfriend, Francesca Harding.”
“Yes. And then when I was here earlier, Quincy was sitting on the beach right over there.” She pointed to where she’d seen him.
“Did he say anything?”
“I only spoke to him for a moment. He thanked me for taking over CPR for him, and I told him I was sorry for his loss, but he didn’t seem the least bit broken up over Fred.”
“What else can you tell me?”
She shrugged, trying to remember anything that might prove important. “He was sitting alone with his head down, as if the weight of the world balanced on his shoulders, but when he stood, his clothes were clean, no dirt or blood spots I noticed. I didn’t notice if his hands were dirty, but they didn’t stand out to me as they might have if they were.”
Luke nodded and jotted everything down, then pointed toward the jetty. “Bee was just about to show me where he found these clothes. Then we’ll send them to someone to authenticate.”
“Why? What are they?” Though she tried to focus, her mind kept leaping back to Piper. Surely, if they lost her, someone would contact Chief Rawlins or Luke immediately.
“They seem to be pirate garb. Definitely not stuck between two rocks since the seventeen hundreds, so I’m thinking a costume of some sort, even though they appear old. We’ll get in touch with someone from the historical society, though, to see if they’ve had anything go missing from the museum.”
“Would you mind if I take a look?” Bee sniffed and wiped his cheeks with the palms of his hands.
Luke shrugged, pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket, and handed them to Bee. Then he slid his own glove on, opened the bag, and handed Bee the first garment, what might once have been a white shirt with full sleeves and ruffles decorating the front and cuffs, tattered and torn, stained with blotches of brown.
Bee held up the garment and looked in the collar. “No tag, but if you look here, you can see where it was cut out.”
Though stitch marks were still visible, no part of the tag remained.
Bee tugged on the shirt a bit. “It’s definitely not authentic.”
Luke frowned. “How can you tell?”
“An authentic pirate shirt should be made of canvas, leather, wool, linen, cotton, maybe even sheepskin, but this one contains spandex, which wasn’t invented until the mid-nineteen hundreds, somewhere around nineteen fifty-nine or sixty, if I’m not mistaken.” He sniffed the garment, then scrunched up his nose. “Plus, despite the briny salty odor from being stuffed between the rocks, and the barely perceptible smell of sweat, you can still detect the tiniest whiff of the tea that was used to create the vintage look.”
Luke yanked out his notepad and started scribbling notes.
“Do you think this could belong to the mysterious pirate ghost Levi swears he saw out on the jetty?” Because a real-life person dressed as a pirate made a whole lot more sense.
Luke flipped a page. “What pirate ghost?”
“Levi said he saw a pirate ghost out on the jetty a few times over the past month, said it had spooked him.” Could be someone trying to scare people off while he searched for the treasure.
Bee handed the shirt back to Luke and held up a pair of breeches. “Well, someone was definitely playing dress-up.”
“Maybe Fred was searching for the treasure and wanted to scare off anyone who might show too much of an interest.” She couldn’t remember if Levi had mentioned seeing the “ghost” after Fred had been killed.
Bee folded the breeches and placed them back into the bag then scratched his head. “Thing is, Fred was pretty average sized. Not that it matters, I guess, since pirate shirts tended toward loose and flowy, anyway, but even allowing for the baggier style of the day, those breeches would have been falling off of him. Those things would fit me.”
Which meant whoever had worn them would have to be better than six feet tall and pretty well built. Cass’s gaze shot to Bee. “They’d fit Quincy Yates.”
Quincy Yates, who’d argued with Piper in the diner and who’d been sitting only a few yards from where they’d just found Piper earlier in the day. And Piper, who, according to gossip, was cheating on Quince with Fred last season. Had Quince been angry enough to kill Fred over it and then try to kill Piper?
Chapter Eighteen
Cass petted Beast’s head, hugged him, then opened the door for him to get into the car.
“So.” Bee sat on the edge of the backseat with the door open, shook the sand out of his socks, and pulled them on.
“How’s your ankle?”
“It’s a little sore, but it’ll be fine.” He bent forward and massaged his back. “My back’s gonna ache for a while, though.”
“Do you want a couple of ibuprofen?” She started to reach for her bag.
He waved her off. “It’ll be fine.”
“Stephanie said she’d be here in a couple minutes. She just wanted to talk to Tank.”
Once he got his shoes back on, Bee folded himself into the backseat and peered out the windshield toward the lighthouse. “Now what?”
A shadow drew Cass’s vision to the window Fred had fallen from. Had something moved? “I’m going to want to take a walk through the keeper’s house when there aren’t so many people around.”
The last thing she needed with abilities on the fritz was an audience.
Bee chewed on a thumbnail. “You want to come back tonight, after everyone’s gone?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” Doubt plagued her. Even though the chief’s comment that she needed to take her gift seriously had stung, she hadn’t been wrong. Cass loved what she did, loved that she could help people find something they’d lost or find peace or forgiveness from a loved one who’d passed on. But the avoidance of true responsibility had come at a price.
“Do you think Piper will be okay?” Bee stared at her in the rearview mirror, searching her gaze for the truth.
She turned to face him, took his hand in hers. “I hope she will, but either way, Bee, you saved her, at least gave her a fighting chance.”
He swallowed hard and nodded, then lowered his gaze.
“You’re a hero, Bee.”
“Then why do I feel so guilty?”
“About what?”
“Don’t get me wrong.” He sagged against the seat back. “I never wished harm on that girl.”
“Of course you didn’t. I would never think you could wish harm on anyone.” Bee was one of the kindest, most sensitive people she knew.
“Yeah, well, I did enjoy seeing Francesca put her in her place.”
Cass chose her words carefully, torn between wanting to comfort Bee and her own feelings of guilt. “Bee, just because something horrible happened to Piper, something no one deserves, something you never would have wanted to see happen, doesn’t mean she was a nice person. Hopefully, she’ll make a full recovery, and maybe the experience will change her, make her treat people with respect and kindness.”
He sniffed and nodded without looking fully convinced.
“And the fact that you went out of your way to save her, are still concerned for her welfare despite the way she treated you, speaks volumes for the kind of person you are.”
He offered a shaky smile and patted her hand. “Thanks, Cass.”
“Any time.” Now if she could just alleviate her own guilt. Hmm. Perhaps she could. Chief Rawlins had said she needed to master her abilities. At the moment, that meant somehow shielding some of the voices while allowing others in. And she had a good idea of who could help her with that.
“Here comes Stephanie.” Bee put his seat belt on.
Stephanie opened the passenger-side door and sat in the passenger seat. “Thanks
for waiting.”
“No problem.” Cass started the car and turned on the headlights. “Did Tank say anything?”
“They’re looking for Quince.”
“They’re going to arrest him?” Bee asked.
“Right now, he’s just considered a person of interest. They just want to question him and Francesca.”
Bee unclipped his belt and leaned between the seats. “Cass, would you mind running by Mystical Musings?”
Cass shifted into reverse, then turned and looked behind her to make sure she had enough room to back up amid all the emergency vehicles scattered throughout the lot. “Sure, why?”
“I left Kitty’s journal there, and I wanted to finish reading it tonight.”
“No problem.” She inched back just enough to get out of her spot, then headed toward the boardwalk. If she was stopping by the shop anyway, she could pick up Simone’s business card, the one that contained her cell phone number as well. At least then she could call her first thing in the morning, before she headed into the shop.
Bee tapped Cass’s shoulder. “Do you want to go to the keeper’s house tonight?”
“For what?” Stephanie asked.
“I just want to walk around, see if I can sense anything.” And check out the room Fred fell from, see if she could tap into any lingering trace of energy.
“How do you plan to get in?” Bee quirked a brow.
“We are not breaking in. Period.” Stephanie’s order left no room to argue.
Understandable, really. The last thing she needed in the middle of trying to adopt a baby was a B and E charge. Though, chances were Tank and Luke wouldn’t let it go that far even if they did get caught. Probably.
Stephanie searched through her bag and pulled out a pack of gum. She offered Bee and Cass each a piece before popping her own into her mouth, dropping the pack back into her bag and pulling out her phone. “Why don’t you just ask Chief Rawlins to open it up for you?”
Cass shrugged as she unwrapped her gum. “I guess we could do it that way.”
Bee pouted. “Fine. But you have to admit, it’s more fun the other way.”
“I’ll call Tank and ask him to meet us out there.” Stephanie unlocked her phone to make the call. “What time do you think?”
“I have to stop at Mystical Musings for Bee to pick up his transcript, and I can feed Beast there and take him for a walk. Plus, I want to spend a little time with him. I never did get to show you how he brings a stick back when you throw it now.”
Bee laughed. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”
“He did, right, Beast?”
Beast barked, and some of the tension filling the car eased.
“Then I want to try to do another reading for you, if you’re up for it, Stephanie.” It still troubled Cass that she hadn’t been able to tell Stephanie anything about her adoption plans. Plus, she wanted to see if the woman’s voice returned while she was reading Stephanie. Even if it meant suffering the rest of the voices as well. The thought of waiting until after she could ask Simone about shielding flittered through her mind, but she shoved it right back out. She needed to figure out if the woman’s fear she’d been feeling had had something to do with Piper or if Tank or Stephanie could still be in danger. No way could that wait.
“Sure.” She shrugged, her lack of enthusiasm digging at Cass, a reminder she’d failed her the past few times she’d tried.
By the time she did all that, plus got something to eat, it would probably be close to midnight. “Maybe it could wait until tomorrow. Why don’t we play it by ear?”
“Sounds good,” Bee said. “What do you want to do for dinner?”
“I don’t know. The barbeque place just opened for the season, but it’s probably mobbed, if it’s even still open by the time we’re ready to go eat.” Cass pulled into the parking lot, let Beast out of the car, and hurried up the boardwalk to unlock Mystical Musings.
“If it’s okay with you guys, I’m not really in the mood for a crowd tonight. For once, I don’t want to hear the gossip or have to explain what happened out there today.” Bee held the door open for them to precede him. “Do you want me to lock it?”
“Nah, leave it open. I’m not opening the register or anything, but if a customer comes in to schedule a reading, I could do that.” Cass dumped her bag beneath the counter and headed to the back to fill Beast’s bowls.
Bee followed. “If you want, I could order pizza or something and just have it delivered here.”
“That would be perfect.” Cass had no burning desire to listen to the gossip either.
“Then I’ll make myself scarce and read the rest of Kitty’s journal while you do Stephanie’s reading.”
“Great, Bee. Thank you.” She put Beast’s bowls down and got a plastic bag, then leaned against the counter and waited for him to finish eating. “Where’s Stephanie?”
Bee hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Tank called, and she stopped out front to answer.”
When Beast was done, he headed right for the back door, and Cass followed.
Bee stopped by the table, collected the transcript pages he’d left there, and looked around. “Did you see the folder these were in?”
“Oh, yeah, I put it in the drawer under the coffeepot.”
Leaving Bee alone with Kitty, Cass wandered down the beach toward the shoreline. Spotlights still lit the jetty by the lighthouse, and she wondered if they’d found Quince. He seemed a logical suspect, since he had left the diner with Piper under less-than-ideal circumstances and was sitting on the beach very near the crime scene. Plus, Bee was right. He was tall and well built and could easily fit the pirate costume they’d found by the jetty. But why would he be searching for the treasure? Unless he wasn’t searching for the treasure at all. What if he’d left other women out on the jetty and used the pirate costume to scare people off?
She was going to have to call Luke.
When Beast finished doing his business, Cass cleaned up and found a long, thin stick. She tossed it down the beach, and Beast bolted after it.
When he reached it, he picked it up and turned toward her. Then plunked down in the sand and started chewing it to pieces. So much for the bath he’d just had.
Bee laughed out loud from the deck of Mystical Musings. “Great new trick, Cass.”
“Ha ha.” She called for Beast to come. “He’s probably just tired now.”
“Uh-huh. Anyway, come on in. I called and ordered the pizza, and it should be here any time now.”
“Thanks, Bee.”
Since Beast made no move to get up, she went to him and clipped the leash to his collar. “Way to make me look bad in front of Bee.”
He licked her chin.
She laughed and snuggled him. “Don’t worry, I still love you anyway.”
With Beast taken care of and happily ripping the stuffing out of a toy, Cass grabbed three Diet Pepsis from the fridge and put them on the table with paper plates, napkins, and a knife. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast and she was starved. “Pizza was a good idea, Bee.”
“Yup. And we didn’t even have to go get it.”
True enough, though the fact Bee was avoiding people and gossip had Cass a little concerned. If it went on too long, she’d have to talk to him.
Stephanie walked in the front door, took a seat at the table, and opened her soda. “Thanks.”
“Sure. Is everything okay with Tank?” Cass sat too.
Bee stacked the folder on top of the transcribed pages he’d been reading and set them aside so he could sit down to eat before retiring to the back room so she and Stephanie would have some privacy for the reading.
“He said he’d let you into the keeper’s house either tonight or tomorrow morning, whichever works for you.”
She really wanted to go home to bed, but she would probably only lay awake anyway. It might be better to just get the lighthouse over with. At least that would be one less thing on her mind. “And he was okay with that?”
That would have to be good enough. “Did he say how Piper is doing?”
Bee sucked in a breath and held it.
“She’s holding her own.”
He blew out the breath he’d been holding.
Stephanie sobered and leaned forward. “He also said they have a good idea where the photo of you that was leaked to the paper came from.”
“Oh?”
“Piper’s phone was in her pocket, and she had several pictures of you leaning over Fred trying to revive him.”
Cass wasn’t sure how to feel. On the one hand, she wanted to be offended at the invasion of her privacy. On the other, it was hard to be angry with someone who had suffered whatever had happened to Piper. So she took the coward’s way out. She’d think about it some other time.
“So, now what?” Bee lifted the folder from the top of the pages and tapped it up and down on the table.
“Now we eat pizza and go back out to the keeper’s house to take a peek. If you want to come with me, that is. You don’t have to.” She would definitely understand if Bee wanted to take a pass.
He tipped the folder on one edge, propped a finger on the top corner, and twirled it around, seemingly mesmerized by the spinning motion.
“I’ll take a ride with you,” Stephanie offered. “Then I’ll get a ride home with Tank if he’s able to leave. Are you taking Beast or leaving him here?”
“I don’t know. Maybe Bee would rather stay here and keep an eye on him for me.”
She hoped she was offering him an out that would still make him know how much she appreciated him.
A knock at the door gave him another few minutes to make up his mind.
Determined not to make him feel pressured, Cass got up and answered the door. She paid for the pies, added a generous tip, and returned to the table with two pizzas. “Really, Bee? Two pies? Did you invite company I don’t know about?”
“That’s okay, wait ’til you open them up. One of them has everything on it. Well, except anchovies, of course. I had a feeling I’d feel the need to stress eat. Better to have too much under those circumstances than too little.”