by Fitz Molly
He gave me an encouraging thumbs up and folded his hands before him as he waited for everyone to take their seats.
Nan’s voice came over the microphone Charles had been using to lead the auction. “In just a few moments, seating on the left side of the house will be opened. If you were unable to find a spot on the right side, head on over and my granddaughter Angie will find a place for you.” As she made this announcement, she walked over to join me and Mr. Gable in the foyer.
“We’ve got things over here,” Nan said, hanging onto the mic with one hand and lacing the fingers of her other with Mr. Gable’s. “Go direct the remaining guests on the left.”
I nodded and moved with the crowd over to the emptied-out side of the house.
Oh, if only we’d waited until warmer months to host this giant gala. Things would have been much easier had we been able to use our outdoor space. Nobody wanted to be outside on a late April night, however. The 5K was our only exception.
The left side of the house was our biggest interior area. Usually it held our living room and dining area, both spacious under normal circumstances. But tonight, the tables had been packed as close together as possible. Nan hadn’t wanted to turn away a single donor if having them all meant helping the animals—and I had to applaud her for that.
Despite the chaos, I liked how many had shown up in support. What I didn’t like was that Ms. Jessica Rabbit had installed herself right next to Charles at the table in the farthest back corner and was stroking his arm as she spoke.
To his credit, he kept moving his arm out of her reach, but she kept moving in closer and…
Oh, no. You’ve messed with the wrong girl’s boyfriend this time, Missy!
Chapter Five
I marched right over to Charles and his new friend. The tight sheath of a dress Nan had lent me made my hips waddle back and forth, but I didn’t care.
“What’s going on here?” I asked, trying to play it cool; unfortunately, my voice cracked, giving away my true mood in an instant.
Charles straightened in his seat. “Oh, um, Bonnie here was just telling me all about how she’s new to town and in the market for a lawyer.”
“I’ve heard you’re the best,” she said, not even acknowledging my arrival. “And I only work with the best. Only play with the best, too.”
I saw red—and not just the extremely revealing dress of the woman before me. “Charles,” I said between gritted teeth. “Could you help me get things prepped outside for the 5k please? Now.”
Charles jumped to his feet and had the good grace to appear apologetic. He even mouthed the word “sorry” to me.
Bonnie, however, tsked and rolled her eyes before finally allowing them to land on me. “Where I come from, they have a word for women who steal the pants from their man.”
I turned on her, shoulders tense, eyes wide. “Excuse me?”
She licked her lips and smiled smugly at Charles before returning her heated gaze to me. “You heard me. It’s a shame you won’t let your man be a man. Mark my words, you’ll lose him that way.”
“And who are you to—”
Charles put his hand on the small of my back and gave me a shove away from the table. “Let’s go check on that 5k, sweetie.”
I held my tongue, but the moment we stepped outside, I let it all out. “What were you thinking? Letting her fawn over you like that? It’s disgusting!”
I expected him to apologize. Maybe even explain a little, but he didn’t respond at all. He didn’t even look at me while I waited for his answer. Instead he stared straight ahead with unblinking eyes. His lips moved slightly, but no sound came out.
“Well, what’s your excuse?” I pushed. I trusted Charles, but this wasn’t like him. He’d also been very public about letting another woman flirt with him. “Are you really that hard up for clients that you need to let her treat you that way?”
He still didn’t answer. Instead, he raised his arm with a shaking finger and pointed into the yard.
I turned, expecting something awful, seeing how shaken up he appeared.
What I found was even worse.
The banner that Charles had only recently hung over the race’s starting line had been ripped down from the stakes holding it in place. One corner flapped in the soft breeze as if waving hello. The other side lay trapped beneath an unmoving body, the middle part wrapped tightly around his neck.
Dead.
Murdered.
Max.
He was hardly recognizable with his purple oxygen-starved face and hair hanging limply away from his face. His shirt and jeans were just as wrinkled as ever, and his bare arms appeared nearly as white as the banner that had been used to strangle the life out of him.
No. This couldn’t be happening—and right here in my own front yard.
I may not have liked the guy, but that didn’t mean I wanted him dead. He wasn’t even supposed to be here tonight, the poor guy. Why would someone do this? How could they have had the time to plan and to make sure that no one was around to witness the violent act? There were so many people inside. It only took one looking through the window…
But that hadn’t happened. From what I could tell, Charles and I were the first to discover him out here.
“Nan’s not going to like this,” I muttered and gave a nervous laugh. Since I was wearing the white elbow-high gloves Nan had forced upon me, I used this opportunity to march right up to the body and cover it with the free portion of the banner.
“You’re interfering with the scene!” Charles whisper-yelled from his place on the porch.
He had a point, and normally I wouldn’t compromise a crime scene, but nothing about this situation was normal. “We can’t have all those people panicking. Let’s take care of this quietly and send them home before word spreads.”
“I’m calling Officer Bouchard.” Charles whipped his phone out of his jacket pocket and dialed.
“Sorry, buddy,” I told Max’s corpse, and I really was sorry, too. If only Debbie had never called in sick. If only we’d skipped having a DJ in the first place…
That was when buxom Bonnie swept out onto the porch and stopped mid-stride, letting out a shrill gasp. The door still hung open behind her, and at the sound of her surprise, others began to gather to see what all the fuss was.
“I hope you’re all enjoying your dinner,” I called, offering a deceptively happy and hugely uncomfortable wave. “Just putting together the finishing touches for our 5k.”
“Is that a dead body?” Bonnie asked with a husky drawl that seemed different from her more polished, feminine voice earlier.
“Nooooo,” I said, drawing the word out to give me some more time to think up an explanation.
Fortunately, Mr. Gable jumped to the rescue. He pushed out onto the porch and clapped his hands together. “Surprise! We’ve added a murder mystery to our dinner party tonight. Everyone make your guesses as to the identity of the killer and leave them with your name and email in the fish bowls set out along the tables. There will be a special prize for whoever guesses right. Now let’s get back inside!” He offered me a thumbs up—a new favorite thing of his, apparently—and directed the guests who’d begun to gather in the doorway back inside.
Only Bonnie lingered behind with me and Charles.
“He’s not just playing dead, is he?” she asked, then sucked air through her teeth. “You’re both way too panicked for this to be pretend.”
“Got a lot of experience with murder, do you?” I shot back. I just didn’t have the time to deal with her right now, especially since Charles and I had way bigger problems to solve at the moment.
Charles raised a finger to his lips to silence both of us, his full attention on the phone in his hand. “Yes, Officer Bouchard. There’s been a… well, an incident…. Uh-huh… Yup… Will do. Bye.”
The conversation ended almost as quickly as it had begun.
“What did he say?” I pressed, drawing close to Charles’s side.
“He’s coming. Wants us to keep the party-goers inside so as not to interfere with the crime scene.”
“But that means—”
“No 5k, I know.” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Do you ever think that Blueberry Bay must have the highest murder rate per capita in the entire country? It feels like we always stumble upon another body just as we’ve put the last one to rest.”
I laughed uncomfortably. “Maybe so. Blueberry Bay is all I’ve ever known, though. It’s home.” Charles had moved here from California just over a year ago. I didn’t know what life looked like over there, but here in Glendale, bad things just happened sometimes—especially since Octo-Cat had entered my life. Hmmm.
Bonnie chuckled and put a hand on Charles’s shoulder like she owned him. “This place has got nothing on the big city. Believe me.”
“Please don’t tell anyone what really happened out here,” I implored her, letting the flirtation slide. We just needed to get through the night, Charles and I, then we never had to see her again.
She raised both hands in surrender. “Who’ve I got to tell? Charles here is the only person who’s even bothered to say hello.”
“You both go back inside,” Charles ordered. “I’ll stay out here and wait for the police.”
Much to my surprise, Bonnie offered me her hand. “Shall we?”
I took it, and together we slipped back into my bustling house that was filled to the brim with partygoers. Oh, I hoped the police would hurry up in finding what they needed.
Until they could, I’d need to do everything in my power to keep people inside and away from the body. Maybe I could also uncover some clues to help things along.
Save the party and catch the killer?
Yup, all in a day’s work for a P.I. like me.
Chapter Six
“Everyone listen up!” Bonnie shouted, cupping both hands around her mouth like a megaphone. “This girl right here has an announcement to make.”
Well, so much for being subtle.
I cleared my throat and stepped forward. “Yes, the 5k has been cancelled, due to an approaching storm. Sorry. I know a lot of you were looking forward to it, but better safe than sorry. Right, guys?”
“So what now?” a thin man in an ill-fitting suit called from his seat at one of the middle dining tables. “I gathered a lot of pledges for that race.”
“Um, I guess we’ll just go straight to the next part of the evening.” Shoot. I hadn’t quite thought this one through. “The formal ball. Yay!”
Bonnie clapped her hands over her head. “Yay!”
“But what about our pledges? Can we at least get a rain check?” that same man whined at me.
“Rain check,” I parroted enthusiastically as I pointed to him. “Definitely! We’ll call everyone once we have a new date.”
“But what about—?”
“She’ll let you know when she knows, all right?” Bonnie barked at him, and the disappointed runner reddened under her intense gaze.
“Yes, I promise I will,” I confirmed with a grin. Bonnie may have a harsh way about her, but she was definitely coming in handy right about now. “Until then, enjoy the rest of your dinners.”
“And don’t forget to submit your guesses for the murder mystery theater door prize,” Mr. Gable added, striding over from the other side of the house to lend his support. He then whispered into my hair, “I’ve updated your nan on the situation at hand.”
Once again I was grateful for his help, but he’d only been outside for a moment. How did he know?
Mr. Gable grabbed his phone from his pants pocket and wiggled it at me. “Charles caught me up on the key facts.”
I nodded my thanks. “Keep an eye on things down here for me?”
“I knew you’d find a way to investigate before the night was through. I just didn’t expect it to be so soon.” He smiled and patted me on the shoulder. “I’ll keep the guests from wandering around outside. Go get ’em, girl.”
I jogged up the stairs, not quite sure where I was headed until I got there—Octo-Cat’s bedroom, the place where the shelter volunteers had set up the adoptable animals. Also the place where I’d seen our deceased DJ exiting on less than pleasant circumstances.
Who could he have been arguing with? Time to ask some questions. See if I could help rush things along for Officer Bouchard.
“Hello,” I called to announce myself as I swept into the room with a newfound determination.
“Hello,” a blonde girl wearing her hair in a Princess Leia-like configuration greeted me. She wore a simple nylon dress that looked amazing on her. My guess was she didn’t have much money to buy clothes, but she knew how to work with what she had. Suddenly I felt subconscious in my borrowed dress and gloves. She studied me with a curious expression as if she knew me from somewhere but didn’t quite know where.
“I’m Angie. This is my house. Just wanted to check how things are going up here,” I said in an attempt to explain my presence. “I saw what looked like an argument earlier.”
She blew a raspberry. “Oh, with Max? He’s always making trouble, I swear.”
This surprised me, and I couldn’t help but show it. “You knew Max?”
She shrugged and looked down at her lap. “Yeah, we go to Blueberry Bay Community College together. I was surprised to see him volunteering for a charity event, and I told him so.”
“I’m guessing he didn’t respond favorably, then.” It had sounded like Max had been muttering curses under his breath, yet the girl in front of me didn’t seem irritated at all. Had I somehow misunderstood? Or did she just have an excellent pokerface? Could this be my killer?
She laughed. “It was hard to rile him up. He liked himself way too much to care what others thought of him. Can you believe it? He actually bragged, started talking about how he was too talented to work for free, that he was getting paid even if I wasn’t.”
“Charming,” I muttered. As far as this girl knew, everything was fine with Max. I couldn’t let on that it wasn’t, especially while I still considered her a suspect.
She pursed her lips and nodded. “Yeah, Doug was not happy with the way he talked to me. That’s probably the fight you overheard. Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay,” I assured her with a smile. “Are you okay?”
“Of course I am. It was no big deal. Like I said, Max is always like that. I’ve gotten used to it.” She wrapped her arms around herself and sighed.
I glanced around the room and saw cage after cage of cats, but no other person around. “What happened to Doug? I thought you two were volunteering together?”
She shrugged. “We were, but suddenly he said he had to go. Wasn’t feeling well and asked if I would be okay on my own.”
Interesting. “What did you say?”
“I said sure. Who am I to keep him here if he’s sick? I mean, it’ll be boring now, but at least I have the cats to keep me company.” She smiled at the line of cages.
Uh-huh. She seemed earnest enough, and I had no reason to distrust her. Still, I’d have liked to talk to our feline witnesses without her present.
“Hey, do you think you could do me a favor?” I said, landing upon an idea that was just simple enough to work.
Her head perked up. “Sure. What do you need?”
“I’m a bit worried about my cat and dog. They’ve seemed really stressed all night. I thought since you have so much experience with animals, maybe you could look in on them for me while I hold down the fort here?”
“Sure. If you think it would help. Where are they?” She picked herself up from the floor and rose to join me.
“Upstairs, the only room on the third floor.” I infused my voice with a worried edge. While I’d never been a brilliant actress like my nan, this particular lie had enough truth in it that I could pull it off. I was worried about my pets—Octo-Cat was throwing a fuss, and he could very well take that out on poor Paisley while no one was looking. “Could you spend a little time visitin
g with them when you go up? I’m worried if I were the one to check on them, they’d just run and hide under the bed to punish me.”
She crinkled her nose like an adorable bunny. “That’s kind of weird, but okay. I could use the change of scenery for a bit. If anyone comes in to adopt a cat while I’m gone, will you come and get me?”
“Sure can… um.” Here I was contemplating her as a suspect, and I didn’t even know her identity. “What’s your name by the way?” I asked coolly.
“Scarlett,” she answered with a half-smile. “See you in a bit,” she added before slipping the door open and letting herself out into the hall.
Yes, she would be seeing me in a bit, but hopefully Paisley could charm her enough to keep Scarlett out of my hair so I could question this line-up of possible witnesses.
The cats would have seen whatever happened between Scarlett and Max. And maybe they’d share something she hadn’t.
Chapter Seven
I waited a few seconds to make sure Scarlett had well and truly gone, then settled myself on the floor with my legs tucked beside me and addressed the cats in their crates. “So, guys, what really happened?”
“Are you talking to us?” a fat tom cat mumbled, coming to the forefront of his crate and pressing his cheek against the bars.
“Seems if she wanted our help, she’d offer us a little something first,” a rail-thin cat with one missing eye suggested. He, however, remained huddled in the back corner of his cage.
“Yeah!” a fluffy long-haired cheered as he spun in mindless circles. “Help us help you here!”
“Okay,” I agreed casually. My dress clung to me tightly, making the floor-bound position incredibly uncomfortable, but still I persisted in my interrogation. “What do you guys want?”
“Let us out of here,” the skinny one-eye hissed. Apparently he was the cats’ representative now. His one green eye flashed at me dangerously. But his request didn’t seem too much to ask.