Mixing Up Murder

by Emmie Lyn

  I held my hand out to show him the sparkly earring. “I found this on Ray’s chest when he was in the casket at his fake funeral.” I looked at AJ. “Do you think it could be a clue?”

  He pulled out a plastic bag and tipped my hand so the earring slid inside. “You found it before Ray was murdered and I found a similar looking diamond earring in the diner that might be its mate. I wanted to ask you and Lily if it belonged to either of you.”

  “Not mine. I don’t own any diamond anything. And, I think that earring you found?” I paused for added emphasis. “Was dropped in the diner by the killer.” I let that sink in.

  “That’s one possibility.”

  Well, I heard something interesting at Two Wilde Funeral Home when Lily and I were there to plan Ray’s funeral. His actual funeral.”

  AJ waited silently for me to continue.

  I cleared my throat. “Listen, I don’t want to point my finger at someone who may have nothing to do with Ray’s murder.”

  “I understand, Danielle, but you never know what might be an important bit of information. What did you hear?”

  I paused. Did I really want to get more deeply involved with this case? Why couldn’t I just play dumb, back out, and let AJ and his team do their thing? Why did I have to butt my nose into it? The answer came flying at me like a bee after honey. Because I was onto something and if I didn’t pursue it, my best friend Lily could pay the price. So, I plunged ahead with my theory, letting the chips, or earrings, land where they may.

  “Frank Wilde has a pierced ear,” I began, “but he wasn’t wearing an earring when I saw him. His brother told me he lost it and is hoping to get it back because it has sentimental value.”

  AJ shrugged, clearly not convinced it was a meaningful clue. “Frank could have dropped it anywhere.”

  “I know,” I said, a little frustrated he didn’t get my point. “But this is even more interesting. Rhonda Lemay was at the funeral home for the meeting, too. She was only wearing one earring, because, she said,” I threw up air quotes to show my skepticism, “her other ear was infected. But she could have been lying about that. I looked and it didn’t seem red or irritated. Anyway, I’m not a hundred percent positive, but that earring,” I pointed to the one in the evidence bag, “looks an awful lot like the one she was still wearing.”

  AJ held up the see-through bag and looked at the earring again. “That makes three earrings—one you found, one I found, and one Rhonda was wearing. Don’t earrings usually come in pairs?”

  “Of course, they do, but it doesn’t mean someone can’t wear only one. Right?”

  “I’m not exactly an expert on earring etiquette so I’ll take your word for it.” He tucked the bag in his pocket “You’re suggesting that Frank or Rhonda lost an earring in the diner?”

  “I’m suggesting that’s something to look into.”

  AJ didn’t say anything, but it sure looked like he was filing that bit of information away. As he headed for the door he said, “Don’t clean up in here yet. I’ll send a team in to dust for prints and look for clues. By the way, was the door locked?”

  “Not when I came in just now, so I guess I forgot to lock it. When I left yesterday, I thought I’d be in the diner for only a short time. I hadn’t planned to leave overnight, and I guess I forgot to go back and lock up.”

  “Okay. We’ll be able to tell if anyone forced their way inside.”

  A shiver went through me at the thought of someone breaking into my space. It was creepy, but at least I hadn’t been there to see it happen. Or worse. I could replace stuff, but I shuddered at the thought of possible injuries if I’d walked in on the crime. Suddenly, I needed to get out of there. “Can I take some clothes with me now?”

  AJ’s voice had softened. Maybe he’d realized the danger I was in. “Take what you absolutely need, lock the door, and give me the key when you go back downstairs. You’ll be staying with your grandmother?”

  “Yeah,” I said, relieved in more ways than one at the prospect of hanging out with Rose. “Until the murder is solved. She insisted.”

  “Good,” he said, giving me a look I couldn’t puzzle out. “I’m not sure you’d be safe here by yourself, and I don’t want to worry about you.”

  I was stunned. Detective Crenshaw and I had never been, should I say, bosom buddies. Sure, it was his job to protect the people in Misty Harbor, but to tell me he was worried about me? I stared up at him—his neatly trimmed dirty blond hair, bluish gray eyes, and a lean muscular body. He was no longer the kid who used to pull my hair when he sat behind me in math class. Far from the boy I remembered, I was seeing the new and maybe improved AJ Crenshaw for the first time.

  “Are you okay, Dani? I need to get back to the diner.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” I flicked my wrist, shooing him out the door. “I’ll just grab a few things and be out of here.”

  He paused in the doorway. “I’m sorry we have to keep the diner closed until at least tomorrow. You’ll have a lot of cleaning up to do and you might not be able to open up for business for a while. Whoever trashed your place destroyed just about everything that wasn’t attached to the floor. If you need help with the cleanup, let me know. I’m sure I could round up some volunteers to lug stuff to a dumpster.”

  I gave him a blank smile, still shocked at his kindness.

  What had changed in the last twenty-four hours?

  Chapter Fourteen

  When I entered the Blueberry Bay Grapevine office, after giving my apartment key to AJ, both Lily and Rose stopped typing and gave me a once over—definitely annoyed. Pip, still curled up on the sweater bed I’d made for her, raised her head and wagged her tail before she settled back into her comfy nest. At least one member of this group made me feel welcome.

  “The way you rushed out of here, I had to check to see if the diner was on fire,” Rose said in her not so subtle style, letting me know I’d better tell her what the heck was going on. She leaned back in her desk chair with her arms crossed. “Well?”

  Before addressing Rose’s question, I turned to my friend. “Lil, remember that earring I found on Ray at his fake funeral?”

  She made a big shake of her head to let me know she knew what I meant.

  Rose hitched up one eyebrow. “You found an earring?” The disapproval in her voice let me know I’d better get to my story and fast. “And you didn’t think you should share that tidbit with me after I told you about AJ finding an earring in the diner?” She didn’t even try to hide her irritation, but her curiosity won out. “Is that what you rushed out to get?”

  I opened her small fridge and helped myself to a cold bottle of green tea with ginger and guzzled about half before my parched throat recovered. “Yes. As soon as you told me that detail, I remembered how I’d tucked the earring into the pocket of my black dress.”

  “Did you find it?” Lily asked. “Let me see it. I remember exactly what Rhonda’s earring looked like—a mini star shape set in either white gold or platinum.”

  Rose whipped her head around to stare at Lily. “What does Rhonda have to do with all this?”

  I sat down next to Pip and scratched under her ear. She sighed and lifted her head so I could reach her favorite spot. “I’ll start at the beginning. When Lily and I were standing at Ray’s casket, I saw something sparkly on his chest. Obviously, it didn’t belong there, so I scooped it up, stuck it in my pocket, and forgot about it until you mentioned that AJ found an earring.” I twirled my finger in a circle. “Fast forward to our meeting this morning at Two Wilde Funeral Home.” I drank the rest of my tea giving Lily a chance to jump in because the next part was her story.

  “I noticed how Frank had a nervous habit of rubbing his earlobe,” she said, “you know, like some people do when they’re turning an earring?” Lily demonstrated just in case we were too dense to understand the concept. “Anyway, his ear is pierced but he wasn’t wearing an earring.”

  Rose shrugged. “Maybe he decided it fell out of fashion. I’ve
never been a fan of men wearing earrings.”

  “Maybe,” Lily continued. “But according to Nick, he is upset about losing it because it has sentimental value.” She paused to get our reaction, but I gave her the move it along sign. “So,” she said, “Maybe it has sentimental value because of who gave it to him. Anyway, when Rhonda got all huffy and was about to leave, I noticed she was missing one of her earrings and the one she was wearing was…guess.”

  “A diamond stud in the shape of a star.” Rose tapped her fingers on her desk. “Did you find the earring you stuck in your dress pocket, Dani? Does it match?”

  “I found it.”

  Lily charged across the office, almost falling into my lap. “What are you waiting for? Let’s see it.” She held her hand out.

  “I don’t have it.”

  Both Rose and Lily shouted “What?” at the same time. “You got us all worked up about a potential clue that could solve the murder and you don’t have it?”

  “You won’t believe this but when I went up to my apartment, someone had broken in and trashed the whole place.”

  Lily’s eyes bugged out bigger than an owl’s. “I told you I thought I was in danger, but I never thought you would be.” Her words came out in an exhale of air, barely audible. “Were they looking for the earring?”

  “I don’t know what they were looking for or if they found anything useful but,” I grinned. “They didn’t find the earring.”

  “So, where is it, Dani?” she asked.

  “AJ came up right after I got into my apartment. After he got over the shock of the mess, he asked me if I had lost a diamond earring. You both know that’s about the most ridiculous question anyone could ask since I don’t own anything of value. Anyway, I found my black dress under a pillow, dug the earring out of the pocket, and showed it to AJ. He took it as evidence.”

  “Wow!” Lily hugged me. “I’m so sorry.”

  “What are you sorry about? I didn’t want that earring. And now I’ll have to have that dress dry cleaned to get the earring ick out if I ever plan to wear it again.”

  Her face drooped, and I could see this latest episode added to her worries. She confirmed that when she said, “I’m not sorry about the earring, Dani. I’m sorry I dragged you into my drama with Ray and put you in danger, too.”

  Rose took Lily by the shoulders and eased her back to her seat. “Why do you think you’re in danger, Lily?” I could tell Rose was in full comforting grandmother mode.

  Lily set her elbows on the desk and propped her chin in her upturned hands. “This whole reconciliation thing with Ray?” Lily sighed so deeply I wasn’t sure she could keep going, but she said, “I think he wanted someone to think he was really dead. I think that’s what the whole fake funeral was about. He told me he had been getting a lot of mysterious phone calls at work and on his private number. The caller would hang up after a bit of silence. Not only that, cars would speed by his house in the middle of the night. He hadn’t been sleeping well.”

  Whoa. This was new news. “But Lily, you told me the whole fake funeral thing was to prove to his family that you really did love him and wanted to reconcile.”

  “That’s true and then we were going to sneak out and disappear until he figured out who was stalking him and why.”

  “But you ran out of Two Wilde Funeral Home with me, so the plan fell apart,” I said.

  By now Lily’s hands were trembling and her voice shook with emotion. “It’s all my fault that Ray was murdered. I got cold feet and messed up his plan. If he hadn’t come to the Little Dog Diner to meet me, he’d still be alive.” She blinked, but I could still see her eyes glistening with tears.

  I put my arm around her shoulders as she struggled to hold her tears back. “It’s not your fault, Lil. Ray didn’t have to run after you. He could have left by himself and stayed safe if he was really in danger.”

  She looked up at me, as if she thought some kind of answer was written on my face. I wished I could take away her pain and grief. “What if he was coming to warn me? What if he had more information about the stalker?”

  “All the what if’s and second-guessing are pointless, Lily,” Rose said, staring out the front window of her office. “Ray made his own choices.” She turned to Lily. “All you can do—we can do—is get to the bottom of what happened and move on. Let’s find out from AJ if the earrings match, which still won’t prove anything but it’s a thread to follow.”

  Rose looked at me. “I’m still confused about all this earring business. Would there be any logical reason for Frank and Rhonda to have matching earrings?”

  I paced across the office. “Something strange was going on between those two this morning. I’d put money on the fact that they’re in a relationship or something like that. Frank was hovering over Rhonda like she was a piece of delicate china, and they kept sharing meaningful glances. Maybe Rhonda gave Frank the earring that he lost.”

  “So, what?” Rose said, still staring into the distance. “You think that one of them lost an earring during the fake funeral and the other one was lost in the diner? Along with the earring that Rhonda is wearing, that makes three. There should be a fourth one floating around somewhere.” She draped her hobo bag over her shoulder. “Let’s see if AJ will share any more information.”

  With three strides Rose was at the door, pulling it open, and scowling at Lily and me. “Are you coming or not?”

  I tucked Pip under one arm and pulled Lily out of her chair with the other. When Rose latched onto something, she was like a dog with a bone and nothing would get in her way. She didn’t like to wait for anyone, so we got our feet moving before she left us too far in her dust.

  I kept a tight hold on Pip to keep her out of the way with no chance for her to irritate AJ again. Rose had him cornered outside the door of the Little Dog Diner by the time we caught up with her.

  “The earrings, AJ? A match or not?” I heard Rose ask with her don’t you dare try to lie to me tone.

  Lily, Pip, and I were behind her now, like we had her back.

  “Yes, Rose. The earring that Dani found and the one from the diner match. But until I do more investigation, I’m not going to jump to any conclusion, and I don’t want you to either. And this information stays out of your article for now. Understand?”

  We all nodded. It didn’t mean I couldn’t try to find out where Rhonda and Frank went after Lily and I stormed out of Two Wilde Funeral Home Monday morning.

  Someone lost an earring in the diner and it wasn’t me, Lily, Rose, or Pip.

  Chapter Fifteen

  While Rose wrapped up her conversation with AJ, I spotted Ava Fontaine standing on the sidewalk. A medium tall, dark-haired man stood next to her glowering to let anyone who was interested know he wasn’t pleased with something or other. Since he had wrapped his hand possessively around Ava’s waist, I had to assume he was her husband, Marty.

  Not wanting to miss this opportunity to get information, I raised my hand and waved as if I’d just seen a long-lost friend. “Yoo-hoo. Ava!”

  Her partner, dressed in madras shorts, white golf shirt, boat shoes without socks, and reflective sun glasses, leaned close to her ear and must have whispered something because her face took on a pinched expression. He was probably wondering who the heck Ava’s new friend was. I marched in their direction anyway, determined to corner them like a fly in a spider web. Pip squirmed, forcing me to let her down before she leaped from my arms, risking a broken bone. I pretended I’d forgotten Pip’s dislike of the crazy yoga-lady.

  She darted straight for Ava’s ankles. The woman shrieked like a two-year-old and jumped behind her partner. To his credit, he crouched down to intercept Pip, who fell for this friendly gesture.

  Traitor, I thought. I decided I’d given Pip too much credit in the character analysis department.

  “Ava, I’m so glad to bump into you again. Remember me? We met on the beach this morning?”

  I knew there was no chance in a million that she forgo
t meeting Pip and me, but, whatever, I could play the game to get what I wanted. “And this must be your handsome husband, Marty.” I held my hand out after he stood up with Pip in his arms happily licking his chin.

  Ava gave Pip a look that could kill. “That’s disgusting, Marty. Put that dog down. She almost killed me this morning.”

  Marty was fighting off Pip’s attention with head bobs and a big smile. “Oh, come on, Ava. This little thing couldn’t hurt a flea.” Marty quickly shook my hand then positioned Pip so they were eye to eye and said in the sing-song way people talk to animals, “You’re too cute for your own good. Ready to go back to your mom?”

  Pip wagged enthusiastically, always a sucker for a kind word. I wasn’t convinced she’d gauged this guy correctly, though.

  “We were looking for a place to eat. Why is the diner closed?” Marty asked.

  Ava broke in, speaking to her husband as though he were a disobedient child. “I told you, Marty. That real estate guy was murdered.”

  “Here?”

  Ava cast her eyes so high I thought they might get stuck under her brows. Was this a new yoga exercise? “You never listen to me. I told you someone killed him at the Little Dog Diner.” She pointed to my pride and joy. “That place, which doesn’t look like it serves edible food anyway. Let’s go, Marty.”

  Okay … I was ready to take my gloves off when she insulted the Little Dog Diner food—mine and Lily’s food—food that the locals all loved. “Excuse me?” I clenched my fists and considered letting Pip loose on this horrible woman.

  Lily, now at my side, must have sensed something was about to happen. “Did you know,” she said, “that the Little Dog Diner is the hottest eating spot in all of the Blueberry Bay area?”

  “Well, after the murder, it will probably be the most avoided eating spot in the Blueberry Bay area,” Ava mimicked Lily’s tone. “Who will want to sit anywhere where there was blood and gore on the floor? It should be torn down, in my opinion. We are probably witnessing the death of the Little Dog Diner.” She looked at Marty. “Maybe you’ll be able to start that upscale restaurant after all when this property goes on the market.”