thirty

“Of course I was listening to you,” Justin said a while later.

Detective Choye and some uniformed officers had been right behind him when he’d stormed into the back of the Lucky Dog. They’d quickly arrested Alice and taken her away.

I wasn’t thinking of her as Detective Numa now. But the likelihood that her days on the DPD had ended was the least of her
problems.

“Me too,” said Martha. We had all gone upstairs to her apartment once the excitement in the shop had ended. It was getting late, and Justin and I had wanted to make sure she was okay.

Not only was she okay, but she invited us for tea—herbal, she promised, so it wouldn’t keep us awake when we finally went to bed.

Pluckie now lay at my feet beside the plush sofa where I’d settled myself by habit, facing the matching antique-looking chairs where Martha and Justin now sat. Martha looked right at home here with the teacup and saucer on her pink pajama-clad lap. Surprisingly, the atmosphere suited muscular, masculine Justin as well.

The edges of Martha’s hazel eyes drooped a bit with fatigue, but otherwise she looked hyped and happy. As well she should. She’d saved me—and wound up utilizing a superstition to boot! Once word could get out about this night, Destiny residents would be jazzed.

“So you came downstairs because you heard voices?” Justin addressed his pseudo mom. “I’ve warned you before to be careful and not just—”

“I’m okay,” she cut in. “Rory’s okay. And I didn’t see you there to save her, not when she needed you.”

Those were kind of my thoughts too.

“If I could have gotten there any faster, I’d have helped her,” he said. “Although not as colorfully as you, and not as appropriately for Destiny.”

“Then don’t scold me. I’m good luck.” Martha grinned.

I grinned too. But when her grin turned into a yawn I said, “I want to hear all about what other lucky superstitions are on your mind, Martha, but not tonight. I have a feeling that when our adrenaline starts winding down, we’ll all be exhausted. Although Justin may still have some work to do, right?”

“Right,” he said.

A few minutes later he accompanied Pluckie and me back downstairs after making sure Martha locked her apartment door behind us. No, he assured me, he didn’t think Alice had any accomplices, but Martha’s well-being and safety were a priority of his.

I knew that. His cajoling was a major reason I’d stayed here in Destiny to help Martha with the Lucky Dog.

The store was still full of his guys now investigating what had turned into a crime scene. I let Justin lead Pluckie and me around the minor chaos till we got outside.

There, near the front of the Lucky Dog Boutique, was the black cat I’d seen before. Or at least I assumed it was the same one. It was standing still now, looking around at the small crowd of tourists and a few townsfolk staring and pointing toward the store.

“I knew something was going to happen tonight,” I told Justin. “I saw that kitty outside before Alice arrived.”

“Did he cross your path?” Justin’s tone sounded amused.

“Not really.”

“Then—”

Before I could finish, a figure came around the side of the store, a person who appeared dressed entirely in black. I assumed it was a woman, because she seemed short and … well, I just did.

Whoever it was, she scooped up the cat, then turned to look in my direction. I couldn’t really make out any facial features, but I did see her nod in her hoodie, then she and the cat disappeared around the corner.

“Is that the woman I heard about?” I asked, turning to look at Justin. “The one who supposedly keeps track of Destiny’s black cats and sometimes takes care of the feral ones?”

“I assume so,” he said.

“Who is she?”

“All I know so far is rumors—and that she calls herself, unsurprisingly, Catrice.”

“I never saw her before, or at least I don’t think so,” I said, then couldn’t help asking, “Is she real? Are the cats?”

“Add that to your lists of unknowns about Destiny and superstitions,” he replied with a wry smile. “And don’t forget that it’s supposed to be bad luck to talk about her.”

I wasn’t surprised when Justin insisted on driving Pluckie and me to the B&B. He’d driven here because it was a lot faster than walking, he said.

Our conversation in the car was cool, relaxed, and completely off the subject that was on our mind. I was glad but suspicious. He surely wasn’t going to let me get off that easy, was he?

He waited outside our lodgings while Pluckie took care of her last business for the night, then he walked us to the door and waited till I used my key to open it.

“Rory?” he said, looking down at me as I turned to say good night.

“Yes?” I checked the expression in his eyes to determine if this was it, and he was about to chew me out. I’d disobeyed him, after all. I’d put myself into danger, somewhat intentionally.

“We’ll talk,” he said. Then he bent toward me and his mouth got busy on something a lot more fun than talking, and so did mine.

“Good night, Justin,” I breathed a long minute later, then hurried inside and shut the door.

The next morning, Destiny was on fire—figuratively, fortunately, and not literally. I didn’t need to look up superstitions relating to blazes.

Instead, rumors flew. Residents did all they could to encourage good luck superstitions to come true for everyone there, including tourists.

That was what Serina told me at the B&B as soon as Pluckie and I came downstairs for our short morning walk. Destiny was in turmoil.

“It’ll be okay,” Serina assured me. Then she scrutinized me with an intense gaze. “You know something, don’t you?”

“Who, me?” I asked innocently. But I figured the truth would come out if it hadn’t already—unless, of course, talking about this situation was labeled bad luck.

As I walked Pluckie down Fate Street in the direction of the park, I saw a lot more tourists than usual at this hour heading that way too.

My phone chimed to let me know I’d received a text message. I pulled it from my pocket.

From City Hall? It said, “Town meeting at Break-a-Leg tonight at 7:30.” Oh.

All store owners and managers had to register with Destiny’s administration, so I wasn’t surprised they had my phone number. I felt sure that, whatever would be said this evening, the spin Destiny intended to give on what had happened last night and otherwise would be provided.

Far be it from me to do anything but follow the rules, because doing so would provide good luck, or so I figured we’d be told.

Unless, of course, the approved story was full of lies that would hurt Gemma or me. Or Justin, of course. If so, I’d defy rumors and tell the truth.

By the time Pluckie and I returned, Gemma and Stuart were downstairs in the breakfast room. My friend nearly elbowed her way through the crowd of guests to get to me. “Is what I’ve heard true?” she demanded, looking at me with wide, hopeful eyes. Today, she wore a black T-shirt with the outline of an open book that said “Read More” over a black skirt, and she looked pretty, as usual.

Now I felt certain she’d never have to wear prison garb, so I smiled. “Depends on what you heard.”

She leaned closer. “There’s been an arrest in Lou’s murder, right?”

“Could be.”

“And you had something to do with it, you louse. Why didn’t you let me help you?”

“Because,” I replied, gazing wryly into her face. I’d no intention of saying any more than that. I didn’t need to explain to her or anyone else what I’d done or why I’d done it, not even Justin. Well, maybe Justin …

Unsurprisingly, I did see Justin a little later that day, after the four of us—Gemma, Stuart, Pluckie, and I—conducted our usual walk to the shops. The only thing surprising about it was the timing, since an exhausted-looking police chief appeared in the shop the moment it opened at ten.

“Can I have a few minutes, Rory?” he asked.

I glanced toward Jeri and Millie. Only Jeri had been scheduled to come in but both arrived early, asking for information. The only dirt I passed their way was that they should come to the town meeting later.

“Sure,” I told Justin. Rather than going into the backroom where eavesdropping was likely, we went out the rear door into the empty alley. I brought Pluckie, who immediately began to sniff the air, then the ground.

“I just wanted to give you an update,” Justin said. “Here’s what we’re gathering so far, although Alice has lawyered up and hasn’t confirmed or denied much.”

But the word “much” was the key. She had talked a while before deciding to shut up.

I recalled one day in the Broken Mirror Bookstore when Alice had agreed with the speculation that Lou’s killer was there. Now I knew how true that was.

The story now believed correct by the DPD was that Alice had resented Justin from the first, since she had wanted to be promoted to police chief. She had even been secretly dating Lou Landorf back then to butter him up and get him to support the idea of promoting her.

She’d been resentful when he hadn’t, but he’d told her he was waiting for a much better position for her. And lately, the idea was being bounced around to start the new, official security team within the department that Lou had mentioned, one that would deal directly with tourists and their issues. Lou had suggested it, in fact, and Alice was being considered to head it. She liked the idea, since to visitors to Destiny she would become the go-to cop, the person they’d all love and revere because she would help straighten out their problems.

“The death of the tourist threw a monkey wrench into that idea,” Justin said, shaking his head. “Alice might actually have been good at that position. But Lou was furious about the death of the tourist up on a popular mountain lookout and the bad publicity it gave Destiny—especially since his current assignment was to attract lots of tourists to town. Lou lashed out, like he always did. He blamed me for not finding the reason right away. He blamed the whole department. And that included Alice. He made it clear he wouldn’t recommend her for that exciting new position thanks to her failure.”

“But it wasn’t her fault,” I said. “Was it?”

“No, but Lou was never the most understanding person, especially when riled. Alice and he had still been dating secretly when he was in town, meeting infrequently late at night mostly outside Destiny, but when they were short on time they met in the park. They apparently had quite a torrid affair going that had started a couple of years ago, but they’d been surprisingly discreet, considering who Lou was. No one knew about it, although that’s still under investigation. It ended, though, when the tourist died and Lou got angry. To make matters even worse in Alice’s estimation, he started flirting with newcomer Gemma. His murder? It was premeditated by Alice.”

Alice hadn’t admitted this part, he said, but apparently she had seen the kind of stake used to kill Lou in Heads-Up Penny Gifts and had intended to buy one for Lou as a peace offering. It was his kind of thing, after all, with the carved fist on the top representing knocking on wood. But anger caused her to steal one instead so nobody would know she had it. Then she’d convinced Lou to meet her one more time in the park—and used it on him.

“She was apparently hopeful that Pluckie would be the one to find him, since she knew you sometimes went to the park on your morning walks,” Justin said.

“Lucky us,” I replied.

“Alice is one of those Destiny residents who tries to pretend she doesn’t fully embrace superstitions, but now she’s sure bad luck is raining down on her—not because she’s a murderer, but because she accidentally opened that umbrella indoors when trying to protect herself by hurting you. Oh, and she also saw that black cat cross in front of the Lucky Dog when she was on her way inside to get you. She’d considered entering another way but knew that would be bad luck too.”

There was a superstition about needing to enter and leave through the same door to prevent bad luck, although why she couldn’t have sneaked in and out the alley door I didn’t know. Maybe because sneaking would look bad for a cop supposedly trying to investigate a crime, if anyone saw her.

And that cat. Was it wholly coincidence it had happened to be there that night, or was the cat, and perhaps the cat lady, somehow psychic? I wondered if I could find out. Without talking about her.

“Alice also considered you bad luck, by the way. You came to town at a time she was trying to find a subtle way to curse me. Instead, you helped me solve the first murder in years here. You apparently brought me good luck.” He smiled at me.

I smiled back.

“Okay, then,” he continued. “In case you were wondering, I was listening to your conversation with her the whole time over the phone. I wanted to be there and shove you out of the way and shake you. But … well, I was also upset.”

“Because I was the one to figure out it was Alice?”

“Some of that, yeah. But mostly because you’d put yourself in danger.”

We shared a brief, though hot, kiss.

“I’ve got to run, Rory,” he said sadly as he broke it off. “See you at the town meeting tonight?”

“Absolutely.”

I talked to Gemma later that morning at the Broken Mirror, whispering what had happened and swearing her to secrecy.

“Thank you, thank you, Rory,” she exclaimed, hugging me beside the cash register as Stuart waited on a group of customers.

Then Gemma let her own bomb drop. “You know, Rory, I’ve been aware since I arrived here about all the controversy relating to that tourist’s death. I wondered if it could be superstition related—what around here isn’t?—and did some research.” She quietly told me what she’d found and her suspicions about it.

“Weird!” I exclaimed. “And surely someone in this superstitious town considered it. But I’ll let Justin know.”

Mayor Bevin Dermot occupied the entire stage at the Break-a-Leg Theater that night. He held a microphone and paced and wished everyone good luck over and over even as he informed us all about his version—which was to become the town’s official version—of what happened.

His audience was huge, at least for Destiny. The theater seats were all occupied, and people stood in the center aisles and along the wall.

The Vardoxes stood just below the stage, filming him and typing notes on their tablets for whatever article they intended to put into the Destiny Star and on their website.

I sat along an aisle near the front, with Gemma and Stuart and Carolyn. Most other Destiny residents I looked for were there, too, as well as Nancy Tarzal and the Brownlings. Martha was there in her wheelchair, helped along by assistants Millie and Jeri.

“Now,” Mayor Bevin said, “it’s bad luck as well as bad form to talk about former detective Alice Numa being arrested for the murder of our dear Public Affairs Director Lou. It’s an ongoing investigation and I don’t want myself or any of you to mess up evidence or the prosecution or anything, so we can’t talk about the situation any more than we could the last one, since it’d be bad luck. We all do need to cooperate with the police, though, and answer their questions honestly and all that. In case you’re wondering, she claims her bad luck was caused by accidentally opening an umbrella inside, and having her path crossed by a black cat.” He paused. “She is a Destiny resident, no matter what.”

It was, unsurprisingly, public now that Alice had been arrested. No one was even trying to keep that quiet. But where and how she had gotten caught, and how her supposed bad luck had affected it, weren’t directly part of the mayor’s discussion.

The why and how she’d allegedly killed Lou wouldn’t be discussed here either, I figured.

I saw Justin standing at stage right, nodding. With him were Choye and some of the uniformed cops I recognized.

“In any event, I want to thank our police chief Justin Halbertson for his efforts in the investigation and for coming to a reasonably quick solution, assuming it’s correct, of course, and that a trial proves it.”

He glanced toward Justin, who just nodded. Not exactly the most rousing approval of him or his team’s work, but it was okay.

I was also glad that no one else seemed to have picked up on my involvement. If the mayor knew, he was apparently keeping it to himself.

Maybe he considered it bad luck to talk about it.

“I’ve got my fingers crossed,” the mayor continued, raising his right hand to show that was true, “that all goes well and that the resolution is quick. Will you all join me?” He gestured with his hand, and pretty much everyone in the audience did the same thing.

When that was finished, the mayor still had things to say. “Now, you all may know that some of what happened could have been precipitated by that terrible event, the death of Sherman Ambridge, one of our treasured tourists, a few weeks ago. Sherman was a superstitious man and a frequent visitor. He had brought some business associates and they were apparently also enjoying our ambiance, maybe even considering opening a retail store here. But they all went up one of our mountains on a hike and Sherman supposedly disappeared. His body was found the next day. As a result, an investigation was conducted to determine if it was an accident or a homicide—and it took our investigators a while to make a determination. And in fact, they just resolved it today.”

He paused, possibly for effect, and leveled a glare at Justin, who looked straight back at the mayor, clearly not apologizing.

“Because Destiny’s reputation was at stake, particularly our good luck, Lou was especially upset, and his anger toward our police department was obvious. I can’t say whether that was a factor in what happened to Lou.” He didn’t have to. Anyone who knew any of the circumstances was aware the answer was in the affirmative, although indirectly. “In any event, the investigation has been closed. Sherman’s business associates claimed he had wandered off and they couldn’t find him. It was getting dark and they called 911 and got off the mountain. Did someone push Sherman? There is no evidence, verbal or physical, that that was the case. However …”

His pause was dramatic and lengthy. The audience was his. Everyone watched and waited, some with mouths open as if to encourage him.

“His comrades there finally admitted that Sherman had had aspirations of exploring the local mountains near Destiny. Therefore, he’d done some research into superstitions relating to mountaineering.”

“Mountaineering?” someone in the audience exclaimed. “Oh, my lord! Was he attacked by an eagle?”

Yes, Destiny folks—including the police—knew superstitions. Apparently the local medical examiner had been told to factor this into the tourist’s autopsy and it had been dropped as a possibility since there was no evidence the man had been attacked.

But this was the superstition Gemma had come up with, and when I’d suggested to Justin that he ask the victim’s friends if they’d any knowledge of it—and whether their dead friend had known it too—he had pushed them to talk.

Sure, they had discussed superstitions before and any potential relationship to the guy’s death, but with Justin’s unrelenting persuasion the truth had finally come out.

“Not exactly, but an eagle was definitely the reason he died. He saw one at the lookout and tried to capture it, but he missed it, and that’s when he fell. His friends had been too upset and embarrassed to admit it before now—especially since they were afraid tree-huggers, or at least animal-huggers, would say it was an appropriate outcome. Sherman had wanted to kill the eagle and extract its tongue so he could stick it into his collar for good luck while mountaineering.”

A lot of upset groans and calls resounded through the audience, including Gemma’s and mine.

“No one would have wished death on him for that,” Bevin finally continued, “but—”

“Except the eagle,” someone shouted. Laughter resulted, and then Bevin called for a moment of silence out of respect for the dead tourist, whether or not he’d earned any respect.

Bevin finished soon after that.

I had left Pluckie at the Lucky Dog and went to get her. Then I joined a large group of people at the Clinking Glass Saloon, including Justin, whose reputation as chief of police was now polished again, and no longer tarnished.

It was early Friday evening, the day after Mayor Bevin’s presentation at the theater.

Because of all the goings-on, I had deferred my next “Black Dogs and Black Cats” talk till next week.

Word must have somehow gotten out about my involvement in solving Lou’s murder, or Alice’s capture at the Lucky Dog Boutique, or whatever. My store had been exceptionally busy all day.

Fortunately, my assistants both were there, as was Martha. They were discreet enough not to say anything about what they knew had transpired here a couple of evenings ago for fear of bringing bad luck on themselves—in the form of the wrath of Destiny’s mayor and police, if nothing else.

That didn’t keep them from zipping their lips in an obvious way when asked whether our store had been connected with the arrest, suggesting it was true even if they wouldn’t discuss it. Smart ladies.

Now our store was closed and Pluckie and I were at the Broken Mirror Bookstore. Gemma had asked me to come over. She had something she wanted to discuss with me.

Good stuff, like where could we move to together in Destiny?

Or bad stuff, like she’d had enough and was returning to the L.A.-area library where she worked?

I didn’t know, but I hoped it was the former. In fact, I found myself crossing my fingers on the way to the shop.

I looked for black cats, and even the black cat lady, but saw neither.

The Broken Mirror was still open, although I didn’t see any customers. Not even Frank was there—not a surprise, since he had stopped us outside the theater last night and said goodbye to Gemma, maybe forever. He’d had enough here in Destiny. He was going home.

To my surprise, Gemma had had tears in her eyes as she hugged him and wished him well.

Stuart was there, though, talking to the Brownlings. I had heard he had decided at last to make an offer to buy the store before his required trip back to his employer. Was it happening now?

Gemma, seeing me, motioned for me to follow her to the back of her store.

There, she said, “It’s finally time. Enough has happened here in Destiny. We need an inkling of our own fates too.”

“You mean seeing if there are any reflections of our true loves in the mirror?” I asked in a scoffing tone. Not going to happen.

Or I didn’t want it to … did I?

“Exactly.” She reached toward the back of a nearby shelf and extracted an apple wrapped in a paper towel. “Eat,” she said. “And then look.”

I didn’t have a good excuse not to now, except for common sense. But what the heck? I took the apple from her, ate a few bites, then turned to stare toward the back wall and into the mirror with the stylized decorative painted-on cracks.

And gasped.

Justin’s image was behind me.

I turned quickly and nearly sighed in relief. He wasn’t an illusion. He was there, in his blue police chief shirt and dark pants and with a big, handsome smile on his face.

“Hi, ladies,” he said. “I didn’t mean to startle you, Rory, but Martha said you’d headed over here. I wanted to invite you to dinner. Both of you, if you’d like to come, too, Gemma.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I have plans.” But the huge, complacent grin on her face suggested that her plans had been met. I’d seen Justin in the mirror.

Maybe she and Martha had plotted this appearance, but did it matter?

“Well … sure,” I said. I figured we’d talk about what came next in the Alice Numa investigation and eventual prosecution.

Instead, Justin surprised me. Turned out he invited Pluckie and me to his home for dinner that night. Not for take-out, either. He was a reasonably good cook, at least on his patio grill, and we had homemade hamburgers and onion rings, along with a delicious Mediterranean-style salad.

Pluckie and Killer got tastes of the well-cooked meat, and I helped Justin clean up afterward.

No need to go into details, but I soon found myself in Justin’s arms … and staying the night.

Maybe that mirror superstition was real—or it had made me vulnerable to one night of pleasure, at least.

Justin took us back home very early the next morning after more kissing and … more. He promised to call later.

By the way, I did ask Gemma that day if she’d seen anyone in the mirror after I left, and if so, was it Stuart or Frank?

Yes, she said to the first question. And neither, to the second. It was someone she hadn’t recognized, who hadn’t been there when she’d turned around.

But she was delighted to be staying in Destiny to learn who it was. She still wasn’t sure whether Stuart’s offer to buy the store had been accepted, though.

This time, for a change, I didn’t dispute whether superstitions could come true.