CHAPTER FIVE
Case pulled up in front of my parents’ house and leaned over to give me a kiss. “I like the confident Athena,” he murmured and kissed me again, his lips firm and gentle, his taste sweet.
I practically melted against him. “I like her, too.”
He lifted my chin and looked deep into my eyes. “My beautiful, confident goddess, I’ll see you tonight.”
At that moment I did feel beautiful. And confident. “I can’t wait,” I said softly and leaned in for one more kiss.
I fairly floated up the sidewalk to the front door. After suffering through a loveless first marriage, I was thrilled to have found someone like Case, someone who cared about me, someone who made me feel safe, someone I could trust implicitly. I felt like one lucky woman.
Inside, I found Nicholas and my dad playing chess at the dining room table.
“Good thing you came home,” my dad said. “This little scamp has beaten me twice.” He rose and indicated his chair. “Why don’t you take over for me?”
My father knew I was terrible at chess. “I don’t know,” I said slowly.
“I bet I can beat you, too, Mom,” Nicholas said. “I’ve been practicing.”
I looked at his proud little face, and my heart melted. “I bet you can’t,” I said and took my dad’s place at the table.
Just then my mother ambled down the stairs with worry lines creasing her forehead. “Where have you been all day, Athena? We missed you at lunch, and then your father brings home little Niko saying that you’ll miss dinner, too.”
“I had dinner with Case and Abby,” I told her. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
“I just worry that you work too much.”
I gave my dad a pleading look, but he shrugged his shoulders. He knew better than to fight with Mama. “I’ll take some time off soon,” I promised.
“When?”
“When the case is finished,” I said sharply, hoping my tone would end the conversation.
Mama folded her arms, clearly not willing to concede. “And what about the fair?” she asked.
“Yeah, Mom!” Nicholas said. “When are we going to the fair?”
Dad leaned close to my ear and whispered, “Checkmate.”
I promised Nicholas we would go to the fair sometime during the week, and both he and my mom seemed satisfied. Nicholas and I played chess until nine o’clock, and then we went upstairs to Nicholas’s room, where I read him another chapter in his current Harry Potter book. Sometime later, I came awake with a start and realized I’d fallen asleep on his bed. I crept back to my room and checked my phone to find several text messages and one missed call from Case.
Sorry, I texted back. I fell asleep.
I figured you did, he wrote back. Get some rest. Kalinihta, goddess.
Night, Case.
Tuesday
The next morning, Nicholas and I walked into my grandparents’ diner to see my mom chatting with a tableful of women and my sisters Selene and Maia sitting at our booth having breakfast. We stopped to bid my grandparents a good morning, then Nicholas hopped onto a stool at the counter to talk with his great-grandmother and I joined my sisters in the booth.
“Morning,” I said. “Why do you two look so bored?”
“No Goddess Anon blog this morning,” Maia said.
Oh, no. I had forgotten to write my blog!
I sat back with a frown and contemplated the situation. The frustrations I’d once felt with my crazy family had diminished, and I was getting busier by the day. Other than to entertain my sisters and mother, did I need to write it anymore?
“Want your usual breakfast?” my mom asked, stopping by the table to fill my cup with coffee. She, too, looked bored.
“Yes, please.”
I glanced across the table at my sisters. Selene was dressed for work at the hair salon, just a pair of jeans and a loose top, the color of which picked up on the new orange braid she’d fastened in her curly, dark hair. It was well-known that Selene changed her hairstyle almost every week, but this orange trend did not suit her olive complexion. She sat hunched over the table looking at her phone as she ate in silence.
Maia was sitting next to her, staring vacantly across the room, chewing mindlessly on her fruit plate. Had my blog really brightened their mornings that much?
“Good morning, everyone,” Delphi called cheerfully and slid into the booth beside me. “Isn’t it a glorious day?”
“Talk to Bob this morning?” I asked.
“Just now.”
At least one of my sisters was happy.
Maia smiled at her across the table, a crafty gleam in her eye. “How are dance lessons going?”
Delphi handed me her purse to store at my side, glaring across at Maia the whole time. “You don’t have to say it like that.”
“Like what?” Maia asked innocently, although her tone had been jesting. After almost three decades of being sisters, it wasn’t the words that mattered. It was all about tone. Even the slightest variation could be detected and picked apart by all four of us.
Mama walked up with the pot of coffee. “How are your secret dance lessons going?”
“Oh my God, why is everyone so interested in my life?” Delphi blurted. “And it’s obviously not a secret if I’ve told everyone.”
Okay. Words mattered sometimes.
“You never told us why you were taking lessons,” Selene said, leaning in. “There must be a reason.”
“Why must there be a reason?” Delphi exclaimed. “Why do you have an orange braid in your hair? It’s not Halloween. Why does Maia have a stash of beef jerky in her closet? Is that part of a vegetarian diet? Do we all want to explain ourselves, or can I eat my breakfast in peace?”
Mama poured Delphi’s coffee, the only sound breaking the tension her gold bangles falling down her wrist one by one.
Selene leaned back and combed out her orange braid with her fingers. “That’s just mean.”
Maia popped a grape in her mouth and stared down at her fruit plate.
“Girls, irémise,” Mama told us. Calm down. “There’s no need for hostility. Delphi, I’m happy for you, and Selene, your sister is right. With a hairstyle like that, you’ll never find a man.”
Selene rolled her eyes. “I’m not looking for a man.”
“Well, good,” Mama said confidently. “You don’t need to. I’m going to find the perfect man for you.”
Selene turned to me for help, but all I could do was shrug.
* * *
Nicholas and I arrived at Spencer’s about ten minutes before the doors opened at nine o’clock. Drew hadn’t arrived yet, so I set his breakfast platter on the front counter and brought a bag full of bagels into the office. I found my dad sitting at the computer shaking his head. Nicholas came in and gave his grandpa a hug before dashing back into the garden center.
“What’s wrong, Pops?” I asked.
“You’re going to have to help Delphi with inventory,” he said. “I tried explaining our process to her yesterday afternoon, but she just didn’t get it. She ended up storming out of the office in frustration.”
“It’s pretty easy,” I told him.
“It’s easy for you,” he said. “Maybe you could explain it better.”
“I’ll work with her this morning.” I popped a pod into the Keurig machine and placed my mug beneath the dispenser.
Dad leaned back in the office chair and stretched. “What are your plans for the day?”
As I waited for my coffee, I went over the list. “I have to meet Case at noon to speak with Detective Walters, then I’ll be working with Abby later this afternoon, so I’ll be in and out today.”
Dad stood and pulled the office chair out for me. “Sounds like a busy day.”
By the tone of his voice, I could tell what he meant. He still thought I was stretching myself too thin. I grabbed my steaming coffee and stepped aside. Dad swiped his cup from the desk and placed it under the machine, replacing my pod with a new one.
“How many cups is that?” I asked him sternly.
“How long until you take a day off?” he replied as he hit the START button.
We waited in silence while the piping hot coffee filled his empty cup. I could see him watching me from the corner of his eye and knew he wasn’t finished with the “busy day” conversation. I sat down behind the computer, still feeling the strain in my back from falling against a staircase while struggling with a killer just a few days earlier.
“I’m fine, Pops,” I finally told him. “I’ll take a day off when I need one.”
He blew the steam softly from his cup and sat across from me. “You fell asleep in Niko’s bed last night.”
“How do you know that?”
“The light was on,” he said. “I turned it off and tucked you both in.”
Wow. I’d been in such a deep sleep I hadn’t even noticed.
“You flinch every time you sit down,” he continued, “and you didn’t write your blog last night.”
I let out a sigh. “Okay, I’m a little tired and sore, but it’s nothing to worry about.”
“What about Niko?” he asked me. “Are you taking him to the fair this week?”
“Yes,” I answered honestly. “I’m not neglecting him.”
“Thenie, I don’t think you’re neglecting him. You’re a fine mother, and you’ve raised a fine son. I just want you to enjoy it while you can. Kids grow up fast.”
“I understand.”
“And I want you to take care of yourself. You might’ve grown up fast, too, but you’ll always be my little girl.”
I smiled at him. “I will, Pops.”
After our heart-to-heart, we went over some numbers for the garden center, then we heard Drew and Delphi come in the front doors.
“Another day, another dollar.” My dad took off his glasses for a thorough cleaning.
My cousin Drew stuck his head in the doorway. “Just a heads-up,” he said while chewing a bite of pancake. “I literally just opened the doors, and Delphi is already doing a coffee-grounds reading for a couple who came in to buy hydrangeas.”
“Where did she get the coffee?”
“She brought it from the diner.”
My dad slipped his glasses back on and looked to me for help.
“I’ll take care of it,” I said, and went to find my sister.
Reading coffee grounds was Delphi’s favorite diversion. Normally, she’d make a customer a cup of Greek coffee, a thick, sweet brew with a layer of fine coffee grounds at the bottom, then chatter away until the coffee was gone and only the grounds were left. At that point, she would give the cup a few swirls, creating a pattern in the grounds, then interpret them, kind of like a palm reading. Customers were usually intrigued by her readings, but some had been frightened. I tried to monitor them whenever I could.
I found Delphi sitting with a middle-aged couple at one of the patio tables in our outside garden area behind the store. Delphi was studying the bottom of her to-go cup, while the couple watched her curiously. I paused just outside a rose trellis to listen.
“I see a water sign and the letter B.” She swirled the cup. “BL,” she said. “Water and BL. Blue, maybe. Blue water. Are you going on a trip to the ocean?”
“No,” the two said.
“Are you going out on Lake Michigan? Maybe for a boat ride?”
The couple looked at each other, then the woman said, “We weren’t planning on it.”
Delphi swirled the cup and studied the bottom again. “I’m also seeing the number three.” She stared at the cup for a long moment, then looked up at them. “Just remember what I said and be very careful. I don’t want to frighten you, but don’t go near any large bodies of water in the near future. Your lives could depend on it.”
The couple looked at each other, clearly confused.
“Thank you,” the man said as the two rose.
Just as they started to go, Delphi halted them. “Didn’t you want to see the hydrangeas?” she asked.
“We’ll come back another time,” the woman responded.
“I’ll be here,” Delphi said cheerfully.
She didn’t see them glance at each other and roll their eyes.
As the couple headed back inside, Delphi saw me and came over. “Another successful reading. What’s up?”
“You scared away the customers.”
Delphi scoffed. “He said thank you.”
I pointed at her cup. “This is your coffee. Aren’t you supposed to use their coffee for a reading?”
“They didn’t have coffee, and I just felt something. I knew they needed a reading.”
“But doesn’t that mean you just read your own future?”
Delphi blinked twice, then scowled. “Why would I be afraid of water?”
“Delphi, listen. I need to teach you how to do inventory.”
“Thenie, I can’t take over all of your duties!”
“But you can take over the inventory. It’s easy. Come inside, and I’ll show you how.”
Before I could turn around, Nicholas came running out of a large shrub area laughing in delight, with mud all over his arms, legs, khaki shorts, and sandals. He came to a quick stop on the gravel walkway when he saw me.
“Niko,” I said, “what have you been doing?”
He looked at the ground. “Working.”
At once Oscar bounded out of the bushes also covered in mud, the yellow rubber rattle in his mouth. The little gray-and-black raccoon ran up to my son, stood on his hind legs as if to show Nicholas his prize, then scampered away again.
“Working, huh?” I asked my embarrassed son. “How did you get so muddy?”
“There’s a whole bunch of mud in the back corner by the fence,” he said.
“Show me.”
He led me through an area of tree saplings to the wooden fence that surrounded our acre of property. There in the corner was a sprinkler head sticking up out of the ground leaking water. I couldn’t get close because of the muddy ground surrounding it.
“I’ll have to tell your grandpop,” I said. “Now, about that mud bath you just took, come with me.”
He followed me to the toolshed near the back gate. Instead of a water hose, I found an old blanket folded up on the cement floor, and beside it a water bowl and more of Oscar’s toys. “Niko, you shouldn’t be messing around in here.”
“Oscar needs an inside home, Mom. He loves it in here.”
I gazed at my son, at his big brown eyes and his earnest expression, at his brown hair ruffled on top, at his arms folded across his chest, and my heart expanded with love. “Okay. But you’re going to have to keep the shed clean. We don’t want vermin inside. And no food. Just water.”
He smiled brightly. “Okay!”
Outside the shed, I connected the hose to the faucet and had Nicholas hold out his arms while I hosed them off. I turned it on his legs and bare feet, but his shorts, unfortunately, got sprayed with water, too. “You’re going to have to stay outside until your shorts dry,” I said. “In this heat, it shouldn’t take long.”
“Okay. I’ll just play with Oscar until they dry.”
“Then stay away from this area or you’ll step in more mud. I don’t want you tracking it into the barn.”
I left Nicholas looking for Oscar and went inside to find my father. He was standing at the cash counter talking to a customer, so I waited until he was free and then said, “One of the sprinkler heads is stuck, Pops, and it’s making a muddy mess in the back right corner near the gate.”
“I’ll have to add that to the list of things to do,” he said.
“I’ll take care of it.” I turned to find Delphi standing behind me with an oddly concerned expression on her face.
“Thanks,” I said. “Do you know what to do?”
“I’ll figure it out,” Delphi answered. “And you were going to show me how to do inventory.”
I glanced at my father, puzzling over Delphi’s rapid change in mood. He raised his eyebrows in bewilderment.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go back to the office.”
“Wait a minute.” She turned to our father. “Pops,” she said, “I’m sorry I threw a fit yesterday. I can do better. And don’t worry about the sprinkler head. I’ll make sure it gets fixed.”
“Thank you, dear heart,” he said.
I worked with Delphi in the office for an hour. She was surprisingly cool about it and willing to learn. Then I helped on the sales floor until almost eleven thirty, when I had to leave and head down to the detective agency.
Inside our new office, I found Case sitting at his desk working on the computer. Abby was seated across from him writing on a notepad. The late morning sun was shining through the slats of the blinds, highlighting Case’s light brown hair, reminding me of how handsome he was.
He looked up at me and smiled. Abby turned in her chair and did the same.
“Anything new to report?” I asked the two of them.
“I learned something interesting about Carly’s ex, Donald Blackburn,” Case said.
I rubbed my hands together. “Tell me.”
“I found a write-up of an interview Donald gave last year,” he said, “in which he talked about the success of his riverboat casino and about his plan to eventually build a land-based casino on the outskirts of Sequoia.”
“And that’s interesting why?” I asked.
“Because I also searched public records and found the Blackburn divorce settlement,” Case explained. “It turns out Carly didn’t get a single dime from Donald’s casino business, but she did receive a large parcel of land. And check this out. I looked up the address of that land. It’s a twenty-acre empty lot near the Blackburn riverboat, the perfect place for a land-based casino.”
“So you think Donald Blackburn intended on building his casino there?” I asked.
“It makes sense,” Case replied, “except that Carly got the land in the divorce. So no casino.”
“That’s still a weak motive to kill his ex-wife. What was his plan? Kill her and take back her land?”
“Actually,” Case said, sitting back in his desk chair, “that’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. If she didn’t have a will specifying differently, Donald would have been her beneficiary. If she were to die, he would get the land back, a motive for getting rid of her. So we need to find out if Carly drew up a new will after her divorce.”
“And how do we find that out?” I asked.
“We’ll have to talk to her family,” he said, “her mother and father, a sister, a brother, or a best friend. Someone should know about a new will.”
Abby raised her pen. “I’ll research Carly’s family. And I suggest we add Donald’s name to our suspect list.”
“But he wasn’t at the fashion show,” I said.
“Not that we know of,” Abby said, “but I was able to watch the security cam footage of the hotel’s employee exit. I saw two men exit into the parking lot on the night of the murder. One was wearing a black baseball cap and black T-shirt, and the other was a man dressed in a suit. One of those men could’ve been Donald Blackburn.”
“Did you see their faces?” I asked.
“No, it was very blurry,” Abby answered, “but it’s a start. I also saw a woman bringing racks of clothes in, so I’m assuming that’s the woman from the boutique.”
“We’ll have to ask Fran if she had an employee pass,” I said. “If she didn’t, then maybe the parking lot exit was left unlocked just like the backstage door.”
Abby picked up her pen. “I’ll add that to the list.”
I glanced at my watch. “Case, we need to head over to the police station to talk to Detective Walters.”
Case turned off his monitor and rose. “Let’s go.”
“Abby,” I said, “I’ll meet you here at three o’clock. We can walk down the street to Fran’s boutique from here.”
“In the meantime,” Abby said, “I need to get over to the courthouse for Jillian’s bond hearing. Hopefully, she’ll be released afterward.”
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed,” I told her.
Case and I walked across the street to the plaza and headed for the food trucks. I ordered a beef hoagie for Detective Walters, then we walked to the police station a few blocks away.
“Listen,” Case said on the way. “We have to be very careful in our approach with Walters. Why don’t I do most of the talking?”
“What are you trying to say?”
He put his arm around my shoulder. “It’s no secret that you and he have butted heads on more than one occasion. So let me try speaking with him man to man.”
“Man to man?” I asked, feeling a prickle of annoyance.
“Think about it, Athena. Walters is retiring. He just wants to be done with this case, and here we come strolling in questioning him about his work. He definitely won’t be happy.”
“Fine,” I said. “This was your idea anyway. My only contribution is the sandwich.”
We had to go through security before we could go upstairs to the detective bureau, and there we found the detective on the phone, dressed in a crumpled white button-down shirt, brown pants, and scuffed brown shoes. We waited some distance away, and once he had finished his conversation, we walked over to his desk.
He eyed us warily and said in a dry voice, “To what do I owe this honor?”
“We brought you a surprise,” I said, and set the food container on his desk.
“What is it?”
“It’s from Fat Hoagies food truck on the plaza,” Case explained. “Best in town.”
“Look,” Walters said, eyeing the container, “if you’re here about the murder case, I don’t want to hear it. We’re handling the matter.”
“By arresting the mother of a toddler whose only crime is wanting to be with her child?” I asked, then remembered I was supposed to keep quiet.
Case leaned over and popped the lid on the container. “Detective, we’ve looked into the case, and we’ve found several persons of interest, none of whom are Jillian Osborne. We understand you’re getting ready to retire, but we really need you to take this matter seriously.”
“Just hold up a minute,” Walters said. “What makes you think I’m not taking the matter seriously?”
“Have you found any persons of interest other than Jillian?” Case asked.
“I don’t give out information on a current investigation,” he replied brusquely.
“I can understand that,” Case said, “but I thought you should know that we’ve found several other people who—”
“I’m working on the matter,” Walters ground out.
“That’s a laugh,” I muttered.
Walters shot me daggers. “What did you say?”
I couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “What you’re saying, Detective, is that you’re going to force us to solve your last case. Some legacy that will be.”
He rose in a furious huff and pointed at the door. “Get out of my office. Now!”
I put my hands on my hips and glared at him, all sorts of angry retorts on the tip of my tongue, but Case put his hand on my back and guided me toward the door. “You’re not going to change his mind, Athena,” he said quietly.
“Then I’m happy this is his last investigation,” I said, throwing Walters a backward glare. He didn’t notice. He was too busy unwrapping the hoagie.