Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
Iarrived home, feeling lower than I would’ve liked. It didn’t help when I discovered the trail of litter Jinx had left across the floor.
“They’re not breadcrumbs, you know. You don’t need to leave them to find your way back.”
The black cat spared a glance for me before returning to the important work of licking her paws.
I rummaged through the pantry for a dustpan and brush and cleaned up the mess.
“I guess we’re both a work in progress,” I told the cat.
It wasn’t her fault she didn’t know how to use a litter box.
She’d been the island stray for years. I thought of my own journey from my previous life to this one—scary, messy, and uncertain, much like Jinx’s.
As I dumped the debris into the trashcan, my phone lit up with Zachariah’s name. Actually, the screen read Hold Me Closer Necromancer, although I’d stopped short of adding the Elton John song as a ringtone, mainly because nobody used ringtones anymore. I’d been sorely tempted, though.
“Zachariah. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Maya,” he said in his usual clipped manner. “Would you mind stopping by my office at your earliest convenience?”
The tone of his voice gave me pause. “Is there a problem?”
“This isn’t a social call, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I’m asking whether there’s a problem. Pretty straightforward.”
“I’m uncertain, which is why I’m requesting your presence. Trust me, it isn’t the pleasure of your company.”
“If there’s one thing I appreciate about you, Zach, it’s your brutal honesty. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Faster would be better. I’m not sure how much longer we have.” He hung up.
Well, that wasn’t ominous at all. I refilled Jinx’s water bowl and grabbed a small bag of peanuts to devour en route. I would’ve preferred to eat a meal before I left the house, but “I’m not sure how much longer we have” suggested I light a fire under my ass.
I chose my bicycle over the golf cart. I could pedal faster than the golf cart was allowed to go, and the breeze was too strong for wings—too much resistance would slow me down.
I noticed a tailback on the trail up ahead and pulled my bike alongside the last golf cart in the line. “What’s going on?”
The driver held her phone in one hand and the steering wheel in the other. “According to my friend, Didi Hasselmeyer is trying to parallel park at the square. It isn’t going well.”
“Clearly.”
“Want to watch the video? Greta’s live streaming it.”
“No thanks.” I couldn’t contribute to the poor woman’s humiliation.
I zigzagged through the long line of golf carts, and a couple drivers honked at me.
“What’s the emergency, Maya?” someone yelled.
“She probably needs to pee,” another voice said.
“Let the girl through or she’s going to wet herself,” a woman shouted.
Leave it to the elderly Neighbors to assume I suffered from incontinence, despite being identified as a “girl.” I threaded my way through the carts until I broke free of the traffic jam.
I arrived at the front of the line to see Didi crying over her steering wheel, stuck halfway into a spot as a dozen horns blasted at her.
Despite the urgent nature of Zach’s call, it seemed to cruel to pass by Didi without offering assistance.
I ditched my bike on the grass and approached the hot-pink golf cart with the name Didi spelled out in glitter on the side.
“Hello, Didi. I’m Maya August, acting director of security.”
Didi turned her tear-stained face toward me. “Are you here to arrest me for causing a public disturbance?”
“Of course not. I’m here to help you. Hands on the wheel.”
Didi dragged her sleeve across her face and placed her hands in the ten and two position. “Now what?”
“Turn your wheel to the left and keep backing in.”
“But I’ll hit the cart behind me.”
“You won’t. Plenty of space. Keep going until I tell you to stop.”
She inched the cart backward, then forward a smidge, then back again. I continued directing her, keeping my voice calm and clear, despite the cacophony of horns behind us. Her hot-pink wheels fit perfectly between the other two golf carts.
“Did I do it?” Didi asked, peering over the dashboard.
“You did. You’re in.”
Golf carts accelerated past us, with drivers either cheering or shouting obscenities. They were lucky Judd wasn’t here, or he’d write up each of them for code violations.
“Thank you, Maya. You’re an angel. Now hurry to the bathroom before you have an accident.” She shooed me away.
“I don’t actually need…Never mind.” I ran to my bike and sped the rest of the way to Zach’s office.
Zachariah Johnson was the island mortician and resident necromancer. Unlike Justine, he preferred not to keep an assistant on hand, although he wasn’t alone when I arrived. The corpse of Darlene Garvey was on the necromancer’s table.
“You’re too late,” he said.
“I encountered another emergency en route.” My gaze returned to the body. “I didn’t know Darlene died.”
“Her death hasn’t been formally announced yet.”
“Suspicious circumstances?”
“Not until now. I had a nice little chat with Ms. Garvey. I thought you might be interested in joining our conversation, but the connection broke a couple minutes ago.” Once a connection ended, Zachariah couldn’t perform the ritual again. Well, he could, but it wouldn’t work.
“Why did you speak with her?”
“Her niece and nephew were here to ask about a will. Darlene was quite the people pleaser. She’d told her niece that she’d left everything to her and told her nephew the same. They each had a will stating as much.”
Poor Darlene. Even in death she couldn’t escape family squabbles. “And this is interesting to me why?”
“Because Darlene mentioned something else during our conversation. She appeared to have died in her sleep of natural causes, but she claims there was someone in the room with her when she died.”
My mind went straight to the oni. “A harbinger of doom?”
“One of those blue monsters running around the island? Didn’t sound like it.”
“Did she give a description?”
“A shadow of a man. Well, she thinks it was a man’s shadow. She couldn’t swear to it.”
“Did the man do something to her?”
“She claims he smothered her.”
“With a pillow?”
“With himself, but I found no markings on her body to suggest violence or a struggle.”
“It’s possible she hallucinated at the end. It happens.”
“Yes, it does.” He tossed a glance at the body. “Except I believe her.”
“In the absence of evidence? How uncharacteristic of you.”
“As I said, Darlene was a people pleaser. She would have no reason to make a false claim. She even apologized for sharing the information because she knew it would create a problem for us.”
“She apologized for being murdered?” I didn’t know why I was surprised. Women had been conditioned not to take up space for centuries.
Zach smoothed his raggedy white-blond mustache. “I know. Breaks the heart, doesn’t it?”
I looked at Darlene. “I suppose you want me to investigate.”
“That is your job, isn’t it?”
I sighed. “Five years, Zach. Five years and no murders until recently.” I thought of the oni. The demonic spirits were too little, too late. The doom had already slid into a parking spot and cut the engine.
“It is, of course, a remote possibility there’s nothing to it,” Zach said, “but I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night without at least making an effort.” He sounded like he almost felt sorry for me, which somehow made it worse. I didn’t want the necromancer’s pity.
“I’ll see what I can find out.”
“Perhaps don’t mention anything to Justine or anyone else until you know more,” he said. “No need to sound the alarm.”
“I’m glad we’re on the same page.” Justine would hound me relentlessly until the matter was resolved. I couldn’t handle that pressure so soon after Judd’s and Belinda’s deaths. I’d come to Evermore to escape that kind of intense pressure.
“Her condo is in Palmetto. Number 27.”
“Will the niece and nephew be there?”
“No. They went back to the mainland to consult their lawyers about the contradictory wills. I don’t think anyone’s been in the condo since she died.”
“Who found the body?”
“Dr. Adam. She missed her quarterly appointment for bloodwork.”
“Thanks. I’ll check out her condo now before the family gets their fingerprints all over it.”
“Be sure to speak to Dr. Adam next. It will make his day.” I didn’t miss Zach’s smug expression.
“You’re delusional,” I called over my shoulder as I exited the office. Zach was convinced that Dr. Adam had a romantic interest in me, but I chose to block that notion from my mind. Relationships weren’t an option for me, no matter how classically handsome and universally loved the healer was.
It wasn’t until I climbed on my bicycle that I remembered Valerie’s words from earlier today: I see darkness falling. A shadow, but it seems localized. Nothing that would impact a large population.
It was possible her vision was of Darlene’s killer. Maybe Valerie was the better seer, after all.
I used the Neighborhood skeleton key to enter Darlene’s condo. I could’ve put in a request for one of her spare keys, but that would’ve raised suspicion. Best to keep this quiet for now.
I slid inside and closed the door behind me.
The condo was blanketed in darkness. I switched on the nearest light and surveyed the scene.
The walls were painted builder’s white. There were no pieces of artwork or framed pictures.
The curtains were plain and solid blue. Darlene either lacked style or didn’t care. I understood both sentiments.
At a glance, nothing seemed out of place. No messy drawers. No sign of ransacking. Whichever possessions her niece and nephew didn’t want, the Neighborhood would pack up and sell, although I didn’t see much that Neighbors would be interested in acquiring other than furniture.