Dead Man Talking Read online

  “My guess is Patricia was given a couple free tickets. She’s a cancer survivor and does volunteer work with children at the hospital. She probably passed them along to the brothers, who figured a free meal was a free meal.”

  “That’s one meal, but what about all the rest? They can’t just sit on a couch all day eating ramen noodles.”

  “They do odd jobs when people will hire them. Day labor for lawn work, moving furniture. Willie tried using them a couple times before he hired me, but they stole his tools and the work they did was so shoddy, it all had to be redone.”

  He frowned. “It’s interesting what you say about money, though, because every time I’m in the Magic Eight Ball, they are too.”

  “Then they must have a source of cash.”

  “A buddy of mine lives a couple towns over. He said they’ve had a rash of break-ins lately. The thieves took things easy to pawn—televisions, computers, jewelry—and of course, cash. The description of the thieves fits the men who broke into the lighthouse, down to the dark-colored pickup truck.”

  “Maybe the brothers are smart enough to do their illegal activities outside of Everlasting. With Sheriff Bull’s band of boy toys in charge of law enforcement in the area, I can’t imagine a lot of crime is getting solved.”

  “Probably not. I’m starting to hear rumbling about the next election, especially from men. Sheriff Bull and her boys might be looking for another modeling gig.”

  “That might be a good thing if February is the smartest of the lot.”

  “Sorry about that. I guess I gave him more credit than he was due.”

  “Not your fault. Okay, so let’s assume the Belmont brothers are our best bet. They might be doing some thieving already in other towns, but they heard about the emerald and thought they’d risk the local action for the potentially big score.”

  “If that emerald is the size people say it is, it would set someone up for life. Maybe not them, in particular, as they’d probably manage to blow through any amount of money quickly, but for most people, it would be a very nice retirement plan.”

  “So how do we figure out if it was them? I mean, we can’t exactly knock on Patricia’s door and ask if they were in bed the night Sapphire fell.”

  “She probably wouldn’t know anyway. My guess is she’s already figured out the less she knows about where they are and what they’re doing, the better off she is.”

  “Probably. So any other ideas?”

  “Maybe. I’ll stop by the Magic Eight Ball tonight and put some feelers out. No one likes the brothers much, so if anyone has even an inkling that they had something to do with Sapphire’s fall, they’ll tell me.”

  “If someone knew, wouldn’t they report it to the police?”

  “Not if they hadn’t made the connection. The brothers aren’t foolish enough to talk straight out about breaking into a house, but they might be running their mouth about coming into money or leaving town.”

  Zoe nodded. “That makes sense. Then the only one left on the list to identify is which deputy was at the table.”

  “How do you plan on doing that?”

  “As much as it pains me, when I go downtown to pick up Sapphire’s meals, I will purchase a calendar, then she can pick him out.”

  Dane smiled. “You’re going to buy a calendar?”

  “Do you have a better suggestion? That’s the most efficient way to get a picture of all of them in front of Sapphire. Unless you want to buy the calendar, I can’t think of a better option.”

  He put his hands up in the air, slightly horror-struck at the suggestion. “Your plan works.”

  “I thought so.” She grabbed her purse and keys. “Then I’m going to get to it.”

  “Wait! Before you go, there’s something else.”

  Zoe instantly stiffened. “What is it?”

  “I did a perimeter search earlier,” he said, and went on to explain what he’d found and what he thought it implied.

  “We figured they might be watching,” she said.

  “Yea, but thinking something might be happening is different from knowing it is.”

  “Boy, isn’t that the truth. If they’ve been watching, they might know I called the sheriff’s department. They could have seen me talking to February. Do you think they’d risk breaking in again?”

  “I just don’t know. Maybe they’ll wait until you leave and Sapphire’s back in place. You’re an unknown, and Sapphire would be easier to constrain if it went that far. Or if they’re really patient, maybe they’ll wait for me to finish my work and break in one day when Sapphire leaves to run errands. That would be the smart thing to do.”

  “But your description didn’t make them sound overly smart.”

  “Smart and patient are two different things. They’d need to be both to wait it out.”

  “I don’t like this. We have to figure out what’s going on or Sapphire won’t be safe in her own home, and I can’t live with that.”

  “Neither can I.” He put his hand on her arm and gave it a light squeeze. “We’re going to fix this.”

  Just that tiny bit of contact sent a rush of memories flooding through him, and he removed his hand before he did something they’d both regret.

  “Thank you for your help,” she said. “I couldn’t do this without you.”

  “You can do most anything by yourself. You’ve proven that.”

  “Not this. I need your help to make Sapphire safe, and you know it’s not easy for me to admit that sort of thing. So please, take the compliment and let me leave before I embarrass myself further.”

  “Some things never change.”

  She nodded and headed out the door.

  He sighed.

  No. Some things definitely never did.

  Chapter Eight

  Zoe arrived back at the hospital to raised voices and a very angry aunt. Sapphire sat upright in her bed, her face flushed and pointing her finger at Dr. Prescott.

  “That’s crap, and you know it,” Sapphire said. “I’m perfectly fine. Hell, most fifty-year-olds would kill to be in the shape I’m in.”

  “I’m sure that’s true,” Dr. Prescott said, “but the fact is, you’re not fifty and that means we have to take less risk with your recovery, not more.”

  “You said the swelling was gone,” Sapphire argued.

  “That doesn’t mean the injury is healed,” Dr. Prescott said. “Can you remember what happened that night?”

  Sapphire crossed her arms across her chest. “No. But what does that matter? I took one of those sleeping pills. I might never remember.”

  “It’s just one more day,” Dr. Prescott said. “If everything is the same or better tomorrow, then I’ll discharge you tomorrow afternoon.” He glanced over at Zoe with a slightly pleading look.

  Zoe walked up to the side of the bed and looked at her aunt. “One more day won’t kill you,” she said. “And it will give me and Dr. Prescott peace of mind.”

  “I know my own body better than either of you,” Sapphire said, but Zoe could tell she was close to giving up the argument.

  “Of course you do,” Zoe said. “Which is why I said you staying another day was for my benefit and for Dr. Prescott’s. Plus, that would give Dane one more day of work before you get home. I think he said the appliances arrive tomorrow. You might come home to a usable kitchen. Wouldn’t that be a treat?”

  “I am looking forward to seeing the finished product,” Sapphire said, somewhat mollified. Finally, she sighed. “Fine. If it makes all of you feel better, then I’ll give it one more day, but unless I have a major medical crisis between now and tomorrow, I expect to be sleeping in my own bed tomorrow night.”

  “I don’t see any reason why you won’t be,” Dr. Prescott said. He gave Zoe a nod and left the room.

  Sapphire watched him go and shook her head. “He’s overprotective.”

  “He’s a doctor. Isn’t he supposed to be overprotective?”

  “He didn’t used to be. I mean, he’s
always gotten onto me about the things I do. Like washing the windows on the lighthouse. He said I should hire someone to do it for me. That I have no business hauling a bucket of water up and down an extension ladder.”

  Zoe totally agreed with the doctor on that one but wasn’t about to argue with her aunt. Mainly because there was no future in it, and because agreeing with Dr. Prescott might make Sapphire less amenable to catering to Zoe’s own overprotectiveness.

  “Well, this time you ended up in the hospital,” Zoe said. “He’s naturally worried. And head injuries aren’t exactly a scrape or bruise. You never know what can happen.”

  “Maybe. But I’d bet my last dollar that if this had happened a year ago, he would have sent me home sooner.”

  “What happened to change things a year ago?” Zoe asked.

  “He was diagnosed with cancer. He doesn’t ever talk about it, but I know he’s the big push behind the new cancer ward for kids.”

  “Really? He looks in good shape to have cancer.”

  Sapphire nodded. “I assume his treatments are going well. He hasn’t even lost his hair…I mean what he had left of it. It’s been thinning ever since I met him. Anyway, ever since his diagnosis, he’s been more cautious.”

  “I guess that makes sense, facing his own mortality and all. Maybe you should give him a break then.”

  “I am giving him a break. If I’d been my usual self, this argument would have happened yesterday.”

  Zoe grinned. “Fair enough. Well, if you’re ready to get off your high horse, I have vegetable soup and blueberry scones.”

  Sapphire clapped her hands. “I’m so glad I let you pick.”

  Zoe pulled the food out of a paper bag and sat it on the tray in front of her aunt. Then she reached back inside the bag and pulled out the calendar.

  “And I have this,” she said. “You have no idea how embarrassing this was to purchase.”

  Sapphire glanced at the calendar and grimaced. “The whole thing is an embarrassment to the county, law enforcement everywhere, and the taxpaying citizens who have to suffer this mess.”

  “I got catcalls,” Zoe said.

  “Catcalls?”

  “I made the mistake of stopping to pick up the calendar first. They didn’t have a bag to put it in, so I got to walk all the way to the deli holding this thing. Every male on the sidewalk tried to explain why he was a better pick or how if I was desperate, I could take it down a notch and roll with him. I practically ran the entire length of downtown.”

  Sapphire laughed. “The festival people must be in good spirits. Okay, show me that nonsense and let’s get this over with. I need to eat, and dwelling on it for any longer than necessary could ruin my appetite.”

  Zoe flipped open the calendar to January and started the show of shame. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until September that her aunt stopped her.

  “Wait,” Sapphire said. “I think that’s him.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Not completely sure. I mean, he looks different with clothes on, but I know he had dark hair and blue eyes, and the face is the only one that’s seemed more familiar to me.”

  “Dane said September was Sheriff Bull’s favorite, so you’re probably right.”

  “She has a favorite?” Sapphire asked, clearly dismayed. “And people know about it?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  Sapphire shook her head. “So does that mean you still think it was one of the people at the table?”

  “That’s the theory we’re running with. Dane’s betting on the Belmont brothers.”

  “Given their dubious life choices, they are probably the most likely, which is unfortunate since their grandmother is such a nice woman. I guess I never saw them as having that much initiative, but I’ve been wrong about people before.”

  Zoe tried not to make a face. That was the understatement of the century. Sapphire was Miss Congeniality. For someone who had introverted tendencies, she rarely met a person she didn’t like, and they had to go above and beyond in the opposite direction before she changed her mind. She gave the expression “giving people the benefit of the doubt” whole new meaning.

  “Dane’s going to the Magic Eight Ball tonight to try to run down some gossip on them,” Zoe said.

  “I wish I weren’t tied to this bed,” Sapphire said. “I could be out helping you two.”

  “What I need your help with is the emerald. Are you sure there’s nothing in the journals that references the stone or where it was hidden?”

  “If I’d found anything of the sort, don’t you think I would have looked for the stone myself? If someone else finds it, it would be a huge loss to Everlasting. All the magic in the town links back to that stone. If it’s removed, everything could change.”

  “You really believe the magic could disappear?”

  Sapphire nodded.

  Zoe held in a sigh. “And there’s nowhere else you can think of that a map or references to the stone might exist?”

  “Not in anything I own. Those journals are the only old documents I have. None of my furniture dates back that far, so no hidden compartments with treasure maps are likely.”

  “What about Wilber? Do you think he might have something at his shop?”

  Wilber Messing was a retired paranormal researcher and owned the Hunted Treasures Antiques & Artifacts Shop. Now he sold antiques and artifacts but kept the ones he thought had the ability to harm people locked away and under close watch.

  Sapphire shook her head. “If Wilber had anything of the sort, he would have discussed it with me a long time ago. The founders’ ancestors stick together on that sort of thing.”

  “So the Fraternal Order of Light probably wouldn’t know anything either.” Zoe remembered hearing about the international artifact hunters before but wasn’t sure what their knowledge and access consisted of.

  “With no ancestors in their group, I can’t imagine they would.”

  “Could anyone else have journals? Some other descendant of the original inhabitants? A distant cousin, maybe?”

  Sapphire thought for a minute. “Harriet Wilson might have something.”

  Zoe blinked. “Harriet Wilson? She’s still alive?”

  Sapphire waved a hand in dismissal. “She cruised right past ninety and kept going. The old bat is probably going to live to be a thousand and keeps getting less pleasant every year.”

  Zoe knew Harriet Wilson well. Every kid who had ever made the mistake of walking across her lawn knew who she was, because she took that opportunity to turn her water hose on them, regardless of how cold it was. In later years, she upgraded to a huge water pistol for portability and accuracy—at least that’s what she told law enforcement when complaints were made. If Harriet was even less pleasant now than she was back then, she might have sprouted horns and a tail.

  “Well, it’s not likely that she would help me,” Zoe said.

  Sapphire frowned for a minute, then brightened. “She might, but you have to pitch it the right way. Tell her that you’re here visiting me and I’m claiming that my family is responsible for bringing magic to Everlasting and that when I die it will all disappear. Tell her I said she had documents to prove it.”

  “And what exactly will that accomplish?”

  “Oh, it will piss her off. Harriet is certain her family is responsible for the magic in Everlasting and if she has something that might prove otherwise, she won’t be able to resist shoving it in your face.”

  “Great.”

  She’d already planned on paying Ralph Simmons a visit. Now she could add Harriet Wilson to the list. The thought of the blissful nap she’d planned disappeared and was replaced with what was certain to be a long afternoon of people yelling at her.

  Another glorious day in Everlasting.

  On the drive back to downtown, Zoe worked on the speech that she planned to use on Ralph Simmons. It was all a bunch of elaborate hooey about how depressed Sapphire was and how Zoe knew he had the best roses in the state and if
he could just sell her a couple for a nice bud vase then she knew it would make Sapphire’s day.

  The conversation, of course, was meaningless, but she needed something to get her foot in the door, so to speak. If she could get Simmons talking, then she might be able to assess his level of crazy and determine if it extended beyond his front lawn.

  The Simmons house was two blocks off Main Street, but despite that distance, the street already contained a fair number of cars that Zoe guessed did not belong to residents. She squeezed her rental into a space two doors down from Simmons and started up the sidewalk to his house. When she was about ten yards away, he came around the side of the house, carrying a bucket and a pair of pruning shears.

  Score one for efficiency. He was already outside and about to work on the roses.

  “Hi, Mr. Simmons,” she said as she approached the white picket fence. She’d used her perkiest voice and plastered on a big smile.

  Simmons glanced up at her without comment and then turned his attention back to the rosebush in front of him. His eyes were watery and his nose was slightly red, as if he’d been blowing it often.

  “Mr. Simmons,” she said again as she stepped up right on the other side of the fence from him. “It’s Zoe Parker—Sapphire Parker’s niece.”

  He kept cutting, not even sparing a glance at her. “I know who you are. That scoundrel you used to date stole a rose from my bushes on prom night to take to you.”

  “Oh wow. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  “You do now.”

  Zoe blinked, no idea where to go with this conversation now. Clearly, any talk of asking for roses was out of the question, and what was Dane thinking, not giving her fair warning that he’d stolen from Simmons before?

  “Well, that was a long time ago, and I’m sure he’s sorry,” she said. “Anyway, I don’t know if you heard but Sapphire fell and is in the hospital.”