Corpse in the Crystal Ball (29 page)

Another thought hit me square in the gut.

What if he was working with Selena? Maybe she’d orchestrated this whole thing. Faked her anxiety attack, called Granny, sent Mitch home. And maybe Chuck had been the one outside my house to make me freak out and call Mitch. Then he ransacked Mitch’s apartment, thinking Isabel had told him where the money was before she died,
and then he set Ted up. Selena had been pretty angry at her sister.

I hurriedly climbed into my car. Had I gotten this whole thing wrong? Maybe Selena was angry enough at Isabel that she wanted to kill her and take her money, then claim what Isabel had robbed her of for so many years.

Mitch.

I didn’t know what to do. For now I needed to get away and think. They wouldn’t do anything to Mitch. If my guess was right, Selena loved Mitch. She’d do anything to have him as hers. And he wasn’t due to be released from the hospital until tomorrow afternoon. I decided I would talk to Fuller in the morning, and we would corner Selena in the hospital. Question her and get her to admit her guilt and finger Chuck as her accomplice.

Feeling better, I pulled out of the parking lot and headed for home, but when I looked in the rearview mirror, I saw a car pull up to the curb and Chuck Webb climbed inside.

The car belonged to Abigail Brook.

Tuesday morning, Granny left to join Selena at the hospital. Mitch was going to be released that afternoon, and Granny was going to give them both a ride home in her brand-new car. After passing her road test and getting her license, she’d gone out last night and purchased herself a Cadillac as white as her hair. She paid cash and drove it right off the lot, straight home.

Though she made it home in one piece, she’d already lost a hubcap along the way when she jumped the curb on the corner of Mystic Ave and Inspiration Lane. She was completely baffled as to why her road test had seemed like a piece of cake. She hadn’t been nervous at all, and she’d handled my car like a pro.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her it wasn’t a piece of cake …more like a piece of “brownie” that had calmed her nerves and turned her into a master of Mario Andretti’s
school of racing. Now she was just plain ole Granny Gert, master of disaster.

Mitch would be lucky if he didn’t wind up back in the hospital before he even reached his apartment.

I wasn’t too worried because I’d already talked to someone at the hospital handling Mitch’s paperwork and convinced them to stall until closer to dusk. The clerk was one of my regulars who couldn’t turn down the offer of a free reading. I didn’t plan on letting Granny leave the parking lot before I carried out my plan.

I hadn’t voiced my suspicions about Selena yet, because I knew Mitch wouldn’t be open to hearing about them. Frankly, neither would Granny. My plan was to get Fuller and ambush them at the hospital before they released Mitch. Fuller was tied up all morning, but he agreed to meet me at the hospital in a few hours.

It was lunchtime, and there wasn’t much else I could do until “go” time. So I put on some tea and made myself a tuna sandwich on whole wheat. The doorbell rang, and I answered it, wondering if Fuller had finished early.

“Kevin, hi.” I smiled at him curiously as he handed me my mail, looking very handsome in his uniform, I had to admit. Maybe Granny was right. After what I’d heard Mitch admit, maybe it was time I gave Kevin a serious chance and gave up on a lost cause. “Thank you. Now that’s what I call service.”

“My pleasure.” He laughed, looking behind me to scan the inside of my house.

“What are you looking for?”

“Am I going to get ambushed by the gorilla detective?”

“Hardly. He’s in the hospital.”

“Really?” Kevin’s face registered surprise and then concern. “What happened? I know I didn’t start off on a good foot with him, but I’d never wish the guy harm.”

“He got in a car accident and had to have surgery on his leg yesterday, but he’s supposed to go home today. Someone cut his brake lines.”

“Wow, that’s crazy.”

“He’s going to need a lot of care. I know him. He won’t be a good patient.”

“I can’t blame him. I didn’t make a very good patient myself.” Kevin held up his cast and grinned, then sobered as he stared into my eyes. “Who’s going to take care of him?”

“Selena.”

“Can I come in?”

“I’m sorry.” I stepped aside. “I thought you had to finish your route.”

“I’m allowed a lunch break, and something smells good.”

“It’s just tuna. Would you like a sandwich?”

“Sure, thanks.” He followed me to the kitchen and sat at the table. I set the sandwich before him a few minutes later along with a glass of milk, and he took a bite. “Delicious.”

“Kevin, I—”

“Sunny, I—”

We spoke at the same time and then laughed.

“You go first,” I said.

“You sure?” he questioned.

“Yeah.” I was still so confused, and even though I kept entertaining Granny’s words, I knew I couldn’t string him along. Even though Mitch had hurt me—unknowingly or
otherwise—I still had feelings for him that I couldn’t just switch off. Though I dreaded saying as much to Kevin. He really was one of the nicest guys I’d ever met.

“Okay, here goes. I really like you, Sunny.”

I swallowed hard.
Oh boy
. I definitely should have gone first.

“I know you have all sorts of emotions going on in that pretty head of yours. I can see it in your eyes. And I can speculate those feeling have to do with that gorilla detective. But it also speaks volumes that Selena is the one taking care of him …not you.”

I sucked in a breath. He’d touched on my biggest fears exactly. I was feeling vulnerable and couldn’t speak if I tried.

“I’m not trying to make you feel bad. I’m just trying to get you to see I’m here for you.” He reached out his hand and took mine. “I believe in you.”

I didn’t pull away. I’d wanted Mitch to say those words for so long now, and yet here was Kevin saying them without provocation.

“How can I prove it to you?”

I looked him in the eye and put him to the test. “Let me do a reading for you.”

He didn’t even flinch, just shrugged, smiled, and said, “Sure. When?”

“How about now? You still have a half hour for lunch, right?”

He checked his watch and nodded. “That I do, m’lady.”

“Good. Then follow me, kind sir.” I laughed and led the way to my sanctuary.

“Where’s my favorite cat?” he asked as I parted the beads and he followed me inside.

“In hiding. He knows I’m mad at him.” I motioned for Kevin to sit down across from me on the other side of the table.

“That’s a first. What did the rascal do?” He sat, and I took his hands in mine.

“I haven’t told a soul this, but I trust you. Still, keep it just between us. Granny would be mortified.”

“Okay,” he chuckled, “but I have to admit my curiosity is piqued.”

“Granny’s trying to eat healthier, so she baked these herbal brownies. The little mischievous devil stole her bag of herbs, and a bag of Ted’s marijuana must have gotten left behind. Even with her glasses, Granny can’t see that well. She had to have mistaken the marijuana for her parsley-cilantro mix when she made the brownies.”

“So that’s how she passed her road test.” He shook his head, laughing harder. “I knew there had to be
other
forces at work. I’ve seen Granny drive.”

“Um, yeah. Problem is now she has her license. She even bought a new car. A big snow-white Cadillac that matches her hair, only there’s nothing about her driving that is angelic.”

“Lord help us all.”

“We’re gonna need a lot more than the Lord to help us escape Granny on the highway. I fear the roads of Divinity will never be the same.”

“I’ll keep that in mind when I’m driving my route.”

“Wise decision.” I winked. “Okay, down to business. Just relax while I see what fortune-telling tool will work best on you.”

“I can do that. I’m pretty good at mastering my emotions.” He took a breath and relaxed his shoulders.

“Not me. I wish I could be like that. Unfortunately I’m an open book. What you see is what you get.”

“I like what I see.”

I closed my eyes and chose not to respond to that comment. Instead I inhaled deeply over and over, relaxing every muscle in my body and focusing on him. I opened my eyes in surprise. “You’re a crystal ball person, too. Lately everyone has been.”

“Hmmm, interesting. So what happens now?”

“Well, now I go get Moonbeam and prepare my space.”

He raised a brow. “Moonbeam?”

“The name I chose for my crystal ball.” I gathered Moonbeam off of my supply shelf and set the crystal ball on the black velvet cloth in the center of the table. I placed four protective angels on the four corners and lit a purple candle behind the ball. I burned some incense on a disc and then dimmed the lights.

When all was ready, I said, “Now place your hands on Moonbeam so your energy will charge the crystal ball. Think about something you want to know the answer to, but don’t say it out loud. A vision should come to me with the answers to your questions.”

He studied me for a moment, looking as though he was making his mind up about something, and then he said, “Okay, let’s do this.”

He closed his eyes tight as though he was thinking hard about something, and then he opened them, laying his hands on Moonbeam. When he was finished, he sat back and waited.

I once again relaxed my body until I went into a trancelike state, saying a chant to keep the bad and negative spirits
away. Suddenly my vision blurred and Moonbeam filled with white, swirly, smoky clouds. When the clouds cleared, a vision appeared.

“I see you and what I’m guessing must be your family. Wow, you really do have a big family. Lots of men, and you’re all so nicely dressed in suits. I can feel how close and loyal you all are. I see you moved around a lot. I’m getting the feeling you’re a man of many talents, not just delivering the mail. And patient. So patient. You’re a loner. You don’t let people get close to you, other than your family,” I said, which even in my trancelike state surprised me.

“Wait, I see you talking to another mailman about your height and build. And now I see you in Divinity.” I kept speaking what I saw. “You have so much drive and ambition. It’s like you’re on a quest. You’re an outdoorsman. I see you in the woods. You’re walking, and then running, and then …wait, that’s blurry now, but …okay, here we go …yes, there’s my house. You’re here with Granny, and you’re looking for something. Me …no, not me, but something else.

“Wait, now you’re talking to Selena. I can’t hear what you’re saying, but you …wait, now you’re talking to Ted. You’re arguing and then you’re at the park with—” I sucked in a breath. “You’re with Roz Sanderson.” My heart started to pound, and my palms began to sweat. “You, you—”

“Well, I’ll be damned. You
are
the real thing,” Kevin said in a voice that was hard as nails. “Too bad for you.”

The trance was broken before I could see any more, and I blinked, whipping my eyes up to his and refocusing. When I could see straight, I looked into his eyes and gasped. Kevin Brown didn’t sit across from me.

A cold-blooded killer did.

“Yoo-hoo, Sunny. I’m home,” Granny singsonged as she came strolling in right before dusk. “I see that nice boy Kevin’s mail truck outside,” she added, sounding like she was removing her rain cap and cardigan sweater.

Kevin stood behind me with the butcher knife from the knife set I’d found in Vicky’s kitchen poked into my back. I could only pray it was dull and as old as it looked. “Tell her we’re in the kitchen,” he commanded, his lips close to my ear, nothing at all nice about him anymore. “And watch what you say or I
will
kill you and not think twice about it.”

How could I have been so blind?

“I-In here, Granny.” I cleared my throat, struggling to keep calm.

Granny walked in, tying her apron around her. “What a mix-up at the hospital. Detective Fuller was looking for you. He said something about you wanting to meet him there. It took forever to get Mitch’s release approved, but they finally let him go and I drove him and Selena to his apartment. Poor man is plumb tuckered out after all he’s been through.”

She tsked, then smiled wide at the picture of Kevin with his arm around me. “It’s so nice to see you two finally got together. I worry about this little girl right here with all that money she has lying around. Why, anyone could waltz right in here during one of her readings and rob her blind.”

“Money?” I asked Granny, thoroughly confused. “What money? The only one who has money lying around is you,” I replied.

“Honey, I haven’t kept money in shoe boxes for years.” She waved her hands in the air, then clicked her tongue and
winked. “Freezer bags in the icebox work much better. I’m talking about the bag of money you had hidden under the stairs. By the looks of it, your fortune-teller business is doing very well.”

“So that’s what Morty was trying to tell me,” I muttered, thinking of the day I’d given Isabel a reading.

She’d come in, carrying a huge bag. Then after the reading, she’d used my bathroom by the closet under the stairs. I remembered her leaving, looking much lighter somehow. She must have hidden the embezzled money right here the whole time under my own roof. Morty kept carrying it around in his mouth, practically waving it beneath my nose.