Dead and Breakfast (22 page)

The man shook his head. “I think I could settle for cold water, but that water temperature is likely to scald someone. They’ll have a good mind to sue.”

“What room are you in Mr. . . ?” Evelyn asked.

“Mr. Emerson. And it’s the July room. I have to wash off this blue paint. It’s getting itchy.” He scratched his butt cheek.

“Of course.” Evelyn whispered to Autumn, “Please notify the guests that we are fixing this right away.”

Autumn wanted to protest, but one look from her mother, and she was running back upstairs. She knocked on the door to the February room. A man in a goatee opened it. He scratched his hairy chest and smiled at Autumn a bit too friendly. “Aren’t you a nice wake-up call?”

Autumn stepped back. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but we’re having problems with the water. My mom has called the plumber.”

The man grinned. Autumn suspected he was still drunk. She peeked around him and saw a naked woman in his bed. Autumn wasn’t positive, but she thought the woman was wearing fish scales. “No worries. Wake me before dark.” He closed the door in Autumn’s face.

Autumn woke up most of the guests. And most of them appeared to be intoxicated.

Last, she knocked on Mr. Fletcher’s door. As expected, he was dressed, but he still hadn’t shaved. “Everything okay?”

After seeing practically a dozen naked bodies, Autumn felt relieved the man was in clothes. “There’s a problem with the water. It’s boiling. Mom’s on the phone with the plumber, but I just came to warn you.”

“I showered just a minute ago.”

“You did? And your skin isn’t peeling off?”

He chuckled. “No. My water wasn’t hot. It was cold. And pretty refreshing.”

“Well that’s odd. Everyone else has scalding water.”

Mr. Fletcher shrugged. “Maybe the plumber will be able to figure it out.”

“Maybe.” But Autumn wasn’t convinced.

After an emergency weekend visit, which cost Evelyn $125 an hour, hour-and-a-half minimum, the plumber concluded someone turned the hot water heater up as high as it could go. As for Mr. Fletcher’s cold water, the plumber just scratched his head and said he couldn’t understand how that happened.

#

Liam parked his scooter outside the Cayo. But before he could take off his helmet, Autumn came running out to greet him.

He smiled, but his smile dropped once he saw Autumn’s exhausted expression and limp hair.

“What’s the matter? Everything okay?”

Autumn exhaled. “Mom said to tell you not to come in today. She had to pay a plumber and she can’t afford to pay you too. I meant to text you, but I was running around.”

Liam slouched a bit. “Okay.” It wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “What about later this week?”

Autumn nodded. “She said Tuesday.”

Tuesday was several days away. It sucked not to see Autumn for that long. “I wanted to talk to you about your birthday?”

“What about it?”

“I’d like to take you out,” he said. “To celebrate.”

“It’s a week away. Hopefully, things will calm down by then.” Autumn bit her lip and looked back at the Cayo. “I gotta go around the corner to the hardware store and pick up putty. The plumber ran out.”

“I’ll get it for you,” he said, hoping to prolong their time together.

“It’s fine. I’ll do it. If you do it, then my mom will feel like you’re working, and she’ll consider you on the clock. And . . .”

“I get it. No worries.” His face softened. “We’ll talk later.”

Autumn nodded, and Liam watched her run around the corner. He waited a few moments before he turned the key in the ignition and sped toward Duval.

With an unexpected day off and his stomach growling, Liam drove to Caroline Street for mahi tacos from the food truck. While waiting in line behind a woman wearing robot body paint, Liam heard a familiar voice call his name. How was it possible in a sea of thousands of costumed tourists, she always managed to find him?

Liam slowly turned around and let out an annoyed breath. “Victoria.”

She flicked a strand of blonde hair over her shoulder and smoothed down her red sequined bikini top. She wore a less revealing skirt with it. “I always thought you avoided Fantasy Fest, but I’ve seen you twice now.”

“I was hungry,” said Liam as if that were reason enough. “And I thought you’d be on Sunset Key avoiding the crowds like you do every year.”

“Grandma organized a diamond necklace raffle for charity at the Southernmost Beach Cafe later in the week. She’s meeting her auxiliary ladies to finalize details.”

“That’s cool she volunteers for stuff like that.” Liam meant what he said. He’d always liked Victoria’s grandmother.

Victoria shrugged. “She’s nice like that.”

“You could be nice like that.”

Vicky adjusted the sunglasses on her head. “You mean I could be nice to Autumn?”

“For starters.”

Victoria laughed. “I’m not going to invest the time in being Autumn’s friend and neither should you.”

Liam moved up in line. All he wanted was to get his tacos and find a quiet place to eat. But Victoria didn’t seem to get the hint.

“Seriously, Liam. Autumn does nothing but talk about New Jersey. You should hear her in class. Whenever college plans come up, it’s about Rutgers. Or Seton Hall. Or Montclair. She has no plans to stick around the Keys after graduation. Which means she has no plans to stick around you.”

“Harsh, Vicky.”

“It’s the truth. I should know. I had to listen to that from you.”

He raised his brows.

“Oh, don’t you remember? For months, you talked of nothing but meeting your dad in North Dakota. What? Thinking my feelings wouldn’t be hurt? I wasn’t special enough for you to stick around. What makes you so sure you’re special enough for miss east coast to give up her plans for you?”

Liam never thought about how he hurt Vicky’s feelings when he took off. She was always surrounded by friends, not to mention enormous wealth. Up until now, he wasn’t even sure she had feelings. Like she was a vampire with no heart.

“Whatever, Vic. You’re just saying this shit because you don’t want to see me happy.”

Victoria’s chin wobbled slightly and for the briefest of moments, Liam worried she was on the verge of tears. Instead, she cleared her throat and said, “You’re wrong. I don’t want to see you
unhappy
. Because when someone you love leaves you, it sucks.” She put on her sunglasses.

Bernadette Canton emerged from the cafe, dressed in a linen suit, and clasped her granddaughter’s hand. “There you are! I approved the table settings and the necklace is stunning.”

“Nice to see you again, Mrs. Canton,” Liam said politely.

Bernadette smiled, pulling the skin taut across her face. “Likewise, William.” Bernadette, like Glenda, always used his full name.

Victoria reached out to Liam and touched his arm. “The charter school is having a winter formal in a few weeks. Are you going to go?”

Liam knitted his brows.

“Oh, you didn’t know? Autumn didn’t ask you?” A smile played on her lips.

“To be honest, I haven’t thought that far ahead,” said Liam.

“Well, you have to come. Everyone loves a dance.”

Bernadette shifted her weight off her bad leg. “Not everyone, Victoria.” She nodded toward the street. “Come, dear. Finn is waiting for us around the corner. I still have a few more errands to run.”

Victoria nodded and pivoted on her heels. “Enjoy your tacos.”

Liam watched her go with a heaviness in his chest. Perhaps with everything going on with the Cayo, Autumn forgot to mention the school dance.
Maybe she doesn’t want to go. Or maybe she doesn’t want to go with me.

Liam approached the food truck and placed his order.

“Were those the Cantons?” said the guy behind the window as he handed Liam a cardboard bowl and several napkins.

“Yup,” said Liam, his voice practically a sigh.

The guy whistled. “Those are some powerful people. Untouchable.”

Liam glanced behind him, still expecting to see Victoria and Bernadette Canton waltzing like royalty among their Key West subjects, but they were long gone.
Untouchable? Were they really? Was anyone?

That night, Autumn flopped on the bed and buried her sweaty face in the floral bedspread.

“Tough day?” Katie asked, her voice raspy.

Autumn rolled over on to her side to look at the ghost. “Well, after the whole boiling lava water fiasco this morning, Mom discovered that the fridge had been unplugged. The cheese, milk, and who knows what else went rancid. I had to drive to the supermarket to restock only to come home and find Mom scrubbing the floor. Apparently a guest had puked. That last one I’m pretty sure had nothing to do with Inez.”

“But the other things?” Katie asked.

“Definitely her.”

“How’s your mom doing?”

Autumn raised her brow. It was unusual for Katie to show compassion for Evelyn, or Glenda, for that matter. Evelyn pretended ghosts didn’t exist, which insulted Katie. Glenda knew about Katie, but used her like a sideshow in a carnival, which also insulted Katie.

“She’s at the end of her rope. We finally have a packed house, and everything is going wrong.”

Katie floated over to Autumn, her form fading fast in the dark room. “I need you to hurry up and banish Inez. She’s getting more and more out of control. I’m afraid.”

Autumn sat up in her bed and hugged her knees. The last thing she would want would be for Inez to stay here, causing havoc, and for Katie to disappear. Where would Katie even go?

“You don’t want to know,” Katie said, reading her mind. “Inez can push me into a dark place. It’s not like seeing the light. It’s the opposite. I don’t want to get sucked in there.”

The pit in Autumn’s stomach grew. She was supposed to be solving Inez’s murder and pursuing the scholarship, but she’d been having too much fun with Liam, not to mention helping her mother run the Cayo, to make a dent in the investigative work. Autumn’s scholarship deadline wasn’t until December. But Katie’s deadline just got moved up.

The problem was, something inside Autumn kept her from moving ahead. If a bit of Inez was still inside Autumn, then why wouldn’t Inez want Autumn to uncover her killer? Didn’t she want justice?

Autumn needed to focus. “How do we banish Inez?”

“You need to remove her hold on the physical world.”

“By uncovering her killer?”

“As a start. I don’t know. Maybe.”

Autumn got up from the bed and paced the room. She went over to the air conditioner unit and turned it on. It blared to life, blowing cold air. Finally, she could think. Except her head felt crowded, like there was too much information crammed in there. Or too many people. She turned to Katie, her eyes narrowing. “And if I don’t solve her murder?”

“If you don’t, this won’t end well.”

“For who?” asked Autumn in a slight Cuban accent.

Katie’s lip trembled and she retreated. “Autumn, come back.”

Autumn shook her head, trying to clear out the junk clouding her thoughts. “I’m sorry, Katie. Where was I?”

But Katie had already disappeared.

#

That following Tuesday, Liam and Autumn hopped off Liam’s bike as they arrived at the salt ponds to deliver cash to Randall. Liam should have never said anything, but when he mentioned to Autumn that he needed 500 dollars to cover more business expenses, Autumn didn’t hesitate to open up her sock drawer and hand him a wad of bills.

“I can’t take this,” he had told her. “You need it more than I do.”

Autumn pressed the money into his hand. “You’ll pay me back. I know you will.”

“Of course I’ll pay you back. As soon as the scooter shop is up and running, I’ll reimburse you nine hundred dollars.”

Autumn laughed. “I think that’s high interest.”

They had approached the plot of land where Liam and Randall planned to set up shop only to find a bulldozer ramming into the shack. The little building crumbled. The wood splintered into toothpicks.

Liam’s stomach dropped to his knees. He ran over to the construction worker, waving his hands above his head.

“Liam, wait!” Autumn called to him.

But Liam was an unstoppable force. This was Randall’s property, and there was no way Randall would bulldoze the shack. They couldn’t afford to construct something better.

“Stop!” Liam called out. The bulldozer reversed on its caterpillar tracks. The worker, having spotted Liam, lowered the bucket. He shut down the machine.

“What’s the matter, kid?”

“What are you doing? You’re destroying the property.”

“I’m supposed to, kid. The owner wants it cleaned up.”

“Randall Bell?” Liam asked.

“No, Canton Corp. They own this now.” He put on his headphones and turned on the machine. It roared to life. Liam jumped back just in time.

#

After the incident at the salt ponds, Liam intended to drive to Randall’s trailer on Stock Island, but then Autumn received a text message from Timothy and their plans quickly halted. Apparently, something had happened to Mr. Fletcher’s room.

“Can you drive me back?” Autumn asked.

Liam exhaled and mumbled, “I’m gonna throttle Randall when I see him.”

Autumn kissed Liam’s cheek. “Let’s get back to the Cayo and deal with one problem at a time.” Lately, there seemed to be a whole lot of problems.

Autumn walked inside the Cayo’s lobby with Liam close behind her. She felt his light fingertips on the hem of her shirt, and it gave her chills.

Mr. Fletcher stood at the reception desk, waving frantically and talking in a hushed whisper.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

Mr. Fletcher gave an imperceptible nod. “I don’t want to alarm your mother, but someone was in my room.”

“Someone who?” Autumn’s voice rose an octave. Mr. Fletcher motioned for her to lower her voice and peered into the back office.

“Like a guest?” she whispered.

Mr. Fletcher bit his lip. “Maybe. But I had locked the room. I made sure of it.”

Autumn clutched her chest, a gesture that was a little more dramatic than she intended. “You don’t think it was a Cayo employee, do you?”

“Well, not an employee exactly,” he said, rather vaguely. He motioned through the empty space around him.