Murder Close to Home (5 page)

“Exactly.” When I thought about the people who had been in The Parrot Tree tonight, I couldn’t see any of them as being capable of ending Amelia’s life. It didn’t make sense. She was having a night on the town with people she cared about. Ellen had left for her shift at the hospital right about the time when Amelia had confronted Taryn. Orla had a calm patience in the middle of a crisis, which explained her lack of an outburst. She had to do what everyone else couldn’t and keep her composure. Even Amelia’s nemesis had broken down and couldn’t handle the fact that she was gone.

I hadn’t noticed an odd reaction from anyone else, which made me think of the possibility that the killer hadn’t been there. If he or she was in the restaurant, then they had to be a good actor.

Poison.
Amelia could have been poisoned hours ago, at any time.

“Let’s go everywhere Amelia went today. Maybe we can get a clue from another eatery,” I suggested.

“What if she ate at home?” Jade answered her own question. “Let’s talk to her neighbors and see if anyone went inside.”

“She’s close by. We can do that now.”

Amelia’s apartment was closed and locked and we didn’t attempt to break in. I didn’t want to harm the investigation if the police went to her place. Instead, I knocked on her next-door neighbor’s door.

“Yes?” A guy in his early twenties answered the door. He was clean-shaven, with thick, curly hair; I didn’t get a stalker vibe from him, which was great because a repeat of what had happened earlier wouldn’t be a good experience.

“Hi. I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Ruby Flynn.”

“And I’m Jade Perry. We live upstairs.”

“Tyler Thornton. I’ve think I’ve seen you around. Good to meet you.”

“We were wondering if you saw anyone go into Amelia’s apartment today,” I said. “Anything you remember could help.”

Tyler scratched his chin. “I know Taryn went in. There was another guy who stopped by when I was coming home from the grocery store.”

“What did he look like?” I asked.

“Uh… Kinda creepy? And he had this kinda fussy facial hair. Like manscaping? Other than that, I don’t know.”

“Any other strange things going on?” Jade asked.

He lifted his shoulders. “Not that I remember.”

We thanked him and went back inside Taryn’s apartment. She had woken up and seemed in better spirits. Still completely overwhelmed and devastated, but she could talk a little more.

“We fought like alley cats on a sweltering day. I gotta do my part for my fellow cat,” said Taryn.

“She would have done the same for you?” I asked.

Taryn chortled. “No way! That’s why I’ve got to do this. It’s my chance to prove that I’m the bigger person.”

“Better person?” suggested Jade.

Taryn thought. “I’ve got to stick with bigger because I’m definitely not the better person. Of course, neither is she.
Was
she.”

“Can you think of anyone who would want her dead?” I asked. “I just don’t see it.”

Taryn was at a loss. “Me neither. I’ve never known anyone to see her that way. She’s friends with everyone. I don’t know of anyone with a grudge against her or even just a misunderstanding. I’m the only one who was ‘feuding’ with her. And it wasn’t even real.”

“It sounded real at the end,” I said gently.

“I know. I don’t get it.” Taryn frowned. “I just don’t get it. If only Francis was still alive. He’d know if someone had a grudge against her.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Francis was Amelia’s brother.”

“You married Amelia’s brother?” I repeated. That was something I hadn’t seen coming.

“I did,” Taryn confirmed. A faraway look flashed in her eyes. “Amelia and I got along fantastically while Francis was alive. We’d have our quarrels here and there, but we were there for each other. We were a family.”

Jade nodded. “Did she blame you for Francis’ death?”

“After the car accident killed him, Amelia and I were as close as ever. We helped each other with our grief. I don’t know what I would have done without her. After some time had passed, I moved out here. We always had such happy times when we were in Red Palm. Nothing was holding me back from living here full time, so I sold the vacation house, bought this complex, and came here to live.” Taryn folded her arms. “Amelia liked the plan. She thought it would be good for me to be somewhere pleasant and comfortable. I had been here a couple of years when she arrived on my doorstep. Her car was stuffed with her belongings. She and her husband were divorcing. I offered her an apartment I had available and she moved in.”

“Is that when things changed between you two?” I asked.

“Yeah. She was jumpy and always looking over her shoulder. A year went on like that and Amelia came to me with a year’s worth of rent. I had given the place to her rent-free until she got back on her feet, no questions asked. She never answered any questions I asked, anyway. Her paranoia was gone and we carried on as usual, except that she would snap at me every so often.

“Whenever I asked her about that, she’d refuse to answer, and I let it go. She had been through enough with her brother’s death and her divorce. Amelia was wonderful to everyone else. I figured that I was the one person she was comfortable enough with to not guard her emotions. If that was the price to pay for her happiness, I was glad to pay it.”

I remembered what Taryn had said before. “You said that Amelia bought your vacation house.”

“That’s right.” Taryn shook out a leg that I guessed had fallen asleep. “She and her husband bought it after Francis’ accident. That’s why she was so excited for me to move here. We’d be in the same town. That’s also when the weirdness between us really started. She would blame me for anything that went wrong with the house. Leaky faucets, squeaky doors. Nothing out of the ordinary or worthy of such vehement blame. I thought she was taking her grief out on me.

“Now, I don’t know what to think. If someone poisoned her, there must have been more to the story. I wish I knew what it was.”

“Her ex is alive, correct?” Jade asked with concern.

“As far as I know.” Taryn glanced between us. “You don’t think he did this? He isn’t an angry person.”

I didn’t want to assure her that Amelia’s husband wasn’t the killer when I didn’t know if that was true. “You know him better than we do.”

Jade tried to comfort Taryn. “Much better, seeing as we’ve never met him. What was his name?”

“Marty Horn.”

My blood ran cold. “Was he younger than her by a few years?”

“Yes.”

Jade and I exchanged a horrified look.

“I think we have met him,” I said slowly.

Ellen Parks was leaving the hospital as Jade and I pulled up.

“Ellen!” I waved to her. She stopped and we got out of the car. Ellen’s eyes were red and puffy.

“I had to leave work early,” she explained. “Amelia...poor Amelia.”

“We can give you a ride home,” I said, in case she was too worn out to drive.

“No, I’ve got to pick up my kids. They’re at my parents’ house.”

I recalled Marty’s words. “He knew your kids weren’t at home,” I gasped.

Ellen’s shoulders drooped. “He’s been following me for years. He knows my entire family’s regular routines. I tried mixing them up, but he learned the changes too quickly.”

A streetlight nearby flickered and I felt a chill in the air. “I came here to ask you about him, actually. Are you aware that Marty is Amelia’s ex-husband?”

“Yes, I am. Look, I’d be happy to discuss this with you tomorrow. I’m late,” she said apologetically, then hurried to her car.

“This was a waste,” said Jade. She yawned. “I’m catching Taryn’s tiredness. It’s been a long day.”

Fog was rolling in and the air was sticky. I checked my watch. Just after nine. “It wasn’t a waste. We know we can talk to her tomorrow and it’s not a total shock that her stalker is her friend’s ex-husband. That’s pretty good.”

“If you say so.”

I got a little annoyed. “You don’t have to help me on this. I don’t want you to feel obligated to investigate with me if you don’t want to.”

“No, I want to.”

 
“Then what’s wrong?”

“I must be too tired, that’s all. Let’s go home.”

I wanted to keep sleuthing, but I didn’t want to inconvenience Jade. Her insistence that she wanted to help me didn’t sound solid enough for me to press my luck.

After dropping Jade off at her apartment, I revisited Taryn’s. She was drinking a cup of tea, wrapped in a warm blanket.

“I want to let you sleep, but before I go, I wanted to make sure that your party is still on for tomorrow,” I said.

“Of course it is!” Taryn stood up, as if that would help squash the possibility that it wouldn’t happen. “We need some fun in this difficult time. More importantly, we need a place where everyone can gather to talk about it.”

“Thanks. I just wanted to be sure.”

“Absolutely.”

I left her standing with the blanket around her and a determined expression on her face.

My studio was a few doors down from Jade’s place. I had gone with the cheapest option available because, with no job when I’d rented it, I’d wanted to spread my money as far as it could go.

I liked it. There was a tiny window in the bathroom that overlooked the ocean and I was able to fit everything I needed in the main room. It was a lesson in organization and necessity. I made sure that everything was functional as well as aesthetically pleasing.

I kicked off my shoes and plopped onto my bed. A murder
would
occur the day before my first event at Ruby’s Gem. Some people might think that was a problem, but I was fine with it. My fingers itched at the idea of another mystery to solve.

Marty Horn was at the top of my suspects list, for sure. He was shady, a known stalker, and Amelia’s ex-husband. He had been in town today and had stopped by Amelia’s apartment. He could have poisoned her at any time.

I shuddered at the thought of the close call Jade and I had had with him earlier. T
hat must have been why Jade was grumpy,
I thought. The aftermath of it had occurred so fast. We had gone from escaping Marty to discovering the identity of Amelia’s ex-husband. That was a lot to take in.

I felt terrible for Ellen. To be followed by a creepy man everywhere she and her family went... It looked like the restraining order wasn’t working as well as she would have hoped.

The residents of Ellen’s old house couldn’t be delighted with the fact that Marty had broken into their home. He had made it
his
home — his home with Ellen, if that was a thing — with the pictures. Marty had known the kids weren’t home, as well. I shuddered again.

I had wanted excitement when I moved to this small beach town. Now that I had it, I...

All right, I couldn’t lie. I
loved
it. Mystery, intrigue, and untangling it all was so much fun, even in the face of danger.

I woke up to clear skies and birds chirping outside my window. Basically, it was the exact opposite of yesterday’s events. I wiped my bleary eyes and my head pounded. Wait, no. That wasn’t my head — it was the door.

I threw on jeans and a t-shirt and checked the peephole. It was Tyler Thornton. I opened the door and Tyler walked right in, holding his head in his hands.

“You didn’t tell me Amelia was dead! I can’t believe it. She was telling me about some kind of flower and how much sun it needed. Or was it how much shade? Man, I don’t remember. How could I not remember? Do you know?”

I offered him some orange juice, which he accepted. “I have no idea.”

“I saw her walking around like there was nothing wrong with her. It’s incredible.” Tyler was in a state of astonishment. He had a habit of drawing out his words, like he was feeling the emotion of each word as he said it, and it was in overdrive now.

“Well, nothing was wrong with her as far as I know. Poison was what finished her off.” I winced at my own words. They sounded so harsh.

“This is
insane
. My neighbor was murdered. Can you believe that? There’s like, a one in a million chance of that happening. I’m sure that even if you had neighbors murdered every day, it would be just as crazy.”