Murder Served Cold (5 page)

“Anyway, I accidently dropped it when we left and it set the building ablaze. One of the security cameras caught me on film. Becker came to me the next morning, saying he’d either get me arrested or I could pay him the damages. Of course I went for the payments. I wanted to get a start on my acting and I figured I could pay him off when I got work.”

The dancers in the center of The Parrot Tree took a bow. Everyone applauded and Allen pretended to write something on his notepad.

“Then Becker laid down his terms,” Allen continued. “No set date to pay the money, but until I did, I had to live in Red Palm. If I didn’t, he’d turn me in.”

 
Kevin frowned. “Why are you being so open with us?”

Allen smirked. “Everyone knows about it. I never kept it on the down low. I may be an accidental arsonist, but I’m no liar. I think Becker likes it because he assumes everyone will keep me accountable.”

“Plus, he probably enjoys keeping you on his hook,” I added.

“For sure,” Allen nodded. “Now, how about those drinks?”

Kevin got a soda and I gestured to Corey. “I’ll have what he’s drinking.” Allen grinned and took our order to the kitchen.

“I’ve had the strangest day.” I folded my hands together. “It feels so normal, though. How can that be?”

Kevin matched my thoughtful expression. “Maybe you’re right where you’re meant to be.” He grinned. “We could move here, you know.”

I laughed. I had to move somewhere, and although Red Palm was the first place I had turned to, I didn’t know if I wanted to live here.

“Good weather, good people, good food — I hope,” Kevin listed off.

“I met a woman today who might not fit into the automatically ‘good’ category.” Taryn Horn seemed harmless enough, if a little more vindictive than I would like. I would say that a woman with her meddling attitude was lonely and needed company, but that wasn’t true for Taryn. She had people visiting every day, not to mention the visits she paid to her friends, as well as the regular bingo parties. “She and her friends are activists for whatever cause they deem necessary at the time. When you switch from cause to cause like they seem to, I wonder how much research they put into it.”

“What do you mean?”

I shook my head. “I just hope they know what they’re doing. I’d hate to see them supporting something that they know nothing about.”

“That might not be such a bad thing,” Kevin pointed out. “They’re participating in something that brings them together. If they need a cause to rally the community, then why not?”

“True,” I said.

Allen arrived with a soda and a tall glass of clear liquid.

“That’s either one strong drink or —” began Kevin as I took a cautious sip.

“Or water,” I finished. I set the drink down. “Allen, how are you paying Rodger? Juggling knives and waiting tables doesn’t seem like a long-term solution.”

“It’s not,” said Allen. “It’s all I can get around here, though. I work parties and do odd jobs here and there to get what I can. I need to come up with a better solution soon. I’m not interested in doing this the rest of my life, because at this rate, that’s how long it will take.”

“Can’t you get a job somewhere else, still in this town?” asked Kevin.

“I’ve been thinking about sending out my resume. I started out doing this kind of work because I wanted time to concentrate on acting, but then the bills piled up and I have no time for acting and barely any money.” Allen softened his crinkled forehead. “I’ll figure it out one of these days. Maybe Rodger will see a new side of life when he recovers and let me off the hook.”

“I hope so,” I said. Kevin and I gave him our food orders and he went to send them to the kitchen.

“I’m glad I’m not in his position,” I said. “I wouldn’t want to be tied to someone who’s constantly dangling a threat over me.”

“That’s tough,” Kevin agreed. He sipped his drink. “Those dancers sure look like they’re having a good time. Wanna join them?”

“I think they’re putting on a show. I don’t know if we can join them.”

“Sure we can. See? That couple isn’t professional. And that group over there aren’t either.”

I itched to join them. Kevin was a great dance partner. “Let’s go.”

We stood up, and as we walked onto the dance floor, a few cops entered the restaurant. They went into the kitchen and a few minutes later, came back with Allen in cuffs. His eyes darted around the place, trying to figure out what was going on. I caught his gaze as he left the building and it struck me how completely caught by surprise he was. He had had no idea that he would be taken in.

“That’s right, Allen Leon,” I was saying into my phone as Kevin and I left The Parrot Tree. “I just don’t see it.”

“There must be a part of the story that we’re in the dark on,” Jade answered. “I’ll go downstairs and ask Taryn if she’s heard anything.”

I heard Jade walk down the steps. The sounds of people talking and music playing were evident over the phone. “She’s having a get-together… Um, Ruby? I think you’re going to need to see this yourself.”

“I’ll be right there,” I promised. I turned to Kevin. “Jade’s got an update. Are you coming?”

He hesitated. “Do you need me to be there? I don’t want to intrude. I mean, I don’t know anyone here and —”

I interrupted him before he could talk himself out of it. “I don’t need you there — I want you there. You came here with the best of intentions and I can’t let you go to your hotel room when there’s an adventure waiting to happen.”

The moon cast a silvery shadow over his smile. “All right.”

We arrived at Jade’s apartment complex and wove through the crowd gathered outside. I heard Taryn’s voice addressing them.

“I got word that Allen Leon is a major suspect in the Rodger Becker stabbing. That is wrong.” Taryn let her words sink in before continuing. “We all know Allen. He may owe Rodger money, but he’s not a violent man. We can’t let him be imprisoned for something he didn’t do.”

Jade found us and crossed her arms. “She set this up pretty quick.”

I didn’t see why the urgency in the situation was bad. “Isn’t this a good thing? I don’t think Allen’s guilty either.”

“That’s the good part. The bad part is...” Jade gestured to the large white screen set up behind Taryn. Taryn turned on the projector and a shaky video played.

It began with me handing Allen a knife and ended with the caption:
Ruby Flynn, newcomer and stabber.

“What!” I exclaimed. “I didn’t stab Rodger.”

A lady with a purple scarf snorted. “This looks rather incriminating.”

I stared at her in shock and made my way through the throng of people. “Taryn! What are you doing?” I thought we had gotten along well. What had changed?

“The woman of the hour,” Taryn declared. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“This is ridiculous. I didn’t do it,” I argued.

Taryn pointed to the video, which was playing on repeat. “We have proof.”

“Of what? Of me holding a knife? Look at it,” I said. “The knife is completely different from the one that Rodger was stabbed with. Besides, how did you get this footage? Have you been following me?”

“So, you claim to know the type of knife Rodger was attacked with.” Taryn surveyed me with pursed lips, not answering my questions.

“I helped get Rodger to the hospital!” I rolled my eyes. “What can I do to convince you that I’m not the stabber?”

Jade intervened. “I know what we can do.” She made a phone call and twenty minutes later, Corey Devila showed up. A black jacket covered his gold top and with his black pants, he looked like a ninja lurking in the shadows.

“I can’t say anything about Allen,” he warned.

“But, in your professional opinion, do you think Ruby stabbed Rodger?” Jade asked persuasively.

“What? Ruby found Rodger.” Corey shook his head in confusion. “I can’t talk about this, you know that.”

“Come on, Taryn. Let Ruby visit in peace. She’s been through enough already today,” Jade said to Taryn.

Taryn sighed. “I suppose I can lessen my involvement in this. There’s no proof, after all.” She dramatically swiveled her head toward the video in sarcasm.

I appealed to Taryn. “I thought we got along. What happened?”

I spotted a glint in her eyes and I took an unconscious step back. “That was before you lodged a sharp object in a resident,” she said. “I may not be his biggest fan, but everyone has the right to walk down the street without a fear that they will be bodily harmed.”

“I agree,” I said. “That’s absolutely something that everyone should feel comfortable doing. I want to remind you that I’m not the one who’s causing this fear...because I didn’t do anything.”

“That remains to be seen.” Taryn stormed off.

Corey laughed. “Jade, you brought me here for this? I thought you could take care of her.”

Jade smirked. “I can. I got you to do it for me. Is that the top your sister made for you?”

He opened his jacket. “This is it. It’s kind of flashy for my taste, but she wanted me to test it out for her. She’s thinking of expanding into dance wear.” To me and Kevin, he said, “My sister runs a swimwear store. She makes all the designs and does custom suits regularly. A customer wanted her to make something for her dance class, so Monica tried it out. It moves well, I have to say.”

“She probably gave you gold on purpose,” Jade teased him. “Monica knows how you like grays and greens, not flashy and sparkly colors.”

“That’s probably true,” Corey admitted. “Remember when she came out and blew up a bunch of inflatable pool toys and spread them all over my place? I could barely get the door open!”

Jade laughed. “That was fun helping her. We’ll have to do that again.”

“Maybe not so many ducks this time. You should do a food theme, like donut and pizza inflatables.”

Jade whipped out her phone. “Deal. I’m texting Monica right now.”

Corey hid a smile and I exchanged an amused look with Kevin.

“How long have you two been going out?” Kevin asked with a grin.

Jade and Corey both looked at Kevin, then at each other, and back at Kevin again in less than a second. “We’re not,” said Jade.

“Right,” said Kevin.

“Really,” Corey insisted.

“Okay,” I said. “Would you?”

Neither of them was willing to talk and a reddish hue showed up on both of their faces. “That’s on the spot. You don’t have to answer it.” I wanted to give them the opportunity to talk about it, however, so I said my goodbyes. “I’m going to give Kevin a ride to his hotel. I’ll see you later, Jade. Corey, good meeting you.”

We walked into the parking lot and found my car. A few people were leaving. Most looked at me curiously, but a couple gave me dirty looks. I ignored them — what else could I do?

“I don’t have to drive you to your hotel if you don’t want me to,” I said to Kevin.

He ran his fingers through his luminous dark hair. “How about to Scoop? My car’s still there.”

We drove there in silence. The quiet of the car somehow seemed louder than the party Taryn was throwing. I wanted to turn some music on, but my speakers had stopped working last week.

I pulled into the hotel’s parking lot.

“This is it,” I said lightly.

Kevin closed his eyes briefly and then got out of the car. “See you tomorrow?”

“Sure,” I replied. I drove away before I could see if he looked back. That was the answer to a question I didn’t want to know.

If he looked back, I would see that he wasn’t over me — it had only been a day, so it made sense — and I didn’t want to see the hurt in his eyes. If he didn’t look back, then it only confirmed what I had thought earlier — that our relationship didn’t mean as much to him as it had to me.

I focused on the road and shook my head free of such intrusive thoughts. It didn’t have to be one or the other. As confident as I was in my decision to break up with Kevin, I also knew that it didn’t boil down to one or two things. We were simply not meant to last. We had an expiration date.

And I wished that it didn’t have to be that way.