A Spirited Gift

“Did you get her name and address?” Chief Michaels had his notebook ready for the information.

“No. I’m sorry. It’s not that precise.”

“How about her motive? Could you see into her head?” Sheriff Riley questioned.

“No. But I think it might be obvious.”

The three men looked at me expectantly—I guessed it wasn’t obvious to them.

“Matthew wanted to leave Sandi,” I explained. “He didn’t want their breakup to affect his career, so he was dragging it out, waiting for the right time. His girlfriend got sick of waiting. She killed Sandi to get on with it. I’m not sure why she killed Matthew.”

“Do you have any proof—besides the hoodoo—any proof at all?” Sheriff Riley asked.

“Maybe your experience is different than mine,” I said. “But usually a man doesn’t risk everything to get rid of the only woman in his life. Matthew was worried about his job but still willing to break up with Sandi. That says to me that he had another woman.”

“Anything else?” Chief Michaels asked.

“I think that’s it, at least for now.” Gramps took my arm and helped me up. “I think Dae needs to lie down for a while at home. You’ll have to excuse her.”

I didn’t mind him taking over. My head hurt and my eyes were blurry. I was ready to go home. But I had one last piece of information for them. “There was something else I felt about the man who killed Johnny. I could feel his fear and anger. He was desperate to get that box back. I keep feeling like there’s more to tell—I just can’t seem to pick up on it right now. I’m sorry.”

The chief and Sheriff Riley started blasting out more questions. I could feel them like arrows piercing into me. I needed to get away. Gramps and I started to go, but then I remembered my conversation with Cole and Molly Black last night. I turned back to the chief and the sheriff. “It has nothing to do with the gun, but did you know Shawn Foxx was seeing someone else too?” I told them what Cole and Molly said last night about seeing him at the restaurant.

“That’s the first I’ve heard of it,” Chief Michaels admitted. “You say the woman he was with might work at Carter Hatley’s place?”

“We might’ve been barking up the wrong tree,” Sheriff Riley said. “You rest up now, Dae. We’ll take it from here. And don’t worry your pretty head that the intel you got from the pistol was useless.”

Gramps hustled us out of the shop after that, and we got into a shiny new golf cart in the parking lot.

“Where’d you get the new transportation?” I asked.

“I borrowed it. No telling when our insurance claim will come through.”

We careened out of the parking lot. A delivery truck barely missed us and a car blared its horn. That was Gramps’s driving. I was never sure if he was still pretending he was driving the sheriff’s car on a high-speed chase or what. That’s why I preferred to drive.

“Don’t you ever listen to me asking you to do something like that again,” he said. “You scared me to death back there. Your face was as white as a sail. You should’ve told me there could be a problem.”

“You said you thought it was my duty.”

“Horsefeathers! Don’t pay attention to me. You do what you think is right. What do I know? I’m just a crazy old man.”

He stopped hard in the driveway when we got to the house. I hugged him, and we sat together in the golf cart for a few minutes. “You’re not crazy. You just want to do what you’ve always done—make Duck a better place.”

“But not at the cost of losing you. You mean everything to me, Dae. And if I haven’t said it enough—I love you. If you want to bring your father home for dinner, I’ll make the stew. And you just ignore Mad Dog about Kevin. If he makes you happy, that’s all that matters. You don’t have to be mayor if you don’t want to.”

I laughed. “I guess I need to pass out and look pale more often. If I’d known it worked so well, I would’ve done it all the time when I was a teenager.”

“You always were a sassy girl. Just like your grandmother. I should’ve warned Kevin from the get-go, only I felt like the two of you would be so perfect together. At least I was right about that, huh?”

“You’re right about a lot of things, Gramps. I just try not to let on.” I got out of the golf cart, and my knees gave out on me. Gramps came around and helped me up. We went up the stairs together, and I lay down on my bed.

“I’ll get you some tea, honey. You just lie there and take it easy.”

I’d been around Rafe so much in the last few days, I could feel his presence before I could see him. Gramps was barely out the door when the pirate showed himself.

“God’s teeth, that was stupid and witless, girl! Just when I think my blood must be running strong in you, ye do something ridiculous. What if you had been killed? What if you had been lost in those past moments?”

“Don’t even pretend you care—except for the fact that I couldn’t help you if I’d been injured.”