A Ghost in Time (Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 3) (2 page)

“The fog…didn’t you see it? It was creepy. And the lights seemed dim. I was so sure I heard someone following me.”

“Did you see him?”

I shook my head. “No. I…I might have been imagining it I guess. But it sure felt real at the time.”

He shrugged. “Well, if you didn’t see anybody….”

Suddenly I realized what was happening here. It was the same as always. I think I know something or see something, and others tell me I’m nuts—and I back down and decide I must be wrong. I frowned and my will hardened.
 

“I felt someone,” I insisted. And the funny thing was, I felt like I was on much firmer ground all of a sudden. I
had
felt someone. I knew it as well as I knew anything.
 

“But more than that, it was all so weird. There were no people around. Didn’t you think that was odd?”

He looked like he was holding back a smile as he said, “Uh..it’s Wednesday night.”

I stared at him. Now it was my turn to say, “So?”

The smile crept out and took over. “I guess you don’t know about Wednesday night in this town.”

I glared at him. “Enlighten me.”

He shook his head. “It’s game night. Everybody’s at the high school, watching their kids in whatever sports they compete in. It’s been a tradition in this town for years. All the store owners and shop keepers close down early on Wednesday night so they can go watch their kids play.”

“Oh.” That did tend to take the mystery right out of it all. “I didn’t know.” I frowned. “I thought football games were on Friday.”

“They are. But soccer, water polo, everything else….”

“Is on Wednesday. I get it.”

“Even the choir, debate team, orchestra, everything.”

“I guess that makes sense. That way the Dads and Moms can get together too.”

He nodded. “That’s the plan. And you can add Thursday nights to the calendar.”

“I know that one. Farmer’s Market night.”

“Right. The shops stay open, though. Just Bay Watch Drive closes down to cars for a few hours and the party is right there in the street.”

Okay. It all seemed perfectly normal. I felt better about the whole situation, but I refused to feel embarrassed about giving in to my fears. The more I thought about it, the more sure I was that someone had been following me, at least at first, and I told that to Roy.

“Does that happen to you often?” he asked with one eyebrow raised. I could just imagine what he was thinking.
Poor little female, she just needs protecting.
Hah! That was not the way I thought of myself at all.
 

“No. Never, in fact. If I could have caught the jerk in the act…”

“You and your imaginary friend?”

He was mocking me! And yet, how was I going to fight back without making him think I was totally nuts by bringing Dante into it?

He looked at me speculatively, as though he was trying to figure out just what I was all about. “How about that witch thing you have going on?”

My jaw dropped. Was he reading my mind? “Wh…what witch thing?”

The corner of his mouth quirked. “The green eyes give you away, you know.”

Oh brother. If that was all he was basing it on…. “I am not a witch!”

His eyes narrowed, but he was just teasing. Wasn’t he? “Are you sure?”

“I think I’d be the first to know.”

He nodded, but he was frowning. A sense of alarm quivered along my spine. How much did he think he knew about the super-naturals in my life? Maybe this would be a good time to change the subject to something more relevant.
 

“Any more local customs I need to know about?” I asked quickly. “Tuesday night ritual sacrifices? Saturday Roller Derby to the death? Give me fair warning.”

He shook his head. “I can’t think of any off hand.”

“How long have you lived here?” I asked him. See, I didn’t even know the most basic things about him!
 

“I grew up in Destiny Bay.”

“Oh, as opposed to here in North Destiny Bay.”

“Right. There
is
a difference. We’re more like a small town here. Destiny Bay itself is almost like a small city now.”

I agreed with that analysis of the area. “So you went to Destiny Bay High School?”

He nodded.
 

“Did you know any of the Carringtons?”

“Sure. I used to hang out with Tag Carrington.” He gave me a crooked grin. “From what I’ve heard, you’re sort of a Carrington.”

I nodded. “My mother…..” My voice died on me. I gasped a little, not sure where it had gone.
 

My mother
. What was I about to say? Funny how I still couldn’t talk about her without something strange tearing at my emotions. I cleared my throat, fighting it back. “We’re kind of cousins with them or something,” I managed to get out. “Bebe and I. But we don’t know the ones in Destiny Bay very well. Only the ones in Hawaii that we grew up with.”

At that moment, the door flew open with a blast of cold wind and a woman stepped in, her purple velvet cape swirling around her. She looked flushed and windblown, all scarves and sashes and beads and long blonde hair with feathers twisted into side braids, a sort of earth mother princess floating in on a cloud of patchouli scent.
 

“Wow,” Roy murmured out of the side of his mouth. “So hippies still exist.”

I knew who she was. In fact, she was pretty much the thorn in my side these days, though I’d never spoken to her personally. It seemed she was making my Aunt Bebe’s life a living hell and I was getting the tales of woe by the hour.
 

Even worse, I knew she was ready to make my pain more direct. As Activities Director, I was about to take charge of things where the Spring Flower Show was concerned—and Starflower Moon—yes, she actually claimed that was her real name—would be going head to head with me instead of Bebe.
 

“From what I’ve heard, she’s more a hard-hitting business woman in hippie clothing than a real star child,” I murmured to him, watching her. “Remember to beware of books and covers.”

At that moment, her gaze fell on me and she brightened, heading right for us.
 

“You!” she accused, pointing at me as she arrived at our booth. “You’re the new Director of Activities, aren’t you?” She drew her cape around her own shoulders so energetically, I was afraid she was about to take off, like a Bohemian Mary Poppins. “You’re Bebe’s niece, too.”

“I am,” I admitted. “And you are Starflower Moon.”

“Yes!”

“Good. Now that we’ve got that straightened out….”

“Not so fast,” she cried, slapping the flat of her hand down on the table. “I’ve been planning to contact you. I want to call a meeting of the Destiny Valley Cut Flower Association. I’m charging your aunt with corruption and favoritism. I want her impeached.”

That got my attention. “What?”

“Certain preferred growers get special favors. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I’ve got evidence she’s been taking money under the table. I’m going after her, hammer and tong.”

I knew Bebe was having problems with the woman, but this was so over the top. I was about to tell her what I thought of her accusations, but someone else beat me to it.
 

“You better have some pretty solid evidence before you go around making charges like that, lady.” A handsome fortyish man in snug jeans and a fitted polo shirt had jumped up from his seat at the bar and come over to meet Starflower’s challenge. “Bebe Miyaki is a wonderful chairman of the Cut Flowers Association, and a darned nice person, too.”

It was Fred Carver, another grower in our valley. A bachelor, he was known as a pretty active ladies man, and he looked the part, with his dark brown hair cut short and sporting a silver streak--and his wide shoulders. The way he and Starflower were glaring at each other made you think there might actually be some history there.
 

“Hey, come on Star,” he said through gritted teeth. “We’ve got to put on a flower show. Let’s try to get along at least for now.”

“Get along? Sure, we can get along. Just as soon as we cut away the element that’s destroying everything we’re working for.” She tossed her hair around and glared at me. “I think we all know what that element is.”

It was tempting to join the fray and start telling the woman what I thought of her and her accusations, but I swallowed that back and tried to remember that I had a responsible position with the town and needed to keep things calm and above board.

“Listen,” I offered instead. “If you think you really have a compelling case to make, why not show up at the town council hearing tomorrow afternoon and make a formal presentation? That way your charges can be assessed by the council and….”

“Oh yeah. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Then all your little buddies would be lined up against me and…”

“Either you’ve got a case or you don’t,” Fred noted, and she turned on him once again.

“You know what she does. You know how she takes money from the big growers and leaves us middle-sized people in the lurch. A bunch of us have had it with her. We’re going to take her out.”

“Oh yeah?” Fred responded, thrusting his chin out at her.
 

“Yeah,” she cried back, her own chin jutting.
 

“You and what army?”

Unfortunately for Fred, he hadn’t noticed that Star’s own private army had just come in from the parking lot. There were three of them, one male and two females, all about nineteen or twenty, and they were gathering behind her right about then.
 

I’d heard about this bunch. Starflower had a pretty extensive apprenticeship program running at her flower fields. It was a partnership with the local university, which had a first class agricultural department. There were some who claimed she did it to avoid paying full time employees decent wages. Others thought she was very generous to give so many young people a chance to learn the business from the bottom up at a successful operation.
 

Whatever her motives, a few of her favorites got picked to help her run the program and those lucky few seemed to follow everywhere she went, like little farmer bodyguards. The gang had just arrived and looked perfectly willing to back Star up in any fight she wanted to pick.
 

Fred finally noticed them and he looked startled. Starflower smirked and the three behind her smirked too. Roy cleared his throat and came to his feet, flashing his badge.
 

“Alright, folks,” he said calmly. “Fun’s over. Let’s all quiet down, go to our separate corners, and have our drinks in peace.”

Fred raised his hands like a cowboy showing he wasn’t going for his guns and said, “No problem, Officer.” He turned to Starflower and added, “Mele’s right. If you’ve got a real beef, you should show up at the meeting tomorrow. Put it to a vote. I’ll be there, ready to vote against you every time.” One last disdainful look and he headed for the door.
 

Meanwhile, Starflower gathered her minions about her and after a triumphant glance my way, she took them to a booth far enough removed that I could relax a little.
 

Roy had done his job with ease and expertise, but he didn’t return to his seat. He hesitated just as a roll of thunder shook the building. Or was it a big truck going by on the highway? Hard to tell.

“There’s a storm coming,” he said, looking at me as if this was supposed to be a surprise.
 

“Isn’t there always?” I shot back. I could tell he was about to leave. “It’s just a matter of when it will get here this time.”

“You’re a cynic, Mele Keahi,” he said, then shrugged. “Break time’s over,” he added with that mysterious smile. “See you later.” He glanced across the room at our recent visitors. “And let me know if that drama queen gives you and Bebe anymore trouble. Okay?”

I nodded and gave him a wave, though I was pretty sure I was going to have to establish a direct line to his phone if I was going to keep him up on all the problems we were going to be having with Starflower.
 

Watching him go, I sighed. He was so very hunky. More missed opportunities. But that was for the best. Wasn’t it?

Chapter Three

I got home to find Michael Archer sitting in the kitchen, watching my aunt Bebe fix dinner. They were laughing when I came in, so I assumed their relationship was steadily warming again.
 

They’d been adorable together when I’d first moved in, but that quickly faded as he seemed to develop a thing for Sherry Jones, a beautiful blonde flower bundler who worked for Bebe. That had been all over for awhile, but my cute little aunt was in no hurry to go back to the way things had been “B.S.”, as she called it. Before Sherry.

“Hey guys,” I said cheerfully as I dropped my packages to the floor and sank into a chair at the table with a sigh. “I met the dragon lady tonight—and she was breathing fire.”

Bebe turned and looked at me, blowing back a stray tangle of hair that had fallen down over her eyes as she rinsed her hands at the faucet. “Are you talking about my favorite lady? Miss Starflower Moonbeam or whatever her name is?”

“That’s the one.” I grinned at her as she made a face. “Boy does she have it in for you. She wants to call a special meeting and have you impeached.”

“Oh yeah. She’s been threatening that for days.” Bebe’s shoulders sagged.
 

“Yeah, she’s a piece of work,” Michael said. “I’ve known her for years. And it’s funny, because her sister is such a sweetheart. She sends me fudge brownies for my 4H kids when we have fundraisers.”

“Is she named like a fantasy cartoon too?” I asked.

“Her name’s Margie. Margie Miller. She and her husband Norm run an almond orchard over in the valley. Really nice, down to earth people.”

“Meanwhile, Starflower is like some outrageous urban fairytale,” Bebe said. “She’s been needling me for years, but once they named me chairman, she got out the big guns and has been trying to shoot me down.” She sighed. “Tell you the truth, I’m really tempted to give the job up. It’s such a pain dealing with people like her.”