The interrogations took hours due to the large crowd that had attended the magic show. No one was allowed to leave until everyone was questioned. Isaiah had left the inside of the building to escape the blood, but he hadn’t left the premises. He’d just waited outside, though his story was no different from anyone else’s.
A coroner had arrived and had noted that the victim’s liver temperature indicated that she’d died the previous evening, but an autopsy would be needed to confirm cause of death. But it was pretty obvious when he saw the bullet wound in her skull. Kenzie wanted to talk to Chief Heather Crandall alone, but that was hard to do with all the onlookers. She decided she’d try to talk to her the next day.
Unfortunately, she didn’t sleep well that night. Her sleep wasn’t dreamless this time, either. Vivid images of creepy-looking performers, some even with fangs, killing people flooded her mind. It was a relief when morning finally broke.
Stretching and climbing out of bed, Kenzie stumbled to the bathroom. Jillian was still asleep, so she was quiet as she performed her typical morning ablutions.
After running a brush through her hair, Kenzie grabbed some clothes from her suitcase and threw them on. The day was forecasted to be much hotter than yesterday, so she dressed appropriately in a tank top and shorts. After deciding to talk to the chief last night, she planned to tell her about her history of solving cases, hoping she’d allow her to help investigate. She was also going to talk to Elijah, who’d been arrested last night for murder suspicion (though of course he kept denying it).
Being a detective wasn’t Kenzie’s current employment title, but she was qualified enough to help if she was needed. It didn’t feel right having unanswered questions floating around in her head when it would be so easy to get them answered.
After emerging from the bathroom, Kenzie saw that Jillian was pushing herself off the bed as well.
“Hey,” she said. Jillian looked up and replied, “Hi. How is it that you always manage to wake up before me?”
“I have no idea. I’m surprised I didn’t roll over and fall back asleep.”
“Don’t tell me you were up all night thinking about that magic show.”
“No, I didn’t have to be up to think about it. My dreams took care of that.”
“You dreamt about it? Now that seriously sucks. How are we supposed to have fun on this trip if you’re worried about that?”
“Yeah, about that…”
“Don’t.”
“Jill…”
“It’s not up to you anymore, Kenzie. Not now. It was probably just a malfunctioning magic trick. A very bad one obviously, but I’m sure it was just an accident.”
“Last time I checked, a malfunctioning magic trick can’t cause a gunshot wound to the head. What makes you think it was an accident?”
“Because you volunteered for a trick last night and nothing spilled out of the box.”
“Maybe this girl was targeted for some reason.”
“Oh, screw it. Listen to me, Kenzie. We’re here to enjoy ourselves on spring break, and to celebrate your birthday. You’re not here to solve a case.”
Kenzie didn’t want to argue with her friend. She knew she was right, but at the same time, it felt wrong to just forget about the previous night.
“That’s normal,” Jillian replied when Kenzie mentioned this to her, “because you’re so used to helping people and investigating anything that doesn’t feel right. But you don’t have to anymore. You can have fun now, and you deserve it.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t deserve it.”
“No more excuses.”
“What about you and Isaiah?”
“What about us?”
“I know you want to spend some time with him, too.”
“Well, he’s your friend too. He doesn’t mind hanging out with us for your birthday. I was meaning to ask you though, now that you’ve officially met him, what do you think? Although, I guess you already knew him.”
“Yeah, I knew him. I was surprised to see him again, that’s for sure.”
“Well, you like him, right? You told me to find a good guy, and I think he counts, don’t you?”
“Yeah, he’s good.”
“You don’t sound that convinced. Don’t tell me, there’s something about him I don’t know, or something happened in Bridgeport. Don’t tell me he put the moves on you there.”
“Yeah, right. No, it’s nothing.”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not. Really, Jill, I just worry about you. I know how you’ve been with guys in the past and I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”
“But you said Isaiah’s good. He won’t hurt me, will he?”
“I hope not. He wasn’t exactly my best friend in Bridgeport, you know? I just ran into him while on the case. We haven’t kept in touch or anything. I didn’t spend every second of the day with him.”
Jillian’s shoulders slumped. “Don’t tell me this is another guy I really like and you hate his guts.”
“No, I don’t hate his guts. I just think you should be extra careful.”
“Extra careful as opposed to when?”
“As opposed to all the other boyfriends you’ve had. Like Drake, who turned out to be part of a gang. And that guy from Hidden Springs where you were just slightly cautious.”
“Uh huh. I told him off though, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, and I still laugh about that. Jill, please just be careful.”
“I will. You don’t have to worry about me.”
Kenzie managed to smile and nod half-heartedly, knowing that she would worry about Jillian no matter what. Her friend then gave her a hug and grabbed some clothes from her suitcase. Like Kenzie, she put on attire that would keep her cool during the hot day.
“What should we do today?” Jillian wanted to know.
“Why are you asking me? I’m okay with anything.”
“I’m asking you because we’re here for your birthday. It’s really up to you. But the one exception is anything that involves Elijah the Enigmatic. Anything else is fair-game.”
“Well, there is an arcade here and it has skeeball and things. I wouldn’t mind checking that out.”
“That sounds cool. I haven’t been to an arcade in forever. Should we call Isaiah, Austin, and Cheyenne and ask if they want to come with us?”
“Sure, the more the merrier.”
So Jillian withdrew her cell phone and dialed the appropriate numbers. Everyone agreed to meet at Port-A-Party Warehouse, where all these goodies were, in a couple of hours. According to the brochure, Kenzie discovered that the place also had some sort of electronic sphere dancing machine. She thought about trying it out, and knew Jillian would probably want to as well.
When the time came, the group all gathered at the venue. Other people were already there, scattered about and taking advantage of all the items. Kenzie didn’t know where to start.
Austin suggested that they all compete against each other at skeeball, and the person with the lowest score would buy a round of drinks for everyone. That suggestion was met with great enthusiasm, so the group headed toward the skeeball machines.
It wasn’t surprising that Isaiah, with his supernatural perception and acute strength, beat everyone at the game. Jillian came in last, with Austin not far behind. Kenzie’s score was right in the middle and Cheyenne came in second. Obviously she’d done this before, or something similar.
Jillian tried to demand a rematch but no one would have it. So she forked over the cash for the drinks and everyone sipped them thirstily.
Kenzie scanned the room and realized, being surrounded by friends and other patrons having fun, she was glad that she didn’t have to worry about a case here in Starlight Shores. It was nice to just relax and take it easy.
Cheyenne headed to the bathroom and Jillian shortly followed her. When she came back upstairs alone, Kenzie pulled her to the side and asked where Austin’s new squeeze had gone.
“I don’t know,” Jillian replied. “She must have come out before I did. I figured she was here with Austin.”
“Weird. Where could she have gone?”
“I have no clue. Do you think something happened to her?”
Kenzie just shrugged her shoulders solemnly. She had no reason to be skeptical, but she felt her superstitions were more justified when she finally did spot Cheyenne, and she was in a dark corner talking to…
“Isn’t that Elijah the Enigmatic?”
Jillian followed Kenzie’s gaze and replied, “It looks like him. But what the hell is he doing out of jail? The cops arrested him last night as a murder suspect. And why would Cheyenne be talking to him?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s hitting on her.”
“In a dark corner? That sounds creepy.”
“And very suspicious. And now it looks like they’re arguing.”
Indeed, Cheyenne and Elijah seemed to be exchanging harsh words back and forth. Cheyenne eventually slapped Elijah hard across the face and stormed back to where Austin was watching Isaiah on the PlasmaPunch Gyroscopic Conductor.
“What the heck was that about?” Kenzie wondered aloud.
“Maybe he really was hitting on her. She knows how to get her point across. Denied!”
“I don’t know, I think it was more serious than that.”
“Why?”
“It just seems weird that he’d take her to a secluded corner just to hit on her.”
“Kenzie, don’t overanalyze things. I’m sure it’s no big deal. If it was, I bet she’d tell us, or at least Austin since she doesn’t know us that well yet.”
“Yeah, and we don’t know her that well, either.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. I just think it’s weird that a girl was found dead on Elijah’s stage last night, he’s suddenly out of jail, and now he’s talking to Cheyenne in a dark corner. And she knows a lot about magic tricks because of her old boyfriend’s pipe dream, as she called it.”
“You think she’s involved? Kenzie, no offense, but that’s crazy.”
Kenzie looked over at Cheyenne, who was now wrapped under Austin’s arm. She felt an odd sensation shoot through her when she saw this caring and protective gesture. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but she didn’t like it.
She also didn’t like it when Elijah started to storm out of the club after his confrontation with Cheyenne. As though her legs had developed minds of their own, they carried Kenzie toward Elijah, blocking his exit down the stairs. Jillian walked over to the bar trying to appear nonchalant.
“Excuse me,” Elijah said grumpily and snidely as he glared down at Kenzie.
“Elijah, do you remember me? I’m Kenzie. You performed the sword trick on me the other night.”
Elijah looked Kenzie over and recognition dawned. “Oh yeah, I remember. You want an autograph or something?”
“No, actually, I was wondering what you were doing out in public. Did you post bail?”
“I didn’t have to. The cops have nothing on me. They can’t prove I did anything to that girl, so they had to let me go. Lawyers can really save your ass when you need them to.”
“Yeah...well I was just wondering, do you have any idea how a dead girl could have ended up in your box of mystery?”
“Hey, a good magician never reveals his secrets.”
“I know how the trick works. And how it works has nothing to do with what I just asked.”
“Okay, since you know how the trick works, then I don’t need to tell you I have no idea what happened to that girl. I just control what’s on the stage. I have no control over what happens beneath it.”
“What do you mean beneath it? This trick has nothing to do with anything under the stage.”
“No, but stage hands work under there, and they’re in charge of the props and setting up the stage. How the hell would I know what they did with them? Why do you care? You afraid it could have been you?”
“Uh, you said it, not me. But no, actually I’m a…”
Kenzie almost said that she was a detective, but she caught herself before she did, realizing that she could no longer claim that title. It stabbed pains through her chest. But Elijah probably wouldn’t give her any answers otherwise. So she swallowed her pride and said, “I’m a detective, so it’s my duty to find out what happened.”
“Well, I don’t know what happened. All I know is I opened the door, and then you know the rest. I know I perform killer shows, but this is ridiculous.”
“That’s not funny. You’ve got quite the ego.”
“That ain’t a crime, is it Detective?”
“No, but murder is.”
“What the hell does that mean? I didn’t murder nobody.”
“Well, that’s obviously what happened to that girl. And considering no bodies spilled out when I volunteered for one of your tricks, it can’t be a coincidence. Did you know her?”
“Never seen her before in my life. I wasn’t thinking about what might be in that box. I just thinking about the girl I let be my volunteer. I thought she was hot and figured if I let her be my volunteer, maybe I’d get lucky later. Girls dig magic.”
“Uh huh. And when you asked me to be your volunteer, you were hoping to hook up with me, too?”
“Not exactly. I’ve got a certain type of girl that turns me on, and sorry babe but you ain’t it. I just have to make it look like I’m not showing favorites when it comes to my volunteers.”
“With that kind of attitude, it wouldn’t surprise me if someone was trying to sabotage your show. Do you know anyone who would do that? An angry ex-girlfriend maybe? Maybe someone tired of your preference toward a particular type of girl?”
“Lady, anyone could try to sabotage my show. People get jealous all the time, and it’s possible someone figures they’ll sabotage my show because they want to be me.”
Kenzie nodded and tried not to roll her eyes. “Right, of course they do. Okay, so you don’t know what happened to the girl. But aren’t you curious about what did?”
“I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not my problem.”
“Not your problem? She was found dead during your act and you say it’s not your problem?”
“I don’t need this shit. Look, I’ve told you everything I know. I didn’t do anything to that girl and I sure as shit wouldn’t try to sabotage my own show.”
“I didn’t say anything about you sabotaging your own show; you did.”
“Damn it, quit putting words in my mouth and twisting things around!”
Elijah tried to leave, but Kenzie still blocked his path and managed to blurt out, “One more question. How do you know that girl you were talking to in the corner?”
That seemed to catch him off-guard. He looked at Kenzie with an agitated expression on his face and replied, “That’s my ex-girlfriend. What does that matter?”
“No reason, except she happens to be hanging out with my good friends now.”
“My condolences. She’s a total bitch, so watch out for her.”
With that, Elijah shoved past her and shuffled away. Cheyenne was a total bitch? Kenzie had only known her to be friendly and polite, even if she had only known her for a couple of days.
But still, if she was Elijah’s ex-girlfriend, and she was tired of him choosing girls as volunteers in the hopes of sleeping with them later, that could be a motive for sabotaging his show. And based on the heated argument in the corner, they definitely weren’t on good terms.
Kenzie approached her friends, and this time Cheyenne was trying her luck on the PlasmaPunch Gyroscopic Conductor. Kenzie took this opportunity to pull Austin to the side and start a little inquisition.
“You know that magician ex-boyfriend Cheyenne told us about last night?” she asked. “Do you know anything about him?”
“Uh…no. Why would I want to know anything about my girlfriend’s exes?”
“Because I think her ex happens to be Elijah the Enigmatic.”
“What makes you think that?”
“How about the fact that they were arguing in the corner? And I just talked to Elijah and he said Cheyenne was his ex-girlfriend?”
“Well he’s obviously lying. Cheyenne saw him on stage last night. She would have said something then.”
“Not necessarily. Maybe she didn’t want to upset you. Or maybe she hates him so much she wants to get over him forever.”
“Kenzie, don’t tell me you’re going to start investigating my girlfriend.”
“There was a dead body on Elijah’s stage last night. I think she was intentionally killed and put in that box. And an angry ex-girlfriend, who was tired of her magician boyfriend trying to get laid with sexy volunteers he kept picking out of the crowd, would have good reason to sabotage his show.”
Austin’s eyes narrowed. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that. Kenzie, in case you forgot, you technically broke up with me. You said we should just be friends and that I should try to find somebody else. Guess what? I did. And now you’re trying to falsely accuse her of sabotaging some nut job’s magic show?”
“I’m just trying to figure out…”
“Well stop trying to figure crap out. Jillian told you the truth – it’s not your job anymore. Cheyenne isn’t guilty of anything except false accusations from you. You know what your real problem is here? You’re jealous.”
Kenzie’s jaw dropped. “That’s bullshit!” She turned to walk away. But Austin caught her by the arm.
“Don’t walk away from reality, Kenzie. You’re only human.”
Kenzie looked at the vampire whose arm was intertwined with her best friend’s and heaved a shudder. Yeah, she was only human, and so was her best friend. And her best friend was dating a vampire. Wonderful. It just kept getting better.
“Just leave me alone, Austin,” she choked.
“Kenzie, I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I think you need to just…stop. Stop trying to solve everyone else’s problems, stop trying to investigate things that don’t need investigating, and stop trying to hide your true feelings.”
“What true feelings?”
“That you’re envious of your two best friends.”
“Damn it, Austin! Just leave me alone!”
Kenzie’s raised voice caused the rest of the group to look at her in alarm. She turned shame-facedly away and bolted out the door. Not wanting to wait for Jillian, she called a cab to take her back to the hotel. Once there, she climbed into the shower and tried to wash away the good evening that had turned bad.
While she did so, she thought about what Austin had said. She wasn’t jealous. That was absurd. He was right – she’d had the idea that they shouldn’t rekindle their relationship from high school and that they should both move on with their lives. She’d been Austin’s only girlfriend and she’d encouraged him to find someone else. He was lucky to have found Cheyenne. She was happy for him.
She was just suspicious of her because of her confrontation with a magician who had a dead body onstage during his magic show.
After she got out of the shower, Kenzie ran the blow dryer over her hair and basked in the warm air. She wasn’t quite ready for bed, so she put on her pajamas, sat on Jillian’s bed, which was closer to the TV, and began flipping through channels.
When she came to the local news channel, she gasped. Because on the station was a news bulletin about Elijah the Enigmatic, and the reporter said, “Superstar magician Elijah the Enigmatic has denied allegations of any involvement with the young woman found dead during his show last night, but the rumors persist as spectators are getting even more skeptical and fearful. This is the second time a dead body was found on Elijah’s stage, and the second time he’s been released from police custody due to lack of evidence.”
No comments:
Post a Comment