Another young woman was found dead during one of Elijah’s shows? That meant that the victim from last night hadn’t been the first. Now Kenzie really was suspicious, and she had good reason to be.
Just then, Jillian came through the hotel room door and, when she saw Kenzie sprawled across one of the beds, immediately tore into her.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she demanded hotly. “You just left the club without telling anyone? Do you know how worried we all were? And on top of that, you told Austin that his girlfriend is probably sabotaging Elijah’s shows? What kind of shit is that?”
“Would you keep your voice down? You’ll wake up the neighbors.”
Jillian looked genuinely baffled. “What’s up with you?”
“Nothing’s up with me. I just want to know why girls keep turning up dead during Elijah’s shows.”
“Look I told you…wait. Did you say girls? As in plural? More than one?”
“Yeah, it was just on the news. The girl last night wasn’t the first one. Apparently the other victim was a young woman too, and she was found dead during Elijah’s show.”
“Well obviously the police know about it.”
“Jill…don’t you get it?”
“I get that we can’t ever have one decent vacation without you having to investigate something. And this time it’s not your job but you’ll still do it, won’t you?”
“You don’t understand. Being a detective was everything to me. It made me feel important, and I loved it. The money was just a bonus. It got taken away from me because I was stupid and weak. But it’s still a part of me. I can’t see that something’s wrong and just let it go. It’s not in my nature anymore.”
Jillian sighed but saw the sincerity in her friend’s eyes. One thing Kenzie would always be was determined. And stubborn thanks to her Taurus genes.
“Will you at least talk to the police first and see what they’re up to?” she bargained. “You may not have to do anything, and I don’t want your birthday trip to be ruined. Please?”
“Deal.”
“And another thing. Don’t accuse Cheyenne of anything. It really upset Austin. I hope he doesn’t tell her.”
“I wonder if she knows how far back Austin’s and my history goes.”
“That’s not up to you to tell her.”
“I didn’t say it was.”
Jillian put on her pajamas and the two went to bed. But Kenzie hadn’t given Jillian her word about not talking to Cheyenne. If she was involved, she had to know about it. But proving her involvement would be a bigger burden than merely confronting her.
********************
The next morning, Kenzie lurched out of bed and threw on some clothes. She ran a brush through her hair and hardly bothered with makeup (though that wasn’t exactly a new development). All her ruckus caused Jillian to jolt up in bed like a bomb had gone off.
“What the hell?” she asked in a flabbergasted tone.
“I’m just getting ready to talk to the police chief.”
“Oh, geez. Already?”
“The sooner I do, the sooner I find out if I can have more fun or not.”
Jillian sunk back down onto the pillow. “Be honest with me, Ken. Have you been having fun here in Starlight Shores?”
“Of course I have. And I know this may sound weird, but it’s also fun for me to solve cases.”
“Well, at least you had some fun on this trip. I guess if you want to solve this case, I could use the time to hang out with Isaiah some more…”
“Sure, go ahead.”
Kenzie wished she hadn’t said that. Isaiah was a vampire, and therefore dangerous. But she’d made herself blatantly obvious on where she stood. Isaiah had witnessed her kill his own mother with a wooden stake (though that had been his idea and insistence in the first place). He knew she could do the same to him if he so much as looked at Jillian the wrong way.
Still, she couldn’t help but remember how Isaiah had helped her and even saved her life. He had a good soul deep down. Surely he wouldn’t try to harm Jillian. She had to give him the benefit of the doubt. So she once again gave Jillian her blessing to have fun with her new boyfriend. But she did give her a warning before she left.
“By the way, you may want to change out of those revealing pajamas. They might give him ideas. “
Jillian hurled a pillow at Kenzie, who dodged it and exited out the door, laughing.
This time, Kenzie took her own car through Starlight Shores. She headed toward the police station, which she’d programmed into her car’s GPS, and arrived within ten minutes. After parking her car, she went inside and walked up to the reception desk. The man behind it didn’t look impressed when she explained who she was and what she wanted, even though she said that she’d talked to the chief already after the dead body had spilled out onstage last night. But he nevertheless informed the chief that she was there, and the chief said she’d be right out.
When she rounded the corner, Chief Heather Crandall looked slightly skeptical.
“Hello, again Ms. Howell. What can I do for you?”
“Well, I’m actually here about the girls who keep turning up dead during Elijah the Enigmatic’s magic shows.”
“Oh, you heard about the other one, did you?”
“I saw a report on TV last night about the girl from the other night being the second victim that’s turned up dead during one of Elijah’s performances.”
“Scary thing. It’s bad enough trying to get by these days, but when one of your magic tricks screws up in front of several spectators, you can pretty much kiss your career goodbye. I’m surprised people still go to Elijah’s shows, much less volunteer for them.”
“Does Elijah have any enemies that you know of? Anyone who’d be out to sabotage him?”
“Anyone who wanted his job could be out to get him.”
“That’s what he said, too.”
“You talked to him?”
“Yesterday, at Port-A-Party Warehouse. Would you like to explain why more than one woman has been found dead during his shows and he hasn’t been held in custody for further questioning?”
That seemed to push a button. Heather’s friendly face contorted into one of slight irritation as she replied, “We can’t legally hold him without evidence. As a detective, you should know that. We do know how to do our jobs.”
“I didn’t mean to make an implication that you didn’t.”
“Well that’s what it sounded like. We’re doing everything we can. But you forget, this isn’t just a potential murder suspect we’re talking about. This is very high-profile. Elijah the Enigmatic is a very famous magician. You don’t go around accusing celebrities of crimes without hard evidence proving the accusations. Celebrities have more lawyers and money than anyone else I know of, and they don’t hesitate to pull them out if needed. If we falsely accuse a celebrity, that will always come back to haunt us.”
“Well I don’t think celebrities should get special treatment just because they’ve got a lot more money than everyone else. If they’re breaking the law, they should still be punished. And not for a shorter sentence, either; for the same amount of time anyone else would be punished.”
“I didn’t say we wouldn’t arrest the guy if he was guilty. But we need more than suspicions to do that.”
“What did the coroner’s report say about the cause of death? Gunshot wound, right? Does Elijah have any registered firearms?”
“Wait a minute, I know you. I knew your name sounded familiar. You’re Kenzie Howell, and you’re a detective from Riverview. Or rather, you were. The papers said you were going to pursue new things and you weren’t working as a detective anymore.”
“Uh…yeah.”
“Well, then what are you doing trying to solve this case if you’re pursuing new things? You don’t have the right clearance now, and you don’t have a permit to be an investigator.”
“I know, but I’m working on it.”
“Sorry, but I can’t let you work this case without the proper permits. That includes letting you in on any information that may have been collected. I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but my hands are tied here. You’re not officially on the case, and without the right permits, you can’t be. Besides, we’ll dig up something. Thanks for the concern though. But if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”
Kenzie nodded glumly and stepped aside. Heather held the door open for her, so she exited first and got back into her car. Heather sped off in her cruiser.
Kenzie felt so forlorn. The chief wouldn’t let her investigate, and it sounded like she had the upmost confidence that her team would figure it out anyway.
But something else was still nagging at her. So she pulled out her cell phone and called Austin. After some intense apologizing, he invited her to meet him and Cheyenne at the coffeehouse again. Kenzie said she’d be right there.
As she drove, Kenzie wondered how she’d be able to accomplish her next feat without sparking some sort of brawl. She didn’t particularly like herself for what she was about to do, but she couldn’t just walk away.
She arrived at the Flying V Coffeehouse shortly. She walked inside and spotted Austin and Cheyenne cuddling on one of the sofas.
Kenzie approached the seemingly happy couple slowly, her heart pounding the whole time. She walked around the sofa and sat in a nearby chair, and Austin and Cheyenne sat up to face her.
“Hey,” she said somewhat awkwardly.
“Hi,” Austin replied dubiously. Cheyenne smiled and said, “Hi again. What’s up?”
Kenzie smiled and said, “Not too much. How about you guys? Are you enjoying Starlight Shores?”
“Yeah, I love it here. We mostly came to see Cadie Berry, but we figured we’d take in all the tourist attractions.”
“That sounds like fun. What’d you think of Elijah the Enigmatic’s performance? Pretty scary, huh?”
Austin stiffened but Cheyenne just smiled again and said, “Yeah, that was terrible. I hope they find out what happened.”
“I saw a news report last night that said this is the second girl that was found dead during one of his acts. That sounds very suspicious.”
“No kidding. Downright scary, too.”
“Well, I was just wondering, do you know Elijah by chance?”
“You mean personally? Why do you ask?”
“Because I saw you and him having an argument in a dark corner last night at the Port-A-Party Warehouse.”
A look of distress passed over Cheyenne’s face and Austin sent Kenzie a glare. Cheyenne spoke at last, and when she did, there was a hint of venom in her voice and her calm and cheerful demeanor seemed to have vanished.
“Austin told me about you being a detective. He also told me sometimes you jump to conclusions about things, which is why you two got into a fight last night and you stormed out. But you’re seriously going to accuse me of something because you saw me arguing with a guy in a dark corner?”
“Well, it looked pretty weird, and downright coincidental considering what’s been going on with Elijah’s shows. Plus, Jillian and I saw one of his shows the first night we were here, and you weren’t at that show. And nothing happened then; no bodies showed up.”
“I was too there! I was on the mechanical bull, remember?”
“But that wasn’t until after the show ended.”
“Okay, look. I don’t know Elijah and the reason we were arguing was because he was trying to hook up with me. He was hitting on me, and I wasn’t interested. He didn’t take it well.”
“Funny, he told me that you were his ex-girlfriend and that you were, and I quote, though I don’t necessarily agree with it, a total bitch.”
Cheyenne’s brown eyes began to fill with tears and Austin held her in his arms. He looked at Kenzie with malice in his eyes.
“I don’t care what that bastard said,” he hissed, angrier than Kenzie had ever seen him before. “It’s a lie. If Cheyenne says she doesn’t know him, she doesn’t know him. He had no right to say that about her, and you have no right accusing her of shit.”
“I’m not accusing her of anything. I’m just trying to figure out...”
“And I told you last night to stop trying to figure crap out! Damn it Kenzie, you’re not a detective anymore! It’s none of your business!”
“And would you care to tell Cheyenne why I’m not a detective anymore? Or did you leave that part out of your back stories?”
By this time, the two were standing up and yelling, causing some of the other patrons in the coffeehouse to stare at them like they’d lost their minds, while others bowed their heads and tried to appear inconspicuous as they eavesdropped. Cheyenne had her head buried in her lap, her sobs barely audible over the arguing.
But when Kenzie said that last line, her head shot up and she looked at Austin and asked, “What’s she talking about?”
“Nothing.”
Kenzie shook her head and blew a raspberry. “Really, Austin? You’re going to pretend nothing happened?”
“Kenzie, don’t go there.”
“I won’t. It’s not up to me. It’s up to you. But I will tell you this – I don’t give a damn if I have the title of detective or not. Something’s going on around here, and I’m going to figure out what it is. And I won’t let you stand in the way of that. And if your girlfriend here is guilty of something, I’ll find that out, too.”
“Stop!” Cheyenne cried as she stood up. “I’m not guilty of anything! If anyone here is a bitch, it’s you!”
Cheyenne turned to storm away, but Austin caught her by the arm. Kenzie was fuming inwardly, both from the outburst and from Austin consoling her when she might be guilty. Not to mention the fact that he obviously hadn’t told her the whole truth about him and her. What was up with her two best friends being in relationships filled with lies?
“Let me go, Austin,” Cheyenne pleaded.
“No. This isn’t your fault.”
“I can’t believe this...”
“I told you, she’s very dramatic.”
Kenzie seethed. “Hello. I’m right here.”
“Maybe you should go then,” Austin snapped. At this point, the coffeehouse manager came out and told them to take their argument elsewhere. Kenzie was happy to oblige. She stormed out of the coffeehouse, making the biggest public scene she ever had in her life, got in her car, and drove back toward the hotel. Hopefully Jillian was still there.
But what good would that do? She couldn’t tell Jillian what happened; she’d fully be on Austin’s side. Had she overreacted? Was she completely losing control of herself? Maybe a little. Her intention had only been to find out more about Cheyenne and Elijah, but the stories were complete opposites. Something didn’t add up. The question was, which one was lying?
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