“You’re right. I wish I’d had a sister, but I was an only child. What about you?”
“I’m an only child too. I wish I would’ve had a sibling when I was growing up. Even a brother would’ve been okay.” I joined the others in singing, putting my whole heart into “Amazing Grace,” and smiled as I heard Kevin’s baritone beside me. Chief Michaels was right. Kevin might be from somewhere else, but he belonged here in Duck.
I watched as Mary Lou took Miss Mildred’s arm and led her back out of the crowd, toward home. Miss Mildred was tearful and seemed confused. She went with Mary Lou, but she wasn’t happy about it. The two ladies were swallowed up in the darkness as they left the park, and the group came together again. I was glad Mary Lou had rescued Miss Mildred. I guessed that’s what she did best—rescuing. Kind of like how I found things.
The singing ended and was followed by an emotional moment when we were all supposed to blow out our candles at the same time to signify the passing of Miss Elizabeth. But before anyone could exhale, a brisk breeze blew up off of the water behind us and snuffed out the tiny fires. There were murmurs of ghostly visitation as the crowd began to break up. In Duck, there were always rumors of ghostly visitation. It was part of our culture, like pirate f olklore.
“That was spooky.” Shayla sidled up to me, then looked at the sky. “I feel like she was here, Dae. What do you think?”
“I think breezes come up off the water all the time.”
“I can’t believe you of all people don’t find that kind of spooky. I mean, you’re psychic and all. You and I can see into that other world that most people miss every day.”
“I don’t have powers beyond the grave or anything. My ability is like teleportation or telekinesis. It’s a science of the mind.”
“Whatever,” she argued. “You found Miss Elizabeth’s body. Her spirit cried out to you. You can’t deny that.”
“Her watch cried out to me. That’s it. It had nothing to do with her being dead.”
“Dae is right,” Kevin chimed in. “There’s a lot of exploration into the field of psychometry for security reasons.”
I didn’t need decent lighting to see Shayla’s big brown eyes focus on him. “And who are you? I think I’d remember if you were Dae’s beau.”
I introduced him to Shayla. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Hallelujah! You’re the new man from the Blue Whale, aren’t you? I’ve been hoping to meet you.” Shayla wrapped her arm around his. “You have to buy me a drink after all this grief and spooky stuff. I think Curbside should still be open. You got anything against buying a girl a drink?”
I thought Shayla’s considerable powers of seduction and persuasion (part of her stock-in-trade as a palm reader) might be wasted on Kevin, who seemed too worldly and hardened by his time in the FBI. I found myself holding my breath and hoping it would be so. But I was disappointed. He drew her closer and smiled down at her like a sailor on leave for the first time in weeks.
“You two go on ahead,” I said right away. “I’m tired and I’m going home. I thought Gramps would be out here, but I don’t see him. He might not be feeling good. I better check on him.”
“That’s good, honey,” Shayla said without bothering to look at me. “We’ll get on fine without you.”
“After we walk her home,” Kevin intervened.
Shayla giggled. “Of course we should walk her home. Even with Dae’s command of the supernatural, she could be in danger with a killer stalking the streets of Duck.”
“You must be an actress,” Kevin said. “You have such a command of the language.”
And of course Shayla was too smitten by him to realize that he was subtly insulting her. At least I thought that’s what he was doing. I sure wasn’t going to tell her, though. She’d wanted to meet him, and she’d practically thrown herself at him. She’d have to take what she got.
“I’ll be fine.” I started to walk away. “You two go on. I’m not worried about anyone stalking the streets except a stray dog or two.”
“I insist.” Kevin derailed my best efforts to get away gracefully. “It’s the least we can do.”
The three of us set off down Duck Road toward my house. We passed several large groups of people walking to the open restaurants and bars. Walking was a common form of transportation here. It was better than waiting in summer traffic.
“Are we one hundred percent sure Miss Elizabeth was murdered?” Shayla asked as we ambled awkwardly down the road. I say “awkwardly” because it’s never synchronous for two people to walk together as a couple and have a third person tag along.
“Someone had to bury her in the sand,” Kevin responded.
I looked at one of the hundreds of horse statues that are spread out across the Outer Banks in honor of the wild horses in Corolla. This one was blue with butterflies on it, but there are pink horses with wings and black horses with gold stars. I doubted that the wild horses would recognize any of these statues as kin, but people were trying to do something nice by putting them up.
“All the same,” Shayla continued, “maybe it was an accident. We may not be looking for a killer exactly. More someone clumsy or having a bad day.”
“A bad day? Whoever did this killed Miss Elizabeth and left her buried out there in the dunes. That’s more than a bad day.” I couldn’t believe she’d even consider making excuses for this nameless person.
“Sor-ry.” She scooted closer to Kevin, if that was possible. “You were there. What do you think?”
“I think the ME will be able to answer all our questions in a few days. Until then, we’re just guessing.” His voice was level and calming.
I turned my head away from them and instead looked at the lighted businesses on Duck Road. The neon sign from the Rib Shack reflected on something in the street. That familiar slow-motion feeling came over me as I bent down to pick it up. It was no bigger than a quarter and had letters embossed on it. I couldn’t read what it said, so I put it in my pocket for later.
The house Gramps and I shared was the first one out of the business district. The cheerful yellow clapboard and green accents were shadowy, even with the yard lights on, but it was good to be home. I rounded the mailbox with the duck sitting on top and the sign that said “Duck’s Landing.” I sort of hoped Shayla and Kevin would head back to the Curbside right away. No such luck.
“Nice place,” Kevin said, catching up with me. “I wish the Blue Whale was in this kind of shape.”
“The Blue Whale is a lot bigger. Once you get it fixed up, I’m sure it’ll be worth a lot more than our house.”
“Not that Dae’s would ever be for sale,” Shayla added. “She’s home safe, Kevin. Let’s head back before the bar gets too crowded.”
But we’d already reached the path between the bushes that led to the front door. Gramps must’ve been watching because he opened it as soon as he saw us. “There you are! I’ve been worried about you, Dae. That’s why they make cell phones, you know. You could give an old man a call.”
I apologized for making him worry. “I have Kevin Brickman and Shayla with me, Gramps.”
“Of course!” He shook hands with Kevin. “How are you, Mr. Brickman? How did those pictures turn out?”
“Just fine, thanks. I think I got a good feel for the land looking at it from out there.”
I’d forgotten our conversation at Missing Pieces. Hopefully, Gramps would too and not try to do any matchmaking. Although Shayla wasn’t holding Kevin’s arm anymore, she was practically standing on his shadow. She was definitely doing some matchmaking of her own.