A Timely Vision

I swallowed hard. “Of course. Whatever I can do to help.”

He leaned toward me. His voice dropped to a whisper. “Can you find the purse?”

I wasn’t sure what to say. Obviously he was alluding to my gift. “I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. I would have to be able to touch Miss Elizabeth to find something she lost.”

“We could drive up to the morgue today.”

That made me uncomfortable. This was definitely not what I’d expected from him. “I think she’d have to be alive. In order for me to find a missing object, the person who’s looking for it has to be thinking about it. I know it seems complicated, but I didn’t make the rules. I think I came with them.”

“Have you ever tried touching someone who wasn’t alive, you know, to experiment?”

“No!”

“Just a thought.” He pulled out another notebook, identical to the first one—black, cheap and a little worn. “As to this new development, I assume Mr. Brickman filled you in on the identity of the dead man found at his establishment.”

I glanced at Kevin. He didn’t appear to be upset that Agent Walker knew he’d told me—not to mention Tim and Shayla—about Johnny. “Yes. I could hardly believe Wild Johnny Simpson came back to Duck to die.”

“It wasn’t quite as simple as that, Mayor. Someone killed Mr. Simpson. It was a long time ago, but there is no statute of limitation on murder. He was shot in the head. Do you think his wife might have been responsible?”

“I don’t know.” Miss Elizabeth as a murderer? “I guess anything is possible. Isn’t it ironic that she was killed before we could ask her?”

“Ironic . . . or timely, at least for her?” Agent Walker put away his black notebooks and got to his feet. “Thank you for your help, Mayor O’Donnell. We’ll be in touch. And if you change your mind about wanting to try out your talent on Mrs. Simpson, give me a call.” He handed me his card.

I didn’t tell him there was no chance I would change my mind, but there was no chance. I smiled, nodded and saw him to the door. His men followed him out.

Chief Michaels closed the door after them. “Well that was a fine howdy-do!”

Chapter 8

“That fella sweeps in here from Raleigh and takes over not one but two homicides. My boys and I could’ve handled the situation. We’re trained. I was with the Dare County Sheriff’s Department before Walker was old enough to carry a gun. I’ve been chief here in Duck longer than most people can remember. I know what I’m doing.”

Tim laughed a little at the chief’s humor. “That’s right. Who collared that boy for them anyway? Without me and Dae, they’d still be out knocking on doors looking for Miss Elizabeth’s killer.”

I wasn’t sure how much of that was true. As far as I knew, the Duck Police Department had never investigated a murder. I wasn’t sure they had the manpower to do everything that needed to be done. But I smiled and nodded, wishing they would be on their way. I wanted to sit on the boardwalk for a while before I had to open the shop. It was nice outside. Warm, with a steady breeze blowing off the sound.

“That reminds me.” Chief Michaels put down his empty coffee cup and looked at me. “I had a call last night from Millie. Seems she’s been seeing her sister’s ghost over at the house. I told her to go back to sleep and call in the morning. She called again at six A.M. on the dot. I guess I’ll go over and check on her.”

Tim volunteered to go over for him. “You shouldn’t have to do something like that, Chief. Let me take care of it.”

“No, that’s okay. I offered to go, and you know what she’s like. I’ll end up over there anyway if I let you go.” The chief looked at me again.

“Would you like me to go with you?” I offered, even though I knew I should be getting over to the shop to open up for the day. But the chance to talk to Miss Mildred about her ghost was too tempting. Treasure hunters would have to wait until I got back.

“That would be real nice of you, Mayor. I’m sure she’d like to see a friendly female face too. Losing someone in your family does strange things to you. But I don’t have to tell you that, do I?”

I didn’t comment on his remark. I’d had a few bad times after my mother died. As long as I lived here, there were going to be people reminding me of it.

Kevin came out of the corner and smiled at me as though he understood. He couldn’t possibly, of course. He hadn’t been here, and I felt pretty secure that no one had told him about it yet. If he stayed for a while, he was bound to hear about those times. I didn’t fool myself into thinking otherwise. “If you don’t need me to be here anymore, I’m going home to work on the roof,” he said.

“Need you to be here?” Tim asked. “She has me and the chief. We’ve known her all of her life.”

I extended my hand to Kevin. “Thanks for coming. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

“Even with that part about touching dead people to find their stuff?”

“Even with that.” I shivered. “No way that’s going to happen.”

“I figured as much. I’ll talk to you later.” He nodded at Tim and the chief. “Gentlemen.”

The chief nodded back, but Tim looked away. When Kevin was gone, he had his say. “I can’t believe you asked him to be here.”

“He was with the FBI.” I defended my action. “I thought he might know more about the way the SBI does business.”

“More than us?” Tim followed the chief and me out of the office. “Come on, Dae. You wanted him around because he’s new and all mysterious and everything. I saw the way Shayla was with him last night.”

“I’m not Shayla.” I turned to the chief. “Are you driving?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He took my hint and told Tim to go out on patrol. Then the chief and I headed to the parking lot and got in the car. It was already hot as only July can be in the South. “You know, you should give that boy a break, Mayor. He’s loved you all his life. Why don’t you make an honest man out of him?”

I was used to people in town talking to me about personal things. They’d been doing it since I was born. “I’m not ready for anything like that, Chief. Tim’s nice, but he’s not for me.”

“And Brickman is?”

“I didn’t say that. I don’t know what Tim’s talking about. I was with him last night. Shayla was with Kevin. We were all together at the inn to look for the key. That’s it.”

The chief nodded and smiled as he turned out of the lot and headed toward Miss Mildred’s street. “So he’s Kevin now, huh? I guess you two are moving fast. Poor Tim. He never saw it coming.”

I didn’t answer that. Thankfully, we were in Miss Mildred’s driveway before he could think of anything else to say. It’s not that I mind people discussing my personal life. Well, I do, but short of moving away, there’s not much I can do about it. And not that I don’t talk about other people’s lives. But I wasn’t really ready to share any more information about Kevin. Not that there was any more to tell.

Andy Martin of Andy’s Ice Cream was trimming the hedges in Miss Mildred’s yard. He shut off the electric trimmer when he saw us. “I’m glad you’re here, Chief. Miss Millie has been frantic for you all morning.”

“I know. I brought the mayor with me to help with the situation.”

Andy smiled. “Better the two of you than me. Miss Millie can be hard to handle, bless her heart. And she did just lose her sister. Is it true you all found Wild Johnny Simpson up at the Blue Whale yesterday?”

“That’s right,” the chief responded. “Does Millie know about it yet?”

“Probably. She still reads the paper. That’s where I got it.”

“Damn newspaper people!”