Get Fluffy

“How much money do you owe?” Malone’s calm voice and demeanor belied the watchful tension he radiated.

“Keep your nose out of my business.” The hatred etched on Cliff’s face made me catch my breath.

With one last sneer, he stormed off toward his Land Rover.

I looked at Malone. “Lord have mercy. He killed Mona.”

“Stay out of it,” he barked.

My heart raced. “I’m not in anything. I’m just telling you he killed Mona.” Then I remembered the argument in the bathroom. “Unless it was Jo.”

“What?” His irritated growl rivaled Fluffy’s.

“You know, Jo O’Malley, the pet psychic. I just overheard her threatening Tricia in the ladies room before the service started.”

“About what?” he asked reluctantly.

“I’m not really sure. If I had to guess, it was about Mona.”

“Don’t guess. Stay out of it.” He turned on his heel and walked away.

Fluffy and I chased after him. It was difficult to keep up in my four-inch Louboutin pumps. “But what else could she be talking about? What if Jo murdered Mona?” I asked.

“Are you and your cousin hard of hearing? Stay out of it.” He didn’t look over his shoulder. Or slow down.

“But what if Mona realized Jo was a fraud and threatened to expose her? People kill each other over that kind of stuff.”

“Cut back on the drama cable shows.”

“You know it’s true. People have killed because their reputations and businesses are about to be destroyed.”

He froze. I ran into his back. Dang, he was buff under that leather jacket. He whipped around. I could clearly see his unreadable face.

“You mean like you and your friend Darby?” he asked quietly.

“You know I didn’t do it. And Darby certainly didn’t have anything to do with Mona’s death,” I denied.

“How can you be so sure?”

Ok, so he’d checked out the cell phone and had probably found a way to listen to her message. This wasn’t looking good for my buddy. “What did she gain from Mona’s death? Nothing.”

He looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself. “Stay out of this, or I’ll have you arrested.”

I held up my hand. “I’m not a part of it. I’m only here because Mona dictated, from beyond her grave, that Her Majesty attend the service.”

“Stay out of it,” he shot me the evil eye, “or I’ll throw you in jail.”

News flash. I’d already spent a night in jail.

It had happened shortly after The Incident when I was trying to prove I was my own person. Public intoxication had landed me in the city jail for twenty-four hours. Daddy had refused to bail me out. He was stubborn that way.

After a few hours I’d gotten used to the stench. Sleeping on the cold, concrete floor between the other drunks and a hooker named Daisy, I’d realized I could survive just about anything.

Bring it on, Malone. A short stay behind posh Laguna Beach bars doesn’t scare me. But his innuendo about Darby, now that had me worried.

Our little trio regrouped. We meandered toward the Jeep chatting about the funeral and my suspicion that either Cliff or Jo had killed Mona. I sugarcoated the confrontation between Cliff, Malone and me. I completely left out Malone’s suspicion about Darby.

We were guessing how much Cliff owed when, out of nowhere, a black SUV jumped the curb and sped into the church parking lot. It slammed to a stop and parked behind Cliff’s Land Rover.

A nervous Cliff stood next his vehicle. The SUV driver’s window rolled down a crack. I stopped.

“Mel, what’s going on?” Darby asked.

“Hold on.” I strained to hear across the parking lot, hoping to catch a portion of the conversation. I couldn’t hear anything, but I could tell by Cliff’s stiff stance and balled fists he was angry.

From the corner of my eye, Malone appeared and casually headed in Cliff’s direction. The driver must have seen him, too, and wasn’t interested in a chat.

The tinted window rolled up, and the vehicle squealed out of the parking lot, leaving behind a distraught Cliff and an irritated and suspicious Malone. Oh, and about two feet of tire rubber.

“Cliff’s implicating himself further by the minute,” I said. Darby had nothing to worry about.

Chapter Nineteen

Grey came home the next day. It was a great reunion full of Chinese takeout, foot rubs and a couple of glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon. Darby had been a dear and offered to dog-sit Fluffy for the night. I let her.

Missy, Grey and I camped out on the patio with a devastatingly beautiful view of the Pacific. Grey lived in the Laguna Beach highlands referred to as Top of the World.

I loved experiencing sunset from his place. It was as if I could reach out and skim my fingers along the pastel hues of the sky. I swear there were times I could smell the scent of the setting sun.

The tension that had surrounded us the last time we were together was gone. Tonight it was about reconnecting, and I loved it.

“So how was the funeral?” he asked, stretched out on a chaise lounge in jeans and a sweater.

From my matching chair, I rolled to my side so I was facing him. He turned his head in my direction. His intelligent green eyes watched me lazily. I set my wine glass on the flagstone.

“Crazy. Jo and Tricia were arguing in the women’s bathroom. Cliff demanded that I give him Fluffy. Malone threatened to throw me in jail. And Caro had the audacity to show up wearing my brooch.”

“What did you do?”

“I wanted to rip it off her chest-”

He chuckled. “Why did Malone threaten to toss you in jail? Again.”

“Oh.” I smiled sheepishly. The night grew chilly. I tugged at the bottom of my sweater to cover my behind. “He thinks I’m poking my nose into his investigation because I told him either Jo or Cliff killed Mona. I’m leaning toward Cliff.”

“Last week you thought he was a loser.”

“He’s still a loser. But I overheard him talking on his cell phone. He owes someone money, and, from the sound of it, it’s a lot. Then he threatened me because I wouldn’t give him Fluffy. And when Darby and I were leaving, we saw him involved in a super intense conversation he didn’t want Malone to hear.”

The air that had been relaxed and calm now sparked with a new energy. The length of Grey’s body tensed, down to his bare feet. “Stay away from him. Let the police handle it.”

I didn’t want to ruin the mood. “Let’s change the subject,” I suggested.

Grey rotated to his side and reached for me. He kissed the back of my hand, adjusted my sapphire engagement ring. “When were you going to tell me you had Mona’s phone?” his voice was deceptively gentle.

I withdrew from his grasp, uncertain of how much he knew and how much was a guess. “You knew?”

“It’s my job to notice details. Why are you keeping secrets from me?”

My pulse quickened. I sensed his uneasiness at broaching the subject. It was time to clear the air. I quickly explained everything, including Darby’s number being programmed into the phone. “I wanted to talk to her before I turned the phone over to Malone. I knew if I told you, you’d want me to give the phone directly to the police.”

“You didn’t confide in me because you didn’t trust me.” His jaw was so rigid it looked like it was about to splinter. He was hurt by what he thought was my lack in confidence of him.

“It wasn’t about me trusting you,” I picked my words carefully, wanting to be truthful but not cause further upset. “I knew you’d be angry if I kept the phone. And I didn’t want to lie. I’m sorry. I do trust you.”