Ouch. That word again. I folded one arm across my stomach and sank my forehead into my other hand. Finally, I straightened.
“Paul was a lively, passionate soul. He didn’t deserve this end. And I don’t think he ever would have ingested a toxin like that on purpose.”
“He didn’t deserve it.” She gazed straight at me, her glistening eyes matching my own. “No one deserves to be murdered. I am going to declare the manner of death a homicide.”
I blew out a breath. “You probably know what my last question is.”
“Could this fungicide have caused your mother’s rupture? I truly doubt it, Robbie. I think she died of some really rotten luck Mother Nature dealt her. I believe Jeanine had a weak spot in a cerebral blood vessel, which had probably been there since she was born. I’m sorry. If it’s any comfort, I do not believe anyone killed her.”
Chapter 48
After the library, I kept walking. Downtown Santa Barbara wasn’t all that big. Not far from the public library was the impressive county courthouse built a hundred years earlier. I gazed up at the eighty-five-foot-high clock tower and decided to climb to the top.
I hadn’t been inside the courthouse in years. The smooth tile floors were cool and quiet. Arches topped doorways and windows, and mosaic tilework decorated the walls. Still in use as the Superior Court, lawyers, judges, and plaintiffs bustled here and there. Did they become accustomed to working in such a beautiful building?
I headed up to the tower. One hundred and twenty-nine steps later, I stood on the observation deck. Even it was beautiful, with a red tile floor, pillars topped by arches, and a metal grill fence all around. I did a slow 360. The Pacific Ocean stretched out to China, with the five closest Channel Islands in clear relief today, even tiny Anacapa. A half turn and I gazed up at the mountains. When would the next wildfire strike? How would I feel back home, where all I could see were low hills and hollows instead of western ridges always high on the horizon to comfort me?
Mel had seemed pretty clear she didn’t think Mom had been poisoned. I supposed I should feel comforted by that. Knowing that Paul had definitively been murdered cast a black shadow on my feelings.
I stood back when five schoolchildren burst onto the deck, panting with flushed cheeks from the climb.
“I won!” a little boy exclaimed.
“Only because you pushed in front of me,” a red-haired girl objected.
An adult woman appeared with ten other kids and corralled them all for a geography lesson. I aimed myself at the stairs. On the way down, I paused at the glass wall separating the clock room from the stairwell. The recently restored Seth Thomas green metal mechanism was a work of art, with an intricate system of weights and pulleys. Too bad murder investigations didn’t tick along as smoothly.
Once outside, I remembered I’d never gotten that ice cream cone I’d wanted. McConnell’s was only a few blocks farther over on State Street. I crossed over and pointed myself down Anacapa Street, which was one-way in the direction I was walking. I passed Carrillo Street. Kinsey Millhone’s office was supposed to have been only a block away. I wished I could mosey over there and ask the fictional PI for assistance.
A few cars drove by. After a minute something alerted me, raising the hair on my arms. I whipped my head around to the left.
And swore. A black SUV with tinted windows followed several yards behind me, driving only as fast as I was walking. I froze even though I wanted to run. I made myself move, picking up my pace. My stomach roiled. It was hard to swallow. Who was following me? I reached the grand old Lobero Theatre. I could dash in, pound on the door, but the box office wouldn’t be open at noon on a Friday. I could turn around and run up the street. The SUV wouldn’t be able to get to me without crashing into other cars obeying the one-way signs.
A beep sounded from the street. The vehicle was next to me with the passenger window down. Tommy Moore leaned over.
“Can I give you a ride somewhere, Irene?” He wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t look malicious, either.
A breath whooshed out of me. “Uh, no thanks, Tommy.” I mustered a faint smile. “Have a good day.”
He waved, then drove on at a more normal pace. I stood in place and stared after him. Had the kid seriously been following me? Something was definitely off about him driving so slowly behind me. I hadn’t been able to see if either of Walter’s bodyguards had been in the back seat, or Walter himself, for that matter.
I guessed it didn’t matter. I was safe for the moment. And now I needed that ice cream more than ever.
Five minutes later I surveyed the array of flavors in the storefront shop. The big arched window facing the street let in sunlight that further brightened the white subway-tiled walls.
The teen behind the counter smiled. “You get two scoops in a small, and you can have different flavors if you want.”
“How can I possibly decide?” I walked up and down the case full of delectable-sounding flavors. “I’ll have a small Dark Chocolate Chips and Nibs, plus a scoop of Whiskey and Pecan Pralines.”
“That’s a popular combo. In a cone or a cup?”
“A sugar cone, please, with the chocolate on the bottom.”
“You got it.”
After a quick minute she set the cone in a holder on the counter so we both had hands free to exchange money. I thanked her and took my first nibble. The smoky taste of bourbon was a perfect match for a rich and creamy base.
I wandered down to the end of the counter to grab a couple of paper napkins. An upright freezer was just beyond, full of prepacked pints and quarts. I
