“Forgiven.” The fake vulnerable pose was gone in a snap. “So, you were saying, you saw a dead body?”
“Well, no. I didn’t actually see the body. I saw a stretcher being loaded onto an ambulance. Jaxson told me that someone had died.”
“Who? Who died? Why are you being so evasive?” She squinted her eyes at me.
At that moment, I realized that it was time to come clean and tell Latifa everything. Since no one else could communicate with her, it was safe to share my secrets with her. And I desperately needed someone to talk to. My heart was still racing from that moment I knew that the ferry captain has been murdered.
Talking through things with Latifa would also be helpful, as it would enable me to verbalize what I knew and help me sort things through. I could voice all my concerns and share my suspicions. Plus, besides her being a good sounding board, Latifa would often provide some wonderful insights.
“There’s a story behind all this,” I said. “Let me start at the beginning.”
“The beginning of what? The dead body? Should I be taking notes?” She batted at a pencil she spotted on the floor. “But sadly, no opposable thumbs,” she sighed.
“Do you want me to tell you?” I scowled at her.
“Sorry . . . Captain Serious.” She gave a mock salute with her furry paw. “Please, continue.”
“Yesterday Axel and I jogged into town and he took me to Vessie’s Hideaway Café.”
“The pink palace.” She nodded as if she knew the place.
“How do you know about Vessie’s?” I asked.
“Vessie’s cat, Marshmallow, is a friend of Chanel’s. I met her the other day, and she was talking about the café. That’s what she calls it, the pink palace.”
“Latifa! It sounds like you’re living a clandestine life right behind my back!”
“Not hiding anything, Chica. It just never came up. So, you were at Vessie’s?”
“Right. I was waiting for my tea and oatmeal,” I started.
“Goodness, girl. Eat something different once in a while.”
I stopped talking and just stared at my cat.
“Oops, my bad.” She sat up and crossed her paws, tilted her head, and gave me an ‘I’m listening’ pose.
“While I was waiting for my breakfast, there were two people in line. The helmsman. He’s the guy that drives the boat. And the ferry captain, Nakita. She followed me down the hall and was acting quite suspicious. She told me a secret.”
“Oooo. A secret?”
“Right. She said that she had something for me. And that I should go to the ferry terminal to learn more. But here’s the scary part. She said not to tell anyone about this. She said it was life or death! She warned me that—for the safety of my family—I should trust no one.”
“Hoo-leee cow.” Latifa gasped.
“It was unnerving. I’ve been going over it in my mind since it happened. I didn’t want to say anything to anyone because of her warning. But I know I can tell you.”
She nodded. “Um-hmm.”
“The captain also said something about ‘Gladstone’ and danger, but she was whispering and shushing me, so I couldn’t hear everything she was saying. Gladstone is the name of the island that Olivia and Edna would not discuss with me.”
“Geeze. That’s bizarre. But what does she have to do with the dead body?” Latifa asked.
“It was the captain! She was the dead body! I talked to her. I planned to meet her. And then I saw her dead body!”
Latifa’s mouth opened in a gasp and she zipped under the bed again. In a minute, she peeked out.
“Ohhh. So, now she’s dead. And you don’t have the thing. And you don’t know the secret.”
“Yes, exactly.” Telling her all this had elevated my stress levels again. I sat on the floor and put my head in my hands.
We were both silent for several long minutes.
“And the dead person told you not to tell anyone. Because it was ‘life or death.’ But now she’s the dead one.”
“Latifa! Please stop saying ‘dead.’”
“Sorry,” she said. Then, in the tiniest little whisper, “Dead.”
Latifa was spooked after our conversation, so she retreated to her alcove for a nap. I was back to pacing the room, thinking through everything that had happened. What should I do now? It seemed that the secret was even more dangerous than I had first thought. The woman’s threats were all too real. What was the thing that she was going to give me? What were the secrets that she was going to tell me?
My thoughts were in a jumble and I had a hard time processing them in any reasonable manner. I stopped walking and gaped at a door. There was an entirely new door that had appeared next to my bookcase.
Normally, there were two doors near my bookcase. One to the en-suite bathroom, and one to the closet. Today, there was a third door.
There was a time in my life, okay, just a month ago, when a mysterious door just appearing in my bedroom would be cause for concern. Now, it meant something good. Well, almost for sure it would be something good. I opened it to see what surprise awaited me.
“Oh, my . . .” I exhaled the words and stepped into the room.
What I saw nearly took my breath away. It appeared that the house knew I was stressed and terrified. It had created a soothing recovery room, meant for yoga and meditation. The far wall was made entirely of windows. Where the water was usually a hundred or more feet away from the home, far past the gardens, here the water came right up to the windows. It almost felt like you were on a dock or a boat. As I stepped closer, I realized these weren’t windows. They were sliding glass doors. I felt drawn to step outside and dip my feet in the glistening water, which I would definitely do later.
The room was mostly empty, with several large yoga mats in swirling pale purple and green. In one corner was a
