Costume Catastrophe (Zoe Donovan Mystery Book 21) (4 page)

“It’s a great day to spend at the beach. Have fun, and tell your brother hi from me.”

“I will. Thanks.”

After Tiffany left I put a note on the front counter that instructed visitors to ring the bell if they needed service. Then I put Charlie in my office before I went into the back to check on our guests. In addition to the bears and cougar in residence, we had a selection of squirrels, raccoons, and other small forest animals who needed temporary housing while healing from injuries. Scott Walden, our shelter veterinarian, was an expert at treating any kind of animal that came through our doors.

We only had a handful of dogs waiting for homes and had adopted all the cats we’d had staying with us during the adoption clinic we’d held prior to Jeremy’s leaving for his time off. There were times when the shelter was bursting at the seams, but currently we had a light load.

“Morning, Sunny,” I greeted the large cat, who had been hit by a car more than two months earlier. His injuries were extensive, but he’d healed nicely and I’d been discussing a fall release with the forest service. It’d be good to return him to his natural habitat before snow fell.

The cat growled at me, but I could tell after working with him for the past two months that it was an affectionate growl.

“Time to move over while I clean up.” I opened the door to the small temporary cage and Sunny walked right into it, nice as could be. I closed the door so he could no longer access the larger cage where he lived most of the time and tossed him a piece of meat as a thank-you. I cleaned his cage, then returned him to it and headed to the front of the building to check the shelter phone for messages. After that I headed into my office to check my cell. There was a text from Alex, letting me know she’d talked to Tony and he was happy she wanted to hang with him. She added that I was the best mom ever, which made me feel happy but sort of sad for Alex’s real mother, who was away on yet another dig and hadn’t seen her daughter since June. Based on what I’d heard, Alex didn’t expect to have another visit with her until the next summer.

I couldn’t help but think about the sort of mother I wanted to be, not only to Alex and Scooter but to the children Zak and I eventually would have. I knew one thing for certain: I was going to be there for
all
the moments of their lives, not just the select ones that fit into my schedule.

I sent Alex a quick reply, then checked my e-mails. There was one from Clayton Longtree, the man I’d hired to trace my family tree back to the sixteen hundreds if possible. During my visit to Ireland the previous February I’d learned that I might be related to Lord Dunphy, the owner of the haunted castle where we’d stayed, via Catherine Dunphy, the lady of the manor in the sixteen hundreds, who I now believed gave her daughter, my ancestor, to the Donovan family in an effort to ensure a quality of life she might not otherwise have had. Clayton was making progress, but it had been slow. Still, Zak and I were talking about making another trip to Dunphy Castle over the winter. If nothing else, it would give me a chance to hang out with the castle residents, both alive and long deceased.

There was also an e-mail from my doctor’s office, letting me know that all my tests had come back fine and there was no reason I shouldn’t be able to conceive in the natural way. They reminded me that these things took time and I should just have patience.

Patience was sort of my problem. You see, Zak’s mother had visited us the previous summer, intent on building a nursery in our home. At first I’d been outraged at the idea, but after giving it some thought I’d decided maybe this was a good time for Zak and me to begin to work on a family. I’d mentioned it to Zak on somewhat of a whim, and of course he’d been delighted. If I’d become pregnant right away I wouldn’t have been subjected to all this second guessing, but it had been two months now and things kept happening to bring doubt to my mind. The longer I went without conceiving, the less certain I was this was the right time after all. I found myself feeling relieved when I realized that another month had come and gone with no baby.

I’d almost suggested to Zak that we wait another year on several occasions, but I loved him so much and I really didn’t want to disappoint him. Still, we were both so very busy. Zimmerman Academy was now open full time and the construction on the dorms was finally moving along at a pace that would allow us to admit more students the following year. Zak’s ward, Pi, was off at college, and Zak was planning to make a point of flying out and checking on him every few months, which wasn’t a huge time commitment but would be difficult to do once I conceived. Zak had hired a full-time manager for his software business, but he was still in training, and Zak was still in charge of all new software development. Between the two of us, we really did have a lot on our plates.

My musings were interrupted by the shrill ringing of the shelter phone. “Zoe’s Zoo; this is Zoe speaking. How can I help you?”

“There’s been an accident on the summit near the Bryton Lake intersection. A mama bear was hit by a car. The cub is up a tree.”

“And the mama?”

“Alive but barely. She’s being transported to the veterinarian, but we could use help with the cub.”

I took down the location of the accident, grabbed my equipment, including my tranquilizer gun, hung a “Be Back Soon” sign on the door, locked up, and headed out. Answering calls in which vehicles were involved in run-ins with wildlife were by far my least favorite kind.

Chapter 3

By the time Charlie and I met Zak at the house and we picked up Ellie, the sun had set. The house Levi had located for the haunted house for Haunted Hamlet was really more of a cabin. Although it would be smaller than the ones we’d used other years, it was located at the end of a dirt road and was surrounded by forest, which gave it a feeling of spooky isolation. Dark clouds had rolled in during the late afternoon, creating an even darker night; they completely blocked the light from the moon.

“I hope Levi remembered to ask Joey to stop by to check the wiring,” Zak commented. “It’s going to be too dark to do much of anything if the electricity isn’t on.”

“He said he did,” I answered. “I spoke to him yesterday and he told me he was going to leave the keys with Joey so he could go by after work. Joey gets off at three and didn’t want to wait for Levi to get done with football. He was supposed to drop the keys back by Levi’s when he was done, though Levi texted me today to let me know Joey had forgotten to drop the keys off, so he’d arranged to meet us here tonight.”

“That worked out just as well. We could use the extra muscle carrying everything in,” Ellie added.

“I think Levi has a group of volunteers lined up to help with the decorating,” I assured them. “He mentioned that several of the guys had trucks and had agreed to help deliver props, although I don’t know if he planned to have them come tonight or tomorrow night. He wants to leave enough time to get everything done, but given the isolated location of the house he didn’t want to bring in expensive sound equipment and motorized props too soon.”

“Is he going to have a guard at the house?” Zak asked.

“I don’t think so. At least not until the weekend. We can ask him about it when we get there.” My breath caught in my throat when we turned onto the dirt drive and saw not only both Levi and Joey’s trucks but Sheriff Salinger’s car as well.

“Salinger is here. That can’t be good,” Zak murmured.

“I hope nothing happened,” Ellie said, fear evident in her voice.

“There’s Levi now.” I pointed to the porch as Zak pulled up and parked.

Levi joined us as we all piled out. I’d decided it was best to leave Charlie inside the truck because I didn’t know what to expect.

“What is it?” I asked. Based on the grim look on Levi’s face something
had
happened.

“It’s Joey. He’s dead.”

“Dead?” I asked.

“Shot in the back.”

“Oh, God.” I paled.

“Someone murdered him?” Ellie asked as Zak put his arms around both Ellie and me in an offer of comfort.

“Looks like. Salinger said he’s been dead at least twenty-four hours.”

Twenty-four hours. That meant he’d most likely been dead when I received the note the woman had left for me at Rosie’s.
One has died; others will follow unless you can stop it.

“I thought you said he texted you last night to let you know he’d forgotten to drop off the key and he’d just meet us here today,” I pointed out.

“He did. His phone is missing. Salinger thinks the killer is the one who sent the text in an effort to throw us off.”

“That’s crazy.”

Ellie looked so pale. Like she was about to pass out. Levi must have noticed that as well because he put his arm around her and led her over to the steps, where he sat down next to her.

“Are you okay?” Levi looked into Ellie’s eyes.

“Yeah. Just a little dizzy. Who would kill Joey?”

Levi shook his head as he looked at the ground. “I don’t know. It makes no sense. Very few people even knew he’d be out here.”

“Do you think it could have been a random attack?” I asked. “Maybe someone saw Joey’s truck in the drive.”

“Seems unlikely,” Zak said. “You can’t see the house from the road, so the killer must have intended to go to there. Although I suppose someone could have been squatting on the property and Joey stumbled onto them. Or maybe the house was being used for some sort of illegal activity, like drug sales, and Joey just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Of course if Salinger’s theory is correct and the killer is the one who texted Levi, that would mean the killer knew Joey was supposed to return the keys to Levi, and he’d be waiting for them,” Ellie added.

I looked at Zak. “So the killer must be someone Joey knew. Someone he spoke to before he was shot.”

“Seems like,” Zak agreed.

“Maybe Salinger’s timeline is off and Joey texted me first and then was shot,” Levi suggested. “The lights aren’t turned on, which is what he came out here to do, so I’m thinking he must have been shot shortly after he arrived.”

“That does make more sense.” I looked around but didn’t spot any obvious clues as to what might have transpired. “Should we go in?”

“Salinger said not to,” Levi informed us. “He wants us to wait out here until he’s done.”

Waiting around wasn’t one of my strong suits, but I decided to follow orders and wait with the others this one time. There really wasn’t anything I could do at this point and I knew Salinger was a competent cop. Figuring out how and when Joey had died would be up to him, but figuring out who’d done it was more my specialty. Not that Salinger was incapable of solving the crime, but history had shown I was better. What we needed, I knew, was to make a list of everyone we could think of with a motive just in case the random-passerby theory didn’t hold water. I kept a small notebook in the backpack I used as a purse and I grabbed it and rejoined the others.

“Just in case this isn’t a random assault, let’s start a list of everyone we can think of who could have motive to murder Joey while we wait,” I said. “If nothing else it will help pass the time.”

“You aren’t going to investigate this, are you?” Ellie asked.

“Of course I am. It’s what I do.”

“After that weird note you received the whole thing makes me nervous. What if there
is
some psycho killer out there playing a game and you’re the pawn? I really think you should stay out of it and let Salinger do his job.”

“I second that,” Zak added.

“Third.” Levi looked up at me from his seated position next to Ellie.

I appreciated the fact that my loved ones wanted me safe, but there was no way I was going to stand back and do nothing. It simply wasn’t in my DNA to do so. “There are several possibilities here. One is that some random person stumbled across Joey and killed him. If that’s true and the killer is a squatter or a dealer using the property for his drug deals, the note has nothing to do with the murder; therefore, I’m in no more danger than anyone else. Another theory to consider is that someone specifically wanted Joey dead and followed him out to the cabin and shot him. That’s where the list comes in, but as in the first instance, it doesn’t involve the note I received, so why not look into it? A third scenario is that the person who left the note for me is some sort of a psycho playing a game and for whatever reason they’ve chosen me as their game piece. If the note is real, and if it is involved in Joey’s death, then the killer specifically wants me to stop him or her. In any case, it seems my involvement is a logical choice.”

I could see by the look on their faces that Zak, Levi, and Ellie all were about to argue when Salinger walked out, silencing us. He had a grim look on his face, which, given the situation, was understandable.

“The medical examiner from Bryton Lake is on his way up the mountain. While I’m waiting for him to arrive I want to ask you all a few questions, after which you’re free to go.”

“You know we’ll help in any way we can,” Zak offered.

“I appreciate that.” Salinger paused and looked at each of us in turn. “When was the last time any of you saw or spoke to Joey?”

Levi jumped in and explained that Joey had picked up the keys from him the previous day so that he could come by after he got off work to handle the electrical. He further explained that Joey was supposed to drop the keys back at his place but had texted that he’d forgotten to do it and just planned to meet us there tonight.

“And what time was that?” Salinger asked.

“He picked up the keys around three-thirty yesterday and texted me at around six that night. I can check my phone for the exact time of the text if you think it’s important.”

“It might be.”

Levi took his phone out of his pocket and looked up the time of the text. “Five fifty-two.”

Salinger jotted that down in a notebook he’d taken from his shirt pocket.

“Did anyone report Joey missing?” Ellie asked. “I know he lives alone, but it seems someone would have wondered when he didn’t show up for work this morning.”