Beach Blanket Homicide (Lucy McGuffin, Psychic Amateur Detective 1)

I love green eyes. Green is the color of everything good—grass, lime flavored jelly beans, money… You get my drift. If he’s poking fun at my costume, I don’t mind, because, yes, I have to admit, my hair does look ridiculous.

“Lucy makes the best muffins in the world,” Sebastian boasts. “She’s going to be on T.V. and everything.”

I flush. I almost wish I’d kept the Muffin Wars thing to myself. What if I don’t make the cut? Then everyone in town will feel sorry for me, and I’d hate that. “The T.V. thing isn’t a done deal yet.” I hand Jim my card. “Sarah and I own a little café here in town. The Bistro by the Beach. First muffin is on the house.”

He pockets the card and smiles at me, and something in my chest goes fuzzy warm because I know in that instant that Jim is going to become not just one of my favorite customers, but one of my favorite people. This is another gift I have. Call it my Spidey sense. I’m great at reading people and my first impression is always spot on.

“Jim used to be a homicide detective with the Dallas Police,” says Sebastian.

Will perks up. “Really?”

“It’s a lot more boring than it sounds,” Jim says.

“Jim is being modest. He’s worked on some really big cases and has even been on T.V. Maybe he can give you some pointers when you get picked to be on Muffin Wars, Lucy.”

“What show were you on, Jim?” I ask.

He shrugs like he’s embarrassed by all the attention we’re giving him. “America’s Most Vicious Criminals.”

“Holy wow! Will and I watch that show all the time. What episode? I bet we’ve seen it.”

Will is looking at Jim the

way I look at chocolate chip muffins. America’s Most Vicious Criminals is his favorite show. Every Friday night Will comes over to my place with a pizza from Tiny’s (best pizza in Whispering Bay), and we watch it together, but last night’s episode was a rerun, so we skipped our usual routine.

Jim clears his throat. “I was the lead investigator in a case involving a nurse in the Dallas Fort Worth area who—”

“The media referred to her as the Angel of Death,” Will supplies eagerly. “She killed six patients. About…fifteen years ago. Right?”

How Will remembers every episode in such minute detail, I have no idea.

“That’s right.” A shadow crosses Jim’s face. I don’t have Will’s memory for this stuff, but I’m pretty sure it’s one of those cases where they failed to apprehend the murderer.

Before Jim can say anything else, Sebastian changes the subject. “I hear that your son has just joined our local police force.”

“Travis is a good kid. Well, he’s thirty, so hardly a kid. Just moved out here this week. I guess he thought his old man needed some company in his retirement.”

Jim’s casual words can’t hide the great love I feel this man has for his son. Personally, I think it’s really sweet of this Travis guy to move to be close to his father. Since Whispering Bay is such a small town and all the cops get their coffee at my café, I’ll meet him eventually. If he’s anything like Jim, I’m sure Travis and I will be great friends.

“What made you retire in Whispering Bay?” I ask.

“I came here on my honeymoon thirty-five years ago. My wife loved it. We always talked about moving here, but she passed last year.”

I cringe. “I’m so sorry.”

He smiles kindly. “Thank you.”

Everyone murmurs words of condolences, but now that I’ve put my size eight sneaker into my mouth, the mood has soured. Sebastian and Jim excuse themselves to explore the rest of the food booths, leaving Sarah and me alone with Will.

“Oh, Lucy, look! We’re out of coffee,” says Sarah, like this is a national emergency. “You should go to the kitchen for more supplies. I’d help you, but I hate to leave the booth without one of us here.”

Sarah is only one of the two people that I’ve told about my Will crush. My face goes hot at her blatant attempt to throw us together.

Luckily, Will seems oblivious to Sarah’s machinations. “Want some help?” he asks.

Even though I don’t need help, I’m about to say yes, when who pops into my booth? None other than my arch-nemesis, Brittany Kelly.

Chapter Three