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

I’m about to open my mouth when Travis puts a hand up in the air, stopping me.

“Mr. Delgado,” he says, “Thank you for coming down here today to answer our questions. You’re free to go home.”

As he’s leaving out the door, he brushes past me on purpose and leers. “I better not catch you trying to break into my place again. You or that damn little dog you like so much.”

How I manage to hold my tongue is beyond me, but I do.

A full minute goes by before anyone says anything.

“Wow,” says Rusty. “That sure was intense.”

Travis motions me toward the back of the hallway. “Can I have a word with you? In private?” The way he says it doesn’t sound like a request. More like an order.

Cindy and Rusty immediately go to work appearing busy. She starts typing on her computer and Rusty rifles through a stack of papers on his desk, but I can tell they’re both dying to know whatever it is Travis is going to say to me.

Unfortunately, I have a pretty good idea already.

Paco, who’s calmed down considerably since Derrick left, nudges to be let down. We follow Travis to the alcove.

“Before you say anything, I know I was a little out of line—”

“A little? How about a lot?”

“I can’t believe you’re going to let Derrick get away with…everything he’s done.”

“What’s he done? Other than taking the dog? Which, I might add, we’ve already established we can’t do anything about.”

“That’s just it, we don’t know, because there’s no video evidence, is there?”

He looks taken aback. “What do you mean?”

“You didn’t lie when you said that the footage only showed Abby and Sebastian going into the rec center because that’s the only footage that exists. The truth is, you have no idea who went into that building the night Abby died because most of the cameras weren’t operational until the day after the rec center officially opened.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway, because this case is closed. The autopsy report just came in a few minutes ago. Abby died of a heart attack with no evidence of any foul play, and no trespassing charges are going to be filed. Against anyone. I just left your brother a message telling him not to bother coming down for questioning.”

“A heart attack?”

Travis nods wearily.

“But what about the fall? Didn’t she hit her head?”

“The coroner can’t tell which came first, the heart attack or the fall. There’s a pretty good chance that the fall was caused by her heart attack.”

“And that’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s it.” He frowns. “I thought you’d be happy that Sebastian is off the hook.”

“Of course I’m happy. But…don’t you still want to know what Abby was doing in the rec center in the first place?”

“No, I don’t. Right now there are two cops out with the flu, and the chief has his hands full at home, so I’d appreciate it if you stop trying to make more work for the department. In the future, I suggest you stick to doing what you do best. Stay away from my crime scenes, and I’ll stay out of your kitchen.”

“So, you admit it was a crime scene.”

He rakes a hand through his hair. “That was a figure of speech. I mean it, Lucy, the next time you interfere with an official police investigation I’m not going to be so easygoing about the whole thing. Now if you don’t mind? I have work to do.” He stomps off down the hall, leaving Paco and me to stare after him.

Chapter Eighteen

So much for getting the new information to Travis ASAP. And to think, I was just beginning to like him. Well, not like like him, but he was almost tolerable.