Echoes of Evil Read online

  “I love it, too. I’m just saying I’ve never felt anything creepy here.”

  Rosy shrugged. “Neither have I.” She looked uncomfortable. “Kody, do you believe in ghosts?”

  Kody froze for a moment. “I...guess that they could exist. We’re composed of energy, and supposedly energy doesn’t die. And something does make each of us unique, be that a spirit or a soul. But I’m not anyone who could say... But I’m open. Why?”

  “Cliff should know... I am such a coward. He shouldn’t come to me as a ghost. I’ve said it. I’ve said it out loud in the house... Kody, I am such a...really pathetic chicken. I thought he might have come back. That he might have touched me at night...”

  She fell silent. They sat for an awkward moment, and just then Sonny arrived. Kody stood to greet her; Rosy did the same.

  “Oh, baby, we’re all so, so sorry,” Sonny said, hugging Rosy tightly. “And don’t you worry, I’ll go back to the house with you from here. Oh, Kody, were you already going to Rosy’s? I just thought that maybe you needed some time.

  “You must have so much work with the museum. And the news is all over Miami about the man murdered. Oh, and how can I forget, Kody—you’ve been in the news, too.”

  “Me?” Kody said.

  “Yes, yes, they mentioned the museum and how you were supposed to be receiving the documents that Mr. Ferrer would be giving to Sea Life first for their quest—and then to you,” Sonny told her.

  Great. “Oh,” she murmured. Others were now arriving, Liam and Kelsey Beckett—and Brodie.

  “Liam,” Rosy said, hurrying over to give him a hug. “And Kelsey... I’m so glad you could take the time. I know that you’re on a deadline, but thank you so much for coming to this little lunch. I think that things will get a little crazy once we have the wake and the funeral. Cliff was loved by many people on the island, and it seemed important that we...his people, I mean those really close to him, were able to have a little time together before...before the funeral.”

  “Oh, Rosy, of course,” Kelsey said. She looked over Rosy’s shoulder at Kody as she returned the woman’s hug. “We all loved Cliff, and of course, we all love you, and want to give you all the support that we can.”

  Liam’s wife was a friend of Kody’s, as well. Kelsey had inherited a great house on a little spit of the island that was barely attached; it was a wonderful and historic place. Her grandfather had been quite the collector of rare objects—so rare that he had lost his life to a killer intent on possessing one special piece. His death had brought Kelsey back to Key West after she had been gone many years. And it had been in finding the truth that she had reunited with Liam—and they had married soon after.

  Bill Worth arrived and then Emory Clayton. The last to join them were Bev and Dan Atkins—who had also been present at the bar, Kody remembered, when Cliff had dropped dead.

  There was a lot of commotion as everyone greeted each other and then took seats at the round table. Bev wound up by Kody. “So sad,” she said, “but so nice to do this...just a few of us who were close to Cliff and Rosy getting together. I think she’s holding up well, don’t you?” she asked.

  “Yes, she’s doing okay,” Kody agreed.

  Bev shook her head. Tears dampened her eyes. “Cliff... Oh, we’ll miss Cliff so much. But it seems that God called him. It was his time. And it’s such a loss to all of us. And, yet, Kody, I tell you, it’s just terrible about that nice Mr. Ferrer.”

  “Arnold Ferrer? The murdered man found on the wreck? You knew him?” Kody asked.

  Bev nodded solemnly. “Kody, he was staying at our place. Oh, he was absolutely lovely. Such a bright and charming man. It’s just heartbreaking.”

  “Yes, it is. Bev, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize he’d been staying at your B and B.”

  Bev nodded. “I feel like I’m still reeling. Oh, not like poor Rosy! But we were there, at the bar, and saw Cliff...and then we found out that our lodger had been murdered.”

  “Bev, I can just imagine how you must feel. I never met Mr. Ferrer in person.”

  “But you knew about him? You’d corresponded?”

  Brodie McFadden was across the round table from Kody. She saw that he was watching her and Bev. She hadn’t really greeted him.

  He hadn’t really greeted her. But then, he was being very quiet. Polite and courteous, she noted, when he spoke to Bill Worth, who was next to him.

  But most of all, he was watching. And listening.

  “I knew about Mr. Ferrer. I had corresponded with him. And his emails were certainly forthright and very courteous. I never met him,” Kody told Bev.

  Two servers came in to take their orders. Kody knew the young woman on her side of the table—Adia Martinez. They’d gone to school together.

  “Hey, Kody,” Adia said, pausing by her. “Great to see you, though I’m sorry about the circumstances.”

  “Of course, but it is good to see you,” Kody told her. “How are you doing?” she asked, her question a little awkward. Adia’s husband had been killed while he was on active duty with the military. She’d become a very young widow at the age of twenty-five. And she was raising a toddler alone.

  But Adia smiled, ducking down for a minute to talk to Kody. “I’m okay. I’m really okay.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Kody said. When Mario had died, Kody had made a point of offering to watch the baby if Adia ever needed, and to help out any way she could. But Adia hadn’t called on her—she really hadn’t needed to. Her mom had come down from Tennessee to be with her. “Is your mom still here?”

  “She went back about a month ago. I love my mom dearly and so appreciate what she did. But she has a life, and I had a great opportunity through another friend to acquire a nanny—sweet girl just here from the country of Georgia. She’s very happy to have room and board and what I’m able to pay her. She’s great and working toward her citizenship.”

  “Wonderful to hear that,” Kody told her.

  “Anyway, what will you have?”

  “Um...the grouper, please,” Kody said.

  “How’s the museum going? I haven’t had a chance to come by yet.”

  “We’re doing well—but we’re a work in progress,” Kody said.

  “I’ve got to get moving. Hopefully, we can chat a minute before you need to leave.”

  “I can wait until you have time,” Kody said.

  “Great!”

  Adia moved on. Kody made eye contact with Brodie across the table. She glanced away, but she’d noticed that Brodie was watching her—and everyone else.

  When drinks had been served and orders placed, Rosy stood up. “I want to thank you all for being here. I know that you were all friends with Cliff, good friends to Cliff, and you’ve been incredibly welcoming and warm to me. I didn’t ask you here to cry. I want us all to celebrate his life. He was an incredible man. An awesome musician, but an even better man. So, thank you! And, today, I would love to hear any stories you all have that were special to you and Cliff.”

  Bill Worth stood up and lifted his glass of iced tea. “Cliff was a hell of a musician, but one bad fisherman. He and I went out one day and Cliff kept thinking he had a big one—all he was doing was tangling his line with mine!”

  Emory rose as Bill sat.

  “He came to visit the facility—I asked him over. He was fascinated with research we were doing on lemon sharks. He bent over to listen to one of my lab techs—and knocked over half the vessels on the table. Poor Cliff, he was so upset...but it turned out they were all empty, my guys were starting out fresh. He made the day for everyone working.”

  Quips and remembrances were spoken around the room. When it was Kody’s turn, she couldn’t think of anything funny. “He was there for me when I needed him,” she said. “He was...he was a true friend to my father. I loved him so much.”

  There was silence
for a minute. She wished badly that she’d been able to think of an anecdote; she felt tears in her eyes and feared that she would start Rosy crying, too. But Bev stood up quickly. “Cliff managed a surprise for Dan and me on our anniversary. We were having dinner—champagne, surf and turf—and we were startled when he suddenly walked up with his guitar and played and sang ‘Chances Are,’ the first song we danced to at our wedding.”

  “Ahs” and laughter went around the room. And as they did so, Kody suddenly became aware that something was different. A shift in the air.

  She looked toward the door.

  Something...someone...

  And then nothing.

  Cliff. She was sure, and she had the strong feeling that Cliff had been there.

  He had remained in spirit. And he was here...loving this. Wishing he was alive to love it, of course, but probably loving the tributes that were coming away.

  There was nothing now; he had been there, though.

  In spirit.

  Why hadn’t he tried to haunt her, and would she be able to see him again?

  She was so sad about what had happened; she didn’t know whether to be thankful that he had perhaps stayed, or just regretful that he was, no matter what, no longer a part of the flesh-and-blood world.

  She looked across the table; Brodie McFadden was watching her again. There was something curious in his eyes. She had no idea what he could be thinking as he studied her.

  The lunch went on. Kelsey spoke about the way Cliff had been so good to her grandfather.

  Liam said that he’d been like an uncle to so many of them—and a singing uncle, at that.

  Brodie McFadden stood then. “I was lucky to meet the man for a brief moment. And to hear him sing, and play. And I have to say, it is truly heartbreaking—such a wonderful, intelligent man...to die from a reaction to nuts when he knew that he was allergic to them. Rosy, we’ve barely met—but I want you to know that even to a stranger, he was incredible.”

  “Nuts?” Dan, on the other side of his wife, said. “Allergic reaction? We... I guess we all thought it was a heart attack.”

  “No,” Liam said. “Cliff actually died of anaphylactic shock.”

  The room was dead silent.

  “Cliff...” Rosy whispered. “Such a dear man, but too confident in his own good luck...”

  The room remained quiet. Kody realized that only Rosy—and Liam and Brodie—had known that Cliff had died of anaphylactic shock. Most of the people in the room hadn’t known that the cause of death had been definitely determined.

  Kody had suspected it—and that, somehow, someone had caused it on purpose. She wasn’t sure that she was happy to have in confirmed.

  Brodie McFadden’s words had been spoken kindly—with the right empathy.

  And yet...

  He’d put it out there.

  Nuts.

  Tragic for such a man to die—over nuts.

  That silence...a strange quiet...lingered after he spoke, maybe some of the group not realizing what he said—while for some, the implication that he’d been too smart to have imbibed nuts on his own subtly slipping into their consciousness.

  Brodie McFadden definitely believed her, she thought—that something was wrong, that maybe...just maybe...

  Cliff Bullard had been murdered, as well.

  6

  When the lunch broke, Brodie saw that Sonny Atherton was going with Rosy Bullard.

  He excused himself to Liam and Kelsey, and he followed Kody—who had shot out of the room as if she’d been propelled.

  She was downstairs, speaking with their waitress. Kody listened, smiling. Brodie moved a little closer—close enough to hear what the waitress was saying.

  “Sometimes I prefer dreaming to waking—so much fun. This guy tells me I’m the best, and that he should be writing a song about me.”

  “Well, dreams can be good, and...you are the best,” Kody said. “But I think perhaps your dream is telling you to get out there and enjoy your life,” Kody added. She hugged the girl—and then hurried out.

  He followed.

  She was headed south on Duval. He kept pace behind her. She turned on Simonton. He followed.

  She went into the funeral home.

  He gave her just a minute, and then went in.

  A very tall man came toward the door to greet him. “Sir, may I help you? We don’t have any viewings or services at this time. But if you’re interested in our services...”

  “I’m a private investigator, working with the police. A young woman just came in here. Can you tell me where she is?”

  “The police? But...”

  “Sir, there’s no problem here. If you’d just be good enough to tell me where the young lady has gone?”

  The tall man sputtered. “That was Miss McCoy, and she’s involved with a funeral that will take place here shortly—”

  “Where?” Brodie asked. “Has the body of Cliff Bullard arrived yet?”

  “I...yes...but—”

  “Thank you. Where?”

  “Sir, Miss McCoy was a close friend. She chose his coffin. It’s highly irregular for her to be with the body of the deceased now...before we’re ready, but she is part of the proceedings here and—”

  “Where is she?”

  Brodie wasn’t sure how he intimidated a man who was a couple inches taller than he was, but somehow, apparently, he managed to do so.

  “In back, sir. We haven’t had a chance yet to embalm—”

  “Thank you.”

  Brodie strode down the hall to the door marked Employees Only. He opened it quietly.

  Kody didn’t hear him come in.

  A sheet covered Cliff Bullard’s yet-to-be-embalmed body. Kody had evidently pulled it down just enough to see his face.

  She was speaking to him—speaking as if he were alive and well and lying there, as if his closed eyes suggested he was just resting.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered. “I know you’re here somewhere, Cliff. You came to the restaurant—you would love any tribute, right? Cliff, this is serious—someone murdered you. I don’t know what you’re doing, but please, let me see you, talk to me. Instead of helping to let us know what happened, you’re...you’re cheating on Rosy! Two women thus far, Cliff, have told me about seeing you—in their dreams. They don’t know it’s you, but blue eyes, great grin, and that you want to write a song about them... I’m sure it’s you. Oh, yes, of course, you visited Rosy. She said that she felt you...and then that she was such a coward that she’d be terrified if she really saw you. But! Even before that...you were fooling around with Colleen. And then I just talked with Adia—and you went to her at night, too. Cliff, please, let me see you, talk to me, I’ll hear you!”

  The corpse lay still on the table.

  The body was an empty shell.

  The spirit of Cliff Bullard was somewhere...

  Just not here.

  “Cliff, please!” Kody said. “I know that you were murdered. Doesn’t that infuriate you? Oh, Cliff, you should still be here, with us. Alive. Please...”

  Cliff wasn’t going to answer. Brodie could feel that he wasn’t there. And, he knew, Kody would soon realize it, too. She just wanted him to be there so badly.

  He stepped back out and walked to the front of the funeral home.

  “I’ll just wait for Miss McCoy,” he said.

  “All quite irregular!” the tall man said. “Miss McCoy, insisting that she see Mr. Bullard before we are prepared for a viewing. And, sir, I assure you, we are a very established, reputable place of preparation and mourning.”

  “You are in no trouble, sir,” Brodie told him.

  A moment later, Kody came out. She was surprised to see Brodie—and a little worried, maybe.

  “Um, hello. Prep for the funeral,” she murmured. “Di
d you need me?”

  “I do,” Brodie said.

  She wanted to ask him why—but not in front of the funeral director.

  She simply nodded and headed out, and he followed.

  “What is it?” she asked, walking briskly. She was heading toward her house, moving quickly down the street. She cast him a glance. “Definitely anaphylactic shock. And so you definitely believe me now that he had to have been murdered. You didn’t know Cliff—He knew since he was a child that he was allergic. I can’t believe that Rosy isn’t freaking out and demanding that Liam and the police do something. Someone gave him something with nuts in it. Someone killed him. Okay, yes, I understand that it’s truly terrible about Mr. Arnold Ferrer, and I know that the police need to find out what happened with him, but...Cliff was murdered, too!”

  “Yes, I do definitely believe you,” he said.

  Kody was nervous; she was almost running.

  He kept pace. He had long strides and could move damned quickly himself.

  “So...find out who did it!” she snapped.

  “I am intending to find out who did it,” he assured her.

  “Then why are you following me?”

  “Because I don’t know the people here. If I’m going to find out who did this to him, I have to understand more of what is happening on this island, the dynamics among the people who knew him. A murder like that was carefully planned. Most likely by someone in that room today.”

  She stopped and turned around to stare at him.

  “No.”

  “I’m sorry, but probably, yes.”

  “The people there today...they’re some of Cliff’s closest friends. No one there would have hurt him. There has to be someone else.”

  “Who? And why?”

  He caught her arm when she started moving again.

  “I was going home,” she said.

  “Yes, I’m going with you. We need to talk.”

  “You didn’t tell me that you knew where Arnold Ferrer had been staying.”

  “Let’s get to your place,” Brodie told her.

  She quickened her pace again. When they reached the house, she twisted her key in the lock with a vengeance.