2 Lady Luck Runs Out (6 page)

 The waitress brought Will's drink and took our orders.

I straightened up, pushing the past aside. "So, I heard Rose Faraday's funeral is tomorrow?" I glanced at Will.

"Is it?" he asked. Then he looked at me curiously. "You didn't know her. Are you planning on attending?"

"Well." I shrugged. "I am taking care of her cat. I was thinking maybe I could find one of her relatives at the service who would like to adopt Lucky."

Will took a sip of his Guinness. I had an urge to lick the foam off his upper lip but he beat me to it. "Oh. I forgot about her cat. Good plan."

I stifled a smile and blinked my eyes innocently at him. "Or you could take her. You did say you would get a new cat." His wife had left him six years ago and took their cat.

His mouth twisted in a grin as he leaned over and kissed me lightly on the lips. "I said I
could
get a new cat. There's a difference."

"Oh," I whispered, our lips still in close proximity. "But she's a very nice cat."

"I don't have time for a cat." He kissed me again.

I could have spent all evening talking about the cat but Mallory cleared her throat. We sat back and looked at her.

Mallory was making a face at me.

 "What's wrong, Mal?"

"There's no sugar in this iced tea."

I almost laughed because she looked so stunned. Instead, I pushed a few sugar packets her way. "You have to ask for sweet tea in Florida." I turned back to Will, ignoring her grumbling. "Did you know Rose was the president of the HOA at her condos?" I asked, trying to seem uninterested.

"Yes, one of her neighbors mentioned that." Will stared at my mouth, hungrily. I ignored that, too.

"And Jeanie Shoster said that everyone was pretty upset with her for the Doggie DNA registry program she had forced on them."

"Really?" Will's eyes sparkled like they did when he knew I was about to amuse him with something, which apparently I did quite often. "Doggie DNA?"

"Yep. Seems they make everyone register their dog's DNA and if they don't clean up after their pet, they can find out who the culprit is and fine them."

"So someone does a DNA test on the dog poop?" Will shook his head. "Seriously? It's hard enough for us to get timely DNA tests from crime scenes."

"Regardless, I can see why they wouldn't think too kindly of Rose. The fine is $1,000 and if they don't pay it, they can put a lean on their condo or even confiscate their dog! How crazy is that?"

"Well, I agree that's just..." Will searched for the right word but could only grin. "Silly."

I had to get him to take this more seriously. It was the only motive I had so far for someone letting that rattlesnake into Rose's condo.

"I'm sure she had more than a few enemies over this. You can't mess with people's pets, Will. They're like their children."

"Oh, I don't know. Her neighbors had nothing but nice things to say about her."

"Of course they did. It's bad juju to talk ill of the newly departed."

The waitress appeared with our dishes: vegetable curry for me, beef tips for Will and jerk chicken sandwich for Mallory.

Mallory munched on a fry. "Freaky that a rattlesnake could get into a condo all by itself, though, huh, Will?"

I kicked Mallory under the table again.
Did this child not understand subtlety?       

She glanced at me sharply and the candle in the middle of our table flared up.

"Whoa!" Will sat back as the flame—and my sister—settled back down.

"Bit windy tonight." I forced a smile. Mallory wouldn't look at me.

Will glanced at the plants, which were only slightly swaying. "Well, this is Florida. Alligators in pools, snakes in garages... lots of wildlife to contend with."

I sighed and resigned myself to the fact I was going to need more information to make him suspicious enough to investigate Rose's death as murder.

CHAPTER NINE

Sunday morning, our cab pulled up to the Memorial Chapel. Mallory coaxed Lucky gently back into the cat carrier and blew a stray strand of hair from her eye. Lucky meowed in protest. She was much happier on Mallory's lap.

"This is for your own safety," Mallory whispered into the carrier. Then to me, "You owe me for this one, Sis."

"I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of coming with me." I shot her a look as I dug some cash out of my straw bag and handed it to the driver. "Thank you."

She grumbled something about hating funerals as she slid out of the cab without the carrier. I grabbed Lucky, wrestled the carrier out of the seat and met her at the front doors. "There's not even a dead body. She's already been cremated. It's just a ceremony."

A guy in a gray silk suit opened the door for us and smiled politely. "Welcome."

"Hi, we're here for the Rose Faraday memorial," I said, squashing the irritation I had with Mallory.

"Certainly, just follow the hallway out..." he stopped and bent over to stare into the cage.

"Is that a cat?"

"Yes," I said, shifting Lucky to the other hand.

"Well." He straightened up slowly, glancing behind him. "It's very unorthodox to bring a cat to a funeral service. I don't think I can allow it."

I could tell he wasn't sure what to do with me. By his tight frown, I knew I was going to have to do some persuading. "Oh, it's okay." I put on my brightest smile. "This is... I mean,
was
... Rose Faraday's cat, Lady Luck. Rose contacted me and asked me to please bring her today to give the poor thing closure. She's been very upset. The cat, not Rose, obviously. Not eating, crying all the time. She won't even walk on the floor." I lowered the carrier, hoping he wouldn't see Lucky's robust figure.

"Miss Faraday... contacted you?" His face contorted in confusion. "I don't understand."

"Mmhm. Came to me in a dream last night. You know she was a psychic, right?" I moved in closer to him so I could whisper. "Psychics can do that when they pass, you know. Get a message to someone."

"I see." He glanced at Mallory and I had to give her credit. She nodded solemnly, though I could tell from her pinked cheeks she was about to bust.

"Well, I suppose since the ceremony is outdoors." He was still staring at me suspiciously. "Just make sure the cat stays in the cage. We don't want any accidents in the Cremation Garden."

"Of course." I nodded. "Thank you for your understanding. And the Cremation Garden would be?"

"Follow the hallway through the double doors then follow the stone path, stay to the right at the fork."

"Thank you." We hurried down the hall, through the assault of elevator music and an overactive Glade plug in.

Mallory snorted as we hit the stone path. "Ha, I can't believe you lied to the man like that, Sis. I'm so proud of you."

I switched Lucky's carrier to the other arm. For a ball of fur, he was heavy. "Yeah, well. It was for a good cause." I should have taken off my sweater. The October sun had already melted the slight chill from the morning air.

"Cause you're trying to pawn Lucky off on some poor unsuspecting relative?"

I smiled back at her. "Exactly."

The path led us around the edge of a more traditional cemetery with its gray stones and statues, toward a lake where folding chairs sat under a temporary polyester canopy, waiting for occupants. We detoured into the grass and slid into the back row of the chairs. A few people sat quietly in the front row, a few were peppered throughout the other seats and a tall man in a black suit stood beside a table with a china urn resting on top of it. He was engaged in conversation with another man in a black cowboy hat.

"Not many people here," Mallory whispered. "That lady up front with the black feather in her hair looks like a cat person."

"Yeah." I frowned. It was kind of sad Rose didn't have more friends. That would make it more difficult to find out who might have wanted to cause her harm, too. "Maybe we should sit closer so we can chat with her. Come on."

I slid out of the seat and moved down the center aisle, between the chairs. I was almost at the row behind the feather lady when the tall man beside the table suddenly turned his head and met my eyes. A chill ran down my spine and I stopped in my tracks. Mallory ran into my back.

"Hey! What'd you stop for?" she complained. Then I felt her peer over my shoulder. "Oh."

The man's eyes were large black almonds and I could feel his stare like a physical force holding me. He touched the cowboy's arm and then moved toward us without breaking eye contact. Within a few smooth steps, he stood in front of me holding out his hand. I took it and held his gaze, trying to act nonchalant even though my insides were humming. I could feel Mallory pressing up against my back.

His hand was dry and warm. No, more than warm, exuding heat. The crisp black suit jacket seemed to barely contain his chest and arms as they bulged against it. The muscles in his thick neck and chiseled jaw were taut. An aura of power rolled off of him in waves, making me a bit dizzy with fear. It was like coming face to face with an unpredictable, wild animal.

"Zach Faraday." His full lips curved into a smile, though it didn't reach those dark eyes. "And you are?"

"Nobody." I cleared my throat, pulling my hand from his. He reluctantly let go. "I mean, nobody important. Um, Darwin Winters."
Good heavens, get your thoughts together Darwin.
"This is my sister, Mallory." It didn't go unnoticed by me that my usually chatty, nosey sister was staying silent.

He nodded at Mallory. "How did you know my mother?"

My mouth opened and closed a few times. "Oh... Rose is... was your mother?"

"Yes."

"Well, we didn't know her personally. We found her cat, Lady Luck." I held up the carrier and peeked in. Lucky was staring at Zach with wide eyes and ears flattened down on her head. A hiss escaped her. I quickly lowered the carrier again. "We thought maybe Rose had a relative that would like to adopt her. I'm sure your mother would have preferred Lucky to be with someone she knew."

Zach smiled slightly. "Well, unfortunately, I'm her only surviving relative and," he glanced down at the carrier, "I'm allergic to cats. But, a few of the ladies she played bridge with are here. You could talk to them about adopting Lucky."

Why did Lucky dislike Rose's son so much?
"Oh, okay. We'll do that after the service, thanks." I wanted to move, wanted to be released from his presence but I felt like I needed permission. "I'm very sorry for your loss," I added.

"Thank you." He nodded, turned as if to go, then stopped and turned back to me. Leaning in close to my ear, he chuckled deeply. "I know what you are." With that, he made his way back to the podium and placed his hands on the urn, his head bowed.

I forced my jelly legs to carry me into a chair and plopped down with Lucky's carrier on my lap. Mallory slid next to me and grabbed my arm.
            "What in hell's bells was that? What did he say to you?"

I could tell from her breathlessness that she was as shaken as I was. "He said I know what you are." I watched Mallory's freckles pop out as her face paled. She stared at me, emotions churning in her green eyes—confusion, fear, then anger.

 "Impossible. And anyway, so what if he does?" She turned her gaze on him as he began to speak. I felt her shiver. "There's something about him, though. I sensed fire. But, he's not one of us." She shook her head. "Impossible."

Apparently, not all that impossible. The question was, what was he?

"Hi, I want to thank you all for coming here today to celebrate my mother's life and to say goodbye to an amazing woman." He continued his speech and never once glanced our way again.

As I began to recover from our encounter, questions formed.

What exactly did he think I was? A psychic like his mother? Did he inherit his mother's psychic ability, if she truly had any? But most importantly, why was I so sure that he was powerful... and dangerous?
If I could have, I would have hightailed it out of there right then. But, I was here to find Lucky a home. We'd just have to stay until we could talk to Rose's bridge friends.

It seemed everyone present wanted their turn at the podium. I was suddenly glad she didn't have more friends.  The last speaker, feather lady—Vera Groves—was apparently Rose's bridge partner and a big fan of being in the spotlight. Small as it was.

When she was finally finished with her dramatic, teary speech, Zach thanked her and held his hands out to us all.

"My mother chose a niche bench as her final corporal resting place. If you follow me, I'll show you where it is located so you can visit with her at your convenience." He led the small knot of people toward the lake and under a heavy shade tree. A pair of ducks waddled away from us and slid smoothly into the water. Our small crowd gathered around as Zach slid the urn in a hollowed out part of the pedestal. "Rest in peace, Mother."

After a few moments of silence, Mallory nudged me. Vera Groves and two other women had strayed away from the group. We hurried to catch up with them. The carrier slowed me down a bit, but they still weren't hard to catch.

"Ms. Groves?" I called, waving my arm.

They all turned to me, faces drawn. "Yes?" Vera Groves asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Hi, my name's Darwin. I own Darwin's Pet Boutique on Beach Drive, and my sister and I found Rose's cat, Lucky." I lifted the carrier and peeked in. Good, Lucky had her ears up and her eyes halfway closed. Uninterested. Better than freaked out. "To make a long story short, we were hoping that someone close to Rose would adopt Lucky. We think that Rose would have preferred this, rather than Lucky living with strangers."

The women glanced at each other and then at Vera. She was smiling kindly, wiping at her nose with a Kleenex. "Oh, that's a good idea. She loved that cat. Hello, Lucky." She bent over and smiled at the cat. "I'm afraid I can't take her though. I have two dogs that would think I brought them home a new chew toy." She glanced at the other ladies. "Jilly? What about you?"

The frail blonde smiled. "No, sorry. My husband forbade me any more pets after Buddy passed. He wants to travel without any strings."