03 - Three Odd Balls by Cindy Blackburn Read Free Book Online Page B

one would leave,” Wilson explained. “No one was still here.”
    “But you didn’t know that,” I argued. “How could you have known that?”
    “Take a guess where the stabbing occurred.”
    I recollected all the cops combing the parking lot and muttered a four-letter word.
    Wilson nodded. “Yep,” he said. “With all the blood, they’re sure it happened in the parking lot.”
    “Did they find the weapon? I assume it was a knife?”
    “No weapon yet. But Vega let it slip that the knife likely came from the kitchen. One’s missing from the knife block.”
    I pictured the layout of The Big House. Anyone could have had access to the kitchen from the dining room that night.
    “Everyone and his brother had access to the kitchen.” Wilson read my mind. “And the murderer must be thrilled I sent Buster out to the parking lot. He did a lot of pacing back and forth while he was up there. His footprints were all over the bloodstains.”
    I shook my head. “Thus destroying any footprints the murderer himself might have left.”
    “Vega threatened to arrest me for tampering with the crime scene.”
    “Come on! He can’t really believe that? You were trying to do the exact opposite.”
    Wilson thanked me for my loyalty but suggested I try to think like Vega. “It looks like I sent Buster up there purposely to destroy evidence,” he said.
    “Oh, my Lord, Wilson. Are you actually a suspect?”
    “Me or Chris.” He took a few deep breaths. “You know about his shirt?”
    I closed my eyes and prayed for strength. “You mean the one he wasn’t wearing?” I asked. “The one drying in my mother’s bathroom?”
    “Evidence. Vega’s claiming Chris and Tessie washed it out to get rid of blood stains.”
    “What!? So now my mother’s a suspect?”
    “You and I know it’s absurd. But Vega’s working on the assumption of some sinister conspiracy between us.”
    I muttered that four-letter word again, and we watched a few waves roll in.
    “Okay, so does the brilliant Captain Vega have a motive for this sinister conspiracy?” I asked. “I mean, what possible reason could you, Chris, and my mother—my mother!—possibly have to kill Davy Atwell? We just met the guy, for Lord’s sake.”
    “Bingo.” Wilson grinned and squeezed my shoulder. “Vega can try to twist the circumstantial evidence any way he wants. But he’ll be hard-pressed to stick a motive on it.”
    “So we can relax?” I was far from convinced.
    “Let’s take a lesson from Tessie and Chris. They’re not worried.”
    “Mother does seem to be taking it in her stride,” I said. “I think it helped that Chris was with her.”
    “And it will help if we carry on as normal, right?”
    I sighed and leaned forward to scratch a picture of the sun in the sand. Wilson twirled his finger under my sun and added a few waves. Then we looked up from our artwork and watched the real sun rise over the Pacific.
    “Chris wants to hike Kekipi Crater with me later today,” he said. “Ironic, but Davy gave me lots of advice on trails. Come with us?”
    I scowled. “Surely you jest?”
    “Let me guess—too many bugs.”
    “I do not like the heebie jeebies,” I clarified. “And trust me, Wilson. Anytime I have ever been stupid enough to venture out into the wilderness, I’ve been heebie-jeebied beyond endurance. Bugs!” I said with a dramatic shudder.
    He chuckled and added what I think was supposed to be a palm tree to our beach scene in the sand.
    “You go tackle the volcano,” I told him. “Meanwhile, I’ll be lounging by the pool and tackling a few scenes from My South Pacific Paramour . Mother wants to help me, which will be an excellent way to keep our minds off of what’s happened.”
    “And we’ll let Captain Vega tackle the murder, right?” In the growing light I couldn’t help but notice the stern cop-like look Wilson was directing at me. “Right, Jessie?”
    “Right,” I said and crossed my fingers behind my back.

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