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“Oh, dear,” she said, light blue eyes wide with shock.
“Do you think it was the crab dip?”
4
Clean-Up on Aisle Five
Blueand red flashing lights from an ambulance and several squad cars painted garish hues on the front of Josie’s house. Standing out in the yard, I couldn’t help but be assailed by an overwhelming sense ofdéjà vu.This wasn’t the first time I’d stood by and watched Globe’s finest handle an unexpected death.
Except in that case, the dead person had been Athene Kappas, Lucien Dumond’s right-hand woman and the victim of a particularly nasty hex that had caused the car she was riding in to flip, killing her instantly because she hadn’t been wearing her seat belt.
This time, the victim was one of Globe’s own.
Not that anyone had said the “m” word yet. Chief Lewis had arrived, expression a mixture of annoyance at seeing his wife in her Edina Monsoon getup, and grim efficiency as he inspected the scene and questioned those of us who’d been in the same room with Danny when he perished. The plastic wine cup had been bagged for evidence, and deputies had blotted up as much of the spilled wine as possible so they could take that away for evidence as well.
I reflected with grim humor that at least this time, no one could possibly suspect me of being Danny’s murderer. Multiple witnesses at the party had reported seeing him pour himself a glass of wine while I was off in an entirely different room, chatting with Calvin and Hazel and Chuck. There was absolutely no way I could have tampered with it.
If the cause of death had even been the wine at all.
The EMTs on the scene claimed Danny Ortega’s heart had stopped. It could have been a horribly timed tragedy and nothing else.
The images of the cards I’d pulled performed a macabre dance in my head.
The Devil. The Ten of Swords.
Death.
A Tarot spread really wasn’t supposed to be that literal.
I shivered, and Calvin dropped an arm around me. He’d conferred with Chief Lewis insotto vocetones soon after the police chief arrived, but once the investigation of the scene had shifted into high gear and the deputies had asked everyone to go outside, he’d come to stand next to me.
Most of the partygoers had already departed, including Chuck and Hazel. There really wasn’t much point in them hanging around when it was obvious the evening had ended in a particularly dismal way. Calvin had murmured to me that he wanted to stay in case Henry had any further questions, and I was fine with that. Hanging behind allowed me to be with Josie and offer what comfort I could.
She stood on my other side, still looking shell-shocked. I suppose she could be forgiven for wondering how in the world her carefully planned Halloween party could have ended in such a tragic way.
“I just don’t understand,” she said for what seemed like the umpteenth time. “I bought all that wine myself!”
I leaned into Calvin’s arm…and wished Josie had someone like him around to help her through this. She’d always been fiercely independent, though, and probably would have scoffed at the notion of needing a man for emotional support.
“We all know it’s nothing you did,” I said, and Calvin nodded.
“It could have been a heart attack and nothing more,” he put in, and Josie raised an imperious eyebrow, looking a bit more like herself.
“I find that hard to believe,” she replied. “Danny Ortega took very good care of himself — ran five miles every day before school, even when it snowed…which I’ll admit wasn’t that often. Still, he didn’t smoke, only drank wine with dinner, rarely ate red meat. He’s not the sort of person to drop dead of a heart attack at forty-two.”
Although part of me wanted to inquire how she knew so many intimate details about Danny’s lifestyle, I knew better than to ask. Josie seemed to know everything about everyone. I had no doubt that if I’d asked her what I ate for breakfast every morning, she would have serenely told me a container of Chobani yogurt if I was alone, or some kind of eggs or pancakes if I was making breakfast for Calvin and myself.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean as much as you think it does,” Calvin said, although he kept his tone gentle. Clearly, he had no wish for an argument. “It could also have been a stroke. Sometimes there’s no warning, and no apparent risk factors involved, either.”
Josie allowed herself a sniff, although I noticed how she didn’t bother to protest. What Calvin had just told her was only the sad truth. And Josie was probably one of the last people who had any desire to ponder the limits of her own mortality.
When she didn’t respond, he went on, “We’ll just have to wait for the results of the autopsy. It should tell us whether this was natural causes…or something else.”
She nodded, although her expression was strained. It wasn’t hard for me to guess that, if she had to have someone drop dead at her Halloween party, she would much prefer it to be because of a heart attack or a stroke. Murder was messy…and bad for business.
Eventually, Chief Lewis came over and gave Josie a curt nod. “We’ve cleared the scene,” he said, “so it’s all right for you to go back inside.” He paused there and sent her a piercing glance. “You going to be okay here by yourself, Josie?”
At once, she drew herself up, as imperious as the Red Queen costume she was wearing. “Of course I am,” she snapped. “This was a terrible tragedy, but there’s absolutely no reason for what happened tonight to drive me out of my own home.”
