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A heated exchange broke out among the men on the patio. The dispute could be heard from the kitchen and continued to get louder. “It seems Lucien and Beckett are trying to reason with Birk,” Brogan remarked.
“Good luck with that,” Jade fired back. “Right now, I need to go back to Birk’s house and toss a few things in a bag, grab my animals, and make a few phone calls. Were you serious about letting me stay here?”
“Absolutely. You can use the guest house for as long as you need.”
Jade went over to throw her arms around Brogan. “Thanks. I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Do you need help?” Kelly asked.
“If I do, I’ll call you. Thanks for offering.”
The two women watched as Jade marched out of the kitchen to the front door.
“Wow. I didn’t see that coming,” Brogan muttered, studying the frozen dessert that had turned to mush. “Anyone in the mood for soupy ice cream?”
“I doubt it. I’m not stepping onto the patio and getting in the middle of that. You?”
“Nope. But we should keep Birk here until Jade does her packing.”
“Yeah. Agreed. Will Lucien be upset that you let Jade stay in the guest house?”
“No. Why should he?”
“I don’t know. Everyone seems to be edgy and ready to do battle. Approaching Scott wasn’t a bad idea.”
“You mean getting him to pay Birk a visit?”
“Do you think he would?”
“Why not? He loves dropping in and surprising people. But it has to appear genuine, not like we’re shoving Birk into one of those phony paranormal reality TV shows to get his reaction.”
“Birk wouldn’t buy that anyway. In fact, Scott will have a tough time getting his attention.”
“Not necessarily. Not if it’s done right. And Scott has a way of convincing people. He convinced you, didn’t he? And you’re a scientist who deals in results and facts.”
“He got through to me.”
“Exactly. I’ll need to persuade Scott to make a grand entrance with Birk on the receiving end of a moment he’ll never forget.”
“Sounds like a tall order. Although I’d love to be a fly on the wall when it happens.”
“Patience. We may lose Jade to Santa Cruz. But that loss is on Birk. He’ll have to deal with that at some point. I can’t push Scott to do his thing on cue.”
“True. But let’s hope it’s sooner rather than later.”
11
“What the heck happened while Kelly and I were getting the ice cream?” Brogan demanded from Lucien after their guests had headed home and they were handling cleanup.
Lucien stopped loading the dishwasher long enough to stare at Brogan. “It was the damnedest thing. I made the mistake of mentioning what happened at the cemetery with Scott and how I’d misunderstood a comment. I didn’t think anything of it. But Birk went off on a tangent about how stupid it was to rely on a ghost to solve a murder investigation. Normally, I’d agree with him. But we both know Scott has remained a valuable go-to source for anything that happens in this town. Beckett gets it. So do Kelly and Jade. But Birk is adamant that it’s a ridiculous resource. He acted as if we hallucinated or fabricated what happened at the cemetery. He not only made fun of it, but he ridiculed our attempts to reach out to Scott in the future. And when Jade stood up and tried to defend the whole Scott thing, Birk went off on her, slinging a few insults about her bohemian thought process. If that wasn’t enough, he played the hippie card one time too many.”
“He keeps doing that.”
“Yeah. Well, this time, it got a reaction. Jade got in his face. Before I knew it, she’d declared she was psychic, which brought out an even darker side to Birk’s remarks. It was all too much for Jade. She told him where to stick his opinions and stormed into the house. I can’t say that I blame her. Birk was a jerk. Even Beckett told him he’d gone too far.”
“I’m glad I missed it. But there have been other times when I stood by and let Birk drop his snide comments. I’d explain it away by telling myself he was trying to be funny. And then a few other times, those nasty comments weren’t quite so amusing.”
“This wasn’t joking around. I don’t know if Birk was already upset about something before they got here, or maybe he and Jade had argued beforehand. Whatever it was, I’ve never seen him like that.”
