Death and Relaxation (Ordinary Magic #1)(51)

Good times.

The rich, deep flavor filled my mouth and ran a cool heat down to the bottom of my belly. “You know what I’m going to ask you, Chris.”

He sat on the edge of his desk, stretching his long legs out in front of him, one ankle crossed over the other. He was wearing slippers. “If I know who killed him?”

“Yes. But first, I need to know if you killed him.”

He took another drink of beer, watching me as he did so. “Let me get this right. You’re here, in my office, asking me if I killed one of my closest friends?”

“It’s what a police officer does. Asks all the hard questions. Of everyone.”

“All right, I’ll say it here, and I’ll say it anywhere else you need me to. I didn’t kill Heim. I loved him, as a friend. He was a good man. He understood the sea, understood life and the pace of it in a way I could only share with a few others. He was my friend, Delaney. If I knew who wanted him dead, you’d have to throw me behind bars, because I would find them and beat the life out of them.”

His eyes, usually a smoky brown, glinted with red for a moment.

He was angry. Very angry.

“I know,” I said. “I’m sorry. I liked Heim too. I’m going to miss him.” I sat down in the chair next to the mini-fridge and took another drink of beer, then pressed the bottle against my forehead. “We don’t think his death was an accident.”

“I gathered that when you accused me of killing him.”

“Do you know who was angry at him?”

He tipped the beer up and then set the empty bottle on his desk. “There’s always someone upset about something.”

“Names, Chris. Any you can think of. I want to know who did this. I’m not going to let them get away with it.”

He shook his head and folded arms over his chest. “No one stands out. Hera was upset that he slipped us a few prime catches over the last month or so, but you know her. Liked to make us think she was angry about it, when she had Pete supplying her plenty of prime catch on the side. She wouldn’t stoop so low as to kill Heim and risk being thrown out of Ordinary over fish.”

I nodded. “I know.”

“He had his arguments with a few other people, a few other gods and creatures. Odin once or twice, but Odin yells at everyone. Bertie, over judging the contest. Tried to withdraw when he found out I had entered. But I can’t…I just can’t see why any of them would kill him.”

“Not even for the Rhubarb Rally?”

Chris stared at me for a long moment. “Is that a serious question?”

“Dan Perkin seems to think it would be enough motivation for murder.”

“Dan Perkin is an ass. I’m looking forward to the day he’s the one we’re burying.”

“That’s what he says about you.”

“At least something about this week is normal.” He reached into the fridge for another beer and flipped the cap off with his thumb.

“This is Ordinary,” I said, lifting my nearly full beer. “Nothing about it has ever been normal.”





Chapter 15


CHRIS HAD an alibi for the time period wherein Heim had been harmed. He had been spending that time with Lila. Mostly, he admitted to me, trying to talk Lila out of enacting petty revenge against Heim. He assured me her plans involved egging his house, or putting sugar in his gas tank, or welding his crab traps shut, not clubbing him over the head and kicking him into the sea.

She had certainly looked torn up about his death. I just hoped she wasn’t faking it.

“She’s not faking it,” Jean said as she and I took a seat at a table close to the front door of Jump Off Jack’s. Jean had ordered us iced tea and cheese bread.

“Late lunch or early dinner?” I asked.

“Both. You’re too thin. We’re on our break.” She tore off a piece of bread and took a big bite.

I pulled a piece of bread my way and dug in. It was delicious, the cheese from local farms in Hebo, the bread fresh, with just a bite of heat in it. Jalapeno, I thought.

“Get anything useful from the sisters?”

Jean didn’t look over at Margot and Lila, who stood at the table, saying their goodbyes to Chris.

“Not really. Lila’s reeling from his death. She had plans, things she wanted to do to him to make him pay for breaking up with her. She wanted a chance at making his life miserable. She didn’t want him dead. I think she’s truly sorry that he is.”

It was a backward kind of logic, but I could understand it. The heart, even the jilted heart—maybe especially the jilted heart—wanted what it wanted.

“You think she’s upset she didn’t get a chance at revenge?”

“No. I think…” She popped another bite of bread in her mouth. “If he were still alive, she’d be buying rotten potatoes to hide in the walls of his house. Now that he’s gone, she’s mourning him. Thinking of all the great times they’d had together. She’s sad.”

“She was never really over him, was she?”

Jean tipped her head a bit. “He was a god. There’s a certain…I don’t know, tingle about them, you know? Even though they’re temporarily mortal, there’s something really attractive about them. When I was little I had the biggest crush on Shiva, remember?”