Serious Moonlight(80)

“Look!” she said, holding out an old event flyer, affixed to a backing board and stored inside a clear plastic sleeve. The flyer’s design was silk-screened in black ink on neon pink paper. It advertised an event at a Seattle club in 1999. The Jim Rose Circus Side Show, with opening act the Great Albini and Black Butterfly.

“That’s her!” I said, pointing at the blurry, silk-screened people.

“I know! I saw this show with your mom when we were in high school! We were sixteen—I made us fake IDs to get inside, but they didn’t even check them. I tore this flyer off the wall as we were leaving the show.”

“You saw Cherry perform?”

“I did! I remember her outfit, the most amazing black corset with roses . . .”

“You saw Cherry perform,” I repeated, completely astounded. “She could have been pregnant with Daniel.”

She was silent. I looked up to see glossy eyes. “What’s the matter?” I asked.

Shaking her head quickly, she said, “I’m not sad. I was just thinking about when your mom was pregnant with you, and now my eye makeup is going to smear, so I’m going to stop being nostalgic and focus on what matters here. Because I think this is a sign. Destiny!”

“Destiny hates me, and so does Cherry.”

“You said she was an overprotective mama bear. All you need to do is convince her that you’re not a threat. Calm the bear down.”

“How?”

“No idea, but you’re the one who loves solving mysteries, Veronica Mars.” She gave me a wink with gold-tipped eyelashes before shoving the flyer into my hand. “Here. Take it. It’s yours now, and you can do whatever you want with it. All I know is when destiny calls, you answer. Right now I’m answering my own call.”

“With Leon?” I said, making a face.

She kissed the top of my head. “We’ll see. It’s only a boat ride.”

Right. I didn’t believe that for one second. But she told me when to expect her back and promised—again—that we’d talk more later. And as I stood on the sidewalk, clutching the flyer she’d given me, Leon helped her into his SUV. Then he turned to me, hesitated, and then hugged me.

Hugged.

Me.

I froze, all my muscles stony, not knowing what to do. Then he pulled back to look at my face, holding my arms, while he said in a low voice, “We got off on the wrong foot today, but I want you to know that nothing will change. I get that Mona is practically a mother to you, and I wouldn’t do anything to take her away from you, okay? So don’t be worried. It’s all going to be fine.”

He sounded serious, and I was so discombobulated, all I could do was stare at him when he released me. Then he was jogging to his SUV and getting behind the wheel. Aunt Mona waved at me from her window as they pulled away from the curb and disappeared into traffic.

Nothing will change? What was happening? Did that mean they were officially a couple again? And if nothing was changing, then why was my stomach in knots?

My phone buzzed. I pulled it out and found a series of texts:

Daniel: I’m so so so so sorry.

Daniel: R u ok? Did you make it to the ferry? I went after you in my car, but u weren’t at bus stop. R u home yet?

Daniel: Even if u r upset, lmk u r ok.

Me: I’m home.

Daniel: PRAISE ELVIS. R u ok?

Me: Physically, yes. Mentally, I’m sorry I left.

Daniel: Really? Bc I’m devastated u left.

Me: Yeah?

Daniel: Yeah. And I’m just so sorry it happened. Mortified. Please don’t hate me.

Me: I don’t. At all. Zero hate.

Daniel: Can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that.

Daniel: Last night was the best sleep I’ve had. Ever.

Me: Me too. Wish I was still there.

Daniel: Wish u were still here too. (,)

I looked at the pink flyer Aunt Mona gave me. I didn’t want to come between Daniel and his mother. What a disaster. A disaster upon disaster, considering all the events leading up to this morning’s confrontation with Cherry.

Before I met Daniel, my life was a cozy mystery book in a small town with one quiet murder to solve. Now dead bodies were piling up everywhere, a serial killer was on the loose, and I was a brooding detective with a sleep disorder who’d fumbled all the evidence.

A good detective restored order.

So why was I leaving behind a trail of chaos wherever I went?





“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”

—Alfred Hitchcock, Halliwell’s Filmgoer’s Companion (1984)





25




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After a nap and a leftover cinnamon roll heated up in the microwave, things started looking . . . not exactly rosy, but less dreary. I still didn’t know what to do about Cherry, but Daniel and I texted on and off throughout the afternoon about other things, including what Leon Snodgrass had said to me, which Daniel thought was no big deal.

And maybe it wasn’t. I definitely regretted some of the stuff I’d said to Leon in the heat of the moment. I decided to let it go. I had too many other things to worry about, and I desperately wanted to see Daniel. I was hoping maybe he could meet me at the diner before work, but he was busy finishing some woodworking project for one his neighbors.