Chapter 5

GOLD DUST WOMAN

Chloe was more than a little surprised when I told her about our dinner plans a few minutes after my phone chat with my mother. “Your mom’s really okay with me being there?” she asked, a tinge of pink touching her cheeks.

“Absolutely,” I replied at once. “She made a point of including you. Remember, there aren’t any hard feelings between your dad and her, so she’s much more interested in getting to meet you than worrying about something that happened more than thirty years ago.”

This no-nonsense description of the situation seemed to reassure Chloe, because some of the worried look left her eyes and she gave a small nod. Still, she didn’t seem to be completely at ease about the prospect, since she glanced down at her black skirt and boots and said, sounding dubious, “Is the restaurant fancy? Because I didn’t bring anything really special with me, just the stuff I usually wear.”

“Nothing in Globe is fancy,” I told her with a smile. “What you’re wearing is great. I’m not planning on changing.”

By that point, I was way too big to wear anything except Empire-style maternity dresses and skirts with the most forgiving elastic waistbands possible, so my wardrobe wasn’t exactly what you could call extensive. The green gown I had on was one that Calvin liked a lot and was on the rotation at least once a week, but it was holding up pretty well.

“That’s good,” Chloe replied. “Then I won’t worry about it.”

Several more customers came in right then, so she hurried off to help them, leaving me to sit on my stool behind the counter. I assumed at some point they’d come up to the cash register to check out if they decided to buy anything, but for the moment, I couldn’t help feeling a little superfluous.

Which was just fine by me. I’d still come in tomorrow to make sure I’d covered all the bases with Chloe, but it definitely looked as though I’d be able to hand over the reins of the business sooner than I’d expected.

Then I could truly concentrate on bringing my precious cargo safely into the world.

Even though I’d worried that the meeting at the Gold Dust casino’s restaurant might still be awkward despite my mother’s reassurances to the contrary, it went better than I could have expected. She’d hugged Chloe and told her she was very glad to meet her, then introduced Tom. I could tell my little sister was happy to see my mother paired off and was in what appeared to be a very successful marriage. Not that there was any chance of her ever getting back together with Jordan Fairfield, but I had a feeling Chloe had sort of viewed my mother as a loose end in her father’s life nonetheless.

At dinner, they talked about life in the Valley, since my mother and Tom lived in Encino, about twenty minutes away from Chloe’s childhood home in Northridge. And then when my mom could tell that Calvin and I were starting to feel a little left out of the conversation, she deftly steered the discussion back toward Globe.

“Chloe, did you know that your sister has become quite the amateur detective since moving here?”

At once, Chloe set down her steak knife and looked over me, clearly surprised. “You mean like solving murders?”

“Yes,” I said. While I might have preferred to avoid that topic for a while longer, I also couldn’t deny that I’d probably tracked down far more killers than most cops ever had. “I suppose the whole thing just sort of fell into my lap, but over the past couple of years it’s been…how many?” I asked, turning toward Calvin, who sat next to me.

“Eleven,” he supplied with a smile.

“That seems like a lot of murders for such a small town,” Chloe said. “Are people around here really that bloodthirsty?”

“Well, not all those murders happened here,” I told her. “One of them took place at a ballroom dance competition Archie and Victoria were attending. That was in Scottsdale.”

“And most of them weren’t perpetrated by actual residents of Globe,” Calvin added. “They just happened to be committed here.”

“Still,” Chloe said, although her expression was now more thoughtful than anything. “So, do you use the Tarot to help you solve the crimes?”

“When I can,” I said. “Other times, I work with my pendulum…or I consult my grandmother’s spirit in my crystal ball.”

I mentioned this last with a worried little glance toward my mother, since I did my best to refrain from talking about those otherworldly consultations in case it might upset her that I was communing with her dead mother’s ghost. However, she didn’t seem bothered by it, and in fact seemed reassured that Grandma Ellen was still out there somewhere, dispensing helpful advice.

“That is so cool,” Chloe breathed. “I’ve only helped my friends find out if their boyfriends were cheating on them.”

Somehow, I managed to prevent a smile from touching my lips. “Oh, I’m sure you’ve done more than that if you were working at psychic fairs.”

Now it was my mother’s turn to look impressed. “So, you’re psychic like Selena?”

“I guess so,” Chloe said with an embarrassed little lift of her shoulders. “But yes, I read cards and have visions and stuff like that.”

“So, it must come from the Fairfield side of the family,” Tom remarked, speaking for the first time after our initial hugs of greeting in the lobby of the restaurant. In a way, I was kind of surprised by his comment, simply because both he and my mother were very no-nonsense types, and my decidedly woo-woo outlook on life had always been a little uncomfortable for them despite the way they did their best to take it in stride.

But I supposed my track record of solving murders using less than conventional methods had proved to them that there was a whole lot more to all this psychic stuff than they could have ever imagined.

“That’s what I’ve been thinking,” Chloe said. “I guess I have a great-great-something grandmother on my father’s side who was supposed to be psychic.”

“Not that these things have to be hereditary,” I commented as I reached for my glass of water. By that point, I’d mostly gotten used to eating a steak without a glass of red wine to accompany it, but all the same, I really couldn’t wait until that blessed day six months or so from now when I could start drinking wine again. Swollen ankles and back pain were an unavoidable part of being pregnant, but I knew there was no way I was going to become a lifelong teetotaler. “I had lots of psychic friends in L.A. who didn’t have anyone in their families who had any kind of extrasensory gifts. But still, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that both Chloe and I have some special talents in common.”

My mother smiled then and reached for the glass of wine at her place setting. She and Tom had offered to share their bottle of cabernet with Chloe, an offer she’d gladly accepted. I had to remind myself that she was of drinking age, even though she looked so young…and it wasn’t as if any of them had sworn off alcohol to keep me company the way Calvin had.

“Anyway,” she said after taking a sip of wine, “I feel like being here with Selena will help teach me lots of things.”

Calvin lifted an eyebrow, and I said, “Well, I don’t profess to be an expert, but I’ll do what I can.”

“I don’t think Selena is going to have a lot of free time over the next few months,” my mother put in. She leavened the comment with a smile, but I could tell she wanted Chloe to get the message that the baby I was carrying had to take precedence over a half-sister who’d appeared basically out of nowhere just before I was about to become a full-time mom.

Apparently realizing her misstep, Chloe said quickly, “Oh, I get it. Babies take a lot of time and energy. But I think just being around her shop and seeing how she set things up will be very educational.”

Those words appeared to mollify my mother, especially since she was just as glad as the rest of us that my sister seemed willing to shoulder the entire burden of running the store so I’d be able to focus on this next, all-important stage in my life.

“I hope so,” I said, keeping my tone as neutral as possible, and the conversation moved on to other subjects, including the brunch my mother would be hosting at her house that coming Saturday. I’d told everyone that I didn’t want a baby shower, not when I was fully capable of buying everything I needed on my own and didn’t want to put a financial burden on anyone, but my mother had insisted on having a brunch “for the girls” — that is, Josie and Hazel and Victoria and Joyce, along with Josie’s niece-in-law Terry Woodrow and Sofia Barnes. At first, Sofia had wanted to demur, since Saturdays were often the busiest days at her new brewpub, but she’d decided that she could squeeze in brunch after all, as things didn’t really start to ramp up until after one or so in the afternoon.

“And of course you’re invited, Chloe,” my mother said. “You can just open the shop a little late on Saturday. Since everyone was expecting it to be closed altogether, I don’t think anyone will mind.”

Chloe’s gaze moved toward me. “Is that all right, Selena?”

“Of course it is,” I said, and scooped up a mouthful of baked potato. “I’ve closed the shop at all sorts of odd hours if I was tracking down a lead, so people are pretty much used to it by now.”

My reply seemed to cheer her up, because she leaned against the back of her chair, looking relieved. “Then I’d love to come.”

With that settled, we chatted some about the plans my mother had for the mansion’s gardens — they were already picture-perfect, but I knew she wanted something to occupy her during the months she would be spending here in Globe — and soon enough, the end of the evening rolled around. As Calvin helped me up from my seat, the baby kicked, hard, and I couldn’t help wincing.

“Everything all right?” my mother asked at once.

I could only smile. “Oh, I’m fine,” I assured her. “This one’s just getting restless.”

“But your doctor is still saying the sixteenth is the due date,” she pressed, and I nodded.

“No change in the big day,” I said. “Or at least, we don’t see any signs that he or she is ready to come into the world earlier than that. But babies have a mind of their own, so let’s just say I don’t have any plans to take off for the Bahamas in the near future.”

Everyone chuckled at my remark, as I’d hoped they would, but my mother still looked a little concerned. I couldn’t really blame her, not when I knew she must be thinking about my own early arrival. Her doctor had predicted I would be born at the end of June, which was part of the reason why she’d wanted to name me Selena, since I would have been a Cancer, or moon child.

But I’d had other ideas and had popped into the world right on the solstice, making me a Gemini. Despite my early appearance, she hadn’t changed my name, and I was glad of that. I really couldn’t imagine being anyone else.

We all walked out to our cars together, shared hugs all around, and got into our various vehicles so we could head home. Chloe had driven herself since her Airbnb wasn’t anywhere close to either Calvin’s and my house or my mother and Tom’s big place at the edge of town, but she drove off confidently enough.

Well, Globe wasn’t so big that it took very long to get acquainted with the town, and besides, she could always have her phone guide her back to the Airbnb if necessary.

Calvin and I were both quiet on the way home, although he held my hand as he drove, clearly wanting to let me know he was there for me. This was also his last week of work, as he’d already arranged to take six weeks off from his position with the tribal police. They really couldn’t spare him for any longer than that, but I told myself it would still be enough, that having him around for that first crucial month — not to mention my mother and all the rest of the Standingbear relations — would make it much easier for me to slide into motherhood.

After we went into the house and paused to give Sadie some reassuring pats and hugs after our absence, he said, “That went well.”

“It did,” I agreed. “Despite my mom saying it would all be okay, I still wasn’t sure how she and Chloe were going to be around each other. But it all seemed pretty relaxed, which is a relief. The last thing I need is the two of them not getting along, especially with my mother planning to be here for the next couple of months.”

Calvin helped me lower myself to the couch and then set a pillow just where I wanted it so I could elevate my feet. They weren’t quite as swollen as they might have been, mostly because I was being careful about my salt intake and also took whatever opportunity I could to raise them to a decent height, but still, I was looking forward to the time when I wouldn’t have to worry about those sorts of things.

“And Chloe being here…however long she plans to stay,” he said.

Something in his voice made me tilt my head at him. “I thought you were okay with all this.”

“I am,” he replied, looking unruffled. He sat down in the accent chair next to the couch, which, even though it was sturdy enough, always seemed dwarfed by his oversized frame. “I told you I was fine with whatever you wanted to do, and I stand by that. Still, this is all happening kind of fast.”

It was. Maybe if this baby wasn’t coming in the next ten days or so, I might have taken longer to consider my decision. At the same time, every instinct I possessed was telling me Chloe was a trustworthy person and that she was the right person to take care of the store while I was on leave. True, those same instincts hadn’t been functioning so well when I hired Melanie Knowles, but I was well past the brain fog of the early days of my pregnancy. Lately, I’d been feeling as sharp as ever, and I knew I could trust my gut on this one.

“I won’t argue with you about that,” I said. “But at the same time, I have to believe this is the right thing for all of us. I can tell Chloe needed a change of pace.”

“Any chance you’re going to reach out to her parents?” Calvin asked then, and I shook my head.

“Why should I? She seems young, but she’s an adult. She graduated from college and is at a point where she needs to make some decisions about her future. I don’t know what she said to her mother and father, but that’s between them, don’t you think?”

His mouth quirked. “I suppose it is. But I also think maybe your own history is coloring your judgment here. After all, you were pretty young when you left home.”

“I was,” I said. “And I did sit down and talk it through with my mother. It wasn’t as though we didn’t get along — I just knew deep down that I was ready to leave the nest, and that my mother had pretty much given up nineteen years of her life for me. It was time for her to come into her own as well.”

Another instance where my instincts had guided me well, as she’d started seeing Tom a few years later, leading to their eventual marriage. I didn’t think he’d been waiting for my mother to be fancy-free before he began to show an interest in her, more that the universe had arranged matters so everything would work out well for the two of them.

“I can see that,” Calvin replied. “And you’re right — Chloe seems like a kid, but there’s no reason in the world why she shouldn’t be striking out on her own at this point in her life.” He paused there, then asked, his tone quite different, “Do you want to watch some TV, or would you rather head to bed?”

Only a year ago, I would have been almost offended at the suggestion that I go to bed at barely eight-thirty. These days, though, I did my best to get as much sleep as possible, sometimes as much as nine or ten hours each night.

I might as well bank as much sleep now while I could, since I knew I wasn’t going to have the chance in the very near future.

“Bed,” I said promptly, and he reached out so he could help me up from the sofa and down the hallway to the bedroom. Sadie followed us, obviously glad that we’d decided to retire for the evening, since that meant she could curl up on her blanket at the foot of the bed and bunk down with her people for the night.

And really, after doing all my nighttime prep, it was closer to nine than eight-thirty by the time I settled myself under the covers. For most of my life, I’d been someone who shifted positions in bed as it suited me, but now I was pretty much stuck with sleeping on my back.

Which was fine. Calvin reached out to take my hand, and I closed my eyes, glad of his touch, glad of his nearness. Even if the baby came tonight, he would be there to handle things, and that was what counted most.

A breath or two, and sleep claimed me.

Next to my ear, my phone was shrilling. Or at least, it sounded shrill, even though my current ringtone was the opening bars of the “Spring” movement from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and shouldn’t have been shrill at all.

I jolted awake, laboriously forcing myself to a sitting position. Next to me, Calvin sat up as well.

“What time is it?”

I grabbed my phone and looked down at the screen.

“Twelve fifty-two.”

But once I got past the time, I made myself focus on the number. After all, no one called at that hour unless it was extremely important.

At first, I didn’t recognize the phone number. But then my sleep-addled brain saw it was from the 818 area code, which meant it could only be one of three people I knew well, and I sort of doubted that either my mother or Tom would be calling me this late.

“Chloe?” I said as I accepted the call and pressed the phone to my ear.

A terrible little gasp, and then she said, “S-Selena? I didn’t know who else to call — ”

“It’s okay,” I told her, even as I felt rather than saw Calvin’s body go tense. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s — ”She sucked in some more air in another of those shocked little gasps, then went on, “It’s Jack.”

“Who’s Jack?” I asked.

“M-my boyfriend,” she said, then made an odd little sound, almost like a hiccup. “I mean, my ex-boyfriend. We broke up right before I left California.”

Not so strange if she was planning to start over in Globe. Except….

“Did he follow you here? Did he threaten you?”

“N-no. I mean, yeah, he came here, I guess. But….”

The word trailed off, and I made myself wait. She sounded far more upset than a simple argument should have made her, but I didn’t know the circumstances. Some people didn’t do well in confrontations.

Another breath, and then Chloe said, “I just found him dead in the living room.”