Chapter 51

CHAPTER 51

L uke was taking care of Harvey's body and the van. I assumed the body would end up in Melissa's basement. The van might have been a problem, but there was Marley and probably Reggie. It would be cleaned, repaired, and repainted by the end of the week, all traces of Harvey gone.

Good.

Not so good: We had to tell Bea.

On the way to Bea's, Max said, "I thought Bea kicked Harvey out?"

We were walking down State Street from Oddities to get to The Honey Pot at the other end, Bea's place of business where she sold honey and candles and other beeswax products across the street from the Wok Inn. Like most Rocky Start businesses, the majority of her clients were mail order, but she kept a shop on the first floor of the two-story brick building. Her beehives were farther away, in the forest at the eastern edge of town.

"She did," I said. "She's kicked him out at least a dozen times in the past since they started living together. Anybody would; it's the always taking him back that's the mystery."

When we arrived at the shop, the sign on the door was turned to OPEN, so we stepped inside. A bell chimed but no one was in sight.

"No one around," I said. "We can leave. You can go back to bed."

Max looked at me. "You already let me sleep in."

"Well, you needed it. You're looking better now."

He frowned. "I guess. I haven't been out like that since . . ."

Hermione came out of the back, wearing an apron with "Honey Pot" emblazoned on it in gold script. It was obviously Bea's because the H and the T were almost invisible to either side.

"How may I help you?" she said, smiling blankly at us.

"What are you doing here?" Max said.

"Bea was so kind as to give me a job." She put on a sad face. "I'm staying in town until I can give Sidsie a proper funeral. I need to stay busy or I'll sink into a terrible depression."

"Great," Max said flatly.

"Is Bea around?" I asked.

Hermione's smile dropped. "So you're not shopping? You're the first customers I've had. I was excited." She sighed. "This town is pretty dead."

"You have no idea," Max said.

"Did you find out who killed my Sidsie?" Hermione asked.

"Get Bea," Max said. "Now."

Hermione went over to the counter and pressed a button. Then she turned to us, a smile back on her face. "We have some lovely candles," she began, but then Bea Handler came down the stairs on the left side of the shop.

"What do you want?" she snapped at us, mainly me.

"Harvey's dead," Max said.

I sighed.

Bea blinked. "What? Fuck off. I'm not in the mood."

"Dead," Max said. "D-E-A-D."

" Max. " I turned to Bea. "I am so sorry, Bea. We're pretty sure it's the same person who killed Sid and?—"

"Oh my God!" Hermione said. " Oh my God. This is a terrible place. First my Sidsie and now your Harvey." She looked at Bea as if she wanted to bond. "I'm here for you, Bea."

Bea took a deep breath, ignoring her. "How?" She looked at Max. "Did you take him out for what he did to Rose?"

Before Max could answer I said, "He was poisoned."

"Why?" Bea demanded.

"We're not sure," I said, forestalling Max.

Bea walked stiffly over to a chair and sat down.

"How?" she said again.

Max answered. "He was exterminated."

Hermione gasped and Bea reached out and grabbed a candle inside a glass jar and threw it at Max. He was in better shape than I thought because he caught it and put it down.

"You're not as funny as you think you are," she snarled at him.

"I'm not trying to be funny," Max said. "I'm not thrilled that Harvey was stalking Rose, hurting Rose. And I'm really not happy about him going after Poppy the other day, so no, I am not joking. Harvey was exterminated with his own chemicals. Literally."

"What?" Bea said, startled. "Poppy? The asshole ."

"Do you know anyone who wanted to kill him?" I asked.

"Me," Bea said. "Poppy? He's lucky he's dead."

Apparently attacking me wasn't the same on whatever weird scale of life she had.

"Anyone else?" Max asked.

"Melissa's dead," Bea said. "Sid's dead. And now Harvey." She looked at us, still stunned but coming back. "I'm not your problem."

"My poor Sidsie," Hermione said, not staying current. "He didn't deserve to die."

"Who is our problem?" Max asked Bea, ignoring Hermione.

Bea shrugged. "No clue."

"Are you still doing jobs off the books?" Max asked.

Bea looked surprised. "What? I'm retired. You can't do jobs once you come to Rocky Start. That's the deal."

"Yeah," Max said. "Was Harvey doing jobs?"

"He was killing bugs," Bea said. "And leering after Rose, and apparently Poppy. So, no. I'd have known. He wasn't that good when he was active, and it's been downhill for him ever since he stepped away from the game. Trust me, you didn't want Harvey doing a job. He wasn't even very good at killing bugs."

"Right," Max said. "If you think of anyone who might have killed him, let me know."

"Luke has the body over at Melissa's," I said. "If you want to?—"

"Throw him out in the woods for the bears and coyotes," Bea said.

"If he's poisoned," Hermione said, "eating his body might be bad for the animals."

It was such a weird thing to say, yet also right, that all three of us stared at Hermione for several seconds. Then she broke the spell by talking.

"My Sid is having a proper funeral," Hermione said to no one in particular but very emphatically.

"Can I take a look at his stuff?" Max asked Bea.

Bea shrugged. "It's all in the dumpster out back. Feel free." She looked at me. "I can't believe he's dead."

She sounded as if she wasn't sure how to feel about it, so I stopped next to her as Max headed out again. "I really am sorry, Bea. I know you cared about him. If you want to talk?—"

"Were you sleeping with him?" she asked.

"Sweet Jesus, no," I said, and my disgust at the idea must have been obvious because she said, "Then you have nothing to be sorry for," and went back up the stairs.

"I'd like to talk," Hermione said brightly.

Oh, great. "Aren't you . . . leaving soon?"

"I've decided to stay and run Sid's pharmacy," she said. "He'd have wanted me to."

I frowned at her. "Do you have a pharmacy degree?"

"How hard can it be?" she said, and I thought about explaining that pharmacists had actual degrees so they knew what they were doing, but she was not my problem.

My problem was out back with the dumpsters.

I also made a mental note to switch pharmacies to Bearton if Hermione tried hanging out her nonexistent shingle.

I went out back and peeked in the dumpster, but Max showed no inclination to do a dive into what was just some clothes and odds and ends from a life shabbily lived and easily disposed of.

When we were walking back to Oddities I said, "Rowan said the killer posed the bodies. Harvey didn't look posed."

"The mode of killing was posed," Max said. "The nozzle in his mouth. But it was a rush job. Melissa and Sid were thoughtful, deliberate jobs."

"So you think it's the same killer as Melissa and Sid?" I asked. "How does that fit in?"

"Sid was courting you," Max said. "Harvey was stalking you."

"But not Melissa. And Melissa was the first."

"It doesn't make any sense," Max said.

"We have to make it make sense," I said. "There's a logic in this somewhere. As you said, I think Melissa and Sid were planned. But Harvey wasn't."

"He was a target of opportunity," Max said.

"Which means someone was following Harvey following me," I said, which didn't make me feel any better. I remembered something else. "Thanks for clearing away that stuff I took out of the stone cottage and throwing it away."

Max halted. "What stuff?"

"The old chairs and—" I stopped and faced him. "You didn't clear it away?"

"No."

"Then who did?"

"Whoever killed Harvey." Max looked thoughtful. "This person has a neatness thing, right? Cleaning up Sid's lab and Melissa's back room. So, yeah, they'd haul away that rotting furniture. We're back to someone stalking your stalker. And you."

That I didn't want to think about. "We need to figure out why Melissa was first."

"She knew something she wasn't supposed to know," Max said. "Or someone didn't like her doing jobs off the books. Or someone wanted to take out our coroner and then our backup coroner for some reason. It all probably has nothing to do with you."

Neither of us bought that for a moment. I actually didn't know how I felt about all this other than wanting it over on one hand, and secretly grateful it was keeping Max from hitting the Trail on the other. That's what I've turned into; grateful that a serial killer was active, and possibly stalking me, so my lover wouldn't leave.

Rocky Start had thoroughly warped me.

We reached Oddities and I unlocked the front door and we went inside.

"No more picnicking or wandering around by yourself," Max said.

"Maggs was with me."

Max looked around the shop. "We have to make this place more secure." He pointed. "At the very least, motion detectors that can pick up glass breakage if someone tries to come in. I'd prefer video of the store. And we need to lock the doors to the stairs every night." He nodded. "Pike's truck is parked out front. I'm going to get some coffee at Coral's and see if he has any mechanics."

"Mechanics?" I asked.

"Tools of the trade," Max said. "Optics, microphones. I'm sure the Ferrells do, but I don't quite trust them."

"Do we trust anybody?" I asked.

"Each other," Max said and kissed me.

And then he was gone again.