Goddess, Guilted Page 12

  We moved quickly though the warmups and into the Sun Salutations flow. The other students didn’t seem to notice Angelica’s ankle gear, and it didn’t get in her way much. She just worked around it, a small smile playing on her beautiful face.

  Partway through, the front glass door swooshed open. I glanced to the side to see Neil standing in the lobby. He wasn’t dressed for class, so I was pretty sure this wasn’t a social call.

  I kept my attention on my class. Neil knew the schedule. If he thought he would interrupt my class, he was sadly mistaken.

  Once I had guided my students into a well-deserved savasana, that meditation time at the end of class, I padded over to the lobby with raised eyebrows. I leaned in close to him. “Can I help you, detective?”

  Neil leaned toward my ear and whispered back. “I have some questions about the case, but I will wait until class is over. I just didn’t want to miss you before you sprinted to the coffee shop.”

  I nodded and pulled away, my brows knit over my eyes. Was my schedule so well known? Did everyone in town know I raced to CeCe’s after Sun Salutations? I couldn’t eat much before class or I’d feel nauseous partway through – an uncomfortable experience had taught me that. So I was typically starving right after class.

  I settled back on my mat, bell in hand, ready to bring the class out of meditation. Patricia’s death in my class last month was still raw enough that I could feel myself tense up a little at this time every class. Would everyone sit up like they were supposed to?

  Of course, they did. Patricia’s death was an anomaly. I would need to let it go at some point.

  As class ended and students began to exit the studio, I turned my attention back to Neil.

  “What can I do for you, detective?”

  “Detective?” Neil’s eyes looked over my head. He nodded. “Good morning, Josie, Deangelo, Angelica.”

  The trio just looked at him, then continued gathering their gear.

  “Well, this is awkward.” Angelica let out a giggle.

  Deangelo glared at Neil. Josie cleared her throat, then looked away.

  Although I had misgivings about letting him out of an awkward situation, I wanted to spare Josie any more problems.

  I touched Neil’s arm and gestured toward my office. “I’ll be right there.”

  He glanced sadly at the trio, then nodded, stepping silently toward my desk, where he propped himself on the edge. I noticed he could still see the front door.

  “I’m sorry.” I mouthed the words to the trio in the front lobby.

  Josie shook her head and spoke softly. “It’s not your fault. Just one of the perks of living in a small town.”

  “Truth, sistah.” Angelica jumped up with a smile on her face. “Just one more reason to stay in L.A.”

  Josie swatted her, then they all reached for their gear, tossing their yoga mat carriers over their shoulders. They each gave me a hug as they passed by.

  I turned back to Neil. “What’s up, buttercup?”

  He didn’t crack a smile. “I want more information about your tires getting slashed. You want to tell me about it for the report?”

  “Didn’t Cindy file one?”

  “That was the petty crime report. I want to know how it impacts my investigation into Jerry’s murder.”

  Neil perched on the edge of my desk as I moved around to the chair behind it.

  “I don’t know that it does, Neil. I don’t know what to think.”

  “Did you discuss the case with anyone besides your little group of co-conspirators?”

  Pursing my lips, I shook my head.

  “Did you overhear anyone talking about the case?”

  Another head shake.

  Neil tucked his notebook back into his jacket pocket and looked at me solemnly. “Mariah, just be careful. I have a very bad feeling about where this is going.”

  With that, Neil stood and strode out of the studio.

  I leaned back in my chair, mulling over what he had said, my hands playing with a couple of Red Jasper stones from my desk. I opened my hand wide to look at them. “C’mon, Red Jasper. You’re supposed to help bring justice into the world, right? Right? How about a little satya here?”

  Rolling my eyes at myself, I sat back up, letting the stones fall to the desk. This is what I’d become during this investigation: I was talking to a couple of rocks. Literally. All I could do was laugh at myself, then my eyes focused on the two rocks. One was shiny and sparkly. This was one I had bought from the Corner Mercantile a while back.

  The other one was dirty and dull. It was the one I had pulled from the river. Where had I seen some like it recently? Besides at Jerry’s murder scene, I mean.

  I toyed with them on my desk, feeling like I was missing something. Finally, I had to just set the thoughts aside. Perhaps it would come to me while I was teaching. The door flew open and a student stuck in her head.

  “Hi, Mariah. Ready for my private?”

  My stomach rumbled. Dang it. I had spent so long thinking about rocks and suspects that I forgot to run to CeCe’s for breakfast.

  The door flew open again. CeCe bolted in, both hands full. She shoved a cup and a bag at me. “Double-shot mocha with almond milk and a chocolate croissant.”

  My mouth fell open. My student watched from the lobby as she sat down to take off her shoes. I waved her into the studio. “I’ll be right there.”

  “Take your time. That looks much more appetizing.” She chuckled and pushed through the saloon doors into the studio.

  “How did you know? Are you psychic now along with everything else?” I pulled the lid off the cup and drank deeply.

  “Yes, I’m psychic, Mariah. I thought you knew that about me.” CeCe just shook her head as I greedily bit into the croissant, moaning with delight. “That, and Josie told me Neil was waiting for you after class. I happened to see him walk past the shop, so I knew you were still here and I figured you could use a pick-me-up.”

  She leaned against the desk that Neil had recently vacated. “What did he want?”

  “He wanted to know about the slashed tires and warn me off of investigating.”

  “Well, that was a complete waste of his time.”

  “Right? The thing is, CeCe, I feel like I’m close, but I just can’t get my head around it.”

  She smiled and checked her watch. “Let it percolate – see what I did there? – and it will probably click at some point. I have to get back.”

  “Ha, ha.” I hugged her and thanked her for the breakfast treats. After a couple of bites, I wrapped the leftovers in the napkin, wiped my mouth and pushed into the studio.

  The rest of the day flew by. Cindy got tied up, so I took over her evening restorative yoga class. I don’t know about the students, but I felt so relaxed at the end, I wanted to call a car to come drive me home.

  The students wandered out of the studio, leaving me to quickly clean up and close the books for the night.

  Yawning, I stepped out the front doors and locked them behind me. There was just one more stop to make before I headed for home. Saturday night was the monthly Movie Night, this month scheduled right after Tamara’s workshop. That only gave me a couple of days to get her out of jail. I decided to finish my Silent Auction basket so I wouldn’t have to think about it while I focused on springing Tamara.

  I paused at the door of the Corner Mercantile. But what if Tamara really was guilty? What if, as Josie claimed, her yoga goddess persona was just an act and she really was capable of killing someone? Clearly, my “locate the killer” radar was broken, if it had ever worked, for that matter.

  “Hey, Mariah.” Sandy stood at the front counter, wiping out some glasses that had apparently been on display a tad too long. “Don’t usually see you out and about this late.”

  I glanced around the Corner Mercantile. I hadn’t realized until she spoke that we were alone. I offered a rueful smile, acknowledging what she said. I tended to be home ready for bed at this time of night. “That�
�s true. Just needed a couple of last-minute things for Movie Night.”

  “That danged Movie Night. I appreciate the business, but it’s irritating to have to go to that thing every month.”

  I smiled as my eyes scanned the aisle. “I enjoy it. I like getting out and seeing everyone. Of course, I’m new in town, so that probably makes a difference.”

  As I reached for hand sanitizer on the bottom shelf, my eyes flicked to the back of the store, and my hand froze. Boxes stacked one on top of the other blocked the view of the back door. I sucked in a breath as I finished grabbing a bottle and putting it in my basket.

  I stood up and swallowed hard. I couldn’t see the back door. And if I couldn’t see the back door, neither could Sandy’s clerk. She had no alibi.

  A sudden movement to my right made me jump.

  “Did you find everything you needed, Mariah?” Sandy stood between me and the back door.

  I laughed and nodded, shaking myself a little. “I guess I started daydreaming there for a minute.”

  “In the cleaning aisle? You need to improve your daydreams.”

  Sandy gave a little chin nod toward the counter and I headed toward it.

  I stood awkwardly in front of the cashier’s counter, then reached into my pocket and set a Red Jasper stone on the counter.

  She stared at the rock, then her eyes flicked up to me, her face closely guarded. “What’s this? Did you want to sell it? You know I don’t buy Jasper anymore, Mariah. I dig it myself.”

  I played with the stone in my hand. “Right. At the river. You pushed me in.”

  Sandy scoffed. “Don’t be silly. You were nowhere near where I dig.”

  “How do you know where we were?” I reluctantly lifted my eyes to meet hers. “I mean, if you weren’t there, how do you know where we were?”

  Sandy’s gaze faltered briefly, then hardened again. “Small-town gossip, Mariah. That’s all.”

  Part of my brain screamed at me to get out of the store, but another part urged me to get as much information as I could for Neil.

  “When Jerry was stabbed, a rock fell from the killer’s pocket and landed in Jerry’s collar. Not just any rock. Red Jasper. Just like the ones you keep in your apron pocket there.”

  Sandy leaned her body away from the rock on the counter, automatically reaching up to touch the rocks in her smock apron. She literally looked down her nose at me. Then she shrugged and picked up her rag again, starting to wipe out of the glass in her hand. She gave a small smile.

  “Sweet little Mariah playing detective again. Just because it turned out okay for you last time doesn’t mean you’re a detective. Maybe you should stick to yoga and leave detecting to the professionals.”

  Maybe you should stick to not killing people. Anger welled up inside, but I calmed myself with a breath. Anger would not help this particular situation.

  I looked her directly in the eyes. “What if I told you the sheriff’s department found a fingerprint on the Red Jasper rock at the crime scene?”

  Sandy sized me up for a moment, probably trying to see if I was bluffing or not. I was, but I hoped she couldn’t tell. It’s not like she knew me that well, after all.

  "I’d say you were lying.” She finally spoke, swishing the rag around the glass. “I’d say the Sheriff’s Department already has my husband’s killer in jail.”

  She placed the glass that she’d been cleaning for the past few minutes back on the shelf with the rest, then calmly picked up the next one. She held it up to the light, squinting at it. Then she turned to face me, her hand in the glass and both hands on the counter. “And I’d wonder why you’re trying to stir up trouble. Why can’t you let it be?”

  “Because an innocent woman is in jail.”

  Sandy spat in response. “That cow? If there’s anything she is, it isn’t innocent. She ruined Jerry’s life. He was a good man, until she came to town and started spreading rumors.”

  Sandy suddenly banged the glass on the counter, startling me. “Who does she think she is, Miss High and Mighty, coming back to town, calling herself the ‘goddess’? She was never Jerry’s goddess.”

  Anger seeped from every part of Sandy’s being. The realization of what she had just said hit me like a busload of bricks.

  “She wasn’t the goddess. You are.” My eyes met hers. “You’re the goddess. He loved you.”

  Sandy swallowed hard, her eyes finally dropping to her hands.

  “It wasn’t Tamara at all.” It wasn’t a question.

  Sandy slowly nodded, her eyes on her hands as they tapped nervously on the counter.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  She shook her head, then shrugged her shoulders. “Doesn’t matter now anyhow.” She lifted her head and looked off as if the scene was replaying itself on the wall behind me, which, frankly, in her mind, it probably was.

  “I was in the back picking up another box of stock, when he stumbled out the side door. I followed him outside and asked him where he thought he was going. He was probably still drunk from the night before. He never really sobered up anymore.”

  She stopped and wiped her nose on her long-sleeved T-shirt. I leaned forward and placed my hand on her arm to steady her. “He said he had to make amends to her, that he had hurt her and me both and the only way he knew to set it right was to tell her how wrong he had been and then turn himself in to the sheriff.”

  “I begged him to stop, to let us talk it out first. He was going to destroy everything we – I – had worked for the past 20 years. He had no right.” Sandy’s head dropped. “I was so angry, at first I didn’t know what to do. I just went back inside to finish stocking. But that just made me look around at my beautiful store, that I’ve worked so hard to build up. I took the shortcut through the alley to the hotel. He was already at the top of the stairs when I grabbed his arm. He tried to shake me off, but he’s been so far gone that he had no muscle anymore.” She gave a small laugh. “I still had the knife I was using to open the boxes in my hand and I just stabbed him. He fell to the ground and hit his head.”

  “I’ll never forget the sound of his head hitting that concrete as long as I live. Like an overripe pumpkin getting smashed.” Tears appeared in the corners of her eyes but didn’t fall over.

  “Then I ran back to the store. My good-for-nothing clerk didn’t even know I’d been gone. He probably didn’t even take the buds out of his ears the whole time.”

  “Were you really going to let Tamara take the blame for his death?”

  Sandy’s eyes flashed. “My husband was never the same after that summer. She turned him into something he was not. He kept doing it and he never forgave himself.”

  “You never forgave him either.”

  Her lips became a single dry line. “He ruined his life and mine. How could I forgive either of them?”

  Another realization hit home. My lips felt dried out. “And then Tamara came to town and hooked up with Lou, the pizza guy. That must have been a kick in the gut.”

  Sandy briefly closed her eyes and then exhaled. “I finally found someone who cared about me just for me. The fact that she showed up again to destroy something of mine … I hated her so much.”

  “Enough to let her go to prison for a crime you committed.”

  Sandy looked up triumphantly. “And she still will.”

  She stepped to the side of the counter, then slammed the glass on the counter, using her gloved hand to pick up the base, which still had a shard attached.

  “Sandy! What are you doing?”

  “I’ve got nothing left to lose, Mariah.” She lunged toward me, catching me by surprise as she hit me low, causing me to step backwards, then tumble onto my backside over boxes stacked in the aisle.

  She leapt toward me faster than I would have expected, so I rolled to my side to get away, which almost worked until she caught my foot and slashed my thigh with the glass shard in her hand.

  I screamed in pain. Then I slammed my other foot into the side of her
head, which made her loosen her hold on my foot so I kicked her hard with that one, too.

  I scrambled away on my hands and knees, climbing quickly to my feet and heading toward the door, blood cascading down my leg.

  Sandy grabbed my hair, jerking me backwards and slashing my back with her shard knife, ripping holes in my yoga top.

  “Sandy, stop!” I tried to pull away from her, but she stabbed the arm she held in a vice-like grip. As she moved to stab me again, I reached my free arm back as far as I could, made a fist, then swung it at her jaw.

  My hand writhed in pain at the resounding crack. Sandy stopped, her eyes rolled slightly and she crumpled to the ground.

  “Mariah!” The bell over the door dinged as Maya Anderson raced into the store. She stopped when they saw me standing over Sandy, drenched in blood, which seemed to be coming out of holes all over my body.

  I waved weakly, then frowned. Maya had her phone out. Was she really going to take pictures of this? “Dispatch? It’s Anderson. I have an emergency at the Corner Mercantile.” Maya’s voice faded as she turned away.

  The door flew open again as CeCe and Stormy rushed in. CeCe screamed and pointed. I followed her gaze in time to see Sandy pressing her hands beneath her shoulders to push herself up and reach for the knife shard. I kicked her in the face and she went back down.

  “Sorry, Sandy.”

  “Do not apologize to that woman.” CeCe approached us and kicked the shard away from Sandy. Stormy flew past her and landed on Sandy’s back, causing the store owner to scream in pain. Stormy laid herself across Sandy’s back as CeCe sat down on her legs.

  “I thought you were just picking up things for Movie Night.” CeCe’s eyes held questions as they scanned my body to see how injured I was.

  “I know, but one thing led to another.”

  CeCe smiled and looked around. “Mariah Stevens punched a woman, then kicked her in the face. So much for ahimsa.”

  I yawned, which surprised me. “I’m pretty sure defense of self is allowed in the yogic principles.”

  Maya waved her phone at me and I nodded. “Knock yourself out, Maya.” She clicked away at CeCe and Stormy sitting on Sandy.