“It was all planned so that you would bring in a psychic,” said Mustafa.
“Yeah, right,” said Harvey.
“And it was particularly planned because of you,” Mustafa said sharply.
“Me?” Harvey almost squeaked the word. “I don’t even know these ghosts you’re talking about.”
“Yes, actually you do, since it’s because of you that they’re ghosts.”
Harvey blanched. Every eye in the room fixed on him, and none of the looks he got were particularly kind. Jake turned toward him, his face taking on a dangerous expression.
“I didn’t kill no one!” Harvey said quickly.
“I wondered about that explosion,” said Olive Herschfeld. “Joe always took such good care of his boat.”
“And the key,” said Jake. “The key was missing when he went to look for it. He found it on the boat and was worried that he had Alzheimer’s. Joe wasn’t a forgetful man.”
“I just borrowed it!” Harvey said. “That’s all I did. I just wanted to go fishing. I was lucky I didn’t get blown up!”
“You borrowed his boat?” Jake looked like he was ready to leap out of his chair and strangle the man. “Borrowed it without telling him, I suppose! That’s theft. And what the hell did you do to it, anyway? You’re probably the reason it blew up!”
“I didn’t do nothing to the boat! I took it out on the bay, but I got seasick so I brought the damn thing back. Didn’t even ding the paint.”
“Yeah, right,” said Jake. “Why don’t you ‘fess up like a man?”
“I told you, I didn’t do nothin’ to the boat!”
“He didn’t,” said Mustafa’s booming voice, cutting across the room and silencing everyone. “He didn’t hurt the boat.”
“See?” said Harvey, suddenly glad to have someone speaking for him, even if it was a ghost.
Jake turned toward Roxy. “Then why is this seance about Harvey?”
“Because,” said Mustafa, “he was the one who was supposed to be killed in the explosion.”
A gasp went through the room.
Jake shook his head. “Do you want to explain that?”
“I would be glad to,” Mustafa answered. “Harvey Little is here under the Witness Protection Program.”
“I knew it!” Suddenly Harvey was on his feet, stabbing a finger in Roxy’s direction. “I knew it. I didn’t want this spirit crap from the beginning, because I knew you idiots were gonna expose me! Do you want to get me killed?”
“Sit down!” Jake grabbed Harvey’s sleeve and jerked the man back into his chair.
“Let me finish!” Mustafa’s barked command had the effect of freezing the entire room. “That’s better. Now, to return to Mr. Little, or Mr. Moroney, as he used to be known …”
Harvey’s face turned as white as fresh-fallen snow. “How did you know that?”
“I know a great many things that are hidden to mortal eyes,” Mustafa said, with forgivable smugness. “I know, for example, that you were found out nearly a year ago.”
Harvey’s color didn’t improve. “The boat,” he said, in a strangled voice.
“Precisely,” Mustafa agreed. “The bomb was meant to kill you. Your acquaintances in the mob tracked you here to Paradise Beach and saw you getting on Joe’s boat that day. They boarded later that night and left a little present, intending to surprise you. When they saw the boat blow up, they thought they had killed you. Instead, they had killed Joe and Lucy.”
“My God,” said Jake quietly.
“They have since realized their mistake,” Mustafa continued. “They’re looking for you again, Herbie.”
“Herbie?” Jake said.
“Herbie Moroney,” Mustafa explained. “Also known as the Brain, although a bit sarcastically, I must say.”
Jake looked at Harvey. “Apparently.”
“Hey, I’m no dope!” Harvey protested.
“You were the one who tried to hook an industrial magnet into house current,” Jake reminded him. “Not exactly Einstein.”
Rainbow interjected, “Why does the mob want to kill Mr. Little?”
“Because he testified against a mob boss, and sent him to prison for life. They have long memories.”
“And why does Joe care?”
Mustafa replied, “Because he and Lucy fear that some of their friends may get hurt in the mob’s next inept attempt to kill Herbie Moroney.”
An appalled murmur spread through the room, but Harvey Little looked most frightened of all.
“You’ve got to get out of here,” Abe said, looking at Harvey. “No one else here should be hurt because of your misspent life.”
“I don’t have any money,” Harvey said. “I spent it all on the magnet. I don’t have any place to go—” He broke off as fear made him shudder. “I never hurt anyone,” he said plaintively. “I was too stupid to hurt anyone. Except the boss. I was too scared to go to prison …”
Gene stood up. “I’m sure you’ve got a contact in the Witness Protection Program. Somebody you can call.”
“I was supposed to be safe! They promised me I’d be safe!”
Jake looked at Gene. “One thing is for certain: we’ve got to get him out of this building as soon as possible.”
Gene nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Harvey wailed, “But nobody will help me! Nobody’s gonna believe I’m in danger because a ghost said so!”
“I can do something about that,” Gene said firmly. “I still know some people. But the first thing we have to do is get this slimeball out of this building, and make it clear he’s not going to come back.”
Everyone looked at Harvey, who was too busy being afraid to have anything to say.
It was Rainbow who came up with an idea. “Let’s fake an arrest.”
Gene’s, Jake’s, and Harvey’s heads all snapped around to gape at her.
“Splendid idea,” said Mary Todd, tapping her cane for emphasis. “Chief Corrigan is a reasonable man.”
“He’ll help,” Rainbow agreed. “I’ll call him right now.”
“I don’t want to be arrested!” Harvey looked as if he wanted to crawl out of his skin.
“We’re just going to pretend,” Jake said. “I doubt they’ll come after you if you’re in police custody.”
“No, they’ll kill me like a goldfish in a bowl while I’m locked up in some jail cell!”
“Nobody’s going to lock you up. We’re going to find a way to get you out of Paradise Beach.”
“Why?” Harvey’s color was coming back, along with his big mouth. “Why should you help me?”
“So nobody else gets killed, you jerk!”
That seemed to reassure him.
Rainbow went out to the lobby to use the pay phone to call Chief Corrigan. She tried not to think how this information was bound to affect Jake, once he had a chance to think about it. Her heart ached for him, though. How awful it was to know that his uncle’s death had been caused by a murderous attempt on the life of another person, far worse and more meaningless than an accident would have been.
Blaise Corrigan always took her calls readily, so she wasn’t surprised when she was put straight through to him.
“This is going to be a little hard to explain,” she said.
“It usually is, when you’re involved,” he said with friendly humor. “Just tell me the basics.”
“I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but one of the people at Paradise Towers is in the Witness Protection Program.”
“Really?” The humor faded from his voice. “How’d you find out?”
“One of my mother’s guides told everyone, and the man didn’t deny it.”
“It’s true, then. This isn’t good. Having his identity announced that way could cause him a lot of trouble.”
“He was already in a lot of trouble. My mother’s guide said that the mob blew up Joe Krebbs’s boat last year because they thought it belonged to this man and they were trying to kill him.”
&
nbsp; “Oh, my God!”
“Anyway, Mother’s guide says they’ve discovered they killed the wrong people, and they’re coming back after Harvey Little. So in order to protect the other residents, we need to get him out of there in a way that makes it clear he’s not corning back. We thought maybe you could pretend to arrest him, and keep him under watch while my Uncle Gene calls some people he knows in Washington to see what they can do about getting Harvey out of here.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me. The more noise we make about getting him out of there, the safer the other Towers residents will be.”
“That’s what we thought.”
“I’m on my way.”
He had believed her, Rainbow realized suddenly. For all he had sometimes seemed uncomfortable with psychic powers while they dated, he hadn’t questioned her or treated her like a lunatic.
It was a revelatory experience for her, and she felt the shackles of old fears beginning to let go. Not everyone was like her former fiance, she realized. Maybe her relationship with Corrigan had died simply because they didn’t click, and not because she was psychic. Maybe it was possible that every unfortunate thing in her life wasn’t directly related to her abilities.
When she returned to the rec room, everyone was still gathered, as if uncertain if they dared to leave and go back to their units. Roxy was emerging from her trance, looking drained.
“What happened?” she asked faintly.
“Mustafa was wonderful, Mother,” Dawn said reassuringly. “He solved the mystery for us.”
Roxy wailed, “Why do I always have to miss the exciting things?”
“Because you’re the medium, Mother.” Roxy was not appeased.
Rainbow reached Jake and Harvey Little. Mary was still sitting beside them, fondling the head of her cane and looking vastly entertained by the morning’s events.
Jake looked at Rainbow. “Any luck?”
“Chief Corrigan is on his way over. He’s going to pretend to arrest Harvey, and them keep him under guard until someone figures out how to get him safely away.”
“Great,” Jake said.
Harvey didn’t look as if he really thought so, but apparently he couldn’t think of any alternative.
“Why is someone getting arrested?” Roxy wanted to know. “What did I say?”
Rainbow looked at Dawn. “I’ll explain it to her,” Dawn said.
In the distance, they could now hear the sound of sirens. Rainbow smiled as she realized that Chief Corrigan was going to make this “arrest” in as high a profile way as possible.
“I don’t believe this,” Harvey said. “I spent my whole life staying away from cops.”
“Cops are good,” Jake said drily. “They can actually help you sometimes.”
“Yeah, right.”
Jake shook his head. “Look, guy, it’s like this. You can either leave here with police protection, or you can go on your own, but either way, we both know you’re not going to be hanging out here.”
Harvey scowled but shut his mouth, which to Rainbow’s way of thinking was a good thing, since she was finding his attitude very tiresome and was feeling very little sympathy for his plight.
The Dustbuster brigade, she noticed, had vanished into the woodwork. She thought they were probably humiliated by Red Feather’s reaction to their weapons, and she felt sorry for them. Silly or not, they were all nice old men who had been trying to help their neighbors. When things calmed down a little bit, she resolved to find a way to make them feel better. Maybe the Towers could throw a thank-you party for them.
Chief Corrigan and three other policemen walked in just then and made a show of arresting Harvey. Three minutes later, moaning all the way, he was led out in handcuffs. Rainbow hadn’t a doubt that this would make the evening news, which ought to hold the mob off long enough to allow somebody to spirit Harvey away.
“Thank goodness he’s gone!” Mary Todd cried. “What an obnoxious little man!”
But it all seemed anticlimactic to Rainbow. The residents were drifting away, apparently so uncomfortable with what had happened that they weren’t even stopping to thank Roxy.
This omission was not lost on Roxy, who finally wailed, “Rainbow, take us home right now. To Sarasota! I have had enough!”
Rainbow nearly sighed, realizing she was going to spend the next hours bandaging her mother’s wounded ego.
Jake reached out and caught her hand as she started to join her mother and sister. “Come see me as soon as you get back?” he asked. “We need to talk.”
She felt his hand tighten around hers, and she squeezed back. Suddenly the day seemed bright and cheerful. “Sure. It won’t take me all that long.”
And even less time, now that she knew he’d be waiting for her.
Twenty~one
It was eight o’clock that evening before Rainbow knocked on Jake’s door. The lateness of the hour was an indicator of the state Roxy had been in. It took only an hour to get to Sarasota from here, but Rainbow hadn’t been able to just drop her mother off and return. Instead, she’d been obliged to sit with her for hours, assuring her she’d done a wonderful job and probably saved lives.
Roxy had finally quieted, but swore she would never again channel for anyone in Paradise Beach.
Then Jake was opening his door, and all of that seemed incredibly far away as he smiled, drew her inside, then swept her into his arms for a long, hungry kiss.
Before she could do anything but register delight and a deep, warm sense of satisfaction, his hands were sweeping over her body, carrying her to those pinnacles of delight where only he could take her.
“I’ve missed you,” he said, when he came up for air. “God, I wouldn’t have believed it was possible to miss someone so much when they’d only been gone a few hours.”
Rainbow felt something deep inside her bloom, like a flower reaching for the sun. She looked up at him from heavily-lidded eyes and released a long sigh of satisfaction. “I missed you, too.”
“Good.” And he sounded as if he meant it. “I don’t want to be crass and carry you straight off to bed. I should tell you all the news first.”
“Be crass,” she suggested, a laugh of sheer joy rising from the pit of her stomach. She ought to be afraid, she realized. She ought to be terrified that she’d become too attached to Jake, but inexplicably, she felt safer than she’d ever felt in her life. The pain would come later, of course, but right now the anticipation of it couldn’t touch her.
“No,” he said, looking regretful. “I will not act like an animal, even if I feel like one. You must be hungry and tired, so I’m going to feed you first while you put your feet up and relax. We’ll share the news—and then I’ll drag you off to my lair.”
“Promise?”
His blue eyes sparkled with heat. “Believe it.”
He released her in stages, as if letting go of her was very difficult. But at last they stood apart, though it felt to Rainbow as if the tension between them crackled in the air.
“Dinner,” Jake said finally, shaking himself as though coming out of a Roxy-like trance. “I made dinner for us. Let me go warm it up.”
She watched as he crossed the room, and tried to find some shreds of common sense to hang onto before she became utterly lost in the sea of yearning he created in her. But it was too late, she realized. Too late to save herself. There was nothing she could do now except ride the waves.
“I made lo mein because it heats up well,” he said over his shoulder, as he walked into the kitchen. “I hope you like it.”
“I love it. You made it yourself?”
“Absolutely. I even went out to an oriental grocery to get the noodles. Made from scratch, my love, earlier today, with these two talented little hands.”
She followed him, feeling a thrill at being called his love, even as she tried to remind herself he didn’t really mean it. “They certainly are talented hands,” she managed to say lightly.
“And I intend to prove just how talented … later. Once I’ve taken care of you properly.”
She was touched. “You don’t have to take care of me, Jake.”
He looked at her. “I don’t have to … I want to.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, hugging the delicious feelings he was giving her as close as she could, as if afraid that they might slip away.
He popped the bowl of lo mein into the microwave and turned it on.
“News,” he reminded himself. “Gene managed to get hold of a contact in Washington. Don’t ask me which contact. He’s a very cagy man, your uncle.”
Rainbow nodded. “There’s a lot he won’t talk about.”
“Well, I get the feeling he knows some very powerful people. Anyway, the gist of it is, sometime in the next twenty-four hours, Harvey Little, a.k.a. Her-bie ‘The Brain’ Moroney, is going to be swept away to parts unknown by the Witness Protection Program. Or by somebody. I’m assuming it’s Witness Protection. He also found out the whole damn story. You know, your uncle would make a great inquisitor. I gather he got Harvey to sing like a bird.”
“What is the story?”
He pulled the lo mein out and replaced it with a bowl of fluffy short-grain rice. He turned the mico-wave on again.
“Harvey was evidently a minor hoodlum with some mob connections up north in New Jersey. He was an idea guy, or thought he was. Anyway, somehow, in some way, he got his bosses interested in some kind of scam for disposing of garbage. Which is why my uncle felt he might have met him somewhere. Joe was in the garbage business.”
“Really? But Harvey didn’t actually try to kill him?”
Jake shook his head. “Apparently not. After Joe recognized Harvey in the elevator, the Feds checked it out and decided Joe had believed Harvey when he said he didn’t know any Moroney. Apparently Joe had merely seen him around somewhere, when Harvey was nosing out the business—if you’ll pardon the pun.”
Rainbow gave an obligatory groan and he grinned at her.
“Anyway, not being too bright, Harvey readily accepted that Joe had simply mistaken him for someone else.”
“But how did the mob find Harvey?”
“No one knows, although they suspect there was a leak somewhere along the way.”