Browsing for Trouble

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

“I’m so sorry,” Willow’s mom, Harmony, said for the third time. She twisted a large turquoise ring nervously around on her finger. “I can’t imagine someone wanting to play such a horrible prank.”

“We’re okay,” I said. I reached out and patted Harmony on her shoulder. “Personally, I thought Juls was hilarious squealing about how she was going to turn into a flesh-eating zombie.”

Juliet shot me a glare. “I didn’t think I was going to turn into an actual zombie. I was worried I had caught some kind flesh-eating bacteria. It was hyperbole. It’s what we artistic souls do.”

“This is getting out of hand,” Steve said. Willow’s father, Steve, was as different from Harmony as I was from Juliet. His blue polo shirt and neatly pressed khaki shorts contrasted sharply with Harmony’s flowing tie-dyed skirt, multiple rings on her fingers and toes, and long gray braids.

“Hush, Honey Bear,” Harmony said.

I gave Juliet a wide-eyed look and mouthed, “Honey Bear?” She snickered then quickly tried to cover it with a cough.

“These girls are Willow’s friends, so that makes them family as far as the spirits are concerned, Sugar Plum. We may as well tell them. Willow did say that they are civilian police back in Miller’s Cove.”

What the heck had Willow been telling her parents about Juliet and me? Civilian police? Try neighborhood watch, and only if I remembered to stay awake long enough to stick my head outside and look up and down the block. Sure, we’d solved a crime or two, but it was more sheer luck and stupidity than my mad detecting and library skills. Despite reading every Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie novel ever published, most of the information I’d gleaned had not come in handy when I was confronted by a g*n-toting, alligator-loving criminal.

Harmony gave a long, drawn out sigh. “You’re right. We need some kind of help because that bumbling buffoon of a deputy the sheriff sent out last time isn’t going to help us out.”

“This isn’t the first so-called joke that’s been played on some of our guests. At first, we thought that it was just the spirits being playful, but Harmony said it was humans at work, not my spirit guides trying to get our attention.”

“I can see where Willow gets her…uh…connection to the other realm,” I said. “What kinds of things have been happening?”

“Guests’ personal belongings have been taken from the dressing rooms and put in odd places like the dining room. A huge scorpion was found in a chafing dish on the breakfast buffet. Just little things.” Harmony shrugged. “To be honest, we weren’t too worried until it started happening more frequently, and we started to lose business. I’m not in this for my health. I’ve got a bottom line to meet and business partners who like to see a profit at the end of each quarter.”

I raised my eyebrows. Despite her hippie looks, Harmony seemed to be a hard-nosed business woman. I wondered what Steve’s role was in the business. Perhaps he oversaw channeling the spirits for guests of the resort.

“I assume you’ve talked to all of your staff. There aren’t any disgruntled former employees or dissatisfied customers with a grudge?” Juliet asked.

“Steve, didn’t want to upset the staff by interrogating them,” Harmony said dryly. Her fingers tapped out a nervous staccato.

“Most of them have been with us since the beginning. They’re family,” Steve protested and grabbed Harmony’s hand to calm her.

“I’ve been to some pretty testy family reunions and holiday dinners myself,” Juliet joked. “Sometimes family can surprise you.”

“I was twelve, and it was only mashed potatoes. You flicked a pea at me first!”

“As I was saying,” Juliet continued, “you should probably still ask the staff if they know of anyone who would play these kinds of tricks on guests. Perhaps they know something you don’t.”

“Do you have any rivals? Enemies?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” Steve said, but I detected a bit of a hesitation in his voice.

“Are you sure?” I pushed gently. “Everybody at one time or another has made somebody angry.”

“Well …” Steve began.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Steve! They’ll hear about it from Willow eventually, so we might as well tell them!” Harmony snapped. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Sorry, Honey Bear. You know how much all of this upsets me.”

Steve grabbed her hand and pulled it to his mouth and kissed it. “It’s okay. The spirits and I see your true heart. We know it’s worry, not anger, that makes your aura turn red.”

Oh, sweet honeyed jalapenos, it was like being around a male version of Willow. I hoped I wouldn’t be required to interrogate the spirits to get a straight answer from Steve.

“Harmonious Healing Spa and Resort was built on sacred ground,” Harmony blurted out. “There. I said it. It’s not really a secret, but we don’t tell guests about it either. Many of our resort guests come here to get in touch with their sacred energy. If they thought that we had built their spiritual retreat on a sacred site…well, we’d be in the red before week’s end. Some of our more…uh, spiritual guests don’t like to see the ancestors disturbed. Personally, I think it’s a crock of-”

“We didn’t know when we built the spa,” Steve interrupted her. “It came to our attention about a year ago that our realtor may have been less than forthcoming with us regarding the history of the property.”

“May have? The woman is a thief and a liar!”

“What do you mean by sacred site?” Juliet asked. “Isn’t most of the land around Sedona sacred?”

“The Yavapai tribe believe that Sedona is where the tribe was born. According to an ancient legend, Kamalpukwia is the first woman and they all came from her. Idelia said that the tribe considers this land where the spa sits as part of the area where Kamalpukwia emerged from the earth.”

“Idelia?”

“Idelia Riggs. She is a council woman for the Yavapai tribe. I’m not really sure what exactly she does,” Steve said.

“She’s in cahoots with that reprobate realtor, is what she is!” Harmony spat. “I’m sure they have some kind of scheme they’re pulling. I don’t trust her or Francine. Francine is the realtor from Sun Vortex Realty who sold us the land. Now she’s been skulking around here saying the tribe’s willing to pay us the original sales price for the land. Like that would even put a dent in what we’ve spent on constructing the hotel and spa.”

“How long ago did you build the spa?” I asked.

“We broke ground two years ago. The spa’s been open for about a year.”

“Francine would be the first person I would question if I were the police,” Juliet said.

“The deputy who came to investigate the first time is Francine’s brother,” Steve said with a woeful shake of his head.

“Hmm…is there anyone else that might have a reason to want the resort to fail?” I asked.

“No. Francine and Idelia are the only two I can think of, and honestly, I don’t know how either one of them could have done it,” Harmony said.

We heard someone walking down the hallway towards the office where we sat. A moment later, the door flew open and a short woman with long, dark dreadlocks peeking out from a floppy turquoise hat walked in.

“Mummy! Daddy! I’m home!” Willow announced happily.