Dead Is a Killer Tune Page 7

  “Someone was playing here?” I asked. “One of your students?”

  A look of confusion crossed her face. “I don’t remember.”

  I hesitated. “Is there someone I can call to stay with you?”

  We were interrupted by pounding on the door. “Ms. Minerva, it’s Chief Wells. Are you all right?”

  “Jessica, could you please answer that for me?” Ms. Minerva asked. “I still feel a little woozy.”

  I opened the door as Chief Wells prepared to pound on the door again, and she lurched forward a bit.

  “Wait, I know you,” she said. “You show up at an awful lot of crime scenes.”

  “So do you,” I said, joking, but she frowned. I held out a hand. “Jessica Walsh.”

  “Well, Jessica Walsh, what exactly are you doing here?”

  I opened the door wide. “Come on in, Chief Wells. This is my guitar teacher’s house.”

  “Guitar, huh?” she said. “That explains a lot.”

  The chief strode into the living room and introduced herself to Ms. Minerva. “One of your neighbors reported a suspicious character in your backyard. She thought someone broke into your house.”

  “That was Jessica,” Ms. Minerva said, obviously not aware of how it would sound to the chief.

  “Ms. Minerva didn’t answer the door at our scheduled time, so I came around to the back and saw her lying on the couch.”

  “So you broke in,” Chief Wells said. It wasn’t a question.

  “The back door was open,” I explained carefully. “There was smoke all over the place. And I was worried about my teacher.”

  “But I’m fine. I had just dozed off,” Ms. Minerva said.

  “I don’t see any smoke,” Chief Wells said. “How did the fire happen?”

  “I don’t know,” Ms. Minerva said. “I’ll check.” I helped her to her feet.

  “There was something burning in the oven,” I said. “I turned the oven off and opened all the windows to clear the smoke.”

  The chief asked Ms. Minerva, “Where do you keep your valuables?”

  “I don’t really have any valuables,” Ms. Minerva replied. “Except—oh, no!” She rushed to a cabinet and drew out a violin case. “My grandfather’s violin,” she said. She opened the case slowly, as if afraid of what she’d find. “It’s here.”

  “Anything else of value to a thief?” Chief Wells prodded.

  She shook her head. “Not unless it was something small.”

  “Why were you here again?” The chief was definitely unimpressed with me.

  I gritted my teeth. “I had a lesson.”

  The chief went to the kitchen and returned a minute later. “Burnt brownies,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean you’re telling the truth about everything else. Jessica, I’ll have to ask you to check your backpack.”

  “What?” I was fuming mad, but I dumped out the contents of my bag and turned my pockets inside out. “There, are you satisfied?” My mind raced as the chief went through my backpack with an insulting thoroughness. She was just doing her job, but it was annoying how she believed the worst of me.

  “One more thing,” the chief said. She opened my guitar case and turned over my gorgeous purple guitar to see if there was anything hidden beneath it.

  “Be careful with that,” I said. I was working hard to control my anger.

  “Jessica would never steal anything,” Ms. Minerva protested. She swayed, and I grabbed her to help steady her. I led her back to the couch.

  “She said there was someone here earlier,” I said.

  The chief looked skeptical. “Is that true, Ms. Minerva?”

  “I don’t remember. I’m not as young as I used to be,” she said.

  “Maybe we should get you to the doctor,” the chief said gently, then turned to me. “Jessica, I suggest you go home. I may have a few more questions for you.”

  I halfway expected her to add something about not leaving town, but she simply turned her attention back to Ms. Minerva.

  When I got outside, Connor was running up the street. “Jessica, is everything okay?”

  I nodded and told him what had happened. “But Chief Wells has it under control now.”

  Just then, the Slim’s Diner van careened around the corner. As expected, Flo was behind the wheel, with Andy and Raven in the back. Their tattoos must have alerted them to the danger too.

  “What’s going on?” Flo asked.

  Connor and I exchanged a look. I decided that if I couldn’t trust my trainer, who could I trust?

  “Our guitar teacher almost set her house on fire,” I said. “But, um, the chief of police is in there now, so . . .”

  “Why didn’t you call me?” Flo snapped. Today’s tee read BECAUSE I SAID SO, THAT’S WHY.

  Of course I should have told her. “I’m sorry, Flo,” I replied. “I wasn’t thinking.”

  Connor’s mouth dropped open, but he rallied quickly. “Why should Jessica have called you?” he asked her curiously.

  I waited to see what Flo would say, but she didn’t respond for a long moment. She couldn’t exactly announce that she was my trainer, my mentor, my boss.

  “Because I have a key to her house,” she finally said. “I feed her cat while she’s on vacation.”

  “I didn’t know Ms. Minerva had a cat,” Connor said.

  I cleared my throat. “I think you mean her fish,” I said. I could hear Andy snickering in the back of the van.

  Connor looked hurt, but he didn’t argue. “Jessica, can I walk you home?”

  I looked at Flo imploringly and she gave a tiny nod.

  “Flo can give us both a ride home,” I told him.

  As predicted, Flo dropped off Connor first. He climbed out of her van, shoulders slumped, and said a halfhearted good night.

  “He’s cute,” she said, after he was out of earshot.

  “He is cute,” I agreed.

  “Cute, but not Dominic,” Flo said. There wasn’t a hint of sympathy in her voice.

  “Nope.”

  “Hey, great save with that line about feeding her fish,” Andy said. “Does Ms. Minerva even have a fish?”

  “As a matter of fact, she does,” I said. “And I found this in the tank.” I produced the pick from my pocket.

  “What is it?” Raven asked.

  “It’s a guitar pick,” I said.

  “She is a guitar teacher,” Andy pointed out, rather unnecessarily, since I was her student.

  “But what was it doing in her fish tank?” I asked, which shut Andy up.

  “It’s a custom-made pick,” Flo said, glancing over at it as she drove.

  Raven craned her neck for a better look. “It has DBBF on it.”

  “What’s it mean?” Andy said, peering over my shoulder.

  “It means that we need to talk to the members of Drew Barrymore’s Boyfriends.”

  I still hadn’t figured out what to do about the dollhouse, but I figured as long as I had Flo’s attention, I could get her to help me.

  After Flo had dropped off Raven and Andy, I said, “I have something to show you at my house, if you have a minute.”

  “Can it wait?” she asked. “I have to get back to the diner.” Then she took a good look at the expression on my face. “Okay. I’m sure Daisy can cover for a little while longer.”

  “Where’s Slim?” I asked.

  “He surprised Natalie with a little getaway,” she said.

  “No wonder she isn’t answering her phone,” I replied. “I tried calling her about this first, since it’s more her area of expertise.”

  “What is?” Flo asked as she parked the van on the street in front of my house.

  “Let me show you,” I said. My sisters had been asking about the dollhouse almost hourly, and I could tell it was getting on Mom’s nerves. So, that morning I had finally given in and hauled it to their room. But first I had scooped up the seven lively occupants and put them in a shoebox with some holes poked in the top. Dismissing their protests, I
closed the lid and then tied a piece of string around it. I wasn’t sure what to do with it after that.

  I took Flo up to my room and removed the box from under the bed. I opened it and the princess bounded to her feet and shook her tiny fist at me. “Blackguard! Cretin! I’ll see you hanged for this.”

  I shut the lid, which muffled her shriek of rage.

  “I think it happened because of wishing powder,” I said. “That’s why I was trying to get in touch with Natalie. What should I do?”

  She sighed. “Where’s the powder?”

  “In the closet,” I said.

  But when we checked my soccer bag, the wishing powder was gone.

  “Who would want to take it?” Flo asked.

  I hesitated. “What about Hunter?” I asked. “His hands were stained blue when he was in the attic.”

  “Hunter wouldn’t steal a thing,” she said.

  “But I . . .” I looked at her expression and realized she wouldn’t believe me.

  “It’s not him,” she said sharply. “I’m sure of it. Did you tell anyone?”

  I was afraid she was going to ask me that. “Selena.”

  “You told Selena Silvertongue that you had a box full of wishing powder?” Flo asked. “What were you thinking?”

  “Selena wouldn’t take it,” I said. But I wasn’t really that sure. She’d done some pretty questionable things in the past.

  Just then, Mom appeared in the doorway of my room. “Jessica, what is the meaning of this?”

  She held up the porcelain box, which used to contain the indigo powder. “I wish you’d tell me what this is. I was looking for Sarah’s sweater in your closet and it fell out.”

  Mom’s hands had a little residual blue powder on them.

  “It’s wishing powder,” I blurted out involuntarily.

  Flo shot me a dirty look. “It’s mine,” Flo said. “A temporary hair dye. The brand is Wishing Powder.”

  “Oh, you can’t imagine what I was thinking,” Mom said. She approved of Flo, so she handed over the box and wandered back into her office without another word.

  “I couldn’t help it,” I said to Flo. “It’s wishing powder. She made a wish. I had to tell her.”

  “That was a close call,” she replied. “We’ll have to wash this box out thoroughly so there are no more wishes granted. And I’ll take this, too.” She clutched the shoebox.

  “But the powder that was in there is still gone,” I said, frowning.

  I couldn’t convince Flo that it wasn’t Selena. There was no way Flo would ever believe that her friend Hunter would steal anything. I was going to have to prove it.

  Chapter Eleven

  “We’re all going to the Black Opal tonight,” Flo announced on Saturday after training.

  “I’ll have to pass,” I said.

  “That wasn’t an invitation,” Flo said. “Battle of the Bands is tonight. And DBBF are playing.”

  “Who else is playing?” I asked, but I already knew the answer. I couldn’t avoid Dominic no matter how hard I tried.

  But Flo surprised me. “As of right now, nobody,” she said. “Vinnie said they’re trying to get a replacement for Jeff.”

  “Jessica plays the guitar,” Andy reminded her.

  “That’s right,” Flo said. “I have an idea. Jessica’s going undercover. She’s going to join Side Effects May Vary, temporarily, of course, and help us get to the bottom of this.”

  “No, I can’t!” I couldn’t think of anything more humiliating. Dominic would hate having me in the band and I would hate being there. Watching all those girls drooling over him would be pure torture.

  “Why not?” Flo gave me a hard stare and I knew I’d better come up with a good excuse.

  “My mom is already freaking out about how much I’m gone,” I said. “I can’t add anything else.”

  “I’ll excuse you from training,” Flo replied.

  “It’s not just that,” I said. “I’ve never performed in front of a large crowd before.”

  “Don’t worry,” Raven said. “I’ll talk to Dominic. He’ll help you through it.”

  Flo was already dialing the phone. “Vinnie, I found someone to replace Jeff.”

  She stepped away from us to continue the conversation in private. She was smiling when she came back. “You’re in.”

  “That’s . . . great,” I said weakly.

  “They’re going to try to squeeze in a practice this afternoon,” Flo said. “Be at the Black Opal at three.”

  There was no sense in fighting the inevitable. I couldn’t shirk my duty as a virago.

  I got to the Black Opal at exactly three, but I was the first one there. Teddie Myles was sitting at one of the tables near the stage.

  “Jessica, come sit with me,” she said.

  “If I’m not disturbing you,” I said. Teddie had been a famous rock ‘n’ roll guitarist in the late sixties. She was Dominic’s idol.

  “I hear you joined a band,” she said. “Sit down and tell me all about it.”

  “It’s only temporary,” I replied. I took a seat across from her.

  She gave a snort of laughter. “That’s what I said too. Spent thirty years in the business.”

  “It must have been amazing,” I said.

  Dominic walked in and frowned when he saw me sitting there. I guess that answered my question about how he felt about me joining the band.

  “You’re early,” he said.

  “I’m on time,” I replied. “There’s a difference.”

  Teddie got up from the table. “Jessica, it’s been lovely talking to you, but there’s some paperwork calling my name.”

  “You two seem friendly,” Dominic said.

  “I like her,” I said. “Is that a problem?”

  “Not a problem at all,” he said. He took a seat opposite me. “Look, I wanted to talk to you before the rest of the band got here.”

  “About?”

  “You don’t have to join if you don’t want to,” he said.

  “I know that.” As much as Flo made it seem like an order, I knew I had a choice. But what I really thought he was saying was that he didn’t want me in the band.

  “It won’t be hard for you because of us?” he asked.

  “I’ll manage to keep my hands off you,” I replied sarcastically.

  He blushed. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He moved in so close that our knees touched. “Besides, did you ever think that maybe I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off you?”

  Now it was my turn to blush. “It makes it hard to think of you as a friend when you flirt with me like that.”

  “Maybe I don’t want you to think of me as a friend,” he replied. He leaned in even closer and I thought he was going to kiss me.

  I scooted away, but my heart rate accelerated. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have stopped dating me.”

  “Sorry we’re late,” Katrina said.

  The rest of the band arrived and I stood. “Time for practice,” I said.

  “Can we talk later?” Dominic asked.

  I nodded and then walked over to tune my purple guitar.

  “Jessica, we’re doing a short set tonight,” Katrina said. “Here’s our set list. Do you know any of these songs?”

  “I know that Buddy Holly song,” I said. Ms. Minerva made sure that we learned a bunch of different kinds of music.

  “Good,” Katrina replied. “Then we’ll work on teaching you the other two.”

  “What about ‘Touch and Go’?” Vinnie suggested. “It’s an old Cars song. There’s a lot of drums, not as much guitar.”

  “Perfect,” she said. “Let’s get started.”

  We practiced for hours, but I still didn’t have the song down. Even though they didn’t say anything, I could tell the rest of the band was getting frustrated.

  Teddie sat at one of the tables and watched us. Finally, she walked up to Dominic, who cut off in the middle of a song.

  She said something too low for me to hear,
and Dominic broke into a wide smile.

  “Teddie has a great idea,” he said.

  “Jessica and Dominic, you should do ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’ as a duet,” she said. “An acoustic version.” She brought out an acoustic guitar for me to borrow.

  She didn’t wait for a response, but went into her office in the back.

  After she left, everybody started talking at once. “No,” I said. “I can’t sing.”

  “Of course you can sing,” Dominic said. “You’re in chorus.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “But have you ever seen me try out for a solo? There’s a reason for that.”

  “Dominic, don’t pressure her,” Katrina said. “If Jessica doesn’t want to sing, we can think of something else.”

  The disappointment in her voice decided it for me. “I’ll try,” I said.

  I strummed the first notes of the song and then tried not to look at Dominic as we sang, but it was difficult. The song was practically the anthem of our relationship so far.

  We practiced right up until curtain time. The band voted and decided to start our set with the duet. I tried breathing exercises and singing scales while we were backstage waiting to go on, but the lump in my stomach wouldn’t go away.

  “You look like you’re going to hurl,” Katrina said, but gently. “Is this the first time you’ve ever sung in public?”

  I nodded. “Unless you count in chorus, but there I’m singing with about fifty other people.”

  “Then pretend you’re in chorus,” she said with a shrug.

  It was better than picturing the audience naked.

  When we finally took our places on the stage, Dominic said, “I’d like to introduce our new band member, Jessica Walsh.” He nodded at me and I strummed the first chord.

  The duet with Dominic was intense. He held my eyes with his own as we sang. I couldn’t look away. I didn’t need to pretend. Everyone else in the room receded until it was just the two of us.

  The spell was broken when the last note sounded, and the audience burst into loud cheers, then jumped to their feet. A standing ovation.

  Dominic waited until the noise died down and then I went into the intro of the Buddy Holly song. But instead, Dominic sang “Stairway to Heaven.”

  The rest of the band figured out what was happening and changed songs, but I was slow to recognize it. There were a few embarrassing chords until I caught up.