She paused and when Malichai looked down at her, her eyes were swimming with tears, transforming them into twin jewels. Everything protective in him welled up so strong, he almost pulled her into his lap. He wanted to catch her up in his arms and carry her out of the room.
“She planned to wear it tomorrow for him.” Her voice hitched and she pressed trembling fingers to her lips.
“I’d like to see their room,” Detective Brady said to Marie. “Perhaps you would show me while Detective Duncan interviews Ms. Johnson.”
“Of course,” Marie said, standing.
Amaryllis gripped Malichai’s wrist and burrowed closer to his side. He knew she wasn’t aware she’d done so. “I hate this. I hate this so much. They were sweet, both of them. Marie’s business is finally paying off just when she needs it to. People will shy away once they hear about this. She’s wonderful and deserving. I think Anna was as well.”
“What about Bryon?” Duncan persisted.
Amaryllis frowned. Malichai took her hand and pressed her palm deep into the muscle of his thigh, his thumb sliding back and forth across the top, on her bare skin. Her fingers trembled against his warmth, and he pushed her palm deeper to assure her he wasn’t going to allow anything to happen to her.
“I didn’t know him as well, although, like I said, he was hilarious. He often went running in the mornings and Anna would come into the dining room. I always sit at a little table after the guests have eaten. Malichai sits with me and we eat our breakfast. Anna would come in, sometimes Marie and Jacy, and we’d just talk about things together.”
“What kinds of things?” Duncan persisted.
“Her job. She and Bryon owned a very successful but small business, a small press. They did ads, brochures, little booklets, anything people wanted printed. They also did T-shirts and trophies. That sort of thing. She loved the people that came in, and so did Bryon. She talked mainly about him, how good he was with people, how charming he could be. She said she loved him so much because he never failed to help people.”
Amaryllis turned her head to look up at Malichai. “We had that in common. I admitted to her that I felt that way about Malichai because he is the best man I’ve ever met. Working here, and living around the beach, believe me, I’ve met quite a few men.”
Malichai brushed a kiss on top of her head. “Thanks, Amaryllis. I’m not certain it’s true, but I love the fact that you think I’m a good man.” He loved her all the more for that. Amaryllis was very sparing when talking about her feelings. She had just admitted that she cared a great deal for him. He had a chance with her after all.
“How do you think Bryon felt about Anna?”
“He loved her,” Malichai said. “It showed in the way he looked at her and all the things he did for her. The way he touched her. A man can tell, and Bryon loved Anna.”
Amaryllis nodded and then pressed her face into Malichai’s side.
“There’s something else,” Malichai said. “It’s thin, I’ll warn you of that. Very thin. Last week, when Amaryllis and I went to lunch at the café just up the block, we were sitting outside, and Anna and Bryon were sitting at a table straight across from me. There were several tables between us, but no people. I could see both of them clearly. They were holding hands, but they were arguing. Anna was very upset about something she’d overheard, and she wanted to go to the police. Bryon didn’t think she’d heard correctly, and they didn’t know who’d been speaking anyway.”
“You heard them talking?” Duncan asked.
Malichai shook his head. He didn’t look at Amaryllis. “I read lips.”
Duncan went silent, eyeing him carefully. “I will need the name of your unit and commander.”
“Of course, no problem.” Malichai wanted to smile over that. He was so classified, he wondered if anyone would admit he was actually alive.
“What did Anna hear?”
“At that time, all I saw was that she wanted to tell someone—the police—and Bryon insisted she hadn’t heard enough to give them the heads-up on anything.”
“You’re right. That’s pretty thin,” Duncan said, disappointment in his voice.
“True, but then I got a late-night visit from another couple here. They were with Anna and Bryon Cooper at the beach and on their way back to the bed-and-breakfast when they discovered a little magic shop that’s just down the alleyway.”
“I’m aware of it.”
“According to Burnell and Jay, the four of them went in and wandered around, but no one was there to help them purchase anything. Anna and Burnell went to the counter to call out and they heard talking in the back behind the curtain. It sounded to Burnell and Anna as if one of those speaking in the back said something about killing the maximum amount of people. He repeated that phrase to me.”
The detective leaned in closer. “This was at the magic shop.”
Malichai nodded. “Then earlier today, Amaryllis and I ran into a local surfer named Dozer. He was upset, which I understand is unusual for him.”
“I’m acquainted with Dozer.”
“He knows the owner of the magic shop and he saw she hadn’t opened at her usual time and was concerned. A man answered her door and told him that Miss Crystal was vacationing with her son. Dozer pointed out she had no son and the man backtracked, saying she was vacationing with someone she regarded as a son. Then, when Dozer was surfing, a man in scuba gear tried to pull him off his surfboard before he caught a wave and, according to Dozer, tried to drown him. Dozer fought back. Now, he didn’t put those two things together, but he’d threatened the man at the magic shop with calling law enforcement and asking for a well check on Miss Crystal.”
“Maybe not so thin,” Duncan said. “I need the name of the other couple you spoke with. They’re staying here at Marie’s?”
Malichai nodded. He continued to slide little caresses over the back of Amaryllis’s hand. Something in the way Duncan said Marie’s name caught his interest. “Do you know Marie Stubbins?” Marie hadn’t indicated she knew him.
“I knew Carl, her husband. He was a good man. When they got married, I was already in the service, finishing up my time. I went straight into the police academy, but I talked to Carl often and he talked about Marie. Hard times, that loss.” He looked directly at Malichai. “I’ll need those names now.”
Malichai gave them to him, feeling a little guilty, but Burnell and Jay needed to stay safe. If Anna and Bryon had been killed because they overheard something they shouldn’t have, then it was better that they told everything they knew to the police, so there would be no reason to kill them.
Marie and Brady came down the hall, Duncan and the officer joined them, and Marie showed the three policemen out. Malichai and Amaryllis waited for her to return. Marie wrapped her arms around Amaryllis and held her tight.
“I can’t believe this happened to them. Poor Anna and Bryon. I know Bryon didn’t kill her. I just wish I could have said the right thing to convince them that Bryon would never kill Anna.”
Malichai hugged Marie to him, trying to comfort her. “I don’t think either of the detectives believed he killed his wife and then himself. I don’t think they believed it before they even came here. Maybe the crime scene appeared too staged. I don’t know. Watching them closely, I could see that neither thought that Bryon killed Anna. You just confirmed that belief.”