A Killer Plot (A Books by the Bay Mystery)

what other information the chief might have volunteered to Cosmo, Olivia said, “Would you like me to help with the arrangements? I know Annie took you to the funeral home, but do you need someone to stand beside you during the cremation?” She hoped he’d refuse her offer. She couldn’t think of anything she’d rather do less than bear witness to Camden’s funeral pyre.
    Cosmo didn’t answer immediately.
    “I need to do this by myself,” he finally declared. “It’s not that I don’t want you there, it’s just that this act is the last thing I have of him that’s all mine. And then I’m booking a flight out of here. I know that sounds cold, but they have a man in custody and I can’t do anything else for Cam. I wanted to take in everything about this town because it’s where I lost him, but now I’ve seen it and I’m ready to go.”
    “I understand. In fact, I’ll drive you to the airport.” She hesitated. “And know that I won’t forget about Camden or his case, Cosmo. I promise you that.”
    “I know.” His voice grew stronger. “That’s why I feel free to leave.”
     
     
    Cosmo departed later that same day. He tearfully hugged Annie good-bye and kissed Roy on the cheek after the older man had loaded Cosmo’s garment bag and newly purchased souvenir duffel bag into Olivia’s car. Atlas was on his knees spreading pine straw in one of the perennial beds, but he put down his tools and stood up in order to properly wave good-bye as the Rover drove away from the inn.
    Opening his window, Cosmo yelled, “Go get ’em, tiger!”
    Olivia watched Atlas’s figure recede in her rearview mirror. “What was that about?”
    “He’s interviewing with Talbot Properties today. Roy’s been keeping him plenty busy, but Atlas would rather work building new houses.” Although Cosmo looked washed out and weary, he managed a thin smile. “With all those shirt-less men in tight jeans, who wouldn’t?” He patted the top of the cardboard box containing Camden’s ashes. “Remember those two who redid our bathroom, darling? Simply gorgeous! Beautiful, strapping Italians in white overalls.” He glanced out the window, remembering, and his face lost some of its drawn look. “Cam and I didn’t want to leave the apartment for a second! I think we ate out of cans for three days until we finally had to go out for more coffee. One cannot survive without coffee, no matter how magnificent the asses on the men bending over your tub are!”
    Laughing, Olivia felt a lightness course through her. She was suddenly certain that Cosmo would recover from this blow.
    Losing Camden would scar him, change him, and haunt him, but he was capable of living a full and colorful life despite his lover’s violent death. The realization comforted Olivia.
    As though sensing her thoughts, Cosmo reached over and squeezed her arm. “How long did it take you to get over your parents’ death? I know you’ve never brought it up, but Annie told me they died within a few years of one another. Poor you.”
    Olivia suppressed a surge of anger over being the source of idle gossip once again. After all, it was almost a given that Annie would tell Cosmo about Olivia’s past. Perhaps the innkeeper hoped to let the young man know he wasn’t alone in his grief. Perhaps Cosmo wanted to get a more complete picture of the woman who’d recently befriended his lover. Either way, Olivia knew she needed to stop being so prickly when asked about her personal history.
    “My mother left our house in order to pick up my birthday present during the onset of a hurricane,” Olivia began. “She’d left it at the library—that’s where she worked. After she’d gotten it from her office and returned to the car, a strong gust of wind gave a rotting telephone pole a fierce push.” She swallowed. It never grew any easier to talk about the next part. “It fell, smashing right through the windshield. They say she probably didn’t even know what hit her. Her death was instantaneous. I turned seven the next day.”
    Cosmo covered his mouth with his hand. “Oh! That’s horrible!” He tightened his hold on the cardboard box in his lap. “Why didn’t she wait? It was a hurricane for crying out loud.”
    Olivia shrugged. People had been asking her the same question since her mother was laid in the ground. “Around here, one can grow complacent about storms. They’re such a part of our regular rhythm. Living on the coast, hurricanes and