Free Death With An Ocean View (A Kate Kennedy Mystery Book 1) by Noreen Wald Page B

ever fell in love and wanted to marry someone else, we’d reevaluate our situation. But neither of us ever brought that subject up again. Stella would come up north once or twice a year. We’d go off to Europe or the Grand Canyon or take a cruise together. Then we’d each go back to our own lives.” He paused and tasted a tomato.
    A drum roll of thunder careened through the dining room.
    “You never came down here?” Mary Frances spoke Kate’s thought.
    “No. Never.” Joe shook his head. “And that, too, had been Stella’s call. She said she needed ‘her own identity—her own life’ and I respected that. An odd relationship, I know, but it worked for us.”
    “Well,” Marlene said, “was Mr. Oberon aware that you existed?”
    “Certainly. As her husband, I was Stella’s heir.”
    “Really?” Marlene frowned.
    “Oh, I know there were other bequests, but I receive the bulk of the estate. Oberon had been trying to contact me to tell me about Stella’s death and the reading of the will, but I was on my way here, then off sailing.” Joe Sajak smiled, then continued in that too-deep baritone, “I had a quick word with Wyndam before I left the apartment. He’s going to call the police and let them know that I’ve finally arrived. I’m sure they’ll want to talk to me.”
    The crescendo in Kate’s mind competed with the thunder. So Detective Carbone had known that Joe Sajak wasn’t dead. And Sajak, as heir apparent, had a motive. And since he’d never visited Florida before, why now?
    “I’ll just bet the police want to talk to you,” Mary Frances said.
    A sudden silence descended over the table and in the heavens. As Tiffani approached to clear away their dishes, Kate could hear her charm bracelet clang.
    Another burst of thunder rocked the room. Kate watched through the window as the wind whipped the sand and sent it flying, and the palm trees’ leaves swayed like hula dancers. She hoped Ballou wouldn’t be too frightened all alone.
    Could a hurricane be blowing up out there? Kate doubted it. South Florida anchorpersons and weatherpersons tracked any hint of an impending hurricane, savoring its name and exploring its devastation potential, minute by minute, for days on end, before the storm hit—or more likely, missed.
    Over dessert, Marlene reviewed Stella’s funeral plans, starting with Friday night’s wake, moving on to the service on Saturday morning, followed by the reception in the recreation room and, finally, the scattering of Stella’s ashes over the sea.
    A tear formed in Joe Sajak’s eye and dropped onto his sundae, which he then shoved away.
    “That sounds right. Stella always loved the sea.” Several more tears rolled down Joe’s cheek. Mary Frances reached into her pocket and handed him a perfectly pressed, sparkling white handkerchief.
    “I’d like to see Stella. Where is she? At the funeral parlor?”
    “She will be. Sometime this afternoon, I think.” Marlene sounded as frazzled as she looked. Her sienna tan had gone gray and her blood red lipstick had seeped into the creases around her mouth. “They’re releasing the body today.”
    Kate pushed her rainbow sherbet to one side, suddenly consumed with Stella’s cremation.
    “I’d like to meet with the funeral director to review the costs.” Joe wiped his eyes with Mary Frances’s handkerchief, then carefully folded it and placed it next to the napkin.
    Did his gesture signal no more tears?
    “Of course, I’m sure you’ve done an excellent job as executrix, Marlene, but we all know these funeral directors can be thieves. And as the widower, I’ll be the one footing the bill, now, won’t I?”
    Marlene opened, then shut, her mouth.
    Out of the corner of her right eye, Kate saw Detective Carbone enter the room, fill it with his presence, then take three long strides in their direction.
    A flash of lightning missed their window by inches, the sky turned black, thunder, loud as if Lucifer himself were bowling,