Invalid Evidence Read online

  Invalid Evidence

  Just when she is most needed at home, private investigator Jil Kidd is sent to the island of St. Eméline to investigate the death of an Orca trainer at a sea aquarium. Once there, she discovers that the death might not have been the fault of the killer whale who’s getting the blame. As the investigation heats up, she discovers a toxic work environment, corporate fraud, and a whole whack of motive for murder. Not to mention her very attractive employer, who doesn’t bother to hide her interest in Jil.

  Back at home, Jil’s partner Jessica copes with major life changes in the form of an unexpected death and an illness that forces the end of her career as a high school principal. Can Jil and Jess find a way to come back together and endure the waves of this tsunami?

  What Reviewers Say About Stevie Mikayne’s Work

  UnCatholic Conduct

  “…very well written with good pacing, and a nice way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.”—The Romantic Reader Blog

  “UnCatholic Conduct moves smoothly and Mikayne layers her story with different reveals. We’re not sure Pope Francis will be reading this novel, but you will definitely want to.”—Lambda Literary

  “…well plotted with a mystery that held my interest and had some surprising twists and turns.”—Library Thing

  Illicit Artifacts

  “This book is damn good. It’s a mystery that is tangled in so many ways, that at times I felt myself pull back and wonder how the author is going to pull this off. She did!”—The Romantic Reader Blog

  “I enjoyed the unraveling of the mystery and it was well told and full of surprises. Jil’s relationship with Jess, an in-the-closet Catholic School Principal, was tense and touching and I didn’t know where it was going from chapter to chapter. I knew where I wanted it to go though. I enjoyed this book and want to go back and read the first in the series now.”—Inked Rainbow Reads

  Invalid Evidence

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  eBooks from Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com

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  Invalid Evidence

  © 2018 By Stevie Mikayne. All Rights Reserved.

  ISBN 13: 978-1-63555-308-6

  This Electronic Original Is Published By

  Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  P.O. Box 249

  Valley Falls, NY 12185

  First Edition: December 2018

  eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  Please respect the rights of the author and do not file share.

  Credits

  Editor: Cindy Cresap

  Production Design: Susan Ramundo

  Cover Design By Tammy Seidick

  By the Author

  UnCatholic Conduct

  Illicit Artifacts

  Invalid Evidence

  Dedication

  To my travel-loving family. Tiny house, big adventures.

  Chapter One

  “Well, you can’t say I never send you anywhere interesting,” Padraig said.

  Jil grabbed her latte off the bar and followed Padraig out the door to the coffee shop. The wind caught her scarf, and she shoved it back into the collar of her black trench coat.

  For April, the weather was still cool and windy, but the sun was trying to shine, at least, and after six months of bleak gray snow, she was happy for that slight glimmer of light.

  Padraig stopped on the street corner and pressed the walk button, then took off the lid to his black coffee and tossed it in the garbage can. “Don’t know why the hell they put those damn lids on. Coffee never cools down.”

  Jil took a careful sip of her latte. She knew exactly why they put lids on. To keep people like her from sloshing their drinks all down their clothes. They made a turn, directly into a wind tunnel. And there it was, the April wind that felt like ice shards on her face. She wished he would just turn around and go back to the office.

  Padraig turned to look at her while they waited for the light to turn. He looked pleased with himself.

  “Out with it,” Jil demanded.

  “St. Emeline.” Padraig beamed.

  Jil frowned. “Where is that?”

  “Just north of Curacao, below St. Martin. It’s a pretty little island. You’ll enjoy it, I think.”

  A wind gust kicked up, and she shivered despite the sun. Maybe heading south wouldn’t be so bad.

  “Someone from the Caribbean hired us? Why?”

  Padraig smiled even wider. “Well, first of all, she doesn’t trust the gendarme in St. Emeline. Apparently, there’s some sort of conflict of interest there. You’ll have to get the details yourself. And secondly, she’s Canadian. From Rockford originally. She owns a sea aquarium on St. Emeline.”

  “I’ve never even heard of St. Emeline.”

  The light changed and Padraig began walking. “That’s because you’re living a sheltered life, Kidd. You need to travel more. Break out.”

  Jil snorted. “Oh, I forgot I was speaking to the ultimate globetrotter. When was the last time you even took a vacation?”

  People crushed past them, and Jil almost lost her latte. It splashed around in her cup, bubbling up through the hole in the lid Padraig had eschewed, and streamed down her wrist. Her hands were so cold that she didn’t really mind, but it would be sticky as hell once it cooled.

  Padraig barreled on, unaware. When they got to the other side of the intersection, he kept walking, straight to the park. Usually Padraig could be counted on for a sit-down and a pint, not a power stroll through an icy street.

  “It’s technically not a vacation if you’re solving a case.”

  “Maybe we could just sit down?”

  Padraig finally looked at her, noticing the creamy froth dripping from her wrist.

  “Sorry, Kidd.” Hastily, he mopped at her hand with a crumpled napkin he took from his pocket. “Bench. Three o’clock.”

  He guided her to a fountain in Rockford’s Coronation Park—a large circular basin with a concrete carving of an Inuit seal hunt erupting from the center.

  Jil flashed back to her last case where she’d sat in this very spot and watched a jewel thief hand off her foster mother’s emerald ring into the bottom of the empty fountain.

  The fountain had been filled now in preparation for spring. The water flowed almost to the top.

  Jil grabbed his elbow and stopped him from sitting in a splash of water on the stone bench. He moved over three spots and sat down, shaking his head.

  “Why aren’t you going yourself, then? Why are you sending me?”

  Padraig looked at the ground. “Never mind. I have my reasons.”

  “Which are?”

  “Has anyone ever told you you’re bloody nosy sometimes?”

  That stung.

  “Sorry,” Padraig muttered. “I didn’t mean it like that. Me da’s just died, if you must know.”

  “Your dad? I didn’t even know he was still alive. You’ve never mentioned him. I just assumed…”

  “Because I’m older than dirt, my parents must be long gone and buried? Believe me, I have no idea how the old bastard lived as long as he did, with as much as he drank. But maybe whiskey has the same effect as formaldehyde when taken in large enough doses. Anyway…”

  “I’m sorry, Padraig.”

  “I am too. I know this news isn’t going to come welcome to you, but it’s got to be said, so…”

  “What?”

  He sighed and then took a big breath through his giant nostrils. Then si
ghed again.

  “Ah, well, I may as well tell you now as wait till you come back.”

  “What?”

  “I’ve decided to retire.”

  Jil almost spat out her drink.

  “Excuse me? What? You’re not serious.”

  “I am.”

  She looked at him doubtfully, but the downturn of his mouth told her he was serious.

  “What? Why?”

  “Don’t you think I deserve some vacation time at my age? A membership to the seniors’ center, maybe? Time for the casino?”

  She shoved him. “Hardly.”

  “Fine. I might have an ulterior motive. I’ll be at a funeral while you’re sunbathing. Then I have to go sort through the old man’s affairs. Probably never took care of a single piece of paperwork ever in his life. Plus, I’d like to enjoy my golden years, you know?”

  He patted his midsection and sighed. “Doc says I’ve got to drop a few pounds to go easier on my ticker. She gave me this contraption.” He opened his jacket to reveal something that looked like a tiny black pocket watch.

  “A Fitbit?” Jil laughed. She tapped the screen. “Padraig, you’ve only got two thousand steps and it’s already eleven o’clock.”

  “It’s been a slow day.”

  Jil rolled her eyes. “That’s why you dragged me out here? Shit’s sake.”

  “I knew you’d want to help me live a long and healthy life.” He glowered and she laughed harder.

  “So that’s why…what’s going to happen to the firm?” Her stomach went cold. “My job?”

  Padraig patted her hand. “Don’t worry about that just now. Take a vacation first.”

  So that’s why he was giving her this assignment. Guilt.

  He fished in his black satchel and handed her a blue folder.

  She set her coffee on the bench between then. It tipped and Padraig caught it before it fell off.

  “Jaysus Murphy, girl.”

  “I’m sorry! God.” Jil moved the coffee back onto a level surface and set the file in her lap. She flipped to page one. And the wind took it right out of her hands.

  A gust rippled through the park, catching the pages from her folder and whipping them around.

  She sprang up to catch them—one landed in the fountain, two in the treetops. She snatched up the papers closest to her and shoved them into her satchel.

  Padraig ran in the opposite direction.

  She didn’t even wait to see if he’d retrieved them. Just shouted over her shoulder as she stalked off.

  “You’re getting a treadmill! And I’m going back to the office. While I still have a job.”

  Once she’d cleaned up and had a snack, she felt a little less like ripping up the case file, and a little more like reading it. How could Padraig retire? Just like that? What would she do without him? Why hadn’t he mentioned that he was thinking about giving it up?

  She rolled her eyes. She knew exactly why he hadn’t said something. Because he hadn’t wanted her to freak out, wondering what she was going to do with her life, which is what she was doing right now.

  She forced herself back to work, scanning the pages. A young woman had been killed by an orca at the sea aquarium.

  She flipped the pages and scanned the evidence.

  Possibly.

  Her interest finally piqued, she pulled out her phone.

  “Call Jess.”

  “Calling Jess Blake.”

  Her partner answered on the second ring.

  “Am I going to like this or not?”

  Jil grinned. “Well…it depends on how you feel about the Caribbean.”

  Jess laughed. “I won’t say I hate it. Where are we going?”

  “St. Emeline. I know you’ve probably never heard—”

  “Oh, I love St. Emeline.”

  Jil threw up her hands. “Okay, so apparently I’m the only person in the world who needs to go back and study high school geography.”

  “When do we leave?”

  Padraig appeared at the door, waving something in her direction.

  She squinted.

  Plane tickets. The bribing bastard.

  Saturday, he mouthed.

  Jil rolled her eyes.

  “You’d better pack your suitcase,” she said to Jess. “Looks like we’re on our way this weekend.”

  Chapter Two

  “I’ve never heard of pre-tanning,” Jil complained as Jess pointed to a small dirt road coming up on their right. She steered the car uphill, sending small rocks flying into the undercarriage.

  “You’ll be glad you did when you’re not turning into a lobster on the beach your first day out,” Jess replied. She opened the pamphlet on her lap. “There are twenty-seven features in this spa. Some hot, some cold. Something called a volcanic rock bed?”

  Jil winked. “I hope it has a few dark corners.”

  Jess shoved her. “Stop it. We’ll have plenty of that on our vacation!”

  “Yeah. And we’d better enjoy it since I’ll soon be unemployed.”

  Jess turned away.

  “What?” Jil demanded.

  But Jess shook her head and tried to smile. “Nothing. We’ll handle it.”

  “Not sure how.” Jil gripped Jess’s elbows. “So can we just not think about it for now, please?”

  That was a good idea. Jess knew that Jil had always counted on her job. Not for the money as much as for the outlet. The immersion of solving cases, following clues. It was the one thing she was good at. But without Padraig, what the hell was she going to do? She wasn’t cut out to work for anyone else. She still needed a mentor to keep her out of trouble. Constant trouble.

  “Is it just me or has life been way too busy lately?”

  Jess sighed. “Well, you certainly have been. Me…not so much.”

  Jil patted her thigh. “I think we should use some of our vacation time to help you figure out your next step. Um, and mine, apparently. What do you think?”

  With a long sigh, Jess nodded. “It’s about time, yeah. In the meantime, I’ve been looking into our case.”

  “Our case, huh?” Jil grinned at her.

  “Well, since I’m coming along, I might as well be useful.”

  “Good thing one of us is organized. I haven’t even cracked the file since the day I got it. Too busy thinking about what snorkel gear to get!”

  Jil parked and got out. Jess waited until she was headed up the path before she opened her door and slowly swung her legs out. Today would be a good experiment on heat and cold—which made things worse, which might help.

  “All right, what did you find out?” Jil asked, taking her arm.

  “Well, the sea aquarium has gone through several owners since it first opened in the early nineties. The current owner has had it for the past ten years. And in addition to being a world-famous attraction, it’s also home to a famous dolphin therapy center.”

  “Oh. Neat. Who do the dolphins therapize?”

  Jess tried to remember what the web site had said. “People with special needs, mostly. Kids with autism or other disabilities. They’re closed every morning to accommodate their therapy programs. Open to the public in the afternoons. The owner, Rebecca-somebody is a physiotherapist.”

  “That’s interesting. Are we tanning first or last?”

  Jess flipped the itinerary the right way around as she followed Jil up the ramp to the main doors.

  “Last.”

  “Well, then I want to find this volcanic heat bed.”

  They made their way to the change rooms and slipped out of their winter coats.

  She turned to see Jil staring at her in the light from the window.

  “You’re like the definition of a whiter shade of pale, Jess.”

  Jess just gave her a look as she stripped off her jeans.

  “Yeah, well, not all of us like to spend every waking moment in the sun when it’s thirty below.”

  “You look like Casper. Seriously. I don’t even think you can tan for five minute
s.”

  Jess looked down at her thighs. Yikes. Almost luminescent. She never tanned well to begin with, but she had barely been outside in the past year, since her rheumatoid arthritis had really begun to limit her mobility.

  “Maybe I’d better go with the shortest of the short sessions,” she said.

  Jil laughed.

  “Why is it so dead in here?”

  “Gee, I don’t know. Maybe Wednesday morning at the spa is not on everyone’s to-do list. Maybe they’re, for example, at work.”

  She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice, but she obviously didn’t succeed, because Jil put her arms around her and kissed her forehead.

  “You’re not getting put out to pasture yet. So don’t worry about it. You’ll be back to work soon. Okay?”

  Jess just sighed, not meeting her eye, as she took off her bra and panties and pulled on her bikini bottoms.

  She looked up to see Jil’s tight nipples pointing through her sporty tankini.

  “Hm,” she said.

  Jil shot her a wry look. “What? It’s been a while, you have to admit.”

  Jess felt a stab of guilt. “Not that long.”

  “Um yeah. Forever, actually.”

  Jess bit her lip and reached up a thumb to gently circle Jil’s nipple through the tight black fabric.

  Jil closed her eyes and Jess pushed her back gently against the locker as she planted a kiss on her clavicle.

  “Well, if I’d known that all it took was a trip to the spa, I would have booked us in weeks ago,” Jil muttered.

  Jess traced her thumb down Jil’s side and slowly pulled back the waistband to her bikini bottoms. She slipped her hand inside—

  And the door banged open. A group of college girls barreled in, giggling their way to the showers. Jess extracted her hand. “Later,” she whispered. “Let’s go.