Lewis & Ondarko - Best Friends 03 - Now and Zen by Pat Ondarko, Deb Lewis Page A

up a soapbox on the street with a sign that says, ‘If you have something to say, say it here.’ There’s a line of women waiting to speak. Uh, oh,” Deb whispered a few minutes later. “Here comes trouble.”
    Pat looked up and saw the all too familiar form of the handsome detective from Ashland County walk past the front window.
    “Duck!” Deb whispered.
    Before the women could duck, the door opened on a smiling Detective Gary LeSeur, who stood silently taking in the crowded noisy scene.
    Dressed in jeans and tennis shoes, he wore a fishing vest and Brewers baseball cap. With laser-like focus, his flashing brown eyes met Deb’s gaze and held it.
    “Busted,” Deb whispered.
    With a nod of his head, he gestured toward the door.
    “Excuse me,” Deb said in a nonchalant voice. “I’ll be right back.”
    Deb walked slowly toward the door as if summoned to the principal’s office and into the presence of the law.
    Deb and Pat had crossed paths with him on previous occasions when they had been involved in solving the mysteries behind two deaths.
    Gary knelt just outside the door, petting a golden lab. The dog had been lying patiently in the sun just outside the door to the Cafe.
    “Hi, Gary!” Deb said, trying her best to be cheerful. The dog stood immediately upon seeing Deb and wagged her tail so exuberantly against her that Deb almost lost her balance.
    “Is that your dog?” LeSeur asked.
    “No. She’s just a stray that showed up at our cabin last night. We thought she was a bear in the dark… “
    Damn. Why did I say that?
    Gary stood up, as his perceptive gaze pierced through Deb’s facade.
    “So, what is this whole scene, anyway?” he asked, gesturing with his hands to the crowded dining room on the other side of the screen door.
    “Just a little gathering that Pat and I tried to put together for summer solstice.”
    “You women don’t do anything small, do you?”
    “What are you doing here?” Deb asked reflexively.
    “To be honest with you, this is the last place I would choose to be on a fine summer day as this… There I was, ready to get out on the big lake with my favorite fishing guide. My wife was gone to some women’s retreat. Some girls-only event on the island. The weather was perfect. Things were quiet at the office and I took two days of vacation to try to catch up on my fishing. We no sooner got out and set anchor when I got a text message to call the office immediately. Something about a missing woman on the ferry.
    “After talking to Mike and the crew, I thought I would just go to the eye of the hurricane and find out what you know. After all, you two started this whole mess by bringing all these women out here. And you always seem to be in the middle of things. So, tell me what you know.”
    “I really don’t know much and what I know is secondhand,” Deb replied reluctantly. “Really, I just know what you know… that the ferry people have some vague suspicions because of ‘their counts’ being wrong or something like that. Not a lot to go on.”
    “Well, let’s get down to brass tacks then,” Gary said. “Did anyone sign up for your ‘retreat’ and then not show up?”
    “I couldn’t answer that,” Deb replied.
    “Why not?”
    “Because we didn’t ask for signups. We didn’t collect deposits or anything. This was supposed to be a small informal gathering. And then way more people came than we expected and the YouTube and all that we didn’t expect,” Deb rambled.
    Like the fisherman he was, Gary threw another line.
    “Did you have any speakers on your agenda that haven’t shown their pretty faces out here yet?”
    “Not that I know of,” Deb replied. “Really, this was just supposed to be a simple, quiet getaway. But it’s turned into something… “
    LeSeur realized quickly that he wasn’t going to catch any information from Deb and began to set his hook.
    “Okay, Deb. I see you know nothing. But I also know how good you and Pat are at getting