by Leena Clover
“Where were you on July 4th? I didn’t see you up on the float with Asher.”
“That float looked amaze, didn’t it? I decorated it, with the little kids. Gramps said I did a good job.”
He seemed genuinely happy about the compliment.
“Why didn’t you ride the float with everyone else?”
“I was out buying more booze for the party. Gramps was worried we didn’t have enough. The whole town was coming, you know.”
Jenny’s aunt had helped plan the party. She had an idea how grand it was. The town had provided the food and Asher had insisted on footing the bill for the drinks.
“Asher was having a good time,” Jenny remembered. “He looked so happy in that birthday hat.”
“I got him that hat,” Hans boasted. “Gramps showed me a picture. I went to the city to get one in red, just like he wanted.”
His chubby face finally showed some emotion. His eyes filled up and his mouth puckered, making Jenny wonder if he was going to cry.
She turned around at the sound of her name.
Heather and Molly were trying to get Jenny’s attention. She thanked Hans for his time. Hans put his arms on the table and burrowed his head in them. Jenny heard a faint snore as she walked away.
“What took you so long?” Molly asked.
“That was Asher’s grandson.”
“Jenny,” Heather said, grabbing her arm to get her attention. “Look here. I pressed the Like button on a few of these profiles. A couple of them Liked me back. What do I do now?”
Jenny laughed, shaking her head.
“Don’t ask me! I’m too old for this stuff.”
“Of course you don’t need this stuff,” Molly griped. “You have two handsome hunks falling all over you.”
“Come on…not that again!”
“Heather has a guy too, of course,” Molly continued. “I’ll never understand why she’s doing this.”
“I met Chris,” Jenny told Heather. “He seemed sad.”
Heather was busy browsing through photos of eligible men. The girls split up after some time and Jenny walked back home. She was going to collect a pizza for dinner.
Jason Stone was at Mama Rosa’s, waiting for his order.
“Hey, beautiful!” he whispered, giving her a hug. “How’s the sleuthing going?”
“Not that great,” Jenny told him. “I just met Hans at the Rusty Anchor. He’s leaving town.”
“You mean leaving for good?”
Jenny nodded.
“That’s not what I heard,” Jason said in disbelief. “Hans has his eye on the business. He wants to take over.”
“He said someone called Luke was giving him a hard time.”
“Luke’s doing that?”
“Who is he anyway?”
“Come on Jenny. You know Luke. He drew up the plans for your remodel.”
A tall, hefty man with black hair swam before Jenny’s eyes.
“You mean that guy who was with Asher? The one with that large mole on his cheek?”
“That’s Luke alright. It’s a birthmark, not a mole.”
“How do you know him?”
“Luke’s my uncle. I thought you knew that, Jenny.”
“Is he related to Linda then?”
“Of course! He’s her brother. Luke Stone.”
“How long has he worked for Asher?”
“Since he was a kid. He’s the main force behind Cohen Construction.”
Jenny reflected over her conversation with Hans Geller.
“Hans is not too crazy about that, I guess.”
“Luke called him out on his drinking. Asher wasn’t too pleased with Hans. Luke and Hans don’t see eye to eye.”
“Could you say he has a grudge against Luke?”
Jason nodded.
“Most people who work at the company know that. Hans is on cloud nine now. He thinks he’s going to inherit.”
“Is he?”
“The will hasn’t been read yet. I can’t comment on it at this time.”
“But you know what’s in it?”
Jason looked uncomfortable.
“It’s my job to know, Jenny. I have been handling Asher’s affairs since I came back to town.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t ask you to do anything unethical.”
Jason’s order came up.
“I have to go. I have an early meeting on the mainland.”
Jenny picked up her pizza and worked out different scenarios in her mind on her way home. If Luke had been the victim, Hans would have made a great suspect. She wondered why Hans had lied to her about leaving town.
She hoped the will would be read soon. That would give her an idea about who benefited most from Asher’s death. She still hadn’t come across a tangible motive for killing a 100 year old man.
“You’re home!” Star cried from the front porch. “I’m starving.”
They decided to eat their pizza on the porch, enjoying the view. Jenny bit into the cheesy slice, rubbing the tiny gold heart that hung around her neck. She missed her son. He had sent her a couple of text messages since he left but they hadn’t talked. Her phone rang just then and a beloved face flashed on the screen.
“Nick!” she cried, putting him on speaker phone. “I was just thinking about you.”
“How are you, Mom? Are you missing me yet?”
“You scamp!” Star roared. “You better get your butt out here this weekend.”
Chapter 9
Jenny warmed chocolate and cream in a double boiler. She stirred the chocolate until it became glossy and poured it over a chocolate cake that was cooling on a wire rack.
“Is that for me?”
Heather had just come in followed by Betty Sue. Her eyes bulged and she looked like a child who had been offered a surprise treat.
“I was craving cake too,” Jenny said, tossing some berries in powdered sugar.
She began placing them on the cake.
“Summer Fest is coming up,” Betty Sue said, twirling a strand of blue wool around her needles. “We need to lock down some things.”
“Why don’t we talk about it today?” Petunia asked, picking up a jug of coffee.
The outside of the jug was wet with condensation. Ice cubes tinkled inside.
“Is that the iced coffee you were talking about?” Betty Sue asked Jenny. “I’m ready for some.”
Star and Molly came in just then and the Magnolias went out to the deck.
“What’s the special attraction for Summer Fest this year?” Star asked.
Petunia and Betty Sue were co-chairing the festival committee. They had plenty of volunteers but they were responsible for making the big decisions.
“We will have a bouncy house,” Betty Sue said. “A lot of the parents asked for it last year.”
“How about a Ferris wheel?” Star asked. “It’s been ten years since we had one.”
Jenny was preoccupied with thoughts of Asher Cohen.
Heather waved a hand before her eyes.
“Hello! Did you hear what I just said?”
Jenny shook her head. She looked at Betty Sue.
“Where did Asher Cohen come from? No one’s ever talked about that.”
“Switzerland,” Betty Sue spoke up. “I had never heard of it. Daddy showed it to me on the globe he had in his study.”
“So he was Swiss?”
“Don’t be daft,” Star said. “He was German, or must have been.”
“I am going to talk to Linda,” Jenny said decisively.
“Why don’t we go get some of that cake?” Heather said, giving Jenny a meaningful look.
Heather whipped out her phone as soon as they entered the kitchen.
“A guy wants to meet me. Look!”
She pulled up a picture of a tall, good looking guy. Jenny thought he looked a lot like Chris Williams.
“He lives in Maryland. He’s coming to Ocean City with his friends for the weekend. He says he can drive down here to meet me.”
�
�You’ll meet him once,” Jenny said. “What about after that? Are you going to travel all the way to Maryland to see him?”
“I haven’t thought that far,” Heather said sullenly. “What’s the harm in meeting him in Pelican Cove?”
“Doesn’t sound too risky,” Jenny admitted. “You can bring him here or take him to the Rusty Anchor.”
“Shall I say yes?” Heather beamed. “It’s a date!”
She sent off a quick message. Jenny saw a smiley face pop up on Heather’s screen.
“Don’t tell Grandma about it.”
“How old are you, Heather? 16?”
“I don’t want her nagging me about it. She goes on and on about how great Chris is for me.”
“She’s not wrong.”
“Maybe not,” Heather said crossly. “But if I hear one more word about Chris, I’ll just lose it. I’m going to meet Duster and have a good time.”
“Duster?” Jenny stifled a laugh. “I’m sure you will.”
Jenny drove to the Cohen home by herself. Jason hadn’t returned from the mainland yet. The maid asked her to wait in the living room.
Emma Cohen walked by, wearing a filmy cover up over a swimsuit. Jenny hoped her body would have that kind of tone when she was seventy.
“Oh, it’s you,” Emma said. “Here to see Linda?”
Jenny nodded. “Do you have a beach on your property?”
“At the far end,” Emma told her. “But it’s strewn with rocks. We have an Olympic sized swimming pool. Dad swam twenty laps every morning.”
“He looked quite fit for his age,” Jenny observed.
“There was nothing wrong with him,” Emma said strongly. “We may have had our differences, but my father was a good man. I hope you help us find out what happened.”
“I’m not a professional,” Jenny told her, “but I am going to do my best.”
She hesitated.
“The other day…I didn’t think you were keen on my asking questions about Asher.”
“I was playing it cool for Heidi. She likes to say she hated Dad but that’s not true. She does hate Linda though.”
The maid came in to escort Jenny up to the third floor.
“We are all grieving,” Emma said suddenly. “We just have different ways of showing it.”
Linda was seated in her usual spot by the window. Jenny thought she had aged in the last few days.
“You are okay here, aren’t you?” Jenny asked her. “I mean, you feel safe here?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Linda asked, surprised. “This is my home.”
Jenny debated what to say.
“Did Walt say something to you?” Linda asked. “The older kids never accepted me. I think they weren’t young enough to think of me as a mother. Even a stepmother.”
“It doesn’t bother you?”
“It used to,” Linda admitted. “But I learned to live with it. All the grandkids call me Grandma though. We agreed on that.”
The maid came in with a tray of drinks.
“You like lemonade, don’t you?” Linda asked. “I took the liberty of ordering some for us. It’s such a hot day.”
Jenny thanked her and took a deep sip.
“I was thinking about Asher’s past,” she began. “Can you tell me something about his past life?”
“You mean his life with Olga?”
“Not exactly,” Jenny said. “I mean his life before he came to Pelican Cove.”
“Asher was very secretive about it,” Linda said slowly. “Whatever little I know, I pieced together over the years.”
“Betty Sue said he came here from Switzerland?”
“That’s true. Walter was born there. He’s the only one of Asher’s kids who wasn’t born in the States.”
“What did he do in Switzerland?”
“He worked in some mill, I think. It was a hard time for them. Asher and Olga starved themselves and saved every penny they could. It took them four years to earn enough to buy a passage to America.”
“Was he Swiss then? My aunt said he was German.”
Linda gave Jenny a long look.
“I think he went to Switzerland from Germany. I don’t know if he was German though. He could have been brought there from just about anywhere. Poland, Hungary, who knows.”
“What do you mean, brought?” Jenny asked.
“He didn’t like to talk about it,” Linda said. “He never told me anything about his family or his childhood. All I could gather was that he must have come from money. He spoke English really well so he was educated. He had really great manners. And he was smart. I think he was an engineer. That’s why my Daddy took him on as an apprentice.”
“Did he have any siblings?”
Linda shrugged.
“He may have. But they are all gone. He barely escaped himself.”
Jenny felt her head buzz with sudden clarity.
“Wait a minute, Linda. Was Asher a Holocaust survivor? Is that what you are saying?”
“I thought you knew,” Linda said. “Although he never admitted it in so many words. He just never talked about that part of his life.”
“It must have been painful.”
“That’s what I thought too. I didn’t press him about it.”
“Isn’t it amazing? He built a whole new life for himself and lived to be a hundred!”
“I still can’t believe Asher is gone,” Linda said, wiping her eyes. “He was so full of life. He was looking forward to the centennial. He planned little details. He wanted everything to be perfect.”
“Have you remembered anything?” Jenny asked her. “Someone with a grudge, any arguments he may have had?”
Linda shook her head.
“Can you tell me about Luke?” Jenny asked, putting her glass down on a side table. “Jason said he’s your brother.”
“Asher raised him as his own,” Linda said. “Luke is a lot younger than me. We lost our parents in an accident a few months after I got married. Luke came to live with us.”
“When did he join the business?”
“He used to tag along with Asher when he was in school. He never worked any place else. Asher depended on him.”
“I talked to Hans,” Jenny admitted. “He didn’t seem too pleased with Luke.”
“Hans is a spoilt brat. Maria dumped him here when she got tired of getting him out of scrapes. He drinks and gambles and picks fights. Asher worried about him.”
“Did Luke ban him from the construction sites?”
“Hans had a narrow escape. He almost cut himself fatally. Luke said he was a hazard to himself and the people around him.”
“I don’t think Hans is too happy about that.”
Linda shrugged.
“Asher was with Luke on that one. Luke’s been running the business for years. Asher semi-retired at 82.”
“So Luke and Asher got along well?”
Jenny observed Linda’s face when she asked that question.
“Of course,” Linda said quickly. “In some ways, Luke was closer to Asher than my own kids.”
“Do you know who’s going to inherit the business?”
Linda smiled.
“I have a general idea, but I may be wrong.”
“Why?” Jenny asked, suddenly alert. “Did Asher change his will recently?”
“He was planning to make some minor changes.”
“I need to know who benefits from the will.”
“Most of our kids are doing well,” Linda said. “The older ones are comfortably retired. I don’t think Asher’s will is going to make a difference.”
Jenny chatted with Linda for a while and took her leave.
“Why don’t you come over to the café sometime?” she hinted. “You can sit out on the deck and watch people on the beach. There’s a lot of tourists around now.”
“Asher used to take me around,” Linda said sadly. “Luke and Jason have both offered. Maybe I’ll come visit one of these days.”
Jenny ran into
Heidi on her way out. Heidi was wearing a robe over a two piece swimsuit. Jenny admired her skirtini.
“Any progress?” she asked Jenny.
“Some,” Jenny said. “I’m trying to learn more about Asher’s past.”
“Dad never talked about it,” Heidi said. “He didn’t want the horrors of his life to cast a shadow on us. We learned about the war in school. That’s when Walt told us where Dad had been.”
“He must have wanted to spare you the pain.”
Heidi shrugged and stalked away.
Jenny stopped at the police station on her way home. Adam was dealing with some paper work.
“What brings you here, Jenny?” he asked.
“Have you made any progress in the Asher case?” she asked.
“We can talk about anything but that,” Adam said patiently. “I’m about to finish up here. Why don’t we go out to dinner? I heard of a nice place in Cape Charles. We can watch the sunset over the Chesapeake.”
“Please, can you throw me a bone? I’m stumped.”
“We are waiting for the will to be read,” Adam conceded.
“You want to follow the money trail,” Jenny nodded. “I thought of that too. When are they going to do it?”
“I think they are waiting for some of the kids to turn up. The one who’s overseas can’t make it. But there’s a doctor in New York and another guy somewhere in the Midwest. They should both be arriving any time.”
“What about Linda’s daughter?”
“She’s here,” Adam confirmed. “You haven’t met her yet?”
“I met the swimsuit sisters,” Jenny said with a laugh. “Wait till you run into them.”
Adam gave Jenny a smoldering look.
“We should go swimming some time. We can take a canoe out to one of the barrier islands.”
Jenny quailed at the thought of being on the water.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “We should do that.”
Chapter 10
Jenny rubbed the soles of her feet, trying to fight a wave of exhaustion. She had made dinner plans with Jason but she was feeling drained. It had been a busy day at the café. The tourists loved the new iced coffees and frappes on the menu. They had sold thrice the amount of coffee they normally did.
“Why don’t you stay in?” Star asked, chopping cucumber for a salad. “I’m sure Jason won’t mind.”