Ravenwood Cove Cozy Mysteries Books 1-3

by Carolyn L. Dean

  Truman leaned forward in his upholstered chair and tapped one finger against his temple, several silver rings glittering on his fingers. “I’m not crazy, Amanda. Stuff’s happening around this place. Supernatural stuff. I can feel it. I’m very sensitive to that sort of energy.” One of the bookstore’s customers, who had just pulled a large volume out of the Historic Art section, shot Truman a startled glance and quickly moved to a different bookcase. Apparently, their conversation wasn’t the sort of talk that set people at ease.

  “What sort of supernatural stuff?” Benny nosed Amanda’s hand, demanding more attention, and she automatically began to pet him again.

  “Things are getting moved, and some things are missing. After I go to sleep, I wake up and I think I hear footsteps but nobody’s there.” He gave a melodramatic shiver. “It’s giving me the creeps. It’s not like it’s a nice spirit, either. I’ve gone downstairs in the morning and found a book flung face down on a side table, and the front door’s still locked tight as a drum. Something from another dimension is in here, I swear.”

  Amanda had a flashback to the first time she’d walked into the abandoned Ravenwood Inn. It has been full of cobwebs and memories, and she remembered wondering if a ghost or two was going to waft down the staircase to greet her. Maybe ghosts were real or maybe they weren’t, but she wasn’t going to mention that.

  Amanda loved Benny’s Books. It smelled of old paper and fresh coffee, with comfortable chairs and little tables so patrons could sit and look through the books. Truman had made sure to include plenty of used books among the new ones, and the place always seemed to have a steady stream of customers coming and going.

  “Truman, I don’t think this place is haunted. How could a store that’s so warm and fun and popular have ghosts in it? It’d have to be a dead booklover who just wants to browse a bit.”

  He didn’t laugh at her little joke. “I’d think it was a burglar, but there’s no other way to get in this side of the building, and there’s never any money missing.” He got up and automatically started shelving a couple of books that had been left out on side tables, his mind obviously not on what he was doing. “I’d set up security cameras but I’ve sunk just about every dime I have into the bike store and this place and I can’t afford them right now. I keep a baseball bat behind the counter in case of a robbery, but that doesn’t help much in a case like this.”

  “Can you get a friend to stay downstairs one night? Maybe they could see what was going on?”

  Truman smiled indulgently. “If I tell them I think the place is haunted, I don’t think I’d get many takers. Nobody would want to stay locked inside with a ghost who moves things.”

  True. Amanda shivered at the thought. She wouldn’t want to be the person who stayed overnight. She watched Truman moving from shelf to shelf, carefully arranging the books and greeting an occasional customer. His plaid flannel shirt was unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled up, showing the Ramones t-shirt underneath. For all his courtesy, intelligence, and stylish flair, he didn’t seem eager to confront a floating spirit, either.

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  He paused, book in hand. “I’m not sure yet. Maybe I’ll just leave out food and a welcoming note so they leave me alone? Right here “—he slapped a hand on the counter— “I could leave it some angel food cake. That’d suit a ghost.” He winked at Amanda, and she laughed.

  “How about devil’s food? Or maybe it would prefer some alcoholic spirits.”

  Truman smiled. “You’re weird, Amanda.”

  She grinned back at her friend, noticing that his new haircut included blue tips on the longer hair on the right side, and he was sporting a new earring. “So I’ve been told. Must mean I’m living in the right town.”

  Chapter 15

  It was a rare day that Amanda got a chance to visit both Meg and Lisa at their workplaces, so when she had a chance to have her morning mocha at Cuppa, and then meet up with Lisa for some much-needed holiday shopping, it made her smile.

  The weather had cleared up and the sky was a brilliant, cold blue, and when she stopped by the newspaper office she wasn’t surprised to see a pair of kittens rolling around on the floor in a playful wrestling match.

  Being careful with the door, she closed it behind her and knelt down, only to become the newest plaything the kittens attacked.

  “I see you’ve met the welcoming committee.” Lisa looked over from her desktop and smiled at her friend. “Be careful. They’re still so little that sometimes they forget and will nibble a bit.”

  “I’ll watch my fingers. Which ones are these?”

  Lisa leaned over and checked. “Moski and Finn. Jasmine’s still asleep in the basket. Did you like my article about the Moonlight Necklace?”

  “Good stuff,” Amanda agreed. “You ready to go?”

  “Sure.” Amanda gave the kittens one last bit of petting and stood up. “What’s on our list today?”

  “Well, I need to stop by Mrs. Sandford’s and get her approval on the new ad layout, and I was hoping the bookstore might have something about antique motorcycles. You still want to shop at Kazoodles?” Lisa closed her laptop and picked up her gloves. “I didn’t know you had kids on your Christmas list.”

  “Well, I don’t, but I thought I’d see what was on sale. I’m trying to put together a toy box for the Inn, so the kids would have something to play with. You really have to stop by the antique store?”

  Lisa pulled on her parka and zipped it up. “Is that okay? I know she’s not your favorite person in the world but I should be able to be in and out really fast.”

  Remembering back to how Mrs. Sandford had treated her when she first moved to Ravenwood Cove, Amanda wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of walking into her high-end art gallery and antique store. She could still remember how the imperious woman had done her best to shut down the Ravenwood Inn, even if it ruined Amanda’s life. She’d learned that in a small town she didn’t get the luxury of avoiding someone forever, even if she didn’t like that.

  Amanda sighed. “That’s fine. Maybe I’ll do some shopping there.”

  Lisa scoffed. “Too rich for my blood. Think I’ll save my money for lunch.”

  Standing by the door of Sandford Art Gallery ten minutes later, Amanda was rethinking her decision to go inside. “Maybe I’ll just stay on the sidewalk,” she said, hunching down into her coat collar to try to stave off the swirling winter wind.

  “Nonsense,” Lisa said, gently taking her arm. “You can’t hide from her forever. You can do this, and I’m right here with you. Come on.”

  “I really wish you weren’t so practical,” Amanda muttered as her fearless friend pulled her through the engraved glass door.

  The interior was everything Amanda thought it would be. Modern spotlights spilled pools of light on the sumptuous carpet, highlighting antiques so costly and unique that they were displayed as individual works of art. Beautiful furniture was placed strategically around the room, and gleaming glass cases held smaller pieces, including two full lengths of nothing but jewelry. A frosted glass wall at the back separated the office from the showroom floor.

  A very pretty blonde woman with flawless makeup walked toward them, her hair gathered into a sculpted ponytail that was meant to look casual and probably had taken an hour to arrange.

  “Welcome. My name is Marissa. Is there anything in particular—” she broke off her greeting mid-sentence, apparently recognizing Lisa. “Oh, hello. Mrs. Sanford is in the back. I’ll just let her know that you’re here.” She turned without a word and sauntered gracefully back to the glass wall, speaking quietly at the small window. In less than a minute, Mrs. Sandford emerged from the back room. Amanda felt her spine stiffen.

  The ex-mayor had the same regal bearing and frosty expression that she’d had the day Amanda had met her, when Mrs. Sandford had told her that she’d be unable to open the Ravenwood Inn to guests. It had taken every bit of courage and grit Amanda had to dig in and fight f
or the right to have a business in Ravenwood Cove, and she’d been rewarded with good friends and a new hometown that she’d grown to love. Amanda had remembered that James had said Mrs. Sandford hadn’t had as easy a life as she pretended, and that had given Amanda the ability to be a bit sympathetic to the older lady, but it was still difficult to even be around her.

  Seeing Amanda standing with Lisa, Mrs. Sandford seemed to pause mid-stride, before turning slightly away.

  “I take it you have the ad copy we discussed?” she asked, her voice cool as she ignored Amanda.

  “Of course,” Lisa replied, placing a set of printouts on the nearby glass counter.

  Cut out of the conversation, Amanda walked over to the nearby jewelry counter. She’d been wanting to get something for her friend Beth, who’d helped her move from LA to Ravenwood Cove, and looking over the collection, she could tell that almost everything in the case was over her gift budget.

  Still, it was fun to look. She could hear that Lisa and Mrs. Sanford seemed to be wrapping up their business discussion and by the time Lisa walked over to join her she’d found several necklaces that she particularly liked.

  “Did she like your design?” Amanda asked, not moving her head as she looked at the jewelry.

  She could feel the shrug Lisa gave. “She did what she always does. Critiques it, corrects it, and asks me when I can make her changes. Find anything you want?”

  “Too much, I’m afraid, but I’d have to win the lottery before I could buy them.” She pointed a couple pieces out to Lisa, when suddenly she realized that her friend has fixated on a particular necklace. It was two loops of flawless white pearls and a stunning gold dragon pendant with bright emeralds set as the eyes.

  “I know that piece.” Lisa’s voice was deadly serious and Amanda turned to look at her.

  “You’ve seen it before?”

  “Yes. Let’s go.” Lisa darted a glance toward the back of the store, while she gave Amanda a gentle push toward the doorway.

  Amanda was puzzled but played along, turning to look at Lisa the moment they were outside and walking toward Petrie’s.

  “What was all that about?”

  Lisa gripped her upper arm and pulled her into the nearby alleyway, out of the wind. Making sure no one was around, she let go of Amanda’s arm and started to explain.

  “Okay, so you know that pearl necklace that we were looking at? Well, it actually belongs to Mrs. Welch, but I have no idea what it’s doing for sale in Mrs. Sandford’s store. She used to wear that necklace all the time when they were out on the town, like to a play or concert or something. I can’t remember a time when she was dressing up when she wasn’t wearing those pearls.”

  Amanda was surprised. “I thought she wore her diamond necklace.”

  Her friend shook her head. “No, I never saw her wear that. Just heard about it several times. Mr. Welch used to brag about how much money he was making in his different business ventures, and he sure liked showing off how well they were doing. He used to point out that necklace, saying that a true lady always wore good pearls.” She bit her lip, deep in thought. “Mrs. Welch wouldn’t give up that necklace unless she really needed to sell it.”

  Amanda flashed back to when she’d been at Mrs. Welch’s house, and the odd encounter on the unmaintained front porch. “Maybe she’s in financial trouble.”

  Lisa looked at her and screwed up her mouth. “Maybe Mr. Welch wasn’t quite as flush as he said he was. Either that, or something’s happened. Whichever it is, it would explain why she paid for the last newspaper ad she bought with two rolls of quarters, and why she was desperate to get the necklace back.”

  “She wouldn’t let us in her house.”

  “What?” Lisa asked, focusing again on Amanda.

  “She kept us out on the front porch, shivering, and said she was having her carpets shampooed so we couldn’t come in.” Amanda frowned. “What’s Mrs. Sandford’s first name again?”

  “Hortense.”

  Amanda nodded. “When Mrs. Welch came out of her house she said she thought that we were Hortense, coming back. That means Mrs. Sandford was in the house.” She thought for a moment. “Sounds like Mrs. Welch is keeping secrets.”

  They stood in the cold, both considering the possibilities.

  Amanda finally made a decision. “Well, it’s nothing that we can fix standing here. Let’s go into Petrie’s and warm up. Mrs. Granger said that they’d just started selling bunches of fresh mistletoe, cut off Mrs. Bitterman’s big oak trees. I think I’ll surprise Meg and put a big ball of mistletoe up inside the front door of Cuppa for her.”

  Lisa laughed. “You’re incorrigible,” she said, but walked into the general store with Amanda, ready to buy mistletoe.

  Chapter 16

  It had been a long day, and Amanda was happy to be driving home from the food bank.

  Earlier in the afternoon, she’d picked up the donated food from the Grange hall and packed her car full of dozens of boxes and bags of groceries. It was about a twenty-minute drive to the nearby food bank in Morganville, and she didn’t mind. It was a beautifully-clear, cold day, but when she arrived at the small warehouse she’d discovered that there was no one to help her unload. A balding man with a clipboard and a harried expression was talking animatedly with a thick-set truck driver about where to offload his delivery. When Amanda asked where he wanted her items to go, he pointed to a spot where she could set the bags and boxes on the dock but offered her no assistance. Looking around, there didn’t seem to be anyone else who worked there, so she had gamely unpacked the entire car. Bags weren’t difficult to set on the dock, but the full cases of canned goods were heavy and unwieldy, making it difficult to heft them into place. It was amazing how many pounds of food she’d been able to cram into her SUV, but she hadn’t considered the possibility of getting her workout just by moving groceries.

  Her muscles were aching a bit as she drove back, but she was humming happily, thinking of the families who would soon have some extra Christmas cheer in their kitchens. She’d been kind of insulated from hunger when she lived in LA, not paying much attention to the many homeless and struggling people who were around her, but Ravenwood Cove was different. It was so small that the person facing hunger was possibly a neighbor or a coworker, and it felt good to giving something back to the community.

  Maybe she needed to start thinking more about the needy people she couldn’t see.

  The country road wound through some hills that she hadn’t explored before, and as she got closer to town, she realized that she’d be driving very close to the mysterious Mrs. Welch’s home.

  Before she knew it, she’d swung her car right, around the corner and down the treed avenue. There were several large, handsome houses on the block, with only Mrs. Welch’s home not having some sort of Christmas lights or yard decorations for the season. Other yards had colored lights wrapped around shrubs and big trees, with some people lining their front porch or windows with little white lights, but Mrs. Welch’s seemed dark and silent.

  Slowing a bit, she peered at the once-proud home, thinking about the necklace for sale at Mrs. Sandford’s shop, and how Mrs. Welch had been so careful not to let her and James into her house. She glanced around, making sure no one was peering at her car moving slowly through the neighborhood, when she saw a bit of furtive movement at the edge of Mrs. Welch’s yard. There was a rustling of the rhododendron bushes, and she caught a glimpse of a tall shadow moving behind them, toward the back yard.

  All of Amanda’s warning flags went off. The secretive figure sure didn’t move like Mrs. Welch would have, and it seemed that whoever it was meant to stay as hidden as possible. There was no sign of Solomon’s handyman truck or any other vehicle, and whoever it was definitely didn’t look like they belonged on that side yard.

  Driving two doors down from Mrs. Welch’s, Amanda pulled her car next to the curbed sidewalk, and turned it off. She got out and shut the door behind her as quietly as she could. She swiveled
her head around, looking for anyone else who might be in the area but didn’t see anyone, even at the neighboring windows. The late afternoon light was fading a bit, but she knew that if she could see someone prowling around the dark house, someone else would be able to see her, too.

  After a bit of quick thinking, Amanda decided that walking down the public sidewalk would be infinitely safer than trying to sneak around after a mysterious stranger. Trying to muster an air of confidence, she squared her shoulders and wrapped her scarf more tightly around her neck, heading toward Mrs. Welch’s house like she had every reason in the world to be strolling down that sidewalk.

  Trying to act casual, she glanced around and finally caught sight of the lurking person again, circling around the back porch and walking out toward the sidewalk from the other side yard.

  It was a man, tall, carrying a cane or something in his hands. Amanda ducked her head down as if studying the ground as she continued walking past Mrs. Welch’s imposing house. The man was hesitating near the sidewalk, and Amanda could tell the moment he caught sight of her because he pivoted and walked very quickly away from her. Without glancing back, he suddenly picked up speed and started to sprint away, ducking down a side street. By the time Amanda was close enough to see around the corner the mysterious man was gone, as if he’d never been there.

  Amanda walked quickly back to her car, her thoughts whirling with the strange encounter. Whatever the lurking man had wanted, whatever he was searching for, Amanda now knew one thing about him.

  Mrs. Welch’s odd visitor had been carrying a very familiar-looking metal detector.

  Chapter 17

  “Celia, you’re a lifesaver.”

  The cheerful girl laughed at Amanda’s compliment. “It sounded like you needed them right away and I don’t live too far from here. It’s no problem at all.”