Whispering Pines Mysteries Box Set 3

by Shawn McGuire

  “I hear you. You’re saying that Darryl had no idea what Gavin’s plan was?”

  “Darryl didn’t know there even was a plan. Other than to camp and go hunting. Which they never even did. That’s what we were talking about when we went off by ourselves at the pub last night. After you told us we had to leave the campground, thank you for that by the way, we went to the hotel. Gavin started ranting about how this was exactly what he’d been talking about. That there was some ‘woman sheriff’ up here making life difficult for people and they needed to help. Or something like that.” She considered this. “You don’t seem to be making life difficult to me.”

  I bowed my head in thanks.

  “Anyhoo, I told Darryl this weekend sucked and that I wanted to go home. Since we rode up here with Gavin, we were going to ask Chaz and Marcel if they wanted to leave, but they already left. What a mess.” She let her head drop to the pillow again. “Next time I go anywhere with the group, I’m driving myself.”

  A bit of information here, a bit there, and soon I’d have a whole story. In this instance, I still needed more bits.

  “I was talking with Kendra before I came over here. She says you might have taken pictures at the pub?”

  Cheryl shot up into a sitting position. “I did. I took a ton of pictures.”

  “Did you take any during the fight?”

  “Of course. When a crowd gathers like that and tempers start getting short, you can be sure that something is going to happen that could go viral.”

  My heart dropped to my feet. “Tell me you didn’t post anything on social media.”

  “Well I was going to, but my phone died.”

  “I really need to see those pictures. They could be very helpful.”

  “Sure, no problem. I’ll share with you. You took my phone from me last night, though.”

  “I did. My guards have your things. Is it in your purse?”

  “Yep, outside pocket. My charger is over at the hotel.”

  “I think they’ve got charging cables downstairs. If you’re okay with it, I’ll bring it down to the front desk and ask them to charge it. Then you can share the pictures with me.”

  “Groovy. Be prepared, my phone is ancient, so it’ll take like an hour to charge. Can I go after that? I didn’t do anything.”

  “Will the pictures show me that?”

  She tapped an index finger to her chin as she thought and then said, “I think so. You’ll be able to see that I was standing at the back of the group next to Darryl. I was holding him back so he wouldn’t dive in there and try and help. You know how guys get. He stayed by me, and I took pictures.”

  “In case there was something that could go viral.”

  “Right.”

  “Okie doke. I’ll be back in an hour. If the pictures prove what you say, I’ll be comfortable releasing you.”

  Chapter 16

  With the guards’ empty breakfast trays in hand and Cheryl’s retrieved cell phone in my pocket, I made my way down the creaking, popping, narrow staircase to the lobby. I was concentrating on dropping off the cell phone with Gardenia at the front desk and nearly collided with a man coming out of the dining room.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled.

  He waved off the apology and continued to the front door.

  “Let me take that.” Laurel took my bundle and handed it off to a busboy.

  “Thanks. Do you have—”

  I spun toward the door. That man. He either had white hair or was wearing a white stocking cap. I ran outside, Meeka barking as she chased me, and stopped in the middle of the red brick pathway. I scanned the area slowly, searching the shadows between the cottages as I spun. He was gone already.

  “Jayne?” Laurel stood in The Inn’s doorway. “Is everything all right?”

  I made one last scan of the area and walked over to her. “Did you see that man? The one with the white hat?”

  She shook her head. “Sorry, no.”

  “I think he came out of the dining room. I’ll check with the waitstaff.” As we reentered the lobby, I asked, “You have phone chargers, don’t you?”

  Laurel nodded at Gardenia who retrieved a plastic bin from beneath the desk.

  “What kind do you need?” Gardenia frowned at the tangle of cords that emerged from the bin when she pulled on one. She glanced at Laurel. “I’ll organize this.”

  I handed her the phone, which had a crack running through the middle of the screen, and she promised to not only charge it but to not let it out of her sight for even a second.

  “How’s it going upstairs?” Laurel asked.

  “Nothing condemning yet,” I reported. “But it sounds like the pictures on that phone might be helpful. I’ll probably be letting a couple of them go soon.”

  “Good,” Laurel mumbled through the hairclip clamped between her teeth as she twisted her long mostly gray hair into a chignon. “A few people asked about vacancies.”

  “I’ll clear them out as soon as possible and ship the guilty party over to county.” I paused and my mouth twitched with a smirk. “We’ve got a couple rooms available at Pine Time as well.”

  “I’ll send you my overflow.” She grinned and winked a gray-blue eye. We had a friendly competition going to see which of us could get to full vacancy fastest each week. She usually won. For now. Pine Time was gaining in popularity.

  “Different topic,” she said while guiding me to the dining room. “We might have a little trouble brewing.”

  I sighed and stretched my neck side to side. “What now?”

  Laurel took me by the elbow and guided me to the dining room’s double door entrance. It was packed, but the group she was concerned about was gathered around the table in the far righthand corner.

  “Is that Flavia?” I straightened in surprise. “With a group of people? Flavia doesn’t like being with people individually let alone in a group.”

  “It’s Flavia.” Laurel placed a hand on my forearm, a gesture that could either be comforting or preparatory. In this case, it was the latter. “I think they’re discussing the rash of deaths and other negative tourist incidents.”

  I squinted across the room at the group which appeared to consist of only villagers. Some I’d seen before but didn’t know by name. Others I knew such as Brady Higgins and Sister Agnes. I couldn’t fathom even a single scenario that teamed up Agnes and Flavia.

  My gaze continued around the table and froze. Sugar too?

  Since the day I arrived here, Sugar had been warm to me one day and cold the next. She was the one who first told me some of the villagers thought I brought these troubles with me. Or woke them up. Or whatever they thought I’d done. After the death of her ex-best friend and culinary rival Gin Wakefield, I thought Sugar and I had come to an understanding. Apparently, I was wrong. Who was the ringleader of this little group? Flavia or Sugar?

  “Sugar and Flavia?” I mumbled.

  “You know Sugar likes to stir the pot.” Laurel’s voice was maternal, soothing.

  “I do, but she also has a way of convincing people to believe things that aren’t necessarily true.”

  “The villagers know you, Jayne, and we know how much you love this place.”

  “I know.” That didn’t mean they thought I was doing my job well. “But Sugar and Flavia teaming up? I’m not sure if that hurts or scares me more.”

  Laurel moved in front of me and put her hands on my shoulders but didn’t speak until I looked her in the eye. “Stay the course. Trust yourself.”

  Laughing at something one of her tablemates had just said, Sugar looked our way. Wounded more than I thought I could be by something like this, all I could do was stare at her. Her smile faded when she registered that it was me standing with Laurel, and she quickly turned away.

  Standing behind me now, Laurel murmured in my ear like she was my conscience. “Ignore her. You’ve done nothing wrong. You’re in this village for a reason.”

  I nodded and blew out a breath. “Thanks, Laurel.”


  She patted my back and then returned to work.

  I glanced at the group once more. What about Sister Agnes? It couldn’t have been a coincidence to find her here moments after I’d nearly run into the man with the white hat. He must have been the person I’d seen in the un-church’s window. It was a person with a white hat, not white hair. He also must’ve been the one who delivered the envelope to the station. He and Agnes were linked. But how? And how were the two of them linked to Flavia and Sugar?

  The aromas wafting around the dining room hit my stomach then. I hadn’t had more than coffee and a small scone since the council meeting this morning and it was nearly eleven o’clock. Every table was full, but one option presented. Lily Grace was sitting by the windows, sun shining down on her, as she studied something on her laptop.

  “Mind if I sit here?” I asked, indicating the empty chair across from her.

  She blinked, coming out of the focus fog she’d been in. “Hey, hi. Yeah, go for it.”

  Sylvie, one of the servers, arrived as I was sitting and Meeka was settling into position beneath my chair.

  “Coffee, please, Sylvie. And a skillet breakfast with ham and cheddar.”

  “Toast or muffin?”

  I looked up at the blonde in the black peasant dress and knee-high black boots. “You look rested.”

  “That surprises you?”

  “A little. You work yourself ragged here, Sylvie. You’ve either caked on the undereye concealer or . . .”

  “I have not had work done, if that’s what you’re thinking.” She placed a hand to her cheek. “All natural, baby. We were closed yesterday. I slept for fourteen hours and never got out of my pajamas. Didn’t feel like cooking a turkey, so the hubs and I had ice cream for dinner and watched movies. It was great.”

  “Good for you, sounds like a good day.” Did Tripp and I have a free day coming soon where we could do that? Not that I needed downtime. Some time alone with Tripp would be nice, though. “I’ll have a muffin. Poppyseed if you’ve got one. Second choice is peanut butter.”

  She jotted down my order, stuck her order pad in her apron pocket, and filled my coffee cup from the carafe she’d set on the table.

  “Homework?” I asked Lily Grace as I tapped her open laptop.

  She shook her head, her partly curly, partly straight hair bouncing as she did. “Researching veterinary schools in the tri-state area.”

  “You decided?” I nearly choked on my swig of coffee. I’d never seen anyone have a harder time deciding between sticking with the family business, so to speak, and going to college. “You’re going to vet school?”

  “I haven’t decided yet, but I realized I can’t make that kind of decision without knowing all my options.” She chewed on her bottom lip and sighed at the screen. “I got my ACT and SAT scores. Both are really good. Not to brag.”

  “By all means, brag it up, sister.” I held my mug up to her in a toast. “I took the tests once each, managed to get the lowest possible acceptable score on both, and called it good. My mother was sure that wouldn’t be enough so schmoozed the selection committee at UW Madison and promised free facials and body wraps.”

  She stared blankly at me. “You went to college on bribes?”

  I frowned and heat spread over my face as I realized how that sounded. “I was joking about the spa treatments. My GPA was really good. As far as I was concerned, that showed I was a good student and didn’t see why I had to take a separate test to prove it.”

  “Glad we had this conversation after I took my tests.”

  I grinned at her. “Has your research helped with your decision?”

  “Not really. All I know now is that veterinary school is stupid expensive. Although, my grandmothers have a fund set aside for me.” She tapped a spoon rhythmically against her teacup. “The village could use a vet. But we already have Igor up at the circus. He knows enough to take care of all our animals.”

  Everything about Lily Grace was fifty-fifty. She was mixed race. She loved being able to help people by telling their fortunes but hated her “gift.” She wanted to stay in the village she loved but yearned to see more of the world.

  “You’ll figure it out.” I did my best to stay middle of the road because while she loved the attention she got when she asked for people’s advice, she hated when folks offered it freely.

  Sylvie arrived with my skillet and a bag of biscuits for Meeka in record time. “Figured you’ve got more important things to do today than hang out here. I put your order at the top of the stack.”

  “Thanks.” I remembered my creepy secret admirer. “Hey, did you serve a guy wearing a brown jacket and white stocking cap earlier? Might have had aviator sunglasses?”

  “Doesn’t sound like anyone I served. We’re always packed on the weekends between Thanksgiving and Yule. When we’re this busy, I barely even remember the people sitting at my tables let alone the others.”

  While I ate, thankfully with my back to Sugar and Flavia, and slipped biscuits to my K-9, Lily Grace continued with her research. She started a list of positives and negatives to staying and leaving, stating each one to me as she wrote. I wished I could help, but this was a decision only she could make.

  After Sylvie had taken away my empty plate and given me one last refill on coffee, Lily Grace asked, “What’s wrong, Sheriff?”

  “What makes you think something’s wrong?”

  “I can feel stress coming off you in waves. It’s starting to bum me out. It’s Sugar, isn’t it?”

  “Sugar?”

  “She’s at that table in the corner, which I’m sure you know, and has been staring at you for the last five minutes.”

  “That explains why I feel like I’m being watched. For the third time today.” I shook my head at her look of confusion. “It’s not just Sugar. It’s also the woman who got stabbed last night and other things going on around the village.” And the fact that Tripp and I were arguing all the time. And that I was having nightmares.

  Lily Grace closed her laptop and held out her hands to me.

  “Really? Right here?” She wanted to read me. At this point, I’d take all the guidance I could get so placed my hands over hers.

  “What do you want to know?”

  I wanted to know who the stabber was. Why I was having these dreams. When Tripp and I would get back to normal. “Tell me something that can help with . . . anything.”

  “That’s not very specific.”

  I shrugged. “I’ve got a lot going on.”

  Usually, she wanted a bit of space between her hands and her customer’s. She said her visions formed in that little energy gap. This time, though, she grabbed my hands as she closed her eyes and almost immediately got a response for me.

  “I see two pink cylinders side by side.” After a few seconds, “I see a jagged scar running across a smooth plane.”

  When she opened her eyes, I was staring at her, as were the people around us.

  “Anything?” she asked.

  “Two pink cylinders and a jagged scar. Guess I won’t know if that’s helpful until it is.” Which was true of most of the readings she did for me. “Does it mean anything to you?”

  “I’m not an interpreter, just the messenger.” She turned to the diners nearby who were still staring. “She’s a friend. I’m not giving freebies.”

  Disappointed, they turned back to their meals.

  “This vision came on fast.”

  “Told you. You’re oozing.”

  “Pleasant. Now I want to go take a shower.” I tossed back the rest of my coffee. “Thanks for letting me share your table. Good luck with your decision.”

  She swatted at me like she didn’t want to talk about it anymore but had already returned to her pluses and minuses list before I walked away.

  In the lobby, I stopped by the front desk. “How’s the phone charge coming?”

  Gardenia picked it up and shook her head. “Almost at fifty percent.”

  Not enough yet. �
�You’ll still keep an eye on it?”

  “I’ll treat it like a baby and take it with me wherever I go,” she promised.

  I thanked her and headed back upstairs. Time to talk with Didi.

  Chapter 17

  Meeka darted up the stairs ahead of me, easily beating me to the third floor. Then she stood at the top, like the queen of the mountain, gloating as though she’d accomplished something massive.

  “It’s hardly a fair race,” I told her. “You’re much faster and have four legs. Besides, I wasn’t racing anyway.”

  Sometimes, it felt more like we were siblings rather than owner and pet. Of course the question was, who was the owner and who was the pet?

  She turned away from me, head held high, and trotted over to the guards. Or rather, guard. Jagger was back.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. “Where did the other two go?”

  “I sent them home,” he said. “It’s in my training; I need to finish the job. I ran home, literally, got in a quick workout, took a shower, and grabbed something to eat. Now I’m back.”

  “Let me out of here,” came a pleading wail from Didi’s room. “I need to see Lars.”

  “Someone’s finally awake.” Jagger jerked a thumb over his shoulder at her room. “She was doing that off and on all night.”

  “You’re sure she’s okay?” I asked as a loud thud sounded against her door. She must’ve thrown herself against it. “She isn’t hurting herself, is she?”

  “I checked on her a couple times,” Jagger informed. “She’s fine.”

  “She realizes the door locks from inside, right?”

  “She knows. I think she’s doing that to make sure we hear her. She tried to bolt a few times. I caught her and carried her back in there. The last time, Emery put one of his Spock moves on her and threatened to cuff her if she did it again. If she sticks to her pattern, she’ll start sobbing hysterically soon. I think that’s how she fell asleep last night, wore herself out.”