by Lyndsey Cole
Annie shook her head and waited.
“Of course you don’t. Anyway. She said, if it’s a girl, we should name her Claire. I’m not sure though.”
“I’m sure she wants to make you happy. Let her know how you feel about choosing that name.”
Cody nodded.
“Are you going to finish renovations on the bed and breakfast?” Annie asked.
A darkness fell over Cody’s face. “I’ll have to work that out with Violet Sheldrake. She informed me that she’s part owner. My mother hadn’t explained her money situation to me. She always pretended everything was going along as smooth as silk. But I’m discovering that wasn’t exactly the case.”
“Well, if it’s any consolation, I’m quite sure that she paid Danny Davis to finish the upstairs so you could continue with that part if you want to. He’s ready to get going whenever you are.”
Cody stood up. “That’s one bright spot in this whole mess, I guess. I’ll talk to him as soon as I’m allowed back in the house.”
Martha hustled over to Annie and Cody. “Camilla’s at the gallery now but there’s not much business.”
“That’s fine. I’ll go over in a few minutes.”
“How are you, dear?” Martha asked as she hugged Cody. “Such a shock for you. Is Abby feeling all right?”
Cody shrugged. “As good as can be expected. You know, it’s not as big a shock as you might expect. My mother was,” he paused, thinking of the right word, “difficult.”
Martha, in her caring patient manner, guided Cody out of the café. “Do you have any idea who might have done this?” Annie followed and kept a keen eye on Cody.
“The police told me Danny Davis was in the house at the time of the murder. That new detective? Christy Crank? She’s acting like her mind is made up.”
Martha looked at Annie. “That woman. What are we going to do?”
Annie put her hand on Cody’s arm. “Can you think of anyone that would want to harm your mother? What about Henry Harper the third? Or Violet Sheldrake? Or, this might be a stretch, but have you heard a rumor about something valuable that old man Harper hid in the house?”
Cody looked away from Annie. “That’s nonsense. Old man Harper was confined to his bed for the last years of his life and his son and grandson looted that place before he even died. If there were valuables, they would have found them long ago.”
“The house was empty when your mother bought it?” Annie asked.
“Except for some moth eaten rugs and mouse infested couches. I’ve been helping her take that stuff to the landfill. We had to pay to get rid of it. She should have sent the bill to Henry Harper the second. He was supposed to empty out the house but Mom didn’t want anything to do with him.”
“Oh? Why was that?”
Cody ran his fingers through his hair. “I probably should keep this to myself, but Henry Harper the third threatened to sue Mom over the inspection report.”
“Not Henry Harper the second?”
“No, he just wanted to get what he could for the house. He started to leave but added, “His son, Henry the third is convinced my mom swindled him.”
Chapter 7
“That’s the second person to tell me about the inspection report but I didn’t know about the potential lawsuit,” Annie told Martha as they watched Cody leave the building. She bumped Martha with her elbow. “How well do you know Cody?”
Martha pulled Annie into the Fisher Fine Art Gallery. Violet’s son, Larry, and his wife were busy chatting with Camilla. Martha and Annie swept past into Annie’s office.
“What’s gotten into you Martha? You’re acting like you have a deep dark secret,” Annie said after Martha closed the office door and finally released Annie’s arm.
“You asked about Cody.” Martha’s eyes were big and round. “In public, Claire and Cody acted like the perfect mother-son pair, but Abby told me they argued like cats and dogs when Claire thought no one was around.”
Annie slumped into her desk chair while Martha paced back and forth in the small office space. “I don’t know. Abby doesn’t like to talk about it but she said doors slam after every argument and Cody won’t talk to her for hours. Until he manages to calm himself down.”
“He is an only child. Maybe Claire couldn’t see he was grown up and capable of making his own decisions.”
Martha nodded. “I’m sure that’s part of it. We all know how Claire could be. Remember what she did to Leona?”
“I heard the stories. I know Leona had no use for Claire and it was about all she could do to hold her tongue when Claire hired Danny to remodel the house.”
Martha finally sat down, but didn’t lean back relaxed. She sat at the edge of the chair, clicking her nails on the wooden arm. “I was suspicious about Claire’s motive with that decision. It smelled like her passive aggressive streak rubbing Leona’s nose in her money.”
“What a mess. So, besides Danny who was at the scene of the crime, suspects are starting to pile up. Cody McClaven, Henry Harper the third, Larry Sheldrake and his mother Violet, all had plenty of motivation to get Claire McClaven out of their lives.
Camilla poked her head around the office door. “Annie? Someone out here is interested in one of your photographs. Do you have time to talk to him?”
“Hello again,” Annie said to Larry Sheldrake as she left her office. “Where’s your wife?”
“She needed another cup of coffee. And I want to talk to you without her big mouth flapping away,” Larry said without turning around to look at Annie. “This photograph brings back a lot of happy memories for me.”
Annie studied the photo he was staring at. It was one of her first shots when she returned to Catfish Cove more than a year ago. The view of the White Mountains on the far side of Heron Lake became a magnet for her. It always brought her peace during difficult times. “Do you still enjoy your visits to Catfish Cove?”
Larry abruptly turned toward Annie. “What kind of question is that?”
“You grew up here. Your mother still lives here. I suppose you might enjoy visiting when you get a chance.” Annie studied his face. Something about her question made him extremely uncomfortable. “My associate told me you might be interested in buying one of my photographs. Is this the one?”
“I haven’t made up my mind yet. To answer your first question, no, I don’t enjoy coming back here. My mother puts tremendous guilt trips on me so I come, spend the afternoon with her like I did yesterday and drive back home. This time, she asked me to stay a couple extra days to help her sort out the mess with the Harper House.”
“Is it okay if I bring this into your gallery?” Margery asked Annie as she held up a large cup of coffee.
“Actually, no food or drinks are allowed,” Annie answered while she digested the fact that Larry was with Violet when Claire was murdered. Unless they were in on it together, they both had an alibi.
“Oh dear, I’ll wait in the café for you Larry.”
Larry sighed. “I’ll stop back in before we leave. I think I do want to bring this photograph home with me. But now I better head to the Harper House before my mother sends out the cavalry to find me.” Larry smiled. “She’s not so bad when she gets her way. It’s the rest of the time I prefer to be somewhere else.”
Martha had her purse over her shoulder, ready to leave. “What was that all about? He had the look of someone heading off to war.”
Annie’s lips twitched up. “You hit the nail on the head. He gave me the impression that’s exactly how he feels when he has to spend time with his good ole mama. Violet doesn’t sound like someone you want to cross.”
“I’m going to help Leona set up for the shower.” Martha lowered her voice. “This isn’t a nice thing to say, but now I can do the shower my way without crossing Claire.”
Annie was surprised when she checked the time. It was already three and the shower was starting at four. The day was flying by. A nagging thought kept circling in her head about Larry Sheldrake.
Why was he staying to help his mother with the Harper House? It sounded like a lame excuse. Maybe there really was something to the rumors of old man Harper’s hidden treasure in the house and Larry wanted to search for it.
She headed across the hall to the café just as Martha pushed the door open. She was checking her phone and almost crashed into Annie.
“Slow down,” Annie admonished her.
Martha looked up with wild eyes, taking a few seconds to register who was talking to her. “Cody texted me. He’s taking Abby to the hospital.” She jogged out of the Cove’s Corner building without any further explanation.
The Black Cat Café was already transformed into a baby shower with yellow or green cloths on the tables, sunflowers in vases at the buffet area, and Leona’s beautiful pink and blue cupcakes displayed on the cupcake tower. Leona and Mia stood silently in the middle of the charm.
“What do we do now?” Leona asked Annie.
“Did Martha leave a list of who was invited at least?”
Mia dug in her big tote and pulled out a paper. “I helped her with the invitations but it’s kind of late to contact everyone, don’t you think?”
Annie sat at the counter with the paper. “Let’s divide up the list and see who we can get in touch with. We’ll say it’s been postponed until further notice.”
The three women made short work of contacting or leaving a message with everyone on the list. “Now we better put all this food away until we hear from Martha.” As if that thought reached Martha’s brain, Annie’s phone rang.
“Martha? Any news?” Annie asked while she crossed her fingers for good luck while she listened. “That’s good news.” Annie put her phone away. “Abby thought she was having contractions but it was a false alarm. She needs to stay at the hospital overnight for observations but if everything is okay tomorrow, she can go home,” Annie told Mia and Leona.
“And the shower?” Mia asked.
“Possibly moved to Abby and Cody’s house. That will be decided tomorrow.” Annie picked up a yellow plate with a bunny design and loaded it with food from the buffet table.
“Hey,” Leona yelled. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Annie took a bite from a crabmeat mini sandwich. “Yum. This is delicious. No one will miss a couple if I sample your creations.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Leona grabbed a plate, handing it to Mia and taking another for herself. “No sense in letting any of this go to waste. If the baby shower is rescheduled, I can always make more.”
Annie slapped Leona on the back. “That’s the attitude. By the way, how’s Danny doing?”
“Better, as far as I can tell. Cody asked him to go back to work tomorrow.” Leona bit into a flaky pastry filled with raspberries and brie. “These hard boiled eggs that look like hatching chicks were a lot of fun to make.”
Annie took one for her plate. “Did you ever think of doing some catering on the side? You did a fabulous job with the food for my photography opening, and for Martha’s wedding.”
“Yeah, well, it’s fun when I do it for friends but it might get to be too much like work and cut into my free time if I take on real catering jobs.” She added more food to her plate. “But I have been thinking about it. With business in the café slowing down for the season, it would be great to have a few side jobs. Would you two help me?”
Mia laughed. “Of course.” She sampled a tomato, basil, mozzarella bite held together on a toothpick. The tomato juice squirted out and hit Annie on the cheek. “Oops.”
“Where’s Jason when you need him? He’d be all over that mess on your face,” Leona teased, jabbing Annie with an elbow in her side. “Anything new with the two of you yet?”
“None of your business. Besides, you’ll probably know what’s happening before I do with the way you and Jason are always scheming behind my back.” Annie held up something pink, white and green on a blue toothpick. “What’s this?”
Leona laughed. “That was a special request for Abby. That’s my creation—a pickle wrapped in a layer of cream cheese and thinly sliced salami. Apparently she has craved pickles for her whole pregnancy. Give me one too. I haven’t even tried it yet.”
They all sampled the pickle in a blanket with mixed reactions. Mia loved it and took a second one, Leona waved her hand back and forth and Annie didn’t finish hers.
“I’m not a big pickle fan, or salami for that matter,” she explained.
With their plates overflowing, they sat on stools at the counter. “I’ve been thinking,” Annie said.
Leona and Mia continued to eat in silence.
“I think we should search the Harper House.”
“For what? Murder clues?” Leona asked between bites of her crabmeat sandwich.
“Indirectly,” Annie said and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. “Hidden treasures.”
“What?” both Leona and Mia said at the same time.
“Something I heard today keeps nagging at me. Old man Harper hid valuables in his house. Did you ever hear any rumors about that?”
Leona and Mia burst out laughing. “Don’t tell me you believe that old story. People have been saying that for years, but if I know anything about Henry Harper’s son and grandson, they went over the house with a fine tooth comb as soon as the old man took his last breath. If anything was hidden, they would have found it,” Leona explained.
“Just the same,” Annie said, “it wouldn’t hurt to have a look around. What harm could there be in that?”
Chapter 8
Annie had a message from Jason telling her he took Roxy home and he would think of something for dinner. She looked at the empty plate and texted back that she sampled Leona’s food for the shower so he shouldn’t wait for her.
“Yes or no?” she asked Leona and Mia.
“What kind of question is that? We know you’ll go with or without us, so of course we’ll go, right Mia?”
Mia nodded. “Sure. I don’t know how I’ll explain it to Roy if I end up in jail though.”
Annie waved her hand dismissively. “What Dad doesn’t know won’t hurt him. We just need to think of an excuse for being there, like, we’re looking for something we dropped yesterday? As long as the police are done with their investigation, we won’t be disturbing the evidence.”
Leona already had containers for all the food and was packing everything away. “I could use some help over here. Grab a permanent marker so we can label the containers. If the shower doesn’t get rescheduled for tomorrow, I’ll put this on the café menu, at least, everything that can’t be frozen.”
Mia grabbed a big plastic tote for all the nonfood decorations and carefully folded and packed it all away. “Annie, how did you hear about this treasure thing? It’s been ages since I heard it making the rounds.”
Annie leaned on the counter. “Well, did you two notice the couple in the café this morning? The guy went to the bookshelves and his wife came to the pastry display.”
“I saw them but I didn’t pay any attention,” Mia said.
Leona shook her head. “Me neither. So what about them?”
“The guy, Larry, is Violet’s son, and his very chatty wife told me that they only come to visit once a year because Violet still tries to control Larry’s life. She mentioned that Violet told them she’s part owner of a house that might have gold coins hidden inside.” Annie raised her eyebrows and waited for Leona and Mia to react.
“Harrumph, I never heard anything as specific as gold coins being the treasure,” Leona said as she paused her cleanup.
Annie continued, “The woman, Margery, scoffed at the whole idea but Larry hustled her right out of the café and he showed up at my gallery. He told me Violet asked him to help her sort out her real estate mess. I’m guessing he was referring to the Harper House which now will be owned by Claire’s son, Cody, and Larry’s mom, Violet.”
Leona snapped the last lid in place and carried all the containers to the refrigerator. “There’s something I’ve never
told anyone about Claire McClaven.” She sat at the counter. “Something I haven’t thought about in a long time, but with her moving back to town, these old memories have been haunting me.”
Annie felt her stomach twist into a knot. She knew Leona had a lot of skeletons in her closet and whatever was coming from Leona’s mouth next was sure to be a bombshell. And, for some reason, she had an uneasy feeling it might have something to do with her. “So, spit it out. You can’t leave us hanging on those words.”
Leona sucked in a big breath of air and slowly exhaled through her nose. “Okay. Here’s the thing.” She turned her eyes toward Annie. “When I had that fling with your biological dad, Claire stalked us and threatened to call the senator’s wife if he didn’t make a big payoff. I’m not sure if she ever put two and two together that you were my daughter, but she did blackmail Hank McGuire.”
“That’s not so bad. She can’t hurt you with that information anymore,” Mia said, watching Annie. “Annie knows the truth about you being her biological mom and you two seem to have worked it out. Right?”
“True. But one of the conditions of the payoff was Claire had to leave Catfish Cove and never come back.” Leona moved her eyes between Annie and Mia. “Why did she come back?”
Annie rubbed the back of her neck. “You think she knew something about old man Harper’s hidden valuables? That’s why she bought the Harper House even though she didn’t have enough money to renovate it on her own?”
“Uh huh,” Leona said, vigorously nodding her head up and down. “That’s exactly what I think. The question is, did Claire find anything before she was murdered, or is someone else after the same thing?”
Annie swung her tote over her shoulder. “We better get a move on. I think I forgot my jacket at the Harper House yesterday when Detective Cranky was giving me a hard time. Let’s go find it.” She winked at her two moms and added a mischievous grin.
Leona jumped off the stool and Mia pulled on her jacket. “You are two peas in a pod and I shouldn’t be tagging along into this trouble.”