Tj Jensen Cozy Mystery Boxed Set 2: Books 6-10

by Kathi Daley

  Still, I remembered feeling vulnerable and a little scared about how to handle the sensations I was feeling. Maybe I needed to have a talk with Ash sooner rather than later. For now, though, I needed to get myself and the girls out the door before one of the seniors with whom I shared my life started hollering for us to get a move on.

  The drive to the beach was a short one. When we arrived at the stretch of sand designated for the movie, we were greeted by an array of colorful blankets that seemed to cover almost every square inch of ground for as far as the eye could see.

  “I guess we should have come earlier,” I stated the obvious.

  “When Gertie said this was a popular event I had no idea this is what she meant,” Doc agreed.

  “Look, there’s Gertie over there.” Ashley pointed in her direction. “She’s waving us over.”

  I grabbed Gracie’s hand as we made our way through the sea of bodies. I was afraid if I lost her in the crowd I’d never find her again. I found myself swept up in the festive energy as people gathered together to catch up and discuss local gossip.

  “So glad you made it.” Gertie gave Doc a peck on the cheek. “I saved a large enough space for all of us if we snuggle up real close.”

  “Thank you,” I said as I dropped my own blanket atop hers. “I had no idea there would be this big a crowd. I guess we should have come earlier.” I looked around. “A lot earlier.”

  “A lot of folks come in the morning and spend the day. Attendance drops off a bit once we get into the heat of July and August, but it’s still a good idea to at least bring a blanket by and stake out your spot.”

  “If you bring a blanket in the morning is it still here by evening?” Doc asked.

  “Most times. I’ve been doing that for years and I’ve only lost two blankets so far. It’s a risk, but as long as you have a blanket you’re willing to lose it’s worth the effort.” Gertie turned toward Ashley and Gracie. “Are you girls hungry? There are several food trucks in the parking lot.”

  Ashley and Gracie were hungry, so we went to get food while Doc waited with Gertie. The food trucks were arranged in a straight line. There were five trucks in all, each featuring a different type of food. One truck served tacos, burritos, and other Mexican fare, while another served burgers, hotdogs, and fries. Kyle focused on a truck that served gyros, while my grandfather chose fish and chips and the girls opted for burgers and fries. I was about to settle for a turkey sub when I noticed the truck with freshly grilled kabobs made from an assortment of vegetables and either pork, beef, chicken, or shrimp.

  “Look, there’s Willow.” Ashley waved as I got into line at the kabob truck. “Can I go say hi?”

  “Me too?” Gracie enthusiastically chimed in.

  “Sure, as long as you stay together. Say hi and come right back. I don’t want to lose you in the crowd.”

  I watched as the girls ran over to greet Willow, who was headed toward Kyle, who was waiting with Ben. She had a curly-haired toddler with her who looked to be one, maybe two at the most. The child reached for Kyle as soon as he was within reach. Kyle opened his arms to the toddler, who squealed with delight when Kyle hoisted her onto his shoulders. Ashley said something to Willow, who looked toward where I was standing and waved.

  “Can I help you?”

  “I need two kabobs. One shrimp and one chicken.”

  “Jerk?”

  “Come again?” I asked.

  “What type of grilling sauce would you prefer? Jerk is popular with the shrimp.”

  “Oh, okay, jerk is fine.”

  By the time I’d paid for and received my food, Ben and the girls were heading in my direction. One bite of the spicy shrimp and I realized I should have ordered something to drink.

  “Uncle Kyle said to head on back with the food. He’ll meet us in a few minutes,” Ashley informed me.

  “Is that Willow’s daughter?”

  “Yeah, isn’t she cute? Her name is Hannah.”

  “She sure seems to like Kyle.”

  “All the kids love Kyle,” Ashley said. “When he was at the camp the other day he had half the kids there following him around. Willow is talking to him about volunteering on Friday. We’re going to have a beach and barbeque day.”

  “Sounds like fun.”

  “You should come,” Gracie encouraged.

  “I’d love to, but Grandpa and I have an appointment in town on Friday.”

  “That’s fine.” Gracie sighed.

  I felt bad that I had to miss the outing, but I really did want to check out the Gull Island Senior Home. I’d have to make more of an effort to help out at the kids’ camp once things settled down a bit.

  After we returned to the blanket, Doc and Gertie went for food. The movie wouldn’t actually begin until it was completely dark, which at this time of year was at around nine, though the crowd that had gathered didn’t seem to mind in the least as they made the best of the warm summer evening. Tonight we were going to see a movie from the eighties, One Crazy Summer. I’d discovered the movie committee liked to mix things up and show movies from all eras. The previous movie had been a recent production that had been in the movie theaters less than a year earlier, while later in the summer there were plans to show some silent movies from the twenties.

  I wasn’t sure how much the girls would enjoy the antics of screen actors like Charlie Chaplin and Jean Harlow, but I did hope Garrett was back by then because Gertie had mentioned that the idea for the old black and whites had been his in the first place.

  “Is Meg planning to see the movie this evening?” I asked Ben.

  “She said she was going to try to make it. Her daughter is in town and the two of them were having dinner, but she was going to come by after if the opportunity presented itself.”

  “So her daughter doesn’t live on the island?”

  “She lives in Chicago. She’s an attorney. Seems she’s on her way to a conference in Atlanta but took a couple of extra days to come by to visit her mother. I mentioned the map you found this afternoon to her and she said she’d very much like to take a look at it.”

  “Did you tell her that, although we’re pretty sure the map couldn’t have belonged to John Barkley, we wanted to keep the fact that we have a map under wraps for a while?”

  “I did. You can trust Meg. She won’t tell anyone about it. She’s really just interested in it for the historical significance. Oh, look, there she is now.”

  I greeted Meg and asked her about her daughter. We chatted about local news while we finished our meal. Kyle still hadn’t rejoined us by the time we’d finished eating and Doc and Gertie had returned with their own meals, so I left the girls with the seniors and went to look for him. I realized he was a grown man and most likely hadn’t gotten lost in the crowd, but I wondered if there really could be something between him and Willow. She seemed like a lovely person, but I couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit jealous. Kyle and I weren’t a couple, but I acknowledged that my feelings for him had become increasingly complicated lately.

  I thought part of my confusion stemmed from the fact that I had grown to depend on him so much. He’d been my rock through all the changes I’d been through, and while I didn’t know whether the two of us were meant to ever become something more than close friends, I wasn’t ready for him to become a couple with anyone else. I realized that was irrational and completely unfair, but sometimes feelings were simply what they were—feelings—whether they were rational or not.

  I touched my lips as I thought about our almost kiss. Again. I’d spent more time than I should replaying the moment in my mind, trying to figure out if I had imagined the tilt of his head toward mine. Somewhere along the way I’d pretty much decided the almost kiss was really nothing more than a figment of my imagination.

  One thing was certain: Kyle seemed exactly like himself since that moment. Any weirdness I
would have expected to result from such an intimate moment simply didn’t exist, so maybe, like the weirdness, the intimacy I’d imagined really didn’t exist.

  I stopped and looked around at the throngs of people who seemed to be traveling in every direction. I might as well head back to the others. I was never going to find Kyle in all of this. I was about to turn around when I noticed Toby in the distance. I decided to go and have a chat with him on the off chance that he was in a more talkative mood than he’d been in when I spoke to him the other day.

  “You still trying to track down Buck’s killer?” Toby asked after I greeted him.

  “I am. Do you have anything to add?”

  “Gave it some more thought after you left and I may have a couple more names for you.” He spat the tobacco he was chewing onto the ground.

  I cringed. Talk about gross. “Okay, great. Who?”

  “Greg Norton.”

  Norton was already on my suspect list, but I was interested to hear his reasoning, so I asked him why he thought he would want to kill Buck.

  “I don’t rightly know that, but I did see them talking a time or two before Buck died, and I happen to know they were together out at Garrett’s place at least a couple of times.”

  “You saw them together?” I clarified.

  “No. I didn’t actually see them, but people talk and I listen.”

  “Who did you hear about Norton from?”

  “Mamie Sue. She works with the turtle lady.”

  So far Toby was just telling me things that I already knew.

  “Okay. Who else do you have?”

  “There’s a guy named Digger who has been feuding with Buck for years over those turtle nests. Guess Buck disturbed the eggs a time or two while he was searching on the beach for whatever treasure he was after, which didn’t sit well with Digger.”

  “And you think Digger would kill Buck over something like that?”

  “The guy is a nutcase. He once chased me with an ax for digging on the beach and I was nowhere near a nest. He made a comment about holes on the beach creating obstacles for the baby turtles once they hatched and began their long dangerous journey to the sea.”

  “I suppose he had a point.”

  “He chased me with an ax,” Toby emphasized.

  “I guess that is a bit much,” I admitted. I supposed if Digger caught Buck searching near the nests he might have followed him back to the house and hit him with something. I didn’t get the sense that Digger was guilty of anything when I’d spoken to him, but I supposed it wouldn’t hurt to have another conversation with the man. “You’ve been very helpful. Do you have anyone else to add to the list?”

  Toby pointed. “See that guy in the orange shirt?”

  “Yeah.”

  “His name is Gil. He’s a treasure hunter like me. I heard the two partnered on a project recently. I don’t know for a fact that he killed Buck, but I do know the two had a falling out of sorts.”

  “Do you know what the falling out was about?”

  “Actually, I don’t. Just passing along what I heard.”

  “Okay, thanks. I’ll go and have a chat with him now. Thanks again.”

  I kept my eye on the orange shirt as I headed through the crowd. Luckily, Gil was standing still, talking to someone and not moving around, because I would have lost him for sure in the crowd.

  “Gil,” I greeted the man, who looked and smelled like he hadn’t bathed in a month.

  “Yeah?”

  “My name is Tj. I was hoping to speak with you about Buck Barnes.”

  “What about him?”

  “I understand the two of you partnered on a project recently.”

  “Guess you heard wrong. After what Buck did to me the last time we came to an agreement, I’d have to be a fool to pair up with him again.”

  “The last time?”

  “Fool told me he had a map that was going to lead him to a treasure worth a fortune. I spend two months digging up the island only to find the map Buck said he had was just a drawing of a map he’d copied from a book. Guess I should have insisted on seeing the map sooner, but Buck was being real secretive about things and I was new to the island, so I figured what the heck. What a waste of time that was.”

  “And you hadn’t worked with Buck since?” I verified.

  “No, I hadn’t.”

  “Do you know who he might have been partnered with recently?’

  “No one local, I can tell you that. The guy had earned himself a reputation for taking his partners on nothing but wild goose chases.”

  Several people had made similar comments, yet it did seem that Buck had been pretty successful in pulling others into his fantasies. “I guess you heard Adam Joyner worked with him for a while.”

  “You talking about the guy who works at the post office?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t have any details, but I think that was a very temporary thing. Look, I really don’t know nothin’, though it does seem I’ve helped you out here, wouldn’t you say?”

  I frowned. “I guess so.”

  “Don’t you think that would be worth something?”

  “You want money?”

  “I wouldn’t turn it down.”

  I somewhat reluctantly handed the man a twenty, which he accepted with his left hand. I suspected he had lost the use of his right hand, which I noticed hung limply at his side. Based on the injury to Buck’s head, Doc was fairly certain that the person who had hit him had been right handed. I mentally crossed Gil off my suspect list and would do so physically after I confirmed my suspicion with Doc. That left me again with Greg Norton, who was still, at that point, my number one suspect, and Digger, who came in at a distant second after my conversation with Toby. I was on my way back to the others when I found Kyle, not with Willow but standing off to the side of the crowd, talking on his phone. When he saw me he waved me over, so I joined him and waited while he completed his call.

  “That was my friend from the museum,” Kyle informed me once he’d hung up. “Based on the photo I sent him, he agrees the map you found in the attic most likely isn’t more than a hundred years old, two at the most. He offered to take a closer look at it if I overnighted it to him, so I’m going to do that tomorrow.”

  “Okay, so what are we thinking? That this is a different map from the one Garrett’s grandfather claimed to have found, or that he’d found the map we discovered in the attic and jumped to the conclusion that it was the one referred to in the legend?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t see how we can know.”

  I paused as I considered what, if anything, my discovery of the map meant. Kyle was right; there was no way for us to know if the map I’d found in the wall was the same one Garrett’s father and grandfather believed once belonged to Captain John Barkley, but we did know someone had recently accessed the hiding place. Could it have been Buck Barnes?

  “Do you think the map and the killer are related even if the map doesn’t lead to Barkley’s treasure?” Kyle asked.

  “I don’t know. My number one suspect is still Greg Norton. I really want him to be the killer, but if you look at things objectively, that doesn’t make sense.”

  “Why do you say that?” Kyle asked.

  “For one thing, if Deputy Savage really is covering up the murder there’s no way he’d do it to protect Norton.”

  “Unless he’s being bribed.”

  I remembered the tender way the deputy had looked at the kittens. Maybe I was letting sentiment get in the way, but I just couldn’t believe a man of such compassion was covering up a murder in order to make a buck.

  “No, I don’t think that’s it. If he is covering up the murder, he must be doing it to protect someone. I don’t have all this straight in my mind, but it looks like the movie is about to start. Should we head back?�
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  “Yeah, just let me just say goodbye to Willow and Riley. I was talking to them when I got the phone call.” Kyle took my hand and led me through the crowd.

  “Riley?”

  “Willow’s boyfriend. I just met him tonight, but he seems like a nice guy. I’m sure you’ll like him. I thought the four of us might go sailing one day soon. They rent boats in the marina, and I’ve wanted to go out ever since we’ve been here. I mentioned it to Riley and he said his father used to own a boat and they went out frequently until he passed away a few years ago.”

  “That sounds like fun. I imagine sailing in the ocean is quite a bit different from sailing on the lake.”

  “It can be. The experience is similar, as long as you go on a day when the water isn’t too rough.”

  Kyle was right; I liked Riley the moment I met him. He was friendly and funny and seemed to be totally taken with both Willow and her daughter. I had a feeling that now that my ridiculous feelings of jealousy were out of the way, the four of us were going to be great friends. He even talked me into volunteering for the annual Fourth of July celebration that was held on the island every year. The event was similar to the ones held all over the country. There was a pancake breakfast, a parade, a community picnic, a kiddie carnival, and fireworks in the evening. What made the celebration on Gull Island unique was the mock treasure hunt, when teams signed up to follow a map to a treasure that was planted by the island council.

  “It’s pretty awesome,” Riley continued. “The treasure is planted, but the thrill of the hunt is real.”

  “It sounds like a lot of fun.” I looked at Kyle. “Want to team up and try it?”

  “Sure.”

  “The committee goes to a lot of effort to make it seem real. They even age the maps to make them look like they could be hundreds of years old. There’s a different treasure and a different map every year, so the hunt is never the same.”

  It was well past everyone’s bedtime by the time we got home. Kyle carried Ashley up to her room while I followed with Gracie. I tucked both girls in while Kyle took the dogs out for a quick walk. Both Grandpa and Doc had turned in while I was seeing to the girls, so I poured myself a glass of wine and went out onto the deck to wait for Kyle.