Cream Puff Murder

by Sandi Scott

  His level of enthusiasm was contagious. She knew that he was right, and it didn’t take long for her to feel the same level of excitement.

  “Okay.” The idea of a fun day became more and more appealing. “Let’s do it, then.”

  “Alright.”

  They made arrangements, and Ashley texted Michael to remind him. He had his own kayak, but they would need to rent theirs from Bobby’s bait and tackle shop.

  Back in Fresh Start Kitchens, she found Patty putting the last of their dishes away.

  “The party was great, although the guest of honor never showed. Turns out that Ms. Fairmont had been up partying all night and was too ill to make it to her own celebratory brunch. That didn’t stop the other ladies at the Elderly Citizen’s club.” Patty giggled at Ashley’s surprised face.

  “Can you imagine? That old bird was up all night, apparently with a younger man, half her age, no less.” Patty raised her eyebrows.

  “Well, at least someone is getting some romance. I’d be happy to be half as active when I’m her age.”

  “You never know, dear,” said Patty. “Love usually comes around as soon as you stop looking for it.”

  CHAPTER 14

  THE NEXT DAY was a Saturday, and Ryan had advised that he would pick Ashley and Dizzy up at 6 a.m. The sun was already shining brightly, and Michael, who was a veteran marshland hunter and fisherman, was going to meet them at the estuary. Ryan was full of enthusiasm and became even more excited when he saw that Ashley had packed a picnic basket that could have fed an army.

  “Ooh, what you have got there, Ms. Ashley?” he said with a mock southern accent.

  “Wait and find out.” She opened the hatch in the back of the car and placed the basket under a blanket.

  She had worked all last evening to prepare their feast. BBQ pork rolls with Havarti cheese and marinated olives, fried chicken with a honey and black pepper glaze, devilled eggs made with cream and shallots, celery stuffed with lemon and cayenne cream cheese, tomato and dill pickle salad, and the leftover petit fours—along with a couple of bottles of champagne—were packed Tetris-style in the over-sized basket. “We need ice for the champagne.”

  “Oh, la de dah.” Ryan teased. “Champagne. What’s the occasion?”

  “No occasion. Leftovers and just for fun.”

  She pinched his cheek playfully and reminded him that Michael would be meeting them.

  “Okay—yes—I forgot.” His demeanor changed slightly.

  “Sorry. Should I have not invited him?” she asked, suddenly in a mild panic.

  Ryan sighed, then grinned encouragingly. “No, no, he’s great. Good idea, actually.”

  “Why?” For some reason, she felt her stomach lurch. Or was it her heart?

  He laughed. “He can fish us out if we fall in or we’re too drunk to swim.”

  She knew that wouldn’t happen. Ryan had never been a big drinker, and she had such a low tolerance that she didn’t allow herself to have more than one drink. She didn’t want to end up embarrassing herself. Besides, she needed to keep her wits about her, to focus on the case.

  “What was it you wanted to tell me? Something about Eddie that you mentioned yesterday?” Ashley tried to sound casual, but she had been thinking about it all morning.

  “Oh, yeah. Remember how Eddie said that Colleen had found the survey by snooping through his emails? Well, I was finally able to recover the original email the attachment was downloaded from.”

  “Let me guess. It wasn’t Eddie’s?”

  “No. In fact, it was sent to Colleen by someone who set up a throw-away account to stay anonymous.”

  “Why would Eddie lie about that?”

  “Beats me.”

  As they drove, Ashley flipped through the pictures she had taken in Eddie’s trailer to see if she had missed anything. Nothing seemed noteworthy—paperwork piled high on the table, dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, clothes strewn across the bed. One top in particular stood out; it was shimmery and pink, not something she could imagine Eddie wearing. She zoomed in on the picture and realized that half of the clothes on the bed were women’s clothes. There was even some jewelry on the bedside table. That was odd, given his and Hope’s separation, but Hope might have left things there before his confession. There was nothing else that stood out and certainly no evidence of making or delivering poison. As they approached the estuary, Ashley decided to let the case go for the time being and enjoy their kayak excursion.

  Michael was already slipping on his gear and prepping his kayak when Ryan pulled up behind Michael’s car and let Dizzy out. She ran straight to Michael—her biggest fan—and nearly bowled him over with his exuberance.

  “Dizzy!” Michael called out as the happy canine leapt up into his arms. For anyone else, this would’ve been a mean feat, but Michael was nearly 6’3” and built like a Russian bodybuilder. Dizzy was licking all over his face as they made much of each other.

  “Oh, these are the only kisses I’ve had in ages.”

  “Ewww. Michael.” Ashley chided.

  Ryan laughed, siding with her brother. “You gotta get it where you can, right?”

  Michael continued hugging and squeezing Dizzy, doing his best to keep hold of her without falling over. “Right.”

  Ashley decided to ignore them and went to check that the picnic basket was still stowed under the blanket before starting to don her gear behind the car. The men shook hands, and Michael helped lift the kayak off Ryan’s car while Dizzy did her usual inspections of the bushes and the riverbanks. Ryan went up to Bobby’s fish and tackle shop, which doubled as a kayak rental outfitter, and soon returned with a double kayak and greetings from Mr. McCay.

  They eventually launched, with Dizzy in Michael’s kayak while Ashley and Ryan sat together. The weeping willows and sun-dappled water lulled her into a state of bliss as they paddled up the estuary. She was almost in a trance, until she spied a couple of men on the side of the channel.

  “What are they up to?” she asked, pointing in their direction.

  He followed her gaze and shrugged. “Looks like a couple of surveyors.”

  “Really? That’s the McCays’ property. I wonder if they are surveying it for the Bayview deal. Maybe we should go speak to them?”

  Before Ryan could answer, she texted Michael so as to avoid alerting the surveyors. She waited, shoulders hunched, for his response; she knew he hated to be bothered by text any time, much less while out in the beautiful tranquility of the water. Luckily, he only turned his head towards her and nodded. They paddled over to the water’s edge and got out.

  “You just can’t leave it alone, can you?” Michael asked with a wry smile.

  She grinned back as Dizzy took off to investigate. Suddenly, a man came out of nowhere with his hand outstretched. Ashley sized him up, then cautiously stuck out her hand to shake his.

  “Good mornin’, folks. How can I be of assistance?”

  Shaking his head, Michael rolled his eyes and jerked his thumb back at Ashley. “My sister can’t help herself. She has to know everything, don’t you, Ash?”

  She did her best not to poke her tongue out but went along with the ruse, trying to sound like a nosy tourist. “Hey, I’m just curious. What’s going on?”

  Ryan joined in to make it look like they were concerned citizens. “Yeah, is it okay to be out on the water?”

  The man laughed. He was wearing a cowboy hat, snakeskin boots and a bolo tie. “Of course, nothing going on here. We’re just working on a survey of the marshland here. Nothing to be concerned about.”

  Then another, younger man appeared from behind him, looking nervously at the group. “Hello? What’s going on here?” he asked.

  “It’s no problem. Just a few locals wanting to see what’s going on,” the first man replied, still smiling.

  They both studied everyone’s faces, like they were waiting for something to happen. Ashley could sense that something was going on, but she couldn’t be sure.

 
“So, you’re conducting the survey for the Bayview hotel development?” she asked, as innocently as she could.

  The younger man stared blankly while the first man smiled, a little more anxious now.

  “Well, yes, we’re surveying the surface area of the property. Now, you three aren’t part of that Localist coalition, are you?”

  Both men stared at the group. Ashley couldn’t tell if he was serious, but before she could answer, the older gentleman just started laughing. “Oh, I’m just giving y’all a hard time. No offense, but you three don’t look like you could harm a fly.” That made him laugh even harder, shaking loose his cowboy hat. When he took it off, she could see his name embroidered inside the brim.

  “Monty Gahn!” she exclaimed. “Are you Monty Gahn?”

  “Guilty as charged,” he smiled, sticking out his hand to shake hers.

  Suddenly, Michael became agitated, frantically looking from side to side. “Where did Dizzy go?” Ashley wanted to ask Monty Gahn a dozen questions, but she knew this area was dangerous, between the snakes, gators and changing tide. As soon as Michael started marching through the grasslands, she said a quick goodbye to Gahn and the other man and followed closely behind her brother. When she looked back at the men, she saw them whispering to each other before disappearing behind the bushes. Ryan soon followed Ashley and Michael, all three temporarily forgetting about the surveyors and calling out Dizzy’s name in earnest.

  “Dizzy?” She beckoned, trying not to sound angry, as Dizzy was sensitive to her temper. When she couldn’t hear the dog, she became worried that she’d either been bitten by a snake or had fallen into a hole somewhere. It wasn’t like her to disappear like that.

  They continued zigzagging through the grass and bushes, calling for Dizzy and growing louder and more concerned as time went on. After about fifteen minutes, Michael stopped and held up his hand. “I think I hear her.”

  Then they all heard Dizzy’s familiar, happy barking. They rushed over to where the estuary opened up to the ocean, finding Dizzy covered in mud and frolicking on the beach. She’d stumbled upon the evidence of a construction-related survey, but there were no other surveyors in sight.

  “Dizzy. You naughty dog!” Ashley admonished her and rushed over to greet her, then winced as she jumped up with her wet and muddy paws. “Lovely.” she said, patting the happy dog on the head before looking around at the markings and flags.

  Obviously full of excitement, Dizzy bounded over to the men.

  “What is this?” Ryan asked, scratching his head as he looked around.

  “Looks like another survey going on,” Michael answered, but he was paying more attention to Dizzy, scratching behind her ears. “Good girl, Diz.”

  All three started wandering around to check out the scene, Dizzy weaving in and out around their legs. Ashley made sure that she stayed close, but she seemed to be happy with all of them there in her new playground.

  Ashley heard rustling in the grass behind them. She felt the little hairs on the back of her neck bristle as she turned around and saw the outline of someone who seemed to be sneaking around and spying on them. Soon the men followed her gaze, watching the shadow getting closer.

  Feeling brave with two men and a dog to protect her, she called out, “Who’s there?”

  As soon as she’d spoken, Dizzy started growling, then ran off with the hairy ridge raised on her back before Ashley could stop her. Within seconds, she’d flushed the shadow out of the grass. It was the younger man from the previous site, now a little embarrassed and afraid.

  He came rushing out of the grass with his hands up, shaking and wide-eyed, making Michael and Ryan snigger uncontrollably.

  “Okay, okay. Get your dog off me!”

  Dizzy hadn’t done any harm, but Ashley was glad that she was able to frighten him, just a little.

  “Dizzy, it’s all right. Heel.”

  That command had never worked before, but she was proud when the dog came back to her side and sat down obediently, still growling deep in her throat.

  The man approached them slowly with his head hung in defeat. Ashley was already prepared to interrogate him.

  “What are you doing? Why are you spying on us?”

  “I wasn’t really spying; well, I just had to make it look like I was spying,” he replied in a wavering voice. “Mr. Gahn sent me over to see what you find. Listen, I can’t afford to lose my job, so I’ve got to follow orders.”

  “Why would he send you to spy on us? He seemed friendly enough.”

  He gulped and looked at Ryan and Michael before continuing. “He doesn’t want you to figure out that there are two surveys going on here.”

  Ryan joined in the questioning, having overcome his schoolboy antics. “Why two surveys?”

  The man looked down at his feet and then looked up, his face growing as red as beetroot. In the distance, they could hear Monty Gahn calling out for him to return.

  “We were officially hired to do just one, but those of us on the crew with experience know that we are doing two—one for property lines and the other for shale deposits. I love Seagrass and want to protect it as much as anyone, but I have a family to feed, so I can’t say anything that puts my job at risk. Everything I have to say, I already sent in the email.” Gahn’s voice was growing louder as he got closer.

  “The email? Did you send an email to Colleen?”

  “I’ve got to go; I can’t say more.” The man looked regretfully at the group, then scampered off and quickly disappeared into the grassland. Ashley disregarded his comment and called after him.

  “Why Colleen? Why not Mr. McCay or his daughter?”

  But the man was gone, leaving Ashley with her questions unanswered. She looked at Ryan and Michael, dumbfounded.

  “Okay, well, that’s that then.” Michael exclaimed, breaking out in a huge, incredulous smile. “I don’t know about you guys but I’m famished.”

  “Me too,” Ryan said. “Let’s get back and have ourselves a picnic.”

  He winked at Ashley and turned to follow Michael, followed in turn by Dizzy, barking her approval. Ashley made sure that she had a firm hold on Dizzy’s collar as they continued back to the shore. Once they’d returned to the kayaks and pushed off, Ryan and Ashley talked about the night of the banquet, spurred on by the recent developments.

  “You know what? I think I misinterpreted the implication of Colleen’s statement.”

  “Which statement?” Ryan asked over his shoulder while he paddled.

  "When she said, ‘our future here in Seagrass.’ I think Colleen was talking about the future of Seagrass—the environmental future of Seagrass, not her and Eddie’s future together. She was such an environmentalist, I just can’t believe that she would betray that for money. I think she was trying to protect Seagrass by threatening to reveal whatever that survey implied.”

  “Well, if she was talking only about Seagrass’s future and not theirs, then maybe they weren’t having an affair at all.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m starting to think.” Ashley’s heart was starting to sink at the thought.

  “Hmm.” Ryan sounded like he was deep in thought.

  She puzzled over it as they paddled back to shore. The problem was, her stomach was competing with her brain for dominance. Thoughts of the delicious chicken and BBQ rolls took precedence, although she wondered what this new information could possibly mean.

  Having arrived back where they started, they pulled their kayaks up on the beach and went to get the food from the car. Ashley laid out a couple of blankets on the edge of the estuary, while Ryan carefully placed the picnic basket in the center. As the men “oohed” and “aahed” over the food, she munched absentmindedly, barely paying attention to their jokes and stories about whitewater rafting and other adventures.

  When Michael popped the cork from one of the champagne bottles, Ashley nearly jumped out of her skin.

  “Whoa, little lady.” he laughed. “Where have you been?”

&nbs
p; Dizzy happily fetched the cork from the bushes and brought it back to Ryan. He couldn’t help but feed her yet another deviled egg as a reward.

  “You’ll regret that on the way home,” Michael advised smugly.

  Dizzy was renowned for her awful and stinky reaction to eggs in her diet. Everyone knew to give her a wide berth after the consumption of anything egg-related.

  Meanwhile, Ashley knew that she was onto something but was doing her best to try and find another solution.

  “What’s on your mind, Ash?” Ryan asked with a knowing look.

  She knew that he was already on the same page, but she tried to remain detached. “Oh, I’ll keep you posted.” she replied with a wink, followed by a long sigh.

  “That brain is always working overtime, isn’t it, Sis?” Michael teased.

  She smiled and took a sip of champagne. “Yesit’ll probably get me in trouble one of these days.”

  Michael grabbed another piece of chicken. “As long as it’s your brain and not your food.”

  “Michael.” She reached over and pulled his ear, making the men laugh good-naturedly.

  “Aw, you know I’m joking. I never doubted your cream puffs, Sis. Don’t give up; I’m sure you’ll figure it out before too long.”

  “Thanks, brother of mine,” she replied.

  They went back to the water to pull their kayaks to their cars. Ashley took a moment to look around her at the glorious scenery of the marshland. There was the sandy shoreline abutted by tall seagrass marshes, the very Seagrass that gave the town its name. She saw a white egret standing tall in one of the marshes, perched as still as he could be and watching for fish he could snatch from the water. Just off the shore, they passed a big sea turtle swimming in the shallow water, his spotted head bobbing above the water as his four legs and shell were moving just below the surface.

  The turtle. Ashley’s blood froze, and she mentally backed away from the realization growing in her mind. She grabbed her phone and flipped through the photos she had taken in Eddie’s trailer. When she came across the shot of the bedroom, she zoomed in on the bedside table to the pile of women’s jewelry. There was a pair of gold teardrop earrings and a sea turtle necklace. Hope’s sea turtle necklace. The one that she was wearing the day before the picture was taken, that she claimed to only take off when she showered. Why, Ashley thought, would Hope go over to her estranged fiancé’s trailer, much less leave the necklace there?