Morgan looked at Jolene, her heart swelling with pride. “Thanks.”
Jolene laughed. “Well, I guess those private investigator classes are paying off.”
“And then Jake was smart enough to take a dinghy out from the cove and he noticed the tunnel in the cliff. It’s just above the low tide mark so it’s underwater most of the time … or well it was until it got blown up. They must have been planning to grab you right at low tide to get you in there the whole time.”
Morgan’s stomach churned remembering the dank ocean smell inside the tunnel. No wonder the smell was so strong.
“Then the GPS in the barrette started working and we were practically on top of you when the explosion happened.” Luke looked out the window. “There must be a warren of caves and passages out there if they brought you in on the side of the cliff and you came out down by the end of your driveway.”
Morgan remembered the room she had been in with the iron door. There was a passage leading to it, presumably the one from the cliff, and then the tunnel that she crawled out of. She hadn’t seen any sign of other passages but it was certainly possible.
She was just glad she was out of there, safe and sound with her family.
“It sounds like you guys did some awesome teamwork to find me. I’m really overwhelmed and grateful,” she said, tears pricking the backs of her eyes. “It was scary down there.”
“We did work pretty good together,” Jake said, “which helped me make an important decision.”
Morgan’s eyes widened. “Oh, really?”
“Yes. I’m quitting the police force and going into private investigation. Jolene is going to work with me.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Morgan was genuinely pleased. “Are you sure you won’t miss Overton too much?”
Everyone laughed.
“Not in the least.” Jake winked at Morgan. “Although I am sorry I won’t be there to keep you girls company when you get arrested.”
Morgan widened her eyes in mock consternation and Celeste swatted at Jake playfully.
“Well, that works out good for me then,” Luke said.
“And why is that?” Jake narrowed his eyes at him.
“Well …” Luke looked hesitantly at Morgan and her stomach flip flopped. What was he up to?
“I might have to hire you because I’m going to be needing some extra help … since I’m going to be spending less time traveling and more time right here in Noquitt.” Morgan’s heart thumped loudly against her ribcage as he put his hand over hers.
“Well, I’m glad everyone is safe and the pirates won’t be bothering us anymore. I was kind of hoping we could recover the treasure, but now I guess it’s been blown to smithereens.” Fiona gazed out the window.
“You have plenty of treasure right up in your attic. Just these boxes alone are worth a lot of money.” Cal gestured to the silver box in the table in front of Morgan that had contained the map.
Morgan picked it up. It was a beautiful box—Cal had verified it was solid sterling silver with 20k gold edging. Worth a lot just for the metal content alone, but the design and age of the box made the value skyrocket.
She opened it up—the inside was lined in blue velvet and was just as beautiful as the outside. Belladonna sat up in her lap and sniffed the edge.
“Even Belladonna likes it,” Morgan said as the cat pushed her head further into the box.
“Meow.” Belladonna poked her paw into the box pushing at the lining, then with a swipe of her claw she ripped the lining from the side of the box.
“Belladonna!” Morgan jerked the box away from the cat. Something that had been hidden inside the lining caught her attention.
She gingerly pulled the small piece of paper out.
“What’s that?” Celeste asked.
“Looks like a note.” Morgan unfolded the aging paper to reveal old fashioned writing on the inside.
The sea is my love,
The Ocean’s Revenge lies below my love.
Jolene peered over her shoulder. “What’s that mean?”
Morgan put the note on the coffee table. “I’m not sure. The Ocean’s Revenge was the ship that Isaiah Blackmoore captained.”
“Does that mean the ship is below the sea? Like sunken?” Fiona cocked an eyebrow at the note.
“No,” Luke said gazing out the window at the Atlantic. “I saw the sonar readings on the treasure hunter’s ship and there’s no sunken treasure out there.”
Morgan frowned at the note. “Maybe it was out there once and has since been recovered. I mean the note was written three hundred years ago.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Fiona said. “Anyway, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve had enough of pirates and treasure hunts to last me a lifetime—maybe some things are better off staying dead and buried.”
“Here, here,” Celeste said raising her juice glass for a toast.
Morgan clinked her tea mug against the coffee, tea and juice glasses of everyone else. She’d had enough of pirates and treasure too. Besides, with three hundred years of family members and treasure hunters searching for it, the treasure was probably long gone.
Morgan settled back into her chair ignoring the niggling of doubt that was tugging at her gut.
She had everything she needed right in this room … her sisters, her good friends Jake and Cal, Belladonna—and Luke.
And, since it looked like Luke was going to be sticking around for a while, she had a feeling that she wasn’t going to be very interested in spending her time digging around for buried treasure … no matter what her gut feeling was telling her.
The end.
A Note from the Author
I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. This is the second book in the Blackmoore sisters mystery series and I have a whole bunch more planned!
The setting for this book series is based on one of my favorite places in the world - Ogunquit Maine. Of course, I changed some of the geography around to suit my story, and changed the name of the town to Noquitt but the basics are there. Anyone familiar with Ogunquit will recognize some of the landmarks I have in the book.
The house the sisters live in sits at the very end of Perkins Cove and I was always fascinated with it as a kid. Of course, back then it was a mysterious, creepy old house that was privately owned and I was dying to go in there. I’m sure it must have had an attic stuffed full of antiques just like in the book!
Today, it’s been all modernized and updated—I think you can even rent it out for a summer vacation. In the book the house looks different and it’s also set high up on a cliff (you’ll see why in a later book) where in real life it’s not. I’ve also made the house much older to suit my story.
Believe it or not, much of the pirate lore I have in the book is actually true! Pirates really did bury treasure all along the east coast and there was a stash of pirate booty dug up in the 1930s in Biddeford like I mention in the book.
Also, if you like cozy mysteries, you might like my book “Brownies, Bodies & Bad Guys” which is part of my Lexy Baker cozy mystery series. I have an excerpt from it at the end of this book.
This book has been through many edits with several people and even some software programs, but since nothing is infallible (even the software programs) you might catch a spelling error or mistake and, if you do, I sure would appreciate it if you let me know - you can contact me at [email protected].
Oh, and I love to connect with my readers so please do visit me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/leighanndobbsbooks or at my website http://www.leighanndobbs.com.
Are you signed up to get notifications of my latest releases and special contests? Go to: http://www.leighanndobbs.com/newsletter and enter your email address to signup - I promise never to share it and I only send emails every couple of weeks so I won’t fill up your inbox.
About the Author
Leighann Dobbs discovered her passion for writing after a twenty year car
eer as a software engineer. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband Bruce, their trusty Chihuahua mix Mojo and beautiful rescue cat, Kitty. When she’s not reading, gardening or selling antiques, she likes to write romance and cozy mystery novels and novelettes which are perfect for the busy person on the go.
Find out about her latest books and how to get her next book for free by signing up at:
http://www.leighanndobbs.com
Connect with Leighann on Facebook and Twitter
http://facebook.com/leighanndobbsbooks
http://twitter.com/leighanndobbs
***
More Books By This Author:
Lexy Baker
Cozy Mystery Series
* * *
Killer Cupcakes
Dying For Danish
Murder, Money and Marzipan
3 Bodies and a Biscotti
Brownies, Bodies & Bad Guys
-------
Blackmoore Sisters
Cozy Mystery Series
* * *
Dead Wrong
-------
Contemporary
Romance
* * *
Sweet Escapes
Reluctant Romance
-------
Dobbs “Fancytales”
Regency Romance Fairytales Series
* * *
Something In Red
Snow White and the Seven Rogues
Dancing on Glass
###
Excerpt From Brownies, Bodies and Bad Guys:
Lexy sat at one of the cafe tables next to the picture window in her bakery, The Cup and Cake, admiring how the princess cut center stone of her engagement ring sparkled in the midmorning sunlight. She sighed with contentment, holding her hand up and turning the ring this way and that as she marveled at the rainbow of colors that emerged when it caught the light at different angles.
Her thoughts drifted to her fiance, Jack Perillo. Tall, hunky and handsome, her heart still skipped a beat when he walked in the room even though they’d been dating for over a year. Lexy had met Jack, a police detective in their small town, when she’d been accused of poisoning her ex-boyfriend. She’d been proven innocent, of course, and she and Jack had been seeing each other ever since. And now they were getting married.
Movement on the other side of the street caught her attention, pulling her away from her thoughts. Her eyes widened in surprise—it was Jack! What was he doing here?
Lexy felt a zing in her stomach. Jack wasn’t alone. Lexy’s eyes narrowed as she craned her neck to get a better look. He was with a woman. A tall, leggy blonde who was clinging to him like tissue paper clings to panty hose.
Lexy stood up pressing closer to the window, her joy in the ring all but forgotten. Her heart constricted when she saw how the leggy blonde was pawing at Jack, giggling up into his face. Who the hell was she? They looked very familiar with each other. Clearly Jack knew her … and it seemed he knew her well.
Jack and the blonde started to walk down the street, out of view. Lexy pushed herself away from the window, stumbling over a chair in her haste to get to the doorway. She spun around, righting the chair, then turned, sprinting toward the door.
She reached out for the handle, jerking back in surprise as the door came racing toward her, almost smacking her in the face.
Standing in the doorway was her grandmother, Mona Baker, or Nans as Lexy called her. But instead of her usual cheery appearance, Nans looked distraught. Lexy could see lines of anxiety creasing her face and her normally sparkly green eyes were dark with worry.
Lexy’s stomach sank. “Nans, what’s the matter?”
“Lexy, come quick,” Nans said, putting her hand on Lexy’s elbow and dragging her out the door. “Ruth’s been arrested!”
###
“Arrested? For what?” Lexy asked, as Nans propelled her down the street toward her car.
“Nunzio Bartolli was found dead. They think Ruth might have something to do with it!”
Lexy wrinkled her brow. Ruth was one of Nans’s best friends. They both lived at the retirement center in town and along with two of their other friends, Ida and Helen, they amused themselves by playing amateur detective solving various crimes and mysteries. The older women were full of spunk and could be a handful, but Lexy had a hard time believing any of them would be involved in a murder. They thrived on solving murders, not committing them.
“What? How would Ruth even know him?” Lexy opened the door to her VW beetle and slipped into the driver’s seat as Nans buckled up in the passenger seat.
“Nunzio was a resident at the Brook Ridge Retirement Center.”
Lexy raised her brows. “He was? I heard he had ties to organized crime.”
“Well, I don’t know about that. He seemed like a nice man.” Nans shrugged, then waved her hand. “Now let’s get a move on!”
Lexy pulled out into the street, glancing over at the area where she had seen Jack. She slowed down as she drove by, craning her neck to look down the side street where she thought they had gone, but they were nowhere to be seen.
“Can you speed it up? Ruth needs us.” Nans fidgeted in the passenger seat.
“Right. Sorry.” Lexy felt a pang of guilt. Of course, helping Ruth was more important than finding out what Jack was up to. It was probably nothing but her overactive imagination anyway. Lexy decided to push the leggy blonde from her mind and focus on Ruth.
“So what happened?”
“I’m not really sure. Ida said the police knocked on Ruth’s door early this morning and took her in,” Nans said, then turned sharply in her seat. “We should call Jack and see if he can help her. Why didn’t I think of that before?”
Lexy’s stomach clenched at the sound of her fiance’s name. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to call Jack right now, especially with the image of him and the blonde fresh in her mind. Should she confront him or let it slide?
If it was innocent, which it probably was, she’d just make a fool out of herself by confronting him. It was probably a good idea to let some time pass before she talked to him. Lexy was afraid her impulsive nature might cause her to blurt something out she might regret later.
“Hopefully, he’ll be at the station. I should call Cassie back at the bakery though, and tell her I’ve gone out for a while. She’ll probably be wondering where I disappeared to.” Lexy picked up her cell phone just as she pulled into the parking lot at the police station.
Nans jumped out of the car before she even had it in park. “I’ll see you in there.”
Lexy watched in amusement as the sprightly older woman sprinted into the station, her giant purse dangling from her arm. She felt sorry for any officer that might try to prevent her grandmother from seeing Ruth.
She made a quick call to Cassie, letting her know where she was and that she’d fill her in later. Then she made her way into the lobby behind Nans.
Nans was talking to Jack’s partner, police detective John Darling, who nodded at Lexy as she joined them.
“Ruth isn’t arrested!” Nans smiled at Lexy.
Lexy raised an eyebrow at John.
“We just had her in for questioning,” John explained.
“Why?”
John rubbed his chin with his hand. “We found her fingerprints and some of her personal effects in Nunzio Bartolli’s condo.”
Nans gasped. “What? How would those get in there?”
John winked, pushing himself away from the wall he was leaning against. “You’ll have to ask Ruth that.”
Lexy stared after him as he walked over to the reception desk, his long curly hair hung in a ponytail down his back which swung to the side as he leaned his tall frame over the counter to look at something on the computer. “Actually, she’s free to go now. I’ll bring her out here if you guys want.”
“Please do,” Nans said, then turned to Lexy. “Isn’t that wonderful? I was so worried.”
Lexy nodded as she watched John disappear through the door that led to the
offices inside the station. John and her assistant Cassie had been married this past spring and she’d gotten to know him fairly well. She wondered if she should ask him if he knew anything about the blonde she had seen Jack with but didn’t want to seem like she was prying into Jack’s business.
Lexy shook her head. She needed to stop thinking about the blonde. She trusted Jack. They were getting married, for crying out loud, and she didn’t want to be one of those wives who kept her husband on a short leash. The best thing for her to do was to forget all about it.
The door opened and Ruth came out. Nans rushed over giving her a hug. Lexy felt her shoulders relax, relieved that Ruth wasn’t in trouble.
“Oh, thanks for coming,” Ruth said to Nans and Lexy.
“No problem,” Lexy said. “Shall we go? I can drive you guys back to the retirement center, if you want.”
“That would be wonderful,” Nans said as the three of them made their way to the door. Lexy held it open for the two older women, then followed them out into the summer sunshine.
Ruth breathed in a deep breath of fresh air. “It’s good to be outside. For a while there I was a little worried I might be spending my golden years in a cell.”
“Why would you think that? Surely you had nothing to do with Nunzio’s murder?” Nans raised her eyebrows at Ruth as they walked to Lexy’s car.
“Of course I didn’t! But they did have some evidence that pointed to me,” Ruth said, as she folded herself into Lexy’s back seat.
“That’s what John said.” Lexy slipped into the driver’s seat angling the rear view mirror so she could look at Ruth. “What was that all about?”
Lexy saw Ruth’s cheeks turn slightly red.
Nans turned in her seat so she could look at Ruth, too. “John said they found your fingerprints and personal effects in Nunzio’s condo. How is that possible?”
2 Dead & Buried Page 14