by Lyndsey Cole
Chapter 17
“Someone did not look happy a few minutes ago when she was chatting with the two of you. Was Deputy Larson having a bit of a bad day?” Samantha smirked as she stepped over the picnic table bench and sat down next to Hannah. “There’s something in the breeze today.” She lifted her head and sniffed the air. “Smells a little like a rotten fish, Sean. But I have some information you might find useful.”
That comment put some color back in Sean’s cheeks. He waited.
“How about the two of you join me in my lovely cottage.” Samantha looked around at the customers enjoying their morning coffee. “I don’t want to risk my news hitting the wrong ears.”
Hannah was curious about the bait Samantha threw at Sean. Did she actually have information or was she on a fishing trip? Maybe both. Whatever it was, together they should be able to squeeze something useful out of him.
“Great.” Hannah looked at Sean. “Are you coming?”
He stood slowly, his eyes squinted, full of suspicion. “What kind of tag team are you two?”
Hannah and Samantha looked at each other—eyebrows raised, palms up, and mouths turned down. The look of complete innocence.
Samantha held her hand toward Sean as if he was a little kid that needed help crossing the street. “Come with us and find out. No need to look so glum, my dear.”
Sean shunned Samantha’s extended hand but followed the two women to Samantha’s cottage. He hesitated at the door for a couple of seconds before he sighed and walked inside.
Samantha patted the bed next to her but he chose to sit across the room in a hard wooden chair. The curtains fluttered from the ocean breeze. Not a strong wind, just enough to fill the cottage with a salty scent, the sound of the surf, and the distant calls of the gulls.
“I received an interesting phone call this morning,” Samantha began. “From your partner.”
Sean’s body stiffened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes you do, my dear.” Samantha stood up and somehow her petite body grew into an intimidating presence. Her eyes pierced Sean like a blue flame. “Your partner also happens to be my client. Hard to believe, I know, but there you have it.” She paced across the room, shaking her silver hair. “After all these years, I finally gave up my dream of being a real life private eye and, low and behold, a client drops into my lap out of the blue.”
“Jan hired you?” Sean’s voice rose, filled with complete disbelief. “Whatever for?”
“Maybe that’s your first mistake, my dear. Apparently, you teamed up with someone who is extremely unreliable and her modus operandi is to use people. It doesn’t matter who, what, when, or where; she’s an equal opportunity user.” She pointed her long red fingernail at Sean. “And you, my dear, got royally used.”
Sean’s mouth fell open.
Hannah snickered and covered her mouth with her hand. She liked watching Samantha at work.
Samantha continued. She was obviously relishing this build up to what, Hannah wasn’t sure, but she wasn’t about to miss the show.
Samantha waved her hand through the air. “She also thinks she’s using me. I guess that’s why she hired a fake private investigator—someone to easily manipulate. But I’m on to her, and the beauty is, she thinks I’m too dumb to know it.”
“Why are you blabbering all this nonsense to me?” Sean asked. “Just to rub it in that I was deceived?” He shrugged. “So what? I’ll finish my series without her.”
“That’s where you’re so wrong, my dear.” Again, the red fingernail stabbed in Sean’s direction. “Your little cohort has a message for you.”
Sean sat up straighter.
“These aren’t the exact words, but the gist of it is: pay up or go down.”
“She’s blackmailing me? That’s a joke. She’s the one that decided to kidnap Sally. That was never part of our plan.”
“Ah ha!” Another stab of Samantha’s finger. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“Clever, Samantha,” Hannah said. “What was the plan, Sean?”
His eyes darted between Hannah and Samantha. “You tricked me.”
“The plan, Sean.” Hannah hovered over Sean with her hands on his shoulders. “Tell us the plan.”
A bead of sweat dripped down the side of his face. “Everything went horribly wrong the night Gavin was murdered.”
Hannah couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of his comment. “You think? Of course everything went wrong. A man was murdered, you fool.”
“That’s not what I meant. Everything about the plan connected to Sally.”
“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.” Hannah sat on the edge of the bed. “Where is Sally?”
“I—”
“And don’t tell us you don’t know. That won’t be acceptable.”
“But I don’t know. That’s what went so wrong. Jan—”
Hannah cut him off again. “Who is she really? We know Sally’s Aunt Jan is dead.”
“Her name is April but I only ever called her Jan. I met her in the course of researching my article. It was her idea to set up a missing person, have it end happily, you know, a great way to end the series.”
“Why Sally?”
“Jan said she knew about the family and all the details fit together nicely. You know, estranged sister, a mysterious scandal years earlier, and the hated foe moving back to town to open a restaurant. All Jan had to do was convince Sally she was her Aunt. It wasn’t difficult since Sally never met her. Once Jan had Sally’s trust, the plan was to convince Sally to run away for a few days, a week tops, then show up with some kind of story about needing space to figure stuff out.”
“What a stupid idea. All to help sell your articles?” Hannah fumed. “That’s lower than low. How could you lose track of this poor girl?”
“She went willingly with Jan.” Sean didn’t sound confident about his lame excuse.
“Because she lied to Sally. Sally—eighteen years old, desperate for answers, and taking the weight on her shoulders to heal her family. You should be ashamed.” Hannah practically spit the words in Sean’s face.
“I can’t go back and do it over, now, can I?” His voice was a strong challenge to Hannah.
“That’s right, but you can try to help fix it.”
“Okay. Let me finish telling you what happened.” He swallowed. “They agreed to meet behind the restaurant. Sally would go with Jan, be ‘found’ for the vigil, and I’d have my happy ending story.”
“That sounds risky with all the people that showed up at Gavin’s restaurant.”
“Yeah, I completely misjudged that part. Or that Matt would go off on Gavin, creating such a scene.” He bent his head and sighed. “It went downhill from there.”
“Let me get this straight. You left the restaurant to meet up with fake Jan and Sally? Where did you find them?”
“I didn’t. I panicked, thinking they chickened out or something. There was a fish wholesale truck pulling out at the back of the restaurant. I talked to the driver, a Jerry somebody, and he told me he saw the chef and some woman. I didn’t see any sign of Jan or Sally. When I went back inside to get my drawing, the illustrious Deputy Larson wouldn’t let me leave. After that delay, I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch up with them.”
“Do you know where Jan and Sally are staying?”
Sean nodded. “I don’t know if they are still there though.”
“Take us. We want to look around for clues. Maybe Sally left something behind.” Hannah was already at the door.
Samantha had her keys and a big canvas bag. She grabbed Sean’s arm. “This isn’t negotiable.”
Hannah sat in the back seat of Mini May behind the passenger seat with Sean in front, chewing on his fingernails. There wasn’t any conversation, just nervous looks out the window.
He directed Samantha north through twisty turny back roads. After several miles, he told her to turn right onto a dead end dirt road. Samantha pulled over.
“A small cottage. Jan told me her cousin owns it. The deal was that I wasn’t supposed to come here.”
“You never checked after the fiasco at the restaurant?” Hannah cuffed the side of his head.
“No. I was afraid the police were watching me. I’ve been waiting for Jan to contact me with the next step.”
Samantha turned sideways in her seat. “And the next step sounds like she’s taken charge of the situation, with you on the outside looking in, and Sally caught in the middle.” Samantha pulled a small, ivory-handled pistol from her large canvas tote. “I was always fond of the Boy Scout motto—always be prepared.” She blew on the tip of the pistol like an old time sheriff.
Hannah laughed.
Sean scrunched against the door, put his hands up, and his eyes widened to the size of silver dollars. “What do you plan to do with that?” he squeaked.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m an ace shot. It’s more for the fear factor than anything else.”
Samantha hit the gas, moving her car down the dirt road.
Before they drove a hundred yards, a car came barreling toward them. As it swerved around Mini May, Samantha aimed her pistol.
Sean screamed and ducked.
The shot tore through Jan’s tire. Her car swerved off the road and landed in a ditch. Smoke leaked from under the crumpled front hood.
Hannah slid across the back seat, jumped out, and pulled Jan’s door open before she even knew what happened.
“Where’s Sally?” Hannah demanded after she scanned the car and found it had no other occupant.
“Gone. She flew the coop and I’m out of here.”
Hannah had her phone out, punching Deputy Pam Larson’s number as fast as her trembling fingers could find the correct buttons. “I found the imposter Janice Jones but Sally’s not with her,” she said into her phone.
“Can you keep her from leaving?” Pam asked.
Hannah nodded and kept her eyes on fake Jan. “Yes, she’s not going anywhere. Her, um, tire had a blowout and she’s stuck in a ditch.” Hannah gave Samantha a thumbs up gesture as she told Pam where they were and added, “We’ll be here.”
Chapter 18
Samantha dragged Sean to the damaged car and shoved him in the back. “Aren’t you two quite the team? You probably couldn’t even manage to change a light bulb together.”
Jan turned her car on, put it in reverse and hit the gas. The tires in the front spun, scattered dirt in every direction, and dug deeper in the muck. Other than the noise and mess, the car remained stuck.
“Give it up, my dear,” Samantha advised. “The next stop you’ll be making is in the back of the police cruiser on your way to a jail cell.”
“Who are you?” Jan asked with irritation lacing her words.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t introduce myself properly. I’m your client, Sam Stone.” Samantha held her hand out in a friendly, professional manner. “Pleased to finally meet you.”
“You—”
“I know,” Samantha continued. “I’m not exactly what you expected. Actually, I’m probably the complete opposite of who you thought you hired, but, there you’ve got it, one fake private investigator working for a fake Janice Jones. Kind of fitting in an ironic kind of way, don’t you think?”
Samantha still held her pistol in her right hand. She waved it back and forth. “So, how about you tell us what really happened to Sally. We,” she glanced at Hannah, “don’t give a rat’s behind about you or your partner trembling in the back seat, but we do intend to find Sally.”
Jan rested her head on the steering wheel. “She jumped out the window last night and took off. I have no idea where she is and, at this point, I couldn’t care less.”
“Such a fine sentiment from a trusted aunt,” Hannah said. “Big surprise she wanted to get away from such a caring relative.”
“She started asking me lots of questions about the past, and my answers must have thrown up a big red flag. She started acting suspicious and jumpy whenever I spoke to her.” Jan finally looked up at Hannah. “I never wanted to hurt her.” She jerked her finger toward the back seat. “It was all about the money he was going to pay me for his successful article. He even had some kind of delusion that it could be made into a T.V. drama.”
Hannah leaned against the car. “Is that so? And what about the minor detail of Sally’s real Aunt Jan being dead.”
Fake Jan shrugged. “Minor detail after Sally came home safe and sound. That’s all everyone would care about. Right?”
“At first.” Hannah shook her head. The sound of sirens cut through the air. “You two are in so much trouble.” She leaned over to look in the car. “Especially if Sally doesn’t turn up safe and sound.”
“But—”
Hannah pointed her finger at Sean. “Don’t say a thing. There’s nothing I can do now to put in a good word for you. If you led us to Sally, you might have gotten off easy, but this? Sally missing? Forget your writing career unless you pen a good mystery from your jail cell.”
Hannah slapped the top of the car. The bang made Sean gasp and nearly jump out of his skin. She wondered if the noise also made him wet his pants. She hoped so and chuckled.
Pam’s cruiser skidded around the corner onto the dirt road and kicked up a cloud of dust. After a short discussion with imposter Janice Jones and Sean, she bundled them into the back of her cruiser.
Then she walked toward Hannah. “Thanks for the call. I’ll take over from here.” She started to walk away.
Hannah clenched her jaw and spoke up. “There’s a house at the end of this road where Jan was keeping Sally. Unfortunately, if anything that imposter says is true, Sally ran away last night. Did she make any calls to her mom’s phone?”
Pam yanked on the collar of her shirt. “You’ll have to ask Leah; she has her phone back.” She hustled toward her car.
“Any progress with finding Gavin’s killer?” Hannah yelled at Pam.
Pam’s back stiffened. She turned her head toward Hannah. “Maybe. Listen. I don’t have time for a million and one questions.”
Just like that, Hannah knew she was dismissed. With any luck, she could track down Leah and pump her for information.
Samantha waited for Hannah behind the wheel of Mini May. “What was that chit chat about? You and the deputy are big best buddies now?”
“Ha. Far from it. I’m under no illusion that Pam is my buddy, or ever will be. I have to tread very carefully around her ego.” Hannah buckled up. “Let’s get back to the cottages before Meg sends out a search party for me.”
A long line snaked to the window of The Fishy Dish. Ruby ran back and forth between the sizzling grill and the tables outside while Meg sweated in the hot kitchen. Her face streaked with grease and sweat and the absence of a smile or greeting when Hannah walked in, revealed Meg’s seriously bad mood.
Unfortunately, Hannah would have to postpone her planned conversation with Leah.
Samantha grabbed an apron and pitched right in, helping Ruby deliver meals while Hannah took over the deep fryer filled with hand cut sweet and white potatoes and onion rings. The four worked around each other as if they were all in some sort of choreographed dance. Until, finally, the hungry crowd thinned.
Meg poured herself a large glass of ice water and sat at the snack bar counter. “I think we picked up some new business since The Chowder House is closed. Jerry still seems to be under the illusion that Chef Belair will take it over and reopen. He’s desperate to get that account back.”
Hannah was glad that the dark cloud over Meg had lifted.
“We should talk to the chef about his plans before he blindsides us like Gavin did. I’d hate for all these new customers that showed up today to just evaporate into thin air.” She snapped her fingers. “Like that. How well do you know the fancy schmancy chef?” Hannah asked Meg.
“I don’t know him at all but I’ll convince Jerry to set up a meetin
g. You know, I have that special, um, connection with him.”
Hannah leaned on the counter across from Meg. “Everything’s all patched up with Jerry?”
Meg shrugged. “For now.”
Ruby sat down next to Meg and sighed deeply. “What about Sally?”
“No word about her whereabouts yet. I’m guessing she’ll high tail it home as soon as possible. And Olivia? Is she back to keeping her sharp six-year-old eye on Jack?”
Ruby snorted. “She has more sense in her young brain than I ever had. She doesn’t want to let him out of her sight. She and Nellie have taken Jack’s safety on as their job.”
Hannah looked over Ruby’s shoulder to see Leah White walking in the direction of the snack bar. Perfect timing.
“Hi Leah. Looking for something to eat?” Hannah straightened and moved to the side to be opposite Leah.
“Yeah. Two lobster rolls if it’s not too much trouble.”
“No problem. I’ll have it ready for you in a jiffy.” Before Hannah moved away, she asked, “Any word from Sally?”
Leah looked away. “Um, no. Nothing yet.”
Right, Hannah thought. She answered much too quickly. Something was up for sure.
Hannah kept her eye on Leah who kept glancing toward Cottage Two. If Sally was back, why keep it a secret?
“Here you go.” Hannah handed Leah a paper bag with her order.
“Oh dear. I forgot my purse. I’ll be right back with my wallet.” Leah started to walk away.
“Don’t worry. I’ll add it to your bill. You can pay when you check out of the cottage.”
“Right. We’ll be leaving this afternoon. Matt already went home. I’ll be over in a little while to settle the bill.” She tucked the bag under her arm and walked quickly to her cottage.
“Did you notice how she kept looking at her cottage?” Samantha asked.
Hannah nodded. “And there’s a light back in her eyes. Did you notice that she ordered two lobster rolls but said Matt already went home? Either Leah is starving or someone else is in Cottage Two with her.”