Cider Brook

by Unknown

  “A man after my own heart,” Loretta said. “Your family is different, but you must do all right. Otherwise you wouldn’t all be staying in a cabin together even for a night. It’s not like you can just kick everyone out to the mall or a movie theater for the afternoon.”

  “The cabin’s not a bad walk from here if you want to go on up there,” Justin said, nodding toward the trail alongside Cider Brook. “When you get to the bridge, you’ll come out on the other side of the road from our place. You’ll see a gap in the stone wall. The cabin’s down through the field. You can’t miss it.”

  “Is this the cabin where you lived for a few years?” Samantha asked.

  His eyes held hers a beat longer than was comfortable. “It is,” he said finally, then turned to Loretta. “You look as if you and Samantha here have some talking to do. I have some things I need to do, but I have to stop back at the office in a little while. I’ll come by the cabin when I’m done.”

  Loretta didn’t look enthusiastic, but she said, “Okay, then. Sounds as if I’m in for a walk in the woods.”

  Justin started out to his truck. “I can take you back to Carriage Hill when I finish up, but there’s usually someone at the house if you want to head back sooner.”

  She nodded. “Good to know. Thanks.”

  He turned to Samantha, his eyes distant. “I figure you’ll want to wait at the cabin for your family.”

  “Makes sense.”

  She wished she knew what was on his mind, but he continued out the driveway without another word, dodging the ruts and pits as if he knew them by heart. When he was out of sight, Loretta gave a low whistle. “The tall, dark and taciturn type, huh?”

  Samantha tried to keep her tone light. “You should have seen him when he thought I’d broken into the mill.”

  Loretta’s eyebrows went up. “Did you?”

  “Only to get out of the storm.”

  “Did you know he owned the mill?”

  “No idea, nor did I know he was the one who told Duncan about me.”

  Loretta adjusted her expensive-looking scarf, black and white with splashes of golden yellow. “You must have stood out that day for him to remember you and describe you to Duncan.”

  “It was snowing. No one had been living in the house for a while. I guess Justin wasn’t expecting to see anyone there and I stood out.”

  “Well, I never would have noticed you, if that’s any consolation.” Loretta tucked the ends of her scarf into her sweater, as if she didn’t want them in her way on their hike. “Are you done here?”

  “All set,” Samantha said. “It’s not that far up to the bridge.”

  “How ‘up’ is up?”

  “Water does run downhill, but it’s not a steep climb.”

  They started onto the trail, wet from last night’s rain but not too muddy. Samantha remembered her mad dash in the heat and humidity just a few days ago, with the fierce storm bearing down on her.

  Next to her, Loretta was quiet. Finally Samantha said, “You investigated me after Duncan told you I’d been out here.”

  She didn’t hesitate before answering. “I looked into you. I’m not an investigator. Duncan didn’t ask me to get involved. I just plowed in on my own. I thought I was doing him a favor, but I was just sticking my nose where it didn’t belong. I didn’t work for him. I should have minded my own business.”

  “It seems to me you were trying to be a good friend,” Samantha said.

  “Think so?”

  “Yes, I do. I think Duncan did, too. We didn’t discuss you, but he told me a friend had checked me out and found out I was—how did he put it? ‘Not just any freaking Bennett.’”

  Loretta smiled. “That’s a pretty good imitation.”

  “Burned into my brain. He’d heard of my grandfather, my father, my mother, my uncle. Knew their work in part because of his work. He said he couldn’t take the chance I was up to something.”

  “That’s because that’s what I told him.”

  Samantha shook her head. “It was his decision to let me go. He emphasized that.” She stepped over an exposed tree root, feeling the mixed emotions of the woman next to her—and her own. “I don’t blame anyone but myself for what happened.”

  They paused on a short, fairly steep section of the trail, a jumble of rocks forming a small waterfall Samantha hadn’t noticed before. The brook was high after the heavy rain. Loretta stared down at the mini waterfall. “So soothing. I love the sound of water. I walk on the beach at home to relax, think. I don’t do it often enough.” She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets. “Duncan and I were fond of each other. Fat lot of good it did him. I hounded him about you and next thing, he was dead.”

  “His death was a shock.”

  “Yeah. I guess I’m not over it.”

  “I’m truly sorry,” Samantha said. “I’ve never really talked about what happened, certainly not with anyone as close to him as you were.”

  Loretta pulled her gaze from the waterfall. “We weren’t that close. We were hoping to get close. At least I was hoping. Maybe he was looking to dump me. That’s the thing about a sudden loss. You can be left off balance, not sure what was real, what was just wishful thinking.” She pulled her hands out of her pockets and picked up a freshly fallen maple leaf, still wet but in perfect condition. “Pretty, isn’t it?” She tossed it into the waterfall. “I hope nothing I did hastened Duncan’s death.”

  Samantha went a few more steps up the trail, but all she could see was Duncan McCaffrey as he’d watched her leave his temporary office in Portugal after he’d fired her. He’d looked regretful, sorry—but not torn, she thought. In his mind, he’d done what he’d had to do. She turned to Loretta, still by the waterfall. “None of us on Duncan’s team saw anything that indicated he would have a fatal heart attack. If he noticed any symptoms or was in a doctor’s care, he didn’t tell us.”

  “That would be just like him.”

  Loretta walked up to her. She was obviously in good shape but hampered somewhat by her inappropriate footwear. “He didn’t need me haranguing him to get rid of you,” she said with a groan. “He knew what to do. You’re not the first person he’d had to fire. But he liked you, and I think he’d have liked to have given you a second chance and probably would have if he’d lived. He might have if I’d stayed out of it.”

  “Oh, he was determined to fire me.”

  “Maybe. My thinking...” Loretta shrugged. “I was affected by some of the things I’d seen with Dylan and Noah. The opportunists. The snakes in the grass.”

  “You’re protective of them, and you were protective of Duncan,” Samantha said as they continued up the narrow trail. “You can’t possibly blame yourself for Duncan’s death, Loretta. What you told him about me and what he should do—it’s okay.”

  “He hated that he hadn’t guessed you hadn’t told him everything about yourself. He said he should have asked you if you were related to Harry Bennett. Would you have told him the truth if he had?”

  “I’m sure I would have. I’ve never denied my family to anyone.”

  Loretta slowed, her scarf working its way out from her sweater. “Damn. I can feel the jet lag.” She looked at Samantha. “You’re saying firing you wasn’t that big a deal to Duncan?”

  “I’m saying it didn’t kill him,” she said without hesitation. “He had a heart attack and fell. I wasn’t there, but everyone I know who was doesn’t believe it was brought on by stress or anything but undetected heart disease.”

  “I’m sorry. I had no right to insinuate the situation with you had anything to do with his death. It wasn’t your fault.”

  “Or yours,” Samantha said softly.

  “It’s crazy, maybe, but I haven’t been able to shake the guilt....” Loretta cleared her throat. “What might have been. You know?” She smiled, the lines around her eyes visible in the dappled shade. “Then again, maybe you don’t know. You’re still awfully young.”

  “I wish I’d told Duncan the tru
th about myself from the start.” Samantha heard the emotion in her voice. “I hate that I let him down. That everyone on his team knows I let him down. And myself. I handled the situation badly, but I never saw what I did as a breach of trust.”

  “You wanted to impress him. He was like that, wasn’t he? A larger-than-life guy. It’s not easy letting go of a man who seems indestructible. I’ll bet your grandfather was like that. He’s mixed up with your reasons for being here, too, isn’t he?”

  “Maybe so.” Samantha could see the bridge through birch trees, their leaves turning yellow against their white trunks, and picked up her pace. “I miss him, but he had a long, good life. Duncan was only in his early seventies.”

  “Still a young man by comparison.” Loretta kept up with Samantha as they followed the path under the small bridge. “He’d pour cold brook water on both our heads for talking about him this way. He went out fast, doing what he loved, before he had to slow down or even knew he was sick.”

  “There’s some consolation in that,” Samantha said.

  “You’d think I’d have known him better, given the years I’ve worked with Dylan, but it’s not the case. Duncan and Dylan’s mother were divorced when Dylan was young. Duncan was always there for Dylan but maybe not always in the ways a son wants or needs. He and I didn’t get to know each other until right before he died.”

  “You’re quite a bit younger than he was.”

  Loretta grinned. “Nice of you to notice. The age difference didn’t matter. Not to me, anyway.”

  Samantha went first up the steep bank to the road, across from where she had ducked down to Cider Brook on Wednesday. She pictured a posse of Sloan brothers charging down the trail as boys. What a place to grow up.

  “Absolutely stunning,” Loretta said, squinting out at the field and the line of trees beyond it. “But should I watch for snakes?”

  “Ticks.”

  “I’ve never even seen a tick.”

  They found the gap in the stone wall that Justin had mentioned and headed onto a path through the tall grass and wildflowers of a wide, sloping field. Samantha welcomed the open ground, and a cool breeze helped to clear her head.

  “Duncan wasn’t happy about the situation with you, but it’s not why he died,” Loretta said, as if to convince herself more than Samantha. “He didn’t die because you didn’t tell him you’d been to Knights Bridge and were a Bennett, and he didn’t die because I pushed him to fire you.”

  “I’m sorry I contributed to any turmoil in his last days.”

  “So am I, but Duncan didn’t mind turmoil. I won’t say he lived for it, but he sure did embrace it when it was thrust upon him.”

  Samantha didn’t argue. Loretta seemed calmer, although she was obviously by nature an intense woman. As they continued through the field, she brushed her fingertips over lacy white wildflowers that came almost to her knees. “Has this trip to Knights Bridge been worth it for you, Samantha?”

  “Right now I have more questions than I had when I arrived.”

  “About pirates or about Sloans?” Loretta asked with a knowing grin.

  Samantha laughed, appreciating the cool breeze. “Both, maybe. I came here with a three-hundred-year-old pirate mystery, and now I’ve added a hundred-year-old mystery about a young couple photographed at Justin’s cider mill. There’s something about them...I can’t explain.”

  “Do you trust your instincts?”

  “Some days more than others.”

  “Dylan has good instincts about people. They were honed during his years as a hockey player and then working with Noah. Duncan thought he did, too, but his instincts about projects and opportunities were better than they were about people.”

  “I doubt anyone has ever said a Bennett has good instincts about people.”

  Loretta slowed her pace as they made their way through the field. She glanced sideways at Samantha. “What’s your mother like?”

  “Wonderful. She’s intelligent, sophisticated—”

  “She’d never break into an abandoned cider mill?”

  Samantha smiled. “She’d never be in the position that she’d need to.”

  “Would she want to have anything to do with pirate treasure?”

  “She and my father are deep into their work on sunken World War II vessels. Shipwrecks of all kinds can yield new evidence about the past—solve mysteries, dispel myths, answer questions about historical events and technical issues.”

  “Duncan used to tell me that his work wasn’t about profiting from lost treasure.” Loretta paused, gazing out at the rolling hills. “But there’s a personal aspect to your interest in Captain Farraday, isn’t there, Samantha? Piecing together this pirate’s life and death was your last quest with your grandfather.”

  Samantha nodded, choking back unexpected tears. “Sorry.”

  “No apology necessary.” Loretta’s voice was surprisingly gentle for such a hard-nosed woman. They continued on the narrow path through the tall grass and wildflowers. “My grandfather died when I was in college, and I still tear up when I think about him. Look, I don’t mean to stir up your grief over your grandfather. Whatever your interest in this pirate is—whatever he does or doesn’t have to do with Knights Bridge and that old cider mill—I wish you luck finding answers.”

  “Thank you,” Samantha said. “I sometimes wonder if I should leave well enough alone.”

  “Not your nature.” Loretta gave a small moan as the path curved down a slope and they came to the cabin. “It would be a log cabin. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sloans cut the trees for the logs themselves.”

  “Count on it.”

  “What a spot, though.”

  It was, Samantha thought. The cabin was situated on a relatively flat stretch of open ground above a small pond, rippling in a cool breeze. On the bank opposite the cabin were woods, dominated by sugar maples with their changing bright autumn leaves.

  Loretta touched her arm. “You go on. I’ll head back up to the Sloan place and get one of them to take me back to Carriage Hill. Dylan can show me what a tick looks like.”

  “I can walk with you.”

  “It’s okay. I’m glad we had this chance to talk. And don’t worry. Anything we’ve talked about remains between us. I can keep things to myself. I’m an attorney, remember?”

  “Justin knows most of what I’ve told you.”

  “It’s what you haven’t said out loud that counts, though, isn’t it?” Loretta smiled, plucking a golden-colored wildflower. “If I were you, I might just take my time solving this pirate mystery. And don’t ask me why, because you know why. I’ve met Justin Sloan. I’ve seen you two together.”

  “Yes, well...” Samantha grimaced. “He’s about to meet my family.”

  “The guy’s a rock. He can handle your family. Good to meet you, Samantha. I see now why Duncan liked you.”

  “How long will you be staying in Knights Bridge?”

  “Not long. Maybe not past tomorrow.” Loretta nodded up toward the Sloan house. “I noticed dogs in the yard. Do they bite?”

  “They’re very friendly. There’s a pet duck, too. His name’s Fred.”

  “Of course. I should have known there’d be a pet duck named Fred.”

  Loretta started back through the field, swinging her wildflower. Samantha liked her even more after their long conversation and felt they had cleared the air about Duncan McCaffrey and his last days.

  She mounted the sturdy steps onto the cabin porch. The Sloans had obviously prepared for guests. The porch was swept, a large clay pot of orange mums set out by the front door, chairs and tables dusted and wiped down. She sat on a dark-stained wooden rocking chair. Her family would be along soon. She wondered if Justin would steer clear of them. Did she want him to steer clear? Meeting the Bennett brothers, their wives and her cousins could snap a man back to his senses.

  Which, of course, her father and uncle knew.

  And that, she thought, was why they were on their way to Knights
Bridge. It had nothing to do with fresh air or her rambunctious cousins. It had to do with Malcolm and Caleb Bennett’s suspicions that their daughter and niece was getting in too deep with one Justin Sloan of little Knights Bridge, Massachusetts.

  Twenty-Five

  Justin dropped Loretta off at Carriage Hill but didn’t get out of his truck. He tried not to look impatient as she glanced sideways at him, her hand on the door latch. “Did you and your brothers cut the logs for the cabin? Samantha and I were wondering.”

  “My grandfather and my father and uncle did.”

  “Ah. It looks like a nice place. Rugged.” She pushed open her door. “Thanks for the ride.”

  “Sure.”

  “You don’t talk much, do you?”

  “Mind’s elsewhere. Sorry.”

  “Thinking about pirates, I imagine,” she said with a wry smile as she jumped out of the truck. “Good seeing you again.”

  He made sure she was on the stone walk into the kitchen ell before he pulled away. It wouldn’t be good to run over Dylan’s lawyer. Loretta had been winded when she’d arrived at the office, worried about the dogs, dubious about Fred and totally freaked out about ticks. Justin had figured there was no need to yap at her on the drive back to Carriage Hill. Let her pull herself together before joining Dylan and Olivia.

  And his mind was elsewhere.

  On Samantha and the twists and turns that had brought her to Knights Bridge.

  To him.

  He shook off that last thought as he drove back to town. He stopped at the fire department, located in a solid, new building at the far end of the common, but he didn’t go in. He walked around back to the old fire hall. It had been renovated and reconfigured years ago—before he had started wielding a hammer—and was now used as a training facility and for a meeting space.