“Where are you going this time?” Star said.
No doubt she’d grown frustrated with me leaving her alone. I hated leaving her again, but I had one piece of unfinished business to attend to.
I walked over to the pier at Grove Park. I’d asked two people to meet me there. I had big news to reveal.
“Detective Beaux, this is Molly Barnes of the Sunny Shores Audubon Society,” I said.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Barnes,” he said as he tipped his fedora. “The pleasure’s all mine, ma’am.”
Molly blushed as Beaux turned on the charm.
After the formalities were complete, Beaux turned to me and asked, “So, how can I assist you, Miss Summers? Aren’t you busy enough trying to run a business and solve crimes on the side? Don’t you ever take a day off?”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said as I smiled. “I called you here for a reason. A good reason, in fact. It’s about the little problem with the missing donation money.”
“Go on,” he replied as he looked at me, curiously. “Did you identify the perp?”
“You can say that. In fact, I caught the thief red-handed,” I said before I corrected myself. “I mean… red-beaked, so to speak.”
“I don’t follow, Miss Summers.”
“I purchased this trail-cam from Dickerson’s Sporting Goods,” I said as picked up the trail-cam and showed him. “I positioned the camera a few feet away from the box, so the field of view was limited. I only wanted a shot of the collection box, so the camera wouldn’t fill up with random people walking around. The only motion it’d catch was on the box itself.”
“So, what did you find?” he asked.
“Strangely enough, the camera failed to capture any person on film stealing from the box. However, I noticed a peculiar occurrence. Groups of seagulls flocked around the box. I’m not sure why, but they were attracted to the box.”
“Seagulls?” he replied, as he didn’t seem convinced. I could tell I was beginning to lose him at this point. “I’m not sure what seagulls have to do with the case.”
“That’s where Ms. Barnes comes in,” I said before I turned to her. “Ms. Barnes, can you let Detective Barnes borrow your binoculars for a moment?”
“Sure thing,” she replied.
She pulled the binoculars off that hung around her neck and presented them to Beaux. Beaux hesitated for a brief second, still confused. However, his curiosity took over as he reached out and accepted the binoculars.
“What am I looking for?” he asked as he placed them over his eyes and began to look around. “Everything’s dark.”
“Let me help you with that, dear,” Ms. Barnes said as she removed the lens caps on the ends that had somehow eluded Detective Beaux. His face turned red as a boiled lobster as the embarrassment set in.
“Not one word, Miss Summers,” he said as he stared right at me. I held back the laughter as hard as I could.
After regaining my composure, I continued, “Anyway, do you see those rocky cliffs a hundred or so yards down the beach? Look over there.”
“What am I looking for?”
“Look at the seagull nests on the edge, right there,” Ms. Barnes said as she pointed him in the right direction. “Seagulls rarely nest in trees but prefer rocky cliffs like the ones down the beach.”
“Wait,” he said as he focused in on the nests. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Yep,” I replied. “I know real estate is at a premium, but those are some expensive nests.”
The nests were sprinkled with hints of green in random places. Intertwined between the various rocks, sticks, and other material were strands of money. The seagulls were the thieves all along.
“How did they retrieve the money from the box?” he asked.
“Reach around behind the box and feel,” I instructed.
The backside of the box hung over the railing of the pier and faced the ocean. So a person standing on the pier couldn’t see the backside without sticking their head out over the pier.
“There’s a small hole,” Beaux said as he felt the back of the box with his hand. “So, that’s how they got in.”
“The box is made with untreated wood,” I explained. “Damage from exposure to salt water over time caused the wood to rot. Hence, the reason for the hole in the back of the donation box. Once I suspected the seagulls as the culprits, I needed to find out where they were taking the money. So I contacted the Sunny Shores Audubon Society. I figured if anyone knew about seagulls, they would.”
“Not bad, Miss Summers, not bad all,” Beaux replied.
His praise of my work took me aback. After scolding me constantly about my meddling in official police business, he threw a positive comment my way. I wanted time to stop, so I could bask in this feeling. That was quickly squashed as my phone beeped.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket. The text was from Star. My heart almost stopped as I read it. A sense of relief came over me.
“What is it?” Beaux asked, as he looked puzzled by my reaction.
“It’s Bonnie May,” I replied as I smiled. “She’s awake.”
Chapter 21
I usually avoided closing my truck during normal business hours. However, this occasion warranted it. Star and I left Grove Park and headed toward the hospital.
As we walked in the room, Bonnie May was sitting up in her bed.
“You look…”
“Awful,” Star said before I finished.
Bonnie May laughed. “Blunt, but honest. That’s what I love about you, Star.”
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“About the same way I look, Kara.”
“Is there anything we can do for you?”
“You know, dear, I’ve had a lot of free time to sit around and think. It’s funny, when your life hangs by a thread, a person begins to gain perspective. It’s no secret that I have more skeletons in my closet than a graveyard. I’ve hurt”
“That’s all history now, Bonnie May. You can’t beat yourself up over the sins of the past. You only control the present, as well as the future.”
We spent the next hour or so talking and catching up. I told her of everything that had happened while she was in a coma. I could tell the guilt was getting to her, so I decided to change the subject and try to cheer her up.
“You have a gift now. It’s something that no one can take away from you, no matter how they feel about you.”
“What’s that?’ she asked.
“A fresh start.”
“Maybe I can get a month off from the city council. Besides, everyone around me is getting too old.”
“Yeah, pretty soon it’ll be just Mayor Roy. I’m sure he’d love that.”
“Maybe I’ll give old Gus Robins a call,” Bonnie May said.
“I’m sure he’d like that,” I replied. “I’m sure he could use a friend right now, especially after losing his son.”
“I tell you one thing,” Bonnie May said.
“What’s that?” I replied.
“No more online dating for me.”
The three of us laughed.
On our way out of the hospital, Star turned to me and said, “Now that’s over, I hope we can have a quieter remainder of the summer.”
I didn’t respond. Star noticed this right away and began to shake her head. “Oh no, there’s something on your mind, isn’t there?”
“Every murder this summer has had one thing in common.”
“What’s that?”
“Each person was a member of the Sunny Shores City council, including my father. It’s not a coincidence. I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”
Thanks for Reading
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Blueberry Pie White Lie - a Cozy Mystery: Sunny Shores Mysteries Book 3 Page 10