Dead Tide (Blackmoore Sisters Romantic Cozy Mystery Series)

by Dobbs, Leighann

  Cal looked at Celeste from across the room. “Well, if he is coming to look for clues, then I say we give him exactly what he wants.”

  ***

  Celeste screwed up her face. “Are you crazy? Why would we do that?”

  Cal laughed. “Not the real clues, fake ones. Something that will throw them off track.”

  Luke nodded. “What a great idea. That’s brilliant.”

  “Yeah, but what fake clue? We don’t even know what the real clues are, how will we know how to fake one?” Jolene asked.

  “Let’s figure out what we do know,” Morgan said.

  “We know there’s some big find—we’ll call it a treasure since Skinner said it could be valuable,” Celeste answered.

  “And we know that there’s already bad guys here looking for it, for some reason the low tide is significant, and apparently they don’t know all the information they need to figure out where it is." Jolene ticked the three items off with her fingers.

  “And we have the journal and a mysterious map of a maze,” Celeste added then turned to Luke. “Did you guys find any sign of treasure or an underwater maze on your dive?”

  “No, we didn’t see even anything that could come close. We did find an old brass cross and some pewter mugs scattered around the ocean floor, but no treasure.”

  “What about that cave?”

  Luke raised his brows. “That was interesting. The opening is gigantic, but the top is about twenty feet down so you would never see it from the ocean. Anyway, we swam in quite a ways—it goes into the cliff pretty far but part of it was blocked with rubble.”

  “From the explosion earlier in the summer?” Jolene asked.

  “Maybe. I’m not sure. We had to back out since we’d been diving all day and the oxygen was running low.”

  “Did you see any sand bars out in the ocean?” Celeste asked remembering her conversation with Cal and then feeling her cheeks grow warm again.

  Luke shook his head. “No. Why do you ask?”

  “I was just wondering if this whole timing with the lowest tide might be because a sandbar is exposed—you know somewhere that would be easier to dig up a treasure if it wasn’t covered in water.”

  Luke rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. “You know that’s not a bad theory. We should get a geographical map of the ocean floor all around the cliff.” He pulled out his cell phone and punched in a text.

  “So we still don’t know where this maze is … or even how it is connected," Celeste said.

  “Can I see this maze map?” Cal asked.

  “Sure.” Morgan stood up. “I put it with the journal in my secret hiding place upstairs. I’ll run up and get it.”

  “So, where do you guys think this maze is anyway?” Fiona asked.

  Everyone shrugged.

  “It must be here, on or near our land or the pirates wouldn’t be coming here,” Celeste said.

  “Do you think Skinner discovered exactly where it is?” Morgan asked as she slipped back into the room, placing the maze map on the coffee table in front of where Cal was seated.

  “Hard to tell.” Luke stood behind Cal and looked down at the map. “If he did, the pirates probably know exactly where it is too.”

  “But if they do, why wouldn’t they just be here now digging it up?” Jolene’s brows mashed together as she stared at Luke.

  Luke gave a have head shake-half shrug. “Either they can’t get it because of the level of the tide … or they are waiting for the final piece of the puzzle.”

  “What’s the final piece of the puzzle?” Fiona asked.

  “The map that shows exactly how to get to the treasure,” Cal said tapping his index finger on the maze map.

  “You think that’s what the map shows?” Jolene squatted down on the other side of the table.

  “Sure. See these arrows and thin lines?” Cal traced his finger along the lines on the map. “These show you what path to take in the maze.”

  “So the thicker lines are the walls of the maze?” Jolene asked.

  “Yes, it looks that way.” Cal narrowed his eyes across the table at Jolene. “Did the man that gave you this say anything about it?”

  She shook her head. “No. I didn’t even know he had slipped it into my pocket until later.”

  “Well, it has to have some significance to this whole treasure thing. This could be the very map that leads us to the treasure,” Cal said.

  “Or it could be a ruse—something to throw us off track,” Celeste argued.

  “No. I have a feeling it’s very important. This isn’t a ruse.” Morgan looked at Celeste and then at the others. “I have a very strong feeling about it.”

  “Okay then. If Overton is working for Goldlinger, this could be exactly what he is looking for,” Jake said.

  “So we make a fake map and hide it somewhere that Overton will find it. If we’re right, then the pirates will end up following the wrong path in the maze and come up to a dead end and no treasure.” Jake thumped Cal on the back. “Excellent idea.”

  “So, based on what we know, it would seem the pirates know where the maze is but not how to navigate it and we know how to navigate it but not where it is,” Celeste said.

  “Right,” Luke said. “If Overton bites on the fake clue, then we’ll know for sure that he’s in on it with them.”

  “The fake map will keep them from getting to the treasure, but it won’t solve our immediate problem,” Jake said.

  “You mean that the pirates could come to get us out of the way any time now?” Jolene asked.

  Jake nodded, causing Celeste’s heart to sink.

  “That’s why we need to find that poetry book right away,” Cal said. “Because our only hope now is to find the treasure first before they have a chance to hurt the girls. And in order to do that, we need to decipher the journal just like Skinner did.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Celeste stared out the front window, her stomach churning in anticipation of Overton’s arrival. Her gaze wandered over to the porch swing that she and Cal had sat on the night before and her heart pinched. He’d left last night without even saying good-bye to her. Was pushing him away what she really wanted? She wondered if she’d done the wrong thing and lost her best friend.

  From her vantage point at the window she could see the road that led through Perkins Cove to their driveway. Her shoulders tensed as the Noquitt police cruiser rounded the corner to the cove and sped its way down the road toward her. It pulled to a stop in front of her house and Overton lumbered out with two uniformed officers behind him.

  “I’ll handle him.” Delphine, who had arrived moments before, opened the front door greeting Overton with a stony face and an outstretched hand. Overton pushed the papers toward her, hitching up his pants and chewing on his toothpick as Delphine inspected them, her mouth set in a grim line.

  She glanced over at Celeste and her sisters, who had now gathered in the entrance way, then handed the papers back to Overton.

  “They’re in order. We’ll have to let him in.” She stepped aside and held the door open.

  Overton passed through the door pausing only to aim a menacing glare at Celeste and her sisters.

  Overton pointed to one of the cops. “Blake, you take this floor, I’ll take the second floor and Towers can take the third floor.”

  The two cops nodded and took off to their respective floors. Celeste exchanged a look with her sisters. Overton hadn’t mentioned the attic which she thought was weird, but she was grateful since she didn’t want him messing around with their family heirlooms.

  Overton disappeared down the hallway toward the stairs leading to the second floor.

  “Meeeyowl!”

  “Damn cat!” Overton’s voice bellowed through the house.

  Celeste suppressed a giggle when Belladonna came skittering into view, unharmed. She must have inadvertently gotten in Overton’s way on the stairs. Belladonna winked at her lazily and she wondered if the cat had known exactl
y what she was doing.

  “I got some fresh blueberries, who wants to make blueberry muffins?” Morgan raised her brows and gestured toward the kitchen.

  Celeste’s stomach nagged, reminding her she had forgotten to eat supper. “I do.”

  “Me too," Fiona and Jolene said at the same time, and then punched each other lightly in the arm.

  “I’m going to make sure Overton and his gang don’t do anything inappropriate,” Delphine said, turning in a flurry of tangerine and yellow. The feisty lawyer was known for her colorful outfits and today she’d chosen a loose tangerine jacket made from some semi-sheer material which topped off a yellow shirt and yellow, orange and pink skirt. Quite a contrast to her black yoga pants and white tee-shirt, Celeste thought as she followed her sisters into the kitchen.

  “Celeste, you grab the ingredients. Jolene, get the muffin cups and pan. Fiona, grab the mixer and a big bowl.” Morgan directed from the stove where she was preheating the oven.

  Celeste assembled sugar, flour, baking powder, milk and butter on the kitchen island. Fiona put the large stainless steel mixing bowl from their KitchenAid mixer beside them. Morgan brought over a measuring cup and measured out the ingredients, dumping them in the bowl in turn.

  “We’ll fold the blueberries in by hand after this is all mixed together.” Morgan pointed to a pint of oversized blueberries that sat on the kitchen counter as she fitted the steel bowl in the mixer base, lowered the paddle and turned it on.

  The sisters had a row of blueberry bushes that grew on the cove side of the yard. It was well past blueberry season now, but they always picked the bushes clean in the season and froze them for later. Morgan must have taken these out of the freezer last night.

  Celeste leaned over in her chair, grabbed one and popped it in her mouth. An explosion of juicy sweet tartness coated her tongue as she bit down.

  “These are really juicy,” she said, then stuck out her tongue. “Ids my ton boo?” The words came out garbled, but her sisters knew what she meant.

  “Yes," they answered in unison.

  Celeste crossed her eyes trying to look at her tongue to see how blue it was.

  A crash came from upstairs and they all flinched as they heard Delphine yell at Overton.

  “You better not break any of my clients’ things or you’ll be paying for it.”

  “It was that damn cat knocked it over.” Overton’s voice echoed down to them. “It’s not broken.”

  The girls tore their eyes from the ceiling and Morgan started folding the blueberries into the batter while Jolene plunked a thin pleated paper muffin cup into each section of the pan. Fiona poured the batter into the muffin cups and they shoved the pan into the oven.

  Then they took a seat at the kitchen island and waited.

  Mixing the muffins had been a nice diversion but now they could hear the sounds of the search going on and Celeste’s heart grew heavy with dread.

  Jolene broke the silence. “I wonder what he’s going to take.”

  “He’ll probably take the opportunity to steal some of our good stuff,” Fiona said.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised.” Morgan scowled at the ceiling.

  “Well, at least there’s nothing that he can use to incriminate us,” Celeste added.

  “I’m just glad I brought my laptop over to Jake’s,” Jolene whispered. “If he took that I’d be out of business.”

  Celeste nodded. They’d brought more than Jolene’s laptop over to Jake’s. The leather map and the silver box was over there as well, along with the poem they’d found in the lining and the real map of the maze. The fake map which they’d made last night was “hidden” in the fireplace in Celeste’s room. They’d carefully drawn it in the same color pen on the same paper, taking care to make the path exactly the opposite of what it was in the original map. Luke had installed an inconspicuous camera directed at the spot, so they’d be able to tell right away if Overton took the bait. He was monitoring it from his apartment downtown.

  Morgan's cell phone erupted in a cacophony of chirps and tweets. She glanced over to where it sat on the kitchen island to see the message.

  “It’s Luke.” She didn’t need to elaborate. The other girls knew what it meant. Overton had taken the map.

  ***

  “Towers, are you ‘bout done up there?” Overton bellowed from the second floor. Seated in the kitchen, the sisters could hear the front stairs groan under his weight as he descended them.

  “Come on Blake, hurry it up.” Overton’s voice carried into the kitchen from the library. The timer on the oven dinged and Morgan took the muffins out just as Overton appeared in the door with Delphine and Blake behind him.

  “So you’re done then?” Delphine queried Overton.

  “Yep.” The toothpick bobbed around in his mouth as he eyed the steaming muffins.

  “I’ll need a copy of the inventory sheets,” Delphine said. Celeste had seen them carry out a few bags during the course of their search. Everything the police took would be catalogued and written down. Celeste would bet good money the map of the maze wouldn’t be on the list.

  The sound of footsteps running down the stairs and into the hall announced Tower’s arrival. Overton turned and looked at the two cops.

  “Did you get everything loaded into the car?”

  Towers and Blake nodded.

  “Then I think we’re done here.” Overton’s gaze shifted to the kitchen window and his eyebrows went up. “Except for one last thing.”

  He took an evidence bag out of his pocket and started toward the back door motioning impatiently for Towers and Blake to follow. Without a word to Delphine or the sisters, he ripped open the door and stomped out into the garden.

  Celeste watched as he trampled basil, chives and chamomile on his way to the far corner. He paused and pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket—it looked like a printout with a picture. Squinting at the paper he leaned down to get a better look at the plants. After a few minutes, he found his target—wolfsbane. He ripped the wolfsbane plants out of the ground and shoved them the plastic evidence bag.

  Morgan flinched at the callous treatment of her herbs.

  “Gee, I hope he didn’t get any on his hands. He might accidentally poison himself,” she said sarcastically as they watched him walk toward their driveway, the two uniformed cops following him like obedient baby ducks.

  Delphine snorted out a laugh. “Okay, well if you guys don’t need me I have to get back to the office.”

  “I don’t think we need you and thanks for coming. Want a muffin?” Fiona held a napkin wrapped muffin out.

  “Sure.” Delphine took the muffin. “I’ll get you a copy of the inventory list as soon as Overton gets it to me. And I’ll keep my ears peeled for any more warrants.”

  “You don’t think he’s going to arrest one of us, do you?” Jolene asked. “You know, like he usually does.”

  Delphine rolled her eyes. “Unless he comes up with something concrete, I don’t think he can. It’s weird though … he didn’t take very much out of the house today.”

  Celeste peeled the paper off the sides of her muffin. That’s because he was really only after one thing.

  “If he does try to arrest one of you, I’ll have you out in a jiff.” Delphine held the muffin up with a nod, then turned and disappeared toward the front door.

  “Looks like Overton really is working for this Goldlinger guy.” Jolene’s eyes shone with excitement.

  “I guess he has been all along,” Morgan said.

  “Yeah, all this time he’s been trying to get us out of the way. Trying to frame us for murder and doing things so we would have a hard time paying the property taxes.” Fiona twisted the crystal bracelet on her wrist as she talked.

  Celeste remembered how hard it had been to come up with the tax money on the seaside mansion before they’d discovered that they had some very valuable pieces in the attic. Overton had taken every chance he got to turn the screws on them so that they would str
uggle for money.

  “I wonder if he was trying to run us out of the house so this Goldlinger could get whatever it is he is after," Morgan said.

  “Looks that way,” Jolene answered.

  “So these pirates have had us in their sights for quite some time,” Celeste said, shivering as an icy finger tracing its way up her spine. She bit into her muffin, the warm softness filling her mouth with sweet flavor. She closed her eyes to savor it until a loud cracking sound from Fiona’s side of the island made them fly open.

  “What was that?” Morgan turned from the sink where she’d been washing the bowl.

  Fiona stood at the island frowning down at her wrist. Celeste followed her gaze and saw one of the stones in her bracelet had shattered and was laying in pieces on the counter.

  “Did you smash your bracelet on the counter?” she asked.

  Fiona shook her head. “No. It just shattered on its own.”

  “That’s weird,” Morgan said. “I never heard of a stone doing that before.”

  “They don’t, usually.” Fiona picked up one of the shards and studied it under the light. “This stone is malachite. Ancient lore has it that the stone shatters to warn of impending danger.

  Celeste’s throat went dry, almost causing her to choke on the piece of muffin she’d just swallowed.

  “No shit,” Jolene said. “I’d say your stone is a little late with its warning.”

  As if on cue, spooky science fiction music erupted from Jolene’s pocket and she pulled out her phone, slipping out of her chair and walking over to the other end of the kitchen to take the call.

  Morgan, Celeste and Fiona bent over the shattered stone.

  “It’s probably just a coincidence." Morgan shrugged.

  “Yeah, besides we already know we’re in danger,” Celeste said.

  “Yeah, hopefully it’s not a sign that things are going to get worse,” Fiona added.