Danger in the Depths (Dune House Cozy Mystery Series Book 9)

by Cindy Bell

  Suzie wrapped her arm around Mary and pulled her close. “Try not to worry. She’s just spreading her wings.”

  “I get that, I do. I just don’t want her to spread them with a murderer.”

  “Did Kirk leave?” Ben joined them near the door of the study.

  “No, he’s in there with Cathy.”

  “Oh okay.”

  “Do you want me to go in with you, Ben?”

  “No, it’s all right, Mom. I’ll be fine. You should sit down, get off your knees.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Really Mom, sit down.” He gestured to the dining room table. “Relax, I’ll get you some tea.”

  Suzie nodded and gave her friend’s shoulder a pat. “Do what your son says, he’s looking out for you.”

  “Okay, okay.” Mary sat down in her chair and sighed. As Ben walked into the kitchen, Mary leaned close. “I’m going to have to tell Kirk about Ben’s shoes.”

  “Not unless he asks.”

  “Suzie.”

  “Mary. We know Ben didn’t do this. No need to shine a spotlight on him.”

  “Still, it doesn’t seem right.”

  “Here you go, Mom. I made some for you, too, Suzie.”

  “Thanks, Ben.”

  “I appreciate your time, Cathy.” Kirk walked her out of the study.

  “Just remember what I said, Ben.” Mary frowned.

  “Sure.” Ben wiped his hands nervously on his jeans. As he disappeared into the study, Cathy walked out through the front door without a word to either of them.

  “She’s furious with me.” Mary frowned.

  “She’ll come around, don’t worry.” Suzie patted her hand. When Ben came out of the study, his face was flushed. He headed for the stairs without a word. Kirk walked up to the table and looked between the two women.

  “So, you didn’t know who those shoes belonged to, did you?”

  “Not when you asked, I didn’t.” Mary gripped her cup of tea tight in her hands.

  “But, after you asked Ben you discovered it didn’t you?”

  “Kirk, you have to understand.”

  “I do understand. I commend you for allowing Ben to speak up for himself. He was brave, and came forward with honesty. Of course I have to record this. It doesn’t amount to enough for an arrest just yet.”

  “Did he tell you he has no idea how his shoes got there?”

  “Yes, he did. I made a note of that, and that others had access to his shoes. We’ll see what it amounts to. Take it one step at a time.”

  “Thanks Kirk.” Suzie breathed a sigh of relief.

  “No idea where Jim is?” Kirk asked.

  “No sorry,” Suzie said.

  “I’ll see if I can find him around town. I’ll update you soon.”

  As Kirk left the house, Mary and Suzie locked eyes.

  “We have to get this settled, and fast,” Mary said.

  “Yes, we do. If only we could find the treasure itself, maybe that would tell us something.”

  “Wait, you said that Curtis was looking for a cave, maybe to hide the treasure.”

  “Right, but the cave doesn’t exist. It was a story the locals invented to keep people away from their island,” Suzie replied.

  “So the cave doesn’t exist, but the island does?”

  “Oh! Mary! That’s genius!”

  “Do you really think so?” Mary’s eyes widened. “It was just a wild guess.”

  “Well, that wild guess is the only thing we have right now.” Suzie glanced at her watch. “I’m going to make some calls and see if we can get a boat.”

  “What about Paul?”

  “He’s out fishing again I think, just for a few hours. I’ll see if I can contact him first before I try and get a boat to take us out there.”

  “Okay. I’m going to go check on Ben, let me know when you find a boat.”

  “I will.”

  Suzie tried Paul but he didn’t answer so she presumed he was still out on the water. After a few phone calls to try and get a boat, she came up with nothing. Most of the people who had a boat were tied up in jobs, or unavailable for other reasons. She recalled a friend of Paul’s she’d met a few months back. He was a nice enough guy, and Paul seemed to trust him. They had grown up in Garber together. However, she didn’t know his number. He might be out at sea but it was worth a shot to try him. She sent a text to Mary.

  Let’s head down to the docks.

  Mary appeared a few minutes later, her forehead creased in concern.

  “How’s Ben?” Suzie led her out of Dune House and into the parking lot.

  “Not good. Apparently Kirk put quite a scare into him. He said that he’s having Ben’s shoes DNA tested for DNA that doesn’t match Ben’s. He also said that Ben’s fingerprints were found in the dive shack, and on Curtis’ equipment.”

  “But that shouldn’t be surprising, Ben was one of his students,” Suzie said.

  “I know it shouldn’t be, but this is a path that Kirk is following. We need to find out the truth as quickly as possible.”

  “We’re going to.”

  Chapter 16

  Suzie drove down to the docks and parked in the far lot. After checking that Paul’s boat wasn’t docked she walked along the dock with Mary until she found Shawn’s boat. He was on the deck scrubbing down some equipment when she spotted him.

  “Shawn!” Suzie smiled and waved to him. He looked a little confused at first, and she realized that he didn’t recognize her. “Suzie, Paul’s girlfriend, remember?”

  “Oh right, hi Suzie.” He smiled.

  “This is my friend, Mary. We were wondering if you might be able to do us a favor?”

  “What?” His eyes narrowed slightly.

  “We want to find the secret island, Bucky’s Island.”

  “Oh, why would you want to find that place?” He laughed. “That’s for teenagers.”

  “We have our reasons. Will you take us out please?”

  “Why didn’t you ask Paul?”

  “He’s out fishing at the moment.”

  “All right, I’ll take you out. But I don’t want Paul having a problem with me. So if any of this goes sideways, you’re going to tell him why, not me.”

  “Don’t worry. Paul won’t care.”

  “Okay, let’s head out.” He helped them both onto the boat.

  “Is it far off shore?”

  “Not at all. Bucky’s Island has been a local secret for a long time.”

  “I can’t believe I never heard of it until a few days ago.” Suzie raised an eyebrow.

  “No, you wouldn’t have, you didn’t grow up here. Only locals have ever heard of it, and not even all of the locals. Mostly just kids that grew up with houses on the beach itself. It’s basically a tiny little island, well we call it an island, but it’s not even big enough to be considered an island. Anyway, it’s where the teens would go to hang out when I was younger. These days it’s mostly empty because of all of the new rules about teens and watercraft. Once in a while some locals will go out there for a picnic or to hang out, but there are so many nicer places to go, that it isn’t used much. It won’t take us long to get there.”

  Suzie watched as the docks grew distant. She could only hope that the secret island would be the lead that they needed. About twenty minutes later Mary pointed across the water.

  “Is that it?” She shielded her eyes.

  “It must be.” Suzie saw the tiny bit of land with a small amount of foliage to separate it from the sea.

  “Looks empty as usual.” Shawn pulled up as close as he could to the shore. “It’s too shallow for me to get any closer. Do you want to come back with a raft?”

  “No, we can wade our way in. Right Mary?”

  “Uh, sure.” Mary nodded.

  “I’ll go first.” Suzie climbed down the ladder on the side of the boat and into the water, then she turned back to help Mary. “Here Mary.” Suzie offered her a hand as she tried to climb down from the ship.

>   “No, it’s okay I can do it.” Mary waved her off. In the process she slid down the last rung of the ladder and landed with a splash in the shallow water. “Ugh. Suzie, stop laughing and help me up!”

  “I’m sorry, it was just so cute when you gasped. Are you okay?” She helped her to her feet. Once steady, Mary rolled her eyes.

  “Yes, I’m okay. Just bruised pride as usual.”

  “Well, we’re both soaked now, we might as well go get sandy.” Suzie led her through the water to the shore.

  “I wish I was as agile as you.”

  “A few more doctor’s visits might help.”

  “Now you sound like Ben.”

  “Your son has a point, Mary. You can’t ignore that pain forever.”

  “I can for a little while longer.” She grinned. “I’m holding out for the cute surgeon.”

  “I bet you are.” Suzie laughed. “All right, we’re here. Now what?”

  “Well, without a diver we can’t search the water, but I guess we can take a look around the island. Maybe Curtis left something behind that will give us a clue.”

  “That would be nice. It’s not like we have much territory to cover.” As Suzie stood at the edge of the water, she could clearly see the shore on the other side of the island. There were a few trees and bushes, but not enough to hide much. As they picked their way through the island, she became discouraged.

  “Honestly, Mary, I think this was a mistake. There’s nothing here to find. Maybe Curtis just came out here to blow off steam. One of the locals probably told him about it.”

  “That’s possible, but I don’t think we should give up just yet. We didn’t look over there.” She pointed to a section of the island which was furthest from where the boat was anchored. Suzie nodded and followed Mary’s lead. As they approached Suzie noticed strange dips and rises in the sand. She paused beside a pile of large gray rocks. They seemed out of place on the island to begin with, but the way they were stacked seemed even more odd.

  “What do you think this is about?” Suzie stared at the rocks.

  “Let’s see.” Mary moved one of the rocks, then another. Suzie joined her, and soon they were almost through the pile. When Suzie moved the last of the rocks, Mary stared down into a deep hole beneath it.

  “Oh my! Suzie!” Mary looked up from the hole. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Yes, it is.” Suzie looked over her shoulder to ensure that there was no one else on the island with them. When she looked back down into the hole she was startled again by the pile of coins at the bottom. There were scattered gems and necklaces as well, but the coins took up the majority of the space. “Curtis must have moved the treasure here to keep it safe. He probably thought no one would ever look for it here.”

  “We seriously just found buried treasure?” Mary shook her head.

  “Sh! Not so loud. We don’t want Shawn to hear us.”

  “Why, do you think he would try to take it?”

  “It’s very possible that those coins are worth a large amount of money. When it comes to riches, you can never predict who is going to do what to get to them. So yes, I do think it’s very possible.”

  “What are we going to do? Should we take them? Should we call Kirk?”

  “No.” Suzie peered out over the water, then began to move the rocks back into place to hide the treasure. “Not until we find out who killed Curtis.”

  “Why?” Mary frowned.

  “Because the moment we tell Kirk about this treasure, everyone will care about it. He’ll have to process it as evidence, and there is a chance that everyone in town will hear about it. Any chance we have of getting a confession out of the killer will be gone. If we keep this to ourselves, just you and me, then we can decide when we want to reveal it. If we do it the right way, we might be able to flush out the killer.”

  “Okay, I think I understand. Here, let me help.” Mary shoved a few of the rocks back into place as well.

  “Remember, not a word to Shawn.”

  “I’ll remember.”

  When they waded back out to the boat, Shawn helped them up onto it.

  “How did it go, lady pirates?” He grinned.

  “You were right, there was nothing out there. I think we made a mistake.”

  “Oh well, at least you got a nice boat ride, right?”

  “Right.” Suzie nodded. She and Mary sat on the bench seat closest to the back of the boat. It was still hard for Suzie to believe that they found the treasure. A part of her wondered if it might have actually been some kind of prank that one of the local kids played. Maybe those coins weren’t as real as they looked. When they reached the dock and Suzie stepped off the boat, she caught sight of Paul. He held out his hand to her. She took it with a smile.

  “I can’t believe you would cheat on me.” He did not return the smile.

  “What?” She stared at him.

  “Seriously Suzie, did you really think you were going to get away with this?”

  “Hey Paul, it wasn’t like that at all, I swear.” Shawn stepped off the boat after Mary.

  “It sure looks like what I think it is.” Paul looked from Shawn to Suzie. “You went out on another man’s boat? What’s wrong with my boat?” He grinned.

  Suzie relaxed and laughed. “Sorry Paul, I didn’t know when you’d be back.”

  “No need to apologize.” He nodded to Shawn. “Thanks for taking her out.”

  “Oh sure, anytime.” Shawn breathed a sigh of relief.

  “I think I scared him.” Paul laughed as he walked with Mary and Suzie along the dock. Suzie longed to tell him about what they found, but she thought he would think she was crazy, and if she wasn’t crazy then she didn’t want to put him in danger.

  “So, can you join us for dinner tonight?” Suzie looked into Paul’s eyes.

  “I would love that.” Paul nodded. “But I have to go out again on the boat tonight, so I might have to leave dinner early, is that okay?”

  “Absolutely!” Suzie smiled.

  “Great.” He kissed her cheek, waved to Mary, and walked back off to his boat. The moment Suzie and Mary were alone in the car they could only talk about the treasure and what it could mean. The entire way back to Dune House they debated how the treasure could help them find the killer. Once in the kitchen with two cups of coffee they continued to discuss it.

  “Well, our best guess at this point is that whoever killed Curtis was after the treasure. So why don’t we let the killer show himself, or herself?” Mary fiddled with her cup of coffee.

  “How?” Suzie leaned forward.

  “All of the suspects probably now know that there was a shipwreck and possibly treasure. They’ve all been questioned about their knowledge of it, and so they can assume that Curtis was in possession of it if it existed.”

  “Okay.” Suzie nodded. “I’m listening.”

  “What they don’t know, is that we know where it is. No one knows. Right? Not even Paul?’

  “Right. Not even the kids?”

  “Right. So, why don’t we let it slip that we know where the treasure is? Whoever killed Curtis is likely to come after us.”

  “Wait, even if we ignore for the moment just how dangerous that would be, we can’t know that the killer will come after us. It’s possible that Curtis was killed out of jealousy, by either Hal or Trish,” Suzie said.

  “It is possible, and if no one comes after the treasure then we may want to lean more towards Hal and Trish. No matter what we’re going to get some kind of response. Either someone will come after us to try to find the treasure, or no one will, in which case we can zero in more on Hal and Trish.”

  “What about Rick and Jim? Do you really think they’d come after us?”

  “If one of them is a murderer, then yes.” Mary frowned. “I know it’s a risky idea. Usually I wouldn’t even consider it. But Kirk is focusing in on Ben, and I want this settled once and for all.”

  “Then we will have to be very careful.”

 
; Chapter 17

  After dinner Suzie washed the dishes. She had the kitchen window open. As Ben approached the back door, she could hear his conversation with someone on the phone.

  “I told you, I’ll take care of it. You can trust me. I have more than enough. Just tell him that this needs to be it. I want him to leave me alone after this.”

  Suzie closed her eyes as she listened to Ben’s words. She didn’t want to suspect him, but it was hard not to. How could Ben, who was strapped for cash suddenly have enough to pay off the debt to his loan shark? Was it possible that Curtis told him about the treasure? It made her feel sick to even consider it. When he stepped through the back door she focused on the dishes.

  “Hey Ben.” She smiled at him.

  “Hey Aunt Suzie. Want some help with those?”

  “No, it’s okay. How are you doing?”

  “All right.” He shrugged. “Just starting to wonder when all of this is going to be settled.”

  “Yes, I think we all are. Listen, we’re having a bonfire tonight. I’d like for you to be there for it.”

  “Sure. I love a bonfire. Want help with the fire?”

  “I’ll let you know.”

  “Great. I’ll let Cathy and Rick know.”

  Suzie stared after him as he walked away. She was tempted to question him about his phone conversation, but she decided against it. They would know the truth soon enough. As she finished the dishes she realized the only person who wasn’t at dinner was Jim. Paul and Kirk had spent some time on the porch, then Kirk left early. She had no idea what they discussed, but Paul appeared less than pleased as he kissed her goodnight and headed home. She purposely didn’t tell him about the bonfire. She wanted him as far from danger as possible.

  Now she needed to find Jim, but she had no idea where he was. It was still light outside. He could be diving for all she knew, but she did see him walk out onto the beach earlier and hadn’t noticed him return. Her heart fluttered as she thought about being out on the isolated beach so far away from Dune House. The beaches in town were more popular for tourists and residents alike. The more isolated beaches tended to be rocky and not as friendly to visitors.