by Leena Clover
“He was here for two nights,” Victoria told them. “Said he had to meet someone in Pelican Cove.”
“Why didn’t he stay in town then?” Heather asked.
“He told me the local inn was full,” Victoria shrugged. “I didn’t probe any further.”
“Did he say anything about what brought him here?”
Victoria shook her head.
“Our guests value their privacy. He paid cash in advance so I didn’t ask too many questions.”
“What about his address?” Heather asked.
“He was from the city,” Victoria said, “somewhere near Washington DC. That’s all I know.”
“What about his name?” Jenny asked, barely able to hold back her excitement.
Victoria picked up a book from a rolltop desk that stood against a wall. She rifled through the pages until she found what she was looking for.
“John Smith,” she said with a smile.
Jenny’s face fell.
“Are you sure?” she asked Victoria.
“That’s what it says here,” the woman said, suddenly looking her age.
“Did you cross check it against a photo ID?” Jenny pressed.
Victoria coughed into a lace handkerchief. She was beginning to look flustered. She shook her head.
“We don’t do that here at the Sunset Point Inn,” she said apologetically. “My Daddy believed in trusting his fellow men.”
“Your Daddy was a wise man,” Jenny said gently.
The girls bid farewell to Victoria and turned around to go back to Pelican Cove.
“That was a bust,” Jenny sighed.
“You don’t think his name is really John Smith?” Heather asked.
“What are the chances, Heather? You tell me.”
“It’s not impossible,” Heather argued. “But I guess it is improbable.”
“I need to talk to Adam again,” Jenny said firmly. “I think Jimmy may know more than he is letting on. Only Adam can make him talk.”
Heather said nothing and stared out of the window.
“You’re very quiet all of a sudden,” Jenny said. “Had a fight with Chris?”
“Anything but…” Heather said bitterly.
“Do you want to have a fight with him?” Jenny asked, puzzled.
“We’re going to the Steakhouse again,” Heather asked. “That’s as good as a commitment.”
“Don’t be silly,” Jenny consoled. “Jason Stone took me to dinner at the Steakhouse. Does that mean we are ‘seeing’ each other?”
“You don’t know this town, Jenny,” Heather objected. “People already think we have an understanding because of our families. Going to the Steakhouse twice so close together will seal the deal in the eyes of the people.”
“And you don’t want that, I presume?” Jenny said, finally connecting the dots. “Do you not like Chris?”
“Chris is a great guy,” Heather said brightly.
“But…?”
“I’m not sure we have a future together,” Heather admitted. “I like him. I more than like him. Any girl would be lucky to have him.”
“But you are not that girl?”
Heather shrugged.
“I don’t know, Jenny. I’m confused.”
“Is there someone else?” Jenny asked, rolling her eyes as she turned onto the bridge that would take them to the island. Built in the 1970s, it had connected the island to the rest of the world. Star had taken that very bridge when she arrived in Pelican Cove all those years ago.
Heather shook her head.
“Not exactly…not yet, at least.”
“So you fancy someone else!” Jenny declared triumphantly. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“It may be nothing,” Heather said softly. “I do like Chris.”
Jenny drove slowly through the town while the girls talked about Heather’s love life. She reached Star’s house a few minutes later. Heather said goodbye and Jenny marched toward the police station. She had a bone to pick with Adam Hopkins.
Chapter 16
“What are you going to do about this John Smith?” Jenny asked Adam.
She had given him a detailed account of her trip to Cape Charles and their conversation with Victoria, the old inn keeper.
Adam looked thoughtful.
“As you say, this must be a fake name,” he finally admitted.
Jenny was surprised to see him agreeing with her.
“It could be real too though,” Adam added. “It’s a common name because many people have that name.”
“Forget about his name for a minute,” Jenny said, pulling at her necklace and rolling a four leaf clover between her fingers. “What was Jimmy Parsons doing with that wallet?”
“He must have found it on the beach,” Adam shrugged.
“Must have?” Jenny screamed. “Are you going to leave it at that?”
Adam’s gaze hardened as he looked at Jenny.
“We will take the appropriate action, Madam.”
“You are letting your personal feelings for the man cloud your judgment.”
“What do you mean?” Adam asked with a frown. “What feelings?”
“I know you’re part of a clique,” Jenny scoffed. “Your families came from that sinking ship and so you have some kind of unbreakable bond. Is that why you’re letting him run free?”
“Be very careful about what you say, Jenny,” Adam spit out. “Don’t go around making baseless accusations.”
“Why won’t you believe that Jimmy Parsons might have killed the guy?”
Adam balled his hands into a fist and banged it on the table.
“He has an alibi.”
He banged his fist on the table again when Jenny opened her mouth to argue.
“It’s iron clad, and I am not going to tell you what it is.”
Jenny stood up and stormed out of the police station without saying goodbye to Nora.
She spent the day banging pots in the kitchen. Petunia didn’t dare say anything to her. She was just glad Jenny wasn’t out serving the customers.
“If Jimmy Parsons is innocent, we are at a dead end,” Jenny exclaimed over dinner.
Star calmly cut a piece of oven baked barbecued chicken and looked at Jenny.
“Why are you so hung up on Jimmy being guilty?” she asked. “What’s he done to you?”
“I have nothing against him personally,” Jenny sighed. “But he’s the only unsavory person we have come across so far.”
“He’s harmless, Jenny.”
“He may be harmless, but I still don’t believe he is free of blame. How did he get his hands on that wallet, Star?”
“Forget about the wallet,” Star said. “Whoever murdered that guy is pretty clever. I’m beginning to think he got away with it.”
“He or she,” Jenny corrected her aunt. “And we can’t have that. I need to clear my mind and start from the top.”
Jenny walked around for what seemed like hours that night. She sat staring at the ocean, bathed in the lights from Seaview, reveling in the scent of the honeysuckle. She hadn’t run into Adam that night and she wondered what had kept him.
Jenny’s mood didn’t improve much the next day. She was in a funk, trying to find someone who may have been connected with the dead man.
“Give it some time,” Betty Sue Morse said sagely as she twirled strands of peach and white wool over her knitting needles. “You are thinking too hard.”
“We are missing something obvious, Betty Sue,” Jenny groaned. “But what is it?”
She pulled out the torn piece of paper from her bag and stared at it. It was a faded photograph, probably taken some time ago.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Jenny said suddenly, sitting up straight. “This is not a digital print. This looks like an old photo.”
“Show me that,” Heather said, extending her hand toward Jenny.
She peered at the photo for a while.
“I don’t know if this means anything,” she said u
ncertainly, “but this man looks a bit different from the picture Star drew.”
“Let me see,” Star said. “I know what it is,” she said, her face settling in a knowing expression. “The picture I drew shows an older man.”
“Does that matter?” Jenny asked.
“It means you are right about this photo, Jenny,” Star told her. “The man is much younger in this photo. So this must be old.”
“Now why was the man carrying around an old photo of himself?” Betty Sue said, pausing in mid-stitch.
She put her knitting on the table and held out her hand. Star passed the picture to her.
Betty Sue looked at the photo carefully and tapped her finger excitedly.
“Of course this is old,” she said. “Don’t you see?”
She handed the photo to Petunia.
“Tell me what you see here.”
Petunia looked bewildered. “It’s just a picture of a man, Betty Sue. What are you going on about? Just get to the point.”
“Don’t you see that Ferris wheel in the distance?” Betty Sue asked. “This photo was taken right here, in Pelican Cove.”
“How can you be sure?” Star asked, looking uncertain.
“Remember that year we had a Ferris wheel for the Summer Fest? Look at that picture closely, Star. I am sure this was taken right here, on our boardwalk.”
“The festival you mention was almost ten years ago,” Petunia said. “So this man was in town ten years ago too?”
“We just have to find out who was here at that time,” Jenny said.
“Don’t be so hasty, dear,” Betty Sue said. “Most people in Pelican Cove have been here for generations. You’re one of the few who just got here.”
“The Newburys were here ten years ago,” Star said, counting on her fingers. “Jimmy was here and so was I.”
“Is there someone who wasn’t here ten years ago?” Jenny asked. “We can strike them off as a suspect.”
“You are the only one, Jenny,” Heather said.
“I wasn’t here,” Molly said, pulling her head out of her book.
She had been quiet all this time.
“Neither were you, Heather. We were both living in the city at that time.”
“You’re wrong,” Heather said. “I spent two weeks here in the summer that year. I was home for the summer festival. I remember riding that Ferris wheel with Chris.”
“You were going out with Chris ten years ago too?” Jenny asked with a knowing smile.
“They have been together since they were knee high,” Betty Sue said proudly. “They need to take the plunge and move ahead before the Grim Reaper comes for me.”
“You’re not going anywhere yet, Grandma,” Heather said, hugging her grandmother.
Jenny tried to hide her impatience. She spotted a mop of red hair and wondered what the mailman was doing on the boardwalk. Kevin came into view, carrying his bag.
“Playing hooky, young man?” Betty Sue called out imperiously.
Kevin saluted them as he ran up the steps of the café.
“Howdy, ya’ll. It’s a fine spring day.”
“Isn’t it too cold for shorts?” Heather asked, trying not to stare at Kevin’s bare acne covered legs.
“High of 75 today,” he said. “I can’t wait to start wearing my summer uniform.”
“What can I get you, dear?” Petunia asked. “Muffin and coffee to go?”
“I’m on my lunch break,” Kevin told them. “I think I am going to sit here and have a bite to eat.”
“Have you tried Jenny’s strawberry chicken sandwich yet?” Heather asked him. “It’s delicious!”
“Here’s your photo, Jenny,” Heather said, handing it over. “I guess we’ve hit a wall again.”
“What’s that?” Kevin asked with interest.
“It’s a photo of the dead man,” Heather told him.
“Can I have a look?” he asked.
“Does he look familiar?” Jenny asked eagerly. “We figured out that he was here in town ten years ago. You might have come across him somewhere.”
Kevin took the photo from Heather’s hand.
“This was taken right here, on our boardwalk,” he nodded.
Betty Sue looked around triumphantly with a ‘told you so’ look in her eyes.
“Never seen this guy before,” Kevin said, giving the photo back to Jenny. “And I’ve been here all my life. I bet I would have seen him sometime.”
“Strangers are easy to spot in Pelican Cove,” Heather nodded.
“What a waste of time,” Molly said, rolling her eyes. “I’m heading back to work.”
“Have you noticed anything different about Molly?” Heather asked after she left. “She hardly participates in any discussion. Wonder what’s eating her.”
“That’s it,” Jenny said. “We need a girl’s night.”
“Movie, wine and pizza,” Heather nodded. “I’m all for it.”
“Wait till you taste my pear and prosciutto pizza,” Jenny said eagerly.
“You’re not cooking,” Heather said, shaking her head. “We’ll order a pie from Mama Rosa’s. It’s the best pizza in town.”
“I can vouch for that,” Kevin said, wolfing down his sandwich.
He waved goodbye to them after a while and left. Betty Sue and Heather headed back to the inn and Jenny went back to the kitchen. She was trying out a new lemon cake recipe that afternoon.
Petunia was sitting at the kitchen table with a frown on her face.
“Something doesn’t add up,” she said to Jenny. “I am thinking back to the year of the summer festival, the year we had that Ferris wheel.”
“What about it, Petunia?”
“Something’s nagging me about it but I can’t remember what.”
“Is it important?” Jenny asked.
“I don’t know,” Petunia said, shaking her head. “But it’s like an itch that won’t go away.”
“Stop thinking about it,” Jenny consoled as she added the dry ingredients for her cake to a sieve. “It will come to you.”
Jenny frosted some cupcakes and put them in the glass case out front. The café door opened and Adam Hopkins came in. He was leaning heavily on his cane and Jenny wondered if he was in more pain than usual.
“What can I get you?” she asked with a smile.
“How about that cupcake?” he winced. “And some coffee.”
“You got it,” Jenny said, adding cream and sugar to his coffee. “You know, I can run this over to the police station if we are not too busy. You just have to call us and place an order.”
“You think I can’t walk here on my own?” Adam growled.
“I didn’t say that!” Jenny shot back. “You’re in a nice mood.”
Petunia had heard the whole exchange. She rushed to explain.
“You know we deliver food in the season, Sheriff,” she said primly. “We’ll have more help once the kids line up for a job.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, sounding anything but.
“We just found out something about that man,” Jenny said. “But I don’t think I want to talk to you in this mood.”
“Stop acting like a child, Jenny,” Adam snapped. “If you have any information pertaining to a crime, you are obligated to report it to the police.”
Jenny didn’t like Adam’s tone but she realized he was right. She leaned forward and spoke under her breath.
“He was here ten years ago.”
“Who?” Adam asked, taking a big sip of his coffee.
Jenny pulled the picture out of her bag and showed it to Adam.
“That’s the Ferris wheel from the summer festival,” Adam said immediately. “The twins threw up all over my shirt after they rode on it.”
“Do you not see the man in the picture?” Jenny asked, rolling her eyes.
“Where did you get this?” Adam asked urgently. “It belongs in evidence.”
“It fell out of Jimmy Parson’s wallet,” Jenny said grimly. “Do you reme
mber I told you about it? You weren’t too interested.”
“You didn’t say anything about this picture, Jenny,” Adam said, snatching it out of her hand. “How many people have touched this?”
“All of us,” Jenny said reluctantly.
“You have been tampering with evidence. I thought you knew better than that.”
“Don’t lose sight of the bigger picture, Adam,” Jenny shot back. “What was this man doing in Pelican Cove ten years ago?”
Chapter 17
Jenny’s cranky mood persisted for a few days. Even Star and Petunia were afraid to talk to her.
“We are coming over tonight,” Heather told her during their break one morning. “Pull out your favorite DVDs and get ready for some girl time.”
“I saw a recipe for a homemade face mask,” Molly said eagerly. “It’s made with avocadoes and turmeric.”
“We’ll have a spa night!” Heather exclaimed. “You need to put your feet up and relax, Jenny.”
Jenny finally cracked a smile.
“I have a foot spa I have never used…it has jets and everything. And a basket of foot care products my son Nick got me for Christmas.”
“Why don’t you come over to the inn, Star?” Betty Sue asked. “We can have our own soiree away from the kids.”
Big plans were made and all the ladies went around with smiles on their faces. The night was declared a success.
Jenny had a spring in her step as she walked to the Boardwalk Café the next morning. She admired her freshly painted nails and grinned from ear to ear. The girls had given each other foot massages and the avocado face mask had worked wonders. The girls had devoured a large 20 inch pizza from Mama Rosa’s and Jenny had admitted it was the best pizza she had tasted in a while.
“We need to finalize our menu for the Spring Fest,” Petunia said as she started the first pot of coffee. “We will need to order in the supplies and start prepping.”
“Chicken salad sandwiches, orange strawberry cupcakes and bow tie pasta salad,” Jenny declared. “What do you think?”
“Isn’t that a lot?” Petunia asked.
“The salads can be made the day before, so can the frosting,” Jenny said confidently. “Don’t worry, I can handle it. My aunt will offer to help.”