Dangerous Curves Boxed Set 1: 3 Cozy Christian Mysteries

by K L Montgomery

  “Yeah, let’s go. I’m starving!” Evangeline dug through her purse for her keys. “See you guys there.”

  We all went to our respective cars and climbed in. My red Mazda CX-3 carried me down the main street of town and then down Mulberry until I arrived at the marina. I hadn’t spent much time here in all my years of living at Bryce Beach, but with so many townsfolk raving about this restaurant, I had a feeling that was about to change. My parents came here for their anniversary last week, and I’d heard some ladies gushing about it at church the other day as well.

  I parked, stepped out of my car, and smoothed down my navy blue skirt that was billowing up in the wind. Just what I needed to do was flash all the fishermen coming in to dock after a day out on the water. After looking around and not seeing any of my colleagues’ cars, I assumed I must have beaten them there.

  I waited on a bench in front of the restaurant. Was I driving fast? How did I beat everyone?

  My thoughts were interrupted by two suit-clad businessmen walking down the front steps and heading into the parking lot. I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, but they were talking so loudly, I couldn’t exactly turn off my ears. That’s not the way ears work.

  The shorter man, who was bald and looked to be in his mid-fifties with a salt-and-pepper goatee and thick black brows, grabbed the other guy by the arm. “I’m so glad we were able to work this deal out.”

  The taller man, who was a decade or more younger, had a head full of thick, dark brown hair. I couldn’t help but notice he was incredibly handsome as he stopped and patted his companion on the back. “I knew we’d come to an agreement, Bob. There’s a lot of money to be made, after all, and why not make it lucrative for both of us?”

  They were stopped only three or four feet in front of me, apparently not caring if I overheard their conversation. And my ears still hadn’t magically turned themselves off, so I kept listening. It was a good way to pass the time while I waited for my friends, who apparently drove like they were eighty. Either that or they hit both red lights between the library and here.

  “Exactly,” the older man agreed. “And I have a feeling the fishing is going to be mighty fine this summer!” Then he winked, and the younger man laughed.

  As they started to walk toward their cars again, I spotted my friends heading toward me from the parking lot. It’s about time! I had to admit, though, I was still replaying the conversation between the two businessmen in my head. I wondered what kind of deal they’d made? Something to do with fish?

  “Oh my gosh, do you know who that was?” Molly gasped as they made it to the bench.

  I stood up to greet them. “Who? Those two guys?”

  “Yeah!” She leaned in and whispered as though she was afraid they could hear her, even though they were clear across the lot by now. “That taller man is the mayor’s son!”

  “Mayor Steyer?” I repeated.

  “Yes,” Molly said, nearly swooning. “From the mayor’s first marriage… I haven’t seen him in years, but I’d recognize him anywhere.”

  Oh, right. I had forgotten that Camille Steyer, the chair of our Friends of the Library committee, was the mayor’s second wife.

  “Didn’t he move away in elementary school?” Evangeline asked.

  “He’s back now apparently.” Molly shrugged. “I know that was him. He’s cute, isn’t he?”

  Jada was still looking off in that direction. “For an older guy, he’s totally hot!” She looked as though she needed a cold shower at this point.

  “Who was the other guy?” I asked Molly, who seemed to be a fount of information. Why didn’t I know that was the mayor’s son?

  “I have no clue. Never seen him before.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

  “His name is Bob, apparently,” I remembered from the conversation. “They were talking about some business deal. Something about how the fishing would be ‘mighty fine’ this summer.”

  “Hey, I’m still starving, you guys. And as your boss—”

  “Interim boss,” I interjected.

  Evangeline shot me a scowl before continuing, “As your boss, I suggest we get going. We have a reservation, right? Aren’t we running late?”

  I glanced down at my watch. “Oh, fudgesicles! Yeah, we gotta go, ladies.”

  We rushed up the steps and headed to the hostess station inside the restaurant after passing through the wide veranda. The restaurant was built as an addition to the main marina building, but it was designed to look like an old Victorian house with intricately carved woodwork painted in bright colors—pinks and greens. It was charming, and the smells wafting out from the kitchen made my stomach rumble.

  The hostess was a young woman with her dark hair piled on top of her head, wearing a crisp white shirt and a black pencil skirt. She smiled, collected four menus and ushered us out to the back deck, which overlooked the water. It was a beautiful June evening, not too hot and not too humid. Really, the best weather you could ask for in the summer.

  As we took our seats next to the deck railing, I saw a blue heron swoop down to the marshy area at the far edge of the marina. In the distance, the Bryce Beach lighthouse towered over the other end of the cove, guarding the beach. Our small town was anchored on both ends by land that jutted out into the Atlantic Ocean. On one end was the lighthouse, and on the other, the marina. It was about as quaint and cozy as a town could be, and I felt lucky to call it home.

  “So…Molly has some big news,” I shared as soon as we got settled in.

  “Oh, let’s order first,” Evangeline insisted. “Otherwise I’m going to harpoon that heron down there and see if it tastes like chicken.”

  Molly rolled her eyes. “Gross. I can wait. It’s not that big of a deal!”

  The server, a young man with red hair and copious freckles—so, basically, one of my People, appeared just moments later with his notepad ready to record our selections. After he walked away, shaking his head because Jada asked him approximately three million questions about how the fish was prepared, all eyes turned back to Molly.

  She laced her fingers together and brought them in front of her as she surveyed our anxious expressions. “Well… I’m adding a new member to my family,” she announced, her smile so bright, it competed with the sun.

  “Oh my gosh, you’re having a baby?” I shrieked. How in the world did she keep this from me?

  Her nose screwed up as her eyes narrowed. “What?! No! Not a baby.” She chuckled, her hand flying to her chest as she realized the hilarity of my misperception. “A puppy, Sunshine. I’m getting a puppy!”

  “Oooohhhhhhh…” I looked around the table and saw that everyone was smiling and happy for our friend. “That’s great. What kind of puppy?”

  “He’s a golden retriever mix,” she said. “A rescue. I pick him up from the foster family tomorrow.”

  “Awww!” Jada cooed. “I bet he’s adorable. Do you have a picture?”

  Molly whipped out her phone and scrolled to a photo of a small puppy with long, fluffy gold fur and sweet brown eyes. “I’m going to name him Murphy.”

  My friends continued to fawn over the photos of Murphy, but my attention was rapt on something happening far across the cove. Near the lighthouse, I saw a large Coast Guard boat drifting alongside a fishing boat. Hmmm, someone’s in trouble.

  Despite growing up near the Atlantic, I hadn’t spent a lot of time on or around boats. Not that I didn’t have any interest, it just wasn’t something I had much experience with. When I was in junior high, I had a two- or three-year stint when I wanted to be a marine biologist. I was pretty sure every kid went through that, but I was serious about it at the time. My parents bought an annual pass to the aquarium, hoping to foster my interest. But then I got older and decided I was much too interested in books to abandon them for dolphins and whales.

  Being here at the marina sparked that curiosity inside me again. I’d always wanted to scuba dive, to swim with dolphins, to explore an old shipwreck. I’m t
oo old for that nonsense now, I decided. I probably couldn’t even squeeze this big body into a wetsuit! I laughed to myself.

  “What’s so funny, Sunshine?” Molly turned toward me. The server had just returned with a huge round tray holding our salads.

  “Oh, nothing. Just remembering something funny from when I was a kid.” I stared wistfully back out at the sea, still wondering what was happening on that Coast Guard boat.

  Mystery at the Marina - 2

  Saturday, it rained all day, but Sunday dawned bright, and I went to church as usual. Molly pulled in right behind me in the parking lot. As soon as she stepped out of the car, I knew something was wrong. She had dark purple circles under her eyes, and her usually glowing alabaster skin looked dull.

  “What’s going on?” I adjusted my sunglasses on top of my head to make sure they weren’t obscuring my perception. Nope, she looked even worse once I took them off.

  “The puppy,” she practically growled. “He kept me up all night…”

  “Oh no!” I thought back to the adorable photos she’d shown of her new golden retriever mix puppy at the foster family’s house. He certainly didn’t look capable of causing anyone harm. “Are you okay? Where is he?”

  She scrubbed her hands down her face. “He’s in his crate at my house. Let’s go inside. It’s too…sunshiney out here. No offense.”

  At least she hadn’t lost her sense of humor—she was still perfectly capable of making a wisecrack about my name. I gestured toward the church building, and we crossed the parking lot to the front steps. Our interim minister, Pastor Bethany, was right inside the door waiting to greet us. I wondered if the church elders were any closer to making a decision about making him permanent, or if he would turn into Ryan the Temp from The Office, and someday just take over the whole church.

  “Good morning, you ladies are looking lovely today! It’s great to see you!” Speaking of sunshine, his face looked like a beam of solar energy had been projected right onto it.

  “Hi, Pastor Bethany.” I extended my hand to shake his and found his grip comparable to a wet noodle, limp and clammy.

  He ignored me, instead focusing on my friend. “Is everything alright?” he asked Molly.

  “Can you pray for her?” I answered for Molly when she flashed the pastor a nervous smile. “She got a new puppy, and it sounds like he’s a handful.”

  “Well, of course!” He grinned. “God loves all creatures great and small!”

  I thought that was a strange and somewhat flippant response to Molly’s dilemma, but I was more interested in getting her inside the sanctuary and to our pew. She often sat with my family if her sister and brother-in-law didn’t come—they were only sporadic attenders.

  Molly sucked in a deep breath as I pulled her through the sanctuary doors and guided her to our pew. “He’s so dreamy…” she sighed as she took a seat next to my sister-in-law, Izzy.

  “Who’s dreamy?” Izzy turned toward us, a curious look on her face.

  “Pastor Bethany,” Molly sighed again.

  I thought he was a nice man and seemed to be a competent minister, but “dreamy” would never come to mind if I were looking for words to describe him. So Molly had a little crush on the new minister. That was sweet. Maybe she was too tired to keep that little nugget of info to herself. I’d try not to tease her too much about it.

  I was getting ready to speak again when I felt pressure on my shoulder. I looked up to see Mrs. James, Chief James’s mother, with her tiny, veiny hand on me. “Hi, Miss Baker. It’s great to see you this morning!” she sang in her smooth, melodic voice that defied her age.

  “It’s great to see you too, Mrs. James!” When I stood up, I found myself looming above her, marveling at how she was nearly half my size, both in height and width. How someone so itty-bitty could give birth to a man of Vincent James’s giant stature was truly a miracle. He obviously got his size from his father.

  And speaking of her son… My brows furrowed as I looked behind her to find the chief of Bryce Beach Police looking like he was absolutely mortified that his mother was speaking to me. “Hi, Ms. Baker,” he said, forcing his lips into a smile.

  “Good morning, Chief James.” We’d had a little quibble about whether or not we were on a first-name basis back when we…uh…collaborated? Not sure if that was the right word for the Bryce Beach Bandit case. Guess we’re sticking with formalities—even after all we’ve been through together.

  He nodded as he waited for his mother to sit down before taking a seat himself. Then he turned to face the front of the sanctuary.

  “What happened with Murphy?” I changed the subject back to the little canine tyrant who had apparently cost my best friend her beauty sleep.

  “He’s just…” She shook her head and sighed. “He’s adorable, but he just wants attention all the time. And he doesn’t understand the go potty outside thing yet at all…”

  “Cats are so easy.” I knew that observation didn’t help my friend, but her woes only made me appreciate the relative ease of taking care of Bond and Paige Turner, my two cats.

  “Yeah…” She pursed her lips and focused her gaze on the front of the church, where the service was about to get underway. The choir had assembled on the risers, with the music director poised to lead their performance. “I hope I don’t regret getting him.”

  “It’ll get easier,” I promised her. My brother River and his family had a dog, a big English sheepdog. They’d had a bear of a time getting the poor girl housebroken, but now she was perfect—though she was roughly the size of a bear. “Hey, do you want to take him for a walk this afternoon?”

  Her face brightened for the first time since I first saw her in the parking lot. “Really? You’d come with me?”

  “Yeah, maybe we can take him down to the beach. You’ve got a leash for him, right?”

  “Yes! Let’s meet at Lighthouse Park after lunch.” She sounded thrilled with my suggestion, like it was the best news she’d heard since we’d recovered the library gala donations last month.

  I patted her knee and smiled. “Sounds like a plan!”

  The afternoon weather was glorious as I parked my Mazda and stepped out, the warm June breeze rustling my auburn curls. I adjusted my sunglasses and straightened the flouncy three-tiered shirt I was wearing over denim capri pants. Molly whipped her little SUV into the space next to me, and I spotted a tiny puppy in the backseat. My heart immediately melted.

  I watched her open the door and scoop him up after he came to the edge of the seat and stared down at the pavement, too afraid to make the leap. “Oh my gosh! Why does he have to be so cute?”

  “I know, right? It’s hard to get mad at him when he’s so freaking adorable.” She shook her head as she set him down in the grass next to the parking lot. He began to tug on the leash, jerking her forward. “And he’s so strong for the whopping fifteen pounds he weighs!”

  “Let’s take him down by the water. Retrievers love water, right?” I didn’t know how I knew that, having never owned a dog or studied dog breeds, but I did. Sometimes librarians just know things. We don’t know how, but we do. It’s one heck of a job perk.

  “They’re supposed to.” She tried to guide the tiny fuzzball down the path between the thick, scrubby bushes that grew at the edge of the parking lot, but he was insistent on sniffing every square inch.

  We finally coaxed the little guy down the path, onto the sand, which he was very unsure of at first. That little nose went wild, though, checking out the myriad odors that belonged to the sand, water and just nature in general.

  “So, what did you think of Jada’s news?” Molly asked as we made our way toward the surf. Murphy ran into the receding water and then right back out again when another wave rolled toward shore.

  “Oh, that she’s dating Carlton Boxbury?” I had almost forgotten, that was how much I thought I’d put into it.

  “Yeah,” Molly continued, trying to guide Murphy away from a dead fish that had washed up on shore. �
��Eww, no, Murphy!”

  I had to laugh. “They sure like all the gross stuff, don’t they?”

  “Ugh, I know. He was trying to sniff his own poop last night.” She rolled her eyes. “Do you know anything about Carlton’s family?”

  I shrugged. “Not really. I mean, they’re not from Bryce Beach, so...” I kept my circle small. Very small. Like it was barely big enough to be classified as a circle. More like a dot.

  The Boxburys lived in Moon Point, a community down the coast, south of our town. The Boxburys ran a massive seafood distribution center that served most of the Mid-Atlantic. And they were one of the wealthiest families in the area; I knew that much. There were rumors that Willa Bryce Monroe, the matriarch of Bryce Beach, had a brief affair with the original Carlton Boxbury back when her husband was still alive. That Carlton Boxbury was retired now. His son, Carlton Boxbury II ran the company now. And his grandson, Carlton Boxbury III, was the one dating our colleague Jada Booker.

  “Oh, I know, but his family has been around a long time. And they have connections to Bryce Beach…”

  I knew by that she was referring to Mrs. Monroe, the wealthy widow who was highly revered in our town. She traced her lineage to Nathaniel Bryce, who founded the town back in the mid-1600s when he and some other folks looking for religious freedom sailed from England to the New World. They were headed to the Massachusetts colony, but were blown off-course by a massive storm, only to be shipwrecked off the coast of Bryce Beach instead.

  I was still trying to figure out why Molly was so interested in Jada’s love life when my friend let out a shrill shriek. When I glanced up, I saw what startled her.

  Several yards away from the dead fish she’d tugged Murphy away from was a whole lot of them, their dull-scaled, decaying carcasses strewn across the sand. My hand flew to my mouth. “Oh my gosh. What happened to them?”

  Molly plugged her nose with one hand and pulled Murphy away from them with the other. He was very interested in learning more about them, stubbornly tugging her back toward the nearest fish. “I’ve never smelled anything worse than that.”