Cryptic Cove Cozy Mystery Box Set

by K P Stafford

  I gave Jake a half smile, glad he saw it for himself, but worry filled me about Peyton. "I'm afraid he's one of those guys that will charm you until he gets in your life and then wants to control you. I know Peyton doesn't have a lot of money or anything, but she does have a nice little nest egg and a good business that will sustain her for the rest of her life. I just hope he's not after that."

  "Me too," Jake said as he reached over and took my hand. "I still think you should try to stay out of it, but I understand why you've been trying to talk to her about it."

  "It's really not a good time to be stirring up strife with her either, with this murder investigation and everything going on. I don't want to add to her worries and frustration."

  Jake smiled, "You're a good, caring friend. Let's figure out who killed Will so you can move your focus to helping Peyton."

  As bad as the evening had made me feel about my best friend, Jake always had a way to make me feel better. As soon as this killer was found and put away, I had two relationships to work on, the one with my best friend and the one I wanted to last a lifetime with Jake Donovan. I wasn't going to let this guy get away. It was time we started considering our future together. I felt butterflies flipping around in my stomach. Having a committed relationship was a big deal and while part of me wasn't ready for that, the other part was. I didn't want to risk what Peyton was going through with a shaky relationship.

  CHAPTER 13

  Jake walked me to the door of Grams' house like he always did. He stood in front of me holding both my hands, just staring into my eyes. He bent slightly to give me a soft kiss on the lips. I looked up at him, "Do you want to come in for a little while?"

  He looked at his watch. "Our date night was cut short and a cup of tea sounds nice if you're offering."

  I giggled, "How about some of Grams' cookies too?"

  His infectious smile spread across his face. "You know, if I can't get you to marry me, I think I'm going to ask your Grams." He said as he winked at me.

  Was that a proposal or was he thinking out loud? "She's been single for a long time, she might not agree to a marriage at this stage of her life." I said as I pulled him inside the doorway, "Besides, I'm not sure she has time for marriage or a relationship for that matter."

  Jake let out a grunt sound, "You might want to tell John that."

  I stopped dead in my tracks and whirled around to face Jake. We were still in the entry so I whispered, "What are you talking about?"

  "You don't see it, do you? Just like you don't see Charlie pining away for Peyton."

  I shook my head. How was I missing all of this emotional stuff and Jake was seeing it. Maybe he had special radar and could read people's feelings better than I could. "And how do you know these things? I'm not seeing it."

  He led me into the kitchen, "I have a few more investigative instincts than you do?"

  "You work with insurance fraud," I said with a hint of sarcasm before adding, "But maybe you should consider being sheriff or something."

  He laughed, "Yeah, you'd be surprised how many couples try to run scams, and how many pretend to be a happy couple."

  "Well, you didn't notice what I did about Mark and Peyton until tonight," I said as I stuck my tongue out at the back of his head.

  He turned like he knew I'd stuck my tongue out and stared at me with a sly grin, "I haven't been around them in a while, remember?"

  "Yeah, you have a point there. So," I paused, "What about being sheriff? You could give me inside information."

  He smacked me on the butt and guided me towards the tea cabinet. "There's no way I'd give you leads. I'd spend my entire time chasing you down and keeping you out of trouble instead of chasing bad guys."

  I glanced over my shoulder at him and this time, I stuck my tongue out to his face.

  "See, you're already starting trouble."

  After nibbling on a couple of cookies, I looked at Jake, "I found something kind of disturbing while I was researching," I turned my head to look at the door to the kitchen to make sure no one was standing there. My aunt and grandmother were probably fast asleep, but I didn't want either of them to know I'd been snooping around or that Will had a file on Charlie. Turning back to Jake I said, "I can't find any record of Charlie's birth."

  A puzzled look crossed Jake's face, "Why are you looking into that?"

  "Because Will had a file on him, remember?" Jake shook his head so she continued, "I thought I'd just look into his whole life and see what I found. People have known about him most of his life, but until a year or so ago, no one ever really laid eyes on him and there's no record that he exists."

  Jake leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. "Well, that's weird, but it's not all that strange. A lot of people, especially in rural areas like Cryptic Cove was years ago, didn't go to a hospital to have babies. It's likely he was born at home."

  I cocked my head to the side, "You're probably right, but why wouldn't they go to a doctor and get a certificate of birth?"

  Jake shrugged his shoulders, "Some people hate anything to do with doctors. There's a lot of people who have no birth or death records. It's hard to believe in the twenty-first century, but some families don't let go of their old ways."

  Jake noticed I became fidgety. He reached across the table and took both my hands so I'd stop tearing my napkin to pieces, "What else is bothering you?"

  I let out a long sigh, "The sheriff has a lot of questions about Charlie. I think he's a suspect and when they discover he doesn't legally exist, I'm afraid they'll go after him hard and heavy. I don't think Charlie needs that right now."

  Jake squeezed my hands, "I'll talk to him in the morning. I probably shouldn't because that's interfering, but he needs to be prepared and it's best it comes from a trusted friend."

  Jake was right, it would be interfering, but we'd grown to like and trust Charlie. That's not supposed to matter in investigating a murder, but Charlie was just now getting out into the world. A blow like this could cause a major setback in his life, just like it would if my aunt was hit with something major right now.

  After Jake left I still couldn't sleep, too much was going through my mind. I fixed myself a cup of chamomile tea and headed out to the back patio. Staring at the night sky across the ocean always helped relax my mind. I found my Aunt Agatha sitting out there doing the same thing. I hated to disturb her, but it was a good time to ask her some questions that had been weighing on my mind, not only in regard to Charlie but on how to deal with what Peyton may be going through at the moment.

  She turned as I stepped up beside her and took my hand as I bent and kissed the top of her head, "You're up late," I said as I sat in the chair next to her."

  "I've developed a bit of insomnia since being back home. And I try to enjoy seeing the moon every night the skies are clear. I missed so much living," she paused, "being held in that one room. It's nice to enjoy nature again."

  "How are you adjusting, is everything okay?"

  "I still have days I want to crawl in a hole and hide away from the world, but it's slowly getting better. I'm still not ready to be around too many people at one time." She let out a sigh, "The party Velda threw for me last week was almost overwhelming, and then with the death of..." Her voice trailed off as a tear trickled down her cheek. She wiped it away and put on a soft smile, "Well, you know. But talking to people in small groups has helped. Charlie is helping too. He's so young and full of life."

  "Yes, he is. I can't imagine how either of you lived before six months ago. I'm glad he's here to help you." I stopped talking, trying to think of how to word my next question without offending her.

  Agatha turned to look at me, amusement in her eyes, "You want to know if feelings are developing between us?"

  I felt my face contort, did she have that freaky mind reading thing that Grams seemed to have, or was I really thinking too loud? "Well, no not really, but since I've been working for John I find myself wanting to investigate everything."

&n
bsp; She giggled as she reached out and touched my hand, "It's fine. I'm not quite as fragile as everyone thinks I am. Although, I suppose I'm acting fragile." She leaned forward and stared across the sea. By the look on her face, I could tell her mind was working. The silence crept up to an uncomfortable level just as she spoke again. "I had a baby."

  I felt my jaw drop but tried not to act like a completely shocked idiot.

  "I don't know when it was since I was never allowed to have a calendar, but I guess he'd be close to your age now. It wasn't long after Orvel kidnapped me. I'd tried to mark the days in the beginning. It was several months before I opened up to him, and more or less accepted my fate. We started 'dating' as I called it. We had an informal marriage ceremony and finally made love."

  I couldn't imagine ever wanting to marry someone who had kidnapped me, much less make love to the person, but I'd read up on what they call the Stockholm Syndrome where people become attached to their captors. I wanted to let her finish telling the story in her own time but I was dying to ask questions.

  She continued, "I guess it was close to two years after he had taken me that I gave birth to a little boy. He was so beautiful. I loved him instantly." Tears began to slowly form in her eyes and slide down her cheeks.

  "What happened to him?"

  "Orvel took him to have him checked out and get him cleaned up. It was a long time before he returned to my room. When he came in I expected him to be carrying our son, but his hands were empty. I asked him where Daniel was. I had already chosen the name, Daniel. Orvel shook his head and told me the child did not make it. There were some complications or something. It was all a blur to me."

  I reached out and took her hand, tears were streaming down my face too. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

  "I haven't told anyone yet, not even Velda. I haven't been ready to talk about it until now. Anyway, it's kind of silly, but I imagine my son would be like Charlie. Handsome, sweet and very intelligent."

  I smiled, " I can understand that."

  "From what he remembers of his mother, she wasn't very young when he was born but when Charlie came along she just doted all over him and tried to give him as much knowledge as she could."

  "He's never talked to me about her."

  "He's still struggling, with opening up to people, like I am. I know the town's people think it's odd, but we've both been through a lot and been very sheltered. It's actually natural that we'd find comfort in sharing things with each other that we can't share with other people. Or aren't ready to share with other people."

  "Why are you sharing this with me now?"

  "Because I can see that there's things you need to understand. I know your friend Peyton is starting a new relationship with someone from her past and," she gathered her words carefully, "she's not acting like she did before. I think it's very confusing for her, and for you."

  "He seems to be taking control of her life. That scares me."

  "I know and maybe you're scared for good reason."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Orvel kidnapped me and did control my environment and everything, but he was never mean or ugly about it. He truly loved me. In fact, he treated me like a queen. As hard as that is to imagine, he did. He was very sweet and catered to me. He didn't suppress my personality or try to force me into things. From what I've heard, Peyton is very much being suppressed. I don't know if he's doing it or if she's allowing him to do it, but she's not the same young woman I met when you first found me in the basement."

  "You can see it too."

  "Yes, I can." She patted my hand, "You stay true to her. She may need a friend before this is all over with."

  I headed to bed around two in the morning. My aunt had given me a lot of insight. For someone who'd been held prisoner for so long, she was very knowledgeable about so many things, much like Charlie. I could see how they'd develop a friendship.

  CHAPTER 14

  I couldn't shake these feelings about Charlie. The cops suspected him in Will's death because he'd been seen talking to Will that night, but my gut feeling was more about his past. I decided I'd speak to Mr. Spidey first to find out why there was no record of his birth. Jake was going to talk to Charlie, but I wanted to see if we'd get the same story from both father and son. I guess I've become very untrusting of people. Of course, in the law field, that's natural. That's one of the reasons I always enjoyed bouncing ideas off Peyton, she has a trusting nature and often saw things I didn't. A tugging at my heart seeped into my chest. I took in a deep breath and shook it off. I would worry about the issue with her later, right now we needed to get some solid answers so we could figure out who killed Will and why.

  Spidey didn't like cops. He wasn't an outlaw or anything like that, he just preferred to mind his own business. I never found out exactly why he didn't trust cops. He was around the age of seventy now and sometimes dislike of people sticks with you for a lifetime. Every now and then he'd let me in on a little gossip of what he saw around town. He was a general Mr. Fixit and had been his whole life. He cleaned offices, mowed grass, did odd repair jobs for Peyton at Cove's Peak, for Grams at Crystal Scents and other shops around town. Most of the townspeople liked him, although they all admitted he was a bit strange and could be a cranky old buzzard. He wasn't much for idle chit chat. Grams said as long as you told him what to fix and left him alone, he was a nice guy. He only became rude if you wanted to have a friendly chat with him. The bits of gossip he shared was normally in the form of a complaint. I'd learned if I could get him riled about something or someone, he'd start complaining and I'd glean information from it. It was sneaky, but it worked.

  I found Spidey in the diner during his lunch break. As I walked in the door and spotted him, I noticed a rather foul look on his face. The new waitress did her best to make small talk with him as I walked up to his table. His voice rose as he told her to bring him his food and stop talking to him. She turned and almost ran over me. Tears could burst from her eyes any minute now. I asked her to bring me a cup of coffee and then I plopped down across from the grumpy old man. He eyed me like a hawk, "I didn't ask for company," he barked at me.

  I sat my purse down beside me in the booth and looked at him, "Well, good thing for you I'm not company, this is official business."

  "What kinda official business you got with me, missy?"

  The waitress walked over with my cup of coffee and sat it on the table. I took a sip before returning my gaze to Spidey, "I'm not going to lie to you. The sheriff has reason to suspect Charlie in the death of Will Hunter. They'll be looking into his whole life and asking him a bunch of questions. They may even question you."

  Mr. Spidey ran his hand through what little hair he had left, "That boy didn't hurt nobody. I raised him better than that. He's a good kid. Him and Will were friends."

  "I know, Mr. Spidey, I just wanted to give you a heads-up. You know how the sheriff can be when he gets a suspicion stuck in his head."

  He looked around the diner before he leaned in over the table. He spoke, barely above a whisper, "I appreciate it. I have an idea of who mighta done this. I'll need to speak to Charlie first, so come by the old factory this afternoon. I'll be there doing some work. We can talk then."

  They'd been renovating the old shellfish factory down in the old side of town. I wasn't sure what they had planned for it, but Spidey was always hired to clean up places like that. There was some debris and old crates he'd been hired to haul away. I'd seen him pass the office several times taking the stuff to his house. He would use the wood for various projects. His last trip had taken a lot longer than I expected. It was close to time to leave the office when he passed by heading back towards the old factory. I checked my watch noting it was a quarter to five. It'd been well over an hour since he passed by the last time. His previous trips had only taken about half an hour. I figured by this time of day he probably grabbed another cup of coffee for a little boost to finish out the day. I started putting files away and shutting my computer do
wn so I could get out there to speak with him as soon as I left the office.

  I arrived at the factory right around ten after five. I spotted his old truck and noticed he'd left the driver's side door open. I pulled up beside him on the passenger side of his vehicle. As I got out of my car I glanced into the seat of his truck. It looked like he had piled a bunch of clothes in the seat. Odd, I thought to myself. I glanced over again to take a better look, mostly to be nosey. You can tell a lot by a person by how clean they keep their car. The pile of clothes moved and I realized it was Spidey. I tried the passenger door, but it had a big dent in it close to the truck's hood and it wouldn't come open. I ran around to his driver door. He was laying over in the seat, his head covered in blood. He'd been severely beaten and left for dead. I pulled my cell phone out and dialed nine-one-one as fast as I could. He was still breathing, but he was in bad shape. Within five minutes I heard sirens and spotted the ambulance. Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I looked up to see Charlie coming around the building. As soon as he saw the ambulance he looked towards Spidey's truck and came running over.

  As soon as they had Spidey loaded up into the ambulance, Charlie climbed into the back. I noticed one of the paramedics handed him a shirt to put on because he wasn't wearing one. I hadn't taken the time to look and I shouldn't have noticed, but he had a nice physique on him. I scolded myself for even thinking such a thing as I got in my car to follow them to the hospital. I ran the earlier conversation over in my head. Spidey had information he was going to give me. Did that information have something to do with his current condition? I tried to remember who might have a grudge against him. He said he had to speak to Charlie first. Surely Charlie couldn't have done this, could he? Spidey was his father. My heart pounded in my chest. If Charlie did have something to do with Will's death, he might attack his father to keep the truth from coming out when Spidey had that talk with him that he mentioned earlier. I ran the events over in my head. Charlie wasn't wearing a shirt. Where was his shirt? Did it get covered in blood from beating his father? I'd have to tell the sheriff about it and maybe even question him about it myself. I pulled into the hospital parking lot and killed the car's engine. I took a few notes even though I was ready to get inside and see what was going on with Mr. Spidey's condition. It was going to be a long night.