Walking into the kitchen, Megan caught Paul and Lucy sharing a warm kiss and she couldn’t help but tease them as she smiled at their obvious love for each other.
“You know you could have kept that kind of action in your room. Lucy, that coffee smells like heaven. Can you move enough for me to get to the coffeemaker?”
Laughing. the two of them pulled apart and wished Megan good morning. Rather than moving, Paul reached up into the cabinet and pulled out the coffee mug that Megan always used. The picture of a stressed out woman with the caption “I don’t do mornings” was perfect for her and he knew it. Filling the cup with coffee and adding a spoonful of sugar, Paul handed it to her with a grin.
“Why don’t we head out in about twenty minutes?” he asked, “That should give you enough time to drink this and grab some toast or a bagel. I’m going to make a call in my office and then I’ll be ready to.”
“That works for me. I can make calls while you drive. Has there been any word on what is going on at the Bloomquest site?”
“Not really, though Sheriff Green did have someone call and ask that you get there as soon as you got up and ready. He didn’t want to give me any information, but I could hear a lot of activity in the background. There hasn’t been anything on the morning newscast either. Paul, go take care of that call, and I’ll get some food in Megan. You don’t need to listen to everything we talk about. Grab a chair, Meg; I’ve got your favorite breakfast ready.”
Lucy winked at Megan and waited until Paul left the kitchen before reaching into the refrigerator and pulling out a plate full of chocolate brownies. Megan grinned back at her: only a best friend knew when you really needed to be fortified with caffeine and chocolate to get you through a tough morning.
“Obviously, Paul didn’t know you had these stashed. Otherwise, there would be a lot less on that plate. Thanks,
Lucy, you’re the best.”
“You got that right.”
Raising their brownies in the air, the girls toasted each other in silent mischief. They knew the brownies would quickly vanish when Paul found them, but in the mean time they had a plate full to themselves.
“Is there anything I can do to help you out today, Megan? You are going to be tied up at Carol’s home for at least the morning, will this mess up any plans you had?”
“Actually, since its Saturday, I’m pretty flexible today. I’m going to have to call a staff meeting for today, and I still have to get in touch with Carol. You know since I’m pulling everyone in, would you mind rounding up some food for lunch. Subs, chips, and salad are fine. There is plenty to drink at the office. Oh, can you overnight a cellphone to Carol for me? I will feed the animals when I get there.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m dying to go see those new kittens. I’m trying to convince that husband of mine that we need to offer a couple of them a home. I can walk the dogs and feed them all. Then I’ll make sure lunch is taken care of and mail out the phone. I’ll do just about anything to get out of doing that pile of laundry waiting for me.”
“Well, since you put it that way, I’ll take the help and be glad for it. “ Megan smiled her thanks to Lucy and finished off her brownie. She was drinking her cup of coffee when Paul walked back into the room, saw the plate of goodies and grinned as he grabbed a few to go.
“Holding out on me are you? Guess I’d better take a few extra to catch up with you two. I’m ready if you are, Megan. I’ll throw your bag in the car and meet you out there.” Giving his wife a smooch goodbye and grabbing Megan’s overnight case in his empty hand, Paul headed to the front door. After rinsing her cup out in the sink, Megan grabbed her purse and tote bag, dug out the phone to be mailed and gave it to Lucy with a quick thank you as she followed him.
Settling herself into her seat, Megan fastened her seat belt with one hand and grabbed her phone with her other.
“I’m going to set up that staff meeting for lunch time, will that still work for you, Paul?”
“Yeah, that will be fine. I’m setting a meeting up for my supervisors too; I’ll just meet with my guys during your meeting. You can drive your own car over from Carol’s. That is if the police are done with us by then.”
“Do you need me to do anything for your part of the meeting?”
“No, I’ll just have Eric give you a list of anything we need your team to handle, you just worry about getting through this morning and getting your staff up and running with these new challenges. Between all of us, we’ll handle anything that comes up. I’m also going to let my staff know about yesterday, alert them to what’s going on and to keep an eye out for you and your crew.”
“That will make everyone feel a little better, I’m sure. The more eyes we have looking out for each other, the safer we will all be. But let’s be optimistic and hope that the police will get this all under control quickly.”
A few years ago, when Megan’s company had really started to grow and she was adding employees, Paul had handed over some of his contracting detail work to her to manage. Since they shared many of the same clients, it made sense for her staff to meet deliveries and manage completion of some of the items on the construction punch list. With her staff trained for detail work, this freed Paul and his crews to work on other projects. At the same time, the two cousins also had a wonderful opportunity to purchase ten areas of land adjacent to Megan’s home. With this purchase came a barn, two large garages, a two-story house that needed a bit of work, a small “in-laws” cottage and, of all the crazy things, an airplane hangar. Seeing the potential for both their companies, they grabbed it as fast as the paperwork could be completed.
Because of the hangar, there was a small one-lane blacktop road that made a circle of the property, connecting the buildings to each other. In the center of the loop was a spring-fed pond with a covered dock that had been built to be used as a place to relax. The only building that wasn’t part of the loop was the in-law’s cottage. This building was set off away from the main house (the previous owner must have had some doozy in-laws.) not far from Megan’s home. There was a creek running through the part of the property closest to Megan’s home that actually separated the two homes. Claiming the in-laws cottage for her personal office, they came up with a plan for the best use of all the buildings and did the remodeling needed to fit their needs.
The main house on the new property was converted to a business office. The first floor was for Megan’s employees and subcontractors to conduct their day to day business. The second floor was converted into a builder’s office, with a large drafting room. The two-car garage was redesigned to be a large conference room, equipped with state of the art technology to be used by both companies for presentations and meetings. The two garages were used for Paul’s building equipment; the barn was converted to store supplies with the second floor being converted into a two-bedroom apartment, often used for contractors who might need a place to stay for a short time when they came in from out of town.
They found that they actually had a use for the hanger, with both of them having clients that had private planes that they would often fly in for meetings. So Paul just updated and cleaned up this area.
The in-laws Cottage was Megan’s private domain. There was a newly constructed foot bridge over the creek that allowed her easy access from her home. Soon wandering footpaths, new landscape, arbors and outdoor lighting gave the area more of a garden retreat feeling than a business, which was perfect for her, creating a smaller version of her house. Paul added a wraparound porch, converted one of the rooms into an office and the other into a small conference room. This is where Megan brought her favorite clients, making them feel at home, pampered and confident that they could leave their homes in her hands.
“Well, I’m going to try get a hold of Carol again and then I’ll call Janice and have her get everyone in here for a noon meeting,” Megan said as she started punching in the numbers into her phone. This time Carol answered on the second ring
“Megan, I was just goin
g to return your call. Sorry, we missed each other yesterday. I had a mare in labor and she ran into difficulties. You know how I have to be on hand for every new member of our family.”
“I hope everything went okay. I know how worried you get over each new birth. Do you have a couple of minutes to talk, or are you still busy?”
“I’ve got all the time you need, now. The foal is a beauty, and healthy. His momma’s taking care of him now, so I’m not needed. I’m actually just enjoying my first real cup of coffee in hours. What’s up?”
Taking a deep breath, Megan proceeded to tell Carol about the past eighteen hours. Reassuring Carol that her property was being looked after, Megan finished her tale.
“My God, Megan. Are you okay? Do you need anything? Should I come back and--“
“I’m fine, really. The police seem to have everything under control. I actually think it would be best if you stayed in St. Louis, at least until the press has gotten their two-cents worth in and things calm down a bit. I think if you’re here, it will just give them an opportunity to hound you while looking for connections to this murder that just aren’t there. You don’t need that kind exposure. Besides, you are on vacation, and that’s what I’m here for.”
“I can’t tell you how glad I am that you are there. Are you sure that you’re safe? Do you need to hire any extra security? Don’t hesitate to do what you have to. And, Megan, it’s not just my property I’m concerned about … you’re just as important to me and I need to know that you are okay.”
“Thanks, Carol. We are on our way back to the house as I speak. Paul is here and the police have also been keeping an eye on me. I’ll know more later and will keep you up to date as things happen. Hopefully this will be resolved quickly and everything will be back to normal. Oh, by the way, I did find your niece’s phone. I’ll get it out in today’s mail for her.”
“For goodness sake, Megan, that should be the least of your worries today. Take care of yourself first for once. I want to know every detail of what goes on. I’ll have the best gossip at the club this week that’s for sure. If I don’t hear from you this afternoon, I’m calling you just to be sure you are okay.”
Agreeing to keep in touch, Megan ended the call with a smile on her face. Looking over at Paul, she laughed lightly and commented on how well Carol took the news of a murder at her home. Hitting the speed dial on her phone, Megan waited to be connected to her assistant Janice. A few years older than Megan’s daughter, Janice was an organized whirlwind that not only kept their subcontractors in line, but kept the office running smoothly and full of fun.
“Good morning, Janice, sorry to call so early on a Saturday, but we have a bit of a problem developing,” Megan said when Janice answered her home phone.
“I figured you would be calling after I saw the weather report last night, Megan. Not to worry, it’s not a problem, just an unexpected challenge.”
“I knew I could count on you to keep everything in perspective,” laughed Megan. “I would like to get as many of the team in at noon for a planning meeting. I thought if we shot for lunch, it would work for most of us. I’m having food brought in and we’ll keep it short and sweet. I don’t want to take away from everyone’s day off. We also have another item to go over other than the potential storm.”
“I’ll start calling everyone right away. Don’t worry about taking a bit of our weekend. We all know what’s expected of us this time of year. Although, it does seem to be getting off to an early start.”
“That’s for sure,” Megan agreed, “I need to be out at the Bloomquest residence this morning. Can you open up the office and get things set up for me?”
“Of course. Just do what you need to do and I’ll have everything under control here. If I have any questions, I’ll give you a call. You call me if you think of anything else we need. I’ll print off a copy of our hurricane procedures for everyone as well as the clients’ special needs lists. All you have to do is walk through the door and tell us when to start our action plan.”
“Thanks so much, Janice. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Megan relaxed a bit as she hung up her phone, knowing that Janice would do as she promised and everything would run smoothly at the office. Now she could only hope the rest of her morning would be as problem free.
“Got things rolling?” asked Paul as she stuffed her phone into the front pocket of her purse.
“As much as I can for now. Paul, do you think they have recovered the body yet?”
“We’ll know shortly. Let’s hope we can just get in and out without any surprises.”
Looking out her window, she saw they weren’t far away and nodded her head in agreement with Paul’s wish. With nothing to do but wait until they arrived, she began to play over in her head the images of yesterday’s events. Everything seemed clearer to her today, especially the remembrance of the two men tossing a third into the river. Paul left her to her thoughts, knowing that in a few moments, she would have to deal with the reality of being the only witness to a murder.
As they neared the drive into the Bloomquest property, Paul had to slow down to a crawl. Either side of the road had official and media vehicles parked along the shoulder. There were two policemen standing at the entrance to the drive to prevent unauthorized persons onto the property. Paul lowered his window as he turned into the drive and one of the cops stepped up to the side of the car. The two men recognized each other and the officer relaxed a little.
“Good morning, Paul, Ms. Cassidy. The sheriff left word that you were to go on in and park in the garage like you did last night. Looks like the media has gotten a whiff of a possible story and he wants you both out of the limelight. Not that it’s gonna be possible for very long, but he wants to try.”
But even as they were speaking, the car door opened to the Kia with the logo of the Daily Press and a woman got out and hurried across the street to their car.
“Paul Cassidy, is that you? And is that Megan with you? Do you have any information you would like to share with me for our readers? This is Carol Bloomquest’s home isn’t it? Has there been a robbery or has someone been hurt?”
Her rapid fire questions made all three of the others groan in frustration. Talking to Paul in an undertone, the officer took a step to block the reporter’s clear view of them. ”Go on and head back, I’ll run interference with Miss Heart. Again.”
Rolling his window back up, Paul shook his head in pity for the officer left behind to deal with the pesky Miss Heart. Young, beautiful, and aggressive, she viewed her job at the local paper as a stepping stone to bigger and better things. She was pushy and not above stretching the truth to make her story more sensational. Staying out of her way was the best way to stay out of one of her fabricated news stories that were based on very little fact, but plenty of speculations.
Paul drove the car past the main driveway and entered the side drive leading to the garages. As they came into view of the backyard, they could see the activity level was starting to pick up. Parking the car, he pointed out where Sheriff Green was standing by the pool and turned off the engine.
“You ready for this, Megan?” he asked with concern, wishing she didn’t have to be here in case they actually found the missing body.
Megan took a deep breath, and opened the car door to step out. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. I hope today we will find some answers. I really hope he wasn’t someone we knew. It’s bad enough to deal with murder, but it would be just awful if he were a member of our community. I know I didn’t recognize him, but in this small town, I have a feeling we may know of his family at the very least.”
“Well, if we do know the family, we will be there to support them. Let’s head towards the pool, the sheriff has seen us and I’m sure wants to talk to you again.”
Somberly, the two headed across the lawn to the pool terrace and the group of officers talking to Sheriff Green. He looked up at their approach and with a quick word of instruction, dismissed his men, giving Megan and Paul hi
s full attention. He took in Megan’s worried look and tried to reassure her.
“How are you doing this morning, Megan? Did you get any rest? Has anything else come to mind about what happened yesterday?”
Megan smiled at him, noticing that he did not look as if he’d gotten any sleep himself. She knew that, in this small town, a murder was more than just another headline in the morning paper. Everyone was connected to each other, through family, friendships, or business. The man had a lot on his shoulders and would be under a lot of pressure to find out just what was going on in their little town, and quickly.
“I’m fine, have there been any new developments?” She just could not bring herself to ask if there was a body yet.
“No, sorry to say we haven’t found anything yet. I have officers going door to door along both sides of the river to see if anyone saw anything, or if there are any signs of unusual activity at the seasonal residences. The divers are moving downstream, past the homes to continue their search. Were you able to contact Mrs. Bloomquest? Did she have any information that might be relative to why this took place near her property?”
Murder For Neptune's Trident...A Citrus Beach Mystery (Citrus Beach Mysteries Book 1) Page 4