Nightmare in Nantucket (Garden Girls Christian Cozy Mystery Series Book 14)

by Hope Callaghan

  “We already tried. It went right to voice mail.”

  “She could be out running errands. I’m on my way,” Paul said. “I’ll call you as soon as I track her down.”

  After they hung up, Gloria dropped her cell phone into her purse. “I won’t be able to relax until Paul calls me back.”

  Brian’s jaw tightened. “Me either. More than anything, I wish we were back home.”

  “Me too, Brian,” Gloria said. “Me too.”

  Chapter 17

  Paul Kennedy grabbed his car keys off the hook and reached for the doorknob. “I’ll be back in a minute, Allie,” he hollered into the back of the house.

  He was convinced his wife had a sixth sense for trouble and if she thought Andrea might be in trouble, then Paul gave it a 50/50 chance that she was.

  Paul had talked to Andrea the previous evening and, since Alice and Brian were both gone and there was no one around, he even asked if she would be more comfortable staying at the farm.

  She’d insisted she would be fine and that Brutus was a reliable guard dog. She assured him he would be the first to know if she needed anything.

  Paul climbed into his car, backed out of the driveway and pulled onto the road. He pressed hard on the gas pedal as he sped down the backroad toward the small town of Belhaven. The fact Andrea hadn’t answered when both Gloria and Brian had called caused a small degree of concern.

  When he reached town, he turned right and headed up the hill toward Lake Terrace where Andrea’s stately home sat atop a large hill not far from the lake. Paul drove past the open gate and onto the drive before rounding the small curve.

  He spotted Andrea’s truck in the drive. The driver’s side door was wide open. There was a four-door car parked behind it. Paul had never seen the vehicle before.

  Andrea was nowhere in sight, although her dog, Brutus, was wandering around the backyard. He felt an unsettling in the pit of his stomach. Something wasn’t right.

  Paul parked on the other side of Andrea’s truck. He reached inside his glove box and pulled out his revolver, checking to make sure it was loaded before he climbed out of his car.

  As he passed by Andrea’s open truck door, he looked inside. There was no trace of Andrea or her belongings. He continued walking toward the house and as he got close, he noticed the front door was ajar.

  Paul slipped along the edge of the hedge as he hurried toward the house.

  When he reached the front porch, he heard Andrea’s muffled voice and then the tinkle of laughter. Paul loosened his grip on the gun. “Hello?”

  He peered through the open door and gazed into the front foyer. “Andrea?”

  Andrea emerged from the dining room, a bright smile on her face. “Hi Paul.”

  A tall, broad-shouldered man followed behind Andrea. Paul had never seen him before. “Hello.” He nodded at the man.

  “Paul, this is Pierce Wright. He works for my parents in New York. They sent him here to check on me.”

  “Pierce, this is Paul Kennedy, Gloria’s husband.”

  Paul extended his hand. “I do believe I’ve heard Andrea mention your name before, all good of course. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

  Pierce took Paul’s hand in a firm grasp. “Same here. I’ve heard many good things about you.”

  Paul released his grasp and turned to Andrea. “Brian and Gloria were concerned for your safety and wanted me to come by to check on you since you weren’t answering your phone.”

  “Oh!” Andrea reached in her back pocket and pulled out her cell phone. “Whoops! I had the volume down. Shame on me. I better give them a call.”

  Andrea stepped out onto the porch and Paul turned to Pierce. “I didn’t want to scare Andrea but Brian and Gloria were concerned someone may have followed Andrea to Belhaven.”

  Pierce nodded gravely. “The Thorntons were concerned, as well. As soon as they found out Andrea was back in Belhaven, they booked my flight. I’m here until Mr. Sellers and Alice return or Mr. Brodwell’s killer is apprehended.”

  “That will ease a lot of minds,” Paul said. The men made small talk until Andrea reappeared. “I was able to reach Brian. He was with Gloria. They’re both relieved Pierce is here.” She reached over and slipped her arm through Pierce’s arm. “It’s like having my own personal bodyguard.”

  Pierce tugged on the edge of Andrea’s long locks. “So you’re giving others the same gray hairs you’ve given me over the years.”

  “I’ll head on out of here and give you two a chance to catch up.” Paul briefly hugged Andrea and turned to go. “Don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.”

  Paul climbed into his car, backed out of the drive and pulled onto the road. He called Gloria on the way back to the farm.

  “I’m glad Pierce is there with Andrea,” Gloria said when he answered. “That makes me feel so much better.”

  “Me too,” Paul agreed. “He seems like a nice fellow and Andrea appears to adore him.”

  “They’re close,” Gloria said. “Just like Andrea and Alice.”

  They chatted for several moments, until Paul reached the farm. “I’m home now. Is there anything else I need to do…any other damsel in distress I need to rescue before I head inside and make lunch?” he teased.

  “No, but you’ll be the first to know. We’re heading back to Barnacle Bill’s restaurant later today to try to track down this Luke fellow.”

  “Don’t go alone,” Paul said.

  “I won’t. I think everyone is going,” Gloria said. “I’ll call you later.” She thanked her husband one more time, telling him how much she loved him and missed him before disconnecting the line.

  It was a short bike ride back to Craggy Manor. Ruth’s van was parked in the same spot it had occupied previously and the four of them headed to Lucy, Alice and Margaret’s suite to drop off their things.

  No one was inside so they headed to the other suite, the one that Dot, Ruth and Rose occupied. No one answered when Gloria knocked so they swung by Brian and Gloria’s suite to drop off their backpacks and park the bikes inside.

  “They might be down by the pool,” Alice said.

  Sure enough, the rest of the gang was hanging out by the pool, soaking up the mid-afternoon sunshine. Margaret was swimming in the pool.

  Gloria wandered to the edge and bent down to dip her fingers in the water. “Isn’t the water cold?”

  “Nope. It’s a heated pool. The water is perfect. You should join me.”

  “I forgot my swimsuit.” Gloria shook her head.

  “I bring mine. I love to swim.” Alice turned on her heel and headed out of the courtyard, returning moments later wearing a bright floral one-piece bathing suit and carrying a room towel.

  “Well, look at you,” Gloria grinned. “You’re like a bright ray of beautiful sunshine.”

  “I come prepared,” Alice said.

  “You sure did.” Rose stuck a hand on her hip and gazed at the sparkling pool. “Now I wouldn’t get into that pool if you gave me a brand new Cadillac.”

  “Really?” Gloria asked. “You don’t like pools?”

  “No ma’am.” Rose shook her head. “I can’t swim and am deathly afraid of anything but the bathtub.”

  “I’ll have to remember that,” Alice quipped.

  Rose frowned.

  Gloria patted Rose’s arm. “She’s kidding.” She turned to Alice. “You are kidding, right?”

  Alice smiled and winked before she dove into the pool and came up on the other side.

  Alice and Margaret frolicked in the water while Brian excused himself. He said the bike ride had given him a dull headache and he was going to lie down for a while.

  “I hope I didn’t cause him to over exert himself,” Gloria fretted. “Sometimes I get so wound up, I don’t think.”

  Dot shaded her eyes, reached over and patted Gloria’s arm. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. It’s easy to forget how badly he was injured.”

  “It can’t help he’s being quest
ioned in Brodwell’s murder,” Lucy added. “It has to be troubling him.”

  “Or the fact his fiancée is hundreds of miles away and he’s here,” Gloria said. “At least Pierce is there to watch over her.”

  “Pierce.” Ruth shifted in her lounge chair. “The name sounds familiar.”

  “Pierce is the Thornton’s driver and full-time employee. He’s worked for them for many moons.” Gloria explained to the others her feeling that someone might have followed Andrea to Belhaven.

  She told them how they’d tried to reach Andrea and when they couldn’t, Gloria asked Paul to run by her place. “Thankfully, the Thorntons were concerned, as well, because Pierce said as soon as they found out Andrea was back in Belhaven, they purchased his plane ticket and he headed to Michigan.”

  “You don’t suppose Andrea’s parents are part of some drug ring and they think their only child is now a target?” Ruth asked.

  “I don’t know what to think,” Gloria said. “It looks suspicious, at least to me.”

  “Me too,” Dot said.

  Alice and Margaret finally emerged from the pool and spread their towels on nearby lounge chairs after drying off.

  Margaret adjusted her chair before settling in and closing her eyes. “Ah. This is the life. I haven’t been on vacation in years.”

  “What about our cruise?” Lucy asked.

  “That was part vacation and part crisis,” Margaret insisted. “I mean what are the chances of being on board a cruise ship that’s been hijacked?”

  “Ninety-five to ninety-nine percent odds if you’re with Gloria Rutherford-Kennedy,” Dot joked.

  Gloria cleared her throat and frowned at her friend.

  “Ah, the good ole days,” Ruth said. “Speaking of that, I forwarded the video footage of Dot snapping those photos of the inside of Brodwell’s motel room and the police chasing after her.”

  “That’s not right,” Dot declared.

  “Whew! You shoulda seen the look on your face when you realized the cops were coming after you.” Ruth chuckled.

  Despite Dot’s repeated insistence that Ruth erase the video footage, the others unanimously voted to view the footage later that evening.

  “It’s only because we need to study it for more clues,” Ruth assured their friend.

  Gloria adjusted the arms of her chair so she could recline on the lounger when the sight of a police cruiser pulling into the parking lot caught her attention. “Now what?”

  Chapter 18

  Gloria had a sinking feeling the officer was there to talk to Brian and after a brief stop at the front office, she watched as the man crossed the parking lot and began knocking on the door of their motel room.

  A second car, this one a sedan with tinted windows, pulled up and parked next to the police cruiser. A man stepped out of the vehicle and headed to the motel room to join the uniformed officer.

  The motel room door opened and then the men disappeared inside. Gloria said a silent prayer they were there to tell Brian they had cleared his name and he was free to leave.

  Somehow, it seemed too easy and her suspicions were correct. Brian returned to the pool area a short time later, a grim expression on his face. He opened the gate and stepped inside.

  “The investigator, Detective Flint, had a few more questions.” Brian eased onto one of the empty lounge chairs and faced the others. “Judging by his questions and the tone of his voice, I have a hunch investigators don’t have any other suspects and plan to pin Brodwell’s murder on me…and they seem to be in a big hurry to do it.”

  “Who was the other guy?” Gloria asked. “It looked like another officer in street clothes.”

  “Believe it or not, that was the chief of police. I guess it must be a slow day for crime on the island.” His shoulders sagged. “I had motive and opportunity. They know all about Andrea and me, the reason I’m here and the fact Brodwell had been the last one seen with Andrea.”

  “The chief is also friends with the Thorntons,” Lucy said. “Doesn’t that seem odd for him to become personally involved in an investigation?”

  “Maybe he’s doing some friends a favor,” Ruth said.

  “Did you ask about the note?” Gloria asked. “Did you tell them the Thorntons met with Sean Brodwell just before his death and how Libby Thornton handed something to Brodwell right before he returned to his motel room?”

  “I did.” Brian nodded. “Of course, they aren’t going to tell me anything, but I could’ve sworn I saw a flicker of surprise in the investigator’s eyes when I told him.”

  “Don’t worry Brian,” Gloria said. “I have a feeling we’re on the right track with this Luke fellow. He knows something.”

  “I wonder if the investigators have tried talking to Andrea yet,” Ruth said.

  “With everything that has gone on, I forgot to ask her. I’ll ask Paul when I call him tonight,” Gloria said.

  They lounged by the pool for a while longer. Alice and Margaret took another dip in the pool before the group headed back to their rooms to get ready for dinner.

  Gloria hoped to arrive at the restaurant a little early so she could walk the marina to see if she could spot the Fathom, the mysterious yacht, and perhaps snap a couple photos of it.

  The group agreed to meet in Margaret, Lucy and Alice’s suite since the lingering odor of garlic and Rose’s candle hung in the air. The trio claimed they could no longer smell it but every time Gloria stepped inside, her stomach churned.

  Lucy was the first one ready to go, and she plopped down next to Gloria on the small sofa in the living room.

  Gloria glanced at her friend’s outfit, a pair of fire engine red capris and a sleeveless white button down blouse. She did a double take as she peered at Lucy’s heart-shaped earrings. “Those earrings look familiar.”

  Lucy reached up and touched one of the dangling hearts. She grinned. “I wondered if you would remember. I wore them to Daniel Malone’s funeral.”

  Gloria shifted to the side. “The mini cameras. You’re wearing the mini camera earrings.”

  Click. “Yep. I just took your picture.”

  Ruth, who had been sitting in front of her laptop checking to make sure she had the video footage of the police officers pursuit of Dot, shoved her chair back and wandered across the room. “Phantom X spy earrings from Del Babba’s Online Mart.” She leaned forward for a closer inspection of the earrings. “I had my eye on them a few months back but never bought them.”

  “Why not?” Gloria asked. “I would think spy camera earrings would go nicely with your spy equipment collection.”

  “Too girly.” Ruth wrinkled her nose. “I didn’t care for the hearts. Now if they had them in say a postage stamp or the shape of the Michigan mitten, I might’ve bought them.”

  Gloria eased off the couch. Ruth squeezed in next to Lucy and they discussed the merits of the mini spy cameras. “I plan to take some pictures of Barnacle Bill and the mysterious Luke,” Lucy said. “I have it set up to download right to my phone so we can transfer the pictures from my phone to my email and study them later.”

  “Smart. Very smart.” Ruth nodded her head in approval. “Meanwhile, I can set the van’s surveillance cameras to record the front entrance while we’re inside on recon. I plan to record some audio as well.” Ruth slapped the top of her leg before popping off the sofa. “It looks like we have all our bases covered. Time for me to go get ready.”

  She hurried out of the room and Gloria waited until the door closed. “I swear Ruth was a spy in another life.”

  Lucy nodded. “I’m more of a weapons gal myself, but it doesn’t hurt to activate the entire arsenal. We need all the help we can get.”

  Brian, who had been sitting on the couch scrolling through television channels, stood. “I think I’ll go change too.”

  Brian exited the motel room. Gloria watched as he passed by the large picture window out front, leaving only Lucy, Margaret and Gloria in the living room. “I hate to say this in front of Brian, but do
you think Andrea’s parents are involved in Brodwell’s murder?”

  “We don’t know them that well,” Margaret said. “Andrea hasn’t lived at home with her parents in years.”

  “Alice lived with them for decades. Surely she would’ve said something if she suspected her former employers were cold-blooded killers,” Gloria said.

  “True,” Lucy agreed.

  Gloria wandered out of the suite and let herself into the one Brian and she shared. She sat on the edge of the sofa and stared at the blank television screen. No loving parent would deliberately put his or her only child’s life in danger.

  Based on what Brian had said, the investigating officer seemed surprised when Brian told him Libby Thornton had given something to Brodwell and he had shoved it in his front pants pocket before making his way to his motel room.

  It meant someone had checked the dead man’s pockets…or he’d emptied them before his demise. Gloria couldn’t wait to hear what Andrea’s parents had to say when Andrea asked them about her mother handing something off to Brodwell.

  It would be the perfect setup to get rid of Brian, which for the life of her, Gloria couldn’t understand. Brian, a former circuit court judge and successful businessman, would make any in-law proud.

  Gloria reminded herself the Thorntons were an odd couple, to say the least. Perhaps they hadn’t liked Brodwell as much as they let on. They saw their opportunity to get rid of the men in Andrea’s life, one by murder and the other by pinning the murder on Brian.

  Andrea’s mother was a retired doctor. Perhaps she’d gotten hooked on prescription drugs and now needed a drug dealer to keep her supplied.

  Certainly, the authorities had questioned the Thorntons, although Gloria remembered hearing the Thorntons were friends with Nantucket’s chief of police.

  Brian emerged from the bathroom and headed to the kitchenette while Gloria traded places and made her way into the bathroom.

  She hoped they would get a break tonight at Barnacle Bill’s Seafood Restaurant. If Andrea was right and Sean had met with this mysterious Luke before his death, the man might hold the key to solving the murder.