Beachside Murder (A Team Gossip Cozy Mystery Book 1)

by Martha Rivers

  “I don’t care if you’re a worker, if you’re a customer, or if you’re the President,” the captain continued. “If you’ve breathed anywhere near the resort, you’re a suspect.” He walked between Brittany and me, and gestured at her to hand him the keys. She gave him the card and he opened the door.

  He eyed the room quickly and seriously.

  “Barton.” The captain snapped a finger in the air. Quite rude, in my opinion. “Go downstairs and take care of the witnesses in the lobby. Check that nobody runs out of here without getting their name and address, and making sure that they don’t leave town. If someone leaves, writing parking fines will be fun compared to what you’ll do.”

  Nathan tensed his lip like whenever his mom told him to organize his room when it was neat. Mrs. Barton sometimes took neatness too seriously, and Nathan didn’t agree with her. Neither did he agree with his boss’ micro-management. He left without complaining, but I would’ve liked to know what he was thinking.

  The captain didn’t enter the room, though. Instead, he called the two detectives and ordered them to take pictures, draw sketches, and find everything that incriminated the person who’d broken into the room.

  “Now ladies,” the captain told Brittany and me. “If you don’t mind, Miss Merritt, I need you to tell me if something’s missing in the room or if there’s something that someone could’ve wanted to steal from you or Mr. Parrish.”

  Of course there was something. She’d turned pale and she’d almost fainted when she’d noticed the safe. She was hiding something: was it a contract, incriminating documents, or something linked to the man who’d accused Parrish of ruining his business?

  “No,” Brittany said innocently. “I don’t think there’s anything missing, sir. Perhaps some of our clothes, or an earring or two.” She fluttered her eyelashes at the captain, and his expression softened completely. She was a natural at acting innocent.

  And what about the safe, huh?

  The captain thanked her and said that he trusted Brittany. He didn’t want to importune her further, so she could stay in her room if she wanted as soon as the cleaners took care of it.

  That’s it? He was going to let a possible suspect remain in the room and destroy evidence? What kind of investigators would do that?

  Okay, I might’ve been somewhat partial against Brittany, but she’d caught Vincent’s attention more than I’d ever done. I wasn’t letting my dislike for her affect my reasoning, though; she was hiding something, and I’d eventually discover her secret.

  Chapter 6

  Once we’d gone back to the lobby, Pops was waiting for us with a detailed write-up about the drinks. He’d taken some of the beer and analyzed it. Parrish had overdosed on pentobarbital, a rapid-acting barbiturate found in some sleeping drugs and veterinary medicine.

  “This isn’t your job, sir.” The captain didn’t take the sheet that Pops offered him. “We can take care of this on our own.”

  “I’ve worked in forensics all my life,” Pops said, “and I’ve analyzed the drinks. My results are quicker than taking the samples to your lab.”

  Pops was retired, so his analysis had no weight for the captain. The labs at the university would take care of verifying his conclusions, but it had clearly been a murder or suicide. Everything hinted at murder: a wealthy man with a large fortune might have an overly greedy family.

  The detectives asked us to remain in town, and the captain asked everyone in the hotel not to get in more trouble. He asked us to go to the Corton police department for a series of interviews and begged us to avoid gossiping about the murder.

  Almost as if the captain’s instructions had been an invitation, my aunt Agnes and her friends entered the hotel immediately. We heard their excited chatter and the rumble of their luggage rolling along the floor. They’d spent over a month in Mexico, visiting the capital and the country’s wonderful beaches. They’d landed only hours before, and they’d come straight to see everything that was going on in the hotel. They lived nearby, but they weren’t going to stand aside and wait.

  “Look, girls!” Ivy popped her head into the lobby and noticed us. “They’re here!” She squeaked in excitement, dropped her suitcase and headed straight to Pops.

  Her three friends ran inside, equally cheerfully. They scanned everyone, searched the room, and looked for all weaknesses they could exploit. Their objectives? Gathering information, learning of all suspects, and sharing it with the entire neighborhood before anyone could stop them.

  I want to have their energy once I retire. I wasn’t able to travel as much as they did, even at my age!

  You might think that I’m exaggerating. Believe me, I’m not. Nathan and I had grown up surrounded by those four ladies, and we knew what to expect from them: gossip, gossip, and more gossip. Everyone had expected them to settle down as they grew older, but they’d only become wiser and better at getting whatever they wanted.

  My great-aunt Agnes was Pops’ sister. She was single and many years younger than him, and she always told everyone she met. She was slender and had relatively short brown hair. Nathan’s aunt Etta was tall and very slim, and she took great care of her straight white hair. Ivy and Flora, their other two friends, were sisters and lived together. They were stouter and shorter, and blonde and dark-haired, respectively. Flora had hearing problems and used a hearing aid, and Ivy wasn’t allowed to eat sugar, which meant that she had the sweetest tooth. The Fantastic Four claimed that they were barely sixty, but they’d claimed the same age since I could remember. They had younger spirits, though.

  All four of our gardens met in the same spot, so spending time in my garden meant exposing myself to all four of them. It wasn’t a good idea.

  Aunt Agnes and Flora approached me first. Agnes wore a long tunic decorated in pink. Flora wore blue pants and a cassock, combined with a flowery blue vest. Their looks were very bright and cheerful, as usual.

  “Meghan!” my aunt Agnes told me. “What’s happened? Everyone’s talking about a murder. Why haven’t you told us? We would’ve come here straight after landing instead of buying snacks at the airport.”

  Flora nodded in agreement. “But Ivy wouldn’t have let us leave the airport without tasting those muffins.”

  “They were perfect, though,” Agnes said. “We should’ve bought a dozen for tomorrow’s breakfast.”

  Agnes and Flora chatted with each other about airport food, plane food, and frequent flier miles. They knew about the murder and they were intruding in a police investigation, but they were far too energetic and talkative to kick them out. And besides, the hotel needed someone to cheer us up. Parrish’s murder was making us restless.

  The captain didn’t care about the ladies’ effect on the staff’s morale. He darted towards them and shooed them with his hands. “Ladies, there’s nothing to see here,” he barked. “Leave at once!”

  “Nothing to see?” Aunt Agnes cleared her throat softly to look older. She always used the same trick whenever she wanted to manipulate someone. “Excuse me, young man, but there’s been a murder and a theft according to our sources. I’d say that there’s a lot to see.”

  “Exactly!” Ivy quickly joined the conversation. She’d been busier scanning the room and greeting some of the neighbors to get the latest rumors, but she wasn’t going to let anyone argue with her friends without joining the fun. “We’re trying to get first-hand information. How are we supposed to keep the town up to date if we don’t even know what’s happened?”

  “You can’t tell anyone about anything!” The captain looked for Nathan and snapped his fingers in the air to call his attention. How rude! “Barton! I don’t know what these ladies are looking for or why they don’t want to leave, but I want you to get rid of them immediately or I’ll arrest them.”

  Nathan glanced around, looking for a way out. He didn’t want to kick his aunt and her friends out, but he didn’t want to disobey a direct order either. I didn’t want to be in his shoes.

  “Here co
mes the handsomest nephew in the world!” Aunt Etta said from the other side of the room. She headed straight for Nathan and kissed his cheek, smudging her bright red lipstick over his face and wiping it with her thumb. “You’re too thin. Are you eating enough? And what are those bags under your eyes? Don’t you sleep, or are you too busy doing other activities?” She winked at him with complicity; she didn’t need to explain what she referred to. “Don’t worry, Nathaniel. I’m not your mother and I know that young men need girlfriends.”

  The captain didn’t react. Neither did Nathan or I.

  Nathan and I were absolute beginners when it came to creating diversions. The seniors in the neighborhood didn’t need our help to handle the captain.

  Aunt Etta was satisfied with her small victory and quickly turned to me. “Oh, Meghan! How nice to see you again! Have you seen my nephew Nathaniel? He’s as handsome as ever, isn’t he? Has he told you that he’s single?” She grabbed Nathan’s arm and brought him closer to me.

  “Aunt, please…” Nathan looked down, embarrassed.

  “Ladies, please!” The captain tried to stop them from embarrassing one of his colleagues.

  They ignored him.

  Aunt Agnes joined Aunt Etta’ strategy. “Nathan! You look perfect. So tall and so grown-up, and so attractive. How can you be single if you look so good? Doesn’t your boss give you enough holidays?”

  The captain’s head was turning red with anger. Smoke would soon start coming out of his ears.

  “And tell us, Nathan.” Flora wasn’t scared by Nathan’s boss. “What has happened? Do you have any suspects?”

  “Are they anyone we know?” Ivy said.

  “And can you tell us anything we don’t know?” Aunt Etta added.

  “You do have access to everyone’s criminal records, don’t you?” Aunt Agnes said.

  “Oooh, criminal records!” Ivy clapped excitedly and jumped on the spot. She was short and rounded, but she had much more energy than anyone would’ve guessed.

  “Girls, girls,” Flora said. “We need to let him breathe.”

  “No.” The captain sounded desperate. He was almost begging. “You need to leave and stop bothering us.”

  Ivy squinted her eyes and scanned the captain. Mischief flashed on her face, and she giggled. “You must be Raymond Poole’s son. Oh my! You look exactly like your father!”

  Raymond Poole? That was a new trick, and it was evil if you knew who Joshua, Raymond Poole’s son, was. He was a complete simpleton, a mediocre, uninteresting, and incapable man who barely knew how to spell his own name.

  Nathan chuckled to himself and covered his mouth with one hand. The captain glared at him, and Nathan hid his chuckle behind a cough. He knew Joshua Poole too.

  Our aunts and their friends were evil. The women’s eyes twinkled with excitement and a hint of malice. One of the best parts of being their age was that they could say absolutely everything that crossed their minds and nobody would ever confront them about it.

  And they knew it.

  “Of course!” Aunt Agnes said. “I knew I’d seen that face before. How’s your father?”

  “Ladies,” the captain said, “I don’t know who that man is. I’m not Raymond Poole.” He exhaled visibly, begging for patience.

  “Of course not! You’re his son, Joshua!” Ivy was enjoying herself more than she should have.

  “No, I’m not,” the captain said.

  “Yes you are,” Flora insisted. “Why do you deny your family, Joshua? Have you stopped talking to them?”

  “Ladies, this isn’t the time to start arguing about my pedigree,” the captain said. “I’m not Joshua or Raymond, or in any way related to the Poole family.”

  “Have you taken your mother’s name, then?” Flora asked. The high-pitched sound of her voice meant that she was playing along. The captain didn’t know her, so he couldn’t notice.

  “A bold move,” Aunt Agnes said.

  “Very modern.” Ivy nodded in agreement.

  “No, no, no!” The captain shook his head in exasperation. “My name is Douglas Shaw, and I’m not related to anyone in this village. Is it clear? Now leave, all four of you. Immediately.” His last word sounded very authoritarian and annoyed. Anyone with common sense would have run away without looking back.

  To my aunt and her friends, the captain’s words were just part of their entertainment. They’d come to the hotel looking for a show, and they’d found it.

  “Snacks!” Flora said out of nowhere. She looked in the direction of the door, and several of our waiters entered the lobby carrying trays with drinks and snacks.

  Aunt Flora had hearing problems, but she’d bought a next-generation hearing aid that allowed her to hear a fly several miles away.

  Most of our guests and customers had spent too long waiting for the police to do their jobs, and Pops had decided to bring drinks and sandwiches to make the wait more bearable.

  Ivy ran towards the snacks and grabbed a salmon sandwich and took a couple extras for later. No food was unpleasant to her.

  Tina, the waitress who’d flirted with Vincent, brought sandwiches and dodged me. She wasn’t ignoring me like before. This time, she was aware that I was her boss, and she didn’t want to cross paths with me in case I got back to her. I wasn’t vengeful; she had no reason to worry. And besides, she’d brought beers and sandwiches. I can’t resent anyone if I’m drinking beer.

  Flora and Etta took a sandwich each, and Aunt Agnes only took a soda. She was trying to control her calorie intake to follow a modern diet, and we rarely had any low-calorie food at the Sand & Sea.

  The captain gave up and strode out of the hotel. His options were to arrest my aunt and her friends or to leave them alone. Arresting them would’ve meant taking them with him to Corton.

  Vincent left too. He was in a bad mood and didn’t even say goodbye to me. What was going on with him? He had been flirting with Brittany! I had reasons to be angry, not him.

  Chapter 7

  A couple of hours later, Brittany was by the reception desk.

  “Thank you. I’ll wait.” Brittany fluttered her eyelashes at Bernie, the receptionist, and idly leaned on the reception desk. She wore a black tight mid-calf sleeveless dress and high heels. It was black, yes, but she was certainly not mourning anyone.

  Bernie stumbled out of his seat and collided with several walls, shelves, and cabinets before going to the office to fetch something for her. I didn’t know how she did it, but men lost half of their IQ points around her.

  The cleaners had cleaned her room and the captain had given her permission to spend the night in it, but she still had the chance to spread the news that the Sand & Sea’s rooms weren’t secure and that thieves could break into them and open their safe.

  Whenever I looked at her and saw how men acted with her, I remembered Vincent’s mesmerized expression. It made my blood boil.

  And yet, I had to approach Brittany and see if I could help her. Our hotel was at fault, and we needed to compensate her inconveniences.

  I loved my job, but the public relations duties got tiring at times.

  “Hi, Miss Merritt,” I said, forcing yet another smile.

  She greeted me happily and excused herself for being such a burden because Parrish had died and now someone had tried to break into her room. She was going to accept the suite I’d offered because her current room brought back too many bad memories.

  She put on her sad, disconsolate face, expecting me to add something else to the compensation pack.

  It wasn’t going to work with me. I was sorry for her loss, but I couldn’t make the hotel lose more money. We were already noticing several last-minute cancellations, and they’d only increase as the news spread.

  “I’m sure that the suite will help you relax,” I told her. “Ask the restaurant to take your dinner upstairs, maybe have a bubble bath, and try getting some sleep.”

  “A bubble bath?” Her face cheered up. “That sounds perfect.”

 
Bernie returned with the keys to the room and handed them to Brittany with a broad smile. She deliberately brushed against his hand when she took them and smiled at him. When he sat back down, he was beaming.

  She would’ve made a perfect mermaid. Men were already running onto things around her. If they sailed, they’d end up crashing against icebergs or rocks.

  Brittany looked at the key card, somewhat confused. I scanned the room to find someone to lead her upstairs. Bernie was on his own and our bellboys had disappeared. I didn’t have the time to help anyone search for their rooms.

  Luckily for me, Derek was wandering around the room, staring at the modern paintings on the walls like he sometimes did. I called him and asked him to come to us.

  “Derek, this is Miss Merritt,” I told him. “She needs someone to lead her to her room. Can you help her?”

  He nodded with his classic innocent smile. “I’ll help the pretty lady,” he said.

  His words stole a smile from Brittany and she quickly thanked him and followed him towards the nearest elevator.

  As they walked away, Derek tried to start a conversation in his classic style. “Have you tried the new salads at the restaurant?”

  Brittany replied politely and told him that she hadn’t tasted much. Anyone else would’ve made her feel bad because her first dinner at the restaurant had resulted in Parrish’s death, but she didn’t hold it against him. His smooth and polite voice always showed that his intentions weren’t bad.

  People may have considered Derek slow, but he wasn’t slow at all around women.

  Chapter 8

  A few days later, when I’d gone to the homicide division at the Corton police station, I hadn’t expected to see one of the main suspects. I had planned to talk with the detectives and give my version of the story. They could’ve come to chat with me at the Sand & Sea, but I didn’t want my aunt or her friends to catch them. If the captain saw them again, he’d get even more annoyed.