Sweet Fire and Stone (A Sweet Cove Cozy Mystery Book 7)

by J A Whiting

  Ellie took it. It had an “NY” insignia embroidered on the front. “A Yankees hat?”

  Euclid gave a hiss.

  “Really.” Courtney winked at the orange cat. “Who’d wear a New York Yankees hat in Massachusetts?”

  “I don’t recognize it. I haven’t noticed a guest wearing it.” Ellie placed the cap on the foyer table.

  “I told Mr. Finch that we’re leaving.” Courtney picked up her wallet. “He’s in the family room watching a crime show.”

  The two cats jumped off the China cabinet and raced down the hall to find Mr. Finch.

  Angie closed her ledger and stood up. “Okay, let’s go.”

  The sisters headed up Beach Street to the center of town. They waved at the employees working inside the candy store as they walked past on their way to Francine’s new shop. As they strolled, Angie told the girls about running past the Crossworts last evening and how she thought the woman was Mrs. Crosswort, but must have been mistaken since the person seemed so vigorous and healthy.

  “It must be a relative of hers,” Ellie noted. “Unless Mrs. Crosswort had some miraculous recovery.”

  Angie agreed, but a skitter of unease ran over her skin.

  “Oh, look.” Courtney pointed. “I love Francine’s new sign.”

  The wooden sign was similar to the one above the candy shop. “She asked me and Mr. Finch if she could have the name of the person who did ours. It came out great.”

  Francine was still preparing the space she had leased and wouldn’t open until just before Thanksgiving. It wasn’t the best time to open a new shop in a coastal town, but she hoped December visitors to Sweet Cove would make some Christmas purchases and she still had a booming online business.

  Ellie knocked and opened the front door. The girls stepped in and Francine greeted them. Her shoulder length blonde hair swung over her shoulders and her bright blue eyes sparkled as she gave each sister a hug.

  “Wow. What you’ve done in here is amazing.” Courtney turned in a circle looking at the space that used to house a sandwich shop. “It looks so classy and elegant now.”

  Jenna agreed. “You’d never know it was the same shop.”

  A short, slender white-haired woman came out of the back room carrying a can of paint. She had the same wide, friendly blue eyes as Francine. “It’s the Roseland girls.” A welcoming smile spread over her face.

  Francine had told the sisters that her grandmother was over ninety years old and they were surprised by the woman’s vitality, thinking that she could easily pass for someone in her early seventies.

  Francine made introductions. “This is my grandmother, Marilyn DuBois. She lived in Sweet Cove for many years. Now she lives in Silver Cove.” Silver Cove was an artist enclave a few miles north of the town of Sweet Cove.

  “You each resemble your grandmother. I’d know you anywhere.” Marilyn shook hands with the sisters.

  Francine showed them around pointing out where display cases would be set up and where shelves were going to be placed. “I’m going to put a table right here so people can watch while I work.”

  Marilyn led the girls into the back room. “Francine is going to have work stations set up on this side, there are supply cabinets going over there, and this section is a place to have lunch or a snack or relax for a bit while on a break.” A half-wall had been built to separate the break area from the work section of the space. There were two leather sofas, a round table with four chairs, and a mini-kitchen with a refrigerator and microwave.

  Courtney ran her hand over one of the light gray leather sofas. “This is great. Maybe I’ll quit the candy store and apply to work for you.”

  Francine and Marilyn laughed. “I see you have your Nana’s sense of humor,” Marilyn said.

  The girls were invited to sit and Francine told them her plans for the store. “Let’s have some tea or coffee.” She hurried to the counter to prepare beverages and carried them over to the coffee table with a basket of butter cookies. When everyone was settled nibbling cookies and sipping drinks, Marilyn and the girls discussed Nana.

  “I met your Nana at a town function many years ago. I liked Virginia immediately. She was such a great conversationalist, friendly, kind, so involved in the town. We became good friends.”

  The sisters asked questions about Nana and Marilyn provided them with funny stories that had them all chuckling. Marilyn smiled at Jenna. “I hear you and your husband-to-be have purchased the Stenmark place. Best wishes on your engagement.”

  Jenna’s eyes widened. “Do you know the house?”

  “Oh yes, its two doors down from the Victorian.”

  “Why is it called the Stenmark place? Is that a previous owner?” Jenna asked.

  “Katrina Stenmark owned the house a long time ago. Your Nana and I were friends of hers. She inherited the house from her grandparents and lived there with her husband and son. They passed away, unfortunately, and Katrina didn’t have any living relatives so when she died, the ownership of the place was in question. It took years and years for the town to claim the house and by then it had fallen into such disrepair. I’m sure Katrina would be thrilled to know it’s yours now.”

  Francine’s phone buzzed and she took the call in the front room. She returned with a frown on her face. “I have to hurry over to the bank. There’s a mix-up with my signature missing from one of the lease agreements and they need it right away. I’ll only be a few minutes.” She apologized and invited the sisters to stay until she got back as she was hoping to show them some new designs she had in mind for stained glass windows and lamps. She grabbed her purse and hurried away.

  “Let me refill your drinks.” Marilyn was about to stand, but Jenna and Courtney insisted on taking care of refreshing the beverages.

  Marilyn looked at Ellie. “You look just like your mother.”

  Ellie nodded. Her cheeks flushed and as she shifted in her seat self-consciously her foot kicked over her unzipped purse and some of the contents spilled onto the floor. “Oh.” She bent to pick up her things. “I never zip the top. Everything’s always tumbling out.”

  Angie’s eyes widened when she saw the white leather jewelry box on the floor. A zap of electricity flashed through her veins and when she looked across to where Courtney was sitting, she could tell her youngest sister had the same feeling. Courtney tilted her head and gave a little shrug.

  Angie flicked her eyes to Marilyn just in time to see the look of surprise and alarm on the woman’s face when she spotted the white box. Marilyn, open-mouthed, looked at Angie and when their eyes met, it was like a bright light flashed in Angie’s head. She blinked hard several times and shook her shoulders.

  Marilyn put her hand to her temple and shifted her gaze to the white box that was now in Ellie’s hand. Ellie slid it into her purse and looked up.

  In a soft voice, Marilyn said, “Your Nana had a box like that.”

  Angie’s heart skipped a beat. “She did?” The girls hadn’t realized that the necklace in the white box had belonged to their Nana and that their mom had inherited it when Nana passed away.

  Marilyn nodded. Her face looked pale.

  “What did she have in it?” Courtney asked.

  “A necklace.” Marilyn’s voice could barely be heard.

  Angie wasn’t sure if Marilyn was friend or foe, but she couldn’t ignore that this woman knew the box. She decided to pursue the subject. “What did the necklace look like?”

  Marilyn started to ask something. She stopped. “It was a long time ago.”

  Angie knew the woman was pretending not to remember. “Marilyn, do you know something about the necklace? Because if you do, we could use your help.”

  Marilyn glanced to the front room, seemed to hesitate, and then made a decision. She spoke in a hurried voice. “The box belonged to Katrina Stenmark.”

  Surprise passed over the sisters’ faces. Jenna’s mouth dropped open.

  “Katrina gave it to your grandmother for safekeeping.” Marilyn lo
oked to the front room again and Angie assumed that she didn’t want her granddaughter to return and hear what she was saying.

  “Why did she give it to Nana?” Courtney asked.

  “I don’t know why.” Marilyn’s lips tightened into thin lines. “That’s the truth. I do know that Katrina told your grandmother to keep it safe and to leave the necklace in the box.”

  “Did Nana ever wear it?” Angie watched the woman’s face closely.

  “Not that I ever saw.”

  “Do you know why it had to be kept in the box?” Ellie looked like she wanted to run from the room.

  Marilyn shook her head vigorously. Her eyes narrowed and just as Francine opened the shop door and entered the front room, Marilyn whispered, “I don’t know why it was supposed to stay in the box, but I do know that Katrina Stenmark gave her life for that necklace.”

  Ellie slipped to the floor in a faint.

  23

  The sisters stayed up late telling Mr. Finch and the cats what they’d learned from Francine’s grandmother about the white stone necklace. Ellie had an egg on the side of her head from hitting the floor when she fainted.

  “I wish you were there with us so you could have heard it all first-hand.” Angie stretched out on one of the sofas with her legs over Jenna’s lap.

  Mr. Finch was slowly stroking Circe’s fur as he pondered the stunning information. “It’s a pity that Mrs. DuBois didn’t have many details.”

  Jenna said, “Marilyn told us that Nana didn’t want to share any unnecessary details with her for safety’s sake. The less Marilyn knew, the better it would be for her.”

  “It was pretty clear that Marilyn didn’t want Francine to know anything about the necklace.” Courtney scratched Euclid’s cheeks. The big cat took up most of the chair they were sitting in.

  There weren’t any cold compresses in the house, so Ellie held a bag of frozen peas against the side of her head. “My head started buzzing when Mrs. DuBois told us that Katrina Stenmark died because of the necklace. I don’t remember falling out of the chair.”

  Courtney smiled. “You hit the floor like a ton of bricks.” She winked at Mr. Finch. “We told Francine that Ellie has low blood sugar and gets woozy sometimes.”

  “Clever.” When Finch paused his scratching of the black cat, she nudged his hand with her nose to encourage more patting. “Why did you have the necklace with you? I thought you’d put it away.”

  A sheepish expression passed over Ellie’s face. “I like the necklace. It makes me feel close to Mom. I knew it had to stay in the box, but I wanted it close to me. I should have left it at home.”

  “It was good that you had it in your bag, otherwise we wouldn’t have learned what Marilyn knew,” Angie said.

  “So, you found out that the necklace is so important that Katrina Stenmark died keeping it safe.” Mr. Finch recapped what they’d learned. “Your Nana probably knew why it was important, but did not share the reason with Mrs. DuBois. Your Nana may not have shared this information with your mother, either. It seems clear that the necklace needs to stay in its box.”

  Angie swung her legs over the side of the sofa and sat up, a serious expression causing lines to crease her forehead. “Ellie found the necklace in Mom’s stuff right before all the trouble started in town. This is going to sound nuts, but when Ellie opened the white box I think people who know about the necklace can sense where it is.”

  Ellie shifted uncomfortable in her seat.

  Courtney looked excited. “Like a beacon. The necklace’s energy gets released and some people can feel it. The person who set the fires knows we have it and he wants it.”

  “Why was there a fire near the Crossworts house then?” Ellie winced when she adjusted the position of the frozen pea bag against her head.

  No one could answer that.

  Something about the Crossworts picked at Angie’s brain. She tried to understand what she was missing, but it eluded her.

  “Do the Crossworts know about the necklace? Could they feel its energy when the box was opened?” Jenna thought they might be on to something. “Is that why they came to town?”

  “And what about Walter Withers and Gloria?” Angie offered. “They must be after the necklace, too.”

  “It has been easy for people to deduce where the necklace might be.” Mr. Finch removed his glasses and wiped the lenses with the edge of his sweater. “There have been several newspaper articles about all of us helping to solve recent mysteries in town. Those articles mentioned the Victorian and the B and B. We are pretty easy to find.”

  Jenna sucked in a breath. “It would also be easy to find out that Tom and I own Katrina Stenmark’s former home. All they have to do is look up the land records.”

  “That’s why someone broke into your house.” Courtney nodded. “They must have been looking for the necklace.”

  Jenna’s facial muscles tightened in anger. “And that must be why I felt someone watching me while I was working there. They must have been casing the place figuring out when to break in.”

  “Be sure not to open the box, Miss Ellie,” Finch said. “Keeping the box closed will make it much harder, maybe impossible, to find the necklace. Put it somewhere safe.” He looked at Jenna. “Perhaps you could see if there’s anything on the internet about Katrina Stenmark’s death.”

  “I’m on it.” Jenna stood up and went to her laptop.

  Courtney looked pensive. “I wonder why someone bothered to threaten us with the burning scarecrows on the common. They threw a firebomb into the house. What’s the point? Why not just break in and look for the thing?”

  “I bet the sicko wants to scare us first.” Courtney gently edged against Euclid trying to get a bit more room in the chair.

  “Or maybe they’d like to frighten us into selling and we’ll move away.” Jenna tapped on her laptop keys. “Maybe the person doesn’t want us helping to solve mysteries in town.”

  Jenna carried her laptop to the sofa and sat down. “There’s one small thing on the internet. There’s a tiny news story reporting the death of an elderly Sweet Cove woman, Katrina Stenmark. It says Mrs. Stenmark died of natural causes due to an intruder breaking into her home late at night which frightened her into having a heart attack.”

  Euclid let out a loud hiss making everyone jump.

  “I wouldn’t call being frightened to death natural causes.” Courtney scowled.

  “Katrina must have passed the necklace to Nana prior to the person breaking in,” Jenna suggested. “I wish we knew more about what happened.”

  After more discussion, everyone was exhausted and decided to turn in for the night. Angie offered to walk Mr. Finch home and the two stepped out of the Victorian’s back door into the dark, chilly air. They headed for the stone walkway that ran from the sisters’ house to Mr. Finch’s place. The carriage house security light lit up the beginning of the walk and Angie held Finch’s arm. The cats followed behind them.

  Something caught Angie’s eye just as Euclid let out a howling screech that pierced the two people’s eardrums. She stopped short and stared up at the oak tree, a gasp escaping from her mouth. She pointed. “Look. The mistletoe.”

  Mr. Finch’s eyes widened like saucers.

  All of the mistletoe that was growing in the oak tree had been cut out. It was gone.

  * * *

  THE EARLY morning light filtered into the yard and the four sisters and two cats stood in the back garden staring at the oak tree. A few sprigs of crushed mistletoe lie at the base of the tree. After much speculation and no answers about who and why someone had cut out the mistletoe, Courtney went off to the candy store, Ellie and Angie returned to the house to begin work, and Jenna climbed the staircase and crawled back into bed for three more hours. The cats remained outside for a while scowling up into the oak’s branches.

  After closing the bake shop at 3pm, Angie met Josh Williams for a bike ride and an early dinner. It was just what she needed to get her mind off the recent events. In th
e waning light, Josh walked her home from the restaurant. “I’m glad Jack moved Rufus’s going away get-together later in the day. I’ll head back to the resort to check on things and meet you at Jack’s office in thirty minutes.” Josh kissed Angie goodbye, and she opened the front door of the Victorian and stepped into the foyer.

  The house was oddly quiet. Angie spotted a manila envelope set on the foyer table. A sticky note was attached from Chief Martin saying that the photos from the security camera were inside the envelope and that she and the others should have a look. Angie carried the envelope down the hall to the kitchen and seeing the room empty, she walked to the family room. “Where is everyone?” She called for the cats, but got no response. They all must have gone to Jack’s office already.

  Angie sat down on the sofa, slipped the photos out and spread them on the coffee table. She was surprised to see how snowy and grainy the pictures looked. She squinted trying to make something out. She held one up and moved her face close to the image. Blinking hard several times, she thought she could see a shadowy form. Staring at the photo, she traced her finger along the outlines of a person barely visible. It seemed to be kneeling making an adjustment to something. Is it wearing a baseball hat? She looked closer and thought that something hanging down from the neck might be a scarf. Angie sighed disappointed with the poor condition of the photos and how little help they turned out to be.

  She got up and went to the foyer and as she was about to climb the steps to her room to change for Rufus’s party, she turned her head to the foyer table and saw the baseball cap that Courtney had found in the yard. The Yankees. New York. It’s him.

  Fear and dread put their icy fingers around Angie’s throat and nearly choked her.

  Her phone buzzed with an incoming text from Ellie. I’m in the carriage house apartment. I fell. I think I broke my leg.

  Angie took off running.