The Harvest Club

by Iona Morrison

  “I invited Dylan and Matt to come by during their break and get something to eat.” Katie started unpacking the bag with the condiments in it. “They both have to work tonight. I hope you don’t mind. You and Matt are always at odds.”

  “I don’t mind. I can be civil if I work hard at it.” Jessie laughed and threw the salt shaker at Katie. “Nice catch.”

  “I know how your devious mind works. I’ve learned to expect the unexpected when I’m with you.” Katie laughed. “By the way, I’ve waited long enough for you to tell me what had you so upset the other night. You did say you would tell me later if I let up, which I did, so fess up.” Katie grabbed Jessie’s shoulder and shook her playfully.

  “Don’t interrupt like you usually do and let me get through the whole story first, and then you can ask any questions you have.” Jessie cleared her throat and retold the story about all her sightings of Gina.

  “Wow, I didn’t see that coming.” Katie put her hand to her face and pushed her hair behind her ear. “You don’t believe in ghosts, do you? I guess that’s a stupid question in light of everything you’ve experienced since you’ve moved here. It’s a wonder you haven’t moved back to New York already.”

  “I don’t know what I believe, but I can’t just dismiss it as though nothing has happened. I now know the woman staring at me as if she was waiting for me, the woman at the edge of the woods, and the one who I saw in the church was Gina Martin. For some reason she has come to me and wants my help, so I’m going to do it.” Jessie saw Katie’s puzzled look. “I know, crazy, huh? I’ll attempt to tell her story and hopefully in the process find out who killed her.”

  “I don’t know what to say. I’ve never heard anything like this before.”

  “Wow, now this is a first, you speechless.” Jessie laughed. “Seriously, I’m going to write a story about Gina, but some of what I might find out will have to be kept secret.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Her eyebrows rose. “Of course I’ll keep what you tell me secret. There is still a murderer out there. Aren’t you just a little bit afraid you’ll stir up trouble and get in over your head? Remember I told you this is a small town. Everyone knows everyone’s business.”

  “I’m already in over my head by no choice of my own.” She frowned. “I have a ghost hanging around me, which is unusual even for me.” Jessie opened the lid on the picnic basket. “What did you bring for dinner?”

  “Oh, no, you don’t!” Katie snapped the lid down. “It’s the same thing I packed in the box dinners for the guests at the inn.”

  “Which is?”

  Katie never answered her because they were interrupted by Pastor Rick and a friend who strolled over.

  Rick looked at the man beside him. “This is my new secretary, Jessie.” Rick smiled at her. “Jessie, this is Brad Martin.”

  Chills went down her spine when she heard Brad’s name. “Hi.” She paused. “I hope you’re enjoying the evening.” She managed a forced smile. He greeted her with a barely an audible hi back, his face showing no visible emotion at all.

  “Brad was married to Gina and is still grieving, so I thought I would get him out among people tonight.” His eyes shifted to Katie and then back to Jessie.

  “Pastor Rick, this is my friend Katie.”

  “Hi.” He locked eyes with Katie. “How long did you have to twist Jessie’s arm to get her out of New York to this insignificant town?” He gestured around him and smirked. “I thank you.” He saluted her.

  “We’ve been friends a long time. Believe me, no amount of convincing on my part would have brought her here if she hadn’t wanted to come.” Katie turned her face to hide the anger in her eyes.

  “I was hoping for a chance to see you tonight, Jessie!” He paused, giving her a long insolent look. “Enjoy the music. I’m going to introduce Brad to some other folks. See you around.” He turned his back and walked away.

  Jessie felt almost sick as she watched Brad and Rick walk away. The two of them together didn’t seem right. Neither was the way the pastor had been looking at her.

  “Your boss is nice looking but a little too—I don’t know, what’s the word I’m looking for?”

  “Too slick, polished, maybe too much like a used car salesman?” Jessie overemphasized each word.

  “Too forward. Truthfully he gives me the creeps, and he made me angry.”

  “I could tell. You had fire in your eyes, and I fully expected for you to blow smoke out your nostrils.” Jessie laughed.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Oh please, yes, you so did! Now it’s your turn to fess up. What’s for dinner?” Jessie reached for the picnic basket and looked inside. “Oh, man does this ever smell good.”

  “On the menu for tonight is a baked chicken breast on a bed of salad greens with asparagus, topped with honey mustard dressing, a slice of banana walnut bread with cream cheese, and a lovely chocolate raspberry torte for dessert.” She took two boxes out of the basket and handed one to Jessie.

  “Do you always eat like this? If so, I’m coming up to the inn every night.”

  “I treat my guests well. I must if I want to keep them coming back year after year.”

  After they ate, Katie and Jessie stretched out on the blanket to listen to the music. The concert headlined two groups, one that played folk music and an alternative rock group. Jessie liked the first band’s sound.

  “I have a confession to make.” Katie looked at Jessie.

  “Oh, no, what did you do to me, now?”

  “I might have talked to Matt the other night about your crazy goals, among other things.”

  “Katie, how could you? He gives me a hard enough time as it is.”

  “You need help, my friend, and I only gave him a small nudge.”

  “I told you no matchmaking. When I’m ready, I’ll take care of it myself. Please, please don’t try to set me up.” She pleaded with her eyes. “It’ll just turn out like it did that time in college the last time you interfered, a real mess.” Both of them started to giggle.

  “Every time we get near you two you’re laughing.” Matt sat down followed by Dylan.

  Katie looked at them. “Your dinner is in the basket.” She sat up. “Everything should be in the boxes, including your utensils and napkins.”

  “This tastes great.” Dylan took a big bite.

  The second band’s music was too loud to have a decent conversation, so the guys ate and the girls stretched back out. Dylan tapped Katie’s shoulder when they were done. “We have to get back on duty. Thanks for a great meal.”

  “You’re welcome. See you around.” Katie waved and so did Jessie.

  “Well, that passed without another round of tug-of-war between you two.”

  “Just remember to keep loud music playing so no conversation can take place when we are in the same vicinity. As long as we don’t open our mouths, I think the two of us could grow to be very good friends.”

  “Do you know what I think?”

  Jessie rolled her eyes. “I shudder to think!”

  “You really like him, and all of this is some weird mating ritual.” Katie gestured wildly with her hands.

  “You’re crazy.” Jessie rolled her eyes. “I hardly know the man well enough to form an opinion. However, I do believe if we could get past the fact that we are completely at odds and opposites in every way, we could have a professional, working relationship.” She laughed.

  “You have to admit he’s good-looking.” Katie playfully swooned.

  “He sure is, that is if you like the strong, silent type, unless of course he is lecturing me. I don’t need another man to tell me what to do, I have Dad.” She looked at Katie. “No match-making.”

  “Who me? I would never do that.” Katie crossed her fingers behind her back.

  ****

  Later, Matt was watching the departing crowd and thinking about how smoothly things had gone. Dylan came from the other side of the park and stood beside him.

  “Matt,
I’ve been watching Brad Martin and Rick for some time. They moved their chairs close to Jessie and Katie and were staring at them all night.”

  “As far as I know there’s no law against looking at a pretty woman. If that were true, every guy on earth would be in jail. I imagine many of the upstanding citizens of Blue Cove looked at Jessie tonight.” He chuckled. “She looked fine in those jeans. Besides, I was keeping an eye on them, too. The pastor has a thing for her, but he’s not the one I’m concerned about.”

  “Brad sure doesn’t look like a grieving husband to me.” Dylan waved as someone said goodnight to them.

  “It’s the pastor’s relationship to Brad that’s got me thinking.” He frowned after the departing pastor.

  “Maybe I should walk the girls to their cars. I see Brad and Rick walking behind them. Do you want to come along?”

  “You’re on your own. I have some work I want to catch up on before my shift is over, and besides I can handle Jessie better at a distance.” He grinned and shrugged.

  “I thought you said Jessie looked fine tonight.” Dylan slapped Matt on the back and laughed.

  “I did, but some things are just better to look at and never touch. It’s like my relationship to spicy food. It smells good, looks even better, but it gives me indigestion. She might give me indigestion, but I’m not blind.” Matt smiled and walked toward the station and turned to watch until Dylan caught up with the ladies.

  The park was clear of people except for a few stragglers when he finally opened the door to the station and walked in. Matt noticed the newest member of the force siting at the desk. He looked so young, with his dark hair and his head bent over a book. Matt wondered if he had ever looked that young or had been as nice as this kid was.

  “Hi, Matt, how was the concert?” Joe Collins looked up from his book. “It’s been a real snoozer here, nothing much going on.”

  “It was pretty quiet in the park. We had only a few minor skirmishes, not bad for the size of the crowd. How’s your wife and baby girl?” Matt smiled taking inventory of the dark smudges under Joe’s eyes, his disheveled uniform, and his hair standing on end.

  “Both my wife and I would be great if only our new little sweetheart would sleep at night.” His hand propped up his head.

  “If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my office. I’m off duty in about an hour.” Matt started down the hall.

  “Okay, Matt.” Joe watched him walk away.

  Matt turned on the light and pulled Gina’s case file. He looked over the list of suspects and wrote on the margin next to Brad Martin’s name Pastor Rick and then circled it.

  “What is the connection between these two?” His brows furrowed. “It’s not pastoral in nature, I’m sure. I’d even stake some money on that.” He tapped his pencil on the desk.

  He wrote a new column in the file and put the pastor’s name at the top.

  He started to make notes of observations, and what he personally knew about the man.

  “Pastor, there are some things I would like to know about you. I’ll find out. You won’t be able to hide much longer.” Concentration etched lines in his face.

  For the next hour, he pored over the time line and made notations in the case file. There was something nagging at him in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

  “Hey, Matt, you’re still here?” Dylan’s voice startled him.

  “I was going over Gina’s case file. Seeing Brad and the pastor has stirred up something, but I can’t figure it out. I know I’m missing something.” Matt rubbed his temples.

  “You’ll put it together. Something’s got to break soon,” Dylan encouraged him.

  “I wish I felt as positive as you. These guys were professional. They didn’t leave a trace of evidence other than a note with no fingerprints or handwriting.”

  “They’ll slip up eventually. Bad guys always do.” Dylan changed the subject. “As soon as I caught up with the ladies, Brad and Rick veered off in another direction.”

  “Stands to reason they wouldn’t want to be observed by you.” Matt closed the case file and a second file he’d opened. He picked up the second file to take with him.

  “Say, are you about to call it a night?”

  Matt nodded.

  “Give me ten and I’ll walk out with you.” Dylan turned to walk to his office.

  They said goodnight to Joe on their way out the door. “You want to stop for a beer?” Dylan asked.

  “Not tonight. My mind is still going over the case, and I think I just want to keep my focus for a while.”

  Dylan got into his new Ford pickup and Matt went to his vehicle, his pride and joy, a cherry red ’53 Chevy pickup, fully restored, by his truly, in mint condition.

  Stopped at a red light on the drive home, he thought about calling Jessie to tell her about his decision, but it was too late.

  He’d known for a while that he needed a fresh pair of eyes to look at some of the evidence in the case. Jessie might be that pair. After he did a background check on her and talked it over with the police chief, his mind was made up.

  Anderson had asked Matt about Jessie. He had heard of her reputation. When Matt told him what he had learned in his background check on her, the chief advised Matt to use her as part of his team. “You can keep an eye on her since she’s new in town and make sure she doesn’t mess up your investigation.”

  It was actually Thomas O’Malley, the last New York homicide investigator he had talked to, that had sealed the deal.

  “Jessie is a smart and trusted journalist,” O’Malley had said. “Her research is impeccable. If we asked her to withhold information for the sake of the investigation, she could be trusted to do what we asked.”

  “How did she help and work with your department?” He explained to O’Malley that he was thinking of bringing Jessie into his case.

  “On several occasions she obtained information during her research or interviews that she shared with us. We solved a few cases because of it. One look at those blue eyes of hers, and people simply told all.” He laughed. “She’s a sweetheart. There isn’t an officer in this precinct who wouldn’t trust her with vital information. That’s saying a lot.” He chuckled. “We don’t particularly like newspeople.”

  “I hear you,” Matt responded.

  “She’d have made one hell of a cop. But to tell you the truth, she’s more effective being an outsider. People just seem to open up to her. We were all sorry to see her go—she brought class to this joint. By the way, what’s she doing now?”

  “She’s working as a church secretary.”

  “I’ll be damned, if that’s not the perfect cover for her.”

  Matt remembered Thomas’s parting words to him. “Treat her good, you hear, or you’ll answer to me and a few others here at the precinct. Her research is sound. The way she puts it together will make your head spin, but she’s tenacious and gets to the truth, thinking like a woman would.”

  Hell, she had already messed with his head, but his mind was settled. He would take her to dinner and ask for her help, a truce of sorts—nothing more. Truth was he wanted a whole lot more.

  Chapter Six

  Jessie’s mind was a whirl of activity as she drove to Rocky Pointe. She didn’t exactly know how to approach Gina’s parents. Hopefully they would say something during the introductions and small talk that would give her the opening she needed.

  Rocky Pointe was beautiful. There were no beaches, just rocky bluffs which were quite majestic looking. Clouds were building over the ocean, and the waves were slamming the rocky shore line. It was totally awesome, and Jessie had to pull over and take pictures.

  She loved the old Victorian and Cape Cod houses that made up the older section of the town, built along the rocky cliffs overlooking the ocean. Some of them were private homes, but others had become inns or small shops.

  She followed the Bradleys’ directions, and before long, she found herself parking in front of their home. They lived in t
he newer section of Rocky Pointe in a well maintained modest house on the far edge of town.

  She felt a little nervous, but she was in too deep to turn back now. She walked up the sidewalk to the front door. It was time to peel back a layer. Perhaps she could secretly help Matt without him knowing. Impossible, absolutely improbable, there was no way; he would just have to accept her help and like it. This was not a simple murder case.

  She listened to the three-note chime of the doorbell. The door was opened by a pretty brunette with dark brown eyes. Jessie knew the minute she saw her where Gina got her looks. Mrs. Bradley was an attractive, petite woman with a smile just like her daughter’s.

  “You must be Jessie Reynolds.” She opened the screen to let her in.

  “Yes, I am. Thank you for agreeing to talk to me.” Jessie smiled at her.

  “Please be seated.” She motioned to a chair. “My name is Pam, and this is my husband Don.”

  Jessie acknowledged the introduction and continued cautiously. “As I told you on the phone, I wanted the opportunity to explain to you why I want to do this story. Then it’s up to you. I don’t want to intrude on what must be a very hard time for you both.” Jessie paused, gathering courage. “I don’t want you to think I’m weird, because nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”

  She proceeded to tell them all that had happened to her since moving to Blue Cove. “So you see, I didn’t know your daughter or that she had been murdered when I took the job. Until I saw her picture hanging in the church and James Morris told me she had been murdered, I thought I was seeing a living person.”

  Gina’s parents showed very little reaction to all she had said. Jessie could only imagine what they must be thinking. “The dream was the turning point for me. The expression on Gina’s face when she asked for my help got to me. When I told her I would help her, it felt like the right thing to do.” Jessie paused and heard only the sound of the refrigerator running.