Venus knelt beside the tree, snapping photos on her iPhone.
“Wait, do these shorts make me look fat?” Kaitlyn asked.
Sunny drew in a sigh. “No, you look cute,” she said. “What brought this on?”
“We’re just getting ready for summer,” Kaitlyn explained.
Venus adjusted her long braids to spread more evenly across her bare shoulders. “Lots of hot tourist boys,” she said. “I can’t wait.”
“First time you guys ever liked tourist season,” Sunny grumped. Of course, neither of them had lived here their whole lives, like Sunny had.
“Hey, is that the dog we found?” For the first time, Kait noticed Muffin. She knelt down in front of the dog, then sat cross-legged, not reaching out a hand. “Is she doing okay?”
“Yeah. She’s still healing, but the vet says she’s doing really well. Skittish, though.”
“Do you think she’d like to meet Dad’s dog? She’s right inside.”
“Worth a try.” While Sunny hadn’t wanted to introduce Muffin to Mary’s rowdy poodle mix, she thought Kait’s father’s former K-9, Navy, might be a good companion for Muffin. Sure enough, when Kaitlyn emerged with the golden retriever, it approached Muffin slowly, then sat a short distance away, just as Kaitlyn had.
Muffin cowered low, but when neither Kait nor Navy came any closer, she stretched her nose out toward Navy and sniffed. When the golden retriever moved, though, Muffin jumped back.
“Baby steps,” Sunny said.
Venus, not as much of a dog person, had watched the exchange from a safe distance. “I can’t believe someone would hurt a dog,” she said.
“Me, either.” Sunny got an idea the way she always did: fully formed and ready for liftoff. “That’s why I want the three of us to investigate, find out who did it.”
Kaitlyn and Venus looked at each other. Then Kaitlyn slowly shook her head. “I don’t mean any disrespect, but what can we do that the police can’t? Aren’t they looking into it?”
“Yeah, in their free time, which is nonexistent.” Sunny ran her hands over Muffin, letting it all play out in her mind. “We can poke around where they can’t, see what we can find out.”
“I don’t want to.” Venus lay back and stared up at the blue sky. “Maybe I’m lazy, but I just want to watch Netflix and try on clothes. School’s been hard this year.”
Sunny narrowed her eyes. “The three of us made a pretty good team when Kait was in trouble,” she reminded them. It was a subtle dig: she didn’t want Kait to forget that they’d helped her figure out who was circulating a bad video about her, and not only that, they’d gotten revenge on the boys involved.
“We did, and I’m grateful,” Kait said. “It’s just...I’m with Venus. Kinda tired.”
Sunny didn’t think she could do it alone, and she didn’t want to. “There’s actually a cute boy involved,” she said, then immediately regretted bringing up Caden.
“Ooh, who?” Both of her friends snapped to attention.
What was done was done. So Sunny explained how Caden had come out of the woods just after Kaitlyn had run for the police, and had disappeared when the police came. “He’s living—squatting, really—in the Blue House by Victory Cottage.”
“Why?” Kaitlyn asked. “Isn’t he rich?”
“All he said was that he needed not to live at home for a while.”
“Now, that’s a mystery I’d like to solve,” Venus said. “He’s yummy.”
He was yummy. If Sunny had wanted to date, she’d have chosen a guy like Caden: built, countercultural, not full of himself, smart. “So will you come at least see what we can find out?” She’d get them interested that way and then they’d become the friends they’d been before, and help her solve the dog mystery. Sunny figured Caden wouldn’t be at the Blue House, because she’d seen him at school, headed for the locker room. Probably, he’d hang with the soccer team or play some basketball with the group that spent all their time on the outdoor courts.
“What good will it do to go to the Blue House?” Kaitlyn asked.
“That’s where Muffin was originally dropped off. Maybe we can find something out.” The truth was, she didn’t have a plan, but she hoped something would fall into place.
With a lot of groaning and whining, Kaitlyn and Venus stowed their photo shoot gear and followed Sunny to the street where Victory Cottage and the Blue House were. The sun was getting lower, and the air cooler, and Sunny listened to their complaints about being cold in their shorts without a whole lot of sympathy. She’d told them to put on jeans, but they both wanted to tan their legs. Which wasn’t happening, not in March, but she didn’t bring that up.
As a kid who spent a ton of time on the water, Sunny didn’t try to get tan. She was already brunette, and she got dark soon enough with long days of crabbing. Mom usually made her wear a hat, like all the watermen did.
But Kaitlyn was a town kid—from Baltimore, actually, before her family had moved to Pleasant Shores a few years ago—and Venus came from up the coast. She was light-skinned but liked to get sun, because it brought out her freckles, which she thought were cute, and she was right.
They approached the Blue House, and Navy and Muffin lunged and barked at a gull pecking along the road.
Sunny felt like cheering. Muffin was acting like a real dog!
Then the door of Victory Cottage opened, and there was Mom’s friend William on the steps.
“Go, go, go!” she said, urging her friends to hide behind the Blue House. She didn’t want William to see her and report to Mom where she was and what she was doing. Almost immediately, she realized she should have just pretended they were out taking a stroll, but it was too late. Now, they were committed to hiding.
“Sunny?” came his voice. Great, he’d seen her. But maybe if they hid, he’d forget about it.
“Who’s the giant?” Venus asked as they ran around the back of the Blue House.
“Mom’s friend,” Sunny panted. “Come on, we can go in.”
“It’ll be locked!”
“Let’s just try it.” She was pretty sure Caden didn’t always lock the place, because no way did he have a key.
Sure enough, she pushed open the door easily and they all fell inside, laughing. “Close call,” Kaitlyn said.
“This reminds me of old times,” Venus added. “Remember when we hid in the window well of Chris Taylor’s house and filmed him doing his dastardly deeds?” She was back to the fake British accent she sometimes used.
Sunny pushed herself to a sitting position. The dogs sniffed around, finding a few food crumbs on the floor.
“You said Caden wouldn’t be here, right?” Kaitlyn asked. “Because he’s not going to like us breaking in.”
“You’ve got that right,” came a voice from the hallway. Caden came in and stood, arms crossed. He glared at Sunny. “Why’d you squeal about my hiding place?”
“I...I...” Sunny felt bad. She’d done it, really, to get her friends’ attention. “We’re trying to find out about who dropped Muffin off here.”
“Are you in trouble?” Kaitlyn asked Caden. “Why are you staying here?”
“It’s just...not a great time to be at my house. I told my folks I was staying with a friend, and they’re not the types to worry about me. But now that everyone in the world knows I’m here, I’ll probably have to move on.” He stomped over to the refrigerator and started pulling food out and loading it into grocery bags.
“No, stop!” Kaitlyn hurried over to him and put a hand on his arm. “We won’t tell anyone. Right?” She looked at Venus and glared at Sunny.
“Right,” Venus said. “We won’t tell.”
“Of course they won’t,” Sunny said. “You don’t have to leave. You can help us! We’re investigating what happened to the dog.”
“I don’t want to do that. Y’all
get out.”
“Come on,” Venus said, tugging at Sunny’s arm. “Let’s go. You heard him. Leave him in peace. Don’t ruin his hideout any more than you already have.”
Sunny looked at the three faces around her, ranging from annoyed to angry, and realized she’d screwed up. How would she fix it?
* * *
ON TUESDAY NIGHT, William walked into the Gusty Gull and stopped in the doorway, surveying the scene. He’d expected a quiet dive, but the place seemed to be having a wild party. Loud music played, its volume belying the fact that the band in the corner was only three guys. The smell of fried food hung in the air, and almost every table was filled with talking, laughing, drinking people.
Once his eyes had adjusted to the dim light, he realized that there were shamrocks and green streamers everywhere, and that most people were wearing at least some item of green clothing.
Ooohhh. It was St. Patrick’s Day, and here in Pleasant Shores, as elsewhere, the green beer was flowing.
He scanned the room and located Drew. They’d agreed at the museum yesterday that rather than getting lunch at Goody’s, they’d hit the Gusty Gull tonight. He approached Drew’s table, greeted him and sat down.
“Place is packed,” William said. “I think that’s Mary in the middle of the dance floor. She’s good!”
“Is she dancing with a bald man? Sharp dresser?”
“Uh-huh.” William leaned to see past some of the other dancers. “They’re doing something like salsa...he’s twirling her and dipping her. They put everyone else to shame.”
“That’s Kirk James. He’s crazy about her, but she doesn’t want a boyfriend. Or so she says.” Drew grinned. “Gotta get you up on the local gossip.”
“It’s good to see another side of Mary.” As the song ended, the bald man held onto her arm, gesturing with his other hand. She laughed and shook her head, pulled away, and went to a table where a couple of other women were sitting. “Looks like she blew him off. She’s back sitting with two women I met, but I can’t remember their names. One’s maybe Amber?”
Drew nodded. “Amber and Erica, most likely. Sisters, and they’re good friends of Mary.”
“Can I get you another, Drew?” The voice came from a frazzled-looking waitress. “What about you, sir?”
“I’ll have the same,” Drew said. “Thanks, Suz.”
“Iced tea for me,” William said, and when the waitress left, he explained even though Drew didn’t question his decision. “Got too much of the wrong side of alcohol, growing up. Never developed a taste for it.”
There were a couple of games on TV, hockey and spring training baseball. William was into baseball, always had been, and it turned out Drew followed the Orioles, too. After a while, they talked a little about the museum and how it could work with the teens. “Better not make too many plans,” William said. “Bisky’s taking the lead here. She knows everyone and everything about the community.”
“You said you grew up around here, though?” Drew asked.
William nodded, then realized Drew couldn’t see a nod. “Uh-huh. I was a dock kid of sorts, not that my family had a real fishing business. Dad made a little money oystering and crabbing.” He didn’t mention the welfare and disability payments, nor his father’s other questionable activities.
“How’d you end up a professor?”
William smiled. “Would’ve surprised a lot of people if they knew,” he said. “I dropped out and headed up the shore. Got my GED, met a mentor, and he helped me find a scholarship. It went on like that, all the way to a doctorate in education.” The truth was, he’d gotten a lot of assistance on the way. That was part of the reason why he liked working at the community college. The teaching load was heavy, but the students made it all worthwhile. Many of them were like him, kids that couldn’t afford a private school or even a state university. He tried to help along as many as he could, or at least, he had until they’d lost Jenna and everything had fallen apart.
“How’s it going?” A voice from above their heads made William look up. There was Evan Stone, now in uniform. “Hey, Drew, it’s Evan.”
“Are you working the Gull tonight?”
“Yeah, keeping an eye on things. But I’ll sit down for a few.”
“Good luck keeping this crowd in line,” Drew said.
“It’s damage control at this point.” Evan scanned the room. “See who’s leaving drunk and make sure they don’t try to drive home.”
“Good man.”
Evan turned his attention to William. “Heard anything about that dog?” he asked.
“No.” William felt accused. “Why would I?”
“Just thought you might,” Evan said mildly. “Since you were at Bisky’s that night. People don’t always want to talk to a cop, especially one who’s new in town.”
“I heard nothing.”
“Trust me,” Drew said, “you’ll always be new in town if you didn’t grow up here. But it’s a welcoming town, anyway. There’s just a difference between locals and newcomers, that’s all.”
“What about you?” Evan asked William. “Do you consider yourself a local or a newcomer?”
He’s just doing his job, William reminded himself. “A little of both, I guess.”
They talked a few minutes longer, and then Evan stood abruptly and headed after a couple who were leaving, falling-down drunk.
“You planning to leave as soon as your time at Victory Cottage is done?” Drew asked.
“Yeah, I am,” William said. “Have a job back home. And this place holds a lot of bad memories for me.”
“You might want to check it out, see how it’s changed,” Drew said. “It’s a real friendly town. Nice place to raise a family.”
“Uh-huh.” William wasn’t buying it, and anyway, what did it matter to him whether it was a nice place to raise a family? Did he want to be here in a pretty little town where everyone else had a nice family?
“Believe me,” Drew said, “when I came back here, I didn’t think I’d stay. I’m a former cop,” he explained.
“Really?” That surprised William.
Drew nodded. “Uh-huh, until I got disabled in the line of duty. Couldn’t go back to my old job, so I had to figure out how to make a life here. It helped that I remarried my wife,” he added.
“And I bet your girls were glad about that.” William ignored the twinge he felt, thinking of Drew with his two teenage girls. Jenna had been deeply unhappy when William and her mother had separated. Now, he’d give anything to have stayed with Ellie, at least for the time being. He wished he could have made Jenna’s life perfect.
“Uh-huh,” Drew said. “If you don’t mind my asking, are you and Bisky together?”
“Why do you ask?” William wasn’t used to small-town nosiness anymore.
“To be honest,” Drew said, “my wife and I were talking about it. She thought you’d be great together.”
“Old friends,” William said. “And that’s all.”
Drew nodded, seeming to catch on that William didn’t want to spill his guts to a guy he’d just met. “Friends are good,” he said, and they went back to focusing on the games and the dance floor action, which was getting wilder as people consumed more alcohol.
“Hey, gentlemen.” Two women were suddenly sitting at their table. Both wore tight jeans, tight shirts and high heels. Both were pretty.
And drunk.
“We were hoping you’d like to dance,” the blonde one said.
Drew laughed. “Not me,” he said easily. “My wife’s the only one who can handle my bad dancing.”
Well played. William tried to think of a gracious turndown. He’d used to like to dance, when things were good with Ellie. They’d even danced at a few middle school dances they’d chaperoned, mortifying Jenna, but in a good way. Her friends had loved it.
“You�
��re gonna have to find somebody else,” the blonde said to her quieter friend, nodding sideways at William. “He’s mine. I like ’em big.”
“Uh, no thanks,” William said, laughing a little. “I’ve had a long day.”
“Way to objectify the man,” her friend said. “Come on. Sorry, gentlemen.”
After they’d left, William shook his head. “That was embarrassing.”
“Were they pretty?” Drew asked.
“Oh, sure.”
“Well, if you’re not with Bisky, why not dance with some pretty women? You might meet someone that way.”
“No thanks,” William said. “I’m a bad bet for love.”
“Are you now?” Drew frowned. “Nobody’s perfect at it, you know. Just ask my wife.”
William liked Drew, but he was a little tired of hearing about “my wife, my wife.”
“Listen,” he said. “I gotta go. You okay getting out of here?”
An expression of annoyance crossed Drew’s face. “I’m fine.”
“Sorry, man, of course you are.” He should know better than to question a blind man’s competence. He’d clearly gotten here okay on his own.
He walked out of the bar, through the happy, friendly people, feeling like a loser all around.
If he didn’t have an appointment to meet with Bisky the next morning, he might have gotten in his car and driven right back to Baltimore where he belonged, or at least, where he could disappear into the crowd.
CHAPTER TEN
ON WEDNESDAY MORNING, Bisky met William downtown, halfway between their houses, and they walked toward the preschool.
They’d agreed to meet before connecting with Kayla. They were going to talk to her about whether her young students, some of whom stayed a full day in extended care, would benefit from being involved in the museum activities they were planning for their teenagers.
The breeze rustled through long-needled pines. The sun shone bright, and the occasional wild cry of a loon broke through the chirp and trill of spring’s first robins. A perfect Chesapeake day.
Home to the Harbor--A Novel Page 9