The Haunted Island (A Lin Coffin Mystery Book 9)

by J A Whiting

  When they came out from the trees and brush, Lin and Viv saw the yellow tape ringing the cemetery, the sign with NO ADMITTANCE written on it, and the investigators and the workers moving amongst the graves holding clipboards. Two earth movers had been parked to the side closer to the slip of beach. The graves that had been dug up to remove the bodies looked like dark, angry gaping pits.

  Viv gave a shudder. “I know they’re doing a good thing moving the bodies to different cemeteries to protect them, but gee, this place looks … so awful.”

  Lin had to agree with her cousin’s sentiments, and after watching for a while, she suggested they hike along the cliffs and around to the other side of the island.

  Walking on the narrow path along the bluffs high above the ocean, Lin stopped and glanced around. “Do you feel anything?”

  Viv’s breath caught. “No,” she said with an uneasy tone.

  Lin shrugged off the momentary flash of worry and continued her way on the path.

  “Why are we doing this?” Viv asked. “What are you hoping to see?”

  Following the edge of the bluff as it turned to the northern side of the island, Lin stopped walking and Viv almost stepped into her.

  “Look.” Lin pointed down the cliff to a cove tucked into the island where a cruiser was anchored.

  Viv blinked several times. “That’s Samuel Mitchell’s boat. What’s he doing here?”

  “My exact question,” Lin said. “Let’s see if we can find him and ask what he’s doing.”

  When they found a trail that led down the hill, the cousins walked slowly and carefully to descend the steep, sandy path and reaching the bottom, they saw a dinghy pulled up on the tiny bit of beach.

  “Do you see any footprints leading away from the beach?” Lin used her hand to shade her eyes.

  “There.” Viv pointed to marks in the wet sand leading away from the beach into the scrub.

  Lin stared. “Two people. Two people were in the dinghy and walked into the woods.”

  Viv eyed her cousin. “Mitchell and who else?”

  “Let’s see if we can find out.” Lin led the way into the trees. “There’s hardly a path at all. Be careful of the vines,” she whispered. “And let’s keep our voices down so we don’t alert the doctor ... and whoever he’s with.”

  After five minutes of slow going past brush and scrub, Lin thought she heard voices up ahead so she raised her hand to alert Viv.

  Viv nodded and mouthed the word, men.

  Through the trees, Lin saw a man sitting on a rock in the middle of a clearing. The soil was sandy and the spot was covered with low-growing scrub.

  Lin and Viv hid behind a tree and knelt to make themselves lower and more difficult to see.

  The man on the rock hung his head down.

  A second man stood over him. “I know you must have a second notebook.”

  The voice was familiar to Lin. Roger Price, Dr. Mitchell’s assistant.

  The man sitting on the rock was Dr. Mitchell.

  Lin whispered to Viv, “What’s going on?”

  “Where is it Samuel? Where’s that other notebook?” Roger demanded, but Mitchell slumped and almost slid from his perch on the granite.

  Roger struck Dr. Mitchell across the head with the butt of a pistol and the cousins had to stifle gasps. Mitchell crumpled to the ground.

  Viv grabbed at Lin’s arm. “What’s happening?”

  Lin’s mind raced and her heart pounded with such force she was sure one of her ribs might break. She slipped closer to Viv and spoke into her ear. “Dr. Mitchell looks dazed. Roger must have hit him in the head several times, or maybe he’s drugged him. Mitchell told me his grandfather kept notebooks with maps and descriptions of where treasure might be hidden. Roger must be after the notes. He must think he’ll find a treasure.”

  Viv’s eyes watered. “What should we do?” She checked her phone. “No service. I can’t call for help.”

  Roger kicked Mitchell in the back and the doctor moaned. “I’ll find it without your help. I’m sick of you.” The assistant lifted his weapon and aimed it at the man in the sand.

  Lin grabbed a rock, stood up, and hurled it into the clearing behind Roger. When it thudded to the ground, Roger whirled and looked frantically to the woods to find the source of the noise.

  Lin squatted. “I can’t let Roger kill Samuel.” She scooped up a few rocks and handed two to Viv. “If Roger lifts his gun, throw these at his head. Whatever you do, don’t let him know you’re here.”

  “I can’t aim these at his head,” Viv’s eyes were wild. “I’ll never be able to hit him.”

  “Diversion will be enough.” Lin stood and hurried through the brush.

  “What’s happened? Can I help you?” Lin called and rushed out into the clearing.

  Roger’s face registered shock.

  “Is Dr. Mitchell having a heart attack?” Lin ignored Roger trying to pretend that she only thought Mitchell was in a health crisis and hadn’t seen the gun. “What happened to him?” The young woman knelt beside the fallen man.

  “What are you doing here?” Roger demanded clearly rattled by the intrusion.

  “I come to hike here.” Lin didn’t look up, but kept an eye on Roger’s stance to see what he might do. “Do you have a phone? Did you call for help?” She loosened the buttons on Mitchell’s shirt and felt for a pulse. “He’s breathing. Do you have cell service or not?” Lin didn’t wait for an answer. “Dr. Mitchell? It’s Lin Coffin. Can you get up? We’re going to help you up.”

  Lin stood and put her hand under the doctor’s right arm. “Help me,” she ordered Roger, and then looked to see if he still had the gun in his hand.

  The gun was gone and Lin assumed he must have slipped it into the back of his waistband.

  “You came here in the doctor’s boat?” Lin asked. “Where is it? What’s the quickest way back?”

  Roger looked dumbfounded by the turn of events. “Are you here alone?”

  “What?” A shiver ran over Lin’s skin. If Roger thinks I’m alone, will he kill me and the doctor? “My cousin is here … and our boyfriends. I’m meeting them on the cliffs. Let’s get going. We need to get help.”

  Roger grabbed Mitchell by the left arm and they trudged through the brush and up to the cliffs making slow progress.

  “There are investigators at the cemetery,” Lin said. “Why don’t you run ahead. There might be a doctor or a nurse there. Run ahead and ask for help. Dr. Mitchell can’t go much further. I’ll wait here with him.”

  A gust of wind came off the ocean and blew over the narrow cliff trail.

  Lin glanced down over the edge at the rocks below, and her heart jumped into her throat. She knew what Roger was about to do.

  Holding tight to Mitchell’s arm, she yanked him away from the drop-off just as Roger pulled in the opposite direction to fling the man over the edge.

  If Lin had not anticipated Roger’s move, she wouldn’t have been able to hold onto the doctor.

  Lin fell to her knees still clutching Mitchell who had slumped to the ground next to her.

  Glaring at Roger, Lin growled. “What are you doing? Back away from us.”

  Roger’s eyes darkened and he stared down at the woman kneeling on the trail. He reached behind and pulled out his gun. He trained the barrel onto Lin.

  “Too bad you decided to go for a hike here today,” he sneered.

  “And it’s too bad you’re such a monster.” Lin leveled her eyes at Roger, and then she flung herself into a ball and prepared to lunge at his legs.

  Viv had followed the trio from the woods, and now she stepped forward, flung a rock at Roger, and shrieked at the top of her lungs.

  The high-pitched sound startled the man who spun around in Viv’s direction. He stumbled, teetered … and when he took a step back, his foot slipped on the little stones, and, in slow motion, Roger tumbled backwards, his gun firing into the air over his head, as he fell off the side of the cliff down onto the rocks below. />
  25

  Viv gave Dr. Mitchell some water from her bottle and he began to come to consciousness, muttering about Roger Price. “He’s going to kill me. Roger has a gun.”

  Lin ran her hand gently over the doctor’s forehead. “It’s okay. Roger isn’t here. You’re safe.”

  “I ... he should have killed me … for what my grandfather did.”

  Viv and Lin exchanged quick looks.

  “My grandfather killed a man here … on Canter.” Mitchell tried to sit up, but was too weak to accomplish the movement. “So many years ago.”

  Viv’s eyes bore into Mitchell. “What man? What was his name?”

  Mitchell let out a mighty sigh and closed his eyes. “William Irons.”

  Lin had run to the cemetery and found two medical professionals who went with her over the paths to Dr. Mitchell. Two men followed with a stretcher and carefully carried Mitchell back to the medical tents where they’d been working. A helicopter was called and the doctor was flown to the Nantucket hospital where they discovered Mitchell had been drugged by his assistant while the two were on the boat.

  Roger Price had stolen two notebooks from Mitchell that his grandfather had kept notes in about treasure on Canter. Roger used the doctor’s boat to take trips out to the island to search for the buried valuables, but only found a few gold doubloons. The assistant was sure Dr. Mitchell had a third notebook in his possession that would be the answer to where treasure was hidden. Benjamin’s notes actually showed where he’d hidden the smuggled items before transferring the goods to the buyers and the locations of the buried payments he’d received. Over time, he’d dig up the chests of money made from his smuggling and make bank deposits. Putting the money in the bank a little at a time, kept suspicion away from where it was coming from.

  Roger Price died on the rocks from his fall off the cliff on the day he planned to murder Samuel Mitchell. Price had worked with and ingratiated himself to the doctor for two decades, and because Samuel had no living relatives and thought Roger was his dear friend, he’d named the man as beneficiary in his will. If Roger had been able to kill Mitchell, he would have inherited his fortune and wouldn’t need to hunt for treasure anymore.

  Lin realized that when she’d gone into Mitchell’s den for the kitchen plans Jeff had left there and found Roger riffling through a box on the desk, he must have been searching for another of Benjamin Mitchell’s notebooks to steal.

  When Samuel Mitchell was packing to move to his new house, he found the bundles of his grandfather’s notes and documents that were handed down to him a year ago when his father, over one hundred years old, passed away. Mitchell hadn’t had time to look through the things until recently.

  In those documents, there was an old letter written by Mitchell’s grandfather, Benjamin. Benjamin admitted to murdering William Irons on Canter Island when Irons discovered the man’s smuggling ring being run from the island.

  I made a fortune from the illegal activities. I killed someone to keep my ‘business’ a secret. I took a life. I am filled with regret. Forgive me, William.

  Each with an ice cream cone in their hand, Lin, Jeff, Viv, and John walked through town headed to Brant Point. They’d met for dinner at a restaurant near the docks and enjoyed drinks and good food while discussing William Irons’s case.

  “I get to be part of the discussion now that I know a few secrets,” John grinned. “I still don’t think it’s right that Jeff knew before I did.”

  “We knew Jeff would take it all in stride,” Viv said with a smile. “We weren’t so sure about you.”

  “O ye of little faith.” John shook his head. “So you’ve solved the ghost mystery.”

  “Keep your voice down,” Lin shushed him. “Just because you know about certain skills, it doesn’t mean everyone in town needs to be aware of such things.”

  “We’re still waiting for Anton to find out if Merry Irons is buried on-island,” Viv explained. “We know who killed William Irons and why, but we need to know where home is. Irons wants to go home. That’s the last part of the puzzle.”

  Continuing their stroll and passing the Whaling Museum, Viv sidled up to her cousin while the men walked ahead. “John seems nervous or something tonight. Have you noticed? He seems distracted.”

  “I really haven’t noticed,” Lin said as she licked a drop of ice cream from her finger. “Maybe he’s still getting used to the idea that we can see ghosts.”

  “I don’t think I’ll see a ghost again,” Viv announced. “I feel different … well, I feel more like my old self. My ability seems to have disappeared since we discovered who killed William. I must have had to help my distant relative from long ago and since I did, I think my skill has gone away.”

  “Really?” Lin asked feeling slightly disappointed. “Does losing your skill make you feel bad?”

  Viv let out a laugh. “Gosh, no. Like I’ve said, you have the skill and I’m very happy to just help you with it. We have a system and it works for us. No need for me to see any more ghosts.”

  Jeff and John stopped walking to let the women catch up.

  Jeff took Lin’s arm. “John wants to head down to the lighthouse. Why don’t you and I go over to that gallery I like. I’d like to have a look at some of the paintings.”

  “We can all go by the lighthouse and then go to the gallery together,” Lin suggested.

  Jeff caught his girlfriend’s eye and shook his head as he took her by the hand and led her away.

  While John and Viv headed over to the lighthouse, Lin asked, “Why do we have to go to the gallery right now?”

  When they were at the corner, Jeff turned Lin around to see John and Viv standing under the stars right next to the lighthouse.

  Suddenly, John took Viv’s hand and got down on one knee.

  Lin gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. “John’s--”

  Jeff herded Lin away up the street back towards town. “John’s proposing. He told me about it a while ago. He’s been a nervous wreck. We’re supposed to get an outside table at the Captain’s Deck and they’ll meet us there for celebratory champagne. That is, if Viv says yes.”

  Tears of joy tumbled down Lin’s cheeks. “Oh, she’ll say yes. She’s been waiting for this for years.”

  “You know how John has been thinking of selling his boat?” Jeff asked,

  Lin nodded as she brushed the tears from her cheeks.

  “John’s thinking they’ll live in Viv’s house and on his boat, but he doesn’t think his boat is big enough. He’s going to ask Viv tonight what she thinks … should they keep it, or sell it and buy a bigger boat.”

  Lin chuckled. “All this time, Viv’s been thinking that John was having a mid-life crisis, but he’s only been acting odd because he’s been planning to propose. Wow. A wedding. How exciting. I can’t wait.”

  When they stopped to look out over the water and watch the lights sparkling off the boats and the ducks swimming by, Lin squeezed Jeff’s hand. “You two sure are sneaky. Keeping secrets from me.”

  Under the golden light of the streetlamp, Jeff held tight to Lin’s hand and then got down on one knee. “We’re sneakier than you think.”

  Lin’s mouth dropped open at the sight of her boyfriend kneeling in front of her.

  Jeff reached into his jacket pocket and removed a black velvet box. “I know we haven’t been dating as long as Viv and John, but I know when I’ve met the woman I love, the magical, wonderful woman I want to spend forever with. Lin Coffin, will you marry me?”

  Tears spilled over Lin’s lids and her throat was so tight that she couldn’t answer, so she nodded her head and pulled Jeff up, and then took his head in both of her hands and kissed him.

  Jeff opened the box to reveal the prettiest ring Lin had ever seen. He slipped the diamond onto her finger and wrapped his arms around her.

  “John and I have been planning this night for a long time,” Jeff whispered. “You just said you were excited about a wedding. Well, how about a double
wedding with the four us taking our vows on the same day?”

  Lin rested her head on Jeff’s shoulder. “I can’t think of anything better.”

  Under a deep blue, cloudless sky, Lin and Viv stood next to Anton and Libby Hartnett at the opened gravesite watching the hearse driving slowly up the road towards them.

  Anton found out that Merry Silver Irons had remained on Nantucket until she passed away at the age of ninety-one. Merry had been buried in the Mid-Island Cemetery and when her grave was located, Viv was happy to discover that the plot right next to the woman was available to purchase, and she immediately bought it for her distant relative, William Irons.

  When the casket was removed from the back of the hearse and set on a platform next to the grave, a minister said a few words and a prayer. He shook hands with the four people attending the brief service and then walked away.

  Lin and Viv chatted for a little while with Libby and Anton, and thanked the historian for all of his research help. Anton was still looking to find Mr. Irons’s descendants, if any, in order to contact them about their ancestor and let them know where he was buried.

  Libby and Anton said goodbye, went to their car, and drove away.

  Holding white roses, the two cousins placed them gently on top of the casket.

  “We brought you home,” Viv whispered. “You are right next to Merry now. We found out the truth, too. Benjamin Mitchell killed you. He took your life. We did what you asked of us. It’s time to rest in peace now.”

  Lin rested her hand on Viv’s back, and then they started away from the gravesite.

  “I won’t see a ghost again,” Viv said as they walked. “That ability seems to have slipped away.”

  “You never know,” Lin told her. “It may come and go as you need it.”

  Viv turned to look back for a moment at the gravesite they’d just left, and glancing to the tree line, she said, “Funny. I thought I saw someone standing by the trees, but it was just the sunlight flickering off the leaves.”