Pelican Pointe Boxed Set Books 1 - 3 (A Pelican Pointe Novel)

by Vickie McKeehan

  Pulling out of the driveway of the farm onto the road, he knew he needed to make a stop next door to tell Nick and Jordan the news.

  He couldn’t help but think the two were on to something. Maybe a way to revitalize the town from the dead was to make it more attractive to newcomers. And this realization had come after he’d been so suspicious about Hayden’s staying in Pelican Pointe.

  When he knocked on the door of the B & B, it was Nick who answered and then led the way into the kitchen where Jordan was about to dole out dishes of ice cream. The moment she spotted Ethan she immediately wanted to know, “What’s wrong? Is Hayden all right?”

  Ethan took it from there and told them what had happened.

  Sitting around the Harris table, Ethan noticed Jordan took the news harder than Nick.

  “We got off to a bad start, him and me. When I first got here all he did was come over to complain, wouldn’t even sit down and drink a cup of coffee with Scott or me. But last spring, thanks to Nick, the old man had a complete change of heart.”

  “The same time the rest of Pelican Pointe did,” Nick finished. “But the last five months, Edmund was a fixture here and vice versa. For some reason, he bugged me to take an interest in his farm. I had to eventually tell him I didn’t know squat about cows or farming. Which makes me wonder what the heck Will Foley is going to do now? He’s been working on that farm since he was a kid.”

  Ethan nodded. “He and Francine both. You know, those two got married right there on the grounds, had the ceremony not far from the main house. Then held the reception outside in Edmund’s garden. The whole town came. Hell, they still live in the original cabin Taggert’s father built back in 1910. When I left just now, they were both pretty torn up.”

  “I hope Will and Francine understand how much Kent Springer will be chomping at the bit to get at that piece of property,” Nick surmised.

  “Everyone in town knew what Kent almost did to get hold of Promise Cove. Edmund was no dummy. He was fully aware Springer was interested in Taggert Farms. But Springer has his own problems. His trial starts on Tuesday.”

  “Yeah, I know and I can’t wait for the DA to call me to testify against him either.”

  “Who will handle the funeral arrangements?” Jordan asked Ethan.

  “I put a call into Aaron Hartley but no one answered. I’ll take a run by his house after I leave here. He’s always been Edmund’s lawyer. But if you ask me, Taggert probably left the details to Will and Francine.”

  About that time, the three of them heard a car pull into the driveway.

  “That’ll be Hayden coming in from work,” Jordan informed them.

  Damn. Ethan had hoped to stop in at the Diner on his way home and get something to eat. Glancing at his watch, he realized it was almost ten o’clock. The night had somehow gotten away from him.

  They heard a light tap at the back door. Through the glass, they all spotted Hayden at the same time.

  It was Ethan who got up to let her in.

  “I saw your truck in the driveway. What’s going on? Is everyone all right?”

  Ethan told her the news. All Hayden saw was pure grief on the faces of Nick and Jordan. Her heart went out to them. “Well, no one in town heard about it, that’s for sure. Otherwise, it would’ve been all over the Diner. Instead they were all talking about Kent Springer’s upcoming trial starting Tuesday morning.”

  Because of that gossip she’d gotten a dismal description of the guy’s character, which pretty much rubber-stamped what Jordan and Ethan had said about the man.

  Hayden watched as Jordan could barely keep her eyes open. But in spite of that fact, ever the hostess, she asked Ethan, “Have you had anything to eat tonight? I could fix you a sandwich.”

  But before Ethan could answer, Hayden laid a hand on his arm. “It’s been a long day for everyone. Nick looks tired and Jordan looks like she’s about to drop. How about we get out of their hair, Ethan?”

  “Good idea. I need to take a swing by Aaron’s place anyway before it gets much later.” Or he might just have to wait until morning.

  When they were standing outside along the garden path, Hayden turned to Ethan. “If you’re hungry I have some of Jordan’s leftover chicken upstairs. You’re welcome to come up.”

  “I’d love to but…” Did he really need to stop by Hartley’s place tonight? “If I could use your phone, I’ll call…”

  “I don’t have a landline.”

  “What do you do for a phone?”

  “I use a cell.”

  “You really need to have a landline out here. It’s a ways from town. And cell service isn’t always reliable this far out.”

  “So I’ve noticed. But if I need a phone, I can always walk across the courtyard and use one at the B & B.”

  His face creased into a frown. “But there might come a time when you need a phone up in that studio apartment.”

  Geez, thought Hayden, were they going to stand around all night and talk about telephones?

  As if he read her mind he moved into her personal space, tilted his head down and took her mouth. At first, the kiss was just a light brushing of lips but then Ethan sought more and plunged deeper, tugging and nipping.

  “You’ve got the lip lock down for sure.”

  “I’m not too bad horizontal, either.”

  “Why, Deputy Dawg, I do believe you’re bragging. That’s so―beneath you.”

  “No, beneath me is where I want you.” He moved his eyebrows up and down.

  “Brash, Deputy Dawg. But I’m not quite ready to do the bedroll boogie just yet. Besides, I’m starving. You coming up for cold chicken, or hoping to get a better offer?”

  With his arms still locked around her, he replied, “Hmm, decisions, decisions. But if there’s no chance in getting you horizontal, I’ll have to settle for the food.” He’d just have to make it to Aaron Hartley’s place in the morning. Sunday morning. Another chunk of his weekend fell away, a part he’d hoped to spend at his laptop filling up blank pages with clever and witty characters of his own making. Ah well…

  “Good because the invite has a short shelf life, probably shorter than the chicken.”

  Just then, past Ethan’s left shoulder Hayden spotted a figure walking their way. She nudged Ethan around and pointed. “Take a look. Tell me you don’t see that.”

  Ethan followed her gaze toward the other end of the quad, which was a good forty yards away. Sure enough, there among the cypress trees stood Scott Phillips, dressed in shorts and a long sleeved shirt rolled up at the elbows, he had his hands in his pockets.

  Ethan had to remind himself that Scott Phillips had been killed instantly in Iraq some eighteen months earlier when an IED had blown up his Humvee. Yet, here he was walking big as life among the hollyhocks and hydrangeas.

  Automatically, Ethan lifted his arm in a wave and watched as Scott miraculously waved back, all smiles. The hairs at the back of Ethan’s neck stood up. Just because he had Native blood running through his veins and a strong belief in spirits didn’t stop the shock and awe at the sight of watching a dead man stroll the grounds.

  The cop in him wanted to grab a video camera for validation, evidence, even the camera in his cell phone would do. But the shaman in him wanted to grab the pipe and celebrate. He finally found his voice. “Doesn’t it bother you, Hayden, to see that?”

  “How could it bother me? Look at him, Ethan. He looks like a happy-go-lucky kind of guy without a care in the world, at peace. Now, if he were chasing me with a machete, I’d be screaming loud enough for them to hear me all the way to Santa Cruz. How about you?”

  “I’m okay. But just so you know, after that,” he nodded his head in Scott’s direction. “I may need some form of alcohol to go with the chicken.”

  Chapter 8 Book 2

  “So what can you tell me about Scott Phillips before he started haunting the B & B?”

  Ethan and Hayden were stretched out on the floor in front of the sagging green sofa eating cold c
hicken and pasta salad like they were on a picnic.

  “You already know most of his background. Nice guy though, never heard him say a mean word to anyone. He grew up here, since he was five. If he’s angry that Nick’s taken his place here, it sure doesn’t show on his face.”

  “I don’t think that’s it,” Hayden said as she thumbed through the book about ghosts Ethan had loaned her. “It’s more like he’s here to protect, maybe offer advice to his family. But that wouldn’t explain why he never shows himself to Jordan. She was his wife. If he loved her shouldn’t he be bugging her?”

  “That is kind of strange.”

  “For her, too. She’s hurt because of it. I can tell.”

  “How far into the book did you get?”

  “Enough to know that what happened out in the courtyard where both of us saw Scott at the exact same time is known as a collective apparition.”

  Reading the book over Hayden’s shoulder, he commented, “You know, Pelican Pointe has its own paranormal expert. You should talk to him.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. His name’s Wade Hawkins, retired history professor. Word has it he’s writing a book about ghosts in general, not specifically those he’s discovered inhabiting in or around Pelican Pointe, although he’s found a few. He even invested in a couple of electronic boxes with all these sensors and gizmos he uses when he visits places he thinks are haunted. And he’s been out here before.”

  “And found what?”

  “Not sure. But I’ll make a point to ask him next time I see him. Maybe I’ll stop by his place after I see old man Hartley. You know, when I was over at Taggert’s farm tonight it dawned on me that what Jordan and Nick are trying to do about getting new blood into this town is an excellent idea. The population of Pelican Pointe is starting to age. Considerably. It’s actually a good idea to bring in some fresh faces.”

  “That’s why I’m here. If not for Jordan— She’s the one who convinced me. We’re even trying to find a place to open up a used bookstore in town.”

  Ethan looked shocked at that. “You really are planning to hang around here? What if—? The person you’re running from…shows up?”

  “There’s a good chance he won’t find me.”

  “But there are no guarantees.”

  “No, there are none, I’m afraid.”

  To get that pained look off her face, he changed the subject. “And you’d run it? This bookstore? Did you find a place?”

  “As a matter of fact I found a house across from the pier that might work. It’s near where you live. The plan is to drag Jordan there to look at it on my day off, either tomorrow or Monday.”

  He wanted to ask her which house had caught her eye, but the cop in him took another path. “I don’t want you to think I’m interrogating you, but…” He wouldn’t know the answer until he asked. “Do you have that kind of money to start a business?”

  “No. Not until my condo sells. And I told them both that right up front. But if I can find the right property, Nick’s willing to put the lease in his name, pay some of the startup costs.” She explained about all the books that Jordan and Nick said they had taking up space in storage.

  “From what they tell me, some of the books are just gathering dust. When you stop and think about it, it’s ready made inventory. The closest bookstore is San Sebastian. I looked it up online. Why should people in Pelican Pointe drive all that way there to buy their books? And there’s no library in town. So a bookstore might—”

  “This condo, it isn’t in Nevada, is it?”

  Hayden put down the chicken she’d been nibbling. This was getting eerily close to being a cross-examination. “No. Look, I promised Nick I’d keep him up-to-date with my situation. I don’t want any harm coming to these people because of me, Ethan. The less any of you know about…things, the better. That’s all I’m willing to say about it.”

  “So you think by not talking about it, by keeping things to yourself, you can keep whoever’s after you at bay, keep them from finding you? Is that it? That isn’t the way things work in the real world, Hayden. In fact, it’s downright stupid to think like that. The bad guys will go to any lengths at their disposal to…to track you down.”

  “So, now I’m stupid? Well, thanks for your vote of confidence, Deputy Dawg, but you don’t know a thing about it.”

  “That’s right, I don’t and whose fault is that? All you have to do is say the word, let me in the loop, and I’ll find the guy who has you on the run.”

  Hayden got to her feet. “And do what? Put him in jail? Really? Just like that? The big, bad-ass Ethan Cody can do what the—” She’d almost said the feds but caught herself just in time.

  “As law enforcement I have a slew of tools at my disposal, Hayden. I can find things out just by making inquiries. In fact, I could have run you through the computer but I held off—” Those words had slipped out and he couldn’t take them back. The look on her face said she was way past boiling mad.

  She wanted to belt him. “Make inquiries? Who’s stopping you? Go ahead. That’s all so convenient for you law enforcement types, isn’t it? We’re just considered collateral to people like you, a name and number in some computer database. You guys stake us out there in some fake world like lambs to slaughter as bait, making promises you can’t keep, willing to say anything and promise everything to get us to do what you want us to do just to get a conviction, just to close a case. Well, I’m having no part of it. I’m not willing to give up my life just to help solve a stupid case. Now get out!”

  When he continued to just sit there, she yelled again, “Get out, Ethan! I don’t want you here.” She whirled on her heels and ran into the bathroom and slammed the door hard enough that it rattled the panes of glass in the old windows.

  For a guy who was supposed to have three days off duty, Ethan had spent the weekend cruising all over Pelican Pointe and then some. Come Sunday morning he’d already spent an hour at Aaron Hartley’s place letting him know about Edmund Taggert and another hour with Wade Hawkins.

  He’d been deluding himself that either stop could be done in less than fifteen minutes. But that was a small town for you.

  Aaron Hartley had wanted to reminisce about his old friend. So Ethan had been forced to drink a half a gallon of coffee to wash down the canned cinnamon rolls Aaron had baked while he listened to the old lawyer walk down memory lane, which pretty much included thirty years of friendship between Aaron and Edmund.

  With Wade Hawkins he’d gotten into a quagmire by getting him started talking about the paranormal. Ethan had listened to how each spirit was different and why it remained earthbound long after death. All of which was pretty obvious to Ethan. Without mentioning any names, though, Ethan had learned Wade was adamant about one thing. Most ghosts hung around because they had unfinished business on earth and weren’t ready to leave for a range of reasons.

  Ethan agreed. Scott Phillips definitely seemed to be patrolling the grounds of his childhood home with a purpose, guarding it for reasons of his own.

  Before he left though, Wade had confirmed that he’d taken his sensors out to the cove’s Victorian on two occasions and both times his electronic gadgets had soared off the charts.

  Ethan didn’t know anything about sensors, but he knew what he’d seen the night before. Scott Phillips wasn’t giving up his life at the cove without a fight.

  When he’d left Wade’s, Ethan decided to make a trip over to Santa Cruz. It was time to use the county computer for official business and run the name Hayden Ryan through NCIC.

  He had hesitated doing so before now. But last night she had pissed him off.

  So now he settled back, got comfortable in his confining eight-by-eight, closet-sized cubicle. A tiny space, for which he was very grateful he didn’t have to spend a lot of time in and waited for the results that would maybe explain why Hayden-no-middle-initial-Ryan was hiding from some asshole from her past.

  When the search ended, he stared at the c
omputer screen. Zero hits. Not in California or the other forty-nine states. Okay, she wasn’t a wanted felon. That was something, he guessed. At least he wasn’t attracted to a criminal.

  But the woman was hiding something, on the run from someone.

  Damn it. He scrubbed a hand over his face. She’d already hinted at that much. He was no closer to knowing her secrets than he had been before. So much for his psychic gift. She was giving off other more potent kinds of vibes distracting him.

  That was the problem.

  Or maybe he was just too attracted to this particular subject. Subject. She had accused law enforcement of thinking of her as bait, nothing more than a name and number. By running her through the system hadn’t he just proved her right?

  He was brooding into his third cup of coffee when he looked up from his desk and saw Brent leaning against the doorjamb, staring at him. “Glad to see you’re such a dedicated officer, little brother. That you’d give up a Sunday and come in on your day off is―extraordinary.” It wasn’t like Ethan at all. Brent knew something was up, he just didn’t know specifics, at least not yet. “What brings you into the office today?”

  Did Ethan want to confide in his brother, the sheriff and his immediate supervisor, about the suspicious newcomer he had living in Pelican Pointe? Did he want Brent knowing he had gotten so cynical about dating, he was running criminal background checks on a prospective love interest? Hell, no.

  Instead, Ethan went into the short version of how he’d spent the last two days.

  Hayden slept late. After blowing up at Ethan the night before, she’d been so mad she’d tossed and turned and hadn’t been able to settle down until after four in the morning. Looking over at the clock, it was almost ten.

  She crawled out of bed to start a pot of coffee before jumping in the shower.

  As the water sluiced over her skin, she refused to feel guilty for the argument. Since she’d first laid eyes on the man he’d been incredibly suspicious. Despite their attraction to each other, despite the heat-melting kisses they’d shared. Nope, there was no hope for them as a couple anyway as long as Ethan refused to accept who she was.