Sweet Time in Seconds (A Sweet Cove Mystery Book 11)

by J A Whiting

  “What should we do?” Jenna took Angie’s and Finch’s arms. “Should we wait for the police to arrive?”

  “It will be too late if we wait.” Angie started up the front walk.

  “Hold on.” Jenna went around to the back of her car and popped the trunk. When she closed it, she had a tire iron in her hands. She looked at her sister. “Now let’s go.”

  “We need to hurry.” As they made their way to the front door, Angie looked over her shoulder to the street. “Where are the police and that ambulance?”

  “Since the chief is still safe, maybe we don’t need the ambulance.” Jenna hurried along behind Angie and Finch.

  “We’ll need it,” Angie muttered. “Let’s go around back to the kitchen.”

  Walking quietly and gingerly up to the deck, Angie could see Chief Martin’s back and another man standing a few yards from him. A person stood in front of both men.

  With a lunge, the person rushed at the other man and then moved back a few steps as the man staggered and fell. The chief bent to assist him.

  It was a woman who was in the room with the men. She darted towards the kneeling chief just as Angie grabbed the doorknob and pulled. Locked!

  “Chief Martin!” Angie turned to Jenna and shrieked. “Break the glass!”

  Jenna moved forward with the tire iron and bashed the glass to pieces. Reaching in through the broken window, she unlocked the door and swung it open.

  The chief had crumpled to the floor and Tara Downey was running from the kitchen.

  As Jenna went after Tara, Angie rushed to Chief Martin’s side. He had lost consciousness. Angie searched his chest and limbs for knife wounds. Nothing. Glancing at the other man unconscious on the floor next to the chief, she crawled to him and checked him for wounds. Again, there were no signs of knife wounds. She checked the man’s neck for a pulse and felt a faint beating.

  Mr. Finch dropped his cane, knelt beside the chief, checked for a pulse, and began chest compressions.

  Tears poured down Angie’s face. “Chief, Chief.” She knew they only had seconds to save him. Swiveling on her knees, she began compressions on the other man’s chest. Seconds, seconds. Stupid ambulance. Get here!

  Sweat poured off of Angie and Finch. Mr. Finch sat back. “I need a few seconds rest.”

  Angie swiveled on her knees and started compressions on the chief. She whispered, “Don’t you die. Don’t you leave us.”

  Finch reached for Chief Martin’s neck and checked again for a pulse. His face paled and he looked to Angie with tears in his eyes.

  “No, no, no.” Angie wouldn’t stop pumping.

  As Finch began to work on the other man, the scream of the ambulance’s siren bounced off the walls. Within a minute, a man and a woman dressed in uniforms rushed through the open door, their feet crunching on the broken shards of glass.

  “What happened?” the woman demanded.

  The man set down a medical bag.

  Angie slid back on her butt a few feet from the chief so the paramedics could step in.

  “We don’t know.” Angie’s head was spinning. She closed her eyes and the image of Jeremy Hodges’s dead body sprang into her mind.

  Shaking, Angie pushed herself to her feet. “Narcan! Give them narcan!”

  The two paramedics stared at Angie for a second and then went to work injecting the two fallen men with the opioid antidote and doing CPR on the chief.

  In less than three minutes, Chief Martin’s eyes fluttered open and closed … opened and closed.

  “Just in time,” the woman paramedic said to no one in particular.

  Seeing the chief come back to them, Angie’s heart did a flip of joy and then a horrified look washed over her face. “Jenna.”

  Angie ran into the hallway calling for her sister.

  When two police officers burst through the open back door, Finch told them what had happened and urged them after Jenna and Angie.

  Running through the dark townhouse, Angie kept calling. The basement door was open. Angie stopped short. Terrible moans could be heard coming from the cellar. “Jenna?” she asked softly.

  “I’m down here, Angie. Put the light on.”

  Angie flicked the wall switch to light up the basement and darted down the staircase to see Jenna holding the tire iron and standing over the crying and moaning Tara Downey. “I might have broken her leg.”

  Angie couldn’t help it when she said with disgust, “Good.”

  Jenna held Angie’s eyes with a look of dread and asked the question she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer to. “The chief?”

  The two police officers tore down the steps with their weapons drawn as Angie wrapped her arms around her twin. “Chief Martin is alive.”

  “Just in time.” Jenna smiled. “We got here just in time.”

  It only took a second for tears to spill from their eyes, trace along their cheeks, and drop onto each other’s shoulders. The sisters held one another in a bear hug, their hearts beating close and strong.

  24

  Tara Downey was arrested for the murders of her boyfriend, Jeremy Hodges, Dr. Carlie Streeter, and Dr. Marty Chase. Tara found out that Jeremy was in love with Carlie by discovering a separate phone in his dresser. A few weeks before he was killed, Jeremy had used the phone to send emails and texts to Dr. Streeter asking for his job back and telling her that he planned to leave Tara and move to Sweet Cove.

  There was only one email from Carlie explaining to Jeremy that it wasn’t a good idea for him to move and that there weren’t any openings at the new dental office. Tara was sure there must be more correspondence from Carlie and that Jeremy must have deleted the other emails. Having been cheated on twice in the past, finding out that Jeremy wanted to leave her for Carlie Streeter pushed Tara over the edge.

  Tara reported to the police that she used her position at the hospital to access drugs and then she concocted a cocktail of opioids which she used to inject Jeremy with while he was sleeping. With great difficulty, she’d dragged her boyfriend’s dead body from the bed to her car in the garage and drove, early in the morning to Sweet Cove, with the intention of dropping the body on Dr. Streeter’s front steps.

  Before leaving for Massachusetts, Tara’s anger reached explosive levels and she decided to kill Carlie, too, so she packed a hunting knife and more of the powerful drugs. To confuse the police, Tara moved Jeremy’s car to the place he worked to make it seem he was still alive that morning.

  When she rang the dentists’ bell early that morning, Marty answered, and recognizing Tara, he opened the door and escorted her to the kitchen so he, Tara, and Carlie could talk.

  Before they reached the kitchen, Tara swiped the knife across Marty’s throat. Carlie heard the commotion, saw what happened, wheeled, and ran trying to escape through the back door, but Tara was quick. Carlie was killed in the same way that her husband was.

  To make it look like a robbery gone wrong, Tara bound the couple’s hands after they were dead. She found the key to the blue sports car and stuffed Jeremy’s body into the tiny trunk hoping that blame for his death would fall on Dr. Streeter and Dr. Chase.

  There was a pond on the dentists’ property behind the house. Tara went into the water, clothes and all, to get rid of the blood spatter. If she was stopped by police on the way back to New Hampshire, she planned to tell them she’d fallen into a pond while taking early morning photographs and did not have a change of clothing.

  Tara believed that Chief Martin was getting close to discovering that she was the murderer so she obtained more drugs to put an end to the man’s life. Tara admitted to rampaging through her house in a fury over Jeremy’s attempted infidelity on the very day Angie, Jenna, and Mr. Finch came to talk to her. When she saw the three people coming to her door, Tara went out the back and up the hill to hide in the wooded area between the townhouses and the town park.

  When she saw Chief Martin and the Miltonville Police Chief together in her townhouse, she was sure they were a
bout to arrest her. She snuck into her house, went to her bedroom for the syringe of drugs, and attacked Chief Martin and the other law enforcement officer by injecting the opioids into their systems. Tara would most likely have additional charges filed against her for the attempted murder of Chief Martin and Chief Hannaford.

  “And so that’s what happened,” Jenna finished telling the group about Tara Downey’s crimes.

  “Ms. Downey is being evaluated at the psychiatric hospital near her town,” Finch reported. “A very sad tale.”

  Chief Martin had spent some time in the hospital and had been recently discharged to the care of his loving wife, Lucille. The Roselands and Mr. Finch had been bringing home-cooked meals and bakery goodies to the Martins almost every evening and Euclid and Circe visited along with them, taking turns curling up on the chief’s lap.

  The chief was getting stronger by the day and Lucille told the family that the enforced rest and relaxation was having a beneficial effect on her husband. The chief, of course, was chomping at the bit to get back to work.

  The morning after the attack on the chief, all four Roseland sisters and Mr. Finch visited their dear friend in the hospital and when they gathered around his bed, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. During the first few minutes of the visit, nobody was able to converse because emotion had choked each one of them.

  With tears streaming down her face, Angie gripped the chief’s hand in hers and held it to her heart. “Don’t ever do that again,” she whispered.

  Chief Martin’s cheeks were wet with his own tears. “I’m not crying,” he insisted, which caused everyone to laugh and then things went back to normal with the six of them happily chattering away.

  On the way out to the car after the visit, Mr. Finch, walking between Angie and Jenna, said, “Sometimes we don’t realize how much we love someone until we almost lose them.”

  The sisters hugged the older man and Angie slipped her arm through his as they all crossed the parking lot to their car.

  Finch said, “Dr. Mari said something strange to me the other day.”

  “What was that?” Courtney asked.

  “When she heard about our rescue of Chief Martin, she brought up time travel again.”

  “Did she?” Ellie eyed Mr. Finch.

  “What did she tell you?” Jenna asked.

  Finch said, “Dr. Mari suggested that perhaps we had the ability to travel through time.”

  Ellie gasped.

  “She said maybe we had previously experienced what had happened to the chief, then went back in time to live through the event again, but with the knowledge gained from the first experience to save the chief from death.”

  Courtney cocked her head. “So the first time, Tara’s injection killed Chief Martin? Then we went back in time so we could save him? That was why we felt that he was in danger? Because we’d already lived through the experience?”

  “That was her suggestion,” Finch nodded.

  “That’s a load of you-know-what,” Angie’s voice was forceful. “We didn’t time travel. That is crazy talk. All we did was sense danger.”

  “And being able to sense danger is less crazy than time travel?” Courtney laughed.

  “Wouldn’t we know if we time-traveled?” Jenna asked.

  “What did you say to Mari when she mentioned this to you?” Ellie asked.

  Finch winked. “I told Dr. Mari that we had many wonderful skills, but time travel was not among them.”

  The four sisters all chuckled and agreed whole-heartedly with Mr. Finch. Just before climbing into Ellie’s van, Jenna noticed something out of the corner of her eye. When she turned her head, she saw the ghost of Jeremy Hodges standing several yards away. Jeremy made eye contact with Jenna, nodded to her with his hand over his heart in a gesture of thanks, and then he slowly disappeared.

  With the sun lowering on the horizon, Josh and Angie, Jenna and Tom, Ellie and Jack, and Courtney and Rufus, along with Mr. Finch and Betty, and Mel and Orla sat in beach chairs in a circle on the white sand of Sweet Cove beach. Angie, Jenna, and Mr. Finch took turns finishing the tale of the gruesome murders and the attack on Chief Martin committed by Tara Downey.

  “Thankfully,” Finch said. “Both chiefs of police are recovering nicely.”

  “How did you know to turn around and call the ambulance?” Rufus gave Angie a look.

  “It was my intuition that kicked in.” Angie shrugged her shoulders. “It’s a good thing I listened to it.”

  “That’s for sure,” Rufus agreed. “A few seconds made all the difference. You arrived in the nick of time ... and so did the paramedics. Otherwise….” Rufus didn’t finish the thought.

  “Enough of all this.” Josh stood up. “Let’s get the dinner going.”

  Ellie had parked her van along the street next to the sidewalk that followed the curve of the shoreline so they could easily access the food and supplies they’d packed into the vehicle. The young people unloaded the car and Josh and Tom used small shovels to dig into the sand to make a fire pit. They placed charcoal in the hole and set a large wire grate over the flames that soon started. Chicken, burgers, corn on the cob, and baked potatoes were placed on the grate to cook. Coolers of drinks were carried down to the chairs.

  Finch, Betty, Mel, and Orla made gin and tonics, pushed their toes under the warm sand, and watched the others run down to the water and jump into the waves.

  “Would you like to swim, Mr. Finch?” Mel asked.

  “I’m quite happy here in my chair with a towel over my legs as I enjoy the sea air and sip my drink.” Finch raised his glass, clinked it against Mel’s, and winked. “I believe that being young is overrated.”

  “I’ll drink to that.” Mel let out a hearty laugh.

  Betty and Orla brought over a platter of crackers and cheese, passed it around to the men, and then placed it on one the small tables Josh had set up next to the chairs.

  “What a beautiful evening,” Orla said with a wide smile on her face. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else or with anyone else.” Thinking about Finch’s actions when he was at Tara Downey’s house, the woman looked kindly at the older man. “You are a brave man, Victor Finch.”

  “Oh, no, I’m really not, Ms. Orla.” Finch swirled the liquid in his glass. “I only sprang into action because I didn’t want to lose anyone who is dear to us. I must admit that when I couldn’t find Chief Martin’s pulse, I almost lost hope.”

  “Never lose hope, Victor,” Orla told the man. “And call us in as reinforcements, if you ever need to. We’ll always lend a hand.”

  The young people chased each other at the edge of the ocean and bodysurfed in the waves.

  Angie splashed sea water at Josh and he ran after her along the sand until he grabbed her into a hug, pushed the wet hair from her cheek, and kissed her under the pink, violet, and sapphire sky.

  “I’m proud of you,” Josh told his fiancée. “You use your skills to bring the bad guys to justice, to bring some comfort to victims’ families. You make the world a better place.” Looking into Angie’s eyes, he added, “Just please remember to use your skills to keep yourself safe. I’m not sure what I’d do without you, Angie Roseland.”

  On that warm summer evening, Angie reached up to kiss Josh and then they walked hand and hand back to check on the dinner cooking on the grill, feeling happy to be with their family and friends, and oh so lucky to have each other.

  Thank you for reading! Recipes below!

  Books by J.A. WHITING can be found here:

  www.amazon.com/author/jawhiting

  To hear about new books and book sales, please sign up for my mailing list at:

  www.jawhitingbooks.com

  Your email will never be sold, shared, or spammed.

  If you enjoyed the book, please consider leaving a review. A few words are all that’s needed. It would be very much appreciated.

  Books/Series By J. A. Whiting

  *CLAIRE ROLLINS COZY MYSTERY SERIES

  *PAX
TON PARK COZY MYSTERIES

  *LIN COFFIN COZY MYSTERY SERIES

  *SWEET COVE COZY MYSTERY SERIES

  *OLIVIA MILLER MYSTERY-THRILLER SERIES (not cozy)

  About the Author

  J.A. Whiting lives with her family in New England. Whiting loves reading and writing mystery stories.

  Visit me at:

  www.jawhitingbooks.com/

  www.facebook.com/jawhitingauthor

  www.amazon.com/author/jawhiting

  Some Recipes From The Sweet Cove Series

  Tomato Pie

  INGREDIENTS

  4-5 tomatoes, peeled and sliced

  ½ cup chopped fresh basil

  ½ cup chopped sweet onion

  1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

  1 cup grated cheddar cheese

  ½ cup mayonnaise

  salt and pepper

  1 9-inch prebaked pie crust

  DIRECTIONS

  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

  Place the tomatoes in a colander and put in the sink.

  Sprinkle the tomatoes with a bit of salt and let them sit for 10 minutes to drain.

  Saute onion in a skillet with some canola oil until onion is tender.

  Layer the tomato slices, basil, and onion in the pie shell.

  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  Combine the two grated cheeses and the mayonnaise; spread the mixture evenly over the tomatoes.

  Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

  Serve warm.

  Note: serves about 6 people

  Cream Cheese and Lemon Muffins

  INGREDIENTS

  MUFFIN BATTER

  1 cup all-purpose flour

  1 teaspoon baking powder

  ¼ teaspoon baking powder

  ⅛ teaspoon salt