The Cove Conundrum

by Agatha Ball

  "You mean, other than your messenger bag?" I asked, pointing at it.

  She gave a stiff laugh. "Yeah. This is just paper and notebooks. I'll go wake him up and get ready."

  "Oh," I replied, trying not to let the suspicions that were starting to creep in color my voice. "So, he was able to get a room but you weren't?"

  She shifted her weight. "Yeah... it just seemed like it made more sense. Trevor offered his place and then Nate offered his place. My cameraman would have been homeless."

  What was strange was that Trevor had said she had practically begged him for a place to stay. But maybe he was just trying to make it sound good in front of Madison. Still, I couldn't imagine kicking a colleague out if they had nowhere to stay. "They didn't have rooms with two beds or a rollaway?"

  "I don't share rooms with guys," she informed me.

  I guess that falling asleep in the living room with Johnny and her plans to hang out at Nate's place or Trevor's place without adult supervision didn't qualify or something.

  "Well, I'm glad that Nate was able to help," I offered as he pulled the truck to the front.

  "Yeah, I'm really lucky," said Lottie.

  I noted she was not making eye contact with me this entire time.

  It just made me wonder what her game was. I mean, she was originally supposed to stay with Trevor. Had Nate interrupted some sort of assignation? Or had she taken a gamble that Madison would freak out, and had her sights trained on Nate the whole time?

  One way or the other, she wasn't telling me everything.

  We climbed into the truck. I took the middle of the bench seat and rested against Nate. It just sucked that after having such a beautiful moment with Nate last night, we had company. Lottie was polite enough, though, and kept her eyes locked on the outside world.

  There were tree branches and debris all over the road. Nate had to stop a couple of times to clear the road, and I hopped out to give him a hand.

  After the fourth time of loading and unloading, I conceded that me playing territorial inside the truck was just prolonging the misery.

  "I'll get in the back," I told him. "You just go slow and I'll pop out whenever something needs clearing."

  "Or how about you drive and I'll hop out to clear the road," he countered.

  "How about you have to go present yourself as Mr. Founder of the Island Man and instill all sorts of feelings of wellbeing and stability to your storm terrorized townspeople, and I just have to sling some coffee."

  He looked down at his nice slacks and freshly pressed shirt. He wrinkled his nose at me. "I don't like this."

  "I know you don't." I stood up on my tiptoes and gave him a kiss. "Suck it up, buttercup."

  I hopped into the back, and gotta say, for all of Nate's chivalry, I think I got the better end of the stick. Always super fun riding in the back of a pickup truck, and I didn't have to sit there awkwardly crammed between him and Lottie.

  There were only a few branches big enough to need hauling and we arrived on Main Street easily enough.

  Unfortunately, it appeared that was going to be the only thing easy about the whole day.

  The place was thrashed. The road was covered in mud and it looked like the boardwalk may have been under the water at some point.

  Madison was standing in front of Trevor's saloon and gave me a cranky wave as Nate parked his truck. "So, threesome at Nate's place last night?"

  "Foursome," I shouted back. "Johnny came over, too."

  "Hope you kids had fun."

  "More fun since I knew you were stuck here. Sorry a riptide didn't suck you out into the middle of the ocean." I gave her a sickly smile and she tried to kill me with a death stare. It didn't work.

  Nate turned off the car and I hopped out the back.

  Madison wrinkled her nose. "This whole entire island is so gross." She sighed. "At least it wasn't during tourist season, when everyone could see what a dumpster fire this place is."

  "You're right, Madison," Nate said, drily, as he got out of the truck. "We're so lucky that no one's fun was interrupted by a natural disaster that may bankrupt some of our small business owners."

  Madison held up her hands defensively. "If you had opened up the island to the cruise ships, there'd be plenty of money to cushion everyone against this. But you had to go make this a 'historic village.' Appears that all your history has been wiped out."

  I turned to Nate. "I really hate her."

  But suddenly we were interrupted. Aidan, Hal's line producer, came running up to us. He was a mess. He was wet from head to toe and the mud came up his pant legs all the way to his knees. He hadn't shaved and there were dark circles under his eyes. He bent over to catch his breath.

  "What is it?" Nate asked.

  He gasped, trying to speak, his pudgy frame unable to stop shaking. Finally, he was able to blurt out the words. "I ran all the way here. I came as fast as I could. He's dead. Hal's dead."

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  We were all so shocked, we just stood there staring at him, unable to comprehend the words that had just come out of his mouth.

  "He was out filming the storm," said Aidan, distraught. "He wanted to get pictures of the ocean this morning. He saw this outcropping and went out there to get a shot of the ocean and the island. But he wasn't paying attention and this monster wave knocked him off and... and one minute he was here, the next minute, he was gone. I ran out, but... he was gone. What do I do?" His eyes filled up with tears as he gripped his hair. "I don't know what to do."

  Nate was the first one to break out of the spell holding us in disbelief. He sprang into action. He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Tell Johnny to start patrolling the beach. I'll find Stan and Fred. See if we can get a search and rescue team out just in case he was able to get to shore somehow."

  Lottie looked like a kid on Christmas morning. "Can I go with you? This is a great story."

  "Are you kidding?" asked Nate, turning to her. His voice was clear and firm. "You do whatever you want. I'm leaving now to save a person's life. You catch up with us or whatever. I really don't care."

  It's funny how when I was done with Trevor, I was DONE. His political aspirations and power grabs became the biggest turn off when we were through. And I could see that the switch had just been flipped between Nate and Lottie. It was one thing he had offered her a place to stay. It was another thing that we were all out looking for her last night, putting all of us in danger. But here he was trying to save a man's life, and she was worried about her story.

  If I didn't feel so awful about Hal, I might have actually felt good about realizing where I stood with Nate.

  "Tell them to check the cove, too," I reminded him.

  "I told them last night, but I'll remind them," he replied, calling back over his shoulder. "Find Johnny!"

  I knew I needed to find my mom, but I had no idea where she was. I sent them both a text message to contact me as soon as they could, that it was an emergency.

  "I feel bad," said Lottie as Nate sped off. "I didn't mean to sound so..."

  "Callous?" I finished for her as I put my phone away.

  "Like a human being who understands the limitations of the situation and was just trying to make the best of a bad situation?" Madison offered with simpering sympathy.

  "Callous," Lottie decided upon, turning her back on Madison. "Listen, I'll go find Johnny and tell him to start the search."

  "Are you sure?" I asked.

  "Yeah. It's the least I can do," she replied, trying to give me a gentle smile. She then turned to Madison. "No chance those police officers are over in Trevor's Saloon?"

  Madison rolled her eyes like we were putting her out. There are some people who are just so horrible, I should cease being surprised by the level of narcissism they are willing to stoop to. And yet, Madison always surprised me.

  "I'll... go see. Whatever."

  "A man's life may be at risk," I reminded her. "Every moment we lose could mean he doesn't make it."

>   "FINE!" she said, dragging her feet and heading to the saloon. "Like I didn't have anything better to do today." She gave out a strangled scream of frustration as she pushed open the door.

  Lottie wrinkled her nose as Madison went inside. "I think I really hate her, too."

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  I headed over to Bitter Beans, both dreading it and knowing I needed to find Mom as soon as possible.

  The denial was starting to wear off and it was starting to hit me.

  Hal was dead.

  How was that possible?

  I had just seen him.

  I suddenly felt just awful that I had given my mom any grief at all for stealing the few precious moments they had together before this happened. Life was so short, and she was right to have seized it with both hands. She was right to have recognized her time with Hal could be so limited, and so she leaped in. I realized I could use a lesson in that, myself.

  I stepped into Bitter Beans, flipped on the lights, and then stopped.

  Nothing bad had happened.

  It was just that everything was... wrong.

  Nothing was in the right place.

  I stepped behind the counter. The calculator was shoved to the end, far away from the telephone. The cup full of pens had been knocked over. Chairs were pulled away from the tables. They were always flipped upside-down on the tables when we swept and mopped at night. Part of opening in the morning involved putting them in place. Speaking of, the tables were in the wrong place, too. They had been moved. Nothing major. Just enough for someone like me to notice.

  I placed my hand on the door to Granny's apartment. It was open and the hallway was dark.

  "Granny?" I shouted up the stairs. There was no reply. I crept up, just to make sure she wasn't lying in the middle of the floor while I made up the day's coffee. Her apartment was completely empty and the bed was unslept in. Where had she and Richard gone?

  I sent another text and marked it super urgent.

  I set about getting ready for the day, but again, just found odd things out of place. One of the stainless steel counters in the kitchen had been rolled out so that it hung over the door to the walk-in refrigerator. The drawers had been riffled through.

  Suddenly, I heard the bell chime over the front door and the murmur of familiar voices.

  I ran out and felt my knees want to turn into jelly in relief.

  "PAIGE! Call off the search party!" greeted Granny as she came in with Richard. "Your mother was worried that if things flooded, we'd be in a pickle, so we all stayed over at the Grand Hotel!" She had Captain in her arms and put him gently down on the floor. He seemed super glad to be home.

  I paused for just a moment. "You were able to get a room? I thought they were sold out."

  "Oh, no, there was loads of space."

  But then Mom came in and I had no idea how I was going to tell her what I had learned. My mouth went dry. I wanted to crawl into her arms and have her tell me it would be okay. Instead, I just ran and slammed into her, giving her a huge hug, wishing I didn't have to do this.

  "Honey?" she asked, first amused, and then her voice changed to concern. "Honey, are you okay?"

  I pulled away. I knew I was going to have to hurt her. I didn't want to be the one giving her this news. I wanted the world to end so that I didn't have to say what had happened.

  "What is it, Paige?" she asked, her worried eyes scanning my face for some indication of what was wrong.

  "It's Hal," I said, choking. It felt like I had to tear the words out of my throat. "He's dead."

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  "Mom? Are you okay?" I asked gently, sitting down next to her. Richard brought over a hot cup of chamomile tea. Granny came over to give her a warm hug, but we all knew there was nothing we could do to make this better.

  She wiped away the tears. "Oh... no. No, I’m not."

  Granny brushed back her hair. "I could see you were sweet on each other, but I didn't know he meant so much."

  "He did!" she said, staring up at the ceiling and wiping away her tears. "I was so in... something with him. And I have been for so long."

  "What?" I asked, mystified.

  It was like Mom was possessed. She turned to me, urgently taking my hands in hers like she needed to make a confession. "Paige," she said. "You know I always tried to do what was best for you."

  There was something happening here that I didn't understand. "Mom, you're scaring me."

  "And sometimes that meant making decisions that weren't entirely... truthful. I mean, I would never lie to you. Just... maybe not tell you everything."

  "Now you're really scaring me."

  She reached up and stroked my cheek. "Having you was one of the greatest joys of my life. Your father and I love you so very much."

  "Dad skipped out on us when I was toddler," I reminded her.

  She took a great, big breath. "And that's because of me."

  It was like a lead balloon had dropped. "What?"

  "Hal was your father's best friend."

  "WHAT?"

  "I was in high school when I met your father. It was a torrid love affair. It's why I’m so worried that you and Nate are going too fast."

  "No, this is about you," I said, standing up and backing away from her. "You don't get to turn this into something about Nate and me."

  "Well, your dad and I... we were on again and off again. And during college, one of the 'off again' times, I happened to... date his best friend."

  "You dated Hal?"

  "It wasn't serious between us. We were both single. Things just sort of... happened. But I thought... I was lead to believe he was a manipulator and a liar, and I decided to end things." She sighed. "I think I might have been wrong about all that, though. I might have just been... confused. Your dad, not knowing what was going on, was telling me things about Hal... And now I wonder if your dad actually did all those things himself and was blaming it on his best friend."

  "What sort of things?"

  She flapped her hand, as if brushing all of these sins away. "Skimming money from their campus job. Stealing supplies... Fooling around with all sorts of girls. That's what made me cut things off. But Hal and I were just starting to talk about all this. We were just starting to examine what went wrong between us and what actually happened when... this... when he..." She took a great big gulp of air, unable to finish her sentence that now he was dead and she'd never know what was true. She steeled her strength. "The upshot is I ended things over twenty years ago and I didn't tell your dad what had happened. I didn't think it mattered." She took another deep breath.

  Granny rubbed her back bracingly to keep going. "Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Get it all out."

  "What I didn't count on was that it mattered a lot. I was pregnant with you and was scared of being alone." She looked up at the ceiling. "And then right around your second birthday, your dad learned about what happened between me and Hal, and couldn't forgive it." She rested her hand on my arm. "Hal's the reason your dad isn't in our lives."

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  We were all still reeling from my mom's news when suddenly Wanda came storming into the shop. Her normally spiky blue hair was flat on her head and her expression matched the "Resting Beach Face" written on her t-shirt.

  "It's Marnie," she said. "She needs us."

  Without missing a beat, Granny grabbed her purse and ran toward the door, her mules clacking against the bottom of her feet.

  Richard, Mom, and I were left in the shop, and I wasn't sure what we should do.

  "Go on," Mom said, waving us away. "I really could use a moment on my own."

  "Are you sure?" I asked. "I can stay."

  "Me, too," said Richard.

  She shook her head. "Nothing is going to get any better here. Go see if you can help someone who could use some help."

  Her eyes were so sad, but I knew what she was saying made logical sense.

  Richard gently placed his hand on my shoulder and steere
d me toward the door. "Sometimes there's a hurt that doesn't get any better until you let it out, and I think your mom could use a moment without worrying about us worrying about her."

  I gave Richard a little side hug. He was such a good man. Not only for how much he cared for Granny, but for the calming presence he had when we were melting down.

  As soon as we left Bitter Beans, we picked up our pace toward the yarn store, which was just a few storefronts down Main Street. I opened up the door and was shocked.

  All the skeins of yarn had been ripped from the shelves and strewn across the floor. The walls were bashed and floorboards were ripped up.

  "Who would have done such a thing!" Marnie cried. She was surrounded by the posse, who had her enveloped in a group hug.

  "A monster. A monster did this!" Holly exclaimed, blinking her big, owl eyes.

  "What did they steal?" Wanda asked. "You tell us what they stole and we will turn out every single person's pockets who leaves the island."

  Shaking, Marnie walked over to her till. Confusion crossed her face as she opened it up. "Nothing. All of the money is here."

  Her posse turned with disbelief.

  "Nothing?" asked Holly. "Well, maybe you should look around a little bit and see if anything's gone."

  "It's those treasure hunters," Wanda declared. She turned to me. "You tell Nate we never should have made a big deal of that time capsule. THIS is what happened. Nothing but a criminal element coming to our island!"

  "Now, now..." Richard tried to soothe. "We don't know that's what happened. It could have been bored high schoolers getting into trouble."

  "But that would mean it was someone we know," Marnie replied, her eyes sad. "I know all those kids. I give them free lessons and go to the school and volunteer. It means that someone who I consider a friend did this to me."

  The mess in the shop hung like a sad betrayal.