by Kathi Daley
“Okay. I’m following so far. It sounds intense, but I don’t see any problems.”
“My problem is Brady Vaughn, Carrington’s partner and current love interest. In the beginning, I thought Brady and Carrington worked well together. She was serious and intense, and I felt that Brady’s lighthearted approach to his job served as a relief of sorts from the intensity of the story. While Carrington provided the drama, Brady provided a comic element that was needed so that the reader could take a mental and emotional break from the intensely suspenseful scenes. The problem now is that the story has progressed to the point where Brady seems to be nothing more than a distraction. I’ve considered killing him off, but he is such a funny, likable guy. I think there are readers who would have a negative reaction to the death of the most likable character in the story.”
“If eliminating Brady from the story isn’t really an option, maybe you can move him.”
Jack raised a brow. “Move him?”
“I am going to assume that as Carrington’s partner and lover, Dane is in many of the scenes. Maybe instead of killing him, he can get injured and end up in the hospital. That would allow him to still be part of the story but to a lesser degree. Or maybe Dane kidnaps Brady and uses him for bait. Again, he is still part of the story but he wouldn’t necessarily be part of every scene. It might even up the stakes for Carrington.”
Jack’s expression grew thoughtful. “Yeah, I see what you’re saying.” He pushed back his chair. “I think I’ll noodle on it a bit. I’ve been up since three, so I could use a break anyway.”
“Are you going into the newspaper today?”
Jack nodded. “I plan to spend at least part of the day there. I’ve drunk at least two pots of coffee already this morning, so I think that a shower and breakfast should be next on my agenda. Do you want to join me there?”
“I would, but I’m meeting with Brooke before she heads into work.” Brooke Johnson, the unofficial Gull Island events coordinator, was currently organizing a film festival and looking for some publicity. “In fact, I need to get a move on so I’m not late. I’ll just see you later at the paper.”
“Before you go, I wanted to mention that I spoke to Pastor Branderman, and it was his opinion that there wouldn’t be any harm in using the photos and documents that have been stored in the church basement as long as we notified any current residents of the island who might be affected by the information we uncovered. He also wanted to be sure we planned to focus on historical enlightenment, not sensationalism or controversy.”
The previous fall, while researching one of the group’s mysteries, Jack and I had found boxes and boxes of photographs, letters, documents, and diaries that had at one time belonged to the men and women who had first settled on the island, filed away in the basement of the church. While what we found in the files was interesting, we realized that some of the information could potentially be damaging as well, so as fascinating as we found it, we decided not to publicize what was there. Since then, we had discussed publishing a series of human-interest pieces using what we had uncovered. Our idea was to write stories that didn’t contain controversial information, but rather would provide positive glimpses into the history of the island. Our plan was to start with the things we came across in the church and then expand on the subject matter we found by searching the newspaper archives as well as the files stored in the back room at the museum. The question we were struggling with was whether the files in the basement could be considered confidential or proprietary information, and therefore be illegal or just inappropriate for use in the way we had in mind.
“Because creating a controversy was never our intention, I think we should be good to go.”
“I agree, and I assured Pastor Branderman of that. I also assured him that I would let him preview anything before we published it, so in answer to your question, yes I think we should move forward. In fact, I have the story that I would like to start with. It involves a man named Jeremiah Groverson, who rescued a bunch of people from a burning boat back in the nineteen forties.”
“A burning boat? What happened?”
“From what I have been able to find so far, a big storm blew in and Jeremiah went down to the beach, where he had left his old rowboat tied up, to check on it. When he arrived there, he looked out to sea and noticed a boat about a half mile off shore with smoke billowing out of the cabin. Given the fact that it was windy and raining, there was no one around to intervene, so he grabbed his boat and rowed out to see if he could help. It seems the boat had not only caught fire but was dead in the water and there were no life rafts on board, so he began ferrying people from the burning boat to the shore a rowboat full at a time, while the wind howled and the sea churned all around him. By the time he had managed to rescue everyone aboard, he’d made ten trips back and forth between the beach and the boat, with the surge threatening to pull him out to sea the entire time. The man was dubbed a hero. There are those who credited him with saving the lives of all the approximately sixty men, women, and children on the boat that day. Jeremiah’s daughter, who was an infant at the time, still lives in the area, so I thought we could use what’s in the basement and then blend it with information from old newspaper articles. Once we have a general idea of the angle we want to take, we can interview the daughter, if she is willing to speak to us.”
“I love the idea. It is positive and heroic and I think it will capture the attention of our readers. Maybe we can stop by the church later this afternoon to start digging around.”
******
Brooke Johnson was already waiting for me at Gertie’s on the Wharf, a local diner I often frequented, when I arrived. Judging by the large binders on the table next to her, I could see that she had come to work. Brooke was about as hard a worker as anyone I had ever met. Not only did she have three children to care for, but she had a full-time job as a teacher and seemed to chair almost every event organized on the island. I had to wonder if she ever took time to sleep, but I guessed she must have figured out how to fit that in too, because she always looked happy and beautiful.
“Sorry I’m late,” I said to the blond-haired woman as I slid into the booth across from her.
“You aren’t late; I’m early. I needed to drop the baby at day care before I headed over here, and I wanted to be sure to leave myself enough time.”
I glanced at the binders. “It looks like you’ve come prepared.”
“I have. I am pretty sure I have everything you will need to do a series of articles on the film festival. There are photos and a synopsis for every movie that will be shown, there are interviews with writers, directors, and actors, and there is information on the festival and its history that I think would be interesting to some folks. I am still finalizing the schedule, so I will need to email that to you, but I think everything else is here.”
I picked up the coffee Brooke had waiting for me and took a sip. “So the festival runs for four days?”
Brooke nodded. “The festival will run from noon until eleven p.m. on January 24, 25, and 26, and from noon to five on Sunday the 27. Once the schedule has been set, anyone interested in specific movies can buy their tickets online. It’ll be a good idea to do that quickly; most of the movies will sell out.”
“Sounds like fun. Are there other events besides the movie showings?” I asked.
“There is a buffet dinner that will feature guest speakers on Saturday night, and a welcome cocktail party for those associated with the festival as well as the local volunteers on Thursday evening. There was talk of a wine tasting on Friday, but that still hasn’t been confirmed.” Brooke opened the binder, turned to a middle page, and passed it to me. “This is a list of the local sponsors. Most are offering discounts to anyone with a ticket stub from any of the screenings. I’d like to give them all a plug if we can.”
I looked at the list. I noticed that Gertie was offering a 20 percent discount on any full breakfast to anyone with a ticket stub from the previous day’s showi
ngs. Other local businesses were offering similar discounts. “Yeah, we can work something in about the discounts. Did you want the articles to start running in this week’s issue?”
“If at all possible. That will give us three issues before the event. I know it will be tight because you finalize each week’s edition on Tuesdays, and that is today, but I have the first feature all typed out, so really, all you will need to do is format it and maybe add in a few of the photos I have provided.”
“I’m heading over to the newspaper after I leave here, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Brooke put her hand over mine. “Thanks; you’re a lifesaver, as always. I don’t know how I let this sneak up on me.”
“You are busy woman who juggles a lot of different roles. Personally, I don’t see how you keep it all straight.”
Brooke laughed. “Trust me, I don’t always keep everything as straight as I would like.”
“You girls ready to order?” Gertie Newsome, the owner of the coffee shop, asked.
“I’ll have the special,” I replied.
“Just a muffin for me,” Brooke said. “I need to run so I won’t be late for work, but I didn’t have time for breakfast, so a muffin should take off the edge.”
“I’ll put it in a to-go bag,” Gertie offered.
After Brooke left I decided to move over to the counter so I could chat with Gertie while I ate. Not that I had a problem eating alone, but I had been busy lately myself and hadn’t had a chance to chat with Gertie since she’d joined us out at the resort for Christmas dinner.
“It looks like we are going to get some rain,” I said after looking out the bank of windows at the rear of the restaurant that overlooked the dark gray sea.
“Heard we might be in for several inches,” Gertie said as she topped off my coffee. “It looks like the wind is going to kick up as well, so if you have any driving to do, you might want to check the weather report first.”
“I don’t plan to go anywhere off the island,” I said. “After I eat I need to go to the newspaper office to work on an article on the film festival, and after that I think that Jack and I are going to try to make a trip over to the church to start looking for references for the first in the series of articles I was telling you about when last we spoke.”
“Did you get the permission you said you’d need?”
I nodded. “Pastor Branderman wants to approve each article before we run it, but that won’t be a problem because we weren’t planning on publishing anything too controversial or scandalous.”
“Speaking of controversial or scandalous, Alex was in earlier for some breakfast to go and he mentioned that the Mastermind group was going to take a second look at Gina Portland’s murder.”
I wrapped my hands around my warm mug. “Yes, that is the plan. I guess Alex told you that he spoke to Ryan Spalding, who somehow managed to convince him that he was set up and is actually innocent.”
“Doesn’t sound like you believe him,” Gertie pointed out.
I shrugged. “I don’t know enough about Ryan or the case at this point to have much of an opinion, but based on what Alex said, Ryan did seem to have both motive and opportunity. It seems to me there were some serious holes in the whole thing, though, so I plan to go in to this with an open mind.”
“You know, I never was convinced that boy did what the jury decided he did. Not that I knew him well, but I’ve lived here a long time, and I can say that I know almost everyone who has lived on the island for any length of time to one degree or another.” Gertie placed my plate of eggs and bacon on the counter in front of me.
“Why don’t you think he was guilty?” I asked as I cut up my eggs.
“I guess it was really more of a feeling. Ryan and Gina had lunch here every now and again when they were dating, and then Ryan would bring Hannah in on occasion after she was born. I could see that the boy adored that baby. And he appeared to be a good father. Hannah was always dressed in cute outfits and she would smile bigger than I’ve ever seen a baby smile when Ryan talked to her. I had heard that Gina was trying to take the baby from him, but seeing as she didn’t want Hannah in the first place, it didn’t seem to me she would have much of an argument.”
“Custody of minors can be tricky,” I pointed out. “Especially given the fact that Hannah was so young and Ryan and Gina hadn’t been married.”
“I guess there is truth in that.”
“I suppose that the only way to accomplish what Alex has planned, which is to secure Ryan’s freedom, is to have to find the real killer, providing that Ryan actually is innocent. From where I am sitting, that seems like it is going to be a difficult thing to do.”
Gertie topped off my coffee. “You know, you might want to talk to Tina Fairchild.”
I pulled up the name in my mind. “Tina Fairchild was one of the witnesses at Ryan’s trail. She was a friend of Gina’s.”
“Uh-huh. Gina, Tina, and a girl named Valerie Goodson palled around a lot of the time. I remember hearing that Tina and Valerie both testified for the prosecution, but I spoke with Tina before the trial and she told me that she didn’t think that Ryan was guilty. In fact, I distinctly remember her saying that things weren’t necessarily the way they appeared to be. Now I’m not sure why she ended up testifying for the prosecution. I don’t know if she was presented with new evidence that changed her mind or if she was pressured into doing it by Valerie. Tina always was the more passive of the three. She tended to go along with whatever Gina and Valerie suggested.”
“Do you know where I can find Tina?” I asked as I mopped up egg yolk with my toast.
“She works over at the Gull Island Pharmacy. She stocks shelves and cleans up during the winter and helps with the ice cream bar during the summer.”
“Do you think she would be working today?”
Gertie nodded. “I don’t see why not. They close at five during the winter, but if you have the opportunity to stop in earlier I would. The place gets busy at the end of the day.”
“Thanks, Gertie. I’ll stop by to see what she has to say.”
Chapter 4
After I left Gertie’s I headed to the newspaper. Kizzy greeted me like a long-lost love when I walked in. She was such a sweet puppy, always happy to see everyone. Thankfully, she had taken to heart her training not to approach anyone other than those she knew well unless invited to do so, which made it easy to take her into work with us.
“How was your breakfast meeting with Brooke?” Jack asked after I hung up my coat and purse.
“Brooke was there for the meeting, but I had breakfast with Gertie afterward because she had to leave.” I set the huge binder on the counter. “I think she has provided us with everything we will need. Except the schedule of events. She is going to email that when she has it finalized.”
“When does she want to start publishing?” Jack asked after opening the book and thumbing through it.
“Tomorrow actually. I know that isn’t a lot of time, but she wrote the article and provided the photos. All we need to do is format it before we go to press.”
“I think that is doable,” Jack said.
“Great, because I already told her we could do it.”
I pulled up the article Brooke had written and emailed to me. It looked like it was edited and ready to go, so I downloaded it onto my computer.
“How was Gertie doing today?” Jack asked. “George told me she was closed for two days last week with the flu.”
“She seemed fine today. Chipper even. She knew Gina and Ryan, by the way. Not well, but she said they sometimes came in for lunch.”
“Did she have an opinion as to what happened?” Jack asked.
I sat back and considered my response. “Gertie said that at the time of Ryan’s arrest she remembered thinking that he didn’t seem like the sort to do such a thing. She had noticed what a good father he seemed to be, and how obvious it was he adored his baby. She also shared that Tina Fairchild told her before the trial that sh
e didn’t think that Ryan was guilty.”
“Wasn’t Tina a witness for the prosecution? I wonder what changed her mind.”
I returned my attention to my computer and uploaded Brooke’s file into the formatting program. “I’m not sure, but Gertie recommended that I speak to her. She works at the pharmacy. I thought I might drop in later to see if she’s willing to speak to me. Gertie made a comment about Gina, Tina, and one of the other witnesses for the prosecution, Valerie Goodson, all being close friends. According to her, Tina was kind of passive, tending to go along with whatever the others said. It may be that Tina was pressured into saying exactly the same thing that Valerie did.”
Jack hit the Print button on the file he had been looking at and the old machine whirred to life. “Do you think she will talk to you?”
I shrugged. “I don’t suppose it will hurt to ask.”
“Okay, then. We can both stop by on our way to the church to start digging around for the material for our series. I told Pastor Branderman that we would stop by at around four.”
******
Tina Fairchild was a petite woman with a fair complexion and the blondest hair I’d ever seen. When you coupled that with pale blue eyes and a shy smile, she seemed to fade into the white wall behind where she stood at the cash register.
“Can I help you?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“My name is Jill Hanford,” I said. “I spoke to Gertie Newsome earlier and she suggested that I might want to speak to you about Ryan Spalding.”
“Why would you want to talk to me about Ryan?” she asked. “He is in prison. Has been for a while.” She looked at Jack and frowned. “You own the newspaper.”