Mobsters and Lobsters (A Hooked & Cooked Cozy Mystery Series Book 2) (5 page)

And waited.

And waited.

Petunia joined Hannah and looked up at her like she was expecting a treat. Hannah softened a bit. It wasn’t Petunia’s fault. She made a mental note to keep a handful of treats for Petunia in her pocket along with Nellie’s dog treats.

Finally, Pearl walked through the door dressed in a long loose multi-colored muumuu and a towel wrapped around her head “Sorry. I was in the shower. Had to get the cigarette smell out of my hair.”

Hannah raised her eyebrows. “The room is so filled with smoke, I almost called the fire department. Which one of your lovely guests disconnected the smoke alarm? I already have the building inspector giving me grief. Do you have any idea what he’d do if he found out about that?” Hannah clenched her jaw. “What’s going on in there, Pearl? The cottage isn’t big enough to accommodate all these people.” What she kept to herself was that she had less than zero desire to even try to accommodate any of them, except Petunia.

“You think I want them here? My ex-husband, Tony, is inside. I can’t stand him. The only reason I let him in was because Rocky’s been looking out for him. They’re kind of a package deal. Did you meet Rocky? My grandson, my pride and joy. He’d be
perfect
for you. You know, if you’re in the market.” Pearl looked hopefully at Hannah.

“I’m not, and they have to go. Now. My guests and my employees can’t even get into the driveway.” Hannah’s voice went up with each word.

Pearl looked behind her and leaned close to Hannah. “It is starting to look like a mob convention. I’ll tell them they have to leave.”

“Now,” Hannah reminded Pearl.

Of course Sherry would have to walk by at the moment Petunia decided to root around in front of the cottage. The smoke from Pearl’s cottage was drifting outside. And, Rocky sauntered out, sans shirt. Not that he was hard to look at, but his peacock strut was enough to make Hannah gag.

Sherry’s eyes popped and, without a word, she hastened to Cottage Three and slammed the door.

“What’s her problem?” Rocky asked.

“A bit uptight,” Pearl said. “She must need a man in her life.”

“Is that your solution to every problem?” Hannah asked.

“Always worked for me, dear. Got wealthy and, I’d like to think, wise from all my ex’s.” Pearl winked at Hannah.

A loud crash sounded inside the cottage.

“Move the cars. All of them. Out. Of. My. Driveway. Now.” Hannah kept her words level to counter her rising stress level.

“No need for attitude, Doll Face. We only stopped in to say hello to Nana,” Rocky said as he grinned at Hannah. “Wanna meet me for dinner tonight? There must be at least one decent place to grab some grub in this sleepy town.”

Hannah ignored Rocky. She pointed to Pearl and the cars. “It’s time to tell your friends to skedaddle.”

Officer Pam Larson drove in as far as possible. Hannah had never been so happy to see her.

“Whoa, Doll Face. Did you call the cops?” Rocky high-tailed it into the cottage and rounded up the others in less than a minute. On his way past Hannah, still bare-chested but with a black t-shirt draped over one shoulder, he held his thumb to his ear and his pinky to his mouth. “Nana’s got my number. Call me.”

“Yeah, right,” Hannah mumbled under her breath. Maybe when the Atlantic freezes solid.

The five Cadillacs backed out leaving a cloud of dust and one police woman staring in disbelief. “I can’t wait to hear the explanation of that, Ms. Holiday. After I have a chat with all your guests.” Pam stared at Petunia grunting and rooting at the edge of the cottage. “Is that a pig?”

Pearl picked up Petunia. “She’s a potbelly pig to be exact. Six months old and house trained.”

“Is that so?” Pam crossed her arms and leaned against Pearl’s red convertible. “Are you zoned for agriculture here, Ms. Holiday?”

“Pearl Martini is a guest and Petunia, her pet, will only be here temporarily,” Hannah replied, hoping the fact that she didn’t actually answer the question would go unnoticed by Pam.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She checked her iPad. “Who’s staying in your other cottages? I’d like to have a little chat with each person. Separately, of course.” She glanced at Pearl. “Starting with you.”

“Sherry Wolfe is staying in Cottage Three, and you spoke to the couple in Cottage Four yesterday—Aaron and Laura Masterson.”

Pam made a few notes. “I’ll use your office, Ms. Holiday. Follow me.” Pam walked to Hannah’s office without checking to see if anyone followed. Pearl didn’t.

Hannah walked in behind Pam. The officer made herself comfortable at Hannah’s desk and waited.

Hannah looked over her shoulder. “Um, Pearl went back into her cottage.”

Pam pursed her lips and tapped her chin. “That’s okay. You and I can chat first. Sit down.” Pam waited for Hannah.

“I’ll stand.” She was furious that Pam took
her
seat at
her
desk and she wasn’t going to let Pam intimidate her.

“Fine. Why were you and your sister at the marina this morning?”

“Just checking to see if my guest, Lenny DiMarco, ever returned to the marina. Alive.”

“What did you find out?”

Hannah paused. She didn’t want to get Chase in trouble if he had told Hannah something he wasn’t supposed to. “Nothing, except a body was found. Can you tell me if it was Lenny?”

“It’s not. We found photos of him in Lenny’s car and the dead guy was definitely not Lenny. Much shorter and fatter.”

“Who is it?”

Pam shrugged. “Beats me. May be awhile before he’s identified. Pretty beat up from the rocks.”

“You’re still searching for another body?”

“We are.” Pam rested her chin on her entwined fingers. “There were more photos.”

Hannah froze. She didn’t dare move or say anything. She knew in the pit of her stomach that she wouldn’t like what Pam was about to tell her. More photos couldn’t be good if Pam made a point of bringing it up.

Pam stood up. “Okay, how about you ask Ms. Martini to come in here. I’m dying of curiosity to find out who all those,” she cleared her throat, “
gentlemen
were who rushed out of her cottage in such a hurry when I showed up. If I didn’t know better, Ms. Holiday, I’d think you were letting some bad thugs rent Cottage Two.” Pam cocked her head to one side in a challenge to Hannah.

Hannah refused to take the bait. She did not want to get into a pissing match with Officer Pam Larson. The probability was high that it wouldn’t end well for Hannah.

Cal knocked on the door and poked his head in, his face dropping when he saw Hannah was with Pam. “Do you have a minute, Hannah? I need your advice on something.”

“Sure do.” She turned back toward Pam. “Will you be able to find the guests yourself?” Hannah asked in an overly friendly voice.

Pam stood up. “I’ll manage. Oh, I almost forgot. I’d like to talk to your sister, too. Is she here?”

Hannah froze with her back to Pam. “Ruby hasn’t been feeling well. I’ll check if she’s asleep.”

“Really? She looked fine when I saw the two of you at the marina. Don’t bother her now.”

Hannah held the office door open for Pam before she followed Cal to the snack bar. “More problems?”

“Nope. Everything’s going perfect. I’ve got one more beam to replace. You’ll be able to call the building inspector to swing by tomorrow for the final check,” Cal said with a satisfied grin on his face.

“So, what advice did you need?” Hannah bent down to look under the snack bar at the new beams.

“Chicken or steak?”

“What?” Hannah straightened, cocked her head, and looked at Cal. The edges of his blue eyes wrinkled and his lips curved into a devilish smile. Her heart fluttered which reminded her to slow down already and remember what was important.

“For dinner tonight. I’m hoping you’d like to join me on my boat for a bite to eat.”

The thought of spending the evening with Cal tempted Hannah beyond everything at the moment
except
solving the problem about Lenny’s disappearance. “There’s a good chance that Ruby and Olivia will be staying with me tonight.”

“Bring them along. You know I can’t say no to Olivia, and Theodore was just telling me how much he’s missed your little niece.”

“Oh, really? Theodore, the stuffed bear, told you he misses Olivia?”

“Uh huh. So, what’s the answer? Chicken or steak?”

Hannah laughed. Laughing felt good after all the problems from the past twenty four hours. “Neither.”

Cal’s face fell.

“You’ve put in so much time here helping me, I’ll pick up a couple of pizzas so neither one of us has to spend time cooking. It’s the least I can do.”

“Okay, I can live with that compromise. Bring Ruby and Olivia if they want to come.”

“They can eat outside so we can have some alone time,” Hannah suggested.

Cal’s grin widened and he leaned close to Hannah. “Maybe just Ruby.”

“Hey Cal,” one of his workers hollered. “Got a problem with this last beam. It’s not sitting right. Something’s in the way.”

“Not what I want to hear,” Cal mumbled. “I’ll check with you about dinner before I leave,” he called to Hannah as he hurried to find out what the problem was.

Hannah took a quick look out over the ocean. It helped to focus on the distant horizon, where the sky met the water, to keep everything in perspective. She needed to see the big picture instead of each little problem that kept piling up. Strive toward the big picture of being able to relax and enjoy the beautiful ocean spot that her Great Aunt Caroline left her.

She realized that she desperately needed to get the income stream moving faster than a trickle or she might not be able to stay here.

She urgently needed the snack bar to open on time.

And more than anything else, she had to figure out how to keep Ruby and Olivia safe.

Chapter 6

Olivia flitted around Hannah’s cottage like a month old puppy. “Hurry up Hannah. What’s the surprise? Are you coming too, Mom?”

Finally, Ruby was dressed after a long hot shower. She told Hannah she needed to wash away the memory of seeing Lenny. Not that it helped much. Especially since Hannah’s plan was to take a walk toward the site of the capsized boat to look for clues. It was unlikely they would find anything after the police scoured the shoreline, but it couldn’t hurt.

Hannah picked Olivia up and twirled her around. “The surprise? You want to know the surprise?”

“Yesssss!” Olivia screeched all the way around Hannah’s spinning circle.

“Let’s go. I have an interesting guest in Cottage Two.”

Olivia’s face fell. “That doesn’t sound fun. Your guests are boring.”

“Not this one. Nellie loves her already. Come on.”

Hannah, with Olivia holding her hand and dancing next to her, led the way to Pearl’s cottage. Nellie ran ahead, anxious to visit with her new friend. Ruby trailed behind with lead in her feet.

Pearl, in all her purple glory, emerged through the cottage door. Petunia, with her leash and harness, trotted out right next to her.

“A pig!” Olivia squealed as she dashed to embrace Petunia. “You didn’t tell me your guest is a pig.”

“A potbelly pig to be exact, dear. And who are you?” Pearl asked.

“This is Olivia,” Hannah explained. “Can we take Petunia for a walk with us?” She hoped Pearl didn’t ask any more questions about Olivia since Ruby was jumpy about who knew what about her until Lenny was found. Preferably, without the ability to stalk Ruby ever again.

“A walk? I suppose Petunia would love to join you. Let me get her walking outfit.” Pearl returned inside. Ruby mouthed
walking outfit? Is she for real?

They didn’t have to wait long before Pearl returned with a colorful sunhat and Petunia’s sunglasses. She handed the items to Hannah. “Just in case. She does sunburn easily.”

Hannah gave Ruby the silent look they had always shared to mean
craaaazy
before she accepted the accessories and Petunia’s leash. “We shouldn’t be gone for too long.”

“I’m meeting Rocky in town, so just keep Petunia until I get back,” Pearl casually stated. “Oh. And don’t feed her anything.” Pearl lowered her voice and cupped her hand around her mouth, apparently so Petunia wouldn’t hear what was coming next. “She’s been gaining too much weight.”

Again, Hannah gave her sister the silent look before she stepped away from Pearl with Petunia and Olivia at her side. Nellie dashed to the path beyond Cottage Four and Olivia pulled Petunia’s leash away from Hannah.

The little girl looked up at her aunt. “Can I wear Petunia’s hat and sunglasses until she needs them?”

“Great idea.” Hannah pushed the sunhat over Olivia’s French braids and handed her the pink sunglasses which Olivia slid onto her nose. Upside down.

Olivia and Petunia tried to catch up with Nellie but their strides were much shorter and slower than the golden retriever’s long graceful bounds.

Hannah and Ruby walked in silence for several minutes, until Hannah blurted out, “What did you and Officer Larson talk about when she found you this afternoon?”