Murder So Sweet (A Sweet Cove Mystery Book 2) (13 page)

“Do you get a weird vibe from her?” Angie asked.

Jenna looked towards the door that Lindsay had just exited through. “I don’t know. Like what? Like you don’t trust her?”

“Sort of. She had a grudge against Finch. I wonder….”

Jenna said, “That’s interesting that she wants Finch’s storefront, isn’t it?”

“She seems determined to grab the space when it becomes available.” Angie leaned her elbow on the top of the jewelry case and held her chin in her hand. “She didn’t say anything about what the rent will be. It didn’t seem to concern her.”

Jenna sat down at her desk. “Would hating Finch and wanting his store space be enough motive for her to…?”

Angie gave Jenna a pointed look. “People have done a lot of bad things with less motive than that.”

Angie’s phone buzzed. “It’s Chief Martin.” She answered and listened for several minutes. “We’ll meet you there. See you soon.” She turned to her sister. “Chief Martin wants me and Courtney to meet him at Finch’s candy store. He said the investigation has stalled. He wants us to see if we can sense anything by being in the shop.”

“Why don’t you bring the cats with you?” From the look on her face, Jenna wasn’t kidding about it.

Angie could feel a pricking at the back of her mind, and then the idea formed. “The night that Lisa Barrows tried to poison me just jumped into my head. I remember how I felt and how Euclid saved me by knocking the poisoned tea from my hand.”

Jenna gave Angie a questioning look.

“Just before all that happened, I had been on Robin’s Point. I felt the thrumming in my blood that I always feel when I’m there.”

“Where are you going with this?” Jenna asked.

“Before we meet the chief, I think Courtney and I should go down to the point first, kind of get in touch with whatever happens to us when we’re down there.”

Jenna nodded. “It couldn’t hurt.”

The corners of Angie’s mouth turned up in a slight smile. “And then, we’ll come back and get the cats.”

Chapter 19

Angie and Courtney sat down on the grass where their grandmother’s cottage once stood. The late afternoon sun warmed them as they watched people swimming and playing on the beach. To the right of the main beach, several surfers bobbed on the ocean swells waiting for a good wave to come up.

Courtney kicked her shoes off and wiggled her toes in the grass. “We need to get to the beach. We keep saying we’ll go and then something comes up.”

“The water looks really good. Maybe we can go this weekend.” Angie looked sideways at her sister. “Do you feel anything?”

“Of course. I always do. Do you?”

Angie nodded. The familiar humming moved through her blood. Her muscles warmed and relaxed and Angie wasn’t sure if it was the sun causing the pleasant sensation or if it was the thrumming that was doing it.

“It feels good.” Courtney leaned back on the ground and closed her eyes.

Angie stretched her legs out in front of her. She’d always been so concerned and worried about what she felt when she was on the point that she didn’t allow herself to really experience it. Sitting in the grass, she focused her attention to fully realize the vibration. She drifted off, not into slumber, but into a state of deep relaxation.

“We should probably go.” Courtney nudged her sister and Angie’s eyes flew open.

“How long have we been here?” Angie rubbed her eyes.

“Forty-five minutes.”

Angie pushed herself up and stood. “I completely lost track of time.”

“We better get going. We need to swing by the Victorian to pick up the cats and get to Finch’s shop to meet the chief.” Courtney pulled the elastic off her ponytail and shook out her hair.

The girls got into Angie’s car and they headed back to the house to pick up Euclid and Circe.

Courtney’s hair blew around her face from the breeze coming in the open car window. “Some people might think we’re kind of strange to believe that the cats can be helpful finding clues to a murder.”

Steering the car up Main Street, Angie gave Courtney a quick glance. “Not long ago, I was one of those people.”

“You know what?” Courtney chuckled. “So was I.”

***

Courtney opened the candy store door and pushed it with her shoulder. She carried Circe in her arms. Angie followed them in carrying Euclid. The orange cat looked slightly put out that he was being held like a baby. When Angie put him on the floor, he stretched and licked his fur into place.

Chief Martin came in from the back room and his eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, the cats. Well, very good.”

Euclid and Circe moved silently about the room taking in the sights and smells.

The chief said, “I thought it could be helpful to have you come back in here and just sort of wander around. As I told Angie on the phone, the investigation is sort of dead in the water. We haven’t given up by any means. Something new will come up, but, in the meantime, I figured it couldn’t hurt to have you come back and look around.”

“We’re glad to try and help.” Angie told the chief what she and her sisters had been thinking about who might be suspects. He nodded, but didn’t say much. Angie knew he wasn’t able to divulge anything from an ongoing case.

Courtney walked about the room. She ran her hand over the candy cases. “Someone needs to clean out the candy,” she told the chief.

Angie walked into the back room to see what the cats were doing. Each one had gone in a different direction. Euclid sniffed around the walk-in refrigerator. Circe sat on Finch’s desk and stared up at the book shelves above her head. Angie noticed the blood stain on the floor where Finch had fallen. She quickly shifted her gaze away from the spot. Euclid moved to gingerly sniff at the bloodstain. Chief Martin entered the room. He pulled the chair away from the desk and settled onto the seat. His shoulders sagged.

The room still retained the scent of chocolate, sugar, and butter. The sinks, countertops, and all the equipment were spotless. Finch had cleaned and put everything away for the night before the killer intruded into the space. Angie made a circle around the back room and approached the chief in his chair. She shrugged and shook her head. The cats continued to meander about the room.

“I don’t get a sense of anything at all. I’m sorry.”

The chief hauled himself out the seat. “It was worth a try.”

“Is Courtney still out front?” Angie walked over to the door. She stopped short. The chief came up behind her.

Courtney stood behind one of the candy cases. Her eyes stared across the room at nothing. Her face was pale.

“Courtney?” Angie took a step towards her sister, but the chief put his hand on Angie’s shoulder to stop her.

After a few moments, Courtney shuddered and she sucked in a breath of air. She put her hand up to her forehead. Angie rushed to her side and placed her hand on Courtney’s arm. “Are you okay?”

Courtney blinked several times before shaking off her stupor. “Angie.” Her voice was just above a whisper.

“Did you sense something?”

“Finch was in the back room. There was talking … then, shouting. The energy in the room was chaotic, dark. I saw a knife. And then Finch was on the floor.”

The chief asked, “The voices you heard. Was it a man’s voice? A woman’s?”

Courtney’s forehead creased. She turned to the chief. “Both.”

“Was the man’s voice Finch or someone else?”

“I’m not sure.” She shook her head. “I don’t know for certain.”

“Could you see anything?” the chief asked.

“Just the glint of the knife, and only for a second.”

A crash sounded in the back room and the three of them jumped. They rushed to see what had happened. A book had fallen or had been pushed by Circe off the top shelf. The chief pulled on surgical type gloves, leaned down, picked up the book, and turned it over in his hands.

“It’s false.”

“What?” Courtney asked.

“It’s a fake book.” He opened it. The inside had been hollowed out. The chief removed a leather notebook that was hidden inside and thumbed through it. “It’s a list of transactions. It looks like a ledger of transactions. Seems to be for artwork purchases and sales. No names, just initials.” The chief looked up. “Finch must have been dealing pieces of art.”

“Illegally, it seems,” Courtney said. “If it was legit, why would he hide the deals in a fake book?”

“Maybe this is how Finch became so wealthy.” Angie peered over the chief’s shoulder and stared at the notebook in his hands. “Was he dealing in stolen artwork?”

The chief let out a sigh. “Good question. This will take some research.” He shifted his eyes to the black cat sitting on Finch’s desk. “Thanks, Circe.”

She trilled.

Chapter 20

“My brother was dealing artwork?” Mr. Finch rocked gently in one of the front porch chairs with Circe asleep in his lap. “Thaddeus never ceases to amaze me. Were the pieces stolen?”

“Chief Martin doesn’t know yet if the works were stolen or if your brother was handling the items as a broker bringing wealthy investors together to buy and sell.” Angie placed a platter of ginger-molasses cookies on the small table near the rockers.

“It seems suspicious to me.” Courtney sat on the floor of the porch with Euclid curled beside her. “If whatever he was doing was legal then why hide the paperwork? He had the information hidden in a fake book.”

“I can’t believe this. It’s like a TV show or a movie.” Jenna shook her head.

Tom had stopped by on his way to a new renovation project. He sipped an iced tea and reached for another of Angie’s cookies. “What’s going on around here? Is a small town a good cover for people who are up to no good? Is a small town like Sweet Cove a good hiding place because no one expects bad things to happen in a quaint, little town?”

“Could be.” Jenna rocked beside Tom. “There has certainly been a lot going on here recently.”

Ellie opened the front door and held it for Mr. and Mrs. Foley who carried suitcases and a carry-on bag. They bustled onto the porch. “We’re off,” Mrs. Foley smiled at everyone gathered outside.

Circe and Euclid woke and jumped onto the porch railing. They stared at the Foleys.

“I didn’t realize you were leaving.” Angie stepped forward to shake hands with the couple.

“We decided to cut our visit short by a few days.” Mr. Foley placed his suitcase on the floor. “We’ve accomplished what we wanted from our visit.”

Mrs. Foley said, “We saw so many of the sights. We had a lovely time. We’re feeling well-rested and eager to get home for a week before we head off to Europe.” She turned to Ellie. “I will be sure to leave you a five-star review for your lovely B and B.”

The couple started down the steps with their things. Tom stood and went to help Mrs. Foley with her suitcase. “Let me get that,” he offered.

“Oh, my, thank you. It was lovely meeting all of you.” Mrs. Foley bustled to the car. She opened the passenger side door and placed her handbag on the seat.

Euclid leaped off the porch and ran to the vehicle. He jumped onto the roof of the car and sat there as Mr. Foley opened the trunk.

“Euclid,” Jenna chastised the big orange cat.

“Come here, boy,” Angie called to him.

Euclid sat like a statue. He would not budge.

Courtney started to laugh, but caught herself as a tingling sensation flowed through her body. She jerked her head towards Mr. Finch who had just pushed himself up from his rocker. He had a concerned expression on his face. Finch and Courtney made eye contact and the two of them hurried down the steps heading to the driveway. “I’ll get Euclid,” Courtney said.

The rushed way that Courtney and Finch walked to the driveway gave Angie a twinge of anxiety as she watched them from the porch.

Mr. Finch leaned on his cane and limped over to the car. When Courtney approached the side of the vehicle and reached up for the cat, Euclid slid down the rear window, jumped to the side, and hurtled into the trunk. Mrs. Foley cried out.

Mr. Finch sidled up to the open trunk. He pretended to be after Euclid, but his real intention was to get a look in the back hatch. Courtney joined him and the two of them rustled around the packed items of the trunk feigning an attempt to capture the cat.

“Oh, no, no. I’ll take care if it.” Mr. Foley used a mock cheerful tone as he tried to shoulder Finch and Courtney out of the way.

Euclid scratched at a plaid blanket that was draped over an object that was pushed into the rear of the trunk. Mr. Foley’s efforts to keep Courtney from reaching into the hatch became more aggressive and the young woman elbowed him in the side.

“Oh, sorry.” She pretended she hadn’t meant to jab him.

Once Euclid uncovered the object, he took a mighty leap from the vehicle over the heads of the people crowded at the rear of the car.

“What’s this?” Mr. Finch reached forward to take hold of something that looked like a rolled up piece of carpet.

Foley tried to slam the trunk. Courtney blocked him.

Finch pulled the item forward.

Mr. Foley tried to grab the object out of Finch’s hands. Finch leaned back and swatted Foley over the head with his cane. Mr. Foley stumbled back and fell on his butt. Just as his wife lunged at Finch, Courtney stuck her leg out and tripped the woman. Mrs. Foley crashed to the driveway in a disheveled heap.

The whole thing only took several seconds. The others stood on the porch gaping at the melee in the driveway.

“What do you have there?” Tom asked Finch.

Finch held a canvas in his hands and he unrolled a foot of it.

Angie gasped when she saw the colors and shapes. “It’s…”

“The painting from my brother’s living room.” Finch glared at the Foleys.

“The stolen painting!” Ellie reached for the phone in her pocket, pulled it out, and called 911.

“Robbers.” Anger contorted Mr. Finch’s face. “Did you kill Thaddeus?”

The Foleys attempted to scramble away, but Tom blocked their escape and pushed them back onto the pavement of the driveway. He growled at them. “I’d stay where you are, if I were you.”

Euclid sat on the porch railing looking smug.

Angie sidled up next to Ellie. “I bet the Foleys won’t be leaving a five-star review for the B and B now.”