A Fatal Visit (A Harbor Cove Cozy Mystery Book 1) (7 page)

Each word was carefully emphasized. “I am going to go and have another shower.” She turned to the dog. “I’m also going to buy a
cat
.” Clue looked up and cocked her head. “You heard me, dog. A cat!”

Nichole stalked off down the corridor as Skyler’s laughter echoed through the apartment.

Chapter Ten

Nichole pushed the cream around on the surface of her coffee with a wooden stirrer. The coffee shop was fairly mellow; there were a few other customers at different tables. It was situated on a plaza just off the main street, but currently only a few people were walking past the window. Pop music played over a speaker, and a child giggled at the next table. Sam returned and tossed a packet of sugar at her. She emptied it into the coffee, staring down at the drink.

“You’re quiet,” he said.

She nodded. “Just had a lot on my mind lately.”

“Mm, I noticed. You’ve been half as sarcastic as you usually are.” He was grinning at her, and it was difficult not to smile back.

Sam was tall, with sandy blond hair and grey eyes. His shoulders were broad, and he was muscular from time spent at the gym. He sat comfortably in the silence, watching people pass by the window. Nichole found her teeth digging into her lip, and her expression glazed over. Sam sent a text and then took a picture of his coffee.

Nichole raised an eyebrow. “Instagram?”

He nodded. “My followers need to know about my caramel mocha.”

“I’m certain they do, Sam.”

The conversation broke again, and he tapped at his phone. Nichole checked her own. A text from the pizza place was her only notification. She was almost relieved by that. She sighed, and Sam looked up at her.

“Why are you in Harbor Cove, Sam?” she asked.

“Uh, I like the beach?” he answered with a puzzled expression.

She rolled her eyes. “I mean, why are you practicing law here? Why here and not a city?”

He tilted his head as he pondered the thought. “The atmosphere. It’s relaxing, verging on the edge of sleepy, excepting the occasional murder. Why do you ask?”

“My own doubts is all. I’m wondering whether or not it would be worth my time moving to a different branch. Or a different place.” She frowned. “But I don’t want to leave Harbor Cove.”

“Why?” he questioned.

“Why, what?”

“Why don’t you want to leave?” He took a sip of coffee and then looked back at her. His stare was almost penetrating.

Nichole thought about it. She drained her coffee cup, and then she looked out of the window. She watched people walking past, people playing and running in the forest park over the road. She saw an old woman throw crumbs to a flock of starlings, and then be promptly descended upon by screeching seagulls. It made her smile. Sam waited, sipping coffee and following her line of sight with his own eyes.

“This is my home.”

He inclined his head. “Fair enough.” He took another drink from his mug. “How’s the Myers case going?”

“We’re getting there. We have a few more clues. I’m sure Skyler will figure it out.” She swept some sugar from the table and onto the floor.

“And you’re representing the victim’s brother, if it should come down to that?” he asked. Nichole nodded. “Are you still sure about that? He’s in a precarious position right now.”

“Skyler and her mother have put their trust in him. And I put my trust in them.” She shrugged. “Wouldn’t you do the same?”

He laughed. “Nope. But I’m more of the cynical-lawyer type than you are.”

Night was drawing in. Momma Avery’s eclectic house cast strange shadows in the moonlight. She flicked on the light in the lounge and sank into her sofa. Sighing, she removed her shawl. She rubbed at her temples.

Never a moment’s rest.

Puttering to the kitchen, she removed a thick book with a plastic cover from a shelf by the mantelpiece. As the kettle boiled on the stove, she sat down at the breakfast bar. Lifting the cover open to the first page of the book, she was presented with an old black and white photograph of her parents on their wedding day. The cake they were sinking a knife into was simple, with delicate white icing and two tiers.

Tea prepared, she sat back down. She flicked over more pages. “Me and Penny, her 21
st
birthday.” The two young women were surrounded by balloons, and they were dancing as family and friends watched and clapped. She turned more pages. “Jill and Frank’s leaving party.” “Hawaii with Janet and Paul, in their new home.” “Skyler’s first day in her very own home.” Titled photographs, all spanning the years of her life. Teardrops welled up, and she rubbed at her eyes.

“I suppose no one wants to stay in Harbor Cove forever.”

She walked to the living room and blew her nose with some tissues. “Chin up, Mary Beth. Bryson isn’t gone, neither is Skyler, and we can help him. We can save him.”

An old TV movie, made in the nineties Skyler guessed, was playing on the TV when she entered the living room of their apartment. Nichole was curled up at the end of the couch, and Clue lay at her feet. A cup of tea was in her hand, and Skyler smiled to see that she was drinking from the “Number One Best Friend” mug Skyler had bought for her.

“I am changing into comfy clothes. I am going to eat chocolate and forget about murder and millionaires and newspaper articles. Just for one night, at the very least,” she announced. Nichole didn’t look up, but she raised a thumb high in the air above the couch.

Skyler returned in a pair of harem pants and a baggy grey hoodie, a baseball cap across her hair. A thick hardback book in hand, she sank into the armchair, and Clue padded over to be at her feet. She read, and absent-mindedly petted the dog as she did so. The sky outside had faded to black. They moved between the kitchen and living room for an hour or so in comfortable silence. The first movie had finished and Nichole looked over at Skyler.

“Boss any nicer?” she asked.

Skyler shrugged. “He’s no worse at least.” She closed her book. “Yours?”

“Eh. Still irritating.” She paused and swung her feet down, as if she were about to stand. “Oh! He got a new nose.”

Skyler’s eyes widened. “Really?”

She nodded with a smile on her face. “It looks like he stole it from a toddler.”

Skyler chuckled. “Oh, that is
so
unfortunate.”

Nichole stood and went to the bathroom, and Skyler continued to read. Rain began to patter gently against the windows. When she returned to the room, Nichole close curtain before getting comfortable again on the sofa.

“Oh! The sequel is on this channel!” Nichole was flicking through the television’s electronic program guide.

“I’m thrilled,” Skyler replied.

When the credits of the second movie of the night rolled, Nichole was fully stretched out on the sofa in front of her.

“You happy, Skyler?” Nichole asked through a half-stifled yawn.

Without missing a beat she dryly responded, “Yes, dear. I love you very much. I’m reading right now, though.”

Nichole sighed. “Witty.” She paused and faced Skyler, legs crossed underneath her. “I meant generally. With your life, your job, the way things are in Harbor Cove?”

Skyler looked up from her book and shrugged. “Things could be worse. Why’d you bring it up?”

“Aubrey dropped out of college when she had Chase’s baby, didn’t she?” She frowned. “That must have been frustrating. She ended up here again, working in a restaurant.”

Skyler closed her book. “I know you. You’re stressing about something. Spill.”

“Harbor Cove is a small place. Sometimes I worry that it isn’t enough for me, for what I want to be. But, at the same time, I love my job, and I
do
love this town.” She paused and scratched her leg. “I guess I have a lot of conflicting thoughts and feelings about all this. You know?”

“Hang on a sec.” Skyler stood and left the room. She came back with a shiny black plastic, wire-bound notebook in her hand. “This is one of my spares.”

Nichole looked puzzled. “Uh, that’s nice, Skyler. You have actually been sleeping lately, haven’t you?”

Skyler rolled her eyes and shook her head. “No, it’s for you. I found that, once I’d started keeping a journal, it filtered out my invasive thoughts and shone some clarity onto them. Maybe it’ll help you, too.”

Her roommate cocked her head and then smiled, taking the notebook. “Thanks. I’ll give it a shot.”

~~~

There was a chiller breeze on the tearoom patio today, and the intermittent clouds meant the light was constantly changing from grey back to the bright sunshine. Skyler was sitting with her notebook in hand, and a cup of green tea steamed on the table beside her. A young woman walked out and looked around as if searching. Skyler waved.

“Skyler Avery?” she questioned.

“Yes. We spoke on the phone, didn’t we?” The woman nodded, and a strand of black hair fell across her forehead, which she quickly pushed away again. “Kelly, was it?”

She nodded. Her words came out rushed. “I’m not going to be in the newspaper, am I? I really don’t want—”

Skyler held up a hand and shook her head. “As much as I want to write a good story, I want to find out who
really
murdered Chase Myers. I’m talking to a lot of people from the restaurant.” She tried her best to offer her a reassuring smile. The girl was young, seventeen or eighteen Skyler would have guessed. Perhaps younger; she had heavy makeup around her eyes and on her cheeks.

“I’ll try my best to help.” A waitress set down a mug of tea beside her, and Kelly stirred into it three cubes of sugar.  She blushed. “I’ve always taken my tea really sweet.” It came out like an apology.

Skyler grinned at her. “Me too. My mother always despairs.”

“Same!” A smile spread over her face. “She’s always trying to get me to join her on these crazy diets.”

“It gets easier, I promise.” Skyler flipped open her notebook and drank some of her own tea. “So, to start off with, why don’t you tell me about Dustin Cole? What do you think of him?”

“I like him.” She blushed. “I mean, that is to say, he’s a nice person. But he’d been fumbling a bit, tripping up. The higher staff were kind of mad at him.”

“Did he ever seem angry to you? Act strangely in any way? Have you ever heard him mention Chase Myers?”

She shook her head. “No. Dustin’s always been pleasant and friendly.”

Across town, back at the apartment, Nichole was sitting at their kitchen table, her laptop open. She had found a page for a dental practice for a Mr. and Mrs. Perkins, Aubrey’s parents, but hadn’t be able to find a personal number for either of them. Pulling out her phone, she tapped in the number.

A bright, cheery voice answered her call. “Hi. You’re speaking to Susan at the Perkins & Co. Dental Surgery. How can I help you?”

“My name is Nichole Chambers. I’m working”—she hesitated—“on the Chase Myers case, and I was wondering if Mr. or Mrs. Perkins is available for conversation?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Perkins don’t personally take any calls unless they’re regarding business or their patients.”

“Could you take my number and ask for them to call me?”

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I can’t do that. Have a nice day.”

“No wait, I—” Susan had already hung up the phone.

Nichole stuck her tongue out at her phone. “Rude.”

Kelly seemed to have relaxed; she sat back in her chair rather than on the edge of it.

“So how well did you know Aubrey Perkins?” Skyler asked.

“The assistant manager? We chatted sometimes. Before—you know—before it happened, she had been telling me all about how someone she used to know had come back to town. She was angry at first, said that this person was irresponsible, lazy, entitled…but then something changed. She had this little smile on her face for ages…”