Secrets in the Shallows (Book 1: The Monastery Murders) (12 page)

John shook his head. “No thanks, George. I’m not good with lobsters.”

“Oh, just give them here,” he groaned. George took the instrument from Katy and put rubber covers on each claw. “Katy, your mom called on my shortwave radio, and she told me about hitting the deer with the car.” He brushed away her hair from her face. “You’re not hurt anywhere, are you? And is your Mom really all right?”

“Dad, I’m okay, and Mom is too. Thanks, but there’s nothing to worry about, except the bodywork on the car that still needs to be done.”

Relieved there were no injuries, he sighed, “I hope it didn’t do too much damage to the front of the car. However, I know how much damage even a small animal can cause, so I’m not holding my breath. She also told me you seemed upset and frightened about something in the woods.”

“Dad, it’s nothing!”

Concerned, John took her by the arms. “Katy, you didn’t tell me about that. What was it?”

“Nothing, John, please.” She pulled away from his grasp.

George wiped his hands on a towel in efforts to remove the rest of the oil, while casually eavesdropping on their conversation.

“John, please, it’s not anything to worry about. Besides, It’s just silly.”

John put his arm around her. “Come on. Tell me.”

“Okay, I saw something today by the monastery that scared me after we hit the fawn.”

Katy crossed her arms and walked away from John toward the end of the pier gazing out across the bay. She brushed her blonde hair away from her eyes as she saw a large crab walking on the rock below.

John followed after her. “Sweetheart, if there’s something else bothering you, please tell me.”

As Katy turned around, their eyes met. She rubbed her arms and turned to gaze at the ocean waves. “Well, when we hit the animal it was right in front of the monastery. However, when Mom and I were moving it, I heard something in the woods. When I looked through the brush, I saw someone in there.”

“Think it was just a curious bystander?”

“I don’t know who it was, but I saw someone staring at me.”

Katy turned and walked briskly toward her father, who stared down at the lobsters while putting the rubbers on their claws. He opened up a cooler and placed six lobsters inside. Closing the lid, he picked it up and set it on the table.

“Here you go, Katy.” He grimaced slightly and continued, “There’s plenty for tonight’s dinner at least. Hope that incoming storm blows over quickly. I need to be out there as often as possible.”

John ran over and pulled her aside. Lovingly, he put his arm around her shoulder as he stood beside her. “Did you recognize the person?”

“No, I just assumed it was one of the nuns. I even thought I saw someone in a habit as we drove off, but they were carrying a short-handled ax of all things. It felt so weird. It was almost scary. When we were driving home later on, we looked on the side of the road and the deer was already gone. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

“John, I know that animal didn’t just get up and walk away by itself. It was dead. Mom and I moved it, but it was gone when we drove back by there.”

“Probably just some predator got to it and dragged it off. I wouldn’t worry about it. As far as the person you saw, I bet it was either one of the nuns, or maybe that creepy custodian that works at the school. He’s always walking around out there. I’ve had to talk to him a couple of times about some things. He’d freak everyone out if they didn’t know who he was.”

“I pretty sure I saw a nun in a habit, but it was just a very strange experience,” Katy commented.

The phone rang and George answered it. After a couple of minutes, he cupped his hand over the phone and shouted, “Katy, Mom called and said to come on home with the lobsters.”

“Okay, Dad. Tell her we are on the way.”

George relayed the message to his wife and then quickly hung up the phone. Grabbing the cooler handle, he walked over towards John. “Can you take this out to your car, please?”

“Of course, I’ll take that,” John reached out and grasped the handle. “Thanks. We’ll see you in just a bit.”

“You’d better go ahead and get it home before your mom panics, Katy. There’s another storm headed this way, and you know how she is.”

“Another storm? We just got over one! And, yes, I know how she can be.” Katy looked up at the partly cloudy sky as she waved. “I’ll see you soon, Daddy. Be careful coming home. The roads still have icy patches.”

“I’ll be careful. You worry about getting both of you home safely. I can take care of myself,” George chuckled.

She smiled and said, “I’ve got John to keep me safe. I’ll be fine.” Katy turned to catch up with John at the car.

John placed the cooler in his trunk and slammed the lid closed. “There. We’re all set. Are you ready?”

“I’m always ready to go eat some lobster,” Katy giggled as she got into the car.

“Great, then let’s go,” John said as he walked over and closed the door for her.

* * * *

The horizon was ablaze with the setting sun as they drove toward Katy’s house.

John looked sidewise at Katy as they drove the route. “Tense, honey?”

“No, not really, I’m just thinking.”

“What about?”

She sighed. “Just about everything that happened today. First, we hit the fawn, then whatever I saw in the bushes...” Her voice trailed off.

John smiled at her and gently said, “Don’t worry, Katy. I’m always gonna’ be here to protect you.”

As they continued on Route 17, John spotted flashing lights in the distance. Vehicles were scattered everywhere, including a fire truck and the sheriff’s car parked on the side of the road. Various news vans had parked wherever they could find a place. In the driveway, photographers from the newspaper and magazines were taking pictures, as reporters told their breaking stories to the cameras.

Spotting Sheriff Johnson walking away from the crowd, John pulled up nearby and rolled down the window. “What in the hell happened?”

“John, we found Timmy Fields’ body in the pond behind the monastery,” Sheriff explained.

“Oh, no! Do you think it was an accident?” John asked.

Sheriff Johnson scratched his head and replied, “I don’t know at this point, John, it’s hard to say one way or another. The team is gathering the evidence right now, and we’ll know more once the autopsy has been done.”

“I was heading over to Katy’s for dinner, but do you need me to come back and help tonight?”

“No, it’s getting dark and we have the forensics team here. You’d just be in the way, Counselor. Go enjoy dinner with your beautiful girlfriend. It may be the last free moment you have for a while,” Sheriff Johnson said as he chuckled. “I’ll call you in the morning, once we know more.”

“All right, Sheriff. Just let me know if you need me.”

“Will do. Thanks!”

John turned to Katy and said, “Seems like things are going to get a little busy over the next few weeks.”

“I would think so. Hope you aren’t
toooo
busy to see me though,” Katy pouted.

“I’m never too busy for you, baby. Don’t you even think like that.”

Katy smiled as John pulled out onto the road heading to Katy’s home. Both remained deep in thought, and the couple’s unusual silence was only broken by the soft jazz music playing on the radio.

* * * *

“Hi, Mom. We’re home!” Katy yelled as she closed the front door.

“Where have you kids been?” Julie yelled from the kitchen as everyone could hear pots clanging together. Appearing in the kitchen doorway, she smiled and asked, “Do you have those lobsters for me?”

Julie’s blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail, much like her daughter was wearing. In her jeans and long-sleeved sweatshirt, she looked ten years younger than she actually was.

“We’ve got them right here,” Katy replied, pointing to the cooler in John’s hand.

“Great! John, can you please put it on the kitchen counter by the sink?”

“I’ll be happy to,” John replied, doing as he was asked.

Placing her hands on her hips, Julie looked at Jason as he sat on the couch watching television. “Jason, would you please get up off that couch and come set the table for me?”

Julie glanced at Katy while shaking her head. “I swear! All he does is sit on that couch!”

Katy giggled and smiled at John while gesturing to her brother. “The perfect couch potato.”

“I heard that, Katy,” Jason said as he wiggled his body to the edge of the seat cushion. Adjusting his black sweat pants and matching shirt as he stood up, he continued, “You know why they’re so late, Mom. I bet I know. They were probably parking somewhere, sucking face.” Jason leaned back laughing.

“Shut up!” Katy thumped him on his head as he walked by.

“Ouch!” He rubbed it and winked at her.

“Jason, where did you learn to talk like that? You know Dad and I don’t like that.” Julie leaned into the refrigerator. “Where are the butter and garlic?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, Mom.”

Julie stood up from the refrigerator, put her hand on her hips and glanced at her watch. “Was your father almost finished when you left?”

Shrugging her shoulders, Katy responded. “He had just pulled into the docks before we left.”

“Well, he’s usually home by now.”

“He was counting and weighing the lobsters as we headed to the car. He gave us our lobsters, but it didn’t look like he had a huge haul.”

Julie sighed and said, “I swear, if he doesn’t start having good catches, or the price per pound doesn’t go up, we’re all going to starve. We can barely afford the gas for him to go out now.”

“Unfortunately, the slow part of the season is starting. Maybe it won’t be a harsh winter. We can at least hope and pray,” Katy commented.

Julie took a deep breath and put a couple of lobsters in the huge pot on the stove.. “Yes, we can at least do that. Hopefully, our luck will change soon.”

* * * *

An old vehicle with the distinct sound of an aging engine slowly rolled into the driveway at the Warsaw home.

“You can never miss Dad with that old beat up truck. That wreck can be heard a mile away,” Jason said.

Outside, George Warsaw got out of the truck under the carport and walked around his wife’s car towards his back porch. Agitated at the impending weather forecast and his light catch for the day, he cursed under his breath.

Hearing the shuffling noises out on the porch, Julie nudged John with her elbow and nodded her head toward the back door.

John got up, kissed Katy on the side of the head and said, “I’ll be right back,” then went out the back door to help George.

“Can I give you a hand with that?”

George handed him the cooler box that contained the rest of the lobsters. “An old man came at the last freakin’ minute to talk about the big storm that’s headed our way.”

Peering up at the sky, John asked, “You really think it’s going to get bad?”

George walked in wiping the soles of his boots. “Well, according to the weatherman, it is. Damn, that means another bad day of no fishing. Storms always screw things up. No lobsters, so that means no money we can count on! And that’s not all we talked about.”

He continued, “Apparently, they found a body in the monastery pond. It could be Timmy Fields. I can’t believe something like that would happen in our town again. I passed a half dozen cop cars and a bunch of news crews at the monastery on my way home.”

“Oh! That’s one of the reasons we were running a little late!” Katy burst out.

“What do you mean?!” Julie blurted.

John interjected, “We were on our way here, and saw the lights flashing at the monastery, so we stopped for a moment. Sheriff Johnson told us that they found Timmy Fields’ body in the pond, but he didn’t tell us anymore details.”

“That’s a terrible shame. Do you think Herbert and Margie know yet?” Julie asked.

John replied, “I didn’t see them there, but I really don’t know. I’m supposed to talk with the sheriff in the morning. Obviously, he’s a little busy right now. I’ll know more after that.”

Rubbing his forehead, George sighed. “This is just horrible. This town has always been such a safe place to live. But, man, I’m so tired I can hardly think about it. I could really use a shot of whiskey and a good night’s sleep, to tell you the truth.”

Julie walked up to George and kissed him on the cheek. Putting a hand on his chest, she commented, “Why don’t you go get cleaned up before dinner, dear?”

George kissed her sweetly. As Julie turned to go back to the kitchen, he patted her on the rear and winked.

“Hey, not in front of the kids!” she laughed. “Supper is almost ready. Good thing Katy went ahead and brought them home so I could get started. You were a bit late today.”

George took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he thought about another drowned teenage boy. “Couldn’t be helped, sweetie.”

* * * *

At dinner, the usual bantering back and forth among the Warsaw family members was almost non-existent. Thoughts of Timmy Fields’ body floating in the freezing monastery pond destroyed the normally lighthearted mood of their usually happy home. Other than a few pleasantries and general comments, the cracking of lobster shells was the only sound that broke the silence during the entire meal.