by J A Whiting
Nicky faced the door and a growl rumbled low in his throat.
When Lin and Robert turned around to see what was wrong, an older man with a cane opened the door to the gallery and stepped inside. The man wore a black bowler hat over his gray hair, and had on a long, black wool coat.
“Hello. Am I too early? Are you not open yet?”
Something about the man caused alarm bells to ring in Lin’s ears.
The man took a few steps closer and when he did, his cane clicked on the floor.
Click. Click.
Nicky glanced up at Lin as her head began to spin causing her to reach out to clutch at the table.
Before Robert could address the visitor, the older man said, “I prefer early mornings. Less people around. I didn’t expect you’d be here so early.”
“Popov.” Anger mixed together with Lin’s choking fear. “What do you want?”
“You know what I want.” The man gave them a smile that looked more like a snarl. “Get it for me.”
“It isn’t here,” Robert said. “It’s been sold.”
Something ugly flashed in the man’s eyes. “Then get me the name and address of the buyer.”
“No,” Robert said, the word coming out firm and hard.
“You didn’t sell it. Go get it.”
“Get out of here, Popov,” Lin said deep and low, the sentence sounding more like a growl. Rage pounded in her veins.
Footsteps could be heard on the staircase at the back of the room.
“I’m ready.” Chase burst in wearing his winter coat and hat. He stopped and froze like a statue.
The older man smiled. “Hello, Chase. Why don’t you come here so we can shake hands?”
“Go back upstairs,” Robert told his grandson.
“If you move, I’ll kill your grandfather,” Popov said.
Chase stayed perfectly still.
“Come here,” the man said.
Chase stepped gingerly forward and when he was almost next to Lin, she took a step to the side so that she was directly in front of the boy.
The man removed a gun from his coat pocket. “Come here, Chase. Unless you want me to shoot your grandfather.”
Lin put her arm out to block the boy from advancing, and then in an instant, her body was engulfed by a current of icy air. She glanced around for the ghost, but he was not visible to her.
Lin swallowed and asked Popov, “Did you know there’s a ghost who lives in this house?” She paused. “And he doesn’t like you.”
Confusion and disbelief flashed over the man’s face, and then he collected himself and chuckled. “That’s one I haven’t heard before.”
A small granite box on the table next to Robert began to glow and shiver, and Lin knew what was about to happen. She was ready.
At the very moment the box lifted off the table, Lin shoved Chase to the ground, Nicky darted forward to sink his teeth into Popov’s leg, and Lin raced towards the man with her pepper spray in her hand. She pulsed the button to make the liquid hit him right in the eyes just as the box flew through the air and hit the monster squarely in the head.
Robert raced to the man and struck him in the face with his fist, and when Popov dropped his cane and fell to the floor, the dog tore into him, Lin grabbed the gun from the criminal’s hand, and Robert straddled him choking him until he passed out.
Chase got up from the floor and cheered.
Breathing hard, Lin ran to lock the gallery door afraid Popov’s assistant, Rodo, would show up. “Call the police, Chase.” Lin tossed her phone to the boy. “Go hide behind the computer desk.”
“It’s over, Lin. We got the bad guy.”
“Do it anyway,” Lin ordered and then, feeling like a rag doll, she sank down on the floor next to Popov, ready to blast him in the face again with the pepper spray if he came to.
Robert still straddled the man and Nicky stood near, growling and snapping.
Chase peeked around from the back of the desk. “I called the police. They’re coming.”
Lin put her shaking hand to her head. “I feel like I’m going to faint.”
The boy dashed from his hiding place and hurried to sit next to Lin. “I’ll catch you if you tip over.”
A smile formed over Lin’s face.
“We’re a good team, aren’t we?” Chase asked. “Grandpa, Nicky, you, and me. And Captain Baker, too.”
Lin’s vision sparkled and dimmed and she slumped to the floor with Chase easing her down.
Feeling as if she were floating, she opened an eye and saw the ghost of Captain Baker smiling down at her, his atoms glimmering brightly, a kind, thankful look in his eyes.
When Lin came to a few moments later, the police had arrived and Robert was sitting on the floor next to her and Chase. Nicky was licking her face.
“I’m okay. Gee. Why did I pass out?”
“Just sit for a little while,” an officer told her. “The EMTs will be here in a second.”
“Oh, no. I don’t need an EMT,” Lin groaned.
“I’ll get you a glass of water.” When Robert stood, he felt a little unsteady. “To tell you the truth, I could use one, too.”
Chase leaned close to Lin with an excited expression. “Did you see him, Lin? Did you see him?”
Lin blinked. She had seen him. Captain Baker was looking down at her when she had passed out.
“I saw him, too,” Chase whispered. “I saw my first ghost.”
A man’s voice growled from the sidewalk outside the gallery door. “We need to get inside.”
“No one is allowed in, sir,” an officer said.
“I’m her cousin. Let me in there,” Viv shouted.
From her seat on the floor with Nicky in her lap, Lin called to them. “Viv. Leonard. I’m okay. Everything’s all right.”
Lin and Chase shared a look.
“We did good,” Chase said proudly.
“We sure did.” Lin put her arm around the boy and hugged him tight.
25
Everyone suggested they cancel their plans for the holiday lunch at a hotel near the beach for the next day, but Lin wasn’t having any of it.
“I’ve been looking forward to that lunch for weeks,” Lin said. “What happened today only made me feel better because the mystery is solved and everyone is safe.”
Well, some of the mystery was solved. The remaining piece of the puzzle wouldn’t be found out until Captain Baker’s portrait was examined at the Boston museum, where in two weeks’ time, the conservator and curator would discover something remarkable.
Hidden between the painting of Captain Baker and its backing material, was another painting, one worth millions. After two months of research, Anton and the museum employees would find out that Joseph Bandy had owned the valuable piece of art, created by an ancestor of his and passed down by his family members over a period of more than a hundred years.
Through his vast connections in the art world and in the criminal underworld, Popov learned that a valuable painting had been hidden behind a Nantucket sea captain’s portrait, and when the article in the Nantucket Sun profiled Robert Snow and the captain’s painting, the plan to obtain the artwork was set in motion by Popov.
Roger Witters knew what Bandy had in his possession and worked out a deal where he would use his contacts in the art world to sell the painting to the highest bidder and he and Bandy would split the profit. Once Bandy placed the painting in Witters’s hands, he never saw it again and Witters lied to his supposed-partner and reported the sale to be a tiny fraction of its worth. Witters hid the valuable artwork behind Captain Baker’s portrait and planned to ship it that way to his overseas buyer.
When Bandy learned the true value of his painting, he confronted Witters, but got nowhere so he returned to the mansion on that fateful day and shot Witters, Captain Baker, and Baker’s son to death.
Alexander Popov was taken into police custody and would face a myriad of charges. His associate, Carl Rodo, the one who had broken into the Snows’ house and
fled when the glass statue unexpectedly hit him, and who followed Lin home that night, had driven around town in a rental car waiting to pick up Popov and the painting, but being unfamiliar with the tiny streets of Nantucket, he had sideswiped a vehicle right in front of a police officer. An altercation between Rodo and the officer resulted in Rodo being arrested and brought to the police station where he was later linked to Popov.
Two notorious criminals were brought down by a young woman, a grandfather, a boy, and a dog … and the skinny roads of an island paradise.
After Lin and the Snows spent a few hours in the police station giving their accounts of the intrusion in the gallery, Lin went to Viv’s bookstore like they’d planned she would. She kept having to tell everyone that she was fine and happy and pleased to be helping out at the store, and insisted they carry on with their plans for lunch the next day.
Robert Snow called Lin to ask how she was doing and he reported that Chase was fine and couldn’t stop talking about seeing Captain Baker’s ghost. The Snow family sensed that the spirit, who was still in the house, was calm and peaceful and they had the feeling he would be around for a very long time.
Viv and Lin suspected that Captain Baker’s ghost was determined to watch over the inhabitants of the mansion and keep them safe, in part because he was unable to protect his own son from a killer. Because of Lin’s strong ability to understand spirits, the ghost knew he would need her help in dealing with the dangerous and unscrupulous villains who would stop at nothing to obtain the painting.
Leonard had been feeling lonely the morning Popov visited the gallery and had stopped into the bookstore for coffee. At the same time Popov made his entrance at the gallery with the intention of stealing the painting, Queenie, the cat, began howling and racing through the store. Viv was sure the cat had gone mad, and she and Leonard had corralled the feline and locked her in the office.
Later in the day, Viv would say, “I should have known something was very wrong when Queenie was having that fit.”
Shortly after the cat was placed in the office, a couple of tourists came into the store and reported that something was going on at a gallery on Tangerine Street and that police cars and an ambulance were there.
When Viv and Leonard heard the news, they bolted from the bookstore and frantically tore up the street, desperate to find out what had happened. They’d never been so relieved and thankful as when they heard Lin’s voice call to them from inside the gallery.
The hotel on the beach was beautifully decorated with red and white poinsettias, sparkling Christmas trees, and greenery with red ribbons wound around posts and over railings. On the third day of the holiday stroll, Viv and John, Lin and Jeff, Anton, Libby, and Leonard arrived early for their luncheon and had drinks and appetizers in a ballroom filled with people enjoying the festive atmosphere.
The small group of friends discussed having Christmas eve at Lin’s cottage and Christmas dinner at Viv’s and talked about the menu for each of the gatherings.
“We should all go ice skating before we get together at my house for food and drinks,” Lin suggested.
Libby and Anton rolled their eyes.
“I’ll be happy to sit in your living room enjoying a cocktail while you young fools freeze yourselves by darting around an icy pond wearing tight skates on your ice cold feet,” Libby said.
“Well, when you put it that way….” John let his voice trail off.
“I’ll be joining Libby in the house,” Anton announced.
“I don’t want Libby and Anton to be all by themselves so I’ll sit at the house with them and keep them company,” Leonard said.
“I thought skating was a good idea,” Lin frowned.
“What if we skip ice skating and sit around the kitchen table and play board games before we sit down to dinner?” Viv asked. “That way we can all be together.”
“I like the idea of not splitting up,” Jeff said.
“Okay. I’m overruled.” Lin smiled. “And I’ll admit, Viv’s suggestion is actually the better idea.”
A few acquaintances came by and joined in conversation with the friends, and when Lin glanced across the room, she noticed someone looking at Leonard.
“Leonard,” she said, “Heather Jenness is here.”
When Leonard turned to see where Lin was looking, Heather caught his eye with a wide smile and waved for the man to come over.
“I don’t want to talk,” Leonard said to Lin.
“It would be awkward for you to ignore her. Go say hello. Be nice. Talk about the holidays or what happened at the gallery yesterday.” Lin gave him a little push on his back.
With a groan, Leonard straightened up and walked across the room to speak with the woman, and Lin rejoined the conversation that was going on between her friends.
Everyone who came by to chat wanted to hear about Lin’s adventure in the gallery with Robert Snow and Chase, and despite her reluctance to discuss the episode, she answered their questions and gave some details about the incident.
When the waitstaff slid the big, carved wooden doors back to let the guests into the dining room, the people in the ballroom began moving forward to find their tables, and Lin realized Leonard had been gone for quite some time.
She looked around and saw him walking towards her.
“How did it go?” she asked.
“It went fine,” Leonard mumbled, and then he took Lin’s arm and moved her away from the crowd. “Listen, Coffin. Heather invited me to her house next week for drinks. She’s having some people over.”
“What did you say to her?”
“I said I’d go.”
Lin beamed at him. “I’m so glad. That’s great.”
“I like Heather. She’s nice. I like talking to her. But is it wrong for me to go?”
Lin touched his arm. “No, it isn’t wrong for you to go. It’s good. You should go.”
“But, it’s so soon.”
Lin gave the man a little smile and said with a kind tone, “It really isn’t. Marguerite died years ago.”
“You know what I mean.” Leonard looked out of the windows to the sea, his eyes getting misty.
“Marguerite knew it was time,” Lin said. “She didn’t cross over earlier because she was worried about you being alone. She needed to see that you’d be okay. She knows there are people who care about you … and that there will be new people who will care about you.”
“It’s hard.”
Lin nodded, and then said, “Did you see the way Heather looked at you?”
Leonard’s cheeks flushed. “I didn’t see anything.”
“Your pink cheeks tell a different story,” Lin teased. “Don’t be afraid to be happy.”
Leonard blinked fast.
“If someone told me two years ago that we’d end up being friends, well, I’d have told them they were completely crazy,” Lin said. “I didn’t know back then that you were one of the kindest people I’d ever meet. You’re part of the family now, and I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Leonard brushed at his eyes.
“I want you to be happy. Viv wants you to be happy. So do Jeff and John and everyone else.” Lin gave her friend a smile. “Marguerite wants you to be happy, too.”
“I know that.”
“Take little steps. Go slow. Have fun. You don’t have to marry Heather.” Lin broke into an impish grin. “Yet.”
“Coffin….” Leonard growled.
Viv walked into the ballroom from the dining room looking for them. “Are you two going to join us for lunch or are you going to stand there yammering all day?”
“We’re coming,” Lin chuckled, and turning to her friend, she asked, “Are you ready?”
Leonard extended his arm for her to hold on to and they started into the dining room together. “I’m guess I am. In more ways than one. But I’m gonna need a pep talk every now and then.”
“I’ll be happy to provide one whenever you need it,” Lin told him.
“Yeah. And I’m sure when I don’t need it, too.”
Lin and Leonard found the table and took their seats in the beautiful room surrounded by flowers and lights, friendship and warmth, and the people they loved most in the world.
Thank you for reading!
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Books/Series By J. A. Whiting
*CLAIRE ROLLINS COZY MYSTERIES
*LIN COFFIN COZY MYSTERIES
*PAXTON PARK COZY MYSTERIES
*SWEET COVE COZY MYSTERIES
*OLIVIA MILLER MYSTERIES (not cozy)
About the Author
J.A. Whiting lives with her family in Massachusetts. Whiting loves reading and writing mystery and suspense stories.
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