Pelican Cove Cozy Mystery Series Box Set 1

by Leena Clover

  “Taboo in what way?”

  “I think it was painful for them. My father made it clear he didn’t want to dwell in the past. He was too busy working anyway. My mother was busy raising kids, and giving birth to them. Five kids in ten years is a lot.”

  “So your father never mentioned any other names? Grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends?”

  “Nope,” Walter said. He closed his eyes and pulled a hat over his face. “Bye bye.”

  Jenny stood up reluctantly. Emma and Heidi waved at her from the pool. Walt’s wife came out with a platter of canapés. The women in the pool started climbing out when they saw the tray of food.

  Jenny went to the seafood market on her way home. Chris Williams was busy doing something on his phone.

  “Jenny!” he cried when he saw her. “Look what I’m doing.”

  Chris had registered on a few online dating sites. He had posted a flattering photo. Jenny was sure he would be getting dozens of Likes and girls would be lining up to meet him.

  “I thought you were going to take the high road,” she teased.

  “I thought about it,” he said. “But I need to beat Heather at her own game.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I can be popular too, you know,” he said sullenly. “These portals list the most popular profiles on the top. And these profiles are suggested to other people. Just imagine Heather’s face when my photo pops up on her screen. Huh?”

  “You kids!” Jenny exclaimed, shaking her head. “You need to get away from everything and spend some time with each other, really think about what you want from your relationship.”

  “I’m all for it,” Chris argued. “You know it’s Heather who’s not sure.”

  “Why don’t you take her out on a romantic date?” Jenny asked. “Just the two of you?”

  “Heather did mention a moonlight canoe ride,” Chris reasoned. “But that was a few months ago.”

  “Did you forget?” Jenny asked.

  “I’ve been busy here at the store,” Chris mumbled. “Do you think she’s mad at me because of that?”

  Jenny shrugged and picked up a shopping basket.

  “There’s only one way to find out. Now tell me, do you have any fresh shrimp? Nicky’s coming home for the weekend and I am cooking his favorite dinner.”

  Adam Hopkins came in for breakfast the next morning.

  “Good Morning,” Jenny greeted him. “Muffin and coffee?”

  “Actually, Jenny, I’m starving. How about one of your crab omelets?”

  Jenny placed a steaming platter in front of him a few moments later. Adam bit into a piece of crispy bacon and thanked Jenny.

  “How was your trip into town?” he asked. “Any luck?”

  “Not really,” she said evasively.

  “Are you hiding something from me?” Adam asked with a hint of humor in his eyes.

  “I can ask you the same thing,” Jenny shot back.

  “You know I can’t talk about an ongoing investigation,” Adam said pompously. It was his usual line. “But you don’t have any such restrictions. You can discuss anything with me.”

  Adam speared a big piece of omelet and chewed it with gusto.

  “This is so delicious, Jenny. You should start charging more for your food.”

  “You’re trying to sidetrack me,” Jenny accused. “Do you still think Linda is guilty?”

  Adam put his fork down and sighed.

  “I don’t think so. But I have to question her based on the evidence. I may pursue a different direction though.”

  “Is it another family member?” Jenny asked.

  “You can say that,” Adam murmured.

  “Who is it?” Jenny pressed. “Is it Hans? Have you checked his alibi?”

  “Hans went to buy booze for the party like he said. But he took a bit longer than expected to do that.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means we haven’t completely cleared him, Jenny.”

  “But you’re not talking about Hans…”

  “You will find out soon enough,” Adam said cryptically.

  The Magnolias breezed in at their usual time. Heather’s mouth was twisted in a frown.

  “What are you sulking about?” Jenny asked her.

  “Chris is trying to be one up on me,” she complained. “His profile popped up on my screen this morning!”

  “He’s doing the same thing you are,” Jenny smiled.

  “I warned you about this,” Molly added.

  “He’s using an old photo,” Heather cried. “No wonder he’s getting so many Likes.”

  “In case you haven’t noticed,” Jenny whispered in her ear, “Chris is a handsome guy.”

  “He’s going to be flooded with dates, old photo or not!” Molly nodded.

  Jason came in for lunch, looking preoccupied.

  “Got a minute?” he asked Jenny.

  “Why don’t you take a break and eat something?” Petunia suggested. “I can watch the counter for some time.”

  Jason asked for the special, a crab salad sandwich with a cup of chilled gazpacho. Jenny got the same for herself. She took the food out to the deck. It was a hot day but the cool breeze rolling off the ocean provided some respite.

  “How I wish I could take a dip and cool off,” Jason wailed.

  “It’s Friday!” Jenny reminded him. “You can do that tomorrow.”

  Jason ate the cold gazpacho with a spoon and took a big bite of his sandwich.

  “I’m guessing the news hasn’t reached you yet.”

  “What news?”

  “The police brought Todd Buckler in for questioning today.”

  “Who’s Todd Buckler?”

  “Keep up, Jenny,” Jason said. “He’s Dawn’s husband.”

  “The farmer guy?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Are you representing him too?”

  Jason shook his head.

  “I can’t. Not while I’m Linda’s lawyer. There could be a conflict of interest.”

  “Adam was here this morning,” Jenny told Jason. “I think he hinted about this.”

  “Todd doesn’t have an alibi.”

  “Wasn’t he in the crowd with his little girl?”

  “He stepped away for some time. Supposedly, he was getting ice cream for her.”

  “And he wasn’t?”

  Jason shrugged.

  “That may not be the only thing against him.”

  Jenny sipped her soup and looked at Jason. Todd hadn’t made much of an impression on her. He seemed quite dull compared to the rest of the Cohen family.

  “What’s he done?”

  “His farm is in trouble,” Jason told Jenny. “He’s taken a second mortgage on it for some business expenses. He missed the last two payments.”

  “What happens if he loses the farm?”

  “I don’t think they will starve,” Jason mused. “Asher’s will takes care of Dawn. But none of his money can go to the farm.”

  “I’m guessing Todd didn’t know that?”

  “No. He’s attached to that farm. Something about a deathbed promise to his father.”

  “You think he asked Asher for help?”

  “I know he did,” Jason said. “Linda told me about it. It seems Dawn is not happy on the farm. Todd runs it like a homestead. Dawn has to work hard from dawn to dusk, churning butter, collecting eggs and doing all kinds of grunt work.”

  “Didn’t she know what she was signing up for when she married him?”

  “I guess not. Or she didn’t realize how hard it would actually be.”

  “What did Asher want?”

  “Asher wanted Todd to give up the farm. He offered him a job at the firm. They could live with him and Linda or get a house in town.”

  “Was Dawn his favorite?”

  “She’s a bit of a Daddy’s girl,” Jason agreed. “She’s the youngest of the lot. The older kids didn’t really care for Linda. So they moved out as soon as they
could. Ryan and Scott have their careers.”

  “I suppose Todd didn’t want to come to Pelican Cove?”

  “He doesn’t want to leave his farm. It’s been in his family for generations.”

  “So he wanted money.”

  Jason bit into a cupcake. It was chocolate with chocolate frosting.

  “Asher had a solution. He would buy the farm and rent it out to Todd’s cousin. The cousin would work the farm and Todd and Dawn would move to Pelican Cove.”

  “The farm stayed in the family that way.”

  “Right,” Jason nodded. “At least Asher thought so.”

  “But Todd didn’t agree.”

  “He is proud of being a farmer. He wants to grow crops all his life. He has a dairy herd too. He wants to make artisan cheese. He has big plans for the farm.”

  “None of them will matter if he has to foreclose,” Jenny pointed out.

  Jason banged a fist on the table.

  “Exactly!”

  “That’s his motive,” Jenny said, wide eyed.

  “And he has no alibi,” Jason finished.

  “You really think he did this?” Jenny asked. “He seems kind of dumb.”

  “Appearances are deceptive,” Jason pointed out. “Things don’t look good for Todd.”

  “Or Dawn,” Jenny added.

  “I’ve known Dawn all my life,” Jason said. “I don’t think she’s mixed up in this. Can’t say the same for Todd though.”

  Chapter 18

  Jenny and Heather drove to the city again.

  “We should learn something new today,” Heather said hopefully.

  They were going to see a family called Gold. They were the people who had turned in the box of material with the photos.

  Jenny was quiet. She didn’t want to jinx it.

  A young woman roughly Heather’s age greeted them with a baby on her hip.

  “Welcome to our home,” she said cordially. “Please make yourselves comfortable.”

  A lanky young man with an aquiline nose joined them five minutes later.

  “David Gold,” he said, shaking hands with Jenny. “You already met my wife.”

  Jenny decided the man was in his mid thirties. He was too young to have submitted the material in 1965.

  “One of our friends just passed,” Jenny told him. “We are trying to find out more about his life in Germany.”

  She gave a brief account of Asher Cohen and his family without mentioning his name.

  “A hundred years?” David Gold exclaimed. “He must have been my grandpa’s age.”

  “Did you know your grandfather?” Jenny asked.

  “He died when I was twelve,” David said soberly, “just a few weeks before my bar mitzvah.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jenny mumbled. “What about your parents?”

  “My parents live in Florida,” David told them.

  “Do you know who donated the box to the museum?”

  “That was my great aunt,” David laughed. “My grandpa’s sister. She used to live with us.”

  David answered before Jenny could ask the next question.

  “She’s gone too. She died a couple of years after Gramps.”

  “I guess you never saw the stuff your family donated?” Jenny said glumly.

  “No,” David shook his head. “But we have a lot more.”

  Jenny’s eyebrows shot up.

  “What do you mean?”

  “My Dad found two boxes full of stuff when he cleaned the attic before moving to Florida. And I came across another box in the garage last year.”

  “Do you have this stuff with you?” Jenny asked eagerly. “Can I look at it?”

  “Isn’t that why you’re here?” David’s eyes twinkled as he smiled at Jenny.

  David’s wife came out with coffee and cookies.

  “You’re doing us a big favor,” Jenny gushed.

  “No worries,” David assured her. “We do it all the time.”

  Jenny had no idea what he meant by that but she stayed silent.

  David came out with the boxes and set them down on a table.

  “I promised my wife I would mow the lawn today,” he told Jenny. “Feel free to take your time.”

  Jenny found a stack of journals in one box, written in German.

  “We can’t read these anyway,” she told Heather. “But I guess these belonged to the aunt. See the name here?”

  The second box was full of photos. Most of the photos were faded. Some had water stains on them and others had dog’s ears. But the men and women in them stood out.

  “This is like stepping back in time,” Heather said, looking gobsmacked. “Look at what they are wearing, Jenny.”

  “These are different from the ones I saw,” Jenny said right away. “The people in these photos look happy.”

  David’s wife heard her.

  “These photos span several years,” she explained. “Many of them were taken in the 1920s and 1930s. Before the war!”

  “Who are all these people?” Jenny asked.

  “David’s family were well off,” his wife told them. “They were one of the richest families in Munich. Their parties and soirees were legendary. All sorts of people were invited to these events.”

  Heather grabbed Jenny’s arms and pointed out tiny details from the photos. Women dressed in jewels and shimmering gowns and men wearing dinner jackets and uniforms were surrounded by lavish buffet tables and waiters serving champagne. The people in the photos were laughing without a single care in the world.

  Jenny put her finger on a short, stocky man with a broken nose.

  “This is him,” she whispered to Heather.

  Jenny turned the photo around and found some names written on the back. ‘Asher Cohen’ was one of them. Jenny set the photo aside and rifled through the rest of the pictures. The man appeared in several photos. She set them all aside. Some of them labeled him as Asher Cohen. Some didn’t have any legend at the back.

  “Do you believe me now?” she asked Heather.

  Heather was feeling out of her depth. She just shrugged and said nothing.

  “Do you know who this is?” Jenny asked David’s wife.

  David Gold came in just then. He had worked up a sweat. He excused himself for a minute and came back, wiping himself off with a towel.

  He looked at the photo and flipped it over.

  “Oh, Asher! He was one of my grandpa’s close friends.”

  “Do you know where he is now?” Jenny asked eagerly.

  “We don’t know,” David said. “Grandpa didn’t wait around till the end. He had the means to buy passage for his entire family and he used them. His friends weren’t so lucky. Some of them were too optimistic. Many didn’t believe things would deteriorate that much.”

  “How many people have seen these photos?” Jenny asked.

  “Dozens,” David told them. “Grandpa and Dad both belonged to an association of Holocaust survivors. They had quarterly meetings. People talked about their experiences, swapped stories. These boxes were brought out every time.”

  “What about this box you found recently?” Jenny inquired.

  “I have continued the tradition,” David told her proudly. “We still have meetings here, even after Dad moved to Florida. I’m the third generation Gold living in this house, you see. I bought it from my Dad.”

  “Have you ever been to Pelican Cove?” Jenny asked.

  “Never heard of it,” David said glibly.

  “Can I take a couple of pictures of these photos?” Jenny asked. “I want to show them to someone.”

  “Sure,” David shrugged. “People used to get photocopies earlier. But there’s no need for that now, of course.”

  Jenny thanked David Gold for his time. Heather groaned when they got into the car.

  “My head’s reeling,” she complained. “What was all that about? Why didn’t you tell him your friend’s name was also Asher Cohen?”

  “I don’t trust that man,” Jenny spit out. �
��Don’t you see? His family had ties with the real Asher Cohen.”

  “So what?”

  “We don’t know what happened to the real Asher Cohen,” Jenny thought out loud. “I guess no one did for a long time.”

  “What are you thinking?” Heather asked.

  “What if David Gold or his father came across our Asher? They would know he was an impostor.”

  “So what?” Heather argued. “Is that enough of a reason to kill him?”

  “We need to find out if David Gold ever came to Pelican Cove.”

  “He said he didn’t, Jenny.”

  “He could be lying!” Jenny wailed. “Pay attention, Heather.”

  “How are you going to find that out?” Heather asked. “And before you ask, no, I don’t think he ever stayed at the Bayview Inn.”

  “What about other hotels in the area?” Jenny shot back. “I might need your help with this, Heather.”

  Being an inn owner, Heather was part of a local group of inn keepers. They helped each other out in need.

  “Okay,” Heather sighed. “I will send an email to the group. If David ever visited the area, we’ll find out soon enough.”

  “That’s all I want,” Jenny smiled.

  “Why did you click those photos?”

  “For Linda,” Jenny explained. “I want to show them to her, just in case.”

  Jenny wondered if Linda knew the man in the photo by another name. But that didn’t make any sense to her either.

  “So was this trip useful?” Heather asked. “Or are we back where we started?”

  “We have a suspect outside the family,” Jenny said.

  “What’s the motive?”

  “I don’t know,” Jenny admitted. “Some old vendetta? Maybe Asher Cohen wasn’t a friend of the Gold family. We only have David’s word for it.”

  “How does that matter?” Heather argued. “Our Asher isn’t the real Asher anyway.”

  “Oh, right!” Jenny said, rolling her eyes. “That’s it. Let’s talk about something else.”

  Jenny had a quiet dinner with her aunt that evening. Jimmy didn’t join them that night.

  “Where’s Jimmy?” Jenny asked.

  Her aunt’s expression hardened but she didn’t say anything.

  “Don’t be too tough on him,” Jenny told her. “He needs you.”

  “He needs the bottle more,” Star said curtly. “He’s made his choice clear.”