Charlotte Denver Cozy Mystery Box Set

by Sherri Bryan

  “Ohmigosh! Sorry…yes, um, just put it over there against that wall, please,” she said, guiltily.

  Garrett and Ryan set the sideboard down and Garrett straightened up slowly, massaging his fingers. As skipper of one of the St. Eves fishing boat fleet, he was more than accustomed to hard work, but having come straight from an all-nighter on the boat to help his goddaughter move home, he was starting to feel the effects on his already-aching muscles.

  “Is there anything else that needs moving?” asked Ryan. “I don’t have to be at work until five, so I can stay and help until around half-four if you want?”

  “That’s good of you, but I think that’s about it,” said Charlotte, taking a quick look around the room before checking in the other two bedrooms. She came back in and nodded. “Yeah, that’s it. Everything’s where it should be, thanks to you two.”

  She looked from Garrett to her newest friend, Ryan Benson - the young man she’d met earlier in the year and with whom she’d formed a remarkably strong bond.

  “Come down and have something to eat,” she said. “We can sit outside - it’s a shame to waste such a beautiful day.”

  Ten minutes later, she took a food-laden tray and a jug of ice-cold lemon squash out to her two grateful helpers on the patio. Soft-baked rolls filled with shrimp and dill mayonnaise and corned beef and pickle, a large bowl of salad, some fresh fruit and a whole Camembert - Garrett’s favourite - were fell upon hungrily and devoured quickly.

  “So,” said Garrett, wiping his arm across his mouth, “when’s your place going to be ready for your new tenant?”

  Charlotte pulled a shrimp out of her roll and popped it into her mouth. “Well, all that’s left to do is to give it a clean and it’ll be ready. The rental contract doesn’t start until 1st October, but as it’s someone I know, I don’t mind giving him the keys a day or two early so he can start moving in before then if he wants to.”

  Detective Sergeant Ben Dillon was going to be Charlotte’s new tenant. He currently lived in the neighbouring village of Pensands, but when the opportunity to rent a place closer to work had come up, he’d jumped at the chance.

  “And you’ve got some old friends coming back to St. Eves to rent Nathan’s place?” Ryan bit into a peach and the juice ran down his chin. “They’ve been away travelling, or something?”

  Charlotte nodded, handing him a piece of kitchen paper. “Drew Ferguson and Kate Denton. They’ve been away from St. Eves for ten years. They got back a couple of days ago, but we haven’t seen them yet.”

  When Charlotte had suggested to Nathan that it made sense to rent out their houses, as neither of them was prepared to sell until the housing market picked up, he’d agreed it was a good idea.

  When Drew’s mother had found out on the St. Eves’ grapevine that Nathan was looking for lodgers, she’d put down a month’s deposit and a month’s rent to secure the house for her son and his fiancée on their arrival back in St. Eves.

  “You remember Drew and Kate, don’t you Garrett? Jess and I went to school with them.”

  Garrett scratched his weatherworn face. “I certainly do remember them. Right pair of lovebirds, they were. Every time you saw them, they were draped all over each other. Never saw anyone so loved-up.” He grinned at the recollection and moved his chair underneath the sun umbrella.

  “Well, I’ll let you know tomorrow if ten years away from here has changed them because we’re meeting up tonight so they can sign Nathan’s contract.” She turned to Ryan. “And you’ll be able to meet them because we’re going to The Bottle of Beer.”

  “Oh, okay.” Ryan nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be working till about midnight, so I’ll definitely be there.”

  Charlotte checked the time. “Right, you two are welcome to stay out here for as long as you like, but I’ve really got to get some of those crates unpacked. Let me refill that jug for you and then you can relax on the loungers if you want to.”

  Garrett shook his head. “If I even think about relaxing, I’m going to fall asleep. We were out with the boat at just before one this morning, so I really need my bed.” He pushed his feet into his trainers and pulled on his fisherman’s cap. “Thanks for feeding and watering us.”

  Charlotte hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Any time, and thank you for helping me out. I really appreciate it.”

  Ryan stood up and stretched. “I’d better be off too.” He gave Charlotte a hug before putting on his cycling helmet and fastening the strap under his chin. “Thanks for the food and I’ll see you later.”

  She waved them off at the front door and laughed as Pippin ran along the pavement alongside Ryan, barking all the way.

  “Pip! Come on,” she called, and the little dog stopped dead in his tracks before turning and racing back towards her, his pink tongue hanging out.

  Back in the cottage, Charlotte gazed around the living room. There were twenty crates left to unpack and as much as the sunshine and the beach right outside her door were calling to her on her day off, she knew she had to get the job done

  She sighed. “Right, Pip. I’ll call Nathan, then I’ll do some more unpacking.” Picking up her phone, she dialled his direct line and waited for it to connect. He answered almost immediately.

  “Don’t think you can get out of unpacking those crates by chatting to me.” She could hear the smile in his voice.

  “Actually, I was calling to confirm the arrangements for tonight. Am I still meeting you at half-seven?” She perched on the edge of the dining table with her feet on a packing crate, the phone between her shoulder and her chin as she unwrapped a brushed chrome vase from its newspaper cocoon.

  “Unless that’s too early for you?” Nathan Costello’s tone was efficient and a little brusque. His ‘work voice’, Charlotte called it.

  “No, half-seven’s fine. Will I see you there or will you come here first?”

  “I’ll see you at The Bottle of Beer. I need to call in at home to pick up the contract, so I might as well shower and change there. Look, there’s a call on the other line – I’ll see you later, okay?”

  He hung up before Charlotte had time to reply.

  Screwing up the newspaper packing into a ball, she threw it to Pippin who pushed it around the floor with his nose before taking it between his front paws and proceeding to rip it to bits.

  She looked at the crates again and a slow smile curved her lips as she thought back over the last five months to the events that had brought her here, to the beautiful fisherman’s cottage that now belonged to her.

  She’d inherited it earlier in the year when Tom Potts, a long-time resident of St. Eves and a much-loved friend, had died at the age of 102, leaving it to her in his will.

  The sea front cottage was her dream home. Built from local stone, she loved the slate roof and original solid front door, carved from a single piece of wood and worn to a shine in one place where, over the years, Tom had always pushed it when he left the house to make sure it was shut.

  Inside, exposed original beams and open fireplaces were a feature in every room. The living room boasted a huge bay, into which a comfortable window seat had been built; the perfect place to sit and spend a lazy afternoon reading, or from which to simply admire the spectacular view.

  The only major changes Charlotte had made were to have a new bathroom and kitchen fitted - with a kitchen door complete with dog flap for Pippin - being careful to choose designs that were in keeping with the character of her new home. Every evening for the last four months, after finishing work at her marina-front café bar, Charlotte had cycled to the cottage to check on the progress of the renovations.

  With the work having recently been completed, she was now in the process of moving in all the belongings she wanted from her old house.

  As if organising and moving into her new home wasn’t stressful enough, with Nathan moving in too, she was now on the verge of becoming a full-time cohabiter for the first time in her life.

  Charlotte knew that this had been
a blissfully happy home for Tom and his wife and the minute it became hers, she knew she wanted it to be a happy home for her and the man she loved.

  She was fed up of them living out of a drawer and a few inches of wardrobe space at each other’s homes. It made sense for them to live together, and there was far more living space at the cottage than there was at either of their houses.

  Of course, as Nathan was the perpetually sought-after Detective Chief Inspector, the amount of time they would actually spend cohabiting was debatable, but she was delighted their relationship was taking that next step.

  She slid off the table and padded over to the seat in the bay window. It was a glorious Saturday afternoon and the whole of the UK was basking in an Indian summer. The September sunshine warmed her skin and dappled the gently rippling sea with patches of white-gold.

  As the sun glinted off the white sails of a distant flotilla of yachts, Charlotte had to pinch herself again. I am the luckiest woman in the world, she thought, for the thousandth time. There was no way she would ever have been able to afford a sea front property in St. Eves. The prime location alone was enough to ensure that the asking prices were in the high six figures, with some even creeping over seven.

  With its white sand beaches and gently shelving coastline, St. Eves was one of the most desirable places to live in the UK, with buyers scrambling to put down roots in the bustling, coastal fishing town.

  Her mobile phone rang, disturbing her moment of contemplation. Her friend Jess’s name flashed across the screen and she smiled as she swiped it to answer the call she’d been expecting.

  “Hi. I knew it’d be you. Everything okay?”

  “Hi. I just picked up your message. Um, I didn’t realise that Ben was going to be there tonight. You haven’t asked me to come along just so you can fix us up, have you? ‘Cos if you have, I’m not coming. I mean, I really like him - you know I do - but if you start playing matchmaker, I’ll die of embarrassment.” Jess barely paused for breath as she reeled off her concerns.

  “For goodness’ sake! I knew you’d freak when you found out Ben was going to be there, but he’s coming to sign the rental contract. And of course I’m not trying to fix you up. I asked you to come along because neither of us have seen Drew or Kate for years and I thought it’d be nice for us all to get together.”

  Despite her denials, Charlotte secretly thought that Jess and Ben would make a great couple, but she wasn’t about to get involved in arranging her best friend’s love life.

  Truth was, the only reason she’d invited Jess along was to meet up with Drew and Kate but if it so happened that she got a little friendly with Ben into the bargain, who was she to argue with fate?

  “So you see, Miss Worrypants,” said Charlotte. “You don’t have to be so suspicious. There’s no ulterior motive for inviting you to join us. Okay?”

  “Well, it would be good to see them again, I suppose.” Jess conceded and her mood audibly lightened. “Okay, I’ll see you at the bar at around eight’ish.”

  “Yep, see you then, but Nathan and I will be there from half-seven if you want to come down a little earlier. Either way, I’ll see you later.” Charlotte bid her friend goodbye and stretched out on the window seat, closing her eyes and allowing herself to relax completely for the first time in weeks.

  She wondered what Drew and Kate would be like now. The last time she’d seen them was before she and her family had immigrated to Spain when she was nine years old.

  She remembered Kate as being an incredibly shy and awkward, skinny young girl who, at 5’ 7”, would walk with a stoop to disguise her height and blush like a beetroot whenever a member of the opposite sex spoke to her. With her long, glossy, poker-straight mane of mahogany hair and her long-lashed, pale green eyes that were magnified to twice their size behind the thick lenses in her astigmatism-corrective glasses, her efforts to remain incognito were hopeless as she was one of the most distinctive looking girls in the school.

  Drew, on the other hand, had been the life and soul of the party. At 4’ 10”, he’d been a rotund boy with rosy cheeks, a mop of white-blonde hair and eyes so dark brown they looked black. He’d joined the school a couple of years before she’d left for Spain and she remembered him as a vivacious boy with a contagious zest for life and an ego the size of Mount Everest. A keen member of the school football, rugby and swimming teams, he made up in enthusiasm for what he lacked in technique.

  One of the most well liked boys in the school, Drew was one of the few people from her childhood that Charlotte was really looking forward to seeing again.

  When she’d found out that Drew and Kate had started dating some years after her departure for Spain, she couldn’t have been more surprised. If you searched the world-over, she doubted you’d find two more seemingly incompatible people and she was interested to see them together.

  She’d been equally surprised, however, to learn that Jess had also had a very short-lived, schoolgirl romance with Drew.

  She laughed impulsively as she recalled Jess telling her how Drew had tried to kiss her in the back row of the cinema when they were fourteen, and how she’d shoved her tub of mint choc-chip ice cream right in the middle of his rosy-cheeked face. “The worst thing about it was that I hadn’t even eaten any of it,” she’d said indignantly when she’d told Charlotte about it one hilarious evening, during which they’d howled with laughter.

  Her moment of tranquillity was brought to an abrupt end when Pippin, her West Highland Terrier, took a running jump at the window seat and landed squarely on her stomach.

  “Oof!” With the wind knocked out of her, Charlotte was momentarily helpless to stop the little dog from walking up to her face and covering her nose with little wet kisses. She laughed and lifted him up, swinging her legs off the window seat and setting him down gently.

  She looked around the living room again. I’m sure these crates are multiplying.

  She glanced from the stacks of crates, to Pippin. It wasn’t a difficult decision to make. “Right, Pip. I’ve had enough of this for now. What say we leave it for a while and go out for a walk?”

  On hearing the word ‘walk’, the little dog’s ears pricked up and he cocked his head, his tail wagging enthusiastically. As Charlotte pulled on her trainers, he ran to the front door and sat obediently next to his lead, which hung from a hook on the wall.

  Pulling on a hat and grabbing a tennis ball from the basket by the door, Charlotte put on her sunglasses and clipped Pippin’s lead to his collar. She opened the door, inhaled a lungful of warm sea air and left the unpacking behind her.

  When they’d crossed the road, Pippin jumped up onto the low, whitewashed wall that ran the length of the sea front and trotted along it barking at passing seagulls. They walked to the turning which Charlotte had free-wheeled down so many times on her way to the café, near the end of which, the left fork went to the beach and the right fork went to the marina. They took the left fork and Pippin immediately started pulling on the lead. She let him loose and he ran off, barking at the seagulls and rolling happily on the sand, chasing after the ball that Charlotte threw for him.

  They were walking back along the beach twenty minutes later when she saw someone who caused her to stop and look more closely.

  A man with the peak of a baseball cap pulled down over his face and longish, white-blonde hair escaping from under the back and sides, was striding along the opposite side of the road.

  She screwed up her eyes. She’d only ever seen one person with hair that colour - hair that looked natural, anyway - but this person was considerably taller, older and thinner than the boy in her memories. Surely that can’t be Drew? She was about to call out to him when a south-east Asian looking woman caught up with him and fell in step alongside, chatting away.

  Obviously not, she thought and continued on her way home.

  Chapter 2

  Later that day, Charlotte strolled down to The Bottle of Beer. When she arrived, Nathan was already at the bar chatting to W
ill, the bar owner.

  “Hi.” He smiled when he saw her and pulled her close to kiss her. “So, d’you you want beer, beer or beer?”

  “Hmm, let me think.” Her eyes scanned the vast blackboard that hung behind the bar, proclaiming every available beer on sale. “I think I’ll have a beer.” She grinned. “A honey beer – that sounds interesting. Hi Will, it’s good to see you. How’s Ryan getting on in his new job?” She settled herself on a barstool.

  “Yeah, he’s doing great - he was made for the job. The customers love him!”

  Charlotte was pleased to hear it. She had a very large soft spot for her young friend, Ryan and had been delighted when he’d recently been promoted to bar manager. She would miss him terribly when he went off to college next year.

  “I thought he was working tonight?”

  “He is. He’s just gone down to the Mini-Mart to pick up some limes.” Will flicked the metal cap off a bottle and slid it across the bar with a frozen glass. “There’s a group of guys coming in later who only drink that Mexican beer and we’re almost out of limes. You know, they drink it with a wedge of lime stuck in the neck of the bottle?”

  Charlotte nodded as she poured her beer into the frosty glass. Rosé wine was her drink of choice, but The Bottle of Beer only sold bottles of beer. No hardship really, she thought as she took a long drink of the chilled, golden liquid flavoured with a touch of honey. “Mmmm, that’s delicious.”

  “Hello you two, hi Will.” Jess walked in and Will gave a low whistle.

  Jess’s curly, blonde hair had been tamed into sleek waves, which fell around her bare shoulders. A strappy lilac dress with a crimson flower print showcased her toned figure and high-heeled sandals showed off her tanned legs.

  “My, oh my, be still my beating heart!” said Will, his hand on his chest. “Who’s the lucky man?”

  Jess tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Just because I put on a dress and high heels on my day off, doesn’t mean it’s for the benefit of a man.” She pulled up a stool next to Charlotte and fleetingly caught her eye before blushing and looking away. “I do actually like to look nice for myself sometimes, you know.”