by Cindy Bell
“I don’t need protection.” Amelia rested against the doorframe. “He doesn’t scare me.”
“Maybe not, but we do have other guests to think about.” Mary frowned. “He was quite loud and insistent, I’m afraid that if he came here again, I would instantly call the police.”
“He was that mad, huh?” Amelia smiled some, as if it pleased her to know that she’d gotten under his skin. “Try not to worry about it, ladies, he’s all bark and no bite. But if you’re really concerned, I guess it would be good to get a paper trail started for my countersuit. Go ahead and call him. Just let me know when he gets here, as I’m in the middle of a chapter.”
“Okay, we will.” Suzie was relieved that she agreed to speak to Jason. As she placed the call, Amelia closed the door and disappeared back into her world. She wasn’t the most social person, but Suzie could understand that. She often preferred her own company over the company of others, aside from Mary and a few others. However, Amelia’s abrupt nature made it difficult not to think she simply had a strong distaste for people. She placed a call to Jason, who agreed to come over right away. There wasn’t usually much crime in Garber, which often left him available. It made her nervous to think of him going after the angry man that stomped around their porch, but she knew that Jason could handle himself.
“I’ll make us some tea while we wait for Jason.” Mary headed straight for the kitchen. She always found comfort in cooking or cleaning. She loved taking care of people and she was accustomed to disappearing in the routine activity. While her body worked, her mind relaxed, and her thoughts finally cleared. She had just taken the tea kettle off the burner when she heard the front door open.
“Suzie? Mary?”
Jason strode in, his gaze anxious as it swept the hallway and living room area.
“We’re here.” Mary waved a towel from the kitchen, then made her way towards him. At the same time Suzie stepped in from the side door that led out on to the beach side of the wraparound porch.
“Jason! Thanks so much for coming.” Suzie smiled and met his eyes. “Whoever Amelia has herself tangled up with, he makes me very nervous.”
“I’m sorry you experienced that, and I want to hear everything in detail.” Jason nodded to Mary as she joined them in the front hall. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, he was very irate when he first arrived. He did leave on a calmer note, but the message he had for Amelia was quite hostile.” Suzie frowned. “She didn’t seem too worried, but we did get her to agree to speak with you.”
“Great. I should talk to her now. Is she upstairs?” Jason started towards the steps.
“Wait Jason.” Suzie caught his arm. “I have a picture of his car and his license plate, I’ll send it to you now.” She pulled out her phone.
“Great, perfect. Yes, please send it. Mary, will you show me to Amelia’s room, please?” Jason brushed his hands together. “I would like to speak to her as soon as possible.”
“Of course, right this way.” Mary led him up the stairs to the third floor. As she climbed each step, she tried to disguise the pain that the journey caused her. Jason either didn’t notice or was kind enough not to comment. When she reached the landing on the third floor, she gestured to the room that belonged to Amelia. “She’s in there, but you’ll probably have to knock pretty hard. She usually has headphones on.”
“Okay, not a problem.” Jason slammed his fist against the door, which resulted in a sharp shriek from inside the room. “Sorry, ma’am.” He cleared his throat, shot a glance in Mary’s direction, then turned back as the door swung open.
“Ah, you must be my hero.” Amelia smiled at him as she stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her. Mary barely caught a glimpse of the typewriter on her desk.
“I certainly will do my best to be.” He rested his hand on the holster of his gun and met her eyes with determination. “But first you have to tell me who this man is and why you think he showed up today.”
“Monroe Pecalli. He showed up because he’s trying to stop me from telling the truth. My newest book has all kinds of details about my co-workers and the company I used to work for. Details that none of them want released. He’s no real threat. He has a lawyer.” Amelia rolled her eyes. “Apparently, he doesn’t know anything about how the law actually works, or he wouldn’t be wasting his money. He can’t stop me from writing about my own true experiences.”
“I’m not aware of the legal details of his case, but I can tell you that it is against the law for him to harass you. I can start the documentation for you to get a restraining order if he approaches you again.” Jason pulled up a form on his phone and began to take her information. As he filled out each section of the form, Amelia seemed to be reluctant to give out the details, however with a little coaxing she did provide what he asked.
“Also, there’s a woman, Jessica Cate, she is likely working with him on this. They have both threatened me before.” Amelia shook her head. “Nothing better to do with their time I suppose.”
“I’ll make a note of her name as well.” Jason looked up at her. “Now, is there any reason for me to believe that either of these people would physically harm you?”
“It’s possible, I guess. Monroe has keyed my car before, though I wasn’t able to prove it. I had to come here to finish my manuscript because I couldn’t get any peace in my home. I have no idea how he found out I’m here.” Amelia frowned. “I guess I might have to consider leaving.”
“We will do our best to ensure your safety and privacy.” Suzie met her eyes. “But if you’d like I can recommend some other accommodation in the area.”
“I’d rather stay here. It’s such a peaceful place and I’m making real progress on my manuscript.” Amelia looked over at Jason. “You’ll keep me safe, right?”
“I’ll do my best, ma’am.” He nodded, then handed her a business card. “Don’t be afraid to call me directly if you need anything at all.”
“Thanks.” Amelia tucked the card into her pocket. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to work.” A second later, the door closed on all of them.
Suzie walked Jason out to his car, while Mary headed into the kitchen to clean up after the tea she’d made.
“What do you think, Jason?” Suzie glanced over at him and noticed that his expression was tight.
“I don’t like that he was here, and that Amelia is still staying here, but there’s nothing I can do about it right now. I’ll try to figure out where Monroe might be staying and look into Jessica Cate, but unless he comes back, I can’t arrest him. If he does come back, you call me the moment you see him, got it?” Jason met Suzie’s eyes. “The moment.”
“Yes, I will.” Suzie stared after him as he headed to his car and hoped that she wouldn’t have to make that call.
Chapter 3
Early the next morning Suzie woke up with a smile on her face. The disturbance of the day before was the last thing on her mind as she hurried to dress. Paul would be getting to the dock soon, and she planned to meet him there with breakfast. The sun wasn’t up yet, and there wasn’t a sound in the house. She was as quiet as she could be as she headed out of the house. She made one quick stop to pick up donuts and coffee, then continued down towards the docks. They had recently put in extra rocks that were used as sea defenses, so it was now easy to walk on the beach from Dune House to the docks. She always enjoyed the walk. It was just long enough for her to settle into her thoughts. When she arrived, she saw that Paul’s boat was already in its slip. Excited to see him, she hurried along the wooden planks until she reached his boat.
“Paul?” Suzie didn’t want to startle him by just climbing onto the boat.
“I’m here, beautiful!” His voice floated up to her from the interior of the boat. She smiled at the sound of it. He seemed cheerful, which was unusual after a long trip, though he was always happy to see her. He was the first friend she’d made when she moved to Garber and was glad that he was part of her life.
“I brought breakfast.” Suzie climbed onto the boat at the same time that he mounted the steps to the deck.
“You’re an angel, I’m starving.” Paul wrapped his arms around her, then gave her a light kiss. “I’ve missed you.”
“Ha, you probably spent all of your time thinking about fish.”
“I might have, but I named one after you.” Paul smiled as he quirked an eyebrow.
“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment.” Suzie laughed as she held out his coffee to him. “Thirsty?”
“Very.” Paul kissed her once more, then took the coffee. “It’s so good to see you, I want to hear everything that’s happened while I’ve been gone.” He led her down into the cabin where they settled at a small table with their breakfast.
Suzie immediately thought of the event the day before. She hesitated to tell him, as she knew that Monroe’s behavior would upset him, and he often worried about her and Mary being in the bed and breakfast alone. He’d been better about it since Pilot moved in. Still, she knew he would find out eventually, so she filled him in on what happened.
“You shouldn’t have opened the door. You should have just called the police right away.” Paul frowned as he studied her. “What if he had a weapon? Or decided to push you out of the way?”
“None of that happened, Paul, we were both fine. The important thing is that Jason is on the lookout for him now, and he will keep me up to date.” Suzie took a bite of her donut. “It really wasn’t as bad as it sounds.”
“It sounds like he would have done anything to get to Amelia if you hadn’t talked him out of it.”
“He calmed down eventually.”
“And what about this book she’s writing? Why would anyone want to write something that will get them that kind of attention?” Paul narrowed his eyes. “You should have encouraged her to go to another place to stay.”
“There have been many great books written about controversial topics and revealing secrets. If no one wrote about things that would put them in danger, we wouldn’t even have the country we’re living in now, would we?” Suzie met his eyes with a soft smile. “Paul, don’t worry so much. I can handle more than you think.”
“I know you can.” Paul took her hand and gave it a light squeeze. “I’m sorry. I’m being overprotective as usual. It’s hard for me sometimes, being out on the water, and not knowing if you’re safe.”
“I’m always safe.” Suzie squeezed his hand in return. “I’m always waiting here for you to come home. Never forget that.”
“I’ll try not to.” Paul brought her hand to his lips for a light kiss, which left powdered sugar all over the back of it. “Oops.” He blushed and wiped it off with a napkin.
Suzie laughed and gazed into his eyes. She adored everything about him, and even though they had their arguments, when it came down to it, she knew she could always count on him.
* * *
After breakfast Paul had some things to finish up on his boat, and Suzie wanted to be back at Dune House in time to help Mary with breakfast. As she walked back towards the house, which sprawled across the top of a small hill, the sight of it took her breath away as usual. It still surprised her that she lived in such a beautiful place. As she drew closer, she noticed something unusual. Someone was on the wraparound porch. It was quite early for a guest to be outside, and it appeared to her that the woman she saw was acting suspicious. She moved from window to window on the ground floor and looked to be peering inside. Suzie’s heart began to race as she realized this woman was not one of the guests at Dune House. She was a stranger, and she might be planning to break in. Suzie pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the woman, but she was too far away to get the fine details of her face.
“Hey!” Suzie waved her hand through the air to get the woman’s attention as she ran towards her. “What are you doing?”
The woman spun around for a brief second, then bolted down the steps towards the beach. Suzie shifted direction and began to chase after her. She wondered for a moment if she might be Jessica Cate. As Suzie ran, she pulled out her cell phone and called Jason. She wasn’t going to let another opportunity slip by. She panted out the details to him when he answered. As she paused to catch her breath, she realized that she’d lost sight of the woman. Frustrated, she ran back towards the house to check on Mary and the others. She didn’t think the woman had gotten inside, but she wanted to be sure. By the time she made it back to the house, Jason’s patrol car was already in the parking lot.
“Jason!” Suzie jogged up to him. “I couldn’t keep up with her. She’s out on the beach somewhere, I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right, you did your best.” Jason frowned. “Did she threaten you?”
“No, when I called out to her, she just ran. But she was looking in all the windows, she was up to something, I’m sure of it.”
“I’m going to find out what.” Jason barked into his radio as he ran towards the beach. Just then the front door opened, and Mary, with Pilot at her side, stepped out.
“Suzie, what’s going on?” Mary tightened her robe around her body as she stepped farther out. “Is everything okay?”
“There was a woman peeking in all of the windows when I came back from meeting Paul.” Suzie joined her friend on the porch. “I think she might have been Jessica Cate.”
“Oh my!” Mary frowned. “We should let Amelia know.”
“Yes, and maybe she can identify her, as I took a picture.” Suzie showed the picture to Mary. “It’s not the greatest, but it might be enough for us to figure out who she is.”
As they headed up the stairs, Suzie’s heart continued to pound. Whether from the run, or the shock of seeing someone spying on Dune House, adrenaline continued to rush through her.
As Suzie reached the second floor, Michael poked his head out of his room.
“Is everything okay? I saw flashing lights downstairs.”
“Everything is fine, Michael, sorry for the disturbance. I noticed someone looking in the windows. It was probably just someone curious about Dune House, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.” Suzie flashed him a warm smile.
“Oh, okay.” Michael stared at her a moment longer, then disappeared into his room.
Suzie wasn’t sure if he believed her, but she hoped that he would still feel secure. None of the other guests knew about the incident the day before because they weren’t at the house to witness it. Both Michael and Lavinia would be checking out the next day. She hoped that they would be able to enjoy their last day, despite the police presence.
On the way to the third story, Suzie glanced back at Mary, who was a few steps behind her.
“Are you doing okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine, don’t worry. My knees are still waking up.” Mary offered a soft chuckle.
When they made it to the third floor, Suzie walked up to Amelia’s door. If she was like any other writer she’d ever known, she guessed she might be up late and sleep late, but since she rarely came out of her room, she didn’t really know her pattern. Still, she felt this was important enough to wake her. She knocked softly the first time.
“Amelia? Are you awake?”
The only response was silence.
“You should knock harder, she could already be working.” Mary tipped her head towards the door.
“Okay.” Suzie frowned, then knocked harder on the door. “Amelia? We really need to speak with you.”
There was still no response. Suzie looked over at Mary.
“Maybe we should just wait until later?” She reached out and tried the doorknob. It didn’t budge.
“Jason is probably going to want to speak with her.” Mary glanced towards the stairs. “I can go down and get the spare key. Maybe she has her headphones on and isn’t going to notice the knocking no matter how loud it is.”
“I think I need to get a set of those headphones.” Suzie rolled her eyes. “I’ll go get the key. You stay here and see if you can get her to open her door
. I hate to invade her privacy by unlocking it.”
“Okay, I’ll knock as hard as I can.” Mary began to pound on the door, as Suzie headed down the stairs to retrieve the key. On her way down she ran into Lavinia, who was on the landing of the second floor.
“What’s going on up there? What’s with all the pounding?” She stared at Suzie with wide eyes.
“Oh, we’re trying to get Amelia to answer the door. She likes to wear headphones when she works so there is a good chance that she can’t hear us. I’m sorry for the disturbance. We had a bit of an incident this morning and we’re just trying to get it all figured out.” Suzie continued down the stairs, with Lavinia a few steps behind her.
“It’s all right, I just wasn’t sure what to think. I tried to say hello to Amelia the other day, and invited her out with Michael and me, but she completely refused and just closed her door. She seems a little rude to me.”
They reached the bottom of the steps as Suzie nodded.
“I can see why you would think that, but she’s not here on vacation. She’s here to finish her manuscript, so I guess she needs to focus only on work in order to do that.” Suzie shrugged. “Passion is passion, right?”
“True. But I suppose sometimes it can become obsession.” Lavinia headed for the porch, where Michael stood looking out at the beach. Several police officers dotted the sand. Suzie realized that Jason must have organized an entire search party. As she retrieved the key from behind the desk, Jason’s partner, Kirk poked his head inside the house.
“Everything okay in here?”
“Yes, I’m trying to get in touch with Amelia so that she can tell us whether that woman was Jessica Cate. Have you found her?” Suzie tucked the key into her pocket.
“Not just yet. But we’re still looking.” Kirk headed back out the door.
As Suzie climbed the stairs, she could hear Mary still knocking. The force of it caused a vibration through the wall. Was it really possible that Amelia didn’t hear that at all? Maybe the woman did hear, and just didn’t want to open the door. If that was the case, then she might be faced with a fight when she unlocked it. Suzie walked up beside Mary and frowned as she pulled the key back out of her pocket. She rarely opened a door when a guest was inside, but in emergency situations, she had to do what she had to do. She just wasn’t sure if this would qualify as an emergency.
