Sapphire Beach Cozy Mystery Collection

by Angela K Ryan

  "Do you remember if there was a lot of traffic in her store during that time?"

  "My souvenir shop did have a very profitable season last spring. And judging from the number of customers leaving her store with bags filled to the brim, it looked like Natasha was having a good spring, as well."

  That was interesting. It was looking more and more as if business had indeed been good for Natasha, yet she was struggling to pay her rent.

  When the women finished their iced tea, Ruby had to get back to the shop. Before leaving, she perused the Fair Trade section of the store, which was pretty much set up and ready to go.

  "I love the jewelry you have. Selling Fair Trade is such a fabulous idea. Let me know how it goes. I was thinking maybe I could carry a few Fair Trade handbags in my store."

  "I certainly will," Connie said, ecstatic at the possibility. "In fact, some of my artisans also make handbags, so if you are seriously interested, I could contact them about it."

  "I am, but I'll let you get through your grand opening first. Then we can talk."

  "Sounds like a plan. I'm so glad you stopped by. I've been meaning to visit other stores on the beach to introduce myself, but just haven't had the time. Now I'm putting it at the top of my list of priorities."

  "I'd be happy to take you around some time if you'd like. Stop by when you have a chance, and we can make arrangements."

  Chapter 9

  On Friday morning, Connie awoke before her alarm went off. After breakfast and Ginger's morning walk, she decided to take advantage of the beautiful morning and go for a short paddle along the shore before work. The salty air in her lungs and the sound of birds calling to one another as they glided through the air above the water was like a reboot for her anxious mind.

  Refreshed, she stopped in the lobby for the mail on her way back upstairs and ran into Gertrude relaxing in a wingback chair and chatting with another resident. Gertrude introduced Connie to her friend, Margaret, and proceeded to tell her all about Just Jewelry. "I'll be at the grand opening next Saturday," Gertrude said. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

  As Connie waited at the elevator, she couldn't help but smile when she heard Gertrude strongly encouraging Margaret to come and bring friends. With friends like Gertrude spreading the word, the grand opening was sure to be a success.

  After a quick shower, Connie and Ginger headed into the store to continue getting it ready for the big day, which was quickly approaching. She went out back to put away the juicer and fresh fruit she had purchased to provide those much-needed afternoon energy boosts. She had set up a cart in the storage room next to the refrigerator, along with her electric kettle and an assortment of tea. There was a back door next to the storage room, so she kept her mint plants on a shelf out back, where they would get plenty of sunshine. She also had a separate tiny cart for Ginger's food and treats. The shop was really starting to feel like home away from home.

  Connie couldn't resist snapping a photo of her fruit and juicer and texting it to Gallagher, along with the message: Your healthy lifestyle is inspiring me. I even got a paddleboard last weekend.

  Gallagher responded within a few seconds. You do me proud.

  Throughout the rest of the morning, Connie settled into a rhythm of cleaning and stocking, and at 2:00, Grace arrived unexpectedly with a picnic basket in hand.

  "What are you doing here?” Connie asked. “It's your day off."

  "I know, but I was finishing up some housework and figured you would be ready to stop for lunch about now, so I packed some sandwiches. I thought we could both take a break and have lunch together."

  Connie gave Grace a one-armed hug, then brought the basket over to the table. "What would I do without you?"

  She unpacked two turkey and swiss sandwiches with lettuce and tomato on wheat bread, some carrot sticks, two small bags of popcorn, and two cans of cranberry-lime seltzer water.

  "It looks fabulous in here," Grace said, admiring the newly-stocked shelves. "You will easily be ready by next week."

  "I hope so. All that's really left is to price the merchandise and continue to get the word out. I've been doing everything I can to spread the word through social media and advertising. I even took out an ad in the church bulletin."

  While they were eating, Connie told Grace about meeting Ruby the previous day and her offer to take them around and introduce them to some other shop owners. At Grace's insistence, they took a walk next door after lunch to see if by Ruby happened to be free.

  "Your timing is perfect. My ace employee is working today, and she can handle the store alone for a little while," Ruby said, flashing a smile to a young woman behind the counter who was ringing up a customer.

  Grace and Ruby hit it off like old friends, and Connie could barely get a word in edgewise as the two of them got acquainted. It warmed her heart to see Grace making a new friend, especially one who worked so close.

  They made their way through the downtown streets, most of which ran perpendicular to the beach, following Ruby into many of the shops. There were several souvenir shops, clothing boutiques, and restaurants. If the owners were present, Ruby introduced them, and if not, Connie and Grace talked with the employees. Connie handed out the cards she had printed with information about the grand opening, and many promised to stop by before or after their shifts that day.

  "We try to support one another around here, like good neighbors," Ruby said. "I think you'll find it's a nice business community to be a part of."

  Ruby had strategically planned their last stop at an ice cream shop.

  "I like your style," Connie said, eyeing the endless flavors of ice cream through the glass counter.

  "We might as well get some ice cream," Grace said. "It would be rude not to get one, since we're already here."

  "After all, it's only research, so there will be no calories," Connie said. She insisted on treating Grace and her new friend.

  Spotting Ruby, a woman with dark, wavy hair and deep brown eyes, who appeared to be in her late thirties, came over from behind the counter to join them at their table.

  "Emily, how are you?" Ruby asked, introducing the woman to Connie and Grace as the owner of the ice cream shop.

  "Welcome to the neighborhood," Emily said. "As you can tell, Friendly Scoops is the coolest shop in all of downtown Sapphire Beach."

  "You're certainly living the dream," Connie said. "Ice cream and the beach, what more could anyone ask for?"

  Emily winked. "I see we're going to get along well."

  Ruby put her arm around Emily. "All this ice cream, and she still manages to stay so thin. It's just not fair."

  "It's ten percent good genes and ninety percent working my rear end off at the gym."

  Emily gaze settled on Connie as if she were trying to recall something. "Say, aren't you in same shop where Natasha's Boutique used to be located?"

  Connie licked her mint chocolate chip ice cream cone and nodded. "Were you friends?"

  "I wouldn't say we were friends. Natasha mostly kept to herself. But she would take her little girl here for ice cream every so often. She was good friends with Gallagher McKeon, who owns the restaurant across from you, and one of his employees."

  "Penelope," Connie said. "She used to work for Natasha before..."

  "Yeah, that's her," Emily said before Connie could finish. "I would see Gallagher and Natasha around town a lot. I thought they were dating at first, because they seemed really familiar with one another. But I think they were just good friends."

  "I didn't realize they were close. I thought they were just neighbors." In fact, Gallagher had specifically told her they were not close when they talked by the beach.

  "I don't mean to spread rumors or anything, just saying what I saw. There was definitely a familiarity between them. They were more than just neighbors."

  Connie's heart sank. Why would Gallagher lie? She liked him a lot and didn't want him to turn out to be a bad guy. It gave Connie an uneasy feeling.

  After
they finished their ice cream, Ruby had to get back to her boutique, so Connie returned to her store, and Grace headed home to Palm Paradise to get her bike for a light workout.

  For the rest of the afternoon, Connie couldn't shake from her mind what Emily had said about Gallagher and Natasha. What reason could Gallagher possibly have to hide the fact that they were friends?

  ***

  Later that afternoon when Connie got back to Palm Paradise, she took Ginger for a walk before heading upstairs. Although it was nearly April, it felt more like a July evening would have felt in Boston. As happy as she was to be wearing flip-flops in late March, she had a feeling the Floridian climate would continue to seem strange for a while.

  As she and Ginger strolled down Sapphire Beach Boulevard, Connie sifted through the new information she had learned over the past few days.

  Penelope hadn't seen any indication of drug use, and she spent a lot of time with Natasha. She painted a picture of Natasha as a loving mother who had devoted herself to giving her daughter a better life, which was consistent with the diary Connie had found. If Natasha didn't want her daughter living with Jordan for some reason, as Penelope had indicated, perhaps he had an ulterior motive for making Natasha look bad, and the drugs were made up. Connie wished she knew more about what had happened between Natasha and Jordan.

  Then Ruby said she had seen Mickey and Natasha in a heated argument. That didn't look good for Mickey. Maybe after hearing from Jordan that she had once done drugs, he made up the story of the drug needle to throw off the police, and then he killed Natasha. A shiver ran through her body, thinking that her landlord could be capable of that.

  And what was going on with Gallagher? Why on earth would he hide his relationship with Natasha?

  With no fresh leads, police seemed to have again set aside the case, which made Connie more determined than ever to investigate. But she found herself in the same position as the police - with several suspects but not enough evidence on any of them to draw any solid conclusions.

  By the time she got upstairs, it was a little after 6:00, and the sun was beginning to set. Connie fed Ginger, put some chicken in the oven for herself, and made up a salad. Then she relaxed until dinner was ready.

  After a quick bite to eat, Connie went to back work stringing copper-colored satin finish beads onto the necklace she was hoping to complete soon. After making some progress, she decided to break for a cup of tea. When she glanced at the clock on the stove, she was surprised to see that a few hours had passed since she started working on the necklace. Like conversation with faithful friends, her jewelry always provided her with a healthy diversion, especially when she needed to get her mind off things.

  She finished her tea and returned to work on the necklace. Since it was Friday night, and at least until the shop opened next week, she still had the luxury of sleeping in the next morning, she decided to work as long as she could. As she continued, her thoughts drifted to Natasha's diary. She wondered about Natasha's friend Mac and the eagle. What was it about that eagle that sounded familiar?

  As she wearily labored on, an image of Gallagher's tattoo suddenly flashed through her mind, as if her subconscious was putting together the pieces of a puzzle while she worked. Gallagher had a tattoo of a soaring eagle. And wasn't his last name McKeon?

  Could Gallagher be Mac? The same Mac who was deeply touched that Natasha had named her daughter Victoria as a sign that she would soar above the past, like an eagle? Had they known each other before moving to Sapphire Beach? That certainly would explain Emily's impression that they were close.

  She checked the time on her phone. It was 10:45, almost closing time for the restaurant. Connie grabbed her purse and raced over to Gallagher's Tropical Shack.

  Chapter 10

  When Connie arrived at The Shack, most of the customers had already cleared out. There were only a few patrons left finishing up their meals or drinks.

  "I'm sorry. We close at 11," the hostess said when she spotted Connie looking around the restaurant.

  "I'm not here to eat. I was just looking for Gallagher. My name is Connie. I'm a friend of his."

  Penelope waved as she cleared off a table near the bar.

  Seeming to take that as corroboration of Connie's claim, the hostess said, "He's in his office out back. I'll tell him you're here."

  She hadn't yet been inside Gallagher's Tropical Shack, and she really liked the vibe. Like her own shop, it had a driftwood accent wall. But the dining room had windows that stretched across three of the walls and contained pictures, vintage surfboards, and an old canoe mounted on the space above them.

  Within a few minutes later, Gallagher came out with a surprised look on his face.

  "Hey, Connie, what brings you here this time of night?"

  She took a few steps forward, so that she would be out of earshot of the hostess. "I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by. How was your night, Mac?"

  His jaw dropped when she called him 'Mac', confirming her suspicions.

  "Can we talk somewhere in private?"

  He nodded. “Let’s go to my office.”

  She followed him to a room behind the kitchen containing a desk, a computer, and a few file cabinets. He also had a refrigerator and a cart stocked with a tub of protein powder, a box of granola bars, natural almond butter, and a large bowl of fruit.

  He invited her to take a seat on a brown leather loveseat while he wheeled over his desk chair.

  "Nobody's called me Mac since Natasha. How did you know?"

  Connie came clean and told him about the diary that she had found and how, between the eagle reference and the nickname, she eventually put the pieces together.

  "Why didn't you tell me that you knew her?"

  His fidgeted in his chair. "It's times like these that I wish I could have a drink."

  Connie leaned forward. "It's okay. You can trust me, Gallagher. I only want to help. Do the police know the two of you have a past?"

  "Yes, of course. I told them everything I knew when she disappeared."

  "Would you mind telling me?"

  He paused and took a deep breath, as if thinking it over. Then he spoke slowly. "I first met Natasha a little over four years ago, before she even met Jordan. Right away, we hit it off well, and she became like a sister to me. I had just quit drinking after hitting rock bottom, and we were next-door neighbors in the same apartment building. I was finally getting back on my feet, managing a nearby restaurant, and she was working in retail. We had similar crazy late-night hours, so occasionally we would grab a late breakfast or run into each other at the pool and talk about our dreams. She was saving to one day open a boutique, and I wanted to own a restaurant on the beach." He crossed his arms and raised his shoulders, as he was cold, but the air conditioning unit on the wall was turned off.

  "One day she told me about a group that she went to called 'New Light.'"

  "Sounds like a cult," Connie said.

  "Where were you four years ago?"

  Connie felt her jaw drop. "You mean it was a cult?"

  Gallagher nodded. "Of course, we didn't see it at the time. Jordan Sugrue, a charming, smooth talker, was the leader of the group, and somehow, we slowly got sucked in. At first, he was just preaching a self-empowerment philosophy, and we were both in a vulnerable place - I was still in the early stages of recovery dealing with my own demons, and Natasha had lost both parents as a child and grew up being shuffled between foster homes. In hindsight, I think he targeted Natasha from the beginning, giving her special attention and encouragement. They started dating, and after a while, she became pregnant with Victoria. By the time the baby was born, we both realized it was a cult. Natasha connected the dots first, as Sugrue became more and more controlling, and she soon had me convinced, as well."

  Connie let out a long sigh. "Is that when you left?"

  "We both wanted to cut ties from the group, but Sugrue made it difficult, especially for Natasha. Once we saw through him, his whole perso
na fell like a house of cards." Gallagher closed his eyes and raised a clenched fist to his mouth for a moment. "We started to see him as the narcissistic manipulator that he was, but we were afraid to leave. She didn't want Victoria to be raised in that environment, but his followers were fiercely loyal, and we didn't know what they or Sugrue might do if we tried to leave. He had already made it clear there would be serious repercussions if we tried."

  Gallagher grabbed a small bottle of water from the refrigerator and offered one to Connie.

  "No, thanks," she said.

  He took a long sip, nearly emptying the bottle, then continued his story. "Finally, we were able to get some incriminating photos and videos of Sugrue threatening us and revealing his manipulation tactics, and we blackmailed him into giving us back all the money we had donated to his group over the eighteen months that we were involved. We swore we would take the photos and videos straight to the press if he tried to contact us or see Victoria. Then we left the Panhandle and came to Sapphire Beach. He was furious, but we left him with little choice. We convinced him that his little community would be toast if he didn't leave us alone."

  When Gallagher finished, he put his face in his hands, and Connie went over to give him a hug. "You guys were so brave. Some people never make it out of those situations."

  He gave her an appreciative smile as she sat back down on the couch. "I just feel so foolish. Natasha never regretted anything, because otherwise she wouldn't have had Victoria, which I guess is true. But I can't help but feel that, if I had seen through that guy faster, so much pain could have been avoided."

  "So, you think Jordan is responsible for her disappearance?"

  "I think it's connected with him, for sure. The local police have had their eyes on Sugrue and his group for a while now, so I'm just leaving it in their hands and trying to get on with my life." He shook his head. "How did this get so bad? Not only is Natasha gone, but now Sugrue has Victoria. It couldn't have turned out any worse."