by Lyndsey Cole
Annie turned back to her mother. “You don’t have to. We won’t twist your arm if you decide not to come.”
Mia grinned. “A little adventure in my life is what keeps me young. Let’s go.”
Annie dropped a couple of blueberry muffins in a bag. “In case we need to bribe anyone,” she explained as she caught up to the other two.
Leona headed to her bright yellow mustang. “I’ll drive. You can pick up your cars later.”
Annie hesitated. “Your car is too flashy. Don’t we want to keep a low profile?”
Shrugging her shoulders, Leona climbed into her car. “Why? We aren’t doing anything wrong.” Annie jumped into the back seat and Mia sat in the passenger seat. “Hold onto your hats, I’m putting the top down.”
The Harper House was on the edge of town. Leona turned left onto Harper Hill Road, shifted into second gear and kicked up dust all the way to the top of the hill. The house was nestled in a stand of old maple trees, just beginning to change into their beautiful fall colors. The view of the hills beyond the house stretched on forever. With the sun going down, a brilliant sunset of rosy reds and lavenders emerged over the peaks.
After getting out of Leona’s car, they looked around at the spectacular view.
“This is a beautiful spot. I can see why old man Harper never wanted his kids to drag him to a nursing home. He lived here his whole life. Ninety one years old and he died in his sleep. I heard he was even born here,” Leona told Annie. “Can you imagine? He probably never even left Catfish Cove.”
“Do you really think there’s something to the rumors about his hidden valuables?” Annie asked.
“I didn’t give it much thought until Claire was murdered. This place,” Leona waved her hand at the old house, “was full of antiques when he died. Old man Harper’s father owned the paper mill and was worth a fortune. I don’t think any of the offspring ever had much of a work ethic. After his son, Henry Harper the second, took what he wanted, everything else was auctioned off.”
“With the fortune dwindling, the last thing to go was the house?” Annie asked.
“Henry two and Henry three live in a double wide trailer, so yeah, there’s a good chance money is disappearing.”
Mia grabbed Annie and Leona’s elbow. “Come on. Let’s get this show on the road before someone drives by and sees your flashy yellow car.”
Annie rummaged around in her tote for a flashlight and held it up. “I came prepared.”
“Great. Don’t forget to bring in your jacket to lose somewhere inside. Just in case,” Mia reminded Annie.
Armed with her denim jacket and flashlight, Annie led the way up the rickety steps and pushed the front door open.
“This is creepy,” Mia whispered as she kept one hand on Annie’s back.
They walked slowly and carefully, testing each board before putting their weight down. Every creak echoed through the empty house like a big drumbeat. Annie turned left to leave her jacket in the room where Cranky questioned her the day before. Shining her flashlight around the gloom only turned up cobwebs and mouse droppings in every corner. The walls seemed to be solid with no obvious place to hide anything.
Moving back into the main entryway, they passed in front of the wide staircase. “Should we go upstairs or stay down here?” Annie whispered.
“Danny’s been working upstairs. I’ll tell him to keep his eyes open for anything unusual. Let’s look around down here.”
Annie remembered how the room looked the day before with the big fireplace in the back wall. She moved the light beam slowly up and down, studying the rocks for anything that looked out of place. When her light reflected on two eyes, all three women gasped in unison.
“We’re not alone in here,” Leona managed to utter.
Behind them, the front door suddenly opened, flooding the room with the last of the day’s natural light.
“What are you doing in here?” a voice demanded, full of surprise and anger.
Chapter 9
Annie’s heart flopped around like a fish out of water. She dropped her flashlight and the beam illuminated the rest of the body connected to the two eyes she had just seen.
Detective Cranky stomped through the door. “I got a 911 call that someone saw lights on in here. Who is going to tell me what the heck you three are doing? And it better be good or you’ll be spending the night in a cozy jail cell.”
Her walkie talkie crackled and she answered that everything was under control. “So?” She stood with her hands on her hips. “I can’t wait for this story.”
Mia blurted out that they were looking for Annie’s jacket that she left in the house the day before.
Cranky’s eyes narrowed. “We would have found it when we finished our investigation. You’ll have to do better than that.”
By then, squeaky noises were coming from the fireplace. Cranky moved her gaze to the dog and her tiny puppies lying on the hard stones. “What’s she doing here? Didn’t the woman from the shelter take her yesterday?”
Annie nodded. “The dog’s name is Bella. Maybe I should call Karen and find out what happened.”
Cranky walked to the dog and crouched next to her, stroking her head. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you or take your babies,” Cranky softly cooed to the mother dog. “Wow. You’ve got six pups here. How’d you get inside?”
Annie reached Karen and found out that Bella managed to escape and Karen hadn’t had any time to look for her. She promised to be right over to help move the mother and her pups to a more comfortable location.
Detective Crank stood up pointing to Annie. “Find your jacket and help me get her and her pups into my car. I’m going to take them to the shelter myself and make sure she’s in a secure area. Use your jacket to carry the pups, if you can find it. I’m going to check the back doors to see how she got inside.”
Annie looked from Mia to Leona and shrugged. “I think Bella just saved our butts,” she whispered as she hurried into the other room to grab her denim jacket.
Mia and Leona comforted Bella who enjoyed the attention. She didn’t even mind when Annie carefully moved each pup onto her jacket to carry them out to the police car. Bella happily followed Annie.
“There’s something else back here,” Leona said as she bent down and picked up an object in the far corner of the fireplace. Dusting it off on her jeans, her mouth dropped open when the grime rubbed off and a round gold cover appeared. She hurried to catch up with Annie. “What do you think this could be?”
Annie cradled the pups with one arm and took the item from Leona. She turned it over and used the light from the police cruiser headlights to examine it. “It looks like the cover to a pocket watch.”
Leona and Mia said at the same time, “Old man Harper’s hidden treasure? Or a piece of it?”
Detective Crank came from the back of the house. “The back door was open again. Did any of you go in or out that way?”
Annie slipped the gold cover into her pocket and the three women all shook their heads. “Maybe someone from the police department forgot to pull the door closed when they finished the investigation,” Annie suggested gently.
Cranky glared at her, walking past to open the back door of her car. “Put the pups in here.”
As soon as Annie put the pups on the floor in front of the back seat, Bella jumped onto the seat and curled up. She gave a thump of her tail as if to say thanks.
Karen pulled into the driveway behind Detective Crank’s car. “You found that clever escape artist?” she asked, leaning her head out the window of her van.
Detective Crank answered, “I’ll follow you to the shelter. I want to make sure she doesn’t get out again.”
“Okay. Let’s go.” Karen turned her van around, followed by Detective Crank and then Leona’s mustang carrying Leona, Mia and Annie.
“I think I know what Cranky’s soft spot is,” Annie yelled from the back seat. “She can’t be all bad. Did you see how she caressed Bella and talked ba
by talk to her? She’s got a chip on her shoulder but it doesn’t extend to animals. My guess? Someone betrayed her and she’s taking the hurt out on the people around her. She’s afraid to let anyone get too close.”
“That makes sense, but what difference does it make to you, Annie? Are you planning to try to turn her into your big best buddy?” Leona said as she pulled her mustang in behind Karen’s van at the animal shelter.
“Not today.” Annie laughed.
Karen had the leash around Bella, and Detective Crank held the puppies in her arms. “I don’t think she’ll try to escape again, not with her puppies here,” Karen explained to Detective Crank. “For some reason I haven’t figured out, she has an attachment to old man Harper’s place.”
“You know,” Detective Crank said as one finger stroked the soft fur on one of the puppies, “I could take Bella and the puppies to my house. I’ve been wanting to adopt a dog, and Bella would be perfect for me. Once the puppies are old enough, I’ll foster them until you find homes.”
Karen smiled. “I like the sound of that, but let’s keep them here for the night. I’ll make sure Bella is up to date with her shots and you can pick them up tomorrow if that works for you.”
Detective Crank nodded and followed Karen inside.
Annie motioned for Mia and Leona to follow them too. “I want another look at those pups. Don’t you?”
“It’s hard to resist anything that adorable,” Mia said.
Once Bella and the puppies were settled into a kennel, Detective Crank handed Annie her jacket. “Glad you found what you were looking for. And Bella too. Next time, ask before you go into someone else’s property, okay?”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Any news on Claire’s murder?”
“The only thing I can tell you is about your friend Danny Davis.” Annie saw Leona flinch but she kept quiet. “There wasn’t any of his blood on the murder weapon so his story about being in the kitchen to clean a cut is checking out. For now.”
A smile spread across Leona’s face and a big sigh relaxed her tense body.
Karen locked up and all the women headed to their cars. Leona backed out first, heading to the Cove’s Corner building so Mia and Annie could get their cars. “Some good news for Danny, at least. Now he can get back to work without that cloud hanging over his head.”
Annie drove up the hill to her apartment, tired and thirsty. The lights in Jason’s Cobblestone Cottage threw a warm invitation for her to come in. She even smelled wood smoke, and the thought of a crackling fire to relax in front of on the cool evening was irresistible.
Roxy was waiting inside the door before Annie even turned the doorknob. Of course she heard Annie’s car pull in. Roxy didn’t miss much. Jason sat in his comfortable leather recliner lost in a book. Annie tip toed behind his chair and held her cold hands on his neck.
Without a flinch, Jason remarked, “That can’t be my hot girlfriend with those icy hands.” Then he grabbed Annie’s hands and pulled her around into his lap. She screeched with surprise. “What have you been doing? It’s lonely here.”
“Leona, Mia and I had a bit of an adventure.” She relaxed in his lap with her back leaning against one arm of the chair and her legs dangling over the other arm. Soft music played in the background and the fire crackled.
“Of course you did. And?”
“Detective Cranky was involved too.” Annie decided to dole out the story slowly to build the drama.
“Well, I have something to tell you but you don’t seem to be in the sharing mood.”
Annie jumped off his lap. “What is it?”
“Ha, I knew that would get your attention. Tell me about Detective Cranky first.” Jason walked to the kitchen. “Hungry? Or did you fill up with food at the baby shower.”
“I did sample everything. And it was delicious of course, but I could go for a small snack.”
Jason scooped rice salad onto a plate on a bed of greens and handed it to Annie. He poured two glasses of wine, carrying them to the table along with a bowl of sliced fruit. “How was the shower?”
“Cancelled,” Annie said in between bites. She pointed to the salad. “This is delicious. Did you make it?”
“Don’t look so surprised. I told you, salads are my specialty.” He sipped his wine. “Cancelled because of Claire’s murder?”
Annie shook her head and swallowed. “No, Abby was rushed to the hospital but it was a false alarm. Martha said the shower might be tomorrow at Cody and Abby’s house instead.” She sat back with her wine glass in her hand. “Mia, Leona and I went to the Harper House to have a look around for hidden valuables.” She watched Jason’s face carefully.
“And did you find anything? I was afraid you might be up to something and I half expected a call from the police station to come bail you out.” Concern etched his face.
“Cranky was not in a good mood until she saw Bella and the puppies.”
“Bella?”
“A stray dog that got into the Harper House somehow and had her pups in the massive fireplace. Cranky’s tough, but she melted when she saw the pups. It completely distracted her.”
“From what?”
“From us being in the house. Have you heard the rumors about old man Harper hiding valuables in his house before he died?”
Jason nodded and his lip twitched slightly as if he was about to burst out laughing.
“We found this.” Annie slid the gold watch cover from her pocket and held it up so the light could catch the shine.
Jason retrieved a magnifying glass from his desk drawer. “Let me take a look at that.” He rubbed the cover with the soft flannel from the corner of his shirt before studying the front and back. “There’s a fancy letter H engraved here.”
“Harper,” Annie barely managed to utter. “So the rumor’s true.”
Jason handed the gold cover to Annie. “You showed this to Detective Crank?”
“I completely forgot about it with moving the puppies and all,” she said, not meeting Jason’s stare.
He laughed. “You are a terrible liar, Ms. Annie Fisher. Keep it in a safe place. Now, the question is, where is the rest of that pocket watch?”
Chapter 10
Annie and Roxy walked across the driveway to her apartment above Jason’s three car garage. Smokey, curled up on the couch, lifted his head when they walked in, mewed, jumped down and curled his agile body around Annie’s legs, almost tripping her. Reaching down, Annie lifted him to her chest. “Lonely are you?” She was met with loud purring and his face rubbing her cheek. “Maybe I better put up a sign: guard cat on duty,” she told him.
The couch called to her and she sank into the soft cushions, groaning with satisfaction. Roxy jumped up next to her and Smokey made himself comfortable in her lap. She stroked both animals as her mind analyzed the events since Claire’s murder. Everything so far led to the gold watch cover. Was there more hidden treasure? Who was trying to find it? She rubbed the smooth cool gold, laughing at her own thought of a genie appearing and granting her wishes. “Oh, if only that could actually happen!”
Dragging herself to bed, Annie tucked the gold under her pillow. She fell into a deep sleep as soon as her head hit the soft down.
Morning came too soon but she forced herself to slip from under the toasty covers and padded across the cold floor to get a pot of coffee going. Her front door squeaked open and Jason poked his head in. “Want some company?”
She waved him in, poured two cups and carried them to the table.
“I’ve been thinking. How did that dog get in the house?” Jason asked before sipping his coffee.
“She was in the house the day Claire was murdered but Danny said he left the door open for her. Yesterday? Detective Crank said the back door was open. Maybe the police forgot to pull it tight?”
Jason pursed his lips. “Or, someone discovered they lost that gold watch cover and went back to find it, leaving the door open for Bella to get in.”
Annie leaned toward Jason
. “You never told me your surprise last night.”
His face relaxed into a satisfied grin. “You left before I had a chance.” Reaching into his jacket pocket, he palmed something she couldn’t see. Slowly, he opened his hand to reveal a small dark red velvet jewelry box. Annie’s eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. She stroked the silver strawberry pendant hanging around her neck, a Valentine’s Day gift from Jason.
“That box looks familiar. Have you been to Boston to the Gold N Silver jewelry store?” She remembered what she last saw in a similar box and the close call she had with the end of her life.
Jason slid it across the table within Annie’s reach. “Open it.”
Annie cracked the top, shifting her gaze between the jewelry box and Jason’s face. She couldn’t read his expression of amusement. When the top snapped open completely, she gasped at the beauty. “Are these the real deal or fakes?”
“Camilla stopped by yesterday looking for you and entrusted me with getting this gift safely into your hands. It’s exactly what you think it is. The diamond earrings that Camilla hid under your couch pillows last Labor Day. The real deal.”
Annie’s left hand felt her naked earlobe as her right hand held the box of earrings. “For me? Why?”
“Camilla can explain it all. But let me just say, she says she owes her life to you.”
Annie stood in front of her mirror stabbing the earrings through her pierced ears that hadn’t felt an earring in months. “Ouch.” She turned toward Jason who had followed behind her. “What do you think?”
He softly caressed her cheek. “Beautiful.” But he wasn’t looking at the earrings.
***
Annie rushed into the Black Cat Café, knowing she was late and expecting Leona to be miffed. She soon enough discovered that expectation was an understatement. Leona had pots and pans strewn around the kitchen, no oldies playing, and no delicious smells filling the café.
“Leona? Are you okay?”
