Murder in Treasure Cove

by Meredith Potts

  “What a crazy day,” my mother said.

  “Dear, are you okay?” my grandma asked.

  My mom shook her head. “Not really.”

  “Does that mean the case is going poorly?”

  “It’s definitely not going well, that’s for sure.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “Not really.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “What’s there to say? There’s a killer on the loose. Unfortunately, David and I are no closer to finding the killer. In fact, we are incredibly far off.”

  “I can understand why you’re discouraged, but it’s important to keep your head up.”

  “That’s much easier said than done.”

  “Maybe so, but it’s essential. Don’t get down on yourself.”

  “Mom, you’re not here. And let me tell you, I’m so glad you’re not. This case is an absolute beast.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. I know you can crack it, though.”

  “What makes you so sure about that?”

  “You’ve done it before. You can definitely do it again.”

  “I’m glad you feel confident about that.”

  “Wow. This investigation must really be a tough one. I’m not used to you being this freaked out.”

  “This is unfamiliar territory for me,” my mother said. “And I don’t like it one bit.”

  “Maybe you just need to be patient.”

  “You know that’s not my strong suit.”

  “Trust me. I’m aware of that,” my grandma answered. “That said, one thing you’re really good at is being tenacious. The longer you stick with this, the better the chances are that you’ll be able to catch the killer.”

  “True.”

  “The way I see it, you and David are only one break away from solving this case.”

  “I suppose you’re right.”

  “Of course, I’m right. I’m your mother.”

  “I have to say, you’re definitely more optimistic than you usually are when I’m in the middle of a case. Normally, you’re a ball of nerves.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. I’m still fraught with anxiety. I’m just not sharing it with you right now.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you already have enough on your plate. I don’t want to burden you with my worries as well.”

  “I get it.”

  “Honestly, I just want you to figure this all out. The sooner, the better.”

  “I’m with you on that.”

  “The minute I get off of this video chat, I’m going to pray like crazy. With any luck, God will bless you with the break you’ve been looking for.”

  “What if he doesn’t?”

  “Have faith.”

  “I do…normally. But I also know that not all prayers get answered.”

  “You’ll figure this out. Just hang in there.”

  “I’m doing my best.”

  “That’s all you can do.”

  “The question is, will it be enough?”

  “I believe it will.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, I should probably call it a night. I have a busy day tomorrow.”

  “Send David my love.”

  “I will.”

  “Take care of yourself. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  “I know what you mean. I’d like to get out of this without a scratch on me.”

  “You’re certainly giving me a lot to pray about tonight.”

  “Sorry about that.”

  “It will all be okay when the killer is behind bars.”

  “Isn’t that the truth?”

  ***

  With that, my mother left the video chat. I then rushed back inside my room and closed the door as quietly as possible behind me. I didn’t want either of my grandparents to spot me. Or suspect that I had been listening to that conversation.

  I made my way back into bed and got under the covers. By that point, the hour was late. I should have been exhausted. Under other circumstances, I might have nodded off to sleep with relative ease. That evening was anything but ordinary.

  I closed my eyes, but I wasn’t able to get any sleep. How could I after everything I just heard? What a terrifying conversation that was. All this time, I wanted my mother to talk to me like a grown up. I told her that I could handle anything. That she didn’t have to speak to me like I was a little kid.

  Much to my surprise, adult conversations were much more difficult to stomach than I ever imagined. It was suddenly quite clear why my mother tried to be so vague with me when I asked her questions about her work. She was just trying to protect me.

  Part of me wished that I had just stayed in bed a few minutes ago. That I had not opened up the door and spied on my grandmother’s video chat. It was unsettling to see my mother looking so distressed. She was normally so composed. So calm. It was rare to see her sweat.

  So, for her to be grimacing like that was a complete shock. It wasn’t just her facial expressions that bothered me, though. The words that had come out of her mouth were troubling as well.

  I didn’t know that my mother ever got scared. Apparently, she did.

  Honestly, that video chat showed that there was an entirely different side to my mom. She was vulnerable. She had her doubts. She didn’t have all the answers. In fact, there was a lot that she didn’t know.

  I liked the way things used to be. When I believed that my mother had everything figured out. When it felt like she was invincible. If only I could go back to believing that.

  After what I’d just seen, that wasn’t possible. I knew the truth. My mother and father had very dangerous jobs. And there was no telling what would happen next.

  Suddenly, I was as nervous as could be.

  Chapter Seven

  I didn’t sleep very well that night. Honestly, it was probably the worst night of shuteye of my entire life.

  I ended up tossing and turning in bed until I wore myself out.

  When I did finally crash out, it was from sheer exhaustion.

  Unfortunately, the next morning arrived far too early. That was saying a lot. After all, I was typically an early riser. Most days, I woke up before my alarm even went off.

  Things were different that day. To start, I had not set an alarm that morning. It was a good thing too. I would have slept right through it.

  When I did finally get up, it was because my grandma knocked on the door and called out my name. As my grandmother opened the door and saw that I was still in bed, she looked shocked. Meanwhile, I glanced over at the clock that was sitting on my nightstand. It was shortly after ten o’clock.

  Wow.

  I can’t recall ever sleeping that late before.

  Concern filled my grandma’s face as she stared at me. “Honey, are you feeling all right?”

  “Uh-huh,” I said.

  “Okay. Good. You had me worried.”

  “I don’t feel sick or anything.”

  “That’s nice to hear. At the same time, I figured you’d be up by now.”

  “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Why not? Did you have a nightmare?”

  I did, but I wasn’t about to tell my grandmother about it. She would freak out if she knew the truth. With good reason. In the nightmare, my parents got injured. They both ended up in the hospital. It looked like they were both about to die. Just before they lost consciousness, I woke up from my nightmare.

  Talk about a terrible thing to dream about. I was so glad that it wasn’t true. At least, not yet. Deep down, my biggest worry was that something terrible would happen to my parents. At the moment, I decided to keep my concerns to myself.

  “Are you hungry?” my grandmother asked.

  “Sure,” I said.

  “Good. I made you some breakfast.”

  “Great. I’ll get dressed and come right out.”

  Chapter Eight

  After we finished eating, I decide
d to take a shower. I excused myself and headed off to the bathroom. I then turned on the water and waited for it to get warm. There was nothing worse than stepping into a cold shower.

  As I waited for the water to heat up, I realized that I had forgotten my hair brush in my bedroom. I would definitely want that with me when I got out of the shower. Since the water didn’t seem to be in any hurry to warm up, I decided to head over to my bedroom to grab my brush right then. When I opened the bathroom door, I took a few steps toward my bedroom and stopped when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye.

  What did I see exactly?

  My grandma was standing in the kitchen looking very sad. My grandfather was holding her tight. It looked like they were having a very emotional moment. The sort of thing that they didn’t want me to see. In fact, if I had to guess, I would bet that they had been holding in their emotions until I went into the bathroom.

  Given all that, I didn’t want them to spot me. Thankfully, I was able to take a few steps back into the bathroom doorway without them noticing me.

  While I probably should have closed the door and jumped into the shower, I didn’t. Instead, my curiosity got the best of me. I wondered why my grandma was so worked up.

  I decided to listen to their conversation.

  “It’s going to be okay,” my grandfather said.

  “I know you’re just trying to make me feel better, but you don’t know that things are going to be all right,” my grandma replied.

  “You’re right. I just wanted to comfort you.”

  “I wish you really could see the future. Then you could tell me if Sabrina and David are going to make it out of this in one piece.”

  “I keep praying that they will.”

  “So do I, but you know how much of a worrier I am.”

  “I realize that.”

  “I just wish that David would retire from the police department. And that Sabrina would stop working as an amateur sleuth.”

  “Wouldn’t that be nice?”

  “I think so. But I can’t ever seem to convince Sabrina of that.”

  “Well, she is pretty stubborn.”

  “Are you kidding? She’s the most headstrong person I’ve ever met.”

  My grandmother took a deep breath before replying, “Don’t remind me.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault. It’s Sabrina’s. I just don’t get it. No matter how many times she’s in danger. No matter how often her life is at risk, she just doesn’t quit.”

  “In one way, that’s incredibly disturbing. But in another way, you have to admire her perseverance. After all, she has solved a lot of cases.”

  “They both have. Together, they have made Treasure Cove a much safer place to live. But all it takes is one unlucky break for everything to change.”

  “Let’s hope that never happens.”

  “I pray for their safety every day. Even so, I can’t help but worry. Especially since this case is dragging on so long. We both know that the longer an investigation drags on, the greater the likelihood that something terrible is going to happen.”

  “True. Although, there’s also a possibility that the case will just go cold.”

  “In my book, that constitutes as awful.”

  “I agree. Fingers crossed that things don’t come to that.”

  My grandma took a deep breath. “I just want this all to be over.”

  “I know. So do I. Just hang in there. We have to keep faith. Especially in front of Jessica.”

  My grandmother nodded. “I’ll do my best. But it won’t be easy. After all, there’s a killer on the loose.”

  Chapter Nine

  At that point, my anxiety went into overdrive. It turned out that I wasn’t the only one who was on edge.

  My own grandparents were nervous about what might happen.

  Right then, I couldn’t help but wonder. Did anyone have a good feeling about this case?

  Or was everyone just trying to put on a good face to keep the rest of the family from freaking out?

  After I finished my shower, I went into my room and got dressed. When I came out of the bedroom, my grandma had a big smile on her face. Her entire demeanor had changed in the span of a few minutes. It was a jarring change.

  One thing was clear. She was determined to hide her true feelings from me. I wasn’t about to force the issue with her. It wouldn’t do any good anyway. She would just pretend like everything was all right when I knew the opposite was the case.

  When my grandma opened her mouth, she told me about her plans for the day. There were a number of different fun activities on her itinerary.

  I had to hand it to my grandmother. She was awfully good at cheering me up. It was practically her specialty. I loved her so much. Not just because of that. Also, because she spoiled me a lot. It was amazing how she went out of her way to make me happy. She wasn’t alone either.

  My grandfather was a blast too. On occasion, it almost seemed like they were competing to see who could spoil me more.

  Given what a stressful time it was for me, I welcomed all of their attention. On the flip side, there was only so much they could do. At some point, they ended up running out of distractions. When that happened, my worries returned. That was the last thing I needed. I just wanted this all to be over with. I wanted things to go back to normal.

  The universe didn’t seem to be listening to me, however. By the time that day four at the lake rolled around, I had reached a breaking point. Even though my grandparents were busy brainstorming new activities to keep me occupied, I couldn’t keep myself from worrying.

  I sat in the backyard looking out at the lake. All the while, I kept my feelings bottled up. Honestly, I didn’t know how much longer I could hold myself together.

  During moments like that, prayer always seemed like a good option. It certainly couldn’t hurt. I was going to give it a try.

  I closed my eyes, put my hands together, and begged God for some help.

  ***

  When I was done praying, I went about my day. A little later that morning, when I was feeling low, my grandmother received a phone call. She immediately stepped away to take it in private. As she answered the phone, she was too far away for me to hear what she was saying.

  I wanted to move closer to her, but my grandfather told me to stay where I was.

  Unfortunately, as I watched my grandma’s body language, I wasn’t able to get a good read on anything.

  A minute later, my grandma got off the phone and approached us.

  “Who was that?” I asked.

  “Your mother,” my grandma replied.

  “Is everything okay?”

  My grandmother didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she took a deep breath.

  As I looked closely at her face, I was confused. I couldn’t tell if she had good or bad news to share with me. One thing was clear. The suspense was killing me.

  My first thought was that something had happened to my father. Was he in the hospital? Was that why my mother had called? Or had something else taken place?

  I tried not to jump to conclusions, but it was hard not to.

  Even if the news happened to be terrible, I had to know the truth.

  “Grandma, please tell me what’s going on,” I said.

  “Pack your stuff,” she replied.

  “How come? Where are we going?”

  “Home.”

  “We’re going home.

  My face lit up. “Are you serious?”

  She nodded.

  “Wow,” I said.

  “Now, pack your stuff. We’re leaving as soon as possible.”

  I put my hand up. “Hold on a second. There’s something I need to ask you.”

  “What is it?”

  “Are you in such a hurry because my parents solved the case? Or because something terrible happened?”

  “Jess, your parents are fine.”

  I breathed a huge sigh of relief. “That’s great to hear.” />
  “I hope you didn’t worry too much about them. I told you everything would be fine.”

  I knew what she had told me. I also remembered what I had seen in the kitchen a few days before. In fact, I would never forget the image of my grandmother’s pained face as she hugged my grandpa. She was more concerned than I had ever seen her.

  I could have brought up what I had seen, but there didn’t seem to be much of a point in doing that. Since the case was finally closed, it was cause for celebration. Besides, I had some packing to do.

  Chapter Ten

  By the time my grandparents dropped me off at home, I was overflowing with anticipation. As much as I liked the cabin, it felt so good to be back in Treasure Cove. My mom and dad were waiting in the driveway to see me. Normally, my mother was the really emotional one. This time, my dad was just as expressive as my mom was.

  They both gave me a big hug.

  Even though I had only been gone for a few days, they were acting like they hadn’t seen me in months.

  My mother gave me a huge hug.

  “Do you want to get some ice cream?” my mother asked.

  My eyes lit up. “Of course, I do.”

  My mom smiled. “I had a feeling that you were going to say that.”

  “I love ice cream.”

  My mother threw out her arms. “Who doesn’t?”

  ***

  The ice cream was fantastic. I loved a good scoop of chocolate. Of course, strawberry was pretty wonderful too. Sometimes, it was so hard to choose which cone I was going to get when we went to the store. It sounded silly, but it truly was a tough decision for me. Ultimately, I decided to go with chocolate.

  I was not disappointed.

  It was incredible. In fact, it was so delicious that I wanted a second scoop. My mother wouldn’t let me order more.

  I begged her to change her mind, but she didn’t give in.

  It was worth a try, though.

  ***

  After finishing my ice cream, my thoughts turned to the future. What would it look like? Would things quiet down? I definitely wanted things to get back to normal around here, but that wasn’t up to me. Life didn’t ask my opinion about anything.