Rosemary Cottage

by Colleen Coble

  “I love to cook. And I make the best coffee on the island. Come along.” She glanced toward the road. “You have a bike? You can either leave it here or wheel it along to the house.”

  “Is it safe here?”

  Edith smiled. “Child, no one would dream of stealing your bike. This is Hope Island. It’s perfectly safe.”

  “I’ll just leave it then.” Heather pointed to the cottage down the road. “That’s your house?”

  Edith picked up her bag. “It’s Curtis’s. He and Raine will be up and wanting breakfast by now. Come, Sheldon.”

  Heather and the dog fell into step beside her. “You have to cook for him? He’s a grown man. Can’t he fix his own meals?”

  “He could, but I like to take care of him.”

  Heather’s ploy to stir up some resentment was useless. The woman was determined to be taken advantage of. “I bet running after Raine wears you out.” She had to increase her stride to keep up with Edith.

  “Not really. It keeps me young.”

  Heather fell silent until they reached the sidewalk to the house. “It’s a cute house.” The cottage’s shake shingles were a soft gray. A big porch with white posts wrapped the front. “It looks pretty new.”

  “Curtis had it built a few years ago.” Edith opened the door and stepped inside.

  The walls were soft yellow and were a nice contrast to the light-colored wood floors. Off the foyer was a pleasant living room with overstuffed blue plaid furniture. “It’s pretty.”

  “When I moved in, it was a mess of used, mismatched furniture and broken-down end tables. I told Curtis I wasn’t living like that, and he gave me a free hand to decorate it.” Edith dropped her bag on the hall floor. “Curtis! I’m home.”

  Heather followed Edith through the living room and dining room to the kitchen. Curtis sat at the island with a bowl of cereal in front of him. Raine was in a high chair and had Cheerios in her hair. She babbled something to Edith when she saw her.

  “I’ll get your milk in a minute,” Edith said, clearly understanding the little girl’s request. “You should have waited, and I would have fixed you breakfast, Curtis. You need protein for breakfast, not carbs.”

  His grin was unrepentant. “Eggs and bacon would be great. This was just to hold me over.” His gaze slid to Heather. “Hey, Heather. Where did you come from?”

  “I was a vagrant on the beach, and Edith took pity on my lonely state. I’m starved.” She strove for a light tone. “Hello, sweetheart,” she cooed to Raine. “I was hoping to see you this morning.”

  The little girl stared at her with solemn eyes, then offered her a Cheerio.

  “For me? Thank you.” Heather took the moist Cheerio and tried not to grimace. She forced herself to put it in her mouth and swallow. “Anything I can do to help, Edith?”

  “Just keep the baby occupied. Curtis, you need to get to work?” Edith got out a bowl and cracked eggs into it.

  “Nope. I took the day off. I had quite an eventful day yesterday. Amy helped me rescue a pregnant woman on a shipwrecked boat, and then someone blew up my convertible.”

  Heather gasped. “That’s terrible! Who did it?”

  “We don’t know yet. The authorities are looking into it. But it adds weight to Amy’s theory.”

  What theory? Heather was dying to ask, but she knew her nosiness wouldn’t go over well.

  TWENTY

  After surfing, Amy needed another cup of coffee and food. The earlier adrenaline rush from surfing had left her, and she wished she could go back to bed. Some faceless man chased her all night long in her dreams. Probably the result of the car bombing last night.

  Her sluggishness called for drastic measures so she blended grass-fed butter into her coffee and sipped the rich concoction. The doorbell rang, and her energy level surged when she saw Curtis through the front door window.

  “I didn’t expect to see you.” She raised her cup. “Coffee? It’s Toomer’s, infrared roasted. And where’s my niece?”

  “With Ede. I need your help.” He followed her into the kitchen. “I took the day off since I knew I’d have to deal with police red tape today. Sure enough, I got a call at six this morning.” He grimaced. “And a call from my boss on the heels of that. I knew I’d get in trouble for letting you in the chopper. The fact that we were nearly blown up softened his anger.”

  She handed him a cup of coffee. “What did the police say?”

  “The bomb was a common type. No way to trace who might have done it.”

  She motioned for him to follow her back to the living room where she curled on the sofa with her legs tucked under her. “Have they interviewed people who were there?”

  He dropped onto the easy chair. “No one saw anything. There aren’t any windows on that side of the hangar, and it was a slow day.”

  The memory of the convertible exploding had imprinted on her retinas, and she still shook with how close they’d come to death. She’d thought of dying often, but not in a car bomb. “Your poor car.”

  He shrugged. “I contacted the insurance company today. It’s replaceable. You aren’t.”

  She nearly shivered at the warmth in his eyes. “You were the one under the car. It could have been a lot worse.”

  “It sure could have been. I wouldn’t want to lose you.”

  Her coffee was a welcome distraction from his intensity, and she relished the rich butter on her tongue. “God was looking out for us.”

  “Ready to search for Ben’s wallet and log-in information?”

  She liked sitting here in the sunshine with him, but she nodded and rose. “I almost looked last night when I got back, but I was too tired.”

  The morning light shone through the high window in the upstairs hall and touched the cheery yellow walls. On a day like today, the terror of yesterday seemed unbelievable. Ben’s door was closed as always, but when Amy neared, she saw it was not firmly latched.

  Curtis nearly ran into her when she stopped, and his big hands came down on her shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

  “Someone has been in his room.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I think so.” She rubbed her head. “I suppose it’s possible I didn’t latch it the last time I was in there, but I didn’t see it cracked open yesterday when I went past.”

  “Let me go first.” He eased her out of the way, then pushed open the door. “It’s been tossed. You’d better call Tom.”

  She peeked past him and gasped. Drawers hung open, and the closet door gaped. Clothes had been ripped from the hangers, and T-shirts and underwear spilled from the dresser drawers. After following Curtis into the room, she stood in the middle of the floor and didn’t know where to look first.

  “Call Tom,” he said again.

  “In a minute. My phone is in the living room.” Clearly, the intruder was gone by now.

  “Was your house locked?”

  She shook her head. “I never lock it.”

  “I think you’d better start. And maybe consider getting a security system.”

  “The very thought is disconcerting.”

  “I’d normally agree with you, but Gina and Ben didn’t find it very safe. And someone tried to kill us.”

  She shuddered at the reminder. “What could the intruder want?”

  “Maybe the same things we’re looking for—Ben’s wallet and log-in information.”

  “If they were here, the intruder may have found them.” A faint scent of cologne hung in the room. She sniffed. “Do you smell that?”

  In two steps he was beside her. He sniffed the air, then shook his head. “Is it familiar? I don’t smell anything.”

  “I’ve smelled it before, I think, but I can’t quite place it.” She sniffed again. “It’s gone now. Maybe it was my imagination.”

  Curtis glanced around. “Did Ben have any hiding places in here?”

  Hiding places. “You know, I found a leather address book of Ben’s hidden in our special tree in the backyard. I couldn�
��t make out anything about it though. It seemed to be in code. There are only a few pages in it.”

  “Could I see it?”

  “I’ll get it.” She left him in the bedroom and rushed down to the living room where she dug the book out of her purse. She retrieved her cell phone as well and called the sheriff’s office to report the break-in. When she returned, Curtis was in the back of the closet.

  She held out the book. “This is the notebook. I called Tom’s office. He’ll be here in about an hour. He said not to touch anything.”

  Curtis’s hair was disheveled from the hanging clothing, and he looked handsomely boyish. When he flipped open the book, he frowned. “It does seem to be in a code. Did you guys ever play around with codes when you were kids? It might be something simple.”

  “Not that I recall. I could check with some of his friends and see if they remember anything like that.”

  He tapped the book into his palm. “Mind if I take this? I’m good with codes. I might be able to decipher it.”

  “Sure. It’s not doing me any good.” She glanced around the room. “I doubt his wallet is here.”

  “Any idea where else we might check?” Curtis walked over to peer out the window. “He drove to the beach that morning, but it’s close enough to have walked. Do you suppose he could have lost it on a previous jaunt?”

  “He always hiked back and forth to the beach. I was surprised his car was found.” A thought struck her and she gasped. “What if he didn’t drive the car there? That would explain why he didn’t have his wallet with him. Someone else might have parked it where it was found.”

  “But why?”

  “To make it look like he was leaving the island. What if he wasn’t leaving at all?” It was a weak argument, but it was the only reason she could think of. But maybe she was missing something. “I’m game to take a look along the path to the beach if you are.”

  “Lead on.”

  A walk in the springtime meadow with Curtis sounded near heaven to her.

  Curtis took Amy’s hand to help her over a fallen log along the rough path through the woods. He could have released her, but he liked her small hand in his. When was the last time he’d even held a girl’s hand? It had been awhile, and it had never been this enjoyable.

  She stopped in a clearing and glanced around. “Ben and I usually cut through here and didn’t follow the path.”

  High grasses and wildflowers waved in the breeze, and trees fringed the large meadow. A fallen tree lay in the center of the field, but the opening from the dead tree allowed the blue sky to peek through.

  She pointed out the dead tree. “We often paused there to rest when we were kids.”

  “You have a lot of great memories.”

  Her mouth went soft. “We had the best summers here.”

  She would have been a beautiful little girl as she roamed this island. He wished he’d known her back then.

  She pointed to her left. “You go that way, and I’ll go to this side.”

  He reluctantly let go of her hand and walked through the grasses. Kicking at the tall vegetation, he tried to see anything that didn’t belong in the meadow. Blue jays scolded him from their safe perches, and bugs hummed in his ears. It didn’t look as though anyone had walked through here in a while. There was no matted vegetation.

  “There are lots of herbs here,” she called across the meadow. “I’m going to come back and collect some. I see blessed thistle and cat’s claw.”

  He turned to reply, and his foot struck something. Kneeling, he pushed brush and grass out of his way. There it was. The brown wallet was water damaged. Should he touch it? “Over here!”

  She rushed through the meadow to join him. “You found it?”

  When she reached for it, he grasped her wrist. “Leave it alone. There might be evidence.”

  Her eyes widened. “You mean maybe someone attacked him here?”

  “It’s possible. I don’t want to contaminate the evidence.”

  “Do you think Tom will take it seriously?”

  Drawing her up, Curtis slipped his arm around her waist, and they moved a few feet away. “He seems to want to get to the bottom of it, especially after my car blew up.”

  She cast a longing glance back at the wallet. “I don’t like this at all, Curtis. This shows he didn’t take the car to the beach.”

  “You’re right. It’s our first real clue that all was not as it seemed.” He pulled out his phone and called the sheriff. “Tom will be here in ten minutes. He said not to touch anything. Let’s wait over there on the log.”

  Her grief was etched on her face. “I was sure there was something, but to know that someone hurt Ben and made it look like an accident is almost too much to take in.” She bit her lip.

  He slipped his arm around her again and pulled her close with his chin resting on her head. The lemony fragrance of her hair slipped up his nose. “We’ll find who did this, honey. We will.”

  Her fists clutched his shirt and she burrowed closer. “We have so little to go on. No motive. No real suspects.”

  He glanced back to where the wallet was lying. “Tom might find some clue. We have to be patient. And pray.”

  “I have been. I want justice for Ben. And for Gina.” She lifted her head and stared up at him. “Have you looked for her log-in information?”

  He forced himself not to look at her lips, only inches away. “Not yet. I’m going to go over her laptop and see what I can find.”

  “Maybe we can check it after Tom leaves?”

  “Good idea.” Plus, it would allow him to spend more time with her. He guided her onto the fallen log but left his arm around her as they sat in the warm spring sunshine. “I hate seeing you upset. Let’s think about something else while we’re waiting.”

  She pressed her lips together. “I’m all right. It was just a shock.” She smiled but it was forced. “What else do you want to do? Help me gather wildflowers? Some of them are very good in tinctures.”

  “Tinctures? What is that? Some kind of drink?”

  She laughed. “Sort of, but I doubt you’d like the taste of most of them. They’re herbal remedies. I like natural medicine. Give the body the right nutrition and it heals itself. It’s amazing the way God designed us.”

  He liked seeing her eyes light up. “Such as?”

  She pointed out a woody vine with white flowers. “Take the passion flower. It’s great for anxiety and insomnia. It can even be helpful with seizures. Barberry is great for skin ailments, even scurvy. And bitter orange helps with nausea.”

  He leaned in closer. “What about a love potion?”

  She laughed, then her expression went somber. “I don’t think you need any assistance.”

  His throat tightened at her words and the expression in her eyes. “You think I’d have a chance with a really beautiful new resident who doesn’t know me all that well? Maybe I could slip her a potion, and she’d look a little more favorably on me.”

  “It doesn’t take long for someone to see your qualities. Anyone who has caught your eye is a very lucky woman.”

  Her eyes fluttered closed, and she leaned in close enough for him to smell the minty freshness of her breath. He pulled her closer and his lips just brushed hers. Then a man hollered for them in the distance.

  “Tom’s here,” he whispered. “But we’ll resume this conversation at a later date.”

  TWENTY-ONE

  Edith expertly taped the disposable diaper into place, then released the squirming toddler. “So Tom will let you know if he finds any fingerprints?”

  “Or anything else.” Amy held out her arms, hoping Raine would run into them, but the little girl giggled and ran for her Uncle Curtis.

  “Dude!” she squealed, throwing herself against him.

  Smart baby. That’s where Amy wanted to be too, and the realization was uncomfortable. Sheldon thought Amy wanted him, and the terrier launched himself into her lap and licked her chin. She took solace in being wanted and ru
bbed the dog’s head. He wiggled all over with delight.

  Curtis picked up his niece, then sat on the sofa with his feet on the coffee table. His lids drooped, and there were dark circles under his eyes. “We need to go through Gina’s things. I checked her laptop, but there’s nothing in her history about logging in to a bank account.”

  Edith wiped her hands with a towelette. “It’s all in the spare room. Most of it’s in her cedar chest, but there are some boxes in the closet too.”

  “You didn’t go through it, did you?” Curtis asked. “I thought you said you just packed it away until you had the heart to look through it.” Raine grabbed a fistful of his hair and tugged.

  Edith nodded. “That’s exactly right. I threw her things into boxes and got rid of the furniture. All except for her chest and bed.” She lifted little Raine from his arms. “Time for your nap, young lady.”

  The child cried, reaching out her hands for Curtis. When he shook his head, she turned to Amy and clenched and unclenched her hands. “Mom.”

  Amy couldn’t resist. Edith didn’t stop her when she took the baby from her arms. As she nuzzled the little one’s soft skin, she caught a tender expression flitting across Curtis’s face. She averted her gaze and began to softly sing “Amazing Grace” to Raine. The child sagged against her, and her head drooped. Amy swayed where she stood, and it was only minutes until Raine’s breathing deepened.

  “You have the touch,” Edith said approvingly.

  If only Edith knew how she longed to hug this baby tight and never let go. Raine would be the recipient of all the love stored up inside Amy’s heart. “Could you show me her bedroom?”

  Edith studied her expression, then nodded. “This way.”

  Amy followed her down the hall to the first room on the right. It was painted Cinderella pink and was charmingly furnished with white furniture and a block rug in pinks and lavenders. Edith lowered the side of the crib, and Amy laid Raine onto the pale pink sheet. The rail squeaked a bit as she raised it, but the little girl didn’t stir.