Love Notes in the Key of Sea: Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #2
Anna Celeste Burke
Copyright © 2016 Anna Celeste Burke
www.desertcitiesmystery.com
Published by Create Space
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher except brief quotations for review purposes.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Cover Design by Anna Celeste Burke
Public Domain Photo From Pixabay
ISBN-13:978-1530991778
ISBN-10:1530991773
Books by Anna Celeste Burke
Murder at Catmmando Mountain, Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #1
Love Notes in the Key of Sea, Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #2
All Hallows’ Eve Heist, Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #3
Cowabunga Christmas, Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery #1
Gnarly New Year, Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery # 2
Epic Easter, Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery #3 [out early 2017]
A Dead Husband Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery #1
A Dead Sister Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery #2
A Dead Daughter Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery # 3
A Dead Mother Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery #4 [Out Soon]
Love A Foot Above the Ground Prequel to the Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery Series
DEDICATION
To second chances at love and pretty much everything else we tackle in this life. And to the power of love to triumph over tragedy
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
1 Alarming News
2 An Old Tune
3 Love Notes
4 Chamber Made
5 An Unfriendly Message
6 Boom Box
7 More Chambers
A sneak peek & recipes, anyone?
1 Knife Skills
Books by Anna Celeste Burke
Recipes and Tips
1 SURF’S UP
CHAPTER 1
Acknowledgments
Thanks to my husband who continues to be the first reader of all that I write. Thanks to colleagues in the Stories of Sun, Sand, and Sea who read and earlier, shorter versions of this story included in that collection along with their lovely stories!
Special thanks to Ying Cooper who did another stellar job copy editing this version of the story. I’m grateful for the quick, careful work she has done once again.
A big thanks to the encouragement from readers. Feedback makes it a pleasure to write this series of novellas that blend mystery, romance, and food in the life of a woman who works for the Cat at the Cat Factory—Marvelous Marley World.
1 Alarming News
“Jack, there’s been a murder!” Jack and I had been sitting on my patio, taking in the view of the Pacific Ocean when my phone rang. Summer was well on its way, here, on the Southern California Coast in June. Still, a chill hung in the air as the sun sank toward the horizon. The chill I felt wasn’t entirely due to the weather. Before I could say more, Jack jumped to his feet and pulled his phone out of the pocket of his jeans.
“I don’t see a message. Why would someone from the department call me on your landline, Georgie?”
“They didn’t. The murder’s not here. It’s on a beach somewhere in North Carolina near where Jennifer Dodson’s daughter has been going to school. Someone attacked Meredith on the beach.”
“No, Georgie! Are you saying someone murdered Jennifer’s kid?”
“No, Meredith’s not dead, but a man stabbed her, and she’s recovering in the hospital. Jennifer flew out there a couple of days ago. She didn’t call me until she was sure Meredith was going to be alright. There have been a series of attacks at the beach—all women. Meredith was fortunate, apparently, since she lived through the assault. Another woman attacked in a separate incident died. The next night a third attack occurred. Kat Benson, a graduate student in art history at UNC Chapel Hill, attends the same school where Meredith’s enrolled. She’s not dead, but not doing well.”
“Did Meredith know both of the other women?” I could tell I had triggered Jack’s detective side and had set his inquisitive mind in motion.
“Kat yes, but not the woman murdered on the first night…Jenna-somebody. Kat was a graduate assistant for an undergrad art history course Meredith took. I guess they hit it off and became friends. Meredith was distraught when the police questioned her and grew even more upset when told someone had attacked her friend, too. Meredith’s scared.”
“Who could blame her? It’s hard to feel safe when something horrific like that happens.”
“The police have the attacker, but Jennifer’s not convinced it’s safe for Meredith, either, so she plans to bring her home as soon as she can. I hate to change our plans for the weekend, Jack, but I’m going to visit Jennifer and Meredith when they get home. Jennifer seems to think it would be good for me to be there because…” It’s as though something suddenly swallowed me up and I couldn’t finish that sentence.
“Because you went through something similar at Meredith’s age. What exactly, I don’t know, do I? Every time the subject comes up, you slip away, then go silent. It’s like a ghost story. Only the ghost is the part of you that steals away to Corsario Cove whenever something sets off your memories of that event. You’re otherwise one of the smartest, most with-it women I’ve ever met, and yet you carry this secret around with you like Marley’s chain. Not your boss Marley, but that ghost in the Dickens Christmas story. I… I’m going to shut up. We’ve been through this before, and I don’t want to make you feel worse since you’re obviously upset. When you’re ready to talk, I’m here.”
“I am having this déjà vu experience. I don’t always know what will trigger it, but news about a murder on the beach has set it off, big time.”
I stared at the new man in my life, trying to figure out why I couldn’t say more. Jack Wheeler’s the first man I’ve been this close to in years. No, make it decades. I’m not talking about a mere flirtation with the handsome homicide detective—a Jim Rockford lookalike. Not a fling, either. There had been other men since that horrendous incident in Corsario Cove changed my life forever. Since then, I had learned that attraction may be instantaneous, but not love. None of the men I met after losing Danny had me contemplating love and marriage--until Jack. The more I thought about making a serious commitment, though, the more all the old memories hounded me.
“I want to tell you what happened, Jack. I should have done it already. It’s just...” Jack took a step forward and pulled me into his arms.
“Georgie, you’re trembling. Maybe I should go with you this weekend. I like your friend Jennifer. She’s been on my side when it comes to getting you to take me—us—seriously.”
How wou
ld it feel to show up in Corsario Cove with a new man? I mused, considering his offer. I had grown up there. In San Albinus, actually, near the Cove on California’s Central Coast. Before I was twenty, I had gone off to college, not far away, at UC Santa Cruz. That’s where I met the love of my life. The Cove is where I lost him. I had already told Jack that much. I settled into his arms.
“Jennifer’s an incurable romantic. She fancies herself to be quite a matchmaker, too. A skill she claims she’s honed matching clients to their dream vacations if you can believe that! As far as she’s concerned, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Could be, she’s right, I thought. I liked the feeling of his arms around me. He smelled terrific, too—clean and fresh like the outdoors. No discernible scent of anything artificial, like soap or cologne. Honest and direct, like the man. I leaned into him as the chill fled, replaced by the now familiar sensation I often experienced around Jack. Snap, crackle, pop—a series of enticing feelings that were hard to describe.
“Jennifer is right. I’m your man.”
Jack tilted my head up and kissed me. Those sensations reached all the way down to the tips of my toes as I returned that kiss.
“I’ll call Jennifer and tell her we’ll both be there for the weekend. She can get us a great deal on rooms at the Sanctuary Resort and Spa. It’s on me, though. I’m sure you didn’t have a weekend getaway figured into your budget.”
Homicide detectives don't make much money. Jack’s not the kind of guy who throws money around. Still, the OC, as we refer to Orange County, is not a very affordable place to live. That’s true even in Irvine, away from the chichi Newport Coast where I live.
Jack owns a comfy townhouse, or will one day when he finishes paying the mortgage. He’s trying to save for retirement, and he has a daughter in college who needs his help. Not that he’s legally obligated to pay child support any longer. “An obligation of the heart, not the divorce decree,” he had said one evening when we were talking about his relationship with his daughter Beth. Jack does okay, but he doesn’t have much left over at the end of the month. So far we had worked around the difference in our expendable incomes. It wasn’t always easy. Jack isn’t what I’d call macho, but he does have a fierce, independent streak that resists my efforts to subsidize our fun.
“I don’t want to tangle with you about money, Georgie. I can’t always keep up with what you can afford on the megabucks you get working for the Cat, but I don’t mind paying my fair share. I would like to see where you grew up. In a way, you’re doing me a favor so I’m happy to share the costs.” He let me go, but I stayed close as we talked. Close enough to see the sparks that danced in his dark eyes when he was adamant. I had made up my mind, though, and picked up my argument that I was paying for our trip.
“Trust me, the Sanctuary Resort is outrageous, even at a discount. Let me spend some of that bonus you helped me get by keeping me alive so I could advance my career at the Cat Factory.”
That I was now dating a homicide detective had not come about under the most pleasant circumstances. After three months, the hubbub about a Murder at Catmmando Mountain had finally subsided. Finding a high-ranking Marvelous Marley World executive viciously killed in the Arcadia theme park on Valentine’s Day had created a stir. Especially scintillating news when it turned out that the victim was the founder’s daughter. Max Marley had not only built the Arcadia theme park—several of them, in fact. The brilliant, but eccentric man, presides over a multi-billion-dollar entertainment empire. It’s all rooted in the success of a cartoon cat—Catmmando Tom. That’s the reason for our frequent references to working for the Cat at the Cat Factory.
The shakeup in Max Marley’s world in the wake of his daughter’s death had been both personal and professional. Max Marley had gone into seclusion and remained there. That action spilled over to the professional side, leaving a gap in leadership at the top where Max had held the reins for nearly four decades as founder of Marvelous Marley World. We did the best we could do to move forward in his absence.
The tragic incident had changed things for me, too. Mallory Marley-Marston was Director of the Food and Beverage Division at the time of her murder. It was the job I had wanted for years once I moved from the kitchen where I worked as a chef and into management. In time, I had made my way up the ranks to Assistant Director of the Food and Beverage Division. When the Director position became available, I was more than a little disappointed that Max Marley finagled a way to place his daughter in that role.
That made her my boss, and her tyrannical reign had been a nightmare. After a year, I couldn’t take it anymore and gladly accepted the chance to make a lateral move to become Assistant Director of the Public Relations Division at Marley World. I had no idea what was going on behind the scenes when I made that move into PR. Less than a year later Cruella de Vil, as we referred to Mallory behind her back, was dead. I would have preferred to have stepped into the role she left vacant under more pleasant circumstances, but Mallory’s death had left no one at the helm.
I took the job, and that’s where I intend to spend the remaining years at Marvelous Marley World until I retire. Not that I have had time to think about retirement. My position as Director of the Food and Beverage Division wasn’t the only executive spot left open. There was my old job to fill in public relations. Several other positions had opened up once the whole story surrounding Mallory’s murder came to light. Ripple effects, too, as we moved those already working at the Cat Factory around to fill empty slots. The first couple of months after the Murder at Catmmando Mountain had seemed like a game of musical chairs at times.
Still, that part of the ordeal was over. We had reestablished leadership at Marvelous Marley World, albeit without much participation from Max. I could afford to take a weekend away, although I felt guilty about it. Maybe just a cover for my anxiety about visiting my hometown. A tragedy had driven me away from Corsario Cove. How ironic that another one now lured me back decades later. Jennifer had invited me to all sorts of important events in her life and the life of San Albinus. I had only yielded to her requests once.
“It will be interesting. I haven’t visited in a long time. Not since Jennifer’s wedding more than twenty years ago which turned out to be a painful experience. I carried out my role as Maid of Honor, but it wasn’t easy. That was years after Mark’s murder and Danny’s disappearance, and I couldn’t even bring myself to go down to the beach. After Jennifer’s wedding, my parents left San Albinus and moved closer to me here in the OC. That meant I had even less reason to visit. Jennifer’s tried to keep me up-to-date. She always has plenty to say when she stays with me during visits to L.A. for business related to the travel agency she runs. It sounds like a lot has changed.”
“Change is good. It’ll be almost like going to an entirely new place.”
“Nice try, Jack. Since we’ll be staying at the Cove, I hope you’re right.”
“You might not even recognize San Albinus, either, now that it’s become a swanky resort town.”
“None of us could ever have imagined anyone building a place like the Sanctuary Resort. Nor could we have afforded it! In the 70s, the Cove was a hangout for surfers and hippies—and teenagers, like those of us who grew up there. I do have lots of fond memories as well as the unpleasant ones.”
Unpleasant was putting it mildly. I took a step back as I spoke those words. Jack’s “Georgie-emoto-meter,” as he called it, went off right away. He pulled me to him and whispered in my ear as he breathed in the scent of my hair. Not at all natural, but a fragrance he loves: tea tree oil laced with lavender.
“Not so fast, Georgie Shaw. I’ll let you go so you can make those reservations for us. Every time you pull away though, I want you to feel me tugging you back to the here and now. I’m not a figment of your past or a faint hope of what might have been. I’m a tether to your present, and a fixture in your future, if you’ll have me.”
I reached up for another of those kisses
, completely on his side at that moment. Imagining a future with Jack felt wonderful until a wave of guilt or nostalgia swept over me. What if Danny was still alive? Ridiculous to worry about that after so many years. If Danny was alive why hadn’t he found me, reached out, and explained what had happened? Had he gone into hiding because he killed someone that night? Even if Danny wasn’t dead or a murderer, he wasn’t the same person I once loved. Nausea, a familiar sensation that often accompanied my ruminations about that past trauma, hit me. Under normal circumstances, I would have simply stopped the fruitless effort to answer all those sad, old questions, but these weren’t normal circumstances.
“Okay, I hear you. I appreciate your patience and your willingness to go with me.” I sighed as I rested my head on his chest. “Maybe it’s time I told you more about what went on that night. What I can remember of it. It’s not only that it happened nearly forty years ago, but I wasn’t in great shape when they found me.”
2 An Old Tune
“Hello, Miles,” I said in response to a boisterous greeting from my affectionate Siamese cat. With a built-in clock, he knew a snack was in the offing soon. He followed us as we stepped inside and headed into the kitchen. Miles took a seat on one of the barstools at the kitchen island. Jack sat down beside him. The two guys had bonded, and Miles had already made up his mind that Jack was part of our lives, even if I wasn’t sure yet.
I pulled a chilled antipasto from the fridge and placed it on the granite-topped bar in front of Jack. As I turned to check on the lasagna in the oven, I saw Jack snag a piece of prosciutto. He broke off a tiny bit and slipped it to Miles before popping the rest into his mouth. I doted on the cat, but even I wouldn’t feed him expensive, Italian ham. Miles boomed approval and then looked at Jack as though he expected more.
Love Notes in the Key of Sea Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #2 (Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery Series) Page 1
