by Leena Clover
Jenny fixed a plate for Jason and they sat out on the porch.
“I’m tired of people telling me the place is jinxed,” Jenny grumbled. “I want to move in as soon as possible and prove them wrong.”
“All in good time,” Jason said. “So you’re not scared of going to live there?”
“I’m tougher than that,” Jenny said firmly.
She felt a frisson of uncertainty in her heart but she ignored it. She was a strong, modern woman and she needed to prove her mettle.
“I know,” Jason said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “That’s the girl I’m crazy about.”
“Are you trying to butter me up?” Jenny asked slyly. “What do you want, Jason?”
“A date.”
“We talked about this,” Jenny protested.
Jenny had resigned herself to the lonely life of a divorced woman after moving to Pelican Cove. She had never imagined that not one but two handsome men would be pursuing her. All the Magnolias teased her relentlessly about it. They were making bets on who Jenny would ultimately choose. After going on a few dates with Adam, Jenny was clearly leaning toward him.
“It’s a law society dinner in the city,” Jason pleaded. “And I want a smart, sophisticated, intelligent woman to be my date.”
“You forgot beautiful,” Jenny teased.
“So you’ll come?” Jason asked hopefully.
“Just this once,” Jenny said reluctantly.
Jason was so nice it was hard to disappoint him.
“I feel bad about this whole Seaview business,” Jason apologized. “I never told you the whole story.”
“I didn’t give you a chance,” Jenny argued.
“Yes, but I could have been more upfront about the Davis family.”
“Did you know there was a skeleton buried in the garden?” Jenny asked.
“Of course not!”
“Then I don’t see what you could have done. I knew how old the property was. Any house that ancient has some rumors attached to it.”
“So you aren’t repenting you bought the place?”
Jenny paused to consider.
“Not yet. I want to tackle this situation with a positive attitude.”
“That’s admirable,” Jason said. “I’m here to help any way I can.”
“I know that, Jason,” Jenny smiled. “You’re the one person in this town I rely on completely.”
Jenny wondered why she couldn’t fall in love with Jason. He made her feel safe and protected. She could talk to him about any topic on earth. He was handsome, successful and sensitive. But he didn’t make her heart beat wildly. He was the safe harbor she could come home to but he wasn’t the storm that would sweep her off her feet.
Jenny walked on the beach, eager to run into Adam. She turned back after a while. The motion detectors set off the lights at Seaview. Jenny smelled the roses and the gardenias and looked up at the imposing mansion. Was she going to be happy there?
Chapter 4
Jenny was surprised to see Adam in the café.
“You’re up early,” she observed.
“Shift starts at 8. I thought I would get your special omelet for breakfast today. Dinner wasn’t great.”
“Western omelets on the menu today,” Jenny nodded. “With ham and peppers.”
Jenny curbed herself until Adam finished eating. She topped up his coffee and looked at him speculatively.
“Any news?”
“I suppose you are referring to the thing we found in your backyard?”
“Heather and Molly are calling it Mr. Bones,” she laughed. “Or Mrs. Bones. Can’t you tell me anything about it?”
“You wear me down, Jenny,” Adam sighed. “I don’t want to argue with you this early in the day.”
“Then don’t,” Jenny winked. “Just throw me some scraps.”
“It’s female,” Adam said. “That’s all I can tell you for now.”
Jenny sucked in a breath.
“Poor woman,” she muttered.
“I have to get going,” Adam said. “See you later.”
“That’s all Adam told you?” Molly asked as she sipped her coffee.
Betty Sue was busy knitting something with bright orange yarn. She grunted without looking up.
“What else?” Star asked.
“Nothing,” Jenny wailed. “Who was this woman? Where did she come from? What was she doing here? I have no idea.”
“Let the police investigate,” Petunia remarked. “It’s their job. Although I assume it’s going to be very difficult to find out anything.”
“We need to do some research.”
“We?” Star’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re not getting involved in this mess, are you?”
“I’m already involved.”
“Not really,” Star argued. “Whatever it was, happened before you got here. You should stay away from this, Jenny.”
“That’s no reason to let a murderer roam free.”
“How do you know it was a murder?” Heather asked.
“Why else would someone bury a body in my garden?” Jenny demanded. “Do you really believe that poor woman died naturally?”
The women paused to think and shook their heads.
“You have no leads at all,” Molly said. “Where will you begin?”
Jenny looked at Betty Sue.
“Where I always do. By talking to people who were in the area.”
Betty Sue looked up and twirled a thread of wool over her needles.
“Why are you staring at me like that, girl?”
“You are always my best source of information, Betty Sue,” Jenny smiled. “You have been around for so long, you know almost everything that happened in this region.”
“Are you saying I’m old?” Betty Sue roared.
Jenny struggled to find the right words. Betty Sue laughed at her discomfort.
“I’m just yanking your chain. What do you want to know?”
“Do you remember any missing women?”
Betty Sue shook her head.
“Not in Pelican Cove.”
“Do we know how old the skeleton is?” Molly asked.
“Adam didn’t say. I’m not sure he knows.”
“What’s your next step?” Molly wanted to know.
“I’m going to look up some old newspapers,” Jenny said. “I’ll see you at the library later, Molly.”
Jenny walked to the library after the café closed. She settled down in a small cubicle and began looking at old newspapers. She decided to go back ten years at a time. Small town news covered missing cats and local festivals. Jenny saw no mention of any missing persons.
Jenny skipped through the current decade and focused on the first ten years of the Millennium. Her search didn’t return anything. She started on the 1990s after that.
“I can’t find anything for 1995-1998,” she told the girl at the desk.
The girl looked through her records and shook her head.
“Looks like they were misplaced.”
“How is that possible?” Jenny asked sharply.
The girl shrank back in fright.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t working here at that time.”
“How can I find out anything for that period?”
“You can try the newspaper offices,” the girl suggested. “They have an archives section too.”
“How can a library lose stuff?” Jenny complained. “Aren’t you supposed to keep everything safe?”
“We moved here from the old building twelve years ago,” the girl told her. “They might have been lost at that time.”
“You didn’t try to replace what you lost?” Jenny grumbled.
“You’re the only one who’s asked for those records,” the girl said. “It’s not a priority, I guess.”
Jenny gave up arguing with the librarian. She wondered why Molly wasn’t at her desk.
Adam Hopkins leaned back in his chair when Jenny swarmed into his office.
�
�How can I help you?” he asked with a smile.
Adam was in a rare good mood.
“I need to see the missing person records from 1995 to 1998.”
“What’s so special about them?”
“I’m doing some research on missing women,” Jenny explained. “I went to the library and looked at their archives. They have lost all the data from those three years. I can go to the newspaper offices but it will be better if I can directly look at your records.”
“There you go again, Jenny,” Adam sighed. “Why are you doing all this?”
“I want to find out who Mrs. Bones is.”
“That’s my job, not yours.”
“Are you going to let me see your files?”
“They must be down in the archives section. I’ll have Nora pull them up for you.”
“Thanks,” Jenny smiled.
“Do you want to grab some dinner at Ethan’s?” Adam asked. “He just got a fresh batch of oysters.”
“Oyster season is just starting, isn’t it?” Jenny asked. “I’m thinking of adding them to the café menu.”
“Are we having dinner or not?” Adam asked impatiently.
“I want to go home and change.”
“I’ll pick you up in an hour,” Adam nodded.
Jenny had a smile on her face as she sailed out of the police station. Molly was sitting out on the porch when Jenny got home. She looked worried.
“Molly!” Jenny exclaimed. “What’s the matter? Did you have a fight with Chris?”
Molly shook her head.
“Worse. I’m about to be fired.”
“Fired from the library?” Jenny exclaimed. “Aren’t you the top librarian there? What about that award you won last year?”
“Most Popular Librarian,” Molly grimaced. “Yeah. That’s not going to help me.”
“Tell me the whole story,” Jenny said, sitting down next to Molly.
She placed an arm around Molly’s shoulders. Star came out with tall, frosty glasses of sweet tea.
“Start with this. We can move to something stronger after that.”
“The library is out of funds,” Molly began. “They are cutting jobs.”
“Are you sure about that?” Star asked.
“They are being quiet about it. But I know a girl who took the minutes at the library board meeting.”
“Don’t they get rid of the nonperforming people first?”
Molly nodded.
“That won’t be enough. They are going to cut all the jobs that were added in the last five years. That includes me.”
“Will they give you a reference?” Jenny asked.
Jenny didn’t have a lot of experience when it came to jobs. She had been a housewife all her life. She had recently started helping out at the Boardwalk Café. Although she was fully committed to the café, it wasn’t her livelihood.
“I’m not worried about references, Jenny,” Molly sighed. “Where will I go?”
“I’m sure there must be plenty of opportunities for someone with your skills and experience.”
“Sure,” Molly nodded. She had studied library science in college and was very good at what she did. “But all those jobs are in the city. I’m very happy living in Pelican Cove.”
“Oh!” Jenny exclaimed. “What about the other towns along the shore?”
“Most libraries are already staffed. Librarians generally don’t go job hopping. Once a position is filled, it’s for life.”
“We’ll think of something,” Jenny consoled her. “I want you to stop worrying first.”
Molly drank her tea and sobbed silently.
“All’s not lost yet, sweetie,” Star said. “And you’re not alone. We are all going to help you through this.”
A car drove up to the cottage and honked. Jenny had completely forgotten about her dinner date.
“I’m going to have dinner at Ethan’s,” she told Molly. “Why don’t you come with me?”
Molly glanced at Adam and shook her head.
“I didn’t know you had a date, Jenny. I’m so sorry for holding you up.”
“No need to apologize,” Jenny said. “The more the merrier. Let’s go in and clean up.”
Molly texted Chris to come meet them at Ethan’s Crab Shack. He was already seated at a table by the water when they got there. He sprang up and hugged Molly.
“Don’t worry, Molls. We’re going to take care of you.”
“The library has never cut jobs before,” Adam reasoned. “They must be in really bad shape if they are thinking about it.”
“Funding’s been reduced thrice in the past year,” Molly explained.
“Why don’t we forget about that for now?” Jenny asked. “Let’s eat.”
Ethan came over with platters heaped high with crisp, fried oysters, fat coconut shrimp and beer battered fish.
Adam ordered some raw oysters on the shell. Jenny had never tried them before. Adam sprinkled some hot sauce on an oyster, squeezed some lemon juice on it and coaxed Jenny into tasting it.
“You can’t live on the Eastern Shore and not like oysters, Jenny,” Chris laughed. “They are going to be your next favorite thing after the soft shell crabs.”
Chris offered to drive Molly home. Adam drove Jenny to a small, secluded beach a few miles out of town. Moonlight shimmered over the water and big, frothy waves of an incoming high tide battered the shore.
“You don’t mind I brought Molly along?” Jenny asked Adam.
“She’s lucky to have you,” Adam said gently. “So am I. You’re a good friend, Jenny.”
“I thought we were more than friends,” Jenny said boldly.
“I might need some proof of that,” Adam whispered in her ear.
Jenny shivered in the crisp fall air and snuggled close to Adam. Adam pulled up outside Star’s cottage an hour later. He picked up a file from the back seat and handed it to Jenny.
“This is a surprise,” Jenny said as she saw ‘1995’ printed in bold letters on the file.
“Just this once,” Adam said. “I’m not sure what you are going to find in there though.”
“You might be surprised, Adam.”
Jenny thought of what she had already discovered in the course of her research. But she wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.
“How far back are you going to look?” Adam asked. “The skeleton could be a hundred years old for all we know.”
“Seaview was built in the 1950s,” Jenny pointed out. “I don’t think Mrs. Bones is older than that.”
“What makes you say that?” Adam asked curiously. “Maybe she’s been there for centuries.”
“I don’t think so,” Jenny insisted. “Look, I have to assume something for the purpose of my search. I think this happened after the big storm. Most of the land was submerged at that time, right?”
“Do you think the skeleton was washed up here in the storm?” Adam asked. “It could have got buried in the debris?”
“That’s possible too,” Jenny agreed. “I’m going after the missing women for now.”
“What missing women?” Adam asked as Jenny turned around and walked inside.
Star and Jimmy Parsons were watching an old movie.
“Do you know who owned this stretch of land, Jimmy?” she asked. “Before Seaview was built, that is?”
“That’s a bit before my time,” Jimmy drawled. “But my guess is the Morse family. They owned pretty much everything on the island at one point.”
“Why don’t you ask Betty Sue tomorrow?” Star suggested.
“I’m going to,” Jenny nodded purposefully.
Was Adam right? Had Mrs. Bones been resting there for the past hundred years? Was she the wife of one of Betty Sue’s ancestors? Or a concubine?
Jenny settled into a fitful sleep and dreamed of a family of skeletons living at Seaview.
Chapter 5
Betty Sue Morse wiped the sugar glaze off her mouth with a linen napkin. She picked up her knitting and debated going for a
second donut.
“My doctor says I need to watch my sugar.”
“We do have muffins,” Jenny offered. “I use whole wheat flour and brown sugar in the recipe.”
“Tell me what you found out at the library.”
Molly hadn’t turned up for their coffee break. Jenny decided she was afraid to leave her desk. She was torn between telling the girls about the issues in the library and what she had found out.
“I found plenty of missing women.”
“What?” Heather, Betty Sue and Star chorused.
Jenny nodded.
“I went as far back as 1955. Believe it or not, plenty of women have been filed as missing from Pelican Cove.”
“I assume all of these reports are from 1962 or 1963?” Betty Sue asked.
“How did you know that?”
“Have you forgotten the big storm?” Betty Sue questioned her. “Entire families were displaced. Many poor souls were literally swept away. I bet all those accounts you read about are from that period.”
Jenny’s shoulders slumped.
“Why did I not think of that?”
“I’m sure there was a flurry of petty crimes around that time,” Betty Sue said. “I remember how it was at the time. The town set up some makeshift camps. We offered shelter to anyone who asked for it.”
“And these people repaid you by robbing stuff?” Jenny asked, horrified.
“Many houses were lying abandoned. Doors and windows had been blown away. They were wide open for anyone to plunder.”
“I can’t believe it!” Jenny breathed. “What were the police doing?”
“There were massive rescue efforts up and down the coast. The priority was taking care of the injured and the infirm. Some people were stranded on the barrier islands. It was a hard time for the town.”
“Do you think our skeleton might have been washed ashore from somewhere?”
“Wouldn’t someone have spotted it?” Heather asked, barely looking up from her phone. She was engrossed in tapping some keys.
“Put that thing down,” Betty Sue rasped. “Are you talking to us or what?”
“I can do both, Grandma!” Heather dismissed.
“The Davis family was grieving,” Betty Sue explained. “It was just Ann and Lily and the baby. They were gone within a week.”
