Dead in the Water_A fun and fast-paced private investigator cozy mystery/beach read

by Rose Pressey

  “I think we might need roller skates to keep up with this guy,” Dorothy said.

  “Right about now I wish I had some too,” I said.

  Dorothy and I continued down the sidewalk following the man. He was just walking down the way as if this was a leisurely walk. And for all we knew he could just be out for some ice cream. Once he had a cone he’d turn around and go back to the hotel. We could be following a complete stranger. Dorothy and I could literally be stalking him. I would never be able to explain this one to Jake.

  Just then the guy stopped in front of a building. He stepped up to the door and rang the doorbell. We stayed back just a bit, trying to stay close to the building next to us so that maybe we could hide there. The guy didn’t even look back though.

  “Do you think those are apartments?” Dorothy asked.

  “Maybe so. I’d love to know for sure. There might be mailboxes with names, but unfortunately, if he goes inside we won’t know which apartment,” I said.

  I motioned for Dorothy to follow me as we moved a little closer to the man. Maybe if someone buzzed him in we’d hear what they said to each other. Or at the very least if they opened the door we’d get a look at who he was going to visit. If he turned around and saw us I’d have to think quickly.

  The door opened and I moved to the right so that I could possibly see who was standing there with him. The door blocked the view too much though. The man stepped inside the building and then the door closed.

  “Darn it,” I said. “Now what will we do?”

  “I hope whatever it is that we don’t have to stand here and wait until he comes back out,” Dorothy said.

  Dorothy and I just stood there on the sidewalk staring at the building as if we couldn’t believe he had gone in there and not told us what he was doing.

  “Well, that’s the life of a private investigator, right, Dorothy?”

  “I guess. This was a bust for us.” Dorothy sighed.

  “Nothing we can do now,” I said.

  “Oh, how easily you give up,” Dorothy said.

  “I’m not giving up. I’m just pressing pause for right now. I think we’ve exhausted all our options.”

  The door opened and we snapped to attention. A man walked out.

  “Hey, I got an idea,” I said.

  “That’s my Maggie, not giving up,” Dorothy said with a pump of her fist.

  I walked toward the man and said, “Excuse me, sir.”

  He frowned as he stopped and eyed me up and down. He looked as if he didn’t want to be bothered.

  “I’m looking for a friend and I think she lives in this building but I’m not quite sure,” I said.

  I sure hoped this worked.

  “What’s her name?” he asked.

  “Stephanie Early,” I said.

  Yeah, I made that up off the top of my head.

  He scrunched his brow together. “Nope, that name doesn’t sound familiar. It’s just me and three other apartments. I know everyone in there.”

  “Do you really? And no one named Stephanie?”

  He concentrated. “Let’s see… there’s me, Raymond Smith, and across the hall Deborah Wilson. Down the hall is Phil Shear in the other apartment. So that’s it.”

  “Okay, I guess I just have the wrong address.”

  “Yeah, I suppose you do.”

  “I appreciate the help. Thank you,” I said.

  “No problem.” He walked around us and down the sidewalk.

  “Well, I don’t know how you managed that, but congratulations,” Dorothy said. “That was really good.”

  “I don’t know. I think it comes as naturally as your crying on command.”

  “You liked that, didn’t you?” She wiggled her eyebrows. “It’s a good talent.”

  Chapter 18

  “I guess there’s nothing else we can do now,” I said.

  Dorothy sighed. “Yeah, I guess that’s it.”

  “At least we have names. Now we just have to do something with them.” A thought hit me. “You know the name on the jacket was Smith. One of the people he gave me the name of was Smith. There has to be a connection, right?”

  “Oh, come on, Maggie. The last name Smith doesn’t narrow it down much.”

  I sighed. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

  “Excuse me,” a man said from over my shoulder. He was working at the magazine stand nearby.

  I looked at him. “Yes?”

  “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.”

  Oh, great. He was listening to us and probably thought we were crazy.

  “You shouldn’t listen to other people’s conversations,” Dorothy said.

  “You are standing right in front of my booth and keeping customers away.”

  I glanced around. “Oh, yes, I suppose we did do that. Sorry.”

  As we started to walk away, he called out, “Wait.” He came out from behind the stand. “I wanted to talk to you about the people who live in that building.”

  “Yes?” I asked with a quirked eyebrow.

  What could he possibly have to tell us? How would he know who I was looking for?

  “There’s a lot of suspicious activity going on there. Are you the police?”

  “I’m a detective,” I said, leaving out the ‘private’ part again.

  “I think there’s a lot of suspicious activity going on there. People coming and going all the time when only four people live in the building.”

  This guy really was nosy. He wasn’t just eavesdropping on us.

  “They stand in front of my booth and talk so I listen to things.”

  Maybe this would be good after all. Now I was glad he was eavesdropping.

  “What kind of things do you hear?” I asked.

  “I heard one of them say that he was coming into a lot of money.”

  “Okay, and you’re suspicious of that because?”

  “Well he said he just had to complete a job that no one else wanted to do.”

  “That does sound ominous,” I said. “Any other information you can give me?”

  “No, I don’t know what kind of job it was.”

  “Do you know the man’s name?”

  “I know they call him Smith.”

  Wow, that matched with the name that I’d been given by the other man. And one that had a last name Smith. Now we were getting somewhere. There had to be a connection.

  “Are you sure you don’t have any more information about this?” I asked.

  I kept my fingers crossed that he’d say yes.

  “I know that he’s ex-military.”

  I almost fell over on the sidewalk. That was definitely the connection I’d been looking for. The jacket that I’d found and the glove were military-issue according to Jake. The last name in the jacket was Smith and that matched the man at this location. And he said he’d completed a job and got a good sum of money for it. A murder for hire perhaps? But who had hired him? And why had the other man been following me? For all I knew the person following me might be Smith. Were they in on this together? I bet they had planned to kill both men—Luke Padgett and Adam Boles. I had to find out who had hired them.

  “I appreciate all of your help.” I pulled out a card from my pocket and handed it to him. “If you think of anything else please call me.”

  “I’ll be on the lookout for more information,” he said as if I’d just handed him a mission.

  “Please don’t get yourself in any trouble. This could be dangerous,” I said.

  “I promise I won’t get into trouble,” he said.

  “Thanks again,” I said as I waved goodbye.

  Dorothy and I headed back toward the area since I still needed to find that location.

  “Can you believe that story? I really hope it leads to something,” I said.

  “We should’ve stayed around and waited for that guy to come out of the apartment.”

  “I don’t think so. You were probably right when you said there’s no telling how
long we would have to wait. At least this is a step in the right direction. I just wish we had the name of the man following us.”

  “I have a feeling he’ll return,” Dorothy said. “And it could be dangerous. We need to watch everything and everywhere we go.”

  I’d been used to doing that for quite a while now. That was nothing new. As we passed the hotel again, I peeked over for the manager or anyone else who might be lurking around and watching us.

  I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t seen it before, but as Dorothy and I crossed the corner and back onto the main street again, it came into view. It was almost as if fate had stepped in and made us miss it before. Maybe we wouldn’t have seen the guy following us. Then we wouldn’t have followed him and gotten the names. Now I almost felt as if going into this store was pointless, but I figured we would give it a shot anyway.

  “There it is, Dorothy,” I said, pointing to the sign up ahead.

  “Did they just put that there?” She put her hand up to her eyes to block the sun.

  I shrugged. “I guess we just missed it somehow. Maybe it was all that cigar smoke that blocked it out.”

  “Funny,” she said. “You’re a real comedian.”

  “I must get it from you,” I said.

  Dorothy and I stood at the end of the street waiting for the light to turn so that we could cross. When it blinked for us to go, Dorothy and I rushed across the street.

  “Why are we going to the women’s clothing boutique looking for this guy again?” Dorothy asked.

  “Because that’s where it said he works on his Facebook page.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake. Now you’re getting your investigative information from Facebook. I’m not sure your uncle would approve,” Dorothy said. “Furthermore, I think we got the wrong information.”

  “Why do you say that?” I asked.

  “That photo we saw of him on Facebook showed him covered in oil from working on a car. I can’t see him in here working with all this pretty clean clothing when he’s covered in grease.”

  “Surely he washes his hands before he goes to work,” I said.

  “I should hope so,” Dorothy said.

  We walked up to the cute little shop. I would have to keep Dorothy in check or she would walk out of here after purchasing a bag full of goodies.

  I opened the door. “Now no shopping spree.”

  Dorothy saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”

  A woman rushed over to assist as soon as we stepped through the door.

  “May I help you?” she asked excitedly. “Oh, I bet you would love this dress over here. And it’s on sale.”

  She looked right at Dorothy. Slow down, over-eager salesperson. We just wanted to find out about one of the employees, not buy a new wardrobe.

  “I’d love to see the dress,” Dorothy said with a cheery tone.

  I glared at Dorothy. What had I just told her about shopping? She never listened to me.

  “Right this way,” the woman said.

  Dorothy eagerly followed the woman without even looking my way. I tried to reach and grab her, but it was already too late—she had crossed the room behind the woman like a little duckling. Scanning the rest of the store, I spotted a guy toward the back of the room. I wondered if that was him. I couldn’t get a good look at his face because he was standing behind a clothing rack.

  Leaving Dorothy with the woman to look at the clothing was probably a good thing. It would distract the woman while I talked to the other employee. If she bought a bag full of clothing it would be worth it if I got to talk to this guy.

  I walked over to the guy and said, “Excuse me.”

  The hanger dropped from his hand when he jumped. He spun around and stared at me for a few seconds and then said, “May I help you?”

  I might as well just come out and ask the questions instead of beating around the bush.

  “Is your name Baxter Smythe?” I asked.

  He stared me up and down as if he was contemplating what I’d said. Even if he said no I knew by his reaction that this was in fact Baxter.

  “Yes, I’m Baxter. Do I know you?”

  “I’m looking into Luke’s murder. I wondered if you could answer some questions for me.”

  He placed the dress back on the rack. “I suppose I can try.”

  Why did everyone seem so reluctant to help? Didn’t they want to find a killer?

  “Did Luke know anyone by the name of Raymond Smith?”

  The guy shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

  Was he keeping something from me? I wasn’t sure.

  “It’s very important if you can remember.”

  “I don’t remember anyone by that name,” he said.

  “Did Luke have any connection to the military?”

  The guy laughed. “No, never.”

  “All right. Can you tell me anything about him and who might want him dead?”

  “He said someone had been following him recently,” he said.

  This had to be the killer.

  “Did he mention who was following him? Was it a man?”

  “Actually, he said it was a woman,” Baxter said.

  “Like a stalker or something?”

  Where did the woman fit into all this?

  “He had no idea who this woman was. He had never seen her before.”

  “That’s odd. Is there anything else you can share with me?”

  “Can’t think of anything. Did you check Brigette’s husband or his girlfriend? After all, the husband was having an affair too. I wouldn’t put it past that guy to do this. I just have a bad feeling.”

  “He seems okay,” I said.

  “Are you sure about that? Have you checked him out?”

  “Of course I checked him out and I think you can rule him out.”

  Actually, I hadn’t ruled him out. I mean, he hadn’t given me his alibi, so anything was possible. Maybe I needed to talk to my client just a bit more. It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t at least question him.

  “Had Luke spoken with Brigette’s husband before?” I asked.

  “I think they had words. And I guess it was heated,” he said.

  “Thank you for your help,” I said. “I really appreciate it.”

  “Yeah, it’s no problem,” he said. “I hope you find the killer. And make sure to check out that husband. I have my suspicions about him.”

  “I’ll make sure to do that,” I said. “Thanks again.”

  When I turned around I spotted Dorothy at the counter with a large collection of clothing. She had a dazed look in her eyes as she handed over her credit card to the woman at the register.

  “Dorothy, what did you buy?” I asked when I reached the counter.

  “A dress and some pants. Oh, and a couple tops and a bracelet. Plus, these cute earrings. What do you think of them?” She held them up to her ears.

  “They’re adorable,” I said. “Can we wrap up this shopping spree now and get out of here?”

  “Don’t you want to buy anything?”

  “No, I do not. I can’t afford it. Let’s go.” I grabbed Dorothy’s purse and looped it on her arm.

  Dorothy grabbed the shopping bag and we headed toward the door.

  “Dorothy, I thought we weren’t shopping while we went in there,” I said.

  “I just saw so many cute things that I couldn’t control myself.”

  “Obviously,” I said, looking down at the shopping bag. “You did get some cute stuff.”

  “You should’ve bought some things too. Looking at your top.”

  “Hey, this one doesn’t have holes and there are no stains. It’s good.”

  “Maybe some new flip-flops.” She looked down at mine. “You need some snazzy flowers on them or some rhinestones. At the very least something sparkly.”

  “I’ll think about it,” I said.

  “What did you find out?” Dorothy asked.

  “Well, someone was following Luke as well. And he said it was an older woman. I need to find
out how this plays into Mr. Boles.”

  “What if there’s no connection at all?” Dorothy asked.

  “That’s possible, but I have a feeling that it’s connected. Anyway, he also pointed out that my client hasn’t proved his whereabouts when the murders occurred. I need to talk with him.”

  “I guess it couldn’t hurt. I mean, did he even give you an alibi?”

  I shook my head. “Not really. I just assumed that it wasn’t him since he’s so nice, but I can’t let that stop me from asking him questions.”

  “Do you think Jake has talked to him already?”

  “I’m sure of it. I’ll have to find out what Jake asked and what my client’s response was.”

  We headed down the sidewalk toward the car.

  “I’m not sure what to do first. I have so many things to do,” I said.

  “Just take things one step at a time,” Dorothy said. “Maybe figure out which one is the most important.”

  “Checking out the ladies’ man, I suppose.”

  Chapter 19

  “One thing before the ladies’ man visit,” I said. “I think we should drive back by the Mr. Bole’s office,” I said.

  “Do you think that’s a good idea?” Dorothy asked.

  “Well, I guess we won’t know until we do it.”

  “That’s the problem with you, Maggie. You make some questionable decisions before thinking them through.” Dorothy pulled yarn from her pocketbook.

  “As if you don’t do that?”

  “Touché,” Dorothy said.

  Without further discussion, we headed back over to the office. Instead of pulling into the parking lot this time, I stayed out on the road, pulling up to the curb. However, I had a good view of the parking lot. Only one other car was in the lot now and it looked as if Abby had gone. However, someone else was moving around the front of the building. The woman was actually looking in the window as if she was contemplating going inside.

  “What do you think she’s up to?” Dorothy asked.

  “Whatever it is it can’t be good.”

  We watched for a few more seconds. The woman ultimately didn’t go inside the building, but she got into a black car and backed out of a parking space.