by J A Whiting
“Lottie told us she saw Henry Whitaker drive by as she was pulling away from Ryan and his father. She assumed Henry saw the texts from Ryan and went to get him.” Angie paused as an odd chill ran down her back and her mind started racing. “Have either of you spoken with Henry? Did you ask Henry what happened that night when he saw Ryan and Mr. Allen?”
“We’ve texted Henry a million times.” Darren took a long breath. “He won’t answer.”
Angie could feel a pulsing running through her body. “Lottie said Henry was like a shadow around Ryan.”
“Henry was obsessed with Ryan.”
“Did Henry know that Lottie and Ryan were together?” Jenna asked.
“They kept that from him. Henry would sometimes follow Ryan around Boston, but from a distance. Ryan knew it and just ignored it. He said Henry was an odd duck, but harmless. Ryan tried to be careful when he saw Lottie. He didn’t want Henry to find out that they were still dating.”
“Henry followed Ryan around the city? Like a stalker?” Angie could feel her stomach clenching.
“Henry has some issues. We all understand that. Ryan was a good friend to Henry, he felt protective of the guy. He’d known Henry for years.” Darren shrugged a shoulder.
The words that Tom had said when Jack Ford showed up in the kitchen ran through Angie’s head. I didn’t realize he was there. I need to be more careful.
Oh no. Angie jumped to her feet. She looked at Darren. “Call Lottie. Tell her to lock the doors. Tell her if Henry shows up, don’t let him in. Then call ‘911’ and ask the police to go to Francine’s house.” As Angie rushed from the room, she called over her shoulder for Jenna. “We need to get back to Silver Cove.”
“Drive faster,” Angie urged her sister. “Henry knows that Ryan and Lottie were seeing each other. His jealousy over that might have made him do something terrible.”
“But Lottie thinks Mr. Allen caused his son’s death.” Jenna pressed harder on the gas pedal as they traveled the nearly empty road that led to Silver Cove.
“That’s still possible, but I’m getting a bad feeling about Henry.” Angie’s heart was pounding. “Who knows what happened after Lottie drove away from Ryan and his father arguing in the ditch.”
Jenna swung the wheel to turn onto Francine’s street and she lurched to a stop across from the house. “Where are the police? They should be here by now.”
“No sign of Henry’s car either.” Angie took a deep breath. “Maybe I’m wrong about this. I hope.”
“Want to go ring the bell?”
A thrumming pounded in Angie’s blood. She could feel that something was wrong. “Let’s drive over to the road that runs behind Francine’s house. Maybe Henry parked over there.”
Jenna backed up and drove to the next street.
“Ugh. There it is. There’s Henry’s car.” Angie’s head started to spin.
The old green car was pulled to the side parked close to the trees that lined the road. Jenna passed it and came to a stop.
Angie pointed to the rear of Francine’s home. “Let’s go into the yard through the trees. We’ll try to stay out of sight. Let’s silence our phones.” When Angie took her phone out she saw missed texts from Darren. I don’t know Francine’s last name. I don’t know where to tell the cops to go. Lottie won’t answer.
Angie groaned and showed the messages to Jenna, then she texted Darren to tell him Francine’s address, and placed a call to Chief Martin. “The chief says to stay put. Cars are on the way.” She made eye contact with her sister.
Jenna looked through the bushes. “I say we get close and see if we can hear anything.”
Angie nodded and the two pushed through the undergrowth and past bare tree limbs to emerge into the back yard of the house. The snow crunched underfoot as they crept to the rear of the home where the girls pressed up against the side wall under one of the windows and listened.
“What are we going to do?” Jenna mouthed.
The girls clutched each other when they heard Henry screaming inside the house.
“You’re the reason he’s dead. It’s all your fault.”
They could hear Lottie speaking, but couldn’t make out her words.
Henry screeched again. “Stop talking. Get up. We’re getting out of here.”
Jenna’s eyes went as wide as saucers. “We can’t let him leave with her.”
Angie’s mind was a muddle. What to do? What to do? She spun around frantically looking over the snow-covered yard.
When Henry dragged Lottie up from the sofa, she whirled around to try to land a punch to his face. Henry leaned to the side to avoid the blow, grabbed Lottie’s hands, and used his belt to bind them behind her back. He shoved her to the back door. Lottie cursed at Henry.
“Just move,” he growled. “Don’t make a sound when we get outside.”
Trudging through the yard without a jacket or coat on, Lottie started to shake from the cold and the fear that was coursing in her veins.
Henry pushed and pulled the young woman to the underbrush at the property line when he noticed the footprints left in the snow by Angie and Jenna and he abruptly halted. Blood rose in Henry’s face as he realized someone had been back there. His eyes darted about the yard. “Get back inside,” he ordered, grabbing Lottie’s shirt at the back of the neck. His sudden movement threw the girl off balance and she hit the ground on her knees.
As Henry bent forward to yank Lottie to her feet, Jenna and Angie raced from the woods.
Jenna had a tire iron in her hands and she plowed into the back of Henry with such force that he went sprawling over Lottie and landed face-first in the snow.
Angie brandished a metal shovel that Jenna had kept in the trunk of her car in case she needed to shovel her car out of a parking lot. Angie stepped to one side of Henry as Jenna moved to his other side.
“Don’t you move.” Angie’s eyes flashed at the young man prone on the snowy ground.
Both girls held their weapons in a threatening posture and kept a couple of feet away from Henry in case he tried to lash out at them.
Her hands still tied behind her back, Lottie awkwardly managed to push herself up from the ground and she stood staring down at Henry, her face contorted with fury and disgust. Lottie’s lips trembled like she was trying to form some words, but nothing came out. She stomped the ground with her stockinged-foot and turned away as tears streamed down her face.
They heard the sound of a car door slamming at the front of the house and Jenna called out. In a few moments, Officer Talbot and his partner came into the rear yard and put Henry in handcuffs. Chief Martin jogged around the corner of the house. Relief washed over his face when he saw Jenna and Angie holding Lottie in their arms as she leaned into them and wept.
25
“I found a house that Darren likes.” Betty sat next to Mr. Finch playing a board game with Jenna and Tom, and Chief Martin and his wife, Lucille, who sat across the table from them. Angie, Courtney, Rufus, Ellie and Jack played cards at the other end of the dining room table. The group had just finished a dinner of lentil loaf, meatloaf, grilled broccoli and carrots, and scalloped potatoes. Dessert would be served halfway though the game-playing. Euclid and Circe sat on the China cabinet licking their paws and wiping their faces, cleaning up after eating their meatloaf portions.
Betty went on. “The house is private and it looks over the beach down near Coveside. It’s perfect for him. He’s meeting with his accountant to discuss the investment and will call me later in the week.”
Darren and Lottie had already returned to Boston. Lottie’s last semester of her master’s degree classes was starting soon and Darren had a tour coming up in the spring that he and his band had to prepare for.
Henry Whitaker had been charged with the murder of Ryan Allen, his very best friend. On the night Ryan went missing, Henry stopped his car at the side of the road and walked down the slight slope to the ditch where Ryan and his father were arguing.
Henry had recently
discovered that Ryan and Lottie were still dating. He felt betrayed and started to rant to Mr. Allen about how Ryan was with Lottie and that he was still playing and writing music with Darren. Mr. Allen had a fit and stormed away telling Ryan to find his own way home.
While Henry argued with Ryan, he admitted to stealing Lottie’s ring with the vine on it. Henry was wearing it on a chain around his neck. Ryan lunged for it and ripped it from Henry’s neck and Henry went crazy punching Ryan over and over. The medical examiner believes that Ryan had internal injuries from crashing his car in the ditch and that Henry made the injuries worse with the beating he gave his friend. Ryan’s injuries made him too weak to fight back. When Ryan succumbed and dropped to the frozen ground, Henry panicked. He carried his friend to his car and drove to the river where he deposited the body into the icy water.
The afternoon that Angie and Jenna ended up rescuing Lottie from Henry, Ellie returned home from running errands to find Euclid and Circe howling and running through the house. She knew her sisters must be in trouble so she called Chief Martin. The chief told Ellie he had just heard from Angie and was on his was to Francine’s house.
Before returning to Boston, Darren and Lottie, along with the Roseland sisters, Mr. Finch, and the two cats, drove to the river where Ryan’s body had been found to honor the memory of the young man. The day was clear and cold with a blazing blue sky overhead. One by one, each person stepped to the river and placed a long-stemmed yellow rose into the water. Yellow roses were chosen because they symbolized friendship and the joy that friends share with one another. As the flowers floated slowly down the river, Darren played guitar and he and Lottie sang their song, Sweet Friend of Mine.
There wasn’t a dry eye among them.
Before Darren left Sweet Cove, he told the sisters and Finch that Ryan was the best friend he would ever have. Mr. Finch nodded and said, “I believe that when you lose someone you love, you must hold them in your heart and never let them go.” Darren knew he would hold Ryan in his heart forever.
Jack removed a card from his hand and put it in the discard pile. “Too bad Josh didn’t get back in time for game night,” he said to Angie.
Angie took a playing card from the pile in the center of the table. “He’ll be back soon.”
Mr. Finch made eye contact with Angie and gave her an encouraging smile. He knew that she’d been fretting over her relationship with Josh Williams ever since she’d heard that the Sweet Cove Resort had been sold.
“So tomorrow we’re all going to meet here and head to the mountain.” Courtney had been able to arrange last minute accommodations for all of them at a ski resort a few hours from Sweet Cove. Everyone was able to rearrange their schedules for the short trip and they were all looking forward to several days away. “It wasn’t easy getting accommodations that would allow two cats.” Courtney smiled up at the two felines. “But I did it.”
“We couldn’t leave our furry friends at home.” Mr. Finch winked at the cats and they trilled.
Angie’s phone buzzed with an incoming text. After checking the message, she slipped the phone into her sweater pocket and stood up. “Josh just got back. I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to the resort to see him.”
“Invite him to come here and play.” Ellie looked at the new card she’d lifted from the pile and added to her hand and she smiled.
“Maybe we’ll come back later.” Angie went to get her coat wondering if Josh wanted to tell her that he was moving away. With her body filling with dread, she picked up the keys to Jenna’s car from the foyer side table and headed for the door.
Parking the car in the lot of the resort, Angie couldn’t help but admire the beauty of the place. Snow was falling softly and as the flakes lazily drifted down from the night sky, they sparkled under the hotel lights. As Angie approached the resort’s front door, Josh opened it and stepped out wearing his heavy jacket.
“Angie.” He smiled and hugged her. “I thought we could walk around and go over to the park on the point for a little while.”
Angie agreed and they held hands as they walked across the snowy lawn while Josh talked uncharacteristically nonstop about his most recent trip. Angie glanced at the handsome man beside her and wondered why he seemed so nervous. When they reached one of the park benches that faced the cliff and the sea beyond, Josh used his hand to brush away the snow so that they could sit.
Sitting side by side, they stared up at the stars and then out to the dark, crashing ocean.
“I heard the case of the missing young man has been solved,” Josh said.
Angie didn’t tell him of the family’s involvement, deciding to share that information with him at another time.
Josh went on. “Sad, wasn’t it? It makes you really think about the people you surround yourself with, your family, your friends.” He reached for Angie’s hand. “I have some news. The ownership of the resort has changed hands.”
Angie swallowed. “Betty mentioned it.”
Josh turned on the seat so he could face Angie. “I worried she’d find out. I didn’t want to say anything to you until everything was settled.”
“So you’ll be moving away?” Angie managed to squeeze the words from her tight throat.
“What? No.” Josh looked at Angie. “I’m staying right here.”
Angie tilted her head to the side. “You’re staying?”
“My brother and I don’t always see eye to eye. Not in business and certainly not in life. I want to live the way that’s meaningful to me. He and I have been working for months to split our assets. We’ll continue to work on joint projects, but we’re now also going to work as individuals doing our own deals and running our own businesses.”
Hope flooded Angie’s body.
Josh said, “I’ve bought out my brother’s share of the resort. It belongs to me now.” He squeezed Angie’s hand. “And someday, I hope it will belong to us.”
Angie’s heart was ready to burst with happiness.
“I want to be here with you. I love you, Angie. You’re the best person I know.”
As a tiny glistening tear of joy ran down Angie’s cheek, she lifted her hand and placed it softly against Josh’s face. “I love you, too. More than you know.”
The phone in Angie’s pocket buzzed and she and Josh chuckled at the untimely interruption.
“You’d better check it.” Josh smiled. “Someone besides me might need you.”
Reluctantly, Angie took the phone out. “It’s Courtney. She says to ask you to come on the ski trip with all of us tomorrow.”
“I wouldn’t miss it.” Josh pulled his sweetheart close and kissed her under the sparkling stars and the gently-falling snowflakes that swirled softly in the air all around them.
Thank you for reading!
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Some Recipes From The Sweet Cove Series
Blueberry Muffin Bread
INGREDIENTS
1 cup white sugar
½ cup salted butter
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
2 cups All-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
2 cups blueberries
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9-inch loaf pan or place parchment paper over the bottom and up the sides so that the paper hangs over the sides to use as handles to lift the bread out after baking.
In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the eggs, vanilla, and milk b
eating well after each addition.
Add the dry ingredients; beat well until nicely combined.
Add the blueberries – Gently mix by hand with a spatula – be careful not to crush the berries.
Pour the batter into the loaf pan.
Bake for 60-75 minutes.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing the bread.
Corn And Bean Enchiladas
INGREDIENTS
12 enchilada tortillas
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped
1 sweet red pepper, diced
1 large tomato, diced
1 teaspoon chili powder
12 ounce can of corn, drained
16 ounce can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
8 ounce jar of taco sauce
¾ - 1 cup of shredded cheese (your choice of cheese)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Wrap tortillas in foil and warm in the oven for 10 minutes.
Heat oil in frying pan over medium heat.
Add onion and red pepper and cook for 3 minutes.
Add chili powder and stir for 2 more minutes.
Add the tomato and stir for 2-3 more minutes.
Add corn and beans, and salt and pepper to taste; Remove from the heat and stir to combine all the ingredients.
Grease a large baking dish.
Place ¼ cup of filling onto 1 warm tortilla – roll up and place seam-side down in the baking dish.
Repeat with the remaining filling and tortillas.
Spoon taco sauce over the tortillas.
Sprinkle the top with the shredded cheese.
Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the cheese melts.
You may sprinkle a bit more cheese on top after removing the baking dish from the oven.
Serve and Enjoy !
