Dead Tide (Blackmoore Sisters Romantic Cozy Mystery Series)

by Dobbs, Leighann

  “It is exactly like the other boxes,” Cal said.

  Celeste’s heart thudded as she studied it. Earlier that summer, the girls had discovered several boxes with the same design. Each box had contained a clue which led them on a hunt for a treasure supposedly buried by the relative who had built the house almost three hundred years earlier—Isaiah Blackmoore.

  As far as Celeste knew, Isaiah had been a sailing merchant with a fleet of boats that imported items from the West Indies and Europe. So why would he have buried treasure in their yard? And why the cryptic ledger and treasure hunt with all the clues at various locations?

  “Aren’t you going to open it?” Cal’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

  She turned the front toward her and carefully pressed the latch. The box popped open to reveal a long silver chain with some sort of crystal pendant on the end.

  “What is it?” Cal craned his neck to see inside the box.

  “I don’t know, some sort of crystal.” Celeste picked the necklace up by the chain letting the light blue crystal dangle before her eyes. The sunlight glinted off the facets creating a rainbow of colors inside the attic.

  “Maybe Fiona can tell us more about it.”

  “Tell you more about what?” Fiona said from a couple of feet away, startling both Cal and Celeste.

  Celeste turned to see Fiona and Morgan picking their way toward them. She held the necklace and the box up.

  “We found a box just like the ones from the treasure hunt and this was inside it.”

  Fiona reached out and took the stone, her eyes shone as she inspected it. “It’s an aquamarine. Rather a large one, too, and absolutely gorgeous.”

  “Do you think it’s from Isaiah Blackmoore?” Celeste asked.

  “Maybe a gift for his wife," Morgan said.

  “It makes sense that it would be his. Aquamarine is the gemstone of sailors and he was a sailor, right?” Fiona twirled the pendant in front of her, the stone sending sparks of light whirling about the room. “It’s worn a lot by travelers to insure a safe passage. Also it can help make the wearer happy and rich.”

  “Rich?” Morgan looked at the stone. “Maybe we should all take turns wearing it.”

  “It’s also reputed to help with a happy marriage," Fiona said passing the stone toward Celeste.

  “Marriage?” Celeste held her hand up, palm facing out as if to ward off the stone. “No thanks.”

  The girls laughed.

  “Hey what are you guys doing home, anyway? Isn’t it kind of early?” Celeste wrinkled her brow at the sisters.

  Morgan glanced at her watch. “It’s four thirty. We closed up a bit early. Luke’s coming back tonight and we’re going out for an early supper.”

  Celeste noticed Morgan’s big smile and her heart warmed for her sister. Luke Hunter had been Morgan’s high school sweetheart but he’d broken things off ten years ago when he’d left Noquitt to serve in the military.

  In an odd coincidence, he’d returned to town this past summer on an assignment to fight off the very treasure hunters that had threatened the Blackmoore girls. Near as Celeste could tell, he now worked for a mysterious cartel whose mission was to recover old treasure. His team is sent in to dispense with the pirates who want to take it forcefully and, usually, illegally. The company he works for does all the treasure recovery on the up and up—through legal channels but they still have to fight off the bad guys quite often.

  Luke and his team of mysterious men had helped get rid of the pirates that had threatened them, and Luke and Morgan had picked up their romance where they had left off.

  “So anyway, about this treasure," Cal said. “I think we should go over all the stuff we found this summer and see if anything new comes up. What Skinner discovered in the journal has got to be related.”

  “We still need to see if we can find the poetry book that will help us decipher the journal.” Celeste twisted around to look at the bookshelf where they had found the journal originally. “Where is that journal anyway?”

  “I have it safe in my room,” Morgan volunteered. “I have a secret hiding spot. No one will find it.”

  Celeste held up the trinket box. “Let’s take this and the necklace downstairs and see if we can put some of the pieces together.”

  They made their way toward the back stairs, Belladonna appearing out of nowhere to lead the way. They traipsed single file down the narrow, worn stairway listening to the creaks and groans of the old wood. It dumped them out in the kitchen and they grabbed some tea, coffee and juice before heading to the informal living room.

  The house had two living rooms—one was a big formal room with couches no one wanted to sit on and fancy furniture. The other was more comfortable and the room the girls used the most. It was one of the smaller rooms, but cozy with a giant picture window that revealed a gorgeous view of the Atlantic Ocean.

  Their mother had decorated the room and Celeste could almost feel her presence in it. The gray and blue decor was soothing and the giant starfish, seashells and rustic painted furnishings with overstuffed cushions made it comfy and homey.

  Celeste sank down into the sofa with her glass of green juice, feeling a slight flutter when Cal sat next to her. A little too close. She moved an inch away, annoyed with herself for doing so. It had never bothered her before when he sat close to her. Belladonna hopped up on the couch and settled in Cal’s lap, purring loudly as he stroked her fur.

  “You guys still have the map, right?” Cal asked.

  “Yep, over in the box.” Morgan nodded toward a long silver box with the same design as the trinket box Belladonna had dug up in the attic. She didn’t need to open the box to know that a leather map sat inside. They’d followed the trail on that map this summer and ended up leading the pirates right to the treasure … or to something that had been rigged to blow a big hole in the cliff.

  “But that map led to the cave that blew up,” Fiona said over the rim of her coffee mug.

  “Right. But maybe we didn’t read the map properly. Remember how I told you that sometimes the pirates tried to trick anyone who might come to steal the treasure?”

  “Yeah. Except Isaiah wasn’t a pirate, he was a shipping merchant,” Celeste said.

  Cal raised an eyebrow at her. “How are you so sure?”

  Celeste’s heart crunched. “Well, that’s what our mother told us.” She looked to her other sisters who nodded.

  “Yeah but Isaiah lived three hundred years ago … over the years, the story might have been changed.” Cal shrugged. “Because what I see in front of me. The map … the clues … everything seems to indicate that your ancestor wasn’t a sailor … he was a pirate.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Who was a pirate?” Jolene appeared in the doorway with a paper cup of coffee from Starbucks in her hand.

  “Cal thinks our great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was a pirate," Morgan said.

  “Cool!” Jolene plunked down in one of the overstuffed chairs and turned to Cal. “Why do you say that?”

  Celeste explained Cal’s reasoning, still not sure if she was on board with it. From what she knew, pirates were nasty thieving killers and she wasn’t sure she wanted to be related to one.

  “That makes total sense.” Jolene nodded. “So what are you guys doing?”

  “We found this in the attic.” Celeste pointed to the trinket box and necklace that were lying on the coffee table in front of her. “So we’re going over all the clues we found this summer.”

  “Those clues led to the map in the box which we thought was pretty straight forward," Cal cut in. “But what if the map wasn’t really a map of your yard like we thought it was?”

  Celeste pressed her lips together. “Well, then what would it be of?”

  Cal shrugged. “I guess that’s what we need to find out. But it makes sense. If Isaiah was a pirate then he might have done the map in some sort of code.”

  “Maybe the map isn’t even the real map," Morgan offered. “
The poem in the lining of the box could be a clue to where the real treasure is.”

  Morgan crossed the room and opened the box. She took out a small fragile piece of paper, placing it on the coffee table. Celeste looked down at it, reading the faded words written in old style script.

  The sea is my love,

  The Ocean’s Revenge lies below my love.

  “We know his boat was called the Ocean’s Revenge from the manifest we found,” Fiona said referring to the copy of an old ship’s manifest that had been found in the pocket of one of the treasure hunters who’d shown up dead on their cliff. The manifest had listed the vessel’s name with Isaiah Blackmoore as captain and a listing of the cargo the ship carried.

  “So, this note seems to imply the Ocean’s Revenge lies below the sea,” Jolene said.

  “But I thought the treasure hunters already scanned the ocean out there and came up empty.” Fiona thrust her chin in the direction of the Atlantic.

  “Is it possible they just didn’t look in the right place?” Jake appeared in the doorway, then crossed to Fiona’s chair then pulled her long red curls away from the side of her neck and planted a kiss on it. Fiona’s cheeks turned pink and she looked quizzically at him.

  “You left the front door open, so I let myself in,” he explained.

  “It’s possible they missed it,” Morgan said. “But I thought they scanned the ocean floor out there with sonar or something. If they didn’t come up with anything it seems likely nothing is out there.”

  “Yeah, could be.” Cal pressed his lips together and Celeste noticed how that made his dimple even deeper and more appealing. “It could also be hidden down there—camouflaged somehow. Back in the day, pirates often sunk their own ships in shallow water so that no one else would get the booty. Then they’d simply dive for the treasure when they wanted some.”

  Celeste narrowed her eyes toward the ocean. “Is it that shallow out there?”

  Cal shrugged. “I think it’s definitely a lead we should follow up … unless you guys have a better idea?”

  “We should also follow up on getting another poetry book. We need to figure out what Skinner was on to,” Morgan said.

  Celeste turned to Jolene. “Speaking of which, how did you make out at the museum?”

  Jolene made a face. “Not so good. The director said there is no one named Mateo there.”

  Celeste’s stomach clenched. “What? So who was the guy we saw, then?”

  Jolene shrugged. “No idea. But I talked to someone Skinner worked with … Irene somebody or other and she said that a man had been there the day before asking questions about Skinner.”

  Celeste’s heart did a somersault. “What did he look like?”

  “Big guy with a bushy beard and a bad attitude. Is that your guy?”

  “No. Ours didn’t have a beard,” Celeste said. “Maybe you guys can sharpen your private detective skills and try to find out who he is?”

  “Sure we’ll get right on that,” Jake said glancing at Jolene who nodded in agreement.

  “Speaking of which,” Jolene said. “I think I got the evidence we need for our first client.”

  “That’s great," Celeste said, her heart swelling with pride for Jolene, who was obviously bursting with excitement.

  “Yep, caught him almost right in the act and I have the pictures on my computer. Wanna see?”

  “Of course,” Jake said. The sisters nodded.

  Jolene sprang up from the chair and sprinted out of the room.

  “Okay,” Celeste said. “We should make a list of things we need to do in order to figure out what Skinner’s big find was, before those nasty treasure hunting pirates come for it.”

  As she turned to get a pen and paper from the table under the window, Luke appeared in the doorway. The grim look on his face froze her in her tracks.

  “It’s too late for that,” he said. “They’re already here.”

  ***

  “Here?” Celeste’s heart thudded against her chest as she glanced outside looking for bad guys moving in the tree line.

  “At the house?” Morgan sprang out of her seat.

  “No, no.” Luke held his hands up in front of him, palms out. “I meant in town. But they’re looking for treasure that’s connected with your land, so they’ll be here eventually.”

  “How do you know that?” Jake asked.

  Luke pushed Morgan back down in her chair and leaned his well-formed butt on the arm. “I just came from a meeting with the head honchos and I got a new assignment. Imagine my surprise when I found out it’s here in Noquitt—and not just anywhere in Noquitt … right here at your house.”

  Celeste narrowed her eyes at him. “How do they know those treasure hunting pirates are here?”

  Luke took a deep breath. “I don’t really know how they get their information. There’s some kind of underground treasure network. I just know what they tell me. By the way, you guys really should lock your front door. I was able to walk right in.”

  Celeste’s heart skipped … Luke and Jake had both just walked right in which means the treasure hunters could too. She peeked out into the hallway half expecting to see a band of pirates rushing toward them.

  “I’ll lock it,” Fiona said, then disappeared out into the hall.

  “Word about Skinners find must have gotten out. That’s why they’re here,” Cal said.

  “And they are probably the ones who poisoned him.” Celeste returned to her seat on the couch with pen and paper in hand.

  “Well, at least one thing is good,” Jake said.

  “What’s that?” Fiona came back into the room, her eyes narrowed at Jake.

  “Luke’s already assigned to stop them so we’ll have extra help,” Jake said.

  “Yeah, we’ll protect you guys from them, but you still need to be on high alert. I don’t have to remind you of how dangerous these people can be," Luke warned.

  Jolene skittered into the room, laptop in hand and stopped short.

  “You guys look like you just ate bad seafood. What’s wrong?” She turned, noticing Luke on the arm of Morgan’s chair. “Oh, hi Luke. Let me guess … you bring bad news.”

  “Afraid so.” Luke shrugged, holding his arms out at his sides. “Seems the pirates are back and they think you still have something worth taking here.”

  “Well, that’s not really a big surprise, is it? I mean considering what happened with Skinner and all,” she said sliding the laptop onto the table by the window.

  “True,” Celeste said. “So now we need to really get our act together and come up with a plan.”

  “Well, like we said before, Jolene and I will try to find out who this Mateo person is.” Jake turned to Luke and explained how Morgan and Celeste had gone to Skinner’s office and run into the mysterious Mateo.

  “He could be one of the pirates and if the pirates are here because of what Skinner found, then we need to know what that was,” Luke said.

  “So we need to either find his notes, if he had them, or decipher the book ourselves,” Morgan added.

  “I don’t think we’re going to find his notes.” Celeste tapped the end of the pen on her front tooth. “So we need to find that poetry book—the cipher key.”

  “Did anyone write down the name of the book and what edition it was?” Cal asked.

  Everyone shook their heads.

  “I didn’t write it down, but I think I remember.” Jolene closed her eyes. “It was green, with gold lettering … leather … dated 1717. The title was Grayson’s Poems and it was the fourth printing.”

  Celeste, scribbled the name down on the paper then stared up at her sister. “You remember all that?”

  “Yep, I just close my eyes and picture it.”

  “You must have a photographic memory,” Cal said. “That would really come in handy in the antique business.”

  “Hey, watch it pal. I’ve already hired her for the P.I business,” Jake joked.

  Cal laughed. “I can contact some o
f the rare book dealers and see if they have that edition.”

  “I think we need to put together a plan to check out the ocean.” Morgan pointed to the poem on the table. “That seems to imply something is … or was … out there.”

  “I can do some scuba diving out there and check things out in person. Maybe I’ll find something that sonar didn’t detect,” Celeste offered, excited about being able to put her scuba experience to good use.

  “That sounds like a good start." Cal glanced at the list Celeste had in her lap. “Find Mateo, Find the poetry book and check the ocean.”

  “Yeah, that’s plenty for now. In the meantime, my team will try to ferret out where these pirates are staying,” Luke said.

  “Sounds like a plan. Now let’s talk about something positive. Jolene closed our first case today—a cheating spouse.” Jake nodded at Jolene. “Let’s see the evidence.”

  Jolene turned the laptop screen to face them and clicked a few keys. The monitor was filled with a picture and she clicked the mouse to scroll.

  “Oh, sorry. Not that one—some guys got in the way.” She scrolled to the next picture which showed Peterson and the blonde in the open motel room door. “That’s it!”

  “Perfect.” Jake reached out to shake her hand.

  “Wait a minute," Luke said. “Go back to that other picture.”

  Jolene scrolled back. Luke leaned forward in the chair.

  Celeste narrowed her eyes at the picture. In the background she could see Peterson in front of the hotel room. In front of him two men carried some equipment.

  “That looks like an underwater metal detector. Where did you take this picture?” Luke furrowed his brow at Jolene.

  “The Knotty Mariner … out on Belton Road.”

  “Those could be our bad guys.” Luke’s lips were pressed in a line as he pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll have my men go check it out.”

  “Wow, that would be cool," Jolene said. “Maybe you’ll be able to catch them and we won’t have to worry about them coming here.”