Murder at the Geo-Cache...A Citrus Beach Mystery (Citrus Beach Mysteries Book 3)

by Victoria LK Williams

  “Here we go” Megan muttered to herself and she mustered a cheerful smile to greet Emma with.

  Reaching her mother's side Emma threw her arms around Megan and gave her a tight hug. She pulled back from her mother, looking closely, to try to decipher just how upset her mother was. Megan hid her conflict from her daughter. Frustrated at not being able to read her mother easily, Emma looked into the car and then back at her mother.

  "Where's Aiden, Mom? You promised me you would stay with him to be safe. What's going on? Does it have anything to do with why you sent out a text with new coordinates?"

  "Emma, I explained to you on the phone the sheriff has asked me not to say anything. I need to follow his instructions, but trust me by the end of the day you will know everything. Or at least as much as I do. And I'm perfectly safe without Aiden. The sheriff has him doing something else. Right now let's concentrate on this fund-raiser we’re working on and make sure it’s a success. Come on, take me over to Taylor and let's see how your station is doing. I have to tell you the other sites I've been to are doing really well. I can't thank you two girls enough, without your hard work we never would've gotten this far."

  Emma could tell from the stubborn expression on her mother's face that she would not get any further information from her at this time. With a shrug of her shoulders, she went along with her mother's request and bit her tongue to keep herself from asking the questions she wanted to. Linking arms with her mother, she led the way over to Taylor, and the two girls brought Megan up to date on the players who had signed in at the site. Megan looked down at the sign in sheet, and she saw names of friends and acquaintances from town. She noticed a few names she was familiar with but had never met the person. There were no strangers on the list, no easy targets as to who could be a murderer.

  The three women chatted with each other, comparing notes from the different sites until another carload of gamers pulled up. Deciding that was her cue to leave, Megan reminded the girls that everyone was to meet at Neptune's Trident for the luncheon before they continued on with the game. As she glanced at her watch, Megan saw she had just enough time to pick up Aiden at Carols before joining everyone at Neptune's Trident. A catered lunch was being provided for both the players and the volunteers, and she would be expected to be there. Maybe she could find out some information at the luncheon when everyone was together, and the gossip was flowing.

  Chapter 10

  Megan pulled into the long drive that led up to the antebellum style mansion Carol called home. She couldn't help but to reflect it was like driving into another era, and she almost expected to see Southern Belle's in big hoops skirts walking the grounds. But instead of the beautiful ladies of the past, she found Aiden and Carol sitting in the large wicker furniture on front porch, as if they were waiting for her return. After parking her car in the guest spot, she climbed the stairs and sunk into one of the comfortable chairs. Without asking, Carol poured her a tall glass of sweet tea and handed it to her.

  "How you holding up, Megan?" she asked

  "I'm not sure what's more difficult, Carol. Not being able to say anything to my family, or looking at the people of Citrus Beach that I've come to know and love, wondering if any of them are involved in Mary's murder."

  "Oh honey, I hear you. The two of us have been sitting here going over each and every person we can think of, and I honestly can't think of a soul who would hurt Mary. The sheriff thinks it’s somebody who is participating in this geo-cache of yours, but he has to be wrong. Surely we would know if there was a murderer amongst our friends."

  "Carol, I wish it was that easy. But more times than not a person is murdered by someone they know, not a stranger," Aiden sadly informed her based on his years of experience in law-enforcement.

  “Aiden, did the sheriff find out anything else after we left? Have you heard from him?”

  “I talked to him briefly to tell him we were all set here with a room for interrogations. He said they found a few more boxes of cash and some pawnshop receipts, but no hard evidence indicating who is behind all this.”

  Before Megan could respond, she heard a sharp little bark and turned her head in the direction it came from. She couldn't help but grin at the picture of the sweet little puppy rushing towards Aiden, pink bow attached to the collar she now wore. Gone was a dirty ball of fur, and in its place was a beautiful white puppy with a gray tail and a patch of gray on one leg. She stopped at Aiden’s feet, looking up at him with complete adoration and barked sharply, wanting his attention. Aiden looked at the two women next to him with embarrassment, wondering why the dog didn't go to one of them instead of him. The puppy hadn’t left his side since she'd been removed from the kennel after Megan had dropped the two of them off earlier. Carol had provided him with the grooming comb, shampoo and towel, sending him off to the stables to get the dog cleaned up before she was allowed anywhere near her house.

  “Who’s your friend, Aiden?” Without waiting for his answer, Megan reached down and picked the puppy up. Her laughter rang out as the wiggling dog smothered her with wet puppy kisses.

  “I assume from the pink bow this little sweetie is female? She’s so tiny, I could fit her in my tote-bag. She’s like a little toy.”

  “Yeah, she is a cute little thing. I guess she has gotten over her fright from the barn.”

  At the sound of Aiden’s voice, the puppy squirmed to get out of Megan’s grasp and over to him. Carol laughed at his look of discomfort. Aiden was not one for a dainty “girly” dogs as he called them. It looked like this little teacup Shih Tzu had other ideas. He tried to ignore the puppy, but she was having none of that, and gave a demanding little bark to get his attention. With a sigh, he realized he would not win this battle of wills, and he begrudgingly picked her up and non-too-gently put her on his lap. Immediately the puppy settled down and contently looked at the others around her.

  “Did you find any evidence on her fur when you cleaned her up?” Megan asked as she watched Aiden absently stoking the puppy’s clean, soft fur.

  “Not that I could determine. Just dirt, dust and hay from where she had been sleeping in one of the barns. I sent all the residue and mats of fur that came off when I combed her to the forensic lab. I’ve filled Carol in on what happened, as much as we know, and we’ve set aside a small room off the kitchen for questioning the contestants as they arrive. The sheriff will be here shortly, and then I want to go with you to the luncheon at Neptune’s Trident. Maybe I’ll see something you might miss. Besides, you’ll get a lot of questions from your family if I don’t show. You’ll cave when it comes to keeping secretes from them, especially Lucy.”

  “I can’t deny that. And you’re right, the chances are good you’ll notice things I won’t. I’m too close to most of these people and just can’t picture any of them committing murder. Carol are you going to join us?”

  “No, I still have last minute details to see to here. And now I will have to figure out how to keep guests from leaving before the sheriff questions them. Besides, Charlotte will be here soon. We’ll work on the details together.”

  “Just tell Charlotte no one is to leave, and she’ll take care of it. She seems to like taking charge of a situation.”

  They all laughed at Aiden’s words. No one who had lived in Citrus Beach for long had escaped Charlotte Potter’s authoritative ways. She was the matriarch of the town, descended from the families that had settled the town at its formative years. Even Aiden had understood her role in the town. No one objected, she did it with love and concern for her friends and the town they all loved. Carol looked over at Megan, and gave her a wink. Both women had fallen victim to Charlotte’s well-meaning meddling, and Carol looked forward to the day when Aiden would also fall victim to Charlotte’s well-meant intentions. Carol and Aiden’s family both had homes in St. Louis, Missouri, so Carol knew Aiden well. Well enough to know that he did not take kindly to anybody interfering in his life. With a smile, Carol admitted to herself that she looked forward to t
he day when the two of them butt heads. Secretly she had a sneaky suspicion they would be butting heads over Megan.

  Megan acknowledge Carol’s wink with a smile, the two women were good friends and could often communicate without words. Ten years ago Carol had convinced Megan to branch out with her gardening business and develop it into a personal concierge business for the town’s elite residents. With Carol, Charlotte and one other well-placed clients, Megan’s business had prospered and grown. She now had a full-time staff and offered services to not only the elite but to many of the businesses within Citrus Beach. As her business had grown, so had her friendship with Carol.

  The sound of approaching cars interrupted their laughter, and they turned towards the driveway to see two cars approaching. One was the sheriff’s car, the second was Charlotte Potter’s car being driven by her grove foreman, Robert. Aiden stood up before anyone could say anything, and walked down the veranda stairs towards the vehicles. Aiden reached Charlotte’s car first and he open the door to help her out. She shooed him out of her way, and spying her two friends, hurried up the stairs to join them. He shrugged his shoulders and walked over to join the sheriff. He wanted to speak to him away from the women for a moment anyways. He waited until Charlotte was engaged in conversation with Carol and Megan before he questioned the sheriff about the murder.

  “Did anything turn up other than the cash in the boxes, Sheriff Green?”

  “No, we went through every box that had been opened, a few more boxes were full of cash but nothing else it was out of the ordinary. We took the standard imprints and pictures of the footprints in the area. I think most of them were from my own men, however there was that one set that Megan found that might prove to be interesting. We will see.”

  “It’s frustrating. I don’t think we’ll find much information on the money. The cash seem to be just random bills, bills that had obviously been in circulation. And they weren’t counterfeit, either. They were being stashed in the barn for some reason, and I don’t think it was a new form of banking,” added Aiden.

  “Someone took advantage of the fact that Mary did not use that barn and that she had a surplus of those vitamin boxes. I think we’ll find that Mary just walked in at the wrong time and had to be eliminated. But by who remains to be seen.” The sheriff gave a shrug of his shoulders as he spoke, frustrated by Mary’s bad timing.

  The two men spent a few moments going over other possibilities revolving around the murder and the cash. They both understood this was premature, without further clues they were just spinning their wheels. They were relying on the interrogation of each of the players to give them more evidence, allowing them to wrap things up quickly. But the former agent realized from years of experience, just as the sheriff did, that things rarely went smoothly or quickly. Chances were, they would work on this for at least a few days. Peering at his watch, Aiden saw they had just enough time to make it to the luncheon. He looked over towards Megan waving over to her car. Megan said her goodbyes to the other two women, then reaching Aiden’s side, she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the vehicle. Getting behind the wheel, Megan didn’t give him the choice of driving. When he protested she just looked at him and smiled.

  “When you get your own car, you can drive. But please, let’s look for something that isn’t so government-issued looking. You’re private citizen now, Aiden, have fun with it and loosen up.”

  Aidan looked over and laughed along with her. She was right, even when he rented a car he picked out the same boring black sedan he had driven as an FBI agent for years. Clicking his seatbelt in place, he braced herself for Megan’s heavy foot as they headed off to Neptune’s Trident and the picnic lunch.

  Chapter 11

  “Megan! You’re not going to believe this.”

  They had arrived at the beach to find the picnic in full swing and everyone having a good time. Players of the game were teasing each other about many sites they had already been to and how far ahead of the others they might be. Many of the volunteers were there as well, wasting no time getting their lunch so they could head back to their sites. Megan looked around for her family and friends and saw Emma and Taylor in the food, line flirting with a few of the younger players. Before she had the opportunity to search for Lucy, her friend found her and was bursting with news.

  When they heard Lucy's exclamation, Aiden and Megan exchange looks. Aiden raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at Megan for an explanation. He was well aware news traveled fast in Citrus Beach, but he couldn't understand how Lucy had found out about Mary's murder already. Megan herself was rather surprised at how quickly word had spread and she braced herself for Lucy’s questions. But when Lucy continued, they were both surprised to find out she was excited about something completely different. With a deep sigh of relief, Megan tried to make heads or tails out of what her friend was saying.

  “I just can’t believe after all these years she’s back in town, and I swear she hasn’t changed a bit. She still mean-spirited and thinks she’s better than the rest of us. I mean the first thing she did was insult me. Of course, she was subtle about it. But still, an insult is an insult. Just because she left town for the big city and I stayed here doesn’t mean I’m any less of a person --”

  “Whoa, Lucy slow down. I’m quite sure you know what you’re talking about, but I don’t. Am I supposed to know this person you’re talking about?”

  Lucy slowed down long enough to give Megan a funny look and then seemed to remember something. She continued on, clarifying what she was talking about.

  “Of course you don’t know who she is. I forget you haven’t lived here as long as I have, even though it seems like we’ve been friends forever. No, it’s Rita Thomas. She’s back in town. We grew up together, and since our last names both began with ‘T’, the teachers always put us next to each other. That would’ve been fine if we’d gotten along, but we took an instant dislike to each other on the very first day of kindergarten. It only got worse as we got older.”

  Megan took in her normally easy-going friend expression and laughed out loud. She didn’t mean to be insulting, but Lucy had worked herself up into such a state that her calm demeanor was out of kilter. She acted like she wanted to drag whoever this Rita was out onto the playground by her ponytail—there and now, continuing whatever differences they had as children into their adulthood. It was so unlike Lucy, Megan’s laughter was involuntary. Thankfully the laughter worked. Lucy was ready to continue the argument with Megan, but saw her expression, and instead joined in her friend’s laughter.

  “Oh my goodness I do sound ridiculous, don’t I?”

  “Well you sure don’t sound like the Lucy that I know and love. Who are you and what have you done with my Lucy?”

  Aiden shook his head at the women, mystified at how their moods changed so quickly. He was curious about this unknown Rita, and how she brought out a side of Lucy he’d never seen before. Before they continued their conversation, he saw Paul walking towards them and, with relief, waved him on over. Once Paul had joined them, the four friends got in line for food, then walked over to one of the picnic tables set up along the sandy beach.

  Kayla Spinner, the local caterer hired to feed the players at the picnic and to take care of the food at the dinner party that night, had provided a mouthwatering lunch. Her delicious food was a treat at any event. She had gone out of her way to make the picnic feel festive. Large colorful umbrellas were set up by the tables to provide shade. She had brought in baskets of beach towels for anybody who wanted to walk out into the water to cool off. There was a portable tiki bar set up with cold drinks. In addition, Emma had provided an oversized clock for everyone to see. The clock had a sign stating “Game resumes in one hour.” Megan was proud of her daughter, she had thought of so many details that would make the geo-cache a success. Megan stopped by the bar to congratulate Kayla on the lunch before she joined the others at their table.

  As the four of them ate their lunch, Lucy calmed down and ev
en enjoyed the teasing she got from her husband as she recounted some of her childhood altercations with Rita Thomas.

  “I can’t believe you’ve kept a grudge after all these years, Lucy. I mean, you get along with everybody.”

  “I know, Paul. Crazy, isn’t it? I’d like to think that if Rita stayed in town, we would have gotten over our differences. But as soon as she was old enough to leave Citrus Beach, she did, not even wiping the sand from her feet. She’s come back every once in a while to visit family, but never stayed long. No, it was a big city life for her.”

  They finished their lunch, interrupted occasionally by other friends who expressed how much fun they were having and congratulating Megan on the success of the geo-cache. Megan saw it was time to get the players up and following the remainder of the clues in their packet. So far she’d been able to dodge the questions that her daughter and friends had asked her, partly because they’d all been too busy hearing about Lucy’s nemesis. Walking over to the tiki bar, Megan picked up the large clock held it high above her head, while Lucy gave a sharp whistle to catch everybody’s attention.

  “Okay folks, it’s time to get started again. Remember, after you finish your last clue, you are to head to the Bloomquest residence for our evening entertainment. Prizes and announcements are to be awarded there. Thank you so much for your contributions and involvement. Each one of these charities will benefit from today’s activities. Now let’s get going.”

  They were getting ready to leave when Lucy grabbed Megan’s arm and hissed “There she is.” Megan turned in the direction that Lucy indicated and caught her breath at the sight of the beautiful woman walking towards them. Megan was content with her own looks, but for a moment, she felt inadequate.