East Pender Boxed Set: Cozy Mystery Series Bundle of Books 1-14

by Leona Fox

  Beatrice began, but she couldn't bring herself to say the terrible words that were at the forefront of her mind. Ellen knew exactly what she meant. She wished she could have reassured the young girl. However, she knew that in these cases when somebody went missing they often ended up dead. No matter how good and pure Ella seemed there was nobody who was safe from the specter of death.

  Chapter 3

  By the evening word had spread through town and everybody knew Ella was missing. It was a big event that seemed to wake the sleepy town from its slumber and people were alive with various theories about what had happened. Many of them were mistrustful of the whole affair because Ella was an outsider and had only lived in East Pender for around a year. Mostly she had kept to herself. Ellen had to remind them that she, too, was once an outsider. Yet she had managed to become a valued member of the community. She heard many people cry out that Gregory was the murderer, but an equal number thought it was Beatrice. Yet, some thought the whole thing was a big hoax, as though they were playing a trick on the town, trying to get some attention.

  But a kidnapping and a possible death was no joking matter. Ellen made it clear to those people that talk like that would not be tolerated in her cafe. Her own mind had been churning with ideas and theories but there was so little information about the people involved that she found it difficult to formulate anything concrete. All the idle chatter around her did not help, either. In the late evening, after the cafe had closed, she went to Kelly's house in the hope that she would be able to provide some clarity, and also to spend time with her best friend. Having seen how deeply Beatrice was affected by Ella’s disappearance, Ellen wanted to cherish Kelly in case anything like that ever happened to either one of them.

  “Hello dear,” Kelly said as she opened the door.

  She was wearing a white top that was draped over her body like a bed sheet. Even indoors she was wearing a wide-brimmed hat and held a fan in her right hand, which she occasionally fluttered. Her face was a milky white and, when contrasted with Ellen's deep tan, Kelly looked like a ghost. She poured a glass of milk from the fridge and handed it to Ellen, who looked at it with confusion.

  “It's good to protect the skin, my love. You need to replenish the oils you have lost being out in the sun. It gets so terribly dry,” she said.

  “Is that actually true or have you just made it up?” Ellen asked, and Kelly only laughed in response.

  “Who knows anymore?” she admitted.

  “Have you even been out in the sun recently?”

  “Of course not. You know, I don't want to look like a withered old prune when I'm older. I want to keep my youthful glow and the only way to go about that is to protect my skin from the sun. Besides, it's oh so much effort to go outside in this heat. After just a few steps I feel like I'm ready to faint and that's more than I can bear.”

  “So what have you been doing, just sitting around here all day? Have you even been painting?” Ellen said. She didn’t want her tone to sound accusatory but it was difficult to prevent it from being so.

  “Mostly, yes, and no, I haven't been painting. Even lifting a brush is just too much work. This heat, it saps my strength so much. It is like a sleeping potion and all I want to do is wait until it cools down.”

  “Kelly, I don't want to pry into this or anything but don't you need to paint? I mean, how else are you going to earn any money?”

  A strange look came upon Kelly's face. “Don't you worry about me dear, it's all taken care of,” she said mysteriously and patted Ellen's cheek, acting as though she were in a drunken stupor.

  Ellen wasn't sure Kelly would be much help with the case but persevered nonetheless and told her the events of the day so far. Kelly listened intently at the beginning but her attention soon began to drift and Ellen became irked. A lot of people in town grew frustrated with Kelly because all they saw was a ditsy artist who never could keep two thoughts chained together. Usually Ellen could put up with that because she knew that behind that was an intelligent and sharp woman. Yet this heat had changed her in such a way that sometimes Ellen became infuriated, and she had to keep snapping her fingers to keep Kelly's attention.

  “Maybe it was the boogeyman,” she said after Ellen had finished speaking, and threw back her head, howling with laughter. Ellen shook her head.

  “Fine. You know what? If you just want to sit in here until the heat passes then go for it, but I can't be around you when you're like this. This is a serious matter and it requires our full attention,” she said, and Kelly was suitably chastised. She told Ellen to sit down.

  “I'm sorry. I'm sorry,” she said, taking Ellen's hands in an effort to placate her. Ellen sank down and exhaled deeply.

  “What's the matter?” Kelly asked, noticing Ellen looked more affected by this case than usual. At first Ellen tried brushing it off, but Kelly kept insisting and, eventually, Ellen told her the truth.

  “It's this girl, Ella. I mean, she's basically me when I was younger. She came back here to look after her parents, and then she lost them and now she's missing. It just makes me think...I don't know; it makes me wonder how my life would have turned out if I had made different decisions.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, Beatrice told me Ella was planning to go back to the city. I can't help but wonder where I would be if I had gone back.”

  “You would have been in a bad place because you wouldn't have the café. You wouldn't have been able to solve all these crimes. You wouldn't have me in your life and you wouldn't have Andy. I know it's easy to think the grass is greener on the other side but it's not always. I'm surprised you're letting yourself think like this, usually you're so focused on the here and now. Has this heatwave gotten to you, too? Has the great Ellen Thatch been compromised by the temperature outside?”

  Ellen laughed a little. “Maybe I have. I am only human, after all. It just makes me sad for the girl and her brother, to go through that, especially when they're so young. It must be hell on them. At least when my parents died I could say they had had a good life, you know, and they got to see me grow up and establish myself as an adult. Ella and Gregory never will get a chance to show them what they're truly capable of.”

  The two women let the silence linger over them for a few moments as they dwelt on their own relationships with their parents. Then Ellen got back to the case.

  “Anyway, I don't know where to start with this case. She's only been in town for about a year. So I can't imagine there would be many people who want to hurt her. I'm just afraid...”

  “Afraid of what?”

  “When my parents died I felt lost and empty and I didn't know what to do. I felt like I was drifting and there was nothing to anchor me to the world. My first instinct was to run. I didn't even know to where. I just wanted to be anywhere else but where I was. I'm wondering if Ella felt the same; if she just left because she couldn't handle it anymore?”

  “But that wouldn't explain the door being kicked in,” Kelly said in a reasoned tone.

  “And I know you seem to think there's some kind of connection between the two of you but it is just a coincidence. She's not you, and you're not her.”

  Ellen knew Kelly was making sense but there was still a niggling feeling that something was amiss and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Perhaps the heat was affecting her more than she thought, and all she needed was a pleasant night's sleep for everything to be fine again. When Andy called she answered, and told him she was at Kelly's and he was welcome to come over. It didn't take long for him to appear and when he opened the door he and Ellen hugged tightly.

  “You look more relaxed than earlier,” Ellen said.

  “Being out of that uniform makes a world of difference,” he replied with a grin.

  He was wearing shorts and a loose T-shirt, although it was so hot his temples sparkled with sweat. He eagerly accepted the drink that Kelly offered him upon entering. He and Ellen sat next to each other and she rested her head on his shoulder f
or comfort, breathing in his scent.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “She's just suffering from the same affliction that is plaguing all of us. I tell you, there's going to come a time when this town is going to go crazy. That's what always happens in this heat. We're not built for it and it sets off something inside us, something we can't control. I hate to think it but this Ella girl might just be the first of many.”

  “I sincerely hope you're wrong about that,” Andy said. Ellen pulled herself up, as if to disprove Kelly's theory, and asked Andy what was going on.

  “Well, why don't you tell me what your thoughts were when you saw the crime scene? So far we have what looks like a break-in and a missing occupant.”

  “It's not certain the two are related, but I would imagine they are. Unless somebody knew she wouldn't be home and that's why they broke in. But I saw inside the house and it just...I don't know, something didn't seem right.”

  “In what way?”

  Ellen searched her mind for the right words. There had been something about the house that had struck her as odd, and something about the way Gregory acted as well. Yet, she didn't know if that was actually true or if it was simply a case that the heat was playing with her mind and had impaired her judgment.

  “I can't be sure, but to me it felt like the crime scene was too...too clean for a break-in. Yes, the door was kicked in but the place wasn't ransacked. So unless the person knew exactly what they were looking for and where it was...So my first instinct, given that Beatrice said she was supposed to be meeting Ella, is that somebody kidnapped her and tried to make it look like there had been a break-in.”

  Andy pressed his lips together and nodded, a stony look on his face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic bag, which held within it a torn shred of cloth.

  “Beatrice identified this as one of Ella's shirts. She proved quite helpful.”

  “She seemed like a sweet kid. I'm surprised Gregory shouted at her so violently.”

  “Maybe there's more to her than meets the eye, but I think he was distraught about his sister. But I have a feeling this shirt was torn on purpose and not by accident,” he said as he and Ellen continued talking about the case.

  Andy idly passed the piece of cloth to Ellen so she could look at it, and she in turn passed it to Kelly. As Kelly was looking at it, however, she opened it and Scampy came up to her, sniffing the air near the bag. But Andy immediately snatched it away.

  “You know you're not supposed to do that! This is evidence,” he said, glaring at Kelly. Both women were shocked at how vicious his words were.

  He apologized instantly, and exhaled, rubbing his eyes. “I'm sorry, I haven't been sleeping much recently and this case reminds me of one I worked on a long time ago.”

  “In what way?”

  Andy looked haggard and weary, as though he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

  “There was this kid, he was only about ten, and he went missing one day. I was only a sergeant at the time and I was the one who took the call from his parents. I still can hear the fear in his mom's voice. We started combing the area and looked for any clue. These things, you know, the longer they last the worse it usually is. So we were trying our hardest to get out there and cover as much of the area as possible, but it...you know...we...we never found him.” The last few words were choked out and he seemed to have aged decades in a matter of a few seconds.

  Then Kelly exclaimed, “I know who you are! You're Clive Dunlop.” Andy glowered, rose, and stormed out of the room without saying another word.

  Ellen glanced at Kelly, who quickly added, “The character in his brother's book, that's the one who is based on Andy,” she said as Ellen quickly ran to catch up with him.

  “What's the matter?” she asked. Andy stood in the doorway.

  “You know what the matter is, you've read the books,” he said.

  “Yeah, so what? It's not you, it's just a character.”

  “It is me. Why do you think I left my last assignment? Nobody ever would let me forget it. The only reason people here never could work it out is because they didn't know about the case. They only see me as some sort of hero cop who never can do anything wrong.”

  “That's because you are,” Ellen said, moving toward him and reaching out to squeeze his arm.

  She softened her tone. “I can't imagine how you feel but that case was a long time ago and the character in that book was written by your brother. Your life is written by you. And Kelly won't tell anybody so everyone can keep on guessing,” she said.

  She was trying to reassure him it all would be okay but it wasn't having any effect. She could see that by the look on his face.

  “Yeah, everything is a long time ago but it never seems to go away,” he said, and went to leave.

  As he did so, since the door was wide open, Scampy ran between the both of them and disappeared into the night. Ellen cried out after him and ordered him to come back but it had no effect. The dog's barks faded as he got farther and farther away. Ellen started running after him but Andy held her back.

  “I'll go get him. You just stay here,” he said and, before she could argue, he was off, disappearing into the night as well.

  Chapter 4

  “Did you hear anything from Andy?” Kelly asked.

  She had made a rare venture out of doors to the cafe, where Ellen was fretting because Scampy still was missing.

  “He called me at about one in the morning saying it was too dark to follow any tracks so they would continue the search in the morning. A missing girl and now a missing dog, maybe this town is going crazy in the heat,” Ellen said, trying to inject some humor into her day but it came off as dry and lackluster. Kelly looked at her with great sympathy.

  “What do you think made him run off?”

  “I don't know. Who knows with these animals? Maybe he smelled his soulmate or something, or just something tasty to eat.”

  “Andy was pretty quick at leaving as well, wasn't he?” Kelly commented, sipping on her iced tea.

  A few other people were in the cafe but on this sleepy morning most people were still in their houses or working, trying to make it through the day without collapsing into a dreamy haze.

  “Can you blame him? Someone finally worked out his secret,” Ellen said, with more than a hint of an accusing tone directed at Kelly, who seemed oblivious to it.

  “Anyone could have put two and two together really, once that particular information came to light.”

  “He was really sensitive about it.”

  “I can't blame him really,” Kelly said, and Ellen looked at her with an inquisitive expression, trying to prompt Kelly to continue.

  Kelly put her glass down on the table and looked at Ellen with great incredulity. “You have read the books, yes?” she added.

  “Well, I've perused one or two of them. I mean...I've tried reading them, especially when I found out one of the characters was based on Andy, but the trouble with those thrillers is the criminals always seem so much more interesting than the main characters. To be honest, once I couldn't see which ones were like Andy I just gave up on them. They're predictable as well. Anyone can figure out the plot within the first few chapters. His brother is a decent writer I suppose, but he lacks some of the flair and poetry that I prefer in my fiction.”

  “Are you sure you don't want to go to the book club?” Kelly asked, furrowing her brow.

  “Anyway, if you had read more then you'd see why Andy is upset. Do you remember the character of Clive Dunlop?”

  “You mentioned that name yesterday. It rings a bell but, no. I wouldn't be able to tell you anything about him, maybe he was in one of the books that I didn't read? I imagine if there was a character based on Andy I would know it instantly.”

  “Well, that's just the thing. Aside from the case that never got solved I never would have put the two of them together. Clive was the cop who had been stuck behind his desk because he was traumatized b
y an old case, one that he never solved, and he kept going back to it and back to it.”

  “Oh my gosh,” Ellen said as she remembered the character. “Yes, now I know, he was just in the background wasn't he?”

  “Yeah, he was a supporting character, but he was in every book until...well...”

  “What? What happened to him?” she asked. Kelly twisted her head this way and that, debating in what way to frame her discourse.

  “I don't know at what point you dropped off, but Clive always was being reminded of his greatest failure and he never could recover from it. At one point he helped out on a case and it reminded him of the one that basically destroyed his career. It led him to breaking down and drowning in bottles of whiskey. He started pushing everyone away until he was all alone. Then they asked for his badge. The last thing we saw was him with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a bottle of pills in the other.”

  “Wow, that's dark.”

  “Yeah, I can't imagine what Andy's brother was thinking, writing him like that, but aside from the actual incident I don't know how there are any two similarities between the character and Andy. Clive was weak and depressed, kind of pathetic really, the way that Andy's brother wrote him anyway, nothing like Andy. He obviously was able to rebuild his career and come here and he seems pretty well put together,” Kelly said.

  Ellen was chewing her lip for she was well aware that sometimes people saw only the darkness when they looked at reflections of themselves. If Andy still was haunted by his greatest failure then he well could have seen too much of himself in this Clive Dunlop. If that was the case then there was a shadow cast over him that Ellen hadn't seen before. As close as they had grown there was something he had been hiding from her after all this time; not that she could blame him, for there were things she had been hiding from him as well. She thought perhaps it was time for them to have an honest conversation and reveal the deep, inner truths that had remained hidden for too long.