Dangerous Curves Boxed Set 1: 3 Cozy Christian Mysteries

by K L Montgomery

  “I’m sure Bryce Beach will continue to be a nice community,” Molly kept my optimism going, “even if we do grow a little bit. It’s like the world is finally discovering what a wonderful place this is.”

  I didn’t like the worried look on the widow’s face, so I decided to shift the conversation back to our original topic. “I certainly didn’t mean for you to think I was writing you off, Mrs. Monroe,” I hearkened back to her earlier comment. “I just wanted to express my gratitude for your support of my summer reading program and the library in general.”

  “That’s right, dearie. Well, I plan to be around for a long time yet! Even if I need to chase these interlopers off with a stick!” She pretended to wave an imaginary stick in the hand that wasn’t holding her dog’s leash.

  I laughed. “Well, I’m glad to hear you’ll be sticking around.”

  “And if anything does happen to me,” her lips pursed, showing deep wrinkles around them, “then I want you on the case!”

  A nervous giggle escaped my mouth as I patted her hand and mumbled something awkward. I really doubted anything suspicious or mysterious would happen to Mrs. Monroe. If she passed, it would likely be of natural causes. After all, she was well into octogenarian territory, or close to it, in any case.

  “Thanks again!” Molly flashed me a look that said we should probably get going.

  “Have a good evening, Mrs. Monroe. Bye, Natty!”

  Molly tugged me down the sidewalk to her car. We’d both parked at the church down the block, past the library and the coffee shop I frequented. Most of the librarians and staff had tried to park elsewhere to free up spaces for my big event tonight. I was appreciative of how everyone pitched in. Bryce Beach Public Library was a great place to work.

  Looking down the block, I wondered if Cadet Allison Adams had been able to catch the fugitive. We noticed a slight, dark-haired figure breezing out the doors of the coffee shop, carrying a paper cup: Evangeline Dupree, the library director and our boss.

  “Hey, you!” I shouted in her direction. “Kinda late for coffee, isn’t it?” I didn’t even know the shop stayed open this late.

  “Bite your tongue!” she scoffed. “It’s never too late for coffee.”

  She had a point. “Hey, did you see the scuffle that just happened out here in the parking lot?”

  Her eyes widened. “Yes! Did you happen to see where the guy went? He stole some woman’s purse who was in line in front of me and took off out the door.”

  “Oh no!” Molly’s hands flew to her face, alarmed. “That’s terrible! Who would do such a thing?”

  “Looked like a kid, really. Couldn’t have been more than fifteen or sixteen,” Evangeline stated.

  “I hope they caught him.” Molly frowned, looking down the street.

  After possibly witnessing a crime and the disturbing prediction Mrs. Monroe made about the future of our town, the high I’d experienced earlier was rapidly diminishing. I needed to get to a more upbeat place, something more befitting of someone named Sunshine.

  I met my boss’s gaze. “Hey, you want to join us for dinner? We’re celebrating my successful summer reading program awards ceremony.”

  “Depends. Where are you going?” She flipped her jet-black hair behind her shoulder, only for a breeze coming off the water to blow it right back in her face again. She sputtered, then fisted her hair into a ponytail as she waited for the wind to subside.

  “I’m open to suggestion,” I answered, “but maybe we should call Jada too? She seems really down in the dumps lately.” Ever since Jada and her boyfriend broke up a month or so ago, in the midst of a lot of drama, she hadn’t been her usual perky, animated self.

  “I think a storm is brewing.” Molly shivered and looked toward the banks of clouds gathering over the water.

  “Tell you what, why don’t we all meet at my house, and I’ll order us some pizza?” I suggested. “And I’ll call Jada to invite her too.”

  “Girls’ night!” Molly exclaimed, doing a little happy dance. Her long blonde hair was blowing all around her like one of those silly inflatable tube men you see outside car dealerships.

  Evangeline rolled her eyes. She didn’t get excited about much, but I saw a little glimmer of enthusiasm light up her pale face. “Okay, sounds good.”

  “See you guys there!”

  It had been a while since my house was full of people. I hosted a baby shower for one of the library staff members last year, and I was pretty sure that was the last time I had company other than Molly or my family. Like usual, Bond, my male tuxedo cat, was flirting with all my female friends, while Paige Turner, my calico, had hidden herself away. She had always been the flightier and more spastic of my two feline companions.

  As for my female friends, we were all sprawled throughout my living room. Jada was sitting on the ottoman, crossed-legged, wearing a pair of cut-off shorts that showed her toned, shapely legs. Molly was sitting on the sofa next to me, sideways, with her legs up on the cushion and her toes almost touching my thighs—pretty sure she was doing that just to aggravate me. And Evangeline had made herself at home on the loveseat. We were on our second or third slices of pizza at this point, and deep into a conversation about men, as a wicked summer storm howled outside.

  “So, you haven’t talked to Carlton since…you know?” I checked in with Jada, who was still recovering from her recent breakup.

  She shook her head sadly. “Nope. He didn’t return my last text, either…”

  “Well, plenty more fish in the sea,” Molly quipped, reaching over to pat the younger woman’s leg. “You’re young and cute and smart—you should have no trouble finding a man—”

  “If that’s what you even want,” Evangeline cut her off. “I’ve been divorced for, what, eight years now? Best decision of my life. I don’t need no stinkin’ man!” She smirked as she gathered her raven shoulder-length tresses into her hand and smoothed them down.

  Jada laughed. “Well, the seafood biz is a little stinky,” she agreed. The Boxburys, Carlton’s family, owned a seafood distribution center in Moon Point, which was just down the shore from Bryce Beach.

  “Do you ever miss dating, Sunshine?” Jada swiveled her head toward me, her tight coppery brown spiral curls bouncing against her bronze cheeks.

  “Miss it?” I retorted. “I don’t even remember doing it!” The whole topic was so foreign to me, I could only find amusement in it at this point.

  “You’ve never dated?” Jada clarified.

  “Oh, I did in college, once or twice.” I shrugged. “I’m a chunky, nerdy girl. No one wants to date me.”

  Jada’s face scrunched up. “Don’t say that! You’re beautiful…and so…vivacious! There are plenty of men who love redheads too.” She cocked her head as she looked me up and down. “I’m sure you could find a boyfriend if you wanted one.”

  “What, online?” I scoffed. “Isn’t that how you met Carlton?”

  Jada rolled her eyes. “Never mind. I see your point.”

  “Well, I’m a chunky, nerdy girl too,” Molly professed, “but I’m ready to get back out there. Curves are in style, you know.”

  “They are?” I noticed Jada and Evangeline, both straight-sized, were silent on this matter. “That’s news to me.”

  “You haven’t been paying attention to the bodypositivity movement!” Molly schooled me. “Don’t you follow Lizzo on Instagram?”

  “Who?” I stared at her blankly, and Jada burst into laughter.

  “Well, there are others too: Ashley Graham, Tess Holiday, Megan Jayne Crabbe—” She pursed her lips. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “I don’t know, I just didn’t know you were into that sort of thing…”

  Her brows furrowed as she stared at me like I’d been missing out on the best thing ever. “You only get one body. You should love and take care of the one you have. Not put things off until you lose weight. What if you never do?”

  I couldn’t argue with that. I noticed Jada and
Evangeline still weren’t contributing to the conversation. Our boss looked a bit uncomfortable.

  “So, I kept thinking I’d try dating when I lost weight, but why wait? That might never happen, and I should be happy in my body right now!” Molly gestured down her thick, shapely thighs and calves, which were covered by a floral cotton sundress.

  “I think that’s great,” Jada praised her. “Good for you, Molly! And maybe when we both start dating again, we can double sometime?”

  “That sounds fun,” Molly agreed.

  Evangeline looked as though the pizza she’d just eaten might make a violent reappearance. She grabbed her soda off the end table next to the loveseat and took a long sip, probably to keep herself from gagging on all the love and sisterhood going on in the room right now. Our boss was not a warm and fuzzy person by any means, but even I was a little put off by the conversation. I didn’t know why. I wished I could have the attitude Molly had just expressed.

  I had gotten to the point of feeling neutral about my body. I didn’t hate it. It was good enough to get me where I wanted to go, to help me do what I wanted to do. I’d solved two major crimes in Bryce Beach over the course of the last few months, and it would’ve been hard doing that without a strong, healthy body—plus great intuition and lots of smarts, of course.

  “So, do you have someone in mind to date?” Jada asked, keeping with our current topic of conversation after the small sidetrack to body image.

  Molly folded her hands in her lap as a pink blush crept across her cheeks. “Actually, yes. The new minister at my church, Paul. He’s just so…yummy!” she squealed, sounding more like a thirteen-year-old than a forty-one-year-old.

  But whatever makes her happy, right, Lord?

  Then I thought to myself, I’m not jealous, am I? I knew the commandments. I wasn’t supposed to be envious of anyone.

  I’d have to add that to my list of things to work on.

  Two

  Molly and I made plans to meet at Lighthouse Park for our Saturday morning walk with Murphy, her puppy, like we’d been doing all summer long. Thankfully, we hadn’t made any gruesome discoveries since that first time we went and found the dead fish washed up on the beach, but today might be different. Shuddering, I remembered their lifeless eyes staring out into the great abyss. I braced myself for what we might see washed up on the beach after the violent storm last night.

  The morning was clear and bright, and the humidity was much lower after the storm front passed through. I saw Molly and her faithful friend pop up over the dune—looks like they beat me here. “Hey!” I called out.

  As soon as Murphy saw me, he tugged on his leash, dragging my best friend toward me as she struggled to get him under control. “He’s going to work with a dog trainer starting next week,” she said as she approached.

  “Oh, but he’s such a good boy!” I bent down and let him lick the crap out of my face. I couldn’t get enough of his wet nose and floppy ears and that hilarious pink tongue wagging out of his mouth.

  “If you say so.” Molly rolled her eyes.

  We started to walk back down the path toward the beach. We typically made a loop down the shoreline, across to where the lighthouse guarded Bryce Cove, through the thick scrub that surrounded the campground, and then back to the parking lot. It was about two and a half miles total, perfect for a brisk Saturday morning stroll.

  I took care to plod through the deep sand at the edge of the beach. “I’ve been thinking about our conversation with Mrs. Monroe.”

  “Me too!” Molly shortened Murphy’s leash so he was forced to walk right beside her. “Stay with me, boy,” she commanded him. “What was she talking about…that club?”

  I shrugged. “That’s what I was trying to figure out. You know the town council wouldn’t allow a strip club in town at all, let alone at the boardwalk. It’s supposed to be family-friendly!”

  “Maybe she’s confused,” Molly speculated. “I know sometimes she appears to be really lucid, but other times…”

  “That’s true.” I laughed thinking of how worked up she got about the “riffraff taking over our town” and how she felt the need to intervene. She was the tiniest little hunched-over thing. She was still feisty, though!

  “I hear she was quite the beauty back in the day,” Molly shared. “And, now that I think about it, I saw some photos of her from a debutante ball when she was eighteen—they’re at the historical society. She was lovely!”

  “She must get lonely in that big house all by herself.” I stared out across the water, which was dotted with sailboats bouncing up and down on the tide. “What do you think she does all day?”

  “I heard she keeps bees.” Molly shrugged. “But I don’t know how much time that takes up. For all the support she gives the library, she doesn’t check out many books.”

  I laughed. “That’s true. She probably just buys them instead.”

  “Hey, I wonder what happened with that kid who stole the purse?” Molly changed the direction of our conversation.

  I’d been wondering that too. Could he be part of my next mystery? I’d solved the Bryce Beach Bandit case and the Mystery at the Marina. Maybe we had a “perennial purse snatcher” in our midst, and I would need to take matters into my own hands. Okay, so I needed to work on the name. At least it has alliteration, right?

  “I’ll have to ask Chief James if Cadet Adams caught the kid next time I see him.”

  “Oh, yes, you guys are like besties now, aren’t you?” Molly elbowed me in the side and laughed. She was trying to be funny.

  Chief Vincent James, head of the Bryce Beach Police Department, was an imposing man of few words. But he was smart, strong, capable, and prided himself on a crime-free community. I hoped after the last incident I got involved in that he trusted me to help out on future cases—I seemed to have a knack for detective work, and what was more, I really enjoyed it.

  “I’ll ask him tomorrow at church,” I decided as we headed toward the lighthouse.

  “Speaking of tomorrow…” Molly’s voice had a glimmer of excitement in it.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m going to try to talk to Pastor Bethany—I mean, Paul—after the service tomorrow,” she shared.

  “You are?”

  “Yeah. I think I’m going to ask him to lunch. Or dinner. Or coffee—” She frowned. “Oh, I don’t know what’s best. What do you think?”

  I sighed. “Oh, Molls, whatever you decide will be fine. I’m sure he’ll be flattered and really excited to get to know you.”

  “You think so?”

  “Of course he will!”

  Hey, she wasn’t the only one who could be positive.

  I had my moments.

  Church was buzzing that morning. The children’s choir was singing, and I couldn’t wait to see my nephews in their Sunday best up there with their peers, smiling and singing their hearts out about Jesus. My mother was helping the choir director, and I watched her lead the long line of fidgeting kids down the center aisle of the sanctuary toward the altar.

  My dad sat on one side of me, and River, my brother, and his wife, Isabelle, were on the other. Molly’s sister came today since her daughter would be performing, so my best friend was across the church sitting with her family. I had given her a little wave and a thumbs-up sign when she made a face like she was nervous. I knew she was referring to her plans to speak with Pastor Bethany after the service.

  The pianist plunked out the prelude to the song as the kids took their places on the risers. I prayed my nephews, Jacob and Andrew, wouldn’t embarrass us. They were a bit rambunctious at times, but they were getting older and knew how to behave. They also had video game access now—which would be stripped away in a heartbeat if either acted up. It was a powerful weapon in the parental discipline arsenal.

  My mother sat in the first pew right behind the children’s choir director as she stood and poised her hands to show the children where to come in. She was a petite, graceful woman with short-cropped
hair and a slender neck. The children adored her, and that definitely helped.

  The song went off without a hitch, and my nephews were real hams up there. I was a proud aunt, and relieved, because if they’d acted up, it would be a somber meal after church. I was heading to my parents’ house, along with my brother and his family, for a cookout. My dad would be firing up the grill, and word on the street was that my mother had gotten an assortment of tasty treats to make shish kabobs.

  Lord, I know my thoughts should be with You anyway, but please help me get through this service without thinking about those shish kabobs too much, please?

  After Pastor Bethany’s impassioned sermon about identifying and using your spiritual gifts, and the communion and offering and final hymn, the congregation was dismissed into the summer sunshine. We all filed out of the building, chattering away, and, of course, my mind was immediately filled with images of perfectly grilled pineapple and succulent bites of chicken, steak, and shrimp.

  I wasn’t expecting Pastor Bethany to shake my hand and then hold on to it with both of his—firmly, like he didn’t intend to let me go. When I tried to yank my hand away, he tightened his grip. “Sunshine, would you mind hanging around a bit after? I’d like to have a word with you.”

  A chill danced down my spine. “I, uh…” I nervously glanced around, and my gaze immediately fell on Molly, who was turning beet red. She shot a barrel of daggers in my direction. “Oh, sorry,” I stammered, still trying to extricate my hand from the pastor’s insanely strong grasp, “I’m heading right over to my parents’ house for lunch. I don’t want to make them wait for me.”

  “Oh, I see.” The smile immediately faded from his face.

  “I…uh…you could call me later, maybe?” I tried to keep my voice bright and chipper.

  “Sure, I’ll, um, get your number from the church directory.” He winked before turning his attention to my brother and his wife.