Sweet Secrets (A Sweet Cove Mystery Book 3)

by J A Whiting

  Angie eyes narrowed. Anger pulsed through her body with every beat of her heart. She carried the books to the library copy machine and made copies of some of the pages. The librarian walked by pushing a trolley of books to return to the shelves.

  “Excuse me.” Angie walked over to the woman. “I’ve recently moved to town and I’m doing some research on Sweet Cove history.”

  The librarian gave Angie her attention. “That’s wonderful. Not many young people seem interested in such things.”

  “I noticed in the old town reports that Richard Wilson was the town clerk for many years. Was he related to Paul Wilson who was the town clerk until a few years ago?”

  “Yes, indeed. Richard was Paul’s father.”

  Angie had to suppress her desire to clap her hands together. “I guess old towns like to keep things in the families.” She smiled and thanked the librarian. She practically ran out of the library to rush home and share the news with her sisters.

  Chapter 19

  The girls found a good spot on Main Street to stand and watch the early evening parade. The sidewalks were packed two to three deep with tourists and residents who had come out for the annual Fourth of July parade. The town committees and groups did a great job each year coming up with small decorated floats geared towards the yearly themes. This year’s theme was “Remembering Our Past.” Children, dressed in costumes depicting different eras, marched along with the Girl and Boy Scout groups and town officials. Youth sports teams, a fire truck, police car, and various musical groups, clowns, horses, and men and women dressed in Early American costumes completed the parade participants. The sisters greeted friends and acquaintances, shared cotton candy, and sat on the curb applauding the groups marching past.

  Angie had reported to her sisters what she’d discovered in the library about Richard and Paul Wilson and the girls were convinced that John Turner must have paid Richard to help manipulate the land deeds and the recording of the land owners. They wondered if Paul Wilson had knowledge of his father’s wrongdoing and if he understood that his family had become so wealthy due to taking bribes from John Turner.

  “Look.” Courtney tilted her head to the right. “There’s the grouch now. Over there at the corner talking to a woman.”

  Jenna spotted the historical society grouch standing on the sidewalk. “I see him.” She did a double-take. “He’s talking to the Coveside tour lady.”

  “Shirley Banks.” A shiver flew over Angie’s skin when she looked at Paul Wilson standing next to Shirley. “They must know each other from years back. They seem about the same age.”

  “Shirley Banks would be shocked if she knew how Wilson and his family benefited from helping John Turner.” Ellie squinted from the bright late afternoon sunlight. “Shirley was brave to take those documents from Turner’s office and bring them to her mother.”

  Jenna scowled. “It got them into a mess of trouble though with Turner burning their house down. Imagine how frightening that would be, knowing someone deliberately set fire to your house. It would easily turn a person off from ever trying to help someone in the future.”

  “That’s for sure.” Courtney put on her sunglasses. “I wonder who else in this town has some wickedness in their background?”

  Angie sighed. “I think there are bad people in every town and city. But the good ones always outnumber the bad ones.”

  Courtney caught a piece of candy that was thrown from one of the floats. She handed it to Angie and smiled. “Here. It’s your reward for being our eternal optimist.”

  The last float passed in front of the girls. It was a boat decorated in red, white, and blue colored garlands, flags, and flowers. The Sweet Cove mayor, the fire chief, and Police Chief Martin stood under a red sail waving to the crowd. The sisters stood up and waved to the chief, and then they joined the crowd of people in the street following along behind the last float of the parade. It was tradition for the spectators to follow the parade down to the beach for the annual clambake.

  When the girls reached the white sand beach, they saw that a band was set up on a platform. The band was playing a mix of pop, rock, and country tunes. Smoke rose from massive grills set up not far from the band platform. Buffet tables groaned with heaps of food, including lobsters, steamed clams, corn chowder, clam chowder, salads, grilled vegetables, and roasted potatoes. An ice cream truck parked on the beach was serving soft serve ice cream, sherbet, popsicles, and other treats.

  “Courtney’s eyes were like saucers. “Wow. I’m starving.”

  “What a spread.” Jenna reached into her jean shorts for her money. “Where do we pay?”

  The girls got in line to pay for the buffet. After giving their money to a cashier, they each got a stamp on their hand that entitled them to the all-you-can-eat buffet.

  “Don’t worry,” the cashier told them. “You can still swim in the ocean and the stamp won’t come off. You’ll need to scrub it off with soap and water.”

  The girls spread a blanket on the sand and pulled off their T-shirts and shorts to reveal swimsuits underneath. They raced each other into the sea where they spent an hour swimming, jumping in the waves, and body-surfing.

  “I need to eat.” Courtney’s stomach was growling, so she and her sisters returned to their blanket where they wrapped up in beach towels to warm themselves in the glow of the fading sun.

  Jenna toweled off her long hair. “That was great. The water was even pretty warm for early July.”

  Ellie laughed. “I think you have a distorted understanding of what constitutes warm.”

  After drying off, they pulled on their shorts and tops and headed for the buffet where they piled their plates with food. They went back to sit on the blanket to eat their dinner and enjoy the music.

  “We should do this every day. Forget about working.” Courtney reached for her small backpack.

  “We’ll have to win the lottery to do that,” Ellie said.

  Thinking about inheriting the Victorian, Angie looked at her sisters. “I think we already won.”

  Jenna smiled. “I think you’re right.”

  Courtney took the attic spyglass out of her backpack.

  “You brought that thing?” Ellie eyed the small telescope. “The crowd down here will think you’re using it to spy on them.”

  “I want to use it to look at the boats out on the water.” Courtney raised the spyglass to her eye. She twisted the end piece to focus on a sailboat that was far out at sea. “It works great. Everything is so clear.”

  “I wonder if it’s an antique.” Ellie leaned closer to get a good look at the telescope. “I wonder if it belonged to John Turner.”

  Courtney lowered the spyglass. She looked at it with distaste. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  A man’s voice called to them and they turned to see Chief Martin walking up to the blanket. “I haven’t seen you girls for a while. Keeping out of trouble?”

  “We’re trying to.” Angie smiled. “Have a seat.” She patted the blanket.

  “Thanks, but I just came by to say hello.” The chief smiled. “Anyway, if I sit down on the blanket, you’ll probably have to pull me up when its time to go. I don’t want the people of Sweet Cove thinking I’m too feeble to protect them.”

  The girls laughed.

  The chief spotted the spyglass in Courtney’s hand. “What have you got there?”

  “I found it up in the attic in the Victorian.” She held it out so the chief could see.

  “It’s a beautiful piece. May I try it?”

  Courtney handed it to Chief Martin and he lifted it to his eye and focused over the water. “It brings everything into such sharp focus. It’s great.”

  As he handed it back to Courtney, it slipped from his grasp and bashed against her knee with a thunk.

  “Oh, sorry.” The chief apologized. “Are you hurt?”

  “No, no. It’ll be fine.” Courtney rubbed her knee and smiled. “Good thing it wasn’t my head.”

  Jenna lif
ted the spyglass from where it bounced onto the blanket after smacking her sister’s knee. When she picked it up, the inside sounded like the clinking of broken glass.

  “Did I break it?” The chief’s face was lined with worry.

  Jenna turned the telescope over in her hand and it clinked again. She brought it to her eye. “It still works fine.”

  Courtney reached for it. She jiggled the telescope slightly and it made a tinkling sound. She unscrewed the eyepiece from the body and a piece of metal fell into her lap.

  Angie leaned to see. She picked up the small thing that had fallen out. A skitter of unease played over her skin. “It’s a key.” She held it up so the others could see it.

  The chief reached for the object. “There’s a number on it.” He turned it in his fingers. “Huh. It’s a key to a safety deposit box. The bank’s initials are on it.”

  The girls took turns passing the key between them.

  “I wonder ….” Courtney closed her hand over the silver key and made eye contact with each of her sisters. “What could be in the box it opens?”

  Chapter 20

  Ellie called Attorney Ford and asked him to come by the Victorian. He arrived wearing a tan linen jacket, light brown trousers, and a white starched shirt. The bowtie of the day was a dark chocolate color with tiny gold crowns printed on the fabric.

  Angie greeted Ford at the door. “Good morning, Attorney Ford.” She caught herself and corrected. “I mean, Jack.”

  Ford smiled and shook hands. “Hello, Angie.”

  Ellie appeared from the hall dressed in a light blue summer dress. Part of her long blonde hair was pulled over her shoulder. Her blue eyes sparkled when she saw the lawyer standing in the foyer, and for a moment, Angie suspected a hint of flirting in the air. She blinked and stared from Ellie to Ford trying to pick up on an attraction between them.

  Ellie ushered Ford into the living room while Angie rounded up Courtney and Jenna. Euclid and Circe padded into the room and jumped up on the couch where they took positions on the sofa back. When everyone was settled, the girls took turns reporting what they’d discovered and what they suspected about John Turner and his associates doctoring land records, removing town hall records, making a trade with parcels of land on the point for land near the cove, and forging a will that stole Robin’s Point land from their great-grandmother, Forsythia Turner. They showed the attorney the pictures from the box in the wall, the key from the spyglass, and told him how, fifty years ago, Shirley Banks took the original will and the forged document from Turner’s office, showed them to her mother, and hid them in their house which was promptly burned to the ground by John Turner.

  Attorney Ford’s eyes were wide. “I see you’ve been very busy since acquiring the Victorian.”

  Courtney couldn’t suppress a chuckle. “You could say that.”

  Ford cleared his throat and lifted his eyes to Angie. “I had a long talk with my uncle.” Attorney Blake Ford was living in Florida, and Jack Ford bought the law firm from him. “Your grandmother went to Uncle Blake with her suspicions about the land. He’d tried to figure out what was going on, but your grandmother died before he could find anything definitive. However, he did find something that pointed to Turner’s crimes.”

  Looks of surprise showed on the four sisters’ faces.

  When Uncle Blake purchased the law office many years ago from another attorney, there was a letter left behind in one of the basement file cabinets. It was correspondence between John Turner and the previous attorney. It hinted at serious wrongdoing … having to do with cutting Forsythia Turner out of a will as well as questionable dealings with the land exchanges between John Turner and the town.”

  “What was the previous attorney’s name?” Angie asked.

  “William Sanders.”

  “I bet that’s the William in this picture with John Turner.” Jenna pushed the picture across the coffee table with her forefinger to move it closer to Ford.

  Angie sat up and asked, “Is this the reason you were here in the Victorian the night Professor Linden died?”

  Ford nodded. “My uncle told me to come and search through the professor’s files to see if I could locate any documents to back up what was in the letter he had found.” He made eye contact with Angie. “Then you showed up and I panicked so I ran away.” Ford looked sheepish from admitting his panic.

  “Professor Linden went to see you shortly before she died,” Angie said. “It was about her father?” She paused and said, “Ignore that question. I know you can’t divulge client-attorney information.” She tried a different question. “If the professor had documents in her possession that proved that Turner forged a will and illegally traded land with the town, could you use those documents in a legal case?”

  “I could.” Ford paused. “But, unfortunately, I don’t have such documents.”

  “What about this key?’ Courtney handed it to Ford. “Can you access the bank safe deposit box it goes to?”

  “I’m still Professor Linden’s legal representative, so yes, if this key was hers and her account was still active, I will be able to access it.”

  “How soon?” Ellie asked.

  “Probably early next week.”

  The attorney agreed to keep them informed about what he found out from the bank. Because Angie had inherited the Victorian and its contents, then she would also inherit whatever was inside the safe deposit box. Ford asked Angie to accompany him to the bank when it was time to access the security box.

  Jenna asked, “So, do we just wait to see what’s inside the box?”

  Attorney Ford said, “Let’s see if there are any documents we can use to prove what John Turner and his associates did. Unfortunately, there isn’t anyone to prosecute since the players are all dead.”

  The girls looked disappointed.

  “However, there is a possibility of legal action against the town of Sweet Cove. The town unlawfully took land from Forsythia Turner.” Attorney Ford hesitated. “You understand that if such a case was won … the four of you would either receive land on Robin’s Point or a large sum of money in compensation.”

  The sisters remained silent. None of them really comprehended what Attorney Ford was telling them.

  “The four of you are descendants of Forsythia Turner. You would be the beneficiaries of the legal action. Should a case be won, of course.”

  “The land on Robin’s Point would be given to us?” Angie was incredulous.

  A huge breath escaped from Courtney’s throat. “Jumpin’ jiminy.”

  The cats trilled.

  ***

  Attorney Ford left the house and the girls remained in their seats stunned by what they’d just heard. Mr. Finch entered the living room and stopped at the threshold. “Did I miss a meeting?”

  “You certainly did.” Ellie waved for Finch to take a seat.

  The girls told him what had just transpired with Attorney Ford.

  Finch sat in the side chair holding his cane in front of him. “Well, then. Justice will be served.” He nodded his head slightly. “Better late then never, I suppose.”

  “When all of this started … I never dreamed we might receive compensation. It never occurred to me.” Angie looked dumbfounded. “I didn’t think such a thing was even possible.”

  “It makes me happy.” Courtney sat on the floor with the cats. “It would make Nana happy. She’d love this.”

  Jenna shared a glance with Angie, and then said to her youngest sister. “I think you’re right. Nana would love this.”

  Mr. Finch cleared his throat. “I have some news. Unfortunately, not good news.”

  All eyes turned to Finch.

  “What is it?” Ellie’s eyes narrowed with concern.

  Finch reassured the sisters. “It’s not terrible news, just disappointing. It seems the owners of the house that I’ve put a deposit on have changed their minds. They’re taking the house off the market.”

  “Oh, no,” Angie said.

 
“You were so looking forward to moving in there.” Ellie frowned. “I’m very sorry it won’t work out.”

  “Which places me in a bit of a conundrum.” Finch fiddled with his cane. “I have no where to live.”

  “You can live here,” Courtney told the man.

  Finch looked downcast. “But the B and B rooms are full soon. They’ve been rented already.”

  “Nonsense,” Ellie said. “We won’t have you out on the street. You are now a member of this family.”

  Courtney whispered to Finch. “Whether you like it or not.”

  Finch’s lips quivered and he blinked. “I would very much like to be part of this family.”

  “There’s another option.” Courtney raised one of her eyebrows in a devilish way. “I bet Betty Hayes wouldn’t mind a guest in her house.”

  Finch’s eyes twinkled. “That would be improper, Miss Courtney.”

  “You’re staying here.” Ellie pushed her long hair over her shoulder. “If you’d like, you can take one of the carriage house apartments. You’d have more privacy there.”

  Courtney winked at Mr. Finch. “Privacy,” she teased.

  Ellie continued. “Or if you prefer to keep your room here in the house, I’ll email an incoming guest and offer them the carriage house accommodation. Give it some thought and let me know what you’d like to do. Either way, you’re staying with us.” She stood up and headed for the stairs. “I’m going out for a little while.”

  Angie’s phone buzzed. Her face lit up when she saw that it was Josh. He was back in Sweet Cove, but in several hours he would have to leave on business again. “He’s inviting me to meet him in Coveside for lunch.”

  “Do you need some time to think his invitation over?” Jenna teased.

  Courtney laughed. “I’m surprised she’s not down there already.”