by Emma Watts
“What’s that place?”
“Cape Tomlin Lighthouse. It’s been there since 1948. It was originally located farther down the beach but they moved it up here back in 1998. It’s no longer in operation. They were going to remove it but the town council voted to keep it here as they said it was part of our history.”
My eyes scanned the jagged coastline, and I watched as waves crashed against the rocks in the distance, leaving behind frothy white foam. We continued down a steep hill that would have eventually lead down to a boat launch but near the bottom she turned and stuck her key in her shop’s front door.
“Okay, here we are!”
I stepped back and looked up at the sign. In gold lettering were the words: Afterlife Antiques and Books. The sign itself was a matte black, and the windows at the front were shaped like the old-style British windows. It reminded me of Oliver and the Victorian era. As soon as I stepped inside I was greeted by the sound of a jangle, and a cat meowing.
“I know I’m running late, Mr. Jenkins, but I needed to show Kelly around.”
The black-and-white cat came over and rubbed his head against the side of my leg. My eyes soaked in the store. It smelled musty and dusty inside. Everywhere I turned there were antiques and signage with positive quotes.
“Follow me, keep up,” Ivy said leading me through the mishmash of antiques through to a room in the back which was packed with old and new books. A spiral staircase was in the middle going up to a second level. Ivy took off her coat and adjusted the dial on the heating and headed into a small room to put the kettle on.
“So what do you think of it?”
“It’s quaint.”
“Now I know your brother said I was looking to sell it, and initially I was but after our chat last night I had a better idea. How about this… I hire you, being as you seem so adamant that you need your freedom and convinced that this would be like a ball and chain.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to, I’m very perceptive, my dear.” She took down a couple of mugs. “Do you take milk with your tea?”
“Yes. Thanks. Just a little.”
“So, back to my idea. I was thinking of hiring you and showing you the ropes. Maybe today you aren’t interested in running the store but give it a year or two maybe and I think you’ll change your tune.”
“Um…”
Before I could even say it, Ivy spat it out. “I will pay you good money. More than what Logan would, and you will have your evenings off, and two days off on the weekend.”
I glanced around and ran my hands over the thick books which were bound in leather. Some of them looked ancient as if no one had ever opened them up.
“What are these?” I asked looking at a shelf where the books were locked up in a glass-fronted cabinet.
“Oh, I’ll explain soon but not right now. Come on, here’s your tea.”
Over the course of the next twenty minutes, Ivy grilled me about my life. Even though it felt like she didn’t know me, there were moments that made me wonder if she had been keeping tabs on me from an early age or my parents had been feeding her information. I was still unsure as to why I couldn’t remember her. My parents had died four years ago, which was about the time strange things started to occur in my life. Ivy took my cup and placed it in a small sink and turned the faucet on.
“My dear, even though you feel like a ship lost at sea, I want you to know that you are not alone. You’ve never been alone. I’m sure your parents are pleased that you are here.”
I didn’t know what to say to that and by the time I had come up with a reply she was heading back out to collect her coat. This woman never seemed to slow down. “Come on, I’ll walk you home but first I want to introduce you to someone. I’m interested to see what he says.”
“Who’s that?”
“You’ll see.”
We gathered our things and headed back out onto the main street that fed down to the harbor. Ivy appeared lost in thought as she led the way. She mumbled under her breath like a crazy woman. I had to almost break into a jog to keep up with her.
“Come along, come along,” she kept saying. Her small heels clicked on the cobblestones. In the distance there was a harborside restaurant called the Marina Bar and Grill. It was a beautiful structure that wrapped around the pier and had windows that overlooked the harbor. It was made out of steel and cedar and had a sign of a boat with a fish jumping out of it. As we entered the place, it looked to be in the process of being renovated. The whole place had a nautical theme to it. Rope hung from the ceiling, sea shells were used as décor and several ship wheels dotted the room. All the wooden chairs were up on the round tables in the center of the room, and against the walls were brown leather booths. Several construction workers were nailing in planks of hardwood. They looked our way for a second and continued working. An older man in his fifties was working behind the bar. I caught his reflection in the mirror. He had a thick black beard with silver flecks in it, and looked as if he had been stitched into his clothing. He certainly didn’t look as if he’d been working in a restaurant all his life.
“Jason, I have someone I would like you to meet.”
He was drying a glass with his back turned when he replied. “If it’s another one of your lunatic cousins, you can just head on out the rear exit. I don’t have time for it today, Ivy. This place has to be back up and running by this evening. I’ve already lost two days since that incident.”
He turned around and his eyes locked on to me. He wore a shocked expression as if he had seen a ghost. Ivy was smirking. “This is Kelly Winters.” She emphasized my last name as if trying to jolt his memory. Jason set the glass he was drying on the counter and stood there staring.
“Well, Jason, where are your manners?”
Then just like that he snapped out of it. “Please, forgive me. You just look like… well… your mother Diana.”
I shook my head. “You knew her?”
Okay, this was getting a little creepy, how was it that two complete strangers knew my mother? I was beginning to think it wasn’t a coincidence that Jamie had moved to Haven or perhaps he wasn’t telling me everything.
“Yeah, I knew your mother, she studied not far from here. I loved her dearly. Sorry for your loss.”
“Here?” I turned to Ivy, and she nodded while taking a seat.
“I know you’re full of questions, Kelly, and eventually you’ll get answers.”
I was just about to start peppering them with all the questions spinning in my mind when there was a commotion outside.
“How many times have I told you to check these scuba tanks?” a lanky man said. He had a mustache and a bald head.
“Looks like Daniel is back at it again,” Jason said as he walked over to the door and flung a tea towel over his shoulder. He leaned against the doorway and I looked him up and down. Who was this man? How did he know about my mother’s death?
The voices got louder and the lanky man tossed down the tank and said, “We are dealing with people’s lives here. Had that ended up being loaded into the boat, I would have not only lost my license but I could have ended up in jail. I don’t think you are cut out for this, Tobias. This is the third time I have had to tell you to check those tanks. The whole reason I hired you was because I’m already spinning plates.”
“Please, Daniel, it’s not my fault. I’m sure I checked those tanks this morning. They were all full. I don’t know how that one got in there.”
The lanky man shifted from one foot to the next as he dragged in scuba gear and tossed it down on the wooden dock. He had a huge fifty-foot white boat that had the words Dan’s Scuba and Charter Business painted down the side in red.
“Look, the only reason I took you on was as a favor to my daughter but I’m sorry, turn in your belongings at the end of the day.”
“Come on, Daniel.”
“That’s final.”
Daniel walked away and hopped back onto his boat. The teenager
stood there for a second, an expression of shock on his face. Then he kicked one of the tanks. Several seagulls squawked and broke away into the blue sky. Daniel poked his head out of the boat’s cabin and shouted something at him, but the kid just ignored him and walked up the hill past the Marina Bar and Grill. Farther down near the harbor, a man in his thirties, blonde hair, observed what was going on and ended a conversation with a group of people before heading towards Daniel’s boat.
“What are you looking at?”
Jason smiled and walked back inside. “Some people don’t learn.”
“What was all that about?” I asked.
“Daniel Moon runs a charter business but at the same time he takes people out scuba diving. He’s been living here in the town for…” Ivy trailed off.
“Twelve years,” Jason said scooping up a bucket on the ground and bringing it around the back of the bar. He pulled out the mop and began wiping down the floors.
“The man you see heading towards Daniel’s boat. That’s Liam Vaughn, he runs the entire harbor and has his hands in real estate in town. No doubt he’s going to rip into Daniel for his outburst. He runs a tight ship and with tourists looking to head out, he can’t have people arguing loudly.”
“But that’s not the half of it. Tell her,” Jason said.
“Oh, you remember that gal who works at Logan’s Café? Sylvia?”
“Yeah?”
“That’s Daniel’s daughter. You could say he’s overly protective of her, almost to the point that he is going to drive her away if he doesn’t give her room. Oh and he has a son. My guess is he has got wind that Tobias was seeing Sylvia.” Ivy snickered. “Oh, Kelly, you’ll soon get used to this place. It’s a very small town. Everyone lives in everyone else’s pockets. There is very little that goes on here that people don’t know about. With a population of just over nine hundred, everyone eventually gets to know everyone else, or at least finds out their business.”
With that said, Ivy got up and thanked Jason for his time and we headed out.
* * *
The rest of the day was uneventful. After Ivy returned to her store, I told her I would think over her offer and get back to her within twenty-four hours with an answer. It wasn’t like I was going to turn down a job, as I needed the money, but I was still trying to make sense how she knew so much about me. That evening Jamie was out so I couldn’t even ask him why he’d moved to Haven. I was beginning to think that it wasn’t anything to do with the city being too big and that perhaps like me he’d been drawn there, but for what reason? That was still to be determined.
Chapter 4
Death. It raises its ugly head once in a while and when it does it brings everything that is good to a halt. That night my dreams were more vivid than they had ever been before. Since the death of my mother, I’d had this one recurring nightmare of being surrounded by fire. The flames never burned me but I felt a deep sense of fear as if something dangerous was closing in on me.
The next morning I headed into town to meet with Ivy and let her know that I’d accepted her offer. She wasn’t around that morning and attempts to get hold of her by phone weren’t working either. I stood outside her store and knocked several times but the closed sign was up and peering in the window didn’t help as it was pitch-dark inside.
I trudged back up the street heading for Logan’s Café, hoping a cup of strong coffee would wake me and while I was there, I could find out what Logan knew about Ivy. As I entered the café, it was a hive of activity. Several people were lined up waiting to get a cup of coffee, there were others dotted around the room reading newspapers and a group of kids at the far end.
Logan looked to be rushed off his feet. I watched him race back and forth taking orders and attempting to make coffee while looking as if he was about to burst a blood vessel.
“Need a hand?” I asked.
He glanced over and smiled. “Why, you want a job?”
“I actually might have one but it looks like you could use some help.”
“It’s okay.”
“Oh, it’s no bother,” I said taking off my jacket and coming around the counter. “I don’t have anything but time to kill. At least until Ivy returns.”
“Okay, well great, if you want to take orders, I’ll fill them.”
I’d used a cash register before and by the looks of what he had upfront it didn’t appear to present any problems. Over the course of the next twenty minutes we burned through what I came to learn was the rush hour.
“Seven until ten. It’s always my busiest time. We got your early morning risers, fishermen and store owners and then the rest of the local rabble. I then get a breather for about two hours and then it starts again until about two. I usually close down in the evening around seven.”
“That makes for a long day.”
“If you hate what you do, that’s stress. If you love it, that’s passion. I’ve been doing this for years. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. What about you? What did you do before you came here?”
“Worked in a café, offices, you name it, I’ve done it. I like to think of myself as a jack-of-all-trades.”
“Master of none?”
“No, master of all,” I replied with a smile.
Logan wiped down the counter and leaned against it. “So you planning on staying in Haven?”
“At least for now. By the way, I hope this doesn’t sound odd but you don’t know my mother, do you?”
“What’s her name?”
“Diana Winters?”
“Never heard of her.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Great, I was beginning to think everyone knew her. It was good to know there were still some ordinary folks in the town.”
“Ordinary? No one is ordinary in this town.” He pointed outside. “For instance, see that guy and gal over there.” Both of them looked like real characters. She had wild pink hair, he had a mullet with huge earrings. “Miles and Violet. Those two are the local buskers. That’s literally how they make their money from morning to dusk. He plays, she sings or dances.” He then pointed farther down. “See that gal over there, the one that is jabbing her fingers at her customers. That is Adele. She’s a Dutch lady that makes her own soup and sells it. It’s out of this world but best of luck getting served. If she doesn’t like the look of you, or if you say anything she doesn’t like, you can pretty much write off getting soup for a few months unless you get someone else to get it for you.” He then pointed again down towards city hall. “In there you have Silas our mayor. He’d have you believe he is king of Haven by the way he beckons you into his office or speaks to you on the street. He’s a real oddball. Not sure how long he will last in office but I hope it’s not long.” He continued, “Then we have Liam Vaughn. Now if there is a man in this town you should stay clear of, it’s him. He has a mean streak a mile long. Don’t let him fool you with his smooth talking. He does that with anyone that is new. He’s like a snake-oil salesman. If he can’t convince you to go on some overpriced tour around the harbor, he’ll try and get you to rent one of his apartments. Don’t! It’s a nightmare. His idea of being a landlord is to do absolutely nothing. A good friend of mine moved to town and got a deal on a one-bedroom apartment from him. Moving-in day arrives, and he shows up and finds a stove outside his apartment with the front torn off and cat hair and grease inside. It was gross. I swear, my friend went ballistic. Fortunately I was able to get him out of that and we found him a nice place on the west side. Which reminds me. Where are you staying?”
“With my brother.”
“Jamie?”
“Yeah, you know him?”
“Everyone knows him in town. He’s always up to something. Usually getting in trouble with Silas or Vaughn. Hey look, go take a seat and I’ll bring a coffee and one of my fresh-baked croissants over to you.”
I fished into my pocket for some money and he put his hand up.
“You’ve earned it. Go on.”
I gave a nod and we
nt over to one of the window seats. I had barely plunked my butt in the seat when a siren wailed loudly and an ambulance shot by the window. Everyone in the café turned and looked on curiously.
“Hey, Logan. If you don’t mind, I’ll take that coffee to go.”
“Sure thing.”
I got up and scooped up the coffee from the counter, thanked him and headed out to see what all the commotion was about. Farther down the road, I could see two medics had hopped out of the vehicle and were taking a stretcher down to the dock. Though not panicked, but eager to see what was going on, I made my way down to the harbor and joined the small crowd that had gathered. Among them was Liam Vaughn who was on a cell phone talking to someone. He had a concerned expression on his face and was trying to talk while keeping the crowd back.
I worked my way through the tangled mass of bodies to the front and tried to speak with Liam. “What’s going on?” I asked. He hung up and pointed out towards the boat that was docked into a slip farther down. “Been an accident by the sounds of it.” He cast a glance at me and his eyes rose. “Wow, you look like the spitting image of…”
“Let me guess… Diana?” I muttered while keeping my eye on the boat.
“Yes. How did you know?”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “I’m her daughter Kelly.”
“Oh, wow, nice to finally get to meet another one of her offspring.” He looked back towards the boat and I could notice him glancing at me out the corner of his eye.
