Panic in Paxton Park (A Paxton Park Mystery Book 2)

by J A Whiting

  Jay paused for a few moments. “We worked with a psychic. At first, I thought it was ridiculous and didn’t understand how these two men could accept such nonsense. When I asked about it, the detectives told me that their job was to solve crimes and they were willing to put their own limitations aside and open themselves to other possibilities. With the help of the psychic, someone was arrested and convicted and sent to prison.”

  “I didn’t know you worked with someone like that,” Juliet said with surprise.

  “The point is this … I don’t understand paranormal things or skills or whatever, but I am willing to believe in the possibility that there are senses or intuition or abilities that I don’t have. I don’t need to understand it. If someone has a way to tap into information that isn’t available to me, I am more than happy to work with that person to do good for others.”

  Shelly stared at Jay. “My dreams are just dreams. They’re probably just the result of my brain’s attempt to cope with the loss of my sister. Things about Lauren and the accident and the loss get mixed up together with things I see and hear in my daily life and end up coming out as strange dreams.” Shelly looked down at her hands. “They couldn’t possibly mean anything.”

  “Would you be willing to talk to me about your dreams?” Jay asked.

  Shelly met Jay’s eyes. “I guess so.”

  “If I discuss aspects of the case with you, would you be willing to keep that information in confidence?”

  Shelly swallowed and gave a nod. “I can do that. But, I think I’ll just be wasting your time.”

  Jay gave the young woman a kind smile. “We’ll see.”

  A knock sounded on the office door. “Meeting time,” a voice called.

  “I’ll be right there,” Jay raised her voice a little while keeping her eyes on Shelly. “I wanted to discuss with you some aspects of what we know so far about the missing person’s case.” She gestured to the door, then stood and gathered some things from her desk. “It will have to wait. I’ll be in touch soon.”

  Deciding to make dinner another night, Shelly and Juliet sipped drinks in the corner booth at the back of the Irish pub while waiting for their meals to arrive and talked over their meeting with Jay. Shelly was unconvinced that her dreams could be of any help to the investigation and continued to believe that her most recent dream where Lauren’s hands were missing was a coincidence and unrelated to the case of the missing girl.

  “No one can be sure the hand that was found belongs to Abby Jackson,” Shelly said.

  Juliet gave her friend the eye. “The hand will have to be matched to DNA from Abby’s family to make the final determination, but really? It has to be her hand. The ring on one of the fingers matched the description of Abby’s ring. If it’s not Abby’s hand, then the police have a bigger problem to deal with than only one missing girl.”

  “True.” Shelly took a swallow of her beer.

  “And I don’t think you can brush off your dream as a matter of coincidence,” Juliet said. “You must be picking up on things in the atmosphere ... or something.”

  Shelly raised an eyebrow.

  “You know, sensations or information must float around on the air,” Juliet said. “You’re able to pick up on it and then it makes itself known through your dreams.”

  “Do you really believe what you’re saying?” Shelly’s wore a skeptical look.

  “Has anyone in your family ever mentioned any special skills?”

  “No. No one.”

  Juliet smiled. “Until now.”

  Shelly let out a little groan. “I’m afraid to go to sleep.”

  Reaching over to touch her friend’s hand, Juliet said, “Don’t be. The dreams can’t hurt you. Think of them as a way to help people. Let them come and when you wake up, you can think about them and decide if there’s anything important about them.”

  “I guess so.”

  Two women walked over to Shelly and Juliet.

  “Hey, you two.” Lisa Bennet, the owner of Park Realty, stopped to chat. Her long red, curly hair moved over her shoulders as she turned to her companion, Elizabeth Jones, and made introductions. “Can we join you?” Lisa and Elizabeth slid into the booth.

  After a few minutes, the conversation shifted to Abby Jackson.

  “Can you believe it?” Lisa asked. “That poor girl.”

  “My daughter, Caitlin, knows Abby from being on the high school soccer team together,” Elizabeth said, her eyes heavy with sadness. “I know Abby’s mom. I haven’t talked to her yet. I thought it best to wait before giving her a call.”

  Juliet asked, “Had Caitlin seen Abby recently?”

  Elizabeth said, “They’ve hung out together with a group of friends, gone swimming, kayaking, out for dinner. They’re all heading off to college soon, going different ways. It’s probably their last summer together.” The woman’s eyes widened and her bottom lip trembled when she realized how true her statement really was.

  “Did your daughter notice anything different about Abby lately?” Juliet asked. “Did she seem upset about anything?”

  “Caitlin told me that Abby was having second thoughts about going off to college. She’d considered going into law, but really had no idea what she wanted to study or what career she should aim for. Abby felt like she didn’t want to spend the money without a specific goal in mind.”

  “Did she want to take some time off before going to college?” Lisa, the Realtor, asked.

  “It seems she wanted to work for a year and give her future some thought,” Elizabeth said. Realizing that the young girl no longer had a future caused the woman’s eyes to tear up. Batting at her cheeks, she apologized for getting emotional and Juliet and Shelly expressed understanding. Elizabeth said, “Abby’s mom wasn’t on board with her daughter taking time off. She was afraid Abby would end up deciding not to go to school at all.”

  “Abby was dating Adam Wall?” Juliet asked.

  “She was.” Elizabeth nodded. “They’d been dating for about three years.”

  “Did Adam graduate this year? Was he in the same class as your daughter and Abby?”

  “Yes, they’d known each other since middle school.”

  “What about Adam? What are his plans? Is he going to college?” Shelly asked.

  “He was accepted at Amherst College,” Elizabeth said. “He wants to go on to medical school after he gets his bachelor’s degree.” The woman rubbed her arm with her hand as if she was warding off a chill. “They’re all such good kids. Smart, hard-working, ambitious. None of them have ever been in trouble. No one would expect anything like this would happen.”

  “Does your daughter know if Abby and Adam were planning to continue their relationship after leaving for college?” Juliet asked. “Was there any tension between them?”

  “Caitlin said they both knew it was a long shot to be able to sustain a long distance relationship. She told me Abby and Adam seemed to be snippy with each other whenever they were out with the group. Abby was going to attend Boston College. Like I said, she’d thought about being a lawyer, but, according to my daughter, she was second-guessing her plans.”

  “Do you know if Abby had a summer job?” Shelly asked.

  “She worked part-time at the gift shop at the resort,” Lisa said. “I like the things they carry in there. I buy gifts for my clients from that store so I’m in there quite a bit. I’ve run into Abby many times this summer at the shop.”

  “That sounds like a nice summer job,” Juliet said. “Out of the heat, not too demanding, helping customers pick out gifts.”

  Lisa had a funny look on her face.

  “Is something wrong?” Shelly asked.

  Lisa looked up. “I was just remembering something. I think … well, I wasn’t sure, but…”

  “What was it?” Elizabeth asked.

  “I was in the store one day early in the summer, I was at the back of the shop in the sale section. I was the only one in there.” Lisa’s lips were tight. “I thought I s
aw the owner, Tad Baxter … he was at the front setting up a display with Abby. I thought I saw him slip his hand up under her skirt.”

  “You saw him do that?” Elizabeth’s voice held an angry tone.

  “I thought so, but I’m really not sure. Abby said something to him, I couldn’t hear what she said, and then she stormed back to the front counter. On my out, I whispered to her and asked if everything was okay. She told me everything was fine.” Lisa narrowed her eyes. “I wonder. Maybe I misinterpreted what I saw?”

  Shelly shared a look with Juliet as a wave of anxiety rushed through her veins.

  5

  It was late afternoon and almost time for the diner to close when Shelly removed two apple pies from the ovens and placed them on the counter to cool. Baking for the resort diner and the bakery next door to it, required desserts of all kinds as well as breads and muffins and other breakfast items. She’d developed her own granola bar recipes and had recently added them to the menus and they’d proved to be very popular with the hikers, bikers, and boaters.

  As Shelly took oats, maple syrup, berries, cinnamon, and different kinds of seeds from the cabinets to begin a new batch of her bestselling bars, Henry, the cook and boss of the diner came into the workroom. In his sixties, Henry, silver-haired, tall, strong, and broad shouldered, ran the place with his wife, Melody.

  “That pie sure smells great.” Henry wiped his hands on his white apron. “It’s taking all my strength to keep away from it.”

  Shelly chuckled and shook her head. “If you ate everything I bake, your health would be in serious trouble.”

  “My waistline would be about double the size, too.” Henry patted his stomach. “Maybe the resort needs to build a separate baking room just for you so I’m not constantly tempted.”

  “I don’t think that’s in their budget this year.” Shelly added ingredients to a large glass bowl.

  Melody, petite, with short, silver hair, carried some plates into the room, placed them in the dishwasher, and then crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the counter. “All anyone has been talking about all day is Abby Jackson and her disappearance. How did this happen so soon after those two young women were murdered? Paxton Park has always been quiet, peaceful. Now these terrible things have happened within months.” Melody’s mouth pulled down at the corners. “It makes me wonder if we should stay here anymore. Is it going to become unsafe?”

  Henry clucked soothingly at his wife. “All cities and towns go through periods like this. The world has become more difficult, more unstable, people are stressed, worn thin by bad news and financial issues. We’ve been lucky here for a long time. Bad things happen everywhere, but the good always outnumbers the bad. We have to remember that.”

  “Did you know Abby Jackson?” Shelly asked the two long-time residents of the town.

  “We know who she is,” Melody said. “Or should I say we knew who she was. Abby seemed like a nice girl. She worked in the gift shop next door.” Melody waved her hand to the side of the resort complex. “She did well in school, played sports.”

  Henry piped up. “We didn’t know her well though. Our son is friendly with Abby’s father, they play golf, go fishing together from time to time. I can’t imagine the pain in that household right now. We tried to think of something to do for the family….” Henry lifted his arms in a helpless gesture.

  “The Jacksons were members of the church at the end of Main Street,” Melody said. “The congregation is organizing meals to be dropped off to the family. We’ll take part in that.”

  The bell on the café door jingled and a man’s voice called,” Shelly? Henry?” Jack Graham appeared in the doorway wearing a wide smile and with his blue eyes shining. An outdoorsman in his thirties with chestnut colored hair, Jack, an employee of the resort, had met Shelly about six weeks ago and the two had been enjoying each other’s company since.

  “You’re back early,” Shelly said with excitement in her voice as she hurried over to Jack to give him a hug.

  “Actually, we’re only back for a few hours.” Jack wrapped his arm around Shelly’s waist. “Bill and I came back for a couple of canoes and some supplies. One of the older canoes sprung a leak this morning and messed up the day’s plans.”

  Jack and two other guides had taken a group of people on a two-week-long, no-electronic devices adventure tour where their base camp was about twenty miles from the town. They’d already been gone for five days. “We got back to camp late yesterday after a long hike on the range and when we gathered this morning for the canoe trip, we discovered one of them was no longer useable.”

  “How about I make you a nice, juicy hamburger with some home fries on the side?” Henry asked the young man.

  “That sounds terrific,” Jack told the man.

  “Have you heard the news from town?” Melody asked.

  “What news?” Jack looked at Shelly.

  Shelly let out a sigh and explained what had happened the previous day.

  “Her hand was found?” Jack’s voice sounded incredulous as he sank down onto one of the stools near the baking counter. “But they haven’t found the girl?”

  “Not yet,” Shelly told him. “The town’s in sort of an uproar about it.”

  “Everyone is talking about it,” Melody said. “It’s all anyone can focus on.”

  “Wow. We didn’t know about it. It’s terrible news.” Jack looked from person to person. “Are there any suspects?”

  “I bet there are,” Shelly said hopefully. “But, it’s early in the investigation so no one has heard anything about possible suspects. The police haven’t released much information to the press.”

  “Where was the hand discovered?” Jack asked.

  “Near a trail on the south side of the mountain,” Henry reported. “Only about a half-mile from here. Someone out walking with a dog found it.”

  “But how do they know it belongs to Abby? They couldn’t have completed DNA testing so soon,” Jack said.

  “A ring very similar to one Abby wore was on one of the fingers.” Henry removed the burger he was cooking for Jack from the grill.

  Shelly said, “Nicole told me that the guides have to work in pairs starting today as a safety precaution. At least two guides have to lead the tours now no matter how small the group of tourists.”

  Jack gratefully accepted the plate of food from Henry. “That makes sense. I’m glad management has instituted the policy and didn’t let costs alone determine how they would respond. It sends a good message to all of us working here that our safety is of the highest importance.”

  “Do any of you know the man who runs the gift shop,” Shelly asked. “Someone told me he didn’t seem like a very nice guy.”

  “I never liked him.” Melody carried a cup of hot coffee to Jack. “His name is Tad Baxter. He always seemed snooty to me. Always made me feel like I wasn’t good enough to shop there.”

  “I’ve only been in the store a couple of times,” Jack said. “I don’t know the man.”

  Henry looked at Shelly. “Why do you ask about him?”

  “Abby worked for him,” Shelly said. “Some people have a negative opinion of Mr. Baxter. I wondered if he was trouble.”

  “A local guy. Interesting.” Henry stroked his chin. “Is the perpetrator someone from town or someone here for vacation? I initially thought it might be someone who was visiting the area.” Letting out a sigh, he added, “I guess I don’t want the person who did this to be someone we know.”

  The door of the diner opened and then banged shut and Jack’s co-worker, Bill, barged into the backroom. “Sorry to interrupt. Jack and I are being called into a meeting with the boss. With what’s happened in town yesterday, they’re wondering if the adventure tour should be cancelled. They might decide that we have to bring everyone back tonight.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Jack gave his opinion. “This tour has been booked for over six months. It’s expensive. Poor reviews will pile in. There
are so many of us, I can’t believe we’d be in any danger.”

  “You can tell that to the boss,” Bill said. “Everyone I’ve talked to since we got back has been acting panicky.”

  “It’s only been one day,” Shelly said. “It’s important to stay level-headed. Let the police do their work. They’ll find Abby’s body. They’ll figure it out and arrest the person responsible.”

  “But are they going to find her in pieces?” Bill asked. “That’s what’s making everyone panic. It’s some sick killer who thinks it’s amusing to murder someone and then chop -”

  “Don’t say anymore.” Melody, her face pale, raised her hand in a halt gesture. “I can’t listen to another word.”

  Shelly walked over to Melody and put her arm around the woman’s shoulders. “The police will find the person who did this.”

  “Not soon enough.” Melody’s hand shook as she passed it over her eyes.

  “Want to help me make the granola bars?” Shelly thought it would help if Melody was able to focus her mind away from crime and murder so they went to the counter to work on forming the bars.

  Jack finished his burger and thanked Henry for the food and then gave Shelly a hug goodbye. “I’ll let you know if the adventure tour will continue or not. Keep safe.”

  “You, too.” Returning Jack’s hug, she gave him a warm smile. “Hurry back.”

  Jack and Bill left the diner and headed off to their meeting.

  “I wish things could go back to the way they were before these crimes made their way into our town,” Melody muttered while she rolled the granola ingredients into bar form. “Now, I’m always looking over my shoulder.”