A Deadly Pair O'Docks

by Nicole Ellis

  I shuddered, remembering how awkward it had been to take Declan’s place at the rehearsal.

  “It went fine, although I’m sure I wasn’t as good a groomsman as Declan would have been. I’m now responsible for showing him what he needs to do at the real wedding. And if he’s not in the right place at the wedding on Saturday, the bride isn’t going to forgive me. I just hope he shows up for the wedding. He disappeared on me after I found him drunk down on the floating docks. I don’t know how someone who could barely walk could get away so fast.”

  Adam stifled a laugh. “He probably called someone to pick him up. I’m sure he’ll be there for the wedding.” He tilted his head. “Somehow, I can’t picture you as a groomsman.”

  I grimaced. “Yeah, well, there are pictures to prove it. Becca hired a photographer to be there for the rehearsal. I’m sure she got a whole camera full of photos of Declan and Lindsay duking it out over the dinner table.”

  He came over and sat down next to me, gently rubbing my back. “I’m sure it will be fine.”

  My eyes met his. “I know, but your mom usually helps me with events. I feel a little lost without her. Thank goodness she’ll be here for the wedding.”

  As if on cue, Adam’s cell phone rang. I looked at my watch. It was after ten o’clock. His work didn’t usually call this late, especially now that he was wrapping things up at the law firm.

  He held up the phone to check the caller ID, then pressed Incoming Call. “What’s up, Dad? Is everything ok?” His face filled with concern. “Is she ok?” His father said something on the phone and Adam nodded. “Yes, I understand.”

  Had something happened to Beth? She had seemed so healthy when she left to go visit her sister in Portland, but I knew she had some health concerns.

  I tugged on Adam’s sleeve. “What’s wrong?” I whispered.

  He covered the mouthpiece on the phone. “Mom had some sort of heart palpitations while they were at the restaurant. She’ll be fine, but they may have to do a minor operation. At the very least, they’re going to have to stay in Portland for a while until she’s well enough to travel.”

  He returned to the conversation with his father. I leaned back against the couch, stunned by Adam’s news. I knew Beth had experienced some issues with her heart recently, but she’d assured me it wasn’t serious. Something occurred to me. I tapped on Adam’s shoulder and he looked up.

  “When are they coming home?” I asked, my stomach filling with dread.

  “I think in a couple of days.” His dad said something, pulling Adam’s attention back to the phone.

  A couple of days? Bill and Becca’s wedding was in a week. I breathed a sigh of relief. Beth should be back in time for the wedding. I did have some questions for her though about some other events.

  “Can you ask if I can talk to your mom?”

  He relayed my request to his father and then handed me the phone.

  “Hi, Jill.” Beth’s voice sounded weaker than usual.

  “Hi.” I immediately felt bad for my selfish concerns about her missing the wedding. “How are you doing?”

  She laughed. “I’ve been better. I thought we’d be on our way home tomorrow, but now I’m stuck in a hospital bed.”

  “Are you ok? Adam said you were having chest pain and palpitations.”

  “I was.” She was quiet for a moment. “They want to put a stent in tomorrow.”

  “Oh.” My mind raced.

  “It’s not a major operation, don’t worry. I should be fine after it.”

  “Ok.” I wanted to ask her questions about the upcoming Boathouse events and find out when she was coming back, but this didn’t seem like the right time to do so.

  On the other end of the line, Beth was quiet and someone was talking to her in the background.

  “Hey, Jill, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you tomorrow after the surgery.”

  “I love you, Beth.”

  “Love you too, honey.”

  With a lump in my throat, I handed the phone back to Adam and reached down to pet Goldie’s silky ears.

  When he finally got off the phone with his dad, he picked up his laptop and went back to work on it like nothing had happened. I stared at him, my mouth agape.

  “Adam. Did your dad say how your mom was doing? She didn’t sound great on the phone. Is the surgery really as minor as she said?”

  He clicked on the trackpad then gave me a questioning look. “What do you mean? She’s having surgery tomorrow. Dad says it’s no big deal, and she seems in good spirits. The doctor said she’s young and will heal quickly. The doctor there wants to recheck her in ten days though, so they’re going to stay in Portland in case there are any complications.”

  “Ten days? I thought you said a couple of days.” She’d miss the wedding. If my mother-in-law wasn’t around, that meant responsibility for the wedding fell on me. I wasn’t sure how Becca was going to react to the news that I’d be coordinating the biggest day of her life after I’d messed up the seating at her rehearsal dinner. I’d have to figure out a way to convince her that I could handle it.

  “Yeah, I thought they’d be there for less time, but after you talked to Mom, Dad said it would be ten days.” He tapped a few things on his computer, shut the lid, and regarded me thoughtfully. “I guess we’ll have to find a babysitter for the kids sooner rather than later, huh?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. That’s on my to-do list as well.” With Beth out of commission for a few weeks, if not months, I needed to find somebody immediately who had full-time availability. I gave Goldie a final pat, then put my hand on Adam’s arm and stood.

  “I’m going to take my laptop out to the deck and work for a while, ok?”

  He nodded. I got my computer off the desk in the living room, poured myself a glass of Chardonnay, and went out on the deck. The night air was crisp, a welcome change from the heat earlier in the day. I sat on a cushioned patio chair and propped my feet up on one of the small matching ottomans. Tapping my fingers on the laptop lid and gazing out at the twinkling lights of Willowby Island, I tried to unscramble all the thoughts that were mixing in my brain. After a few minutes, I gave up. I relaxed on the deck, enjoying the stillness of the night and sipping my wine.

  When I came back inside the house, I found Adam on the couch, sound asleep, with his laptop resting on the edge of the coffee table. Goldie lay on the rug below him and thumped his tail when I approached his master. Adam looked so peaceful sleeping there that I closed his laptop, covered him with a blanket, and turned out the living room lights. Fluffy meowed at me to feed her and I acquiesced, then poured myself a half glass of wine, sipping it as I tiptoed upstairs.

  I peeked at the kids in their rooms. Mikey and Ella were also sleeping soundly. After finishing my wine and getting ready for bed, I tried to fall asleep. Unfortunately, dreamland didn’t come as easily to me as it had for the rest of my family. Thoughts of Declan and Lindsay fighting filled my mind, making it difficult to nod off. When I finally did, I had a nightmare that the minister hadn’t shown up and the wedding had to be rescheduled.

  6

  To make sure everything was on track with the wedding, I woke up earlier than usual. The banging around downstairs told me that Adam was already in the kitchen, probably making coffee. When I joined him in the kitchen, the clock on the microwave read 6:30 a.m. Although I hadn’t slept well, I was surprisingly refreshed and ready to take on the day.

  “How was the couch?” I asked him.

  He rubbed his neck. “Not the most comfortable place to sleep. I only meant to close my eyes for a few minutes, but I must have drifted off. Sorry, honey. But at least I finished the client e-mail I needed to send out last night.”

  He poured a cup of coffee and handed it to me. “Did you work out all the details for the big wedding?”

  I frowned. “I tried, but my brain was fried.” I glanced at the time on the microwave again. If I got over to the Boathouse now, I’d have at least an hour or two before anybody
else showed up. Uninterrupted time to work would do a lot toward easing my nerves.

  My eyes met Adam’s. “Would you mind if I left early for work?”

  He shrugged. “No, that’s fine. I can take Mikey to school.” He motioned to the toaster. “Do you want something to eat before you leave?”

  I thought about it. Desi’s shop, the BeansTalk Café, wouldn’t be open this early in the morning, and I didn’t think the espresso cart by the ferry dock had much in the way of food.

  “Do we have any of those raisin bran muffins left?” I walked over toward the counter where I’d last seen them.

  “We had raisin bran muffins?”

  I laughed. “Yeah, I bought them at the store earlier this week. Mikey loves them.” I rifled through the breadbox and found two muffins, one a pile of crumbles and one that was miraculously intact. I nabbed it and poured myself another cup of coffee— this time in a to-go container.

  “This will do.” I gave him a peck on the cheek and rushed out the door. I didn’t have anywhere to go after work, and the weatherman had promised a gorgeous August day, so I opted to leave my minivan in the garage and walk the mile down to the Boathouse. I figured that the crisp morning air and exercise would help me clear my head before what would most likely be a busy day.

  By the time I was a few blocks away from my house, I knew I’d been right. Walking to work was the perfect way to start my day. Puget Sound was calm, with nary a whitecap in sight. The water was dotted with boats carrying eager fisherman to their lucky fishing spots. Further out, the heavily wooded shores of Willowby Island silhouetted the green and white outline of the Ericksville ferry.

  I took in the view, ever grateful to live in the Northwest. I inhaled with a deep breath, allowing the salt-tinged air to fill my lungs. Seagulls flew overhead, dipping down into the water as they spotted breakfast. These were the kinds of days that made us all want to live in the Pacific Northwest and completely forget about the months and months of rain that we endured every winter.

  When I reached the foot of the hill on Ferry Street, I turned left toward the Boathouse. I passed by the BeansTalk Café, but the lights were out. Desi wasn’t due to open for another hour. A few joggers passed over the lighthouse grounds in between the café and the Boathouse, but they just smiled at me and jogged past without a word. The parking lot at the event center was empty, and I congratulated myself on my good fortune to be able to work uninterrupted for a few hours. To my surprise, when I opened the door, the smell of baking pastries filled the air. It wasn’t Desi’s day to bake, and I hadn’t seen her car in the parking lot. Usually, Beth would be here on a Friday. But Beth wasn’t in town, I remembered. I assumed my in-laws had called Desi last night as well.

  I walked toward the kitchen, and Desi popped her head out into the hallway.

  “Hey,” she said, “I wondered when you’d get here. I hoped I’d have a chance to see you this morning.”

  “I decided to come in a little bit early today to get things done for Becca and Bill’s wedding.”

  A timer beeped from inside the kitchen, and she gestured for me to come in. She pulled éclair shells out of the oven and laid them on a rack to cool. With a deft hand, she piped vanilla custard into the centers of a cooled batch of pastries.

  “I take it my mom called you and Adam last night too?” She set the empty pipette on the counter and scooped more custard to refill the tool.

  “Actually, your dad called us. I think the doctor was in talking to your mom. How do you feel about it?”

  “It wasn’t the best news, but I know Mom is basically healthy.” She peered at me. “Do you need any help with Becca and Bill’s wedding? I know my mom is usually around to manage big events.”

  I didn’t say anything at first. Did Desi think I wouldn’t be able to handle it? I checked her expression. No, she didn’t look overly concerned. I took a calming breath.

  “I think I have everything under control at the moment, but I’ll let you know if I need help. Thanks.”

  She shrugged. “No problem. If you need anything, just let me know. I’m already involved with the wedding, so I’m happy to help out wherever you need me.” She handed me a plate with a chocolate-iced éclair on it. My mouth instantly started watering when the plate touched my hand. With the other hand, I jiggled my to-go container of coffee. It was empty save a few drops in the bottom. I stared at it sadly.

  She grinned and pointed at the back counter. “There’s fresh coffee in the pot. I made it about an hour ago.”

  I smiled at her gratefully. Somehow my sister-in-law could always read my mind when it came to food and drink.

  “Do you mind if I take this to go?” I needed to get cracking on my work if I wanted to take advantage of this time to myself.

  She waved her hand in the air. “Of course not. I’ve got to get over to the café pretty soon anyways, so I need to finish these.”

  I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked to the other side of the building, clutching the plate and the cup of coffee. In my office, I docked my computer and turned it on, my fingers bouncing on the keys, ready to type out my to-do list.

  I had a few options when it came to the wedding. I could ask Desi for help, but she already had a lot going on, and she was in the wedding party. I was sure she’d been sincere in her offer to help, but I didn’t want to depend on it or spoil her experience as a bridesmaid. I took a deep breath. Everything was going to be fine. I’d managed several weddings before with Beth’s guidance, and I knew that I could handle everything. However, the debacle of a rehearsal dinner was throwing me a bit.

  I opened the computer and listed the things that I needed to do for Becca and Bill’s wedding. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to touch base with Beth anytime soon as she’d be undergoing surgery today, and I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything.

  After completing a lengthy list, I stared at it, then bit into the éclair, hoping that the rush of sugar and infusion of caffeine would help me decide what to do first. It did work for a while, and I completed a few quick tasks. When only more complicated projects remained, I stared at the computer screen again. In my previous career as a marketing manager, I’d only had to manage one client at a time. Now I was responsible for coordinating the intricacies of many events at the same time. Being a mom had prepared me for multi-tasking, but the list still overwhelmed me to the point of indecision.

  Finally, I pushed myself up from the desk and walked down the hallway toward the deck. The fresh air had done wonders for me earlier, and I hoped it would do the same now. I could hear noise from the kitchen, so Desi was still in there. I didn’t see anyone else.

  I pushed open the double doors to the deck and the boat dock. The exterior doors of the main event space were closed up tight, but the gate to the ramp for the boat dock swung on its hinges in the breeze. I closed the gate and paused for a moment at the top of the ramp.

  Last night, the Boathouse’s docks had been empty. Sometime since then, someone had tied up a shiny new boat at the middle slip. Although there was a red cover over most of the boat, I recognized it immediately as Declan’s Bayliner Runabout. But what was it doing here?

  I remembered Declan telling us that he had permission to dock it at the Boathouse for the week leading up to the wedding. The rehearsal dinner hadn’t ended terribly late, but it still seemed odd that he would have taken his boat out on the Sound at night instead of waiting for morning light. I wasn’t even sure it was legal to use the boat ramp after dark. But who was I to judge? Maybe it was what worked best in the wedding schedule. Beth’s files had noted that Bill and Becca planned to leave their wedding in the boat and jet off to a romantic honeymoon on a cabin on Willowby Island.

  The boat bobbed up and down in the water, and I decided to check it out further. When I met with Becca at Lake Elinor, Declan had given Desi and me a ride in his boat, but I hadn’t had much time to admire it. Although I wasn’t an expert on watercraft, like most people in the area I’d
had my fair share of boating experiences out on the Sound and the neighboring lakes.

  I ran my hands over the smooth fiberglass side of the Runabout. If I had a friend with a boat like this, I’d be begging them for rides all the time. There was nothing better than being out on the water on a beautiful sunny Pacific Northwest day. Lincoln owned a small fishing boat, but it was nothing compared to this one, which I estimated held about five to seven people at a time. Adam’s family was more into a quiet day out fishing on the Sound than water-skiing on a lake, but there had been something exhilarating about racing across the water when Desi and I had gone out with Declan on his boat.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of red under the surface of the water, similar in color to the covering on the boat. Something was caught on the portion of the mooring rope that dangled in the water. Had part of the cover fallen off?

  I knelt on the rough wooden boards to get a closer look. The boat shifted away from the dock, and I realized that the object floating under the blue-green water wasn’t part of the cover. A chill shot up my spine. A man’s body was tangled up in the rope.

  I screamed loudly and pushed myself back from the edge. I stumbled backward, falling to the dock with my hands sprawled to the sides. I sat up, pulling my knees up to my chest.

  How could this be happening again? This wasn’t the first dead person I’d found in the last few months. My gaze turned uncontrollably to the cliffs above the beach where I’d discovered the body of my deceased neighbor last spring.

  “Jill, was that you screaming?” Desi burst out of the main building of the boathouse. “Are you ok?”

  “I’m down here,” I called out to her. She appeared at the top of the ramp to the dock.

  “What are you doing down there?”

  I couldn’t get the words out. She pushed the gate aside and walked down the ramp toward me.