The Bitter With The Sweet

by J A Whiting

The day was unusually warm for the time of year and perspiration ran down Angie’s back as she walked through town to the road where the boarding house was located. The street was narrow with mature trees on both sides and large expensive homes, many set back behind high hedges, lined the lane. Approaching the boarding house, Angie was grateful for the cool shade as she turned onto the pathway that wound between the shrubbery and around to the back of the home.

  Before branching off down the hill to the ocean, the dirt path led to the left to a white arbor set in between the tall, dark green hedges that ran around the periphery of the boarding house’s property.

  Angie stood at the gate glancing around the yard. No one was outside so she turned and took the path down the hill through the trees until the trail turned rocky when it cut between and over the cliffs. Moving carefully so as not to trip or slip, Angie finally reached the tiny, soft sand beach where she stood looking out over the water.

  Several minutes passed before Angie turned to head back up to the house and her heart dropped when she realized how steep the climb would be. Taking a deep breath, she started up the hill, but stopped short.

  She could see part of the long, white veranda-like porch that jutted off the side of the boarding house and two people were standing there, talking.

  One was Megan. Angie squinted and shaded her eyes from the sun’s glare.

  The other person looked like Charles Conte.

  Angie frowned thinking Charles must be pestering Megan once again, but suddenly the thought disappeared with the racing of her heart.

  She took off running up the path.

  Reaching the arbor and breathing hard, Angie bent over at the waist to catch her breath from her dash up the long, pebbly hill and when she began to straighten up, something under the brush caught her eye.

  Pushing under the branches, Angie leaned down to see what it was.

  She picked it up.

  A book about the impact of anesthesia on cardiac surgery.

  Angie’s vision dimmed. It was the book Charles Conte borrowed from Perry on the night the young man was murdered.

  Under a bush? Oh, no.

  Taking a half-second to consider her options, Angie ran along the path to the front of the house and before following the brick walkway from the front door to the side of the house where the steps led up onto the wide veranda, she pulled out her phone and sent Chief Martin a text.

  Come to the boarding house. Hurry.

  Then she climbed the stairs to the porch, and when she reached the deck, a wisp of the medicinal odor she’d smelled in Perry’s room wafted under her nose. Charles.

  Charles’s back was to Angie as he faced Megan. Angie couldn’t hear what he was saying to her, but from the terrified look on Megan’s face, she grasped the meaning.

  Forcing a smile, Angie loudly greeted the two people.

  Charles spun around and gaped at the unexpected visitor. “What are you doing here?”

  Spotting the syringe in the man’s hand, Angie moved slowly over the porch deck trying to get closer to Megan. “I could ask you the same question.”

  “Stop moving,” Charles demanded.

  Angie obeyed, but she made eye contact with the shaking woman several yards away from her.

  “What are you doing, Charles?” Angie asked trying to buy time until the chief arrived. “Aren’t you in enough trouble? Don’t add to it.”

  “You don’t know.” Charles’s eyes were wild and wide and spittle showed at the corners of his mouth.

  “I do know. Why don’t you put the syringe down and move away from it?” Angie used a calm voice to try and reason with the man.

  “Why don’t you shut up?”

  Angie shuffled a few more feet towards Megan.

  “I told you not to move,” Charles roared.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Angie saw Megan, looking dazed, slip slowly down to the porch floor and lean back against the railing.

  The sun beat down on them like a white-hot laser beam.

  Angie took a look at Megan sprawled like a drunk and then asked Charles, “What did you do to her?”

  Charles sneered and held up the hand holding the syringe. “I didn’t do anything to her. Yet.”

  Angie moved to stand in front of Megan.

  “I bet I have enough in here to kill both of you.” Charles’s voice was eerily soft.

  Angie could see the man’s cheeks were flushed and his chest was rapidly rising up and down. She knew he was on the verge of lunging at them. Her heart pounded like a sledgehammer.

  Trying to remain calm, she forced the words from her tight throat. “Stay where you are. Put the syringe down.” How are we going to get out of this?

  Sweat dripped from Charles’s forehead.

  Angie wanted to kneel and check on Megan, but she didn’t dare, thinking her movement would set Charles in motion. “Megan?” She turned her head slightly to see if the young woman was conscious.

  Megan looked up at Angie with fear-darkened eyes.

  “Get ready to fight,” Angie whispered ... and she balled her fists and hunched down slightly waiting for Charles to pounce.

  The man lunged holding the syringe like a weapon and just before he plowed into Angie, she side-stepped him and swung her arm attempting to knock the thing from his hand, but Charles dove at Megan to inject her.

  “Roll!” Angie yelled.

  As Megan rolled onto her side away from her attacker, Angie kicked at Charles’s arm dislodging the syringe, and then she lost her balance and fell backwards with a crashing thud that sent stars flashing in her eyes.

  “Police! Hold it right there! Don’t move!” Chief Martin was on the porch with his gun drawn and when Angie looked up at him from her position on her back, she burst into tears of relief.

  Still holding the gun on Charles who froze on the deck in front of the law enforcement officer, Chief Martin knelt next to Angie.

  “You okay?” his voice quavered as he looked her over for injuries.

  “I’m perfect,” Angie blubbered as she sat up, a strand of hair stuck on her wet cheek.

  The worry disappeared from the chief’s face and he smiled while tugging a handkerchief from his back pocket. He handed it to Angie before standing to go check on Megan and take Charles into custody.

  “Most people don’t begin to sob when they see me,” the chief kidded.

  “Most people aren’t me.” Angie wiped at her eyes with his handkerchief.

  “Thank the heavens for that.” Chief Martin squeezed Angie’s shoulder. “Because my poor old heart couldn’t take it.”

  26

  “I feel badly for thinking Megan may have killed Perry,” Angie said as she started the fire pit in the garden of the Victorian. The family had spent the day at the beach, bodysurfing, swimming, floating on inner tubes, and sunning themselves on the white sand beach.

  “Don’t feel badly. We all thought she might have done it.” Jenna had just finished lighting the torches around the yard.

  “No one is innocent until proven so,” Courtney reminded everyone.

  “Not exactly how our justice system works, but I know what you mean,” Ellie said with a smile.

  Courtney explained, “When someone is in a courtroom, it’s the other way around, but when we’re investigating a crime, we have to consider everyone a suspect until we can rule them out.”

  “It’s true, Miss Courtney.” Finch and Betty were setting the table under the pergola and little white lights twinkled over the top and down the sides of the poles. “We can’t overlook anyone when there is a crime to solve.”

  Euclid and Circe sat together in one of the Adirondack chairs listening to the conversation.

  Rufus came out of the house carrying a cooler full of drinks and set it down near the side table on the patio before picking up a wine glass. “What can I get everyone to drink?”

  Chief Martin and his wife, Lucille, gave Rufus their orders and were soon sipping from their glasses.

 
“Megan is feeling very guilty,” Chief Martin told the group. “She thinks if she’d told Perry how Charles was behaving towards her, he might have been more careful around him. I don’t think it would have mattered one way or the other. Charles Conte was unstable, but no one really knew how truly disturbed he was.”

  Tom came out of the back door carrying a platter of raw burgers, chicken kabobs, and veggie burgers. “Can you go over what happened the night Perry was killed? I’ve heard bits and pieces, but I haven’t been told the whole story.”

  “I’d like to hear it as well,” Jack Ford followed behind Tom carrying a tray with a bowl of salad, a bowl of potato salad, condiments, a plate of cut-up fruit, and a lemon-berry cake which he set on the long patio table.

  Chief Martin began the sorry tale while Josh fired up the grill. “Andy Hobbs denies having any role in Perry’s death. He still says he was not in the backyard of the boarding house the night Perry died. He claims he didn’t see or speak with Charles.”

  “But Charles reports Andy did talk with him,” Ellie said. “And in fact, fed his fury and indignation over seeing Megan and Perry in the window kissing that night.”

  Angie picked up the story. “Charles went to Perry’s room to borrow a book. He ran into Megan when he left the boarding house and he tried to kiss her. She reminded him that they would never date as Charles wasn’t her type. She told him Perry was her type which began a fire of fury building within Charles. Megan went inside and ran into Perry who was about to go to bed. Megan went into Perry’s room to talk, but she ended up revealing her feelings for Perry and even kissed him after confessing how she felt about him. Charles was lurking in the backyard and saw the kiss through Perry’s windows. He paced around the yard and when he was leaving through the gate under the arbor, he threw the book he’d borrowed under a bush.”

  Jenna said, “Charles told law enforcement that Andy Hobbs arrived at the arbor as he was about to leave. Andy saw how upset he was and Charles told him what had happened. Andy fed into Charles’s rage and even said that Perry was an awful person who didn’t deserve to live. Charles agreed and asked Andy to let him into the house. Andy told him he wasn’t allowed to let anyone in at that time of night, but Charles should watch him as he went in. Charles saw Andy get the hidden key to the door.”

  “Charles decided to finish Perry off,” Courtney said. “He knew Perry kept the medication and syringes in his dresser in the sitting room so he took the hidden key, entered the house, and went to Perry’s room. Perry never locked his door so getting inside was no problem for Charles. Charles took the full syringe to Perry’s bedroom and injected him with the overdose. He wanted to do the same to Megan, but the door to her room was locked.”

  Chief Martin said, “Perry planned to kill Megan later and he would have if Angie hadn’t arrived when she did.”

  “What about the suicide note?” Rufus asked.

  “So Charles wrote the note on Perry’s laptop?” Josh asked.

  “Charles claims he did not write it,” Chief Martin said. “Although Andy denies having any part in the death, we believe he snuck into Perry’s room after Charles left the house and wrote the suicide note to keep investigators from thinking Perry had been murdered.”

  “I remember when we were at the boarding house having dinner with the residents,” Courtney said. “Andy was going on about how Mary Bishop shouldn’t be included with the rest of them as workers in the medical field. He said Mary didn’t understand medical terms and started to argue about it. Roger Winthrop told him he was being too picky and to let it go. Andy said something like using correct language was important.”

  “We should have picked up on that,” Angie said. “Using correct grammar and accurate vocabulary was important to Andy just like the linguist we met told us the author of the note would be. She said the writer of the note was very specific in his use of language.”

  “We missed that,” Jenna said. “We blew it.”

  “In retrospect,” Finch said, “it is easy to pick up on it. Not so in real life. It got missed in all the conversation that night.”

  “We need to be sharper in the future,” Angie said.

  “Charles will be charged with Perry’s murder,” Ellie said. “But will Andy be charged with anything since he inflamed Charles and probably wrote the suicide note?”

  Chief Martin let out a sigh. “Not unless we find any evidence he had a role. As of right now, Andy gets off free and clear. It isn’t a crime to incite anyone.”

  “That seems so wrong.” Jenna’s eyes darkened in anger.

  “There’s nothing that can be done,” the chief said resignedly.

  “Perry’s killer has been caught and justice will be served,” Finch said. “Unfortunately, we have to accept that Andy may never be punished for his role. Sometimes, we have to take the good with the bad.”

  “You’re right, Mr. Finch,” Courtney said. “But I don’t like it.”

  “Let’s talk about something other than bad guys and murder,” Tom suggested as he helped Josh take the food off the grill.

  Josh piped up, “Angie has some good news to tell.”

  All eyes turned to the young woman.

  Angie smiled. “I’ve decided to accept the museum’s offer to have the second bake shop there.”

  Euclid and Circe trilled as a cheer went up from the group and each friend and family member took a turn giving Angie a congratulatory hug.

  “I’m so glad, sis,” Courtney squeezed her sister. “I’m happy you decided to do it.”

  Angie said, “I’ve promoted Louisa to manager of the stores. She’s a great worker and friend and I want her to have a bigger role in running the shops with me.”

  “Louisa really is like your right-hand man,” Jenna said. “Or should I say right-hand woman.”

  Everyone chuckled and then sat down to dinner under the pretty white lights and with the torches casting a lovely golden glow around the yard.

  For dessert, the group made s’mores and stood with their long metal kabob skewers toasting marshmallows over the fire pit. Betty and Lucille carried some dishes into the kitchen to put in the dishwasher.

  “The weirdest thing happened when Angie and I were at Robin’s Point the other day.” Jenna explained how they’d held hands and felt a burning sensation building under their skin.

  “Really?” Ellie looked at her sisters with apprehension.

  “Let’s try.” Courtney set down her skewer and took Angie’s hands in her hers. After waiting a few moments, she said, “Nothing’s happening. How long did it take to work?”

  “Only a second or two,” Jenna said.

  Rufus shook his head as he went into the house to get another bottle of wine. “You all act like you believe in magic or something.”

  Courtney winked at her sisters. “Or something.”

  “My hands aren’t getting hot this time,” Angie said with a disappointed expression.

  “Let me try.” Jenna moved close to Angie and took her hands, and in three seconds their faces lit up. “I feel it,” Jenna said.

  “Let me see.” Courtney quickly stepped in front of Jenna and took Angie’s hands. “Your hands are hot!”

  Tom chuckled. “The latest Roseland-sister trick.”

  “Let me hold her hands,” Ellie said taking a turn. “It doesn’t feel like much. It’s not that warm.”

  “It’s fading because Jenna let go of me,” Angie explained.

  “Why doesn’t it work when Ellie or I hold you?” Courtney pouted. “Why is it working only for you and Jenna?”

  “I have no idea,” Angie said.

  “It’s cool though, isn’t it?” Jenna asked with a grin.

  “I think you mean it’s hot.” Jack smiled.

  Euclid and Circe padded over and stared at the twin sisters, then let out loud meows.

  Josh came over to Angie and put his arm around her shoulders. “I think the cats are trying to figure it out.”

  “Well, when someone has
the answer, let the rest of us know.” Courtney picked up her skewer, pushed two marshmallows onto the stick, and stepped over to the fire pit while some of the others did the same.

  Tom and Jenna came over to stand with Angie and Josh and the foursome chatted about the day at the beach and about maybe going on a bike ride together in the morning.

  While they talked, Josh moved closer to his wife and absentmindedly placed his left hand gently on Angie’s stomach. She put her hand over Josh’s and then she stared across the yard for a moment before making eye contact with Mr. Finch who sat in an Adirondack chair with the two cats next to him.

  Finch’s eyes twinkled and he smiled at Angie.

  A thought popped into the young woman’s head and she looked down at her and Josh’s hands still resting on her stomach. Angie quickly looked over to Mr. Finch and when their eyes met, she knew. A wide smile spread over her lips, and then she paused suddenly and stared with wide eyes at Jenna’s stomach.

  Flicking her gaze back to Finch and the cats, Angie’s face wore a questioning expression. Finch nodded at her and the two of them broke out in beaming smiles.

  Angie turned to Josh, put her hands on the sides of his face, and gave him a long, loving kiss.

  Josh grinned. “Well, what did I do to deserve that?”

  Angie took a step closer to her twin and surprised her sister when she put her hand onto Jenna’s stomach and then wrapped her in a bear hug.

  For a few moments, Angie and Finch and the two fine felines were the only ones who knew what was going on.

  Turning back to Josh, Angie whispered in his ear. “I know why Jenna and I feel the fire in us.”

  Josh looked confused for a second, and then realization dawned on him. When he looked down at her stomach, he reached for Angie’s hands, and as the words he wanted to say got stuck in his throat, a tear of joy tumbled down his cheek.

  And on that warm, lovely night with the stars shining overhead, one orange cat and one black one let out howls of happiness into the sweet summer air.

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