He held is hands up. “No, it wasn’t me. I swear. It was a real buyer and she’s interested in buying more if you have it. Any time you guys want to take another peek in the attic I’d be happy to help you identify some of the good stuff.”
Morgan glanced around at her sisters. They had made a pact to keep as much of the family junk as possible … they wouldn’t be venturing into the attic unless they got desperate again.
“We’ll keep you in mind. Hopefully we won’t need to resort to that. I’m just glad we can put this whole thing behind us.”
“We have Jolene to thank for that,” Fiona said looking at her younger sister proudly. “If she didn’t hack into Josh’s accounts and trace the money to Eli, we might never have put it together.”
“That took some skill. I think Jolene has quite a talent for computer work
and
detective work.” Jake turned to Jolene. “You should really think about pursuing that.”
Morgan watched a pink blush creep over Jolene’s cheeks. “Well, actually, I did sign up for a class in computer forensics over the summer.”
“That’s great!” Morgan felt proud of her younger sister, she really
was
growing up.
“I’ve been wanting to get into law enforcement since I saw what a crappy investigation Overton did with Mom’s death and I love computers so …” she shrugged taking a sip of coffee.
“Speaking of Overton, I noticed Eli had a file on him in his office. Do you know what was in there?” Fiona asked Jake.
Jake shook his head. “The files from his office mysteriously disappeared.” He lowered his voice and leaned in closer to the table. “I know Overton is up to something, but I just can’t put my finger on it.”
“Eli did say he had Overton in his pocket, whatever that means,” Morgan said.
Jake narrowed his eyes. “It’s more than just Eli. Something is off about him and I’m not going to stop until I find out what it is … well after I get back from administrative leave, that is.”
Morgan felt her stomach churn. Overton had put Jake on “administrative leave” for two weeks because he had left the station without getting dispatched on a call first. If Jake hadn’t left when he did, Morgan and Fiona might be dead.
“That’s so unfair he did that,” Morgan said shaking her head.
“That’s okay. It will give me some extra time to spend relaxing.” Jake put his hand over Fiona’s. The pointed look he gave Fiona and the subsequent blush on her cheeks left little room to wonder what he meant by “relaxing”.
Morgan felt a tug in her gut. She used to be that happy with Luke.
Would she ever feel that again?
She was glad Fiona had moved on from her heartbreak with Kevin and found someone else. If she could do it, maybe Morgan could too.
She glanced out the window at the main street of Noquitt, busy with cars and pedestrian traffic. Her eyes went wide, her heart jerking in her chest when she thought she saw a familiar figure.
Could it be? She leaned closer to the window, squinting to get a better look but he had disappeared into the crowd.
“What’s the matter, you look like you saw a ghost?” Fiona’s voice laced with concern pulled her attention back to the table.
“Oh, it’s just … I thought I saw … Luke Hunter.” She glanced back out the window.
“What? I thought he was off fighting bad guys or capturing pirates or something.” Celeste craned her neck to look in the direction of Morgan’s attention.
“Yeah, it was probably just someone that looked like him.” Morgan settled back in her chair not sure if the odd feeling in her gut was anger, relief or disappointment.
“Well, here’s a toast to freedom and an uneventful and relaxing summer.” Fiona raised her coffee cup to the middle of the table. The rest of them joined in, everyone tapping the lips of their paper cups together.
Morgan was all for having an uneventful summer. She’d had enough excitement these past two weeks to last a lifetime. The only problem was, she had a tingle in her gut that told her the rest of the summer was going to be anything but uneventful. And her gut feelings were usually right.
She brought the tea cup up to her lips. The cinnamon scent of herbal tea soothed her senses. Sitting back in her chair, she looked around the table at her smiling family and friends. Maybe this time, her gut would be wrong. She certainly hoped so.
After all, what more could possibly happen?
The End.
I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.
As you might have guessed, I have a whole series planned about the Blackmoore sisters filled with mystery, murder and romance, so
stay tuned!
The setting for this book series is based on one of my favorite places in the world - Ogunquit Maine. Of course, I changed some of the geography around to suit my story, and changed the name of the town to Noquitt but the basics are there. Anyone familiar with Ogunquit will recognize some of the landmarks I have in the book.
The house the sisters live in sits at the very end of Perkins Cove and I was always fascinated with it as a kid. Of course, back then it was a mysterious, creepy old house that was privately owned and I was dying to go in there. I’m sure it must have had an attic stuffed full of antiques just like in the book!
Today, it’s been all modernized and updated and I think you can rent it out for a summer vacation. In the book the house looks different and it’s also set high up on a cliff (you’ll see why in a later book) where in real life it’s not. I’ve also made the house much older to suit my story.
This book has been through many edits with several people and even some software programs, but since nothing is infallible (even the software programs) you might catch a spelling error or mistake and, if you do, I sure would appreciate it if you let me know - you can contact me at
[email protected]
.
Oh, and I love to connect with my readers so please do visit me on facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/leighanndobbsbooks
or at my website
http://www.leighanndobbs.com
.
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Go to:
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Leighann Dobbs lives in New Hampshire with her husband, their trusty Chihuahua mix Mojo and beautiful rescue cat, Kitty. She likes to write romance and cozy mystery novelettes perfect for the busy person on the go. These stories are great for someone who doesn't have a lot of time for reading a full novel. Why not pick one up and escape to another time and place the next time you are waiting for an appointment, enjoying a bath or waiting to pick up the kids at soccer?
Find out about her latest books and how to get her next book for free by signing up at:
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***
If you liked this book, then you’ll love the Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series.
Here’s an excerpt from book 1:
Killer Cupcakes - excerpt
“Sprinkles - no!” Lexy hissed at her dog who was wriggling through the gap in the backyard fence.
With a sigh of resignation, she padded out into the yard in her bare feet, her pink cotton pajama bottoms fluttering around her calves in the late night, summer breeze. The glow of the full moon lit the yard well enough for Lexy to see where she was going without a flashlight.
She reached the gap in the fence and turned sideways to squeeze through. Despite her slim size, she had to push to make it. Rip!
Lexy looked down. Her favorite pajama bottoms - the ones speckled with cute images of fluffy cherry, topped cupcakes -
now had a gigantic rip in the side. Perfect.
She felt an uncustomary flare of irritation at her dog. Was it too much to ask for the dog to simply run out in the yard, do her business, and run back in?
Lexy had images of running through the neighborhood in the dark, her ripped pajamas flapping behind her, frantically chasing her dog while neighbors peered through their windows at the crazy lady. It wasn’t the way she had imagined meeting her new neighbors. Luckily most of them were elderly and, since it was 10:00 at night, hopefully they were all in bed.
She cleared the fence and emerged in the neighbors backyard just in time to see Sprinkles squatting in an impeccably groomed flower garden.
“No!” She hissed again, but the dog was determined.
Rushing over, Lexy grabbed Sprinkles by the collar and gave a silent thanks she had remembered to bring a poop bag. Whipping it from her pocket, she knelt down to scoop Sprinkles’s little gift into the bag, the sharp corners of the bark mulch poking into her bare feet.
A slight movement to her right sent a jolt of panic through her heart. Still squatting down, she turned her head and her eyes fell on a pair of thick, heavy, black boots. Men’s boots.
Lexy slowly scanned her eyes upwards.
Slightly faded jeans. Slim waist. Broad chest covered by an, almost too small, black tee shirt. Was this one of her elderly neighbors?
Her eyes completed their upwards journey and stopped at a ruggedly handsome face. Slightly tanned with honey brown eyes and framed with dark, close cut hair. Nope, definitely not elderly.
Mr. Ruggedly Handsome, whoever he was, stared down at her with a smirk on his face. Suddenly, Lexy felt like a child who had been caught doing something naughty.
“Can I help you?” His voice sounded a bit gruff with a hint of annoyance.
Lexy felt her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment. Straightening her shoulders, she made an effort to stand and try to retain some dignity, or at least as much dignity as one could while squatting in cupcake pajamas to scoop a pile of poop.
She felt the bark mulch shifting under her feet, struggling to gain control, Lexy fell backwards her arms flapping at her sides like a bird trying to take flight. Mr. Handsome shot out an arm to steady her, but not before she crashed into the side of a large rhododendron, breaking off one of it’s branches. Lexy felt her cheeks burn even hotter.
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry,” she sputtered, putting her index finger up to her eye to stop the annoying nervous twitch that was starting in her lower lid. “My dog got out of my yard through the fence.” She pointed towards the edge of the back yard where the gap in the fence abutted the edge of her back yard.
She shoved her hand out towards the man. “I’m Lexy Baker.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You’re Mona’s granddaughter?”
She nodded, taking his hand. It was warm, and the handshake was firm. Lexy felt an alarming tingle as they shook hands.
“I’m Jack Perillo. This is my house.” He gestured with his free hand to indicate the house they were standing next to.
“How is Mona?” His forehead creased in a frown and he looked her up and down as if trying to decide if she was a suitable replacement for his backyard neighbor.
“Oh, she’s fine - she loves it over at the Senior housing complex.” Lexy felt a wave of uncustomary self consciousness under Jack’s scrutiny. She looked down at her torn pajamas and realized she must look a sight in her bare feet, ripped pajamas and no makeup. Who could blame him for looking at her like she was some sort of deranged criminal.
She noticed Sprinkles had made her way over to Jack and was enthusiastically sniffing his shoes.
“This is my dog, Sprinkles,” she said pointing at the small dog.
“Sprinkles?” Jack snorted out a laugh, his right eyebrow raised up in a question. Lexy couldn’t tell if the laugh was in good humor or he was mocking her, but she felt her heart melting when he bent down to stroke the fur of the little white dog.
“Hi Sprinkles, I hope you don’t keep using my garden for your bathroom because I.....” Jack was interrupted by the sound of a doorbell coming from his pants pocket. He straightened up and pulled a cell phone out.
“Perillo.” He barked into the phone, he listened for a few seconds the creases on his forehead growing deeper. “I’ll be right there.”
Jack snapped the phone shut and nodded towards Lexy. “Sorry, but business calls.” He held up the phone. “Nice to meet you Ms. Baker.”
Turning abruptly, he set off in the direction of the driveway. “And don’t forget to pick up that mess, it’s not good for the plants.” He shot over his shoulder, walking away and leaving Lexy to wonder if she just made a friend or an enemy.
***
Jack turned the corner of his house and couldn’t help the grin forming on his face. His new neighbor was kind of cute, he thought.
He chuckled to himself, remembering how her grandmother, Mona, would always sneak in a mention of her with a certain twinkle in her eye - Jack knew Mona had visions of fixing them up, but he always changed the subject because he didn’t have time for any women in his life, right now.