Majestic Cove Mysteries Complete Series Box Set Page 2

  “Melody, slow down. Talk about a lot of questions at once.”

  “Sorry. I’m just curious.”

  “Vikki Gilbert came into the bakery earlier and told me that she had spotted him. She didn’t get a chance to talk to him, though. He was getting into his car in front of the pharmacy.”

  “Oh. Well, if you do get more information, let me know.”

  “You know, you could always call him.”

  “You’re right. I’m just not sure if he wants to be bothered.”

  “Maybe it’s a risk that you’re going to have to take.”

  ***

  I left the bakery a few minutes later with a few chocolate chip cookies to bring back to the office. One was for me, and one was for Lisa. Normally, I would have eaten my cookie before I made it back to the office. Things were different that day. My focus was entirely on Scott.

  I debated whether to phone him or not. Perhaps he was just in town to deal with a personal matter.

  Ultimately, I decided to grab my phone and dial his number.

  I had no idea how this conversation was going to play out, but I was incredibly nervous.

  Scott didn’t pick up the call right away. In fact, my call ended up going to voice mail.

  That was not what I expected.

  Suddenly, I had another decision to make. Should I leave him a message? Or just try to call him back later?

  I ended up leaving a message.

  “Hi, Scott. This is Melody. We haven’t talked in a while. I hope things have been going well for you. I heard you were back in town. I was wondering if you are planning on staying a while, or if you’re only back for a few days. Anyway, give me a call back when you can. You know the number.”

  Chapter Four

  I returned to the office a few minutes later. When I arrived, Lisa informed me that a new potential client was sitting in my office. Apparently, her name was Amy Dearborn.

  She was a petite woman in her thirties. She had an oval face and long brown hair. She was fidgeting with her hands as she sat in a chair across from my desk.

  When I entered the doorway of my office, I asked, “How can I help you?”

  Amy was so startled to hear my voice that she nearly jumped out of her chair.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” I said.

  “It’s not your fault. I’m just a little jumpy.”

  “Well, you have nothing to worry about.”

  “I’m not so sure about that. I would have come here if I didn’t have my worries.”

  “Let me rephrase my statement. You don’t have anything to worry about with me.”

  “Okay.”

  I outstretched my hand. “By the way, my name is Melody Clue.”

  She shook my hand. “I’m Amy Dearborn.”

  “It’s nice to meet you. Now, how can I help you?”

  “I have some suspicions about my fiancé.”

  “What kind of suspicions?”

  “That he might be cheating on me.”

  I had a feeling she was going to say that. Then again, in my line of work, it was always a pretty safe assumption. Of all of the cases that I ended up taking, suspected infidelity was the most common thing that clients wanted me to investigate.

  There wasn’t even a close second. Sure, I also occasionally investigated insurance fraud, or conducted extended background checks for companies, or worked on missing person’s cases, or tracked down a long-lost relative for a client.

  One time, a client believed that one of their employees was stealing from them. But they weren’t sure who it was. So, they hired me to pretend to be a new employee at the company to sniff out the truth.

  That was a unique experience. It was also highly uncommon.

  The bulk of my work centered around romantic relationships that seemed to be on the verge of imploding.

  Don’t get me wrong. It would be great if some other types of cases came my way. They just didn’t. Not in large numbers.

  As someone who was trying to make a living, I wasn’t really in a position to be choosy. I had bills to pay. I had to go where the money was.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. “I hope your suspicions turn out to be unfounded.”

  “So do I, but I’m starting to have some really strong doubts about Connor.”

  “What makes you suspect him of being unfaithful?”

  “He’s always telling me that he has to work late.”

  “When you say always, how often are you talking about?”

  “Constantly,” Amy replied. “Especially lately. It seems like it happens three or four times a week.”

  “Is there a chance that he’s telling the truth? That he really is working late?”

  “I suppose so, but I doubt it.”

  “What makes you so skeptical of his claims?”

  “On the nights that he isn’t supposedly working late and we do happen to meet up, he acts different around me. It’s a subtle change, but it’s definitely there. He thinks I don’t notice, but I do. I just haven’t said anything to him about it.”

  “Can you elaborate? How are his actions different exactly?”

  “Up until recently, he used to give me his undivided attention. Now, even if he’s sitting right across from me at a table, his head always seems to be off in the clouds.”

  “I see. Is that all?”

  “He also doesn’t seem to desire me nearly as much as he used to,” Amy said.

  I grimaced.

  “Anyway, do you think you can help me?” Amy asked.

  I nodded. “I can definitely conduct an investigation.”

  “Good.”

  “I need to find out the truth.”

  “You say that, but before we begin, I just have to give you a warning. If I start poking my head around into your fiancé’s life, there’s a chance that you aren’t going to like what I discover.”

  “I realize that.”

  “Do you really? Are you certain that you’re prepared to find out the truth? Because once I start investigating, there’s no telling what I’m going to uncover.”

  “Are you trying to scare me?”

  I shook my head. “No. I just want you to be prepared for any and all possibilities.”

  “I am.”

  “Okay,” I said. “In that case, I’ll get started right away.”

  Chapter Five

  Before Amy left my office, I had her give me as much information about her fiancé as she could. I always wanted to be armed with plenty of knowledge when I began a case. I didn’t want to encounter too many surprises along the way.

  Frankly, I would have been fine with coming across zero surprises, but that almost never happened. I could count on one hand the number of times that a case went exactly as I predicted it would. Even though I had no idea what would come next, I wanted to be prepared for anything.

  According to Amy, her major point of suspicion began with her fiancé constantly claiming to be working late. Naturally, paying a visit to Connor Taggart’s workplace seemed to be the logical place to begin my investigation.

  Especially around five o’clock when most of the employees at his company went home. I stationed myself across the street. From my parking spot, I had a great view of the office complex and the building’s parking lot.

  Based on what my client told me, Connor would be allegedly working late that day. Perhaps he was telling the truth. Then again, that was a pretty common cover story. I would get an answer soon enough. If it turned out that Connor actually was working late every night, this would be a quick and easy case for me.

  That would be fine by me. I loved easy investigations. I would still get paid for my time without having to deal with any messy details.

  I was getting a little ahead of myself.

  This case was just beginning. As I waited for employees to start shuffling out of the building, I scrolled through a couple of photographs of Connor that Amy had provided me with.

  I then put my phone down when I spotted the first wave of employees making their way to the parking lot.

  “All right. Looks like people are leaving for the day. Will Connor be in that group?” I said to myself.

  I looked closely at each and every person who left the building. None of them were Connor.

  When those employees finished walking to their cars, I wondered aloud, “Hmm. Maybe Connor is working late.”

  It turned out that I had spoken too soon.

  A few minutes later, a number of other employees left the building. Connor was one of them.

  “So much for working late.”

  At that moment, it became clear that something was up. He had lied to his fiancé. The question became, why?

  There were a number of possible explanations. There was a chance that he really was cheating on her.

  Then again, there were other possible explanations. Some were pretty basic. For example, perhaps he had just gotten done with his work earlier than he thought.

  I wasn’t going to draw any conclusions right then.

  At least, I wasn’t planning on it.

  As I watched Connor head out to the parking lot, a new wrinkle in the case developed.

  A woman exited the building directly behind Connor. She was a pretty brunette. The brunette was smiling as she began to speak with Connor.

  “This could get interesting,” I said. “I wonder what they are talking about. Or where they are headed.”

  Connor and the brunette kept walking and talking as they made their way to the same corner of the parking lot.

  From a distance, it appeared that they were headed to the same car. I was definitely on high-alert as I watched them.

  A few seconds later, they both stopped beside a green sedan.

  I wondered
, would they both get into the sedan?

  That proved to not be the case. The brunette opened up the driver’s-side door of the vehicle, waved good-bye to Connor, and then hopped into the car.

  Meanwhile, Connor turned around and walked away.

  “Wow. I didn’t expect that. Maybe those two are just work friends.”

  Then again, there was a chance that Connor would walk back to his car and end up following the brunette. Perhaps they would head over to a low-cost motel together. I had seen a similar scenario play out a number of times in the past during other investigations.

  The next few moments would be very interesting. I paid close attention to the woman. Her car pulled out of the parking lot and turned right.

  A few seconds later, Connor walked toward a blue sedan. He got inside the car and drove to the edge of the parking lot. From there, he turned left.

  So much for my theory.

  I continued to talk to myself. “If you’re not going to follow that brunette, then where are you headed?”

  I fired up the ignition of my car and followed Connor.

  ***

  Over the years, I had learned how to tail someone without being spotted. It involved keeping a safe distance between my vehicle and the person I was following. A few car lengths of buffer was usually sufficient.

  When I had spoken with Amy earlier, she had given me her home address as well as Connor’s address. Amy lived at 185 McGovern Trail. Connor resided at 824 Tilden Drive. A large part of me hoped that Connor would head home. Or that he’d go over to Amy’s place. Perhaps he had left work right then to surprise her.

  For a few moments, Connor’s vehicle actually began to head in the direction of Amy’s house. I allowed myself to get a little excited.

  When Connor’s car turned right a few blocks before it reached McGovern Trail, I realized that my enthusiasm was a little premature.

  He wasn’t headed to Amy’s place, after all.

  “You’re really making me guess today, aren’t you?”

  Ultimately, Connor’s car came to a stop beside The Majestic Cove Diner. Connor parked his car, got out, and entered the restaurant.

  I parked across the street from the diner.

  “Are you meeting someone here? Or are you just hungry for dinner?” I asked.

  Luckily, the diner had plenty of large windows. I was able to see inside the diner from my car.

  Another fortuitous twist was that a host led Connor to an empty table directly in front of a window.

  I kept my eyes on Connor as I waited for something interesting to happen. I had so many questions. Was he meeting someone? Was he just going to grab a bite to eat alone? What were his plans for the evening?

  A few minutes ticked by without much to report.

  About five minutes after Connor was seated, a black-haired waitress came by to take Connor’s order. Judging by their body language, they didn’t seem to know each other at all. Connor definitely didn’t appear to be flirting with her. The waitress just scribbled down his order and walked away from the table.

  Connor then started scrolling around on his phone. That went on for a few minutes.

  The waitress then returned to Connor’s table with a coffee mug.

  Connor thanked the waitress and then took a sip from the mug.

  After that, he looked at his phone again.

  Granted, Connor had only been at the diner for about ten minutes, but it was starting to look like he was just there to grab a bite to eat.

  In a way, that made some sense. It was dinnertime. What didn’t quite add up was why he had not invited Amy to join him? Or why he didn’t just go straight to Amy’s place? Surely, she would have prepared some food for him.

  It didn’t take long for me to get an answer to my questions.

  Shortly after Connor began sipping on his coffee, a redheaded woman entered the diner. When she reached the host stand, she was led over to Connor’s table.

  The redhead took a seat across from Connor.

  Suddenly, I knew I couldn’t remain in my car any longer.

  “It’s time to take action,” I said.

  Chapter Six

  Reading body language was nice and everything, but there was only so much information that I could get from that. The rare exceptions were when a fight broke out or when two people started kissing.

  I didn’t expect Connor and the redhead to start kissing. Not out in the open.

  If Connor was having an affair with this woman, he probably wouldn’t be stupid enough to kiss her in public.

  I needed to know what those two were talking about at that table.

  There was one easy way to do that. I got out of my car and entered the diner. When I reached the host stand, I told the goateed employee who greeted me to seat me at a table near Connor’s.

  Suddenly, I would be in a great position to eavesdrop.

  As I sat at my table, I held up a menu in front of me to make it seem like I cared about the food at the diner.

  Really, the only thing I cared about was overhearing Connor’s conversation. Connor and the redhead were currently just making small talk.

  “Thanks for meeting with me,” the redhead said.

  “Of course, Nancy. I always have time for you,” Connor replied.

  “So, how’s the wedding planning going?” Nancy asked.

  “I think it’s going pretty well.”

  Nancy chuckled. “You think? You mean, you don’t know for sure?”

  “Honestly, Amy is the person to ask about wedding stuff. She’s doing all of the planning.”

  “Why does that not surprise me?” Nancy replied. “Is that her choice or yours?”

  “If she wants my input, I’m happy to give it to her.”

  “But she just hasn’t asked?”

  “Not really. Which is fine by me. I have other things going on.”

  “True, but are any of them more important than your nuptials?”

  “That’s a good point. Either way, it should be a great wedding.”

  “I’m definitely excited for it. Who doesn’t love a wedding?”

  “My bank account has a few complaints. But what are you going to do?”

  “Hey, no one ever said that weddings were cheap.”

  “You aren’t kidding,” Connor replied. “But enough about that. You told me on the phone that you have something important to talk to me about.”

  Nancy grimaced. “I sure do.”

  “And for some reason, you didn’t want to tell me what it was over the phone.”

  “I was worried that Bill would overhear what I was saying.”

  “I’m confused. Why would you care about that?”

  Nancy took a deep breath before replying, “There’s no easy way to say this.”

  “Nancy, we’ve been friends for years. You can tell me. Now, what’s wrong?”

  “Bill and I have been having problems.”

  “Oh. I didn’t realize that.”

  “That’s because I’ve been trying to keep them under wraps.”

  “Well, you’ve been doing a good job of it. I had no clue.”

  “Keeping this a secret has taken a lot of energy. I just can’t keep it inside any longer.”

  “I understand. So, tell me about it. What kind of problems are you talking about?”

  “Honestly, it kind of feels like everything is falling apart,” Nancy replied.

  “I’m so sorry to hear that. Is it anything specific? Or a bunch of small things?”

  “If I’m being brutally honest, I’m not sure if Bill even loves me anymore.”

  Connor’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

  Nancy reluctantly nodded.

  “That’s terrible,” Connor said.

  “It’s definitely not something you want to find out about your boyfriend.”

  “So wait, did he just come out and tell you that he doesn’t love you anymore?”

  “He’s never said those words. I’m just getting that vibe from him.”

  “Have you come out and asked him?”

  Nancy shook her head. “I’ve been too terrified to bring up the subject with him.”

  “Here’s what I don’t get. Say it is true. Why is he still with you then?”

  “I have a feeling that he just doesn’t want to be alone.”

  “You could be right. I mean, we’ll argue about all kinds of things, but he never brings up breaking up. He just kind of moves on to the next thing.”