Gunpowder Chowder (6 page)

Cal opened the back door, letting Nellie jump in first, and he tucked his long legs behind the passenger seat. “Hey Jack. Slide your seat up so I have a little more room back here.”

Jack did as he was asked.

Hannah maneuvered onto the street. “Someone needs to tell me where we’re going.” She turned her head to make a quick glance at Jack next to her.

Cal took charge and directed her through town, pointing out various businesses. He offered a little background and suggested, what he considered, to be the best places for Hannah to shop. “Pull in here. This isn’t your big box store but Al carries quality and he has decent prices. He’ll give me a discount as your contractor, too.”

Cal suggested particular appliances, considering price and features. He narrowed the choices down to a couple, letting Hannah make the final decision. It was a lot to process and became a blur for her. She was thankful that Cal knew what he was doing and she trusted him to get the best prices for her.

“Okay,” Cal said when they were back on the street. “I’ll pick everything up with my truck to save on a delivery charge.” He looked at Hannah. “What’s next?”

Hannah looked at Jack for suggestions. “How about we take a drive up the coast. Hannah should have a feel for the area so she can make recommendations to her renters.”

Oceanside Drive meandered past weathered homes, various restaurants, and numerous gift shops. “You should make a list in case anyone asks you for suggestions. Also, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try a few restaurants before you recommend them,” Jack advised.

“Do you think you can find your way back without our help?” Cal asked.

Hannah reached into her small canvas tote bag and pulled out her smart phone. She punched in her address. “Sure. I live in the modern world, you know.”

Jack chuckled. “What will you do when your phone dies?”

She pulled out her car phone charger. “I guess you’ve resisted the modern conveniences,” Hannah teased.

Her phone directed her to turn around and follow Oceanside Drive back to Hooks Harbor. They all laughed out loud. Hannah said, “Even I could have figured this out.”

As they drove through town, Jack told Hannah to pull over at the town center. “You two wait here, okay? I want to talk to Noah for a minute.”

Cal and Hannah chatted easily. He told her about the upcoming Christmas by the Sea Celebration which included a Clam Chowder Cook Off. “It pulls in a lot of visitors which helps businesses at this time of year. And it’s a lot of fun.” He asked, “You’ve never come here before? Even when you were younger?”

“We used to come until I was about twelve.” She shrugged. “Caroline and my father had a falling out. Communication broke off between her and my dad, her only nephew. I don’t even know what all the drama was about. Caroline kept in touch with me over the years, much to the irritation of my father.”

“Why did she leave her place to you?”

Hannah shrugged. “Everyone told me I look like her, at least when she was younger. I think she wanted to annoy my folks. And, it was either going to me or my sister Ruby, but she has a career and wouldn’t be able to uproot as easily.”

Jack got back into the car, slamming the door. “Such rudeness. Since when did this younger generation become so hostile to their elders?”

“He’s eighteen? It’s a difficult age with everyone asking what you’re going to do with the rest of your life. Heck, I’m still trying to figure that out and I’m already twenty seven!” She laughed, trying to lighten the mood for Jack’s sake.

“It’s a difficult age all right, and if he doesn’t figure something out, he won’t have to worry about what he’ll be doing for the rest of his life.”

Silence filled the car. Hannah couldn’t help but think about the teenagers she saw on the beach the night before Vern was shot. What were they doing? Just looking for a place to hang out and get drunk? Or something more sinister?

Hannah parked Jack’s car next to Cal’s truck in front of her cottage. Another car was parked to the side and she could see someone standing on the beach looking out over the ocean.

“Are you expecting company?” Cal asked.

Hannah puckered her lips. “No, but my life has been filled with the unexpected lately, so why not one more event for the day.”

When she slammed the car door closed, the woman on the beach turned around and waved. She held the hand of a child. Her short brown hair blew around, covering her face. Hannah squinted, trying to figure out if she knew this person or if she was only being friendly.

Suddenly, she put two and two together. Running to the beach with Nellie hot on her heels, Hannah embraced the woman and they stood joined together, squealing and doing a happy dance for several minutes.

Chapter 7

Hannah picked up the little girl and twirled her around in circles. They both screeched and laughed.

“I can’t believe you’re here, Olivia.” Hannah set her niece down, keeping hold of her hand, and wrapped her other arm around her sister Ruby. She looked at Jack and Cal watching her. “Come on.” She started walking back toward the cottages. “What a surprise,” Hannah said, still in shock that her sister showed up out of the blue.

“Really Hannah? You’re surprised? I heard about the murder on the news and you never called to tell me you arrived safely. You haven’t answered my messages. What is going on?” Ruby scolded her younger sister.

“Yeah, the murder. Everything’s been so crazy since I arrived. Sorry, I should have known you’d be worried, but without a T.V. blasting constant coverage of the murder in my face, I guess I forgot you would hear about it.”

They walked through the sand in silence except for Olivia, now walking and holding Hannah’s hand. She chattered away happily to Nellie. “My name is Olivia but you can call me Liv. What’s your name?”

Hannah laughed. “Olivia, the dog’s name is Nellie. Isn’t she adorable?”

Ruby glared. “She’s allergic, you know.”

“Mommy, I
luv
Nellie. Are we going to stay here with Aunt Hannah and Nellie?”

“We’ll see, dear.”

“You’ve got your first company, Hannah. What a surprise,” Jack said.

Hannah introduced Ruby and Olivia to Jack and Cal.

Cal crouched down, petting Nellie while he talked to Olivia. “Hi, my name is Cal. I see you have a new friend already.”

Olivia’s face lit up and her grin went from ear to ear. She wrapped her arms around Nellie’s neck who was a good sport and didn’t squirm too much. Instead, her head twisted toward Olivia and her tongue traveled from Olivia’s chin to her forehead.

Ruby picked her daughter up. “Hannah, where can I wash her up before she breaks out in a rash?”

Hannah rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry about her so much. Let her be a kid and enjoy herself. Let’s pull some chairs outside so we can enjoy the rest of this sunny afternoon. I don’t imagine this mild weather will last for the whole winter.”

Ruby let out a deep sigh. “Okay. That’s probably the only way I’ll get you to fill me in on what’s going on around here.”

Hannah said a silent thank you that Cal and Jack weren’t deserting her. As much as she loved her sister, she knew Ruby arrived with an agenda and it probably wasn’t a good one. Ruby always knew what was best for Hannah, at least she thought she did, and Hannah was definitely not up for any battles with everything else that was suddenly on her plate.

Cal found four chairs and a small rocker just the right size for Olivia. Olivia had other things on her mind though, like chasing Nellie or pushing sand around into big piles once Nellie flopped down for a snooze.

Hannah brought out a tray with glasses and a pitcher of water. “This is all I’ve got at the moment. I haven’t had a chance to stock up my kitchen yet. And, since Cal will be gutting it to do the upgrades, I’ll probably just eat out until all the work is done.”

“You’ve only been here for, what, a day and a half? Are you moving forward too quickly?” Ruby asked after she gulped down half a glass of water.

“I want to be open for business as soon as possible.”

“I can’t believe Great Aunt Caroline disrupted your life like this. Hannah, what about your plans for graduate school? A real career, instead of—” she waved her hand around, “instead of this, this, these rundown shacks in a pile of sand.”

Hannah laughed. “Don’t mince any words. You sound just like Dad.” She turned to face Ruby straight on and her face turned serious. “What’s wrong with having my own business? Look out at the view. You can’t tell me looking out and listening to the ocean isn’t almost magical. We were never allowed to get to know Great Aunt Caroline, but since I’ve been here for this day and a half, I’ve been thanking her for every minute.” Hannah sat back in her chair. Every minute except for the dead body part, but she wasn’t going to admit
that
to her sister.

Ruby sighed again. “I wonder if you’ll be singing this same song once reality hits you and you actually have to make money here and deal with renters and make all those pots of clam chowder and crab rolls and lobster whatever it was that Caroline sold in her snack bar.” Ruby snorted with disdain. “Great Aunt Caroline didn’t leave you enough money to live in your dream world forever.”

Hannah decided not to respond. There was no point egging Ruby on since Ruby always had the last word. Instead, she came up with a different strategy. “Why are you here? How could you up and leave your job so easily?”

Ruby looked down at the empty glass in her hand. “I got fired. Two weeks ago. I didn’t want to worry you.”

Hannah’s hand flew over to stroke her sister’s arm. “Fired?” What Hannah didn’t say out loud was that she knew her sister could be difficult and this wasn’t the first time she had been fired. A pattern was emerging but Ruby always said it was someone else’s fault. She shook her head, realizing her sister was talking to her.

“. . . so I can stay here and help you.” Ruby looked at Hannah. “Were you listening to me?”

“Yeah, yeah. Stay here and help me, you said.” Hannah scratched her forehead, trying to figure out how to let her down gently.

Cal leaned forward. “How about your sister stays in cabin number four. Once all the blood gets cleaned up.”

The color drained from Ruby’s face. “Blood? What are you talking about? You know I hate the thought of blood.”

Hannah patted her hand. “The murder you heard about? What exactly did the news say?”

“Just the guy’s name, owner of some Inn, was murdered in Hooks Harbor. Why?” She looked first at Hannah, then at Cal.

“Well, he was murdered in the cottage over there.” Hannah pointed to the last cottage—cottage number four.

Ruby stood up. “You can’t stay here. It’s not safe. What if the murderer comes back?”

“I have a gun. Well, I did have a gun but the police officer took it. It’s the murder weapon.” Hannah was starting to enjoy this side benefit of Vern’s death right under her nose. There was no way her sister would be staying
here
and bothering her.

“A gun? Since when do you carry guns?” Ruby was standing with her arms flailing around. “What has happened to you? I don’t talk to you for a couple of weeks and you’ve become someone I don’t even know anymore.”

“Please. Stop the hysteria. I don’t ‘carry guns’ as you put it. It’s Caroline’s gun. I found it in her cottage—mine now.”

Olivia called to her mother, “Mommy, look what I found. Can I keep it?”

“What is it honey?” Ruby put her hand out. Olivia held up a gold chain with a medallion.

Jack stood up and moved closer to Ruby. “Can I take a look at that?” He studied it after Ruby dropped it in his hand. “This belongs to my grandson, Noah. I wonder how it got here.” He looked at Ruby. “I’ll have to show this to my daughter. Okay?”

Ruby nodded. “Olivia, honey, it belongs to someone else. Thanks for finding it.”

“I’ll take you to a store in town so you can pick out something for yourself instead,” Hannah offered. “There’s a local silversmith and she makes beautiful jewelry.”

“Can we go now?” Olivia asked, jumping and clapping her hands.

Hannah looked at Ruby. “Feel like a change of scenery? And you can find a room in town, too.”

Ruby nodded. “I think that’s exactly what I need.”

“I’ll make you three ladies,” Cal made a point to include Olivia, “dinner on my boat if you’d like.”

Hannah nodded her agreement. Ruby hesitated. Olivia twirled in circles until she fell in a heap.

“We’ll be there at six, or a little earlier if we get done shopping. I’ll bring some beer to replace what I drank at lunch time,” Hannah said, making a decision before Ruby could come up with an excuse.

“Great. Nothing fancy. You saw the size of my kitchen,” Cal reminded Hannah as he climbed into his truck.

She waved to Cal.

“What a whirlwind,” Ruby said. “Are you up for all this?”

“Funny you should ask. The police officer asked me the same thing. I was having my doubts, but not anymore. It’s funny, but I feel like I’m home.” She grabbed her sister’s arm and Olivia’s hand. “Let’s see what we can find in town.”

After Olivia was safely buckled into her car seat and Ruby was sitting behind the wheel, Hannah walked Jack around the back of the car. “You look worried. Is it about the gold chain?”