Mobsters and Lobsters (A Hooked & Cooked Cozy Mystery Series Book 2) (3 page)

“He was. I’m not sure if he’ll be back or not since the boat he rented was found capsized.”

“And Lenny?” Ruby asked, her eyes wide.

Hannah shrugged. “I don’t know. But let’s get back to this camera. I looked through some of the images.”

Ruby’s face fell into her hands. “Don’t tell me what you found. How bad is it?”

Hannah stood up and walked around her desk. She crouched in front of Ruby. “I have no idea how bad it is. The first question should be—why are there photos of you on his camera? I took the bag on impulse when I heard a boat had capsized. I’m in trouble whether he comes back or not. If Pam finds out, she’ll hound me out of town for tampering with evidence, and if Lenny comes back he could give me some pretty bad publicity for stealing his stuff. Now, did I expose myself to those kinds of problems, to protect you I might add, for nothing?”

“Lenny is Olivia’s dad.” Ruby mumbled. “He doesn’t know. He can’t find out.”

Hannah shook Ruby’s shoulders. “What did you say?”

“I left for the past two days to try to appease him. He was holed up in someone’s house about ten miles from here and he said if I didn’t go visit, he’d come find me.” Ruby finally looked at Hannah. “Find me and Olivia.”

“Lenny? That’s the guy you’ve been running and hiding from these last five years since Olivia was born? Why? He’s gorgeous. When I saw him it even crossed my mind that he was just your type.”

“Yeah, well, looks are deceiving. Turns out he’s a slimy operator who will do anything for a buck. And I mean anything. I had to protect Olivia. What was he doing renting a boat?”

Hannah sat back in her chair. “Lenny didn’t give me his detailed itinerary. All he said was he planned to explore the coastline. Any idea what he was looking for?”

Ruby unzipped the camera bag. “I bet there’s a clue here.” She searched through the images and stopped to show one to Hannah. “Here’s an image of a map. Once, he mentioned a treasure map that would make him rich. I assumed it was just more of his grandiose schemes, but maybe he was after some kind of treasure. Does this map make any sense to you?”

Hannah studied the image. “Not really, but the shoreline isn’t my specialty. Cal or Jack might recognize something.”

“We can’t tell them about Lenny. No one can know Olivia is his child.”

“What else aren’t you telling me, Ruby?”

Ruby’s face went pale and her foot jiggled until her shoe flopped off. “Let’s get some of Jack’s coffee before it’s cold.”

They left the office and walked slowly toward Jack’s house.

Ruby broke the silence and her words couldn’t have shocked Hannah more. “Lenny has connections to the mob.”

Chapter 3

Wednesday ended. Finally. When Hannah opened her eyes Thursday morning, she considered closing them and staying in bed. But it was a new day, she felt refreshed, and Nellie whined to go outside. Blue sky again. The peaceful sound of waves crashed on the beach and a salty breeze blew through the partly opened window. Today had to be filled with less drama. Right?

Wrong!

Hannah couldn’t believe her eyes.

A red Mazda Miata convertible screeched to a halt in front of her snack bar.

Hannah blinked. Was she awake or dreaming? Or had her mind finally crashed over the deep end?

A miniature pig, wearing pink sunglasses and a sunhat, sat in the passenger seat of the convertible.

Hannah closed her eyes and shook her head. After counting to ten, she opened them, expecting blue sky and the peaceful ocean view to be all that met her eyes.

No such luck.

A voice hollered from the driver’s seat. “Am I on time?”

“Excuse me?” Hannah asked.

“Am I on time? I got a letter from Caroline Holiday inviting me to meet the new owner of her cottages.” The woman removed her scarf to reveal purple streaked silver hair, neatly curled but slightly flattened. She said something to her passenger before she opened the car door and climbed out. The passenger responded with a snort.

As Hannah watched the unfolding scene, she realized her mouth was hanging open. Who was this person and what was up with the pig? And the biggest question of all was—when did Great Aunt Caroline send a letter to this person? Hannah didn’t know she would inherit the ocean-side property on the coast of Maine until the lawyer called her after Caroline died last year. Did Caroline have all this planned before she died?

“Hello,” the woman said, waving her hand in front of Hannah’s face. “Where’s Caroline?”

“Why is there a pig in your car?”

The woman’s hands flew up. “Oh. Of course. Petunia needs to get out. We’ve been driving all night.” She opened the passenger door and the small pig hopped out and started to root around in the sand.

Nellie sniffed the pig and wagged her tail. She got down on her two front paws in a play bow and the pig charged. Hannah was speechless. The woman screeched with delight and the pig chased Nellie.

The woman brought her attention back to Hannah. “It looks like Petunia found a friend. I’m guessing Caroline isn’t here at the moment? Where should I put my stuff?”

Hannah watched as Jack walked around the convertible and carefully wiped a speck of dirt off the hood. “Did you trade in your old Volvo for this beauty, Hannah?”

Hannah shook her head and nodded toward the purple haired old lady standing next to her.

“Jack? Is that you? Haven’t seen you in a million years! Remember when you, me, and Caroline went skinny dipping and shocked all her guests?”

“Pearl Amato?”

Pearl flicked her wrist. “Pearl Martini now. Tony Amato and I split up thirty years ago. The only plus from that marriage is Rocky
.”
She eyed Hannah. “He’s about your age, honey. Are you looking for a man?”

“You have a son
my
age?” Hannah asked with her eyes opened wide.

“Oh no, honey. He’s my grandson.”

Jack saved Hannah. “What in tarnation are you doing here, Pearl? Caroline’s going to be mighty pissed that you didn’t come before she kicked the bucket.”

The color under Pearl’s heavily powdered face drained away. “Dead? Caroline is dead? When? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” She held up a letter. “I got this from her just a couple of weeks ago.”

Jack snatched the letter from Pearl’s hand. “That doesn’t make sense. It must have gotten lost in the mail somewhere. Caroline died last year.” He studied the letter and read out loud, “
Pearl, come meet the new owner of my cottages. You can stay for as long as you like
.” Jack looked up. “Something doesn’t add up. It was postmarked on March twelfth of this year—that’s a year after she died. Exactly.”

Before they could come up with any more speculation about Great Aunt Caroline, Sherry Wolfe screamed and jumped behind Jack. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tight. “What’s that pig doing? Is it going to hurt me?”

“Hurt you?” Pearl huffed in a most grumpy tone. “Your screaming probably scarred her for life. And let go of Jack. You aren’t his type.” Pearl crouched down. “Come to mommy my wittle snufflebug.” She dug around in her skirt pocket and extracted a handful of grapes that Petunia gobbled from her hand.

Pearl hooked a leash onto Petunia’s harness and stood up. “So, which cottage are we staying in?”

Sherry pointed at Petunia. “If that swine stays here, I’m leaving.”

“Don’t slam the door on your way out,” Pearl said and headed to the office. “I’ll wait in there for someone to help me.”

Sherry glared at Hannah. “Well?”

Hannah’s head was spinning. This day started with more drama than she wanted in a whole month. “I’m sorry Mrs. Wolfe. This, um, visitor dropped in unexpectedly, but since she was invited by my Great Aunt Caroline who left this beautiful business to me, I feel I have to honor the invitation. But don’t worry, I will insist that Petunia doesn’t bother you.” What she left unsaid was that she wouldn’t be surprised if a
ton
of bother followed Pearl and Petunia to her beautiful ocean cottages.

“Well, I’ll trust you to keep a tight ship here,” she complained as she checked her watch. “I’ll have to walk double time to keep on my schedule.”

Jack and Hannah watched Sherry’s receding figure walk at a brisk pace, her backpack reflecting the morning sun.

Hannah jabbed Jack in the side. “What were you telling me about a red convertible yesterday? Maybe you and Pearl? Meant to be?”

“I don’t think so. She’s a wild one, a friend of Caroline’s from waaaay back. I only met her the one time we went skinny dipping, but Caroline shared a lot more stories that will never pass these lips.” He moved his fingers as if zipping his mouth closed.

“Maybe she’s changed,” Hannah said with one eyebrow up.

“Maybe
not
. Did you look at her? Purple hair, purple eye shadow, a hippy dippy skirt,
and
a pig? She’s more woman than I can manage. Everything screams loud and obnoxious.” Jack lowered his voice. “Caroline told me Pearl’s first husband, Tony Amato, had ties to the mob. Can you imagine what Pam would say about that?”

Hannah laughed. “Okay. You’ve made your point. Thanks for the background info. I’ll see if I can get her to stay at the Paradise Inn instead of here. I’m booked. There are no empty cottages.”

“Not technically,” Jack stated. “But Cottage Two looks pretty empty to me. What do you think happened to that Lenny guy? If he’s the one in that capsized boat, you’ll have an empty cottage for Pearl.”

Cal’s truck drove in loaded with new beams for the snack bar. “Looks like I’m late for the party. Whose flashy convertible is this?”

“Don’t ask,” Jack said.

“You’ll meet her soon enough I’m sure,” Hannah added.

“Her?” Cal asked with too much enthusiasm.

Hannah smacked his arm. “Yeah,
her
, but she’s a bit too old for you. Jack skinny dipped with her and Caroline many moons ago.”

Cal wiggled his eyebrows and elbowed Jack. “Sounds like a catch.”

“I’m going home for breakfast. I’ll be back in a while,” Jack said, ignoring Cal’s dig.

“Is she that bad?” Cal asked

“I’ll let you judge for yourself. But watch out for her pig, Petunia.”

“What?”

Hannah laughed at Cal’s confused expression and walked to her office, hoping to have some luck sorting out her new weird problem.

The first thing Hannah noticed when she opened her office door was the smell of cigarette smoke. The second thing was the sound of Pearl sobbing. Hannah waved her hand in front of her face and coughed. “Sorry, but there’s no smoking in here.”

Pearl stabbed her cigarette out in an empty coffee mug. She hastily wiped her cheeks. “I gave up smoking ages ago but I keep one for emergencies. Hearing the news about poor Caroline made me remember how we used to sneak out of her bedroom window when we were kids to smoke on the roof. That cigarette was for her, wherever she may be.” Pearl made a grand gesture upward with her arms.

“About accommodations,” Hannah began.

Pearl stroked Petunia. Hannah couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like Petunia was purring, or maybe it was soft grunting. Whatever it was, she was beginning to think Petunia was adorable.

“Don’t worry. We don’t need anything fancy. You can put us anywhere.” Pearl dabbed her eyes carefully, just enough to absorb the tears but not smudge the purple eye shadow. “And there’s something else.”

Hannah sat down opposite Pearl and Petunia. She waited as patiently as possible.

Pearl sighed. “Now that I’m getting over my initial shock and I have a good look at you, I should have realized from the moment I saw you that you must be Caroline’s great niece, Hannah. The new owner.”

Hannah nodded.

“You are the spitting image of Caroline.” She cocked her head sideways. “It’s a bit eerie, to be truthful.” She smoothed a piece of paper on the desk and slid it toward Hannah. “Take a look at this. It came with the letter.”

Hannah picked up the paper. It was a crudely drawn map. She’d seen something like it right after she moved in. A treasure map that Jack was keeping safe and sound as far as she knew.

Pearl continued. “To tell you the truth, the map is what really intrigued me. Caroline and I had a falling out years ago so I was actually a bit worried about seeing her again.” Pearl placed Petunia on the floor and she stood up. “Where am I staying?”

For some reason Hannah couldn’t turn Pearl away. Was it the connection to Caroline and the possibility to find out more about her great aunt? Or was it the treasure map? Or was it Pearl’s quirkiness and Petunia’s endearing cuteness? Whatever it was, Hannah didn’t have time to do any deep analysis. Instead she said, “Follow me.”

Hannah led Pearl and Petunia to Cottage Two. She had no idea what she would do if Lenny showed up but she’d cross that problem when she had to. Plus the issue of his camera bag. She unlocked the door, holding it open for her guests to enter. “You can stay here for as long as you like.”

“I don’t expect I’ll stay for longer than a week. Petunia and I have reservations for a cruise.”