Pieces of Hate (A Wendover House Mystery Book 4) (14 page)

“It’s a clear case of accidental drowning. The coroner will do an
autopsy, of course, but I don’t think we need put anyone to the expense of
genetic testing.”

Yes, he was drowned, but by whom? Reverend Burke wasn’t a drunk and he
didn’t own a boat so there would have been no reason for him to be down by the
shore or docks.

Except that he had probably felt the need to confront evil and, this
time, evil had been stronger than his indignation and righteous threats.

“I’ll let you know how things go, but I don’t think there is anything
to worry about.”

The death was highly suspicious, but I was betting that the new
coroner would see it Bryson’s way. He was originally from Great Goose and
understood how things worked. Bryson and Everett are the law in the islands and
what they say is truth is the accepted reality. The old coroner, Samuel
Shawley
, might have been more troublesome being from
away
, but he had gotten conveniently
absentminded and even incompetent. Not that anyone in the islands had
complained too loudly about his inefficiency. It mostly suited us, as the post
was just something we needed filled to keep outsiders happy. But the old
coroner had a wife, just enough younger and slightly less absentminded, who
forced her husband to retire before he had an accident on the job. So now we
had a new examiner of deaths, Nathan Shipp. Nathan is very aware that Maine is
proud of the fact that we have the lowest violent crime rate in the United
States.

“Let me know when the funeral is. I’ll send flowers.”

“Will do.
Doubt there will be much of a turnout
for this one, so no undue attention.”

I suspected he was right.

“How is the silent city today?” I asked. “At least it isn’t raining.”

“Not as quiet as I’d like given that most of the people are dead,”
Bryson said. “Everett will have to mind the reverend’s paperwork. I need to be
off before someone else gets territorial about the tombstones and we have an
incident of domestic violence. People—honest to God. They have no respect for
the dead.”

I wondered if he was aware of the irony in that statement given what
we had just been talking about.

“Okay. Well,
don’t be a stranger
,” I said and
hung up the phone.

Kelvin and Barney were both waiting patiently, eyes fixed on my face.
It was clearly time for a snack. I have found that when one is an animal, apparently
almost any time is right for a snack. This seemed a sensible attitude to me
given they didn’t care about weight gain.

“It’s going to be a beautiful day,” I said. “Shall we have a picnic on
the beach? We can drop the pirate’s papers off with Ben on the way. He’d like
that.”

It had taken me a few minutes to remove all papers with references to
Nicholas’s wife and the necklace. The expurgated account was still pretty
sensational and proved his supposition.

Barney barked and wagged his tail. Kelvin stalked away. He didn’t care
about Ben’s book and liked napping a whole lot more than picnics.

“Fine.
I’ll leave your lunch in the pantry, party
pooper.”

I swear, he snorted.

I finally found
one of great-grandfather’s journals along with a few more notes from Nicholas,
who sounded ever less sane. This journal was from the late nineties. After
reading the first few pages of spider prints, I decided that I was rather glad
that I hadn’t discovered the thing before my moonlight encounter with
Halfbeard’s
cursed ghosts. Nicholas had been out of his
mind with guilt and superstitious dread, which might cause him to imagine
things. My great-grandfather didn’t come across that way.

Kelvin didn’t
specify that he was talking about the chest in his entry, but it was pretty
obvious what he meant and his words were scary.

The centuries have strengthened the monstrosity,
given it power over the weather—even here, at least at night. I don’t know what
else the damned thing wants, why it sends its pawns ashore. Perhaps it
searches. Every ten years it casts its chest upon the beach and at the next
full moon I throw it back again with something else added, this time a monkey’s
paw, a charm which my father purchased from a South American seaman. But
nothing pleases it.

I think what it, or maybe they—since I
see figures in the unnatural fog—chiefly want is the pirate who killed them and
stole the cursed treasure they were bound to by that wizard’s blood magic. But it
is not within my power to give him to them. If I could do it, I would. The man
was a damned villain. It may be that I shall have to dig up his bones and add
them to the chest if any actually remain.

“Ugh.” I had a
feeling he meant it and hoped passionately that this drastic step would never
have to be taken. Grave robbing just wasn’t in the cards.

But about
Halfbeard’s
character, Kelvin and I agreed. The man had
been a damned villain and a murderer.

The cat mewed
at me, patting the book with his paw.

“You think I
should read more?”

The cat almost
shrugged.

“Later
then.
You want to
go outside?”

Barney knows
the word
outside
and jumped to his
feet and barked happily.

“Okay, come
on.”

Reading Kelvin’s
journal would probably be instructive, if
laborious,
a
good way to spend the winter when I huddled near the fire and pretended it
wasn’t snowing. I didn’t think that time was far away. Winter was coming early.

And maybe I
would learn more about my family, my grandma. It couldn’t be all bad news,
could it?

And if it was
bad news, well, forewarned is forearmed. At least that’s what they say.

About
the Author

Melanie Jackson is the author of over 60 novels. If you enjoyed this
story, please visit Melanie’s author web site at
www.melaniejackson.com
.

eBooks
by Melanie Jackson:

The Chloe
Boston Mystery Series:

Moving
Violation

The Pumpkin
Thief

Death in a
Turkey Town

Murder on
Parade

Cupid’s
Revenge

Viva Lost
Vegas

Death of a Dumb Bunny

Red, White and a Dog Named Blue

Haunted

The Great Pumpkin Caper

Beast of a Feast

Snow Angel

Lucky Thirteen

The Sham

Murder by the Book

The
Butterscotch Jones Mystery Series

Due North

Big Bones

Gone South

Home Fires

Points West

The Wedding

Wild East

The Wendover House Mystery Series

The Secret Staircase

Twelfth Night

On Deadly Tides

Pieces of Hate

Miss Henry Mystery Series

Portrait of a Gossip

Landscape in Scarlet

Requiem at Christmas

Wildside
Series

Outsiders

Courier

Still Life

The Book of
Dreams Series:

The First Book of Dreams: Metropolis

The Second Book of Dreams: Meridian

The Third Book of Dreams: Destiny

Medicine Trilogy

Bad Medicine

Medicine Man

Knave of Hearts

Club Valhalla

Devil of
Bodmin
Moor

Devil of the
Highlands

Devil in a
Red Coat

Halloween

The Curiosity
Shoppe
(Sequel to
A
Curious Affair)

Timeless
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Club Valhalla)

Nevermore:
The Last Divine Book