Citrus Beach Mystery: Box Set

Chapter Four-1

Chapter Four

Saturday

Megan woke up the next morning, amazed that she had gotten any sleep at all. She had gone to bed expecting to be up all night tossing and turning, but instead had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Turning her head towards the nightstand, she saw it was 7:15 am. Knowing that the police would have been at Carol’s home at daybreak, she got out of bed. After grabbing the extra clothes that Lucy had brought over for her, she headed into the bath to get herself ready to face the day. Figuring that she was going to be running from Carol’s to her office/home on and off all day, Megan did the easiest thing possible with her hair, pulled it up into a ponytail and secured it with a barrette that she found in the drawer under the sink. Leaving the bathroom, she threw her night clothes and what she wore the day before back into the overnight case that had been left on the suitcase stand in the corner of the room. Remembering the phone she was sent to retrieve, Megan dug back into the bag and pulled the phone out of her short's pocket and placed it in one of the front pouches on her tote bag. Zipping it up, she grabbed the bag and headed downstairs towards the kitchen, hoping that the coffee that she could smell had some kick to it to get her through the next couple of hours.

Walking into the kitchen, Megan caught Paul and Lucy sharing a warm kiss, and she couldn’t help but tease them as she smiled at their obvious love for each other.

“You know you could have kept that kind of action in your room. Lucy, that coffee smells like heaven. Can you move enough for me to get to the coffee maker?”

Laughing, the two of them pulled apart and wished Megan good morning. Rather than moving, Paul reached up into the cabinet and pulled out the coffee mug that Megan always used. The picture of a stressed-out woman with the caption “I don’t do mornings” was perfect for her, and he knew it. Filling the cup with coffee and adding a spoonful of sugar, Paul handed it to her with a grin.

“Why don’t we head out in about twenty minutes?” he asked. “That should give you enough time to drink this and grab some toast or a bagel. I’m going to make a call in my office and then I’ll be ready too.”

“That works for me. I can make calls while you drive. Does anyone know if there’s been any word on what is going on at the Bloomquest site?”

“Not really, though Sheriff Green did have someone call and ask that you get there as soon as you got up and ready. He didn’t want to give me any information, but I could hear a lot of activity in the background. There hasn’t been anything on the morning newscast either. Paul, go take care of that call, and I’ll get some food in Megan. You don’t need to listen to everything we talk about. Grab a chair, Megan. I’ve got your favorite breakfast ready.” Lucy was quick to answer the question and send Paul on his way.

Lucy winked at Megan and waited until Paul left the kitchen before reaching into the refrigerator and pulling out a plate full of chocolate brownies. Megan grinned back at her. Only a best friend knew when you really needed to be fortified with caffeine and chocolate to get you through a tough morning.

“Obviously, Paul didn’t know you had these stashed. Otherwise, there would be a lot less on that plate. Thanks Lucy, you’re the best.”

“You got that right.”

Raising their brownies in the air, the women toasted each other in silent mischief. They knew the brownies would vanish when Paul found them, but in the meantime, they had a plate full to themselves.

“Is there anything I can do to help you out today, Megan? You are going to be tied up at Carol’s home for at least the morning. Will this mess up any plans you had?”

“Since it’s Saturday, I’m pretty flexible today. I’m going to have to call a staff meeting for today, and I still should get in touch with Carol. You know since I’m pulling everyone in, would you mind rounding up some food for lunch? Subs, chips, and salad are fine. There is plenty to drink at the office. Oh, can you overnight a cellphone to Carol for me? I will feed the animals when I get there.”

“Don’t be silly. I’m dying to go see those new kittens. I’m trying to convince that husband of mine that we need to offer a couple of them a home. I can walk the dogs and feed them all. Then I’ll make sure lunch is taken care of and mail out the phone. I’ll do just about anything to get out of doing that pile of laundry waiting for me.”

“Well, since you put it that way, I’ll take the help and be glad for it.” Megan smiled her thanks to Lucy and finished off her brownie. She was drinking her cup of coffee when Paul walked back into the room, saw the plate of goodies, and grinned as he grabbed a few to go.

“Holding out on me, are you? Guess I’d better take a few extra to catch up with you two. I’m ready if you are, Megan. I’ll throw your bag in the car and meet you out there.” Giving his wife a smooch goodbye and grabbing Megan’s overnight case in his hand, Paul headed to the front door. After rinsing her cup out in the sink, Megan grabbed her purse and tote bag, dug out the phone to be mailed and gave it to Lucy with a thank you as she followed him.

Settling herself into her seat, Megan fastened her seat belt with one hand and grabbed her phone out of her purse with her other hand.

“I’m going to set up that staff meeting for lunch time. Will that still work for you Paul?”

“Yeah, that will be fine. I’m setting a meeting up for my supervisors too. I’ll just meet with my guys during your meeting. You can drive your own car over from Carol’s. That is if the police are done with us by then.”

“Do you need me to do anything for your part of the meeting?”

“No, I’ll just have Eric give you a list of anything we need your team to handle, you just worry about getting through this morning and getting your staff up and running with these new challenges. Between all of us, we’ll handle anything that comes up. I’m also going to let my staff know about yesterday, alert them to what’s going on, and to keep an eye out for you and your crew.”

“That will make everyone feel a little better, I’m sure. The more eyes we have looking out for each other, the safer we will all be. But let’s be optimistic and hope that the police will get this all under control quickly.”

A few years ago, when Megan’s company had really started to grow, and she was adding employees, Paul had handed over some of his contracting detail work to her to manage. Since they shared many of the same clients, it made sense for her staff to meet deliveries and manage completion of some of the items on the construction punch list. With her staff trained for detail work, this freed Paul and his crews to work on other projects. At the same time, the two cousins also had a wonderful opportunity to purchase ten areas of land adjacent to Megan’s home. With this purchase came a barn, two large garages, a two-story house that needed a bit of work, a small in-law’s cottage and, of all the crazy things, an airplane hangar. Seeing the potential for both their companies, they grabbed it as fast as the paperwork could be completed.

Because of the hangar, there was a small one-lane blacktop road that made a circle of the property, connecting the buildings to each other. In the center of the loop was a spring fed pond with a covered dock that had been built to be used as a place to relax. The only building that wasn’t part of the loop was the in-law’s cottage. This building was set off away from the main house (the previous owner must have had some crazy in-laws), not far from Megan’s home. There was a creek running through the part of the property closest to Megan’s home. Claiming the in-law’s cottage for her personal office, they came up with a plan for the best use of all the buildings and did the remodeling needed to fit their needs.

The main house on the new property was converted to a business office. The first floor was for Megan’s employees and subcontractors to conduct their day to day business. The second floor was converted into a builder’s office with a large drafting room. The two-car garage was redesigned to be a large conference room, equipped with state of the art technology to be used by both companies for presentations and meetings. The two garages were used for Paul’s building equipment. The barn was converted to store supplies with the second floor being converted into a two-bedroom apartment, often used for contractors who might need a place to stay for a brief time when they came in from out of town.

They found that they had a use for the hanger with both having clients that had private planes that they would often fly in for meetings. So, Paul updated and cleaned up this area.

The in-law cottage was Megan’s private domain. There was a newly constructed foot bridge over the creek that allowed her easy access from her home. Soon wandering footpaths, new landscape, arbors and outdoor lighting gave the area more of a garden retreat feeling than a business, which was perfect for her, creating a smaller version of her house. Paul added a wraparound porch, converted one of the rooms into an office, and the other into a small conference room. This is where Megan brought her favorite clients, making them feel at home, pampered and confident that they could leave their homes in her hands.

“Well, I’m going to try get a hold of Carol again and then I’ll call Janice and have her get everyone in here for a noon meeting,” Megan said as she started punching in the numbers into her phone. This time Carol answered on the second ring

“Megan, I was just going to return your call. Sorry, we missed each other yesterday. I had a mare in labor and she ran into difficulties. You know how I have to be on hand for every new member of our family.”

“I hope everything went smoothly. I know how worried you get over each new birth. Do you have a couple of minutes to talk, or are you still busy?”

“I’ve got all the time you need now. The foal is a beauty, and healthy. His momma’s taking care of him now, so I’m not needed. I’m just enjoying my first real cup of coffee in hours. What’s up?”

Taking a deep breath, Megan proceeded to tell Carol about the past eighteen hours. Reassuring Carol that her property was being taken care of, Megan finished her tale.

“My God, Megan. How are you? Do you need anything? Should I come back and... “

“I’m fine, really. The police seem to have everything under control. I think it would be best if you stayed in St. Louis, at least until the press has gotten their two-cents worth in, and things calm down a bit. I think if you’re here, it will just give them an opportunity to hound you while searching for connections to this murder that just aren’t there. You don’t need that kind exposure. Besides, you are on vacation and that’s what I’m here for.”

“I can’t tell you how glad I am that you are there. Are you sure that you’re safe? Do you need to hire any extra security? Don’t hesitate to do what you must. And Megan, it’s not just my property I’m concerned about. You’re more important to me than my house and I need to know that you’re okay.”

“Thanks Carol. We are on our way back to the house as I speak. Paul’s here with me and the police have also been keeping an eye on me. I’ll know more later, and I’ll keep you up to date as things happen. Hopefully this will be resolved quickly, and everything will be back to normal. Oh, by the way, I did find your niece’s phone. I’ll get it out in today’s mail for her.”

“For goodness sake, Megan, that should be the least of your worries today. Take care of yourself first for once. I want to know every detail of what goes on. I’ll have the best gossip at the club this week, that’s for sure. If I don’t hear from you this afternoon, I’m calling you just to be sure you are all right.”