Beach House Mystery

Chapter 5

The evening of Jenny"s party was perfect. The seas were calm, the wind light, and the temperature had dropped enough to be comfortable. The guests were instructed to arrive at the boat dock early so they could be aboard the boat and ready to set sail as soon as Jenny arrived. Jenny"s grandmother took on the task of getting her granddaughter to the ship. She was the only one who would be able to do it without letting the secret out. She was also the only one who could get Jenny to do something when she didn"t want to, and lately, Jenny had not wanted to do much of anything.

Between Kathy, Gabe, and Morgan, everything had been arranged and so far, had gone without a hitch. The ferry captain, Rose Cardinal, had come back to the island after taking her last trip across the bay to drop off passengers and cars. She graciously allowed the three to decorate the ferryboat for the birthday party. A local caterer was providing the food, and the only alcohol the ferry captain would allow was champagne for a toast to celebrate Jenny"s birthday.

"Do you think she"ll enjoy this? Do you think she’ll be excited?" It was hard not to hear the anxiety in Kathy"s voice, and Morgan quickly assured her everything would be perfect.

"Kathy, you"ve created the perfect birthday party for your sister," Gabe jumped in, reassuring his friend, as well.

"Well, there"s nothing else we can do now," Kathy answered, and then she turned to the others standing on the deck and called out, "Everybody on board. She"ll be here shortly."

Friends and family quickly moved to the interior rooms on the ferry, and Capt. Rose turned off all the lights except for a few that illuminated the gangplank and the place where her grandmother, Winnie Colbright, was to bring Jenny, where they would surprise her.

Morgan could hear Jenny and Winnie as they approached the boat, and she hid a smile as she realized that Jenny was arguing with her grandmother over the need to go to the ferry. But Winnie pulled it off, and a few moments later, Jenny received a rounding yell of "surprise" from her loved ones. It took a few moments for their friend to figure out what was going on, but when she did Capt. Rose turned on the engines and headed out to sea. The party began.

And it was a huge success. Jenny had been surprised, amazed, that Kathy had pulled it off without some hint of what was going on.

"Thanks, sis, I had no idea. You guys must have worked hard to pull this off. Thank you."

"We all worked hard to do this for you. Now all you have to do is sit back and relax. For the next two hours, there are no worries for you," Kathy said as she hugged her sister back.

Jenny did as her sister ordered and spent the next two hours catching up with friends and family. Morgan observed her new friend, and she could see the change come over her as she genuinely relaxed and let her worries slide off her shoulders. Dancing started on the main deck, the guests celebrating Jenny’s birthday. Here, cars would typically park as they floated to and from the island. The festive sounds echoed across the water, carried on the breeze from the speakers in Capt. Rose"s wheelhouse. The music started loud and fun, but as the night wore on soft music overtook heavy rock "n" roll, and the party guests began to settle down, relaxing on the benches talking amongst themselves. It was the perfect way to end the party.

Capt. Rose turned the ferry back in the direction they had come, ready to head back to the dock. They had gotten about halfway to their destination when she slowed the boat down to a full stop. Most of the guests didn’t pay any attention, but Jenny, Morgan, and Gabe immediately felt the sensation of the boat coming to a halt. The hair rose on the back of Morgan"s neck, and she remembered her unease of being out on the ocean. Quietly moving to the captain"s wheelhouse, the three went to find out what was going on.

When they entered the captain"s room, she answered their unspoken question pointing out to the starboard side of the ferry. "There"s a ship out there. There are no running lights on it, and the engine isn"t operating. There"s been no distress signal, but I have a bad feeling."

Sure enough, there was a good-sized private boat floating in the waves near them.

"I"m sorry to spoil your party, Jenny, but I need to make sure that ship isn"t in distress," Capt. Rose explained.

"You"re right, Captain Rose. What can we do?" Jenny immediately jumped into action, her training taking over. Gone was the birthday girl, and back was the cop.

"I"m going to try and pull up alongside the boat. Do you think you and Gabe here could board her and see what"s going on?"

Gabe and Jenny quickly agreed, and Capt. Rose went about getting the ferry as close as she could to the boat. She was an excellent captain, and there was less than a foot between the two vessels when it was time for Gabe and Jenny to board.

"I"ll go first and throw over the ropes. You tether the boat to the ferry and then come over with me," Gabe instructed Jenny.

She quickly agreed, and in a matter of minutes, Gabe was on the disabled vessel and Jenny was tying off the ropes. By now, the other party-goers were aware something was going on, and they were lining the rails to watch. Jenny ordered her party guests to stay back and jumped over to join Gabe.

"Hello? Anyone aboard?" Jenny called out but received no answer. Moving forward, she approached the open area of the boat. There was a full moon, and it was easy to see the decking. She and Gabe both came to a stop when they saw the blood pooled along the side of the boat.

"Call the Coast Guard," Jenny shouted to Rose. Then with Gabe at her side, she slowly walked around the upper deck of the boat, making sure there was nobody injured and in need of help. But the deck was empty. Turning to Gabe, Jenny motioned to the door to the lower deck. He nodded his understanding, and they slowly walked to the door. Gabe was ready to kick the door down, but Jenny held her hand up and turned the knob slowly, not wanting to alert anybody who might be down below of their presence. The two disappeared from the sight of those aboard the ferry, and everyone held their breath in anticipation.

It only took a few moments for the two aboard the disabled vessel to come back on deck.

"The boat’s abandoned, there"s nobody on board," Gabe called out. There was a collective sigh of relief, but not from everyone. Jenny realized the blood they had seen was severe. Someone had been attacked or seriously hurt, and they were no longer on the boat. It only stood to reason whoever belonged to the spilt blood had gone overboard. Climbing back on the ferry, with Gabe behind her, Jenny walked over to Capt. Rose and Morgan.

"This is now a crime scene. We need to wait for the Coast Guard. I don"t know what happened here, but somebody suffered a severe or fatal injury on that boat."

Without a word, Captain Rose reached over and flipped a knob on the speakers, shutting off the music. The time for festivities was over. Morgan walked back out on the deck and stood away from the others looking out to sea, feeling a sense of danger surrounding her. In the distance, she could see a boat approaching, but from experience knew it wasn’t the Coast Guard cutter. The sense of being threatened increased, and without even realizing it, Morgan let one of her new abilities take over to protect those on the ferry. The boat approaching was bringing danger with it.

It started at Morgan"s feet, swirling and dancing with the wind, thickening as her sense of danger increased. The mist spread and began to engulf the ferry wrapping it in its protective cloak. Jenny and Gabe walked over to stand next to Morgan; they both knew about her ability, and they both realized she was trying to protect them.

"Jenny, get everybody inside and tell them to be quiet." Without looking at her friend, Morgan gave the instruction, and Jenny hurried off, getting Winnie and Kathy to help her escort everyone inside.

Gabe didn"t move. Instead, he reached out and grabbed Morgan"s hand for support. Together the two of them stood on the deck, watching and listening. By now, they could no longer see the boat approaching, but they could hear the motors. Morgan made a motion with her hand, and the mist moved to thicken around the boat tethered to the ferry. She didn"t know why, but she had a feeling it needed to be hidden from sight.

The other boat was close but not dangerously so. Voices carried in the mist across the waves.

"We need to find that boat and its cargo."

"It can"t be far. Pops was bleeding pretty badly when he took off. We’ll find him."

"Yeah, well, we’d better. And that book had better still be on the boat, too."

The voices faded as the boat passed the ferry, not realizing how close the two vessels had been.