Beach House Mystery

Chapter 3

"Do you have everything you need? Everything"s secure in that waterproof pouch of yours?" Morgan was fussing over Cordelia as she got ready to leave and had a moment of guilt over the fact that she wasn"t taking Cordelia out kayaking.

But Morgan"s fear of the open water could not let her indulge in the activity. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn"t do it. Not in a kayak. That was asking too much. But thankfully Teresa Mario, the young woman who home-schooled Cordelia and her friends, Sam and Grace, was an expert kayaker and loved to take Cordelia out. They would drag their kayak up onto one sandbar off of Pearl Island and Cordelia would spend hours practicing her painting and charcoal drawings. Teresa would bring a book along, and together they would spend a few hours once a week. Teresa always made sure they got some educational benefit out of it as well, but it was really more enjoyment than work for the two of them.

"Yup, I"ve got everything. I even grabbed a couple snacks for us."

"And what snacks would that be?" Morgan asked, eying the child dubiously. She didn"t remember any snacks in the house that would be suitable to take kayaking.

"Well, Winnie was here earlier, and she dropped off some brownies. I guess I kind of forgot to tell you." Cordelia looked a little sheepish as she answered, and Morgan burst out laughing.

"Really? Did you at least save me some?"

"Yeah, I left you three on the plate. Enjoy!"

Cordelia picked up her satchel and ran out the door, not giving Morgan a chance to answer. Morgan watched from the window as she raced down the sidewalk and climbed onto Teresa"s golf cart. From there, the two of them would go to the marina and grab a kayak. Golf carts and bikes were the most common transportation on Pearl Island, and Teresa was proud of her custom-painted hot pink cart. Cordelia got a kick out of driving around and had dubbed it the girl-mobile, which didn"t go over very well with Sam. But Cordelia reasoned they outnumbered him, and that was the end of the argument.

Morgan felt something soft rub against her ankles and she looked down to see Misty staring up at her. Reaching down, she scooped the cat up in her arms and turned away from the window.

"I guess I"d better grab a brownie before they"re gone, right, Misty?"

Morgan scratched the cat’s head as she talked, and the kitten purred in response. When Morgan found the brownies, she also found a note from Winnie and she read it with a smile.

"I had an urge to bake, and my granddaughters are both on diets, so I thought Cordelia and you might enjoy a treat." The older woman had signed her name with a flourish and a big smiley face.

Morgan grabbed one of the brownies and made her way from the kitchen to her office. But she didn"t enter. Instead, she leaned against the doorway, staring at the pile of work on her bench that needed her attention.

She had two orders of books that needed to be refurbished and brought back to their original glory, but she just wasn"t in the mood to do them. There was a restlessness about her today that she couldn"t explain.

Turning her back on the work, she made her way out into the courtyard of her office. The cries of the peacocks greeted her, along with the sweet scent of a flower she couldn"t identify. Misty followed her outside and jumped up on the wall that divided Morgan"s courtyard from the garden on the other side.

Between Morgan"s courtyard and the gardens was an area that was set aside by gates and the huge aviary for the peacocks. But it didn"t hold them in very well: Morgan would often find them wandering not only in the courtyard but in the public gardens that the other islanders enjoyed. The peacocks had become part of island life and nobody complained about their loud cries.

Morgan watched Misty walk along the wall, noting the peacocks didn"t bother to move away from the cat, they"d gotten so used to her. Sitting down on one chair, she closed her eyes and leaned her head back, letting the sun warm her face.

"I thought you had so much work to do today, but it doesn"t look like you"re working too hard."

The deep, masculine voice Morgan knew so well made her open her eyes and she smiled up into the face of Gabe Holleran.

"Hey, good to see you.” She noted his curly brown hair needed a trim again. “I know I said I had a lot of work to do. I just don"t feel like doing it. It"ll still be there later when I feel up to it. What are you up to?"

"Not much. I had a feeling you needed the distraction, so I thought I"d come by and see if you want to do the venture up the beach with me. Mr. Hornberry has a few things he wanted me to look at. Maybe you can help me out."

"You"re a great distraction, Gabe. What"s Mr. Hornberry up to this time?"

Morgan accepted the hand Gabe held out to help her up. As he pulled her towards her, he grabbed a quick kiss as well, flustering Morgan. She still wasn"t used to their friendship turning romantic, and his signs of affection still had the tendency to make her feel guilty.

Guilty, because she knew she had a responsibility to Pearl Island, and until that responsibility was fulfilled, she needed to concentrate wholly on the dangers that came from the sea in the form of the sea witch named Cora.

"Hey, my kisses are supposed to make you smile, not frown." Gabe complained.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something Meredith said today."

"Our resident ghost came by to visit, huh?"

"Yes, and she appeared in front of Cordelia."

"Really? How did Cordelia take that?"

"I don"t think it really surprised her. She seemed to know Meredith was around, and in typical Cordelia style, she bombarded my aunt with all kinds of questions."

The two shared a laugh and started walking down the sidewalk toward the golf cart in front of Morgan"s house. Jumping in, Morgan saw Gabe’s violin case on the back seat. She knew that meant he had either just come from a violin lesson with of the children on the island or he"d been practicing on his own along the beach. Gabe was a concert violinist and had traveled the world giving beautiful concerts. But his heart was here on Pearl Island and he rarely gave concerts anymore, content to stay on the island and prepare the next generation of musicians.

"So, what"s Mr. Hornberry up to today?" Morgan asked.

Mr. Hornberry was the oldest resident on Pearl Island and a bit of a curmudgeon. But he knew things about the island that Morgan could only guess about. He knew more than even Winnie, but he never talked about it much. But every once in a while, he would say something that struck a nerve with Morgan. Because of Mr. Hornberry’s age, most of the islanders looked out for him, and Morgan knew Gabe was often at the older man"s house fixing one thing or another.

Gabe grinned. "He wasn"t specific. Just said he had a list for Ben and me to tackle."

"Poor Ben,” Morgan chuckled.

She knew he would help between his current projects. Ben was the island handyman, and so much more. He had helped Morgan out with her new courtyard, creating an oasis she hadn"t even thought about.

It didn"t take long for them to reach Mr. Hornberry’s small house across from the public beach. The island was only four-and-a-half miles long, and the end of the island Mr. Hornberry’s house sat on was primarily used by the mainlanders who came over to enjoy the benefits of the beautiful white sandy beaches. The other end of the island was where the ferry came daily to collect people and take them back and forth to the mainland. The islanders mostly used this themselves, and the public rarely went past the public beach. The single-lane road that led onto the island from the mainland was the only access other than use of the ferry.

It surprised Morgan to see Mr. Hornberry standing at the end of his sidewalk, hands on his hips, looking out across the ocean. They usually found the man in the rocking chair on his front porch, watching what was going on. As he saw them, he shook his fist towards the beach, glaring.

"Do you see all this mess? You see all these extra people here on the island? Our beach isn’t big enough for all these people. What are they doing here?"

Morgan turned to look at what the older man was pointing at and found herself astonished at the number of people using the beach. But that wasn"t what was so unusual. What was unusual was the number of boats anchored on a sandbar that had developed after the last storm. It was obviously being used by people from the mainland to anchor their boats and spend the afternoon partying. Morgan could understand why Mr. Hornberry was so upset.

"It"s getting worse, isn"t it, Gabe?" she asked, watching the activities of the boaters.

Gabe gave a curt nod, but he was more intent on getting Mr. Hornberry back onto his porch before he fell. His balance was off, and his waving arms at the activities on the beach posed a potential risk. Morgan followed Gabe and Mr. Hornberry, but loud, raucous laughter coming from the sandbar diverted her attention. Turning her attention to the noise, she saw a group of young adults standing on the edge of the boat, beer cans in hand, ready to jump into the water.

"This is not good," she mumbled to herself.

Pulling her phone out of her back pocket, she sent a quick message to Jenny Colbright and her partner, Nate Hastings, Pearl Island"s police. Somebody needed to get this under control and quickly.