Nightmare in Nantucket (Garden Girls Christian Cozy Mystery Series Book 14) Page 5

  “It’s still early. We could hang out here, see if we can spot them either leaving the hotel or coming back.” Gloria glanced around. There was a cluster of uncomfortable Victorian period furniture tucked off in the corner. “Let’s wait over there.”

  They headed to the wingback chairs off to the side and settled in. Gloria sat so she had a bird’s eye view of guests as they came and went.

  The two of them sat for what seemed like forever with nary a glimpse of the Thorntons. Gloria checked her watch. “We need to take shifts,” she said. “Let me see if a couple of the others can head over to give us a break and a chance to grab a quick bite to eat.”

  She dialed Lucy’s number first.

  “Did you find her or the boyfriend?” Lucy asked.

  “No. Mr. Brodwell checked out of the hotel so Brian and I have been hanging out here in the hotel lobby, hoping to spot Andrea’s parents so we can tail them.”

  “Oh, that sounds like fun,” Lucy said.

  “Good. I’m glad it does because Brian and I need a break. Can you and someone else take our place?”

  She could hear Lucy’s muffled voice in the background and then she spoke into the phone. “Margaret and I will be right there.”

  Ten minutes later, Margaret and Lucy arrived on scene and hurried over.

  Gloria stood. “Do you remember what Andrea’s parents look like?”

  Lucy nodded. “Yep. Mr. Thornton is short. He has a clump of dark toupee on his head and I think he has a moustache. Mrs. Thornton is an older version of Andrea, but with a snooty demeanor.” She lifted her head and peered down her nose at Gloria.

  “Bingo.” Gloria shifted to the side. “Remember, if they take off, you’ll need to tail them but don’t engage them. We’re hoping they will lead us to Sean Brodwell.”

  “Do not engage,” Margaret repeated. “We’re on it.”

  Brian and Gloria exited the front doors and wandered down the sidewalk, in the direction of their motel, which was a short walking distance.

  While they walked, Gloria attempted to calm Brian. She could see underneath his calm, cool exterior he was seething.

  “We don’t know the whole story,” Gloria reasoned. “All we know is what David and Libby Thornton told you.”

  “True,” Brian admitted.

  Gloria pressed on. “It’s not fair to Andrea. You need to give her a chance to explain herself once we find her.” If we find her, she silently added.

  Chapter 8

  Gloria and Brian stumbled upon a small café on their way to the motel. Although the menu was limited, Gloria was famished and everything sounded good. She settled on a BLT with a cup of chicken noodle soup while Brian ordered a chicken bacon wrap and a side of French fries. They ordered the meal to go and carried it back to the motel.

  After they finished eating, Gloria busied herself with straightening the kitchenette while Brian wandered aimlessly around the suite. She kept one eye on him and one eye on her cell phone. It was a long few hours and partway through the stakeout, Margaret and Lucy switched with Ruth and Dot.

  “We’ll take the next shift,” Gloria told Ruth when Ruth called to confirm they were at the hotel and in position. “If not, we’ll have to come up with some other plan to track down this Brodwell fellow.”

  Gloria thanked her friends for pitching in and was getting ready to disconnect the line when Ruth interrupted. “I’ve got a visual. I’ll call you back.”

  The line disconnected.

  Gloria darted into the living room where Brian was searching the internet for news stories about Andrea’s disappearance. “Ruth said she spotted them.”

  Brian jumped out of the chair and ran to the door. “Let’s roll.”

  His long strides left Gloria in the dust as he walked past the elevators and headed to the stairwell. By the time Gloria reached the bottom of the stairs, Brian was long gone.

  She trailed after Brian, all the while praying he wouldn’t approach the Thorntons a second time. When she caught up with him inside the Ocean View Resort lobby, he was casing the joint.

  Ruth and Dot were nowhere in sight.

  She hurried to Brian’s side. “Hopefully they were able to follow them.”

  Gloria pulled her cell phone from her pocket and turned it over, willing the phone to ring. “Please have something. Please.”

  They waited for several long, anxious moments. Gloria was getting ready to dial Ruth’s cell phone when Ruth texted. “Meet me at Shady Cove Motel, 116 Davis Street. Circle ‘round the rear of motel. Enter via the pool area near the back of the motel. We’re hiding behind the tiki bar.”

  “On our way,” Gloria texted her reply and then slid her cell phone in her back pocket. “Let’s go!”

  Gloria huffed and puffed down the sidewalk, grateful for the cool ocean breeze. “Those bicycles are sounding better and better by the minute,” she gasped as she struggled to keep up with Brian and his long strides.

  When they reached the Shady Cove Motel, Gloria stopped abruptly out front and studied the perimeter. “Ruth said to circle around the back and enter the pool area near the back.”

  “Over there.” Brian pointed to a pool area to the left of the motel’s front entrance. “This way.” He tugged on Gloria’s arm and the two power-walked down the sidewalk, making their way through the side parking lot to the rear of the motel.

  There was a gate near the corner and when they got close, Gloria spotted Ruth and Dot lurking behind an empty bar area.

  Ruth spotted them and motioned them over. When they reached the gate, Dot eased it open. She held a finger to her lips and pointed toward the pool. “They’re over there.”

  The trio crept behind the tiki bar and joined Ruth, who was peeking around the side of a pole. “See them over there at the corner patio table?”

  Gloria followed Ruth’s gaze to the three people seated close to one another. They appeared to be having a serious conversation. “Those aren’t the Thorntons.”

  Ruth’s mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding.”

  Gloria grinned. “I am. That’s them.”

  Dot punched her in the arm. “Not funny.”

  “You’re right.”

  “I wish we had a pair of binoculars,” Gloria said.

  “We do.” Ruth reached into her oversize bag and handed a pair to Gloria. “I figured these might come in handy.”

  “I should’ve known.” Gloria placed the binoculars to her eyes and adjusted the dial. She confirmed the Thornton’s identity and then slid her gaze to the man who was with them.

  He wasn’t a bad looking fellow with sandy brown hair, a chiseled chin and hollow cheeks. He was tall…lanky would be a better description. His long, thin legs jutted out from under the table. Judging from the expression on his face, the trio wasn’t having a pleasant conversation.

  The man kept shifting his gaze, his eyes skimming the perimeter of the motel. Gloria wondered if he somehow sensed their presence, although they were hidden behind the tiki bar.

  Because of his height, Brian was slightly visible. Gloria hoped the Thorntons wouldn’t look over and notice him glaring at them. “I ought to walk over there, grab him by the throat and force him to tell me what he did with Andrea and then punch his lights out.”

  “You can’t do that,” Dot gasped. “You’ll end up getting arrested.”

  “We need to follow him,” Ruth said. “He may be able to lead us to Andrea.”

  “I agree,” Gloria said.

  Ruth eased to a standing position. “I need my van. I’ve been dying to try my new gadgets and this stakeout will be the perfect opportunity.”

  Dot and Ruth decided to head back to the motel to retrieve the van and update the others while Brian and Gloria stayed put to keep an eye on Sean Brodwell.

  The two women snuck around the back of the motel and Brian and Gloria settled in to wait.

  Gloria’s phone began to beep. It was Paul. “I need to take this call in case it’s about Allie.” Brian nodded, never
taking his eyes off his prey while Gloria tiptoed along the back of the motel where she could carry on a normal conversation and not draw attention to herself.

  “Hi Paul.”

  “Hello Gloria. I wanted to check in and make sure you arrived in Nantucket without mishap,” he said.

  “We’re fine.” She eyed the side of the motel nervously. She couldn’t see Brian and hoped he was staying put. “We still haven’t found Andrea but we did find a friend of hers who is here on the island. He was with her when she went missing.”

  She went on to explain to Paul it was an old boyfriend and how Brian teeter-tottered between wanting to leave and wanting to punch Sean Brodwell’s lights out.

  “We haven’t had a chance to use Ruth’s spy equipment. She’s on her way back to our motel to get her van since we have a visual on the Thorntons and the ex,” Gloria explained. “I’m sorry. I keep rattling on. The big question is how is Allie?”

  “She’s fine. She’s raring to get back to work but the doctor wants her to come in for a check-up before he releases her back to work,” Paul said. “Allie’s fine but Mally is a mess.”

  Gloria’s heart plummeted. “What happened to Mally?”

  “She chased one of the squirrels into the field between the garden and the root cellar. I guess I never noticed but there’s a row of sand burs on the other side of the cellar. She plowed right into them and her fur is covered with them.”

  “Oh my gosh! Poor thing,” Gloria said.

  “Poor us. Allie and I have been picking out the burs all morning. Some of the burs were imbedded in her fur and we had to cut them out so Mally has an interesting pattern to her fur. You may want to take her to the groomer to fix up what we’ve done.”

  Gloria envisioned chunks of Mally’s soft glossy fur piled up on the kitchen floor. “I will. Don’t worry about it. Do what you have to do.” She’d burned the sand bur weeds a year or so back after reading it was the only way to get rid of them. It was apparent she had missed a few. “You’ll have to torch them to get them out.”

  “You want me to set Mally’s fur on fire?’ Paul joked.

  “The burs, not Mally,” Gloria said.

  They discussed how Paul was going to burn that portion of the property and had moved onto the weather when Gloria caught a glimpse of Ruth and Dot out of the corner of her eye as they hurried around the side of the building. “I better get going. Ruth is back with her spy-mobile,” she said. “I’ll call later this evening to check on you and see how Mally and Allie are doing.”

  “Okay. I love you,” Paul said.

  “I love you, too.” Gloria pressed the end button and slid the phone into her purse.

  “How is Allie?” Dot asked and pointed to Gloria’s purse.

  “Allie is healing but Mally is a mess.” Gloria briefly explained her pooch’s latest predicament. “We better get back to Brian. I left him to keep tabs on Sean Brodwell while I talked to Paul. I’ve been on the phone since you left.”

  Gloria led the way and they strolled toward the tiki bar. “How long were you gone?”

  “About half an hour,” Ruth said. “It was a long walk back to the motel and then we had to explain to the others what had happened.”

  They rounded the corner and Gloria stopped in the spot where she’d last seen Brian. He was gone. “He’s gone.”

  “I hope he didn’t…” Gloria was about to say confront the suspect but the eerie wail of police sirens interrupted her and a burning heat crept up her neck. She ran toward the pool area, her eyes scanning the perimeter. It was empty.

  Ruth hurried down the sidewalk in front of the motel room doors. Dot was hot on Ruth’s heels.

  Gloria circled the pool area and when she rounded the last corner, a police cruiser careened into the motel parking lot and came to an abrupt halt in front of the office.

  A small cluster of people had gathered in front of one of the motel rooms, near the center of the long strip.

  Two officers exited the patrol car and strode to the group of people, who parted to let the officers through.

  By the time Gloria reached the crowd, Ruth and Dot were already there. Gloria circled the onlookers, peering over their shoulders as she tried to see inside the motel room.

  Gloria’s feeling of impending doom turned to horror as she caught a glimpse of a body lying on the motel bed. The officers were standing in the doorway, talking to a third person…Brian.

  Gloria eased past the gawkers as she attempted to get close enough to hear what the officers and Brian were saying. It was then she realized the person lying face up on the bed was Sean Brodwell.

  Chapter 9

  Things moved at breakneck speed after that. Another police car arrived, along with an ambulance.

  One of the officers herded the growing crowd of bystanders off to one side to allow the emergency personnel, who were carrying a stretcher, to make their way inside the motel room.

  Brian, flanked by two officers, exited the motel room and the trio made their way to the first police car on scene. One of the officers held the door while Brian slid into the back of the patrol car. After shutting the door, the officers climbed in the front.

  “They’re taking him down to the police station,” Dot whispered.

  “This is bad.” Ruth stated the obvious.

  Gloria watched until the patrol car pulled out of the motel parking lot and disappeared from sight before turning her attention to the motel room. Two more uniformed officers stood in the doorway, blocking the onlookers view of what was going on inside.

  A short time later, two solemn-faced emergency personnel exited the room, carrying the stretcher. A sheet covered the stretcher and Gloria caught a glimpse of a man’s hand. She shifted to the side and watched as they carefully loaded the stretcher into the back of the ambulance before making their way to the front.

  The ambulance coasted out of the parking lot and onto the street. There were no lights or sirens, indicating there was no reason to hurry. Their passenger had expired.

  Ruth tugged on Gloria’s arm and the three of them stepped off to the side, out of earshot of the other people still lingering near what Gloria suspected was now an active crime scene. “They think Brian had something to do with the man’s death.”

  “We weren’t gone long,” Dot shook her head. “Surely Brian did not kill that man. Clobber him maybe, but kill him?”

  Gloria rubbed her brow. “I didn’t hear anything like a gunshot or screams.” She began to pace back and forth as she mulled over what she’d seen. “What was it? Half an hour between the time I left Brian behind the tiki bar and now?”

  “That would be plenty of time to kill someone,” Ruth pointed out.

  “The show is over folks. It’s time to leave the area.” One of the uniformed officers began waving his hands in an attempt to disperse the crowd.

  “Let’s head to the van.” Ruth motioned them to her van, parked on the other side of the parking lot. She opened the side door and waited for Dot and Gloria to climb in before following them inside and sliding the door shut. “This is a perfect surveillance location.”

  Lining the sides of the van were what appeared to be television monitors.

  “Check this out.” Ruth dropped to her knees and crawled to the far side of the center bench seat. She pressed a lever on the side of the seat and it folded in half. She slid the seat forward and then back. It disappeared into the floor of the van.

  Ruth ran her hand along the van wall, just below the bottom edge of one of the television screens. She unclasped a hook and a small bench seat flopped down. “Lower the other one.” She waved to the left, to the back of the side wall.

  Gloria dropped onto all fours and crawled to the back. She unhooked a latch and another bench seat flopped out.

  Ruth shifted to the side. “Dot, you can sit over here.”

  On the other side of the van was a compact set of wall panels that contained an array of levers, switches, knobs and handles. “I feel like I’m in
a gadget mobile,” Dot said.

  “I need to fiddle with a few more switches and we’ll be good to go.” Ruth mumbled under her breath as she turned her cell phone on and began tapping the screen.

  The whir of machinery and flashes of light filled the interior of the van as it came to life. “I’ve only tried this a couple times so bear with me.”

  Gloria caught Dot’s eye and Dot shook her head.

  “Okay. I think we’re in business.” Ruth placed her cell phone in her lap and began twisting a dial on the front panel of one of the wall monitors. A small whirring noise filled the van and beams of light flooded the interior of the van as a round disk slowly rose from the center of the van’s roof. “Bingo.”

  Images of the motel and parking lot filled the various screens. One showed a street view. There was a second shot of the motel entrance and a third of the motel rooms themselves.

  Ruth nudged her chair to the side and settled in front of the screen that showed the open motel room door and the police officers standing on the sidewalk out front. “Good. We have a clear visual. Now we need a little sound.” She turned to Dot. “See the dial labeled ext. audio? Turn it on.”

  Dot nodded and then turned the dial Ruth indicated. The interior of the van filled with street noise and cars passing by.

  Ruth shook her head. “Whoops. I’ve got it on the wrong one.” She pointed to a lever to the left of the knob. “Push on the one labeled ‘RQ’ and flip up the one that says ‘FQ.’”

  “Let me guess. Rear quadrant and front quadrant,” Gloria said.

  Ruth winked and gave Gloria a thumbs up. “You got it.”

  The street noise vanished, replaced by the sounds of voices. The officers were talking to one another. “Now nudge the dial up just a little.” Ruth pinched her thumb and index finger together.

  Dot rolled her eyes but followed Ruth’s instructions. “This is too much.”

  “Shh.” Ruth held a finger to her lips as the sounds of the officers’ voices echoed in the van.

  “…at first it was a drug overdose but once I saw the pillow covering the victim’s face.”