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Chapter One
I walked into my kitchen Saturday morning, and a stranger sitting at my kitchen table, stopped me in my tracks.
My grandmother Rose whispered in my ear, “Her name is Claire.”
I’d expected peace and quiet at my kitchen nook overlooking Blueberry Bay, but instead, I guess I was supposed to look at this stranger shoveling food into her mouth as if she hadn’t eaten in days, while I sipped my morning cup of tea.
Was she homeless I wondered as I set about spooning tea leaves into a mug and turning up the flame under my kettle? She looked it, with her black hair tussled into a rat’s nest and her dirty and ripped T-shirt showing a tattooed shoulder. And to top it off, she was barefoot. Somehow, going barefoot on this chilly, misty late April morning was the most normal part of her appearance.
I guessed she was sixteen or seventeen at most.
Claire. The name drew a blank. Who was she? Why was she sitting here? And why was Rose—my grandmother with her own attached apartment—walking around in my kitchen humming and serving this young girl as if this was an everyday occurrence?
I was bewildered. However, my whistling tea kettle drew my attention away from the stranger for a moment, and I busied myself making my tea.
Pip, however, greeted Claire with a wag of her stubby tail. Of course, I knew her plan. To my sneaky Jack Russel terrier, Claire was just any other house guest who might offer a treat.
She peeked at me out of the corner of her eye as if asking permission, then shyly snuck Pip a morsel of toast. At least she liked dogs.
It wasn’t exactly Pip food, but I ignored the handout. Why bother saying anything? I had another worry on my hands. Where to sit? Not across from Claire. I sulked a bit at being displaced in my own kitchen and just leaned against the counter.
Claire, however, unconcerned with my discomfort, wiped her plate clean with the last corner of toast, sighed, and washed it all down with the remainder of her beverage. Hot coffee, I assumed.
“Well then,” Rose said as if clearing her throat of a bad taste. Her calm demeanor didn’t fool me. Something was up. “How about a shower and some clean clothes, Claire?”
I had a suspicion where those clean clothes would come from, but that was the least of my concerns at the moment. But Rose was Rose, and she’d inform me about this guest when she was good and ready. So, I sipped my tea and waited.
If only Luke was home to give me his opinion. Unfortunately, he’d left early to help Luna with her new training center for her black Labradors. I wish I’d gone with him, but no, I’d planned a nice lazy morning as the only item on my Saturday agenda.
Apparently, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
“Dani? Can you find clean clothes for Claire? You two are close enough in size.”
I raised an eyebrow as I sized our new guest up. My size? Rose had tossed that off as if Claire’s several inches shorter and twenty pounds lighter were nothing.
She stood up and wrapped her arms around herself, and my spacious kitchen made her petite frame seem even tinier.
“I can just put these back on,” she said in a breathy voice that surprised me. It felt like warm chocolate oozing over vanilla ice cream if you can imagine that coming from a scared, disheveled young woman.
Rose used her fussy voice. “There’s no need for that, Claire. Dani will find you something clean and comfy. Now, come along.”
Rose, all business now, gently took Claire’s arm and led her upstairs to the guest bathroom. Pip followed me into my room where I riffled through my closet and threw a change of clothes on my bed.
“What do you think of this situation, Pip?” I asked. Of course, the question was for me, but did I have an answer? No.
Pip, living in the moment, probably thought, just take one hurdle at a time. Works for me. She yipped and jumped on the bed, most likely hoping the first hurdle was our morning walk on the beach. That would be nice, but today, I had a sneaky suspicion that Rose had another plan that would definitely involve me but not the beach walking part.
The noise of the shower running interrupted my thoughts.
Rose walked into my room and sat next to Pip. “Sorry to spring all this on you, but I had to make a decision. There isn’t time to tell you everything, so please, Dani, will you trust me?” She raised an eyebrow and waited.
“Of course I trust you, but where did Claire come from out of the blue?”
Rose sighed. “In a nutshell, I saw her sneak into the lighthouse a few days ago. I’ve been leaving her food since then, and today, she was hiding behind one of the big boulders, looking worse than something washed up on the beach. Well, I don’t have to tell you that. You saw her for yourself. When I approached, I assumed she’d bolt, but she didn’t, and I convinced her to come home with me. Dani, she’s scared. I promised her we’d help.”
We’d help, I repeated silently. I picked up the change of clothes I’d dug out. “She can keep these, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Rose pursed her lips into a tight line, which meant one thing. A much bigger request was coming. “We have to hide her until we know exactly what’s going on.”
“Hide? Here?” My voice squeaked.
“No, it’s probably not safe here. I want you to take her to Luna’s Labradors. Luke is building that training area, and he convinced Luna to add a small apartment. You know, just in case. I’d say this is one of those just-in-case situations. Claire can stay there.”
“Is Claire in trouble?” Did we want to get involved with a runaway? “And Luna knows about this?”
“Not yet.”
“Maybe we should call the police if Claire needs help.”
Rose snapped, “Absolutely not.” Rose stood up, smoothed her tan slacks, and squeezed my shoulder. “I’m sure you can convince Luna to help us. After all, it’s your money that’s funding the expansion.”
I sat down on my bed, totally flummoxed. “My money?” What was Rose up to? “Not exactly the way I see it, Rose,” I said. “The money came from a winning lottery ticket entrusted to me by a dead man. I only did what was right.”
The story was a tad more complicated than that, involving another murder and, well, let’s not go down that rabbit hole. We closed the book on that episode, sort of. Luna ended up with a new training facility for her Labradors, which is where Luke is busy this morning completing the renovations.
She patted my shoulder. “Exactly. You did what was right, and hiding Claire is also doing what’s right.”
We stared at each other. My grandmother, who had always been there for me, needed my help. I couldn’t say no, and she knew it, but I could make her sweat for a minute as I pondered the strange situation.
“Claire is Alice’s granddaughter,” Rose added suddenly.
That hit a nerve. “Why didn’t you say that right off?”
Rose smiled. “It slipped my mind.”
That detail changed everything. Alice Cross was a dear elderly friend I visited whenever I could, but why hadn’t I heard about her granddaughter before now?
“So, here’s my plan,” Rose continued, settling down next to me on the bed.
“Wait,” I started to say. I needed more information about why Claire was on her own and needed our help, but unfortunately, we heard a knock on the front door before Rose could continue. Meanwhile, Pip charged down the stairs at full speed.
“I’ll get that,” Rose said as if this interruption wasn’t exactly unexpected. “You stay up here and keep an eye on Claire.”
What the heck was going on? I peeked out the window, surprised to see Detective AJ Crenshaw’s SUV. Why was he here? At this hour, a visit from AJ must mean he’d shown up in his official capacity. This whole situation escalated from strange to unnerving. I tiptoed to the top of the stairs to eavesdrop on their conversation.
The door squeaked open. “Good morning, AJ. What a pleasant surprise,” Rose said in a surprisingly cheerful tone. “How can I help you?”
“Hello, Rose,” AJ answered, sounding all business. “We’re looking for a young woman, a teenager actually, who’s been reported missing. Have you seen anyone matching that description? Maybe walking on the beach?”
“Seriously, AJ? Lots of people walk on the beach. Short? Tall? What color hair?”
“Petite, dark hair. Here’s a photo that her grandmother provided. Her name is Claire. Is Dani around? Her car is here. I’d like her to look at the photo, too.”
“She’s in the shower,” Rose said, blurting out that lie as if it was nothing. “I haven’t seen this girl, AJ. Why do you think she’d be on the beach?”
“You’ll hear about this soon anyway. There’s been a murder near the Kitty Point Lighthouse. We’ve got the area cordoned off, but there’s evidence that someone was recently inside.”
I covered my mouth so AJ wouldn’t hear my gasp.
“What does this have to do with a missing girl?”
“It’s possible she was hiding in the lighthouse, and she might have seen something, or she could be in trouble. We don’t know, but if you see her, call me, okay?”
“I’ll keep my eyes open for her, AJ. Want a muffin for the road?”
Nice distraction, I thought.
“How could I say no to that?”
I heard their footsteps head toward the kitchen. Right after that, the shower turned off. I hurriedly grabbed the clothes from my bed and ran to the bathroom. I quietly opened the bathroom door a couple of inches. Claire, clutching a towel tightly around herself, peeked at me through the crack.
“Clean clothes,” I whispered and shoved them through. “Stay in the bathroom till I knock again.”
Her pale blue eyes widened, but she nodded with understanding and closed the door with barely a click.
I leaned against the wall, my heart pounding and my thoughts racing. None went to a cozy scenario.
What mystery had Rose pulled me into now?
End of Excerpt
