Moored in Murder Read online

  “Because men are thick-skulled.”

  “Hey,” Ben protested playfully.

  “No offense.”

  “Well, he seems to have gotten it in his head that you’re his girl, I guess.”

  “He only said that to get under your skin, I bet.”

  “And yours, clearly,” he agreed. “But as I said, I think he honestly believes it.” After all, it was the only explanation for his horribly rude attitude that morning. He saw the woman he liked, who he seemed to think was his property, leaned up against another man—a man he always treated as a lesser person. Only a jealous person would behave so poorly.

  Cheryl paused again, looking out the front window toward the snowy waterfront in the distance. “I’m going to give him a piece of my mind,” she said, marching toward the front closet.

  “Hold on, hold on. He’s in the middle of a homicide investigation. You can’t just go and have a personal confrontation right now,” he called after her.

  She didn’t hear him, or at the very least didn’t listen, because the front door slammed behind her as she left the house.

  8

  Ben considered going after Cheryl but figured it was a waste of time. She was the kind of woman that when she got an idea in her head, there was no stopping her. She was a woman on a mission and was going to give Grey a piece of her mind if it was the last thing she did.

  Finishing off his coffee, he took care to dump out the water from his foot bath and wash the tub, not wanting to leave it for Cheryl to do when she got back. Heading upstairs, he was determined to take a nap and try to forget about everything that had happened that day.

  Most importantly, he wanted to get the horrific image of poor Hank out of his mind.

  Unlocking his room, he stepped inside and shut the door. Heading into the private bathroom he looked at himself in the mirror. Dark circles under his eyes and pale cheeks were telltale signs that he was overwhelmed and stressed. Who wouldn’t be?

  After all, someone in town was just murdered and left on his boat for him to find.

  However, Ben wondered, who had killed him? Who in their right mind would want to kill poor Hank?

  Shaking his head, he walked back out of the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed. Digging into his pocket to take out his wallet and keys, he was ready to fall flat out and go to sleep for a half hour or so, when he felt something strange.

  Pulling it out, he realized it was Leland Drouse’s card. “Of course,” Ben exclaimed, jumping to his feet, his energy suddenly back.

  Hank had mentioned Leland’s name right before he died. More than that, he had seemed downright scared. So scared that he insisted Ben not go poking his nose into the business at all. He’d made him promise.

  Unfortunately, Ben would have to go back on that promise now. Hank was dead and there was something seriously fishy going on around White Bat. Having promised to care for the boat and seeing as Hank’s body had ended up on the boat, Ben felt a responsibility to at least investigate the case.

  He certainly didn’t trust Grey to handle it. It wasn’t that he was an incompetent police officer, but he liked things neat and tidy and would possibly try to close the case and throw away the key as fast as possible—if nothing else but to return the quiet nature of things to the normally peaceful town.

  Worse yet, in the back of Ben’s mind was the nagging sensation that Grey suspected him of the murder. He’d been the last one to see Hank alive. The body had been found on the boat he’d purchased that same morning. To top it off, he’d been the one to find and report the murder.

  To make things easy, Ben wouldn’t put it past Grey to just try and pin this crime on him.

  A sudden sinking feeling settled in his stomach as he had a realization. Cheryl was running out right now to give Grey an earful. Not only had Ben been the one to tattle on Grey to her, but the police chief may very well grow jealous again. It was a likely conclusion to come to that Ben might be moving in on Cheryl.

  What would that push Grey to do? Would his jealousy really inspire him to try and get Ben out of the picture by pinning a murder on him? Surely a professional officer like Grey wouldn’t stoop to such low standards.

  Despite how mean he was to Ben, Grey was a pinnacle of the community.

  However, that didn’t stop Ben from feeling sick to his stomach about the whole situation. He’d never been so scared of the police chief as he’d been that morning at the pier when he’d spotted him and Cheryl together.

  Entitlement did terrible things to a man’s personal integrity.

  No, Ben thought, it was up to him to help Hank—and himself—by getting to the bottom of this whole murder. And the first stop he needed to make was to Leland’s office.

  Grabbing his keys and wallet, he charged out the door with determination.

  Walking down Central Street, Ben was happy to see so many red and pink decorations going up in shop windows all in preparation for the Valentine’s Festival the following week. The town itself had put up heart-shaped wreaths on all the lamp posts with pink twinkling lights. His favorite bakery in town was already selling their famous sugar cookies. They were incredibly soft and warm right out of the oven and had a nice thick layer of royal icing on top with pearl shaped sprinkles.

  He was tempted to stop in and grab one since he had such a long walk ahead but decided it was best to concentrate on the matter at hand.

  The job site where the contractors were already working on the base preparations for the resort was a good forty-five to fifty-minute walk through town, across some open farmland, and finally up a hill to the top of the cliff where the building would finally be erected.

  The snow from early that morning had stopped, leaving a fresh coating over most everything in sight. The town was gorgeously wrapped in the white blanket, especially with the festive decorations sparkling against it.

  However, without the grayish cloud cover that accompanied snowfall, the air had taken on a biting cold that nipped at his cheeks and nose. Zipping up his wool jacket as far as it would go and stuffing his hands deep into the pockets, he wished he’d remembered to bring his hat.

  It only took him around fifteen minutes to reach the edge of downtown and find himself in the more spread out homes of the open farmland. Pockets of trees here and there, completely encased in a white coating, dotted the landscape.

  The chill became worse without the protection of the two-story buildings and he began to get a slight headache as the wind blew right into his unprotected ears. “Note to self,” he grumbled, “Never leave the house without a hat again.”

  While he disliked the cold sensation, he did enjoy the scenery. One thing about rural northeastern America was that it was always picturesque, like something you might see on a postcard or puzzle box. Homes had their lights on inside against the dim day. Chimneys chugged out plumes of smoke from wood burning stoves and fireplaces. Cows lazily wandered the pastures.

  It really was lovely.

  A few of the farms he passed were abandoned for years. The homes were dark with the occasional broken window or crumbling chimney and the barns appeared like skeletons of their former selves. In this winter weather, they looked like ghosts because of the ice and snow that had attached itself to every surface. Ben even spotted what looked like a piece of rusty farm equipment, an old rider tractor maybe, nestled in a thicket of trees.

  He decided he might stop and take a picture of it on his way back.

  Maybe he’d pick up painting someday and want to paint a scene like that. All of it was a comfortable distraction from the situation at hand. He had a bad feeling in his stomach about this meeting with Leland, and he hoped he wasn’t getting in over his head.

  9

  “Ah, yes. Mr. Drouse is expecting you, Mr. White. I’ll tell him you’re here,” the little blonde secretary with a shade of lipstick much too bright for her skin noted, pushing a button on her phone. “Mr. Drouse?”

  “Yes, what is it, Betty?”

  “M
r. Ben Winters is here to see you.”

  “Ah, yes, yes. Send him right in, will you?” Leland insisted.

  The blonde looked up at him with a large smile. “Head right in, please.”

  “Thanks,” Ben said without too much excitement.

  Leland Drouse’s personal office was currently in an older building that had originally been a greasy spoon diner that had gone out of business long before the mogul had come along to buy up all the land.

  The interior had been completely stripped and redone, giving it a totally modern appearance with black lacquered tile flooring in the entrance with the secretary and plush carpeting in the office. The inner walls had all been covered over in a layer of rustic brick with fine art pieces hanging to brighten up the space.

  It appalled Ben that someone would spend so much money to redo the diner, even though it would only act as a temporary office. It seemed such a waste of materials, time, and money. However, he was sure someone like Leland Drouse was used to a certain level of comfort.

  “Ah, Ben, come in, come in. So glad you could make it on such short notice,” Leland greeted, waving a hand for him to shut the door behind him.

  “Thanks,” Ben responded, noticing it was significantly warmer in the office itself than in the entrance. The secretary in her little short skirt and low-cut blouse had to be freezing.

  “Have a seat,” he offered, motioning to a leather chair on the opposite side of the desk.

  Ben gladly took it, snuggling up and rubbing his hands together to warm them up.

  “You made the right choice coming to see me,” he noted, sitting down in his own chair. “Candy?” he offered, holding out a candy tray with little suckers and other hard candies wrapped in little papers with the resort logo on it.

  “Oh? How is that?” Ben asked, cocking one eyebrow in a challenging motion. He was going to try and be as polite as possible but couldn’t help the occasional sarcasm from slipping through.

  “Well, as you know, pretty soon this resort will be the main hub of all business in this little town. You’ll be getting hundreds, maybe thousands more tourists each month. That’s going to bring in more money to this area.”

  “Ah, so it is in my best interest to go into business with you,” he deduced politely, seeing the pompous line of reasoning.

  Leland smirked widely, a twinkle of pride in his eye.

  Ben already hated this guy and he’d only had brief encounters with him. He couldn’t imagine working for him.

  “That, my friend, is exactly right. By operating a little Love Boat business exclusively from my pier, you’ll be making at least triple what you would make on your own.”

  “Well, it isn’t an official business yet, you see? I haven’t gotten my permit yet, advertising, anything like that setup.”

  “Well, that’s a big bonus for you then by signing on with me. All advertising would be taken care of for you through the resort. No need to waste your own expenses on internet ads or little fliers or whatever it is small town shops do to get the word out.”

  Ben didn’t care for the condescending tone but kept his distaste hidden. “That does sound nice,” he lied.

  “We could even help you get the business set up quickly. We have our own ways of pushing paperwork and red tape through so the customer doesn’t have to wait.”

  Pushing. That word had a strange ring to it. Could it be that Leland had the power and money to pressure people into doing whatever he wanted? Could it be that was why Hank was leaving town?

  Now that he thought about it, it did seem odd that Leland and his company were able to grab up land and begin the process of building so quickly. Ben didn’t have a complete grasp of how all that worked, but it certainly couldn’t be that easy.

  This wasn’t looking good already, he thought.

  “Well, I didn’t have a whole lot of plans for the boat. I was just going to run it as a little side thing this Valentine’s Day and have something bigger set up for next year.”

  “Oh, it’ll be even bigger than ever, Ben. With my help, you could have a huge and thriving business around this. Maybe even own multiple boats with multiple drivers.” He pointed a finger at Ben with a big smile on his face, “They would all be your employees, under your command.”

  What was this, the military?

  “Well, you see, I hadn’t planned on the whole business idea until today. I only got the boat this morning from a friend of mine. Hank Dunlap.”

  “Oh?”

  “I think you know him,” he said straight out, hoping to get some reaction from the man.

  Leland’s eyelids fluttered downward into a squint. “Dunlap, huh? That name doesn’t ring a bell.”

  “He was a local fisherman? That’s what he used his boat for? Drove a rusted old truck?”

  Leland shrugged. “Not sure who that is, unfortunately.”

  “Sure, you do. He said he knew you.”

  The man behind the desk rose an eyebrow. “He did, huh? Well, a lot of people work for me, but I don’t know them all. That would be impossible.”

  “I bet not,” Ben shot back.

  “Maybe bring him in during our next business meeting. I can put him on your team of boat driver’s if you like.” Leland was really playing it cool, Ben thought.

  “Well, that’s another problem, you see. I may not have a boat anymore. My friend died on the very boat he sold me this morning and I may not have access to it for a good long while,” he pointed out, hoping at least that would get a reaction.

  “Hmm, that’s no good,” he said, folding his hands on the desk. “Tell you what. For this year, I can buy you a better boat for this business. I’m sure a little old fishing schooner wouldn’t do you much good anyway. Tourists want something a little fancier, something that looks rustic but isn’t really.”

  Ben was taken aback. “You want to buy me a boat?”

  “Sure, why not? If we’re going into business together, I only want the best for you,” he beamed.

  This all seemed a little odd. Why was this huge business man so interested in Ben? He didn’t have a business already set up. He only had an idea for one. If Leland liked the idea so much, he could steal it away and just make it his own. Ben didn’t have a claim on it.

  “I see you’re hesitant. You’re wondering why I’m so interested in hiring you specifically.”

  “Yes, you could say that,” he agreed.

  “Well, one of the great benefits of doing a resort in a small homey town like this one is the locals. I want the real small town feel by working with other idea men, other business-minded folks like yourself. You add a flavor to my resort I, as a city slicker, can’t add on my own.”

  Ben nodded. He had to admit, that was the first argument that made sense. Maybe Cheryl was right, and this was a big opportunity he shouldn’t pass up. Perhaps he had jumped to the conclusion that Leland was somehow involved in Hank’s murder.

  Suddenly, Leland’s intercom buzzed. He pushed a button on his phone. “Yes, Betty?”

  “Blue is on the phone for you.”

  Leland glanced up at Ben as if trying to decide if he should take the call while he was with someone else or not. “Do you mind?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Go ahead and put him through,” he told Betty. Picking up the phone, he turned in his seat. “Hi, Blue. Do you have an update for me?” He paused, quickly listening.

  Ben could barely make out the man’s muffled voice on the other end.

  “Uh, huh. I see. That does change things a bit. Yeah. Okay. Thanks for the call.” He turned back and hung up the phone. “I’m sorry about this, Ben, but it looks like we’ll have to put things on hold for a bit.”

  “Oh?” Ben asked, standing up.

  “Yes, I’ve just gotten an update on some numbers and business figures. It looks like I might not be able to help you out after all.”

  “What?” Ben exclaimed, confused by this sudden change of attitude.

  “It’s not completely of
f the table, mind you. Just think of it as on hold for now, okay?”

  “Okay?” he questioned more than agreed.

  “For now, don’t try coming back. If I decide I’d like to work together after all. I’ll give you a call.” He stood up and motioned toward the door.

  “Thanks anyway,” Ben said, rushing out quickly.

  10

  Marching back down the road toward the farms, Ben’s mind was whirring like an old VHS player set to rewind. Why had Leland suddenly changed his tune? He’d acted so determined to get Ben in as an employee, as a fellow businessman, and then just turned around at the drop of a hat?