Manuscripts and Deadly Motives Read online

  “Hopefully, she won’t be too mad.” Suzie slid the key into the lock, turned it, then twisted the knob. As she pushed the door open, she heard a sharp gasp from behind her. When she shifted her attention from the door to the room itself, she gasped as well. Amelia was inside, slumped over her desk. It appeared she had been struck on the back of the head.

  A strangled scream erupted from Suzie’s throat, and she was distantly aware of Mary speaking into her phone, but all she could do was stare at Amelia. It was clear the woman was dead, and there was no way it could have been an accident.

  Seconds later Suzie heard pounding on the steps. She felt Mary’s hand on her arm as she pulled her back away from the door. Dazed, Suzie looked into her friend’s eyes.

  “Suzie, are you okay?”

  “She’s dead, Mary.” Suzie clasped her hand over her mouth to hide a sob.

  Jason reached the top of the stairs first. As he looked at the two women, Suzie could see the worry in his eyes. Then he pushed past them, and into Amelia’s room.

  Suzie’s heart dropped as she wondered if the woman she’d chased down the beach wasn’t just a trespasser, but a murderer.

  Chapter 4

  Sirens cut through Suzie’s spinning mind. More police cars. The investigation was underway, but she couldn’t bring herself to move out of the hallway. It was as if her feet were cemented to the floor.

  “I should see to the other guests.” Mary clutched at her chest and took a deep breath.

  “Yes, good idea.” Suzie stared at her, as her heart pounded. “How could this happen?”

  “I don’t know, Suzie.” Mary grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle tug. “Come with me, let Jason do the work he needs to do. It’s going to be okay.”

  Suzie nodded faintly. She was usually the one doing the comforting, but she still felt as if she was in a state of shock. As they made their way down the stairs, several more officers passed them, along with a crime scene investigation team.

  Mary stepped off the last stair and looked into the anxious faces of Michael and Lavinia.

  “What’s going on?” Michael’s voice was tight. “Why are the police in here? Did something happen?”

  “Is everything okay?” Lavinia looked past Mary, to Suzie, her eyes wide. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Unfortunately, there’s been a terrible tragedy.” Suzie cleared her throat. She couldn’t just wallow in her shock, she still had a bed and breakfast to run. “The police are going to need to investigate and will likely be here for most of the day.” She walked over to the front desk and pulled open a drawer. “Here are some gift cards for the local diner. Please go and enjoy breakfast on us. I’m very sorry for the inconvenience.”

  “A terrible tragedy?” Michael followed after her as she approached the desk. “What do you mean?”

  “Oh no!” Lavinia gasped and took a few steps back. “It’s Amelia, isn’t it?”

  “We can’t discuss what’s happened.” Mary managed to sound confident. “It’s best that we don’t discuss it until the police have completed their investigation.”

  “Oh dear.” Lavinia shook her head as she folded her arms across her chest. “What happened to her? Was it an accident?”

  “Let’s go to breakfast.” Michael accepted the gift cards, then walked over to Lavinia. “Let’s give them time to sort all of this out.”

  Suzie offered him a grateful smile that faded as quickly as it arose. How could she smile at a time like this? Once the guests had left the house, Suzie turned to face Mary.

  “Amelia was murdered under this roof. That means that someone came in here, and killed her, without any of us knowing.” Suzie shuddered as she considered the possibilities. What if the killer hadn’t stopped at Amelia? “I should have caught that woman!”

  “Just take a breath, Suzie.” Mary rubbed her hand. “I know this is a lot to take in. I’m upset about it, too, but there’s no way of knowing for sure that the woman you saw is the killer. We don’t know what happened, yet. We have to wait until we get a little more information.”

  “It’s a good thing that you can keep me calm, Mary. I feel like I’m going crazy over this. I just keep thinking about how this could have happened. What if I left the door unlocked when I went to meet Paul this morning?” Suzie’s heart slammed against her chest as she replayed her hurried movements that morning. Was it possible that she had been in such a rush that she overlooked locking the door behind her?

  “You didn’t.” Mary frowned as she looked at her friend. “You never would.”

  “When you opened the door this morning, was it locked?” Suzie met Mary’s eyes.

  “I honestly don’t know. I’ve been thinking about that, too. I just can’t remember that exact moment. When I heard you shout outside, I came running out, I can’t for the life of me remember if the door was locked. I wish I could tell you for certain that it was, but I would be lying if I did.” Mary wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug. “It doesn’t matter if the door was locked. What happened to Amelia is what matters.”

  “You’re right.” Suzie gritted her teeth and tried to focus on Amelia’s death. “It seems too coincidental that someone was spying through the window this morning, and then we find Amelia dead.”

  “It’s possible it’s connected, but we also have to consider who else might have been angered by Amelia. The killer came into this house, only went after Amelia, and murdered her. It seems pretty personal to me.”

  “She did say that her book would anger a lot of people.” Suzie sighed. “I’m betting she didn’t expect it to take her life, though.”

  “If she did, she thought it was still worth it to publish the book. I wonder what she was writing about exactly?” Mary glanced up the stairs as a few officers came down.

  “I’m sure we’ll know soon enough. Once the manuscript is documented as evidence, we might be able to get a peek at it.” Suzie began to pace slowly back and forth but paused when Kirk stepped into the house.

  “Ladies.” Kirk nodded to them both, his expression grave. “It looks like this has turned into a murder investigation.”

  “Yes.” Suzie’s throat felt tight as she spoke.

  “We haven’t been able to find the woman you saw, Suzie. Can you give me a clear description of her?” Kirk pulled out his phone and opened a notepad on it.

  “I took a picture. I can send it to you.” Suzie pulled the picture up on her phone. “It’s blurry, but it’s the best I can offer.”

  “Yes, please, send it to me. The tech guys might be able to clean it up a bit. We can run it through facial recognition and see if anything pops up.” Kirk’s phone buzzed as he received the photograph.

  “You should see if you can match the picture to the name Jessica Cate. My instincts tell me that was the woman who I chased down the beach.”

  “I’ll see what I can turn up.” Kirk nodded to both of them, then headed back out the door.

  “What if they never catch her?” Suzie frowned.

  “Suzie, Mary, I need to speak with you.” Jason came down the final steps of the stairway.

  “Do you want some tea?” Mary started towards the kitchen. “I’m sure you could use some. I could, too, I’ll just make a pot real quick.”

  “No, Mary.” Jason caught her arm with a gentle touch. “There’s no time for tea. I need to find out everything I can, as quickly as I can. Whoever did this is still on the loose.”

  “What do you think I should do, Jason? Should I ask the other guests to leave?” Suzie frowned and rubbed her hands over her arms. “I can’t imagine that they will want to stay.”

  “It’s up to you, Suzie, but one thing is for sure, I want you to call a locksmith and have the locks changed. It’s possible that a key was lost or stolen and copied. Somehow the murderer got in here. It’s better to be safe, and have the locks changed.”

  Suzie’s stomach flipped as she gazed into his concerned eyes. Could she tell him the truth about possibly leaving
the door unlocked? Despite their age difference, Suzie considered her young cousin a close friend, and valued his opinion of her. She’d never made such a foolish mistake before. He often lectured her about safety and had pushed her to add a state-of-the-art security system, but she refused to live like that. Would he understand if she had accidently left the door unlocked?

  “Suzie, are you listening to me? I haven’t been able to figure out how the killer gained access. There didn’t seem to be any forced entry, and none of the windows are broken.” Jason frowned. “That leads me to think that the killer might have had a key.”

  Suzie lowered her eyes as heat rushed into her cheeks. Once more she replayed the last few moments before she headed out to meet Paul. Had she locked the door? If only she could remember for sure it would make her admission a lot easier.

  “Suzie, what’s wrong?” Jason leaned a little closer to her, his voice determined. “If there’s something else, you should tell me.”

  “It’s just that I went to see Paul this morning at the docks. I left very early in the morning, before the sun was up. I was in a bit of a rush, I mean, I think it’s possible that I might not have locked the door behind me. We leave it unlocked during the day, once we are awake. But no one else was awake, so I would have locked it.” Suzie shook her head. “I really don’t think I would have left it unlocked, but I just can’t remember if I locked it or not. All of this might be my fault.”

  “Suzie, it’s not your fault.” Jason looked into her eyes. “Even if you did leave the door unlocked, it’s not your fault. Whoever did this had a plan and was going to take Amelia’s life one way or another. The important thing to figure out now is not whether the door was unlocked, but who might have had it out for Amelia and why. Changing the locks is the first step in ensuring your safety, just in case you didn’t leave it unlocked, but catching the killer is what will ensure everyone’s safety.”

  “Thank you, Jason, but it still feels like it’s my fault.” Suzie knew that she and Mary would be the best sources of information for him, since they had the most contact with Amelia before she died. “Of course, there’s Monroe. He was enraged when he was here. I could see him killing Amelia.”

  “Maybe, but until we have a chance to speak with him, we can’t rule out anyone else. Including the woman that you saw here today.” Jason ran his hand back through his hair.

  “I sent Kirk the picture I took of her. Unfortunately, it doesn’t show much. That’s why we went upstairs, to see if Amelia would be able to identify her.” Suzie sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. “I’m sorry, Jason, I should have called you the moment that Monroe showed up, then maybe all of this would have been prevented.”

  “You did the right thing, by the time Monroe left he was calm. That’s not an easy thing to accomplish.” Mary patted Suzie’s leg.

  “Try to keep focused, I need to know if there was anyone else at all, anyone who wasn’t from around here, or maybe a local who had a run in with Amelia?” Jason looked between both women.

  “Well, of course there are the two other guests staying here, but they’ve barely spoken to Amelia. She wasn’t very friendly. She wanted to be left alone. There is also the couple that checked out yesterday morning.” Suzie sighed and shook her head. “There’s no one else.” Suddenly her eyes widened. “Actually, there was one other woman who was here. She showed up and said she wanted to stay. She asked for a tour, but then left. Rose Finley. She wanted to see every room. Of course, I showed her all of the rooms except for the occupied ones.” Suzie shrugged. “She seemed like a nice enough person, but she didn’t make a reservation.”

  “Interesting. Do you have any more information about her?” Jason jotted down a few notes.

  “Actually, I do. I had her fill out an information card, and I have Amelia’s as well, if you want it.”

  “Yes, that would be good.”

  “I’ll get it.” Mary headed to the front desk.

  “Amelia was a writer, correct?” He narrowed his eyes as he looked up from his notepad. “Do you know where she kept her computer? We’ve searched the room and haven’t been able to find it.”

  “She didn’t use a computer. She had an old-fashioned typewriter, and normally it would be on the desk.” Suzie recalled the last image of the typewriter. When she saw Amelia’s body it hadn’t even occurred to her that the typewriter wasn’t there. “Did you find it in the room?”

  “No, we didn’t.” Jason made a note, then pursed his lips. “If she was writing on a typewriter then there should have been a hard copy of her current manuscript. We also didn’t find that. Or her cell phone.” He tapped against his notepad. “It sounds like whoever killed her must have taken those items as well. This looks more and more personal the deeper I get into it.”

  Mary returned with the paperwork from the front desk.

  “This is what we have on Amelia, the four guests, and the woman who took a tour.” She handed him the papers.

  “Great, thanks. Maybe this will help us identify next-of-kin for Amelia. So far I haven’t turned up anyone.” Jason looked between both of them. “We should be able to release the room by this evening, but you both need to be very aware of what is happening around here. I haven’t ruled out the other guests as suspects, and there is still a slim possibility that this was a random killing. Keep the doors and windows locked at all times.” He met Suzie’s eyes. “All times.”

  “Yes, Jason, we will.” Suzie swallowed hard. She couldn’t help but feel responsible for Amelia’s death. Maybe the killer would have gotten in some other way, but an unlocked door likely made it a lot easier.

  “I’ll call the locksmith now.” Mary pulled out her phone. Only then did Suzie realize that Mary was still dressed in her nightgown and robe. It felt as if hours had gone by, but it was still early. In the span of just about an hour everything had changed.

  “I’ll be in touch.” Jason nodded to her, then responded to some chatter on his radio. “Yes, it’s clear down here.” He walked over to the front door, opened it, then looked towards the stairs. “They’re bringing her out now.”

  Suzie held her breath as two men carefully carried a gurney down the stairs and out through the front door.

  Mary clutched her hand as she hung up her phone.

  Suzie realized that both Jason and Mary were right, it didn’t matter if she’d left the door unlocked, all that mattered was finding out who did this to Amelia.

  Chapter 5

  A few hours later, the house was still. Eerily still. Pilot lay a few feet away from the door, with his head on his crossed paws. Suzie couldn’t stop staring at him. Why hadn’t he barked? If he knew someone was in the house that shouldn’t be, why hadn’t he reacted? He knew not to be aggressive with guests, but it seemed to her that he would have sensed something was off. His intelligence had been proven many times, and he was very protective of Suzie and Mary.

  Pilot blinked at Suzie but didn’t lift his head. She wondered for a split-second if he might feel as guilty as she did. She sighed as she looked past Pilot to the front porch. The guests would be back soon, and she had to have some answers for them. She doubted that either were going to be pleased to find out the truth. Then again if they’d asked the right people while wandering around town, they probably already knew what happened, or an extremely exaggerated version of what happened. Gossip spread through Garber like wildfire.

  “Here Suzie.” Mary pressed something into her hand.

  “What’s this?” Suzie opened her hand and discovered a small chocolate chip cookie.

  “Comfort food.” Mary popped one into her mouth. “I think we both need some.”

  “You’re right about that.” Suzie took a bite of the cookie, then looked back at Pilot. “You never heard Pilot this morning?”

  “No, in fact when I ran out to see what was happening, I had to push him out of my bed.” Mary blushed. “He might have found his way there last night.”

  “Mary.” Suzie tried to suppress a
smile. “I told you about those bad habits.”

  “I know, I know.” Mary slipped her hand into her pocket and produced a bag of the small cookies, which they both began to feast on. “But he gives me those puppy dog eyes, and he keeps my bed so warm. Still, maybe if he’d been downstairs, he would have noticed the killer.”

  “Maybe.” Suzie shook her head. “We can’t know anything for sure. I think if the killer had made any commotion Pilot would have reacted. Whoever did this had to be a professional, don’t you think? Or someone who took their time to plan it out.”

  “I don’t know about that. I would think someone that planned it out would have come up with a better solution than a blow to the head. No one else was staying on the third floor and Amelia’s room was on the other side of the house from ours, so it’s possible we just didn’t hear the struggle.” Mary winced. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

  “That’s a good point.” Suzie stood up and walked over to the front door to pet Pilot. “Did you notice anything this morning, boy? Hmm? Did you hear someone who shouldn’t have been here?”

  “What exactly happened last night?” Michael pulled the screen door open, then held it open for Lavinia to step through. “I’ve heard some wild stories in town.”

  Suzie straightened up and Mary came to stand beside her.

  “The truth is, Amelia, our guest on the third floor, was murdered in her room. That’s all we can share with you, but I want you both to know that we take your safety very seriously. The local police have offered to keep a patrol car in the parking lot overnight tonight, just in case, but there is no reason to suspect that the killer will return.” Suzie tried to keep her voice level.