sandy-colored hair, wearing a dark green shirt and jeans, fiddling with the engine of an industrial-size lawn mower. Her gaze shifted. She spotted a few tourists lingering around the tower, but they all seemed preoccupied, staring up at the lighthouse or out toward the deep blue sea.
She looked up next, at the windows on the second floor of the Keeper’s Quarters, and thought she saw a white curtain swaying, as if someone had pulled it aside and had just let it fall back into place. But she saw nothing beyond the curtain other than dusty shadows.
As she’d discovered last summer, there were plenty of people around Cape Willington with secrets they desperately wanted to keep hidden.
Deep in thought, she walked the rest of the way to the Jeep. Despite her clash with Wanda — or perhaps because of it — she sensed she was on the right track. The fact that Wanda was digging around the archives, researching John Patrick Mulroy and the homes he built, was an important discovery, she knew, and could indicate a definite link between Wanda and the missing recipe.
Before she climbed into the front seat, she pulled out her cell phone and keyed down through the list of calls she had recently received. When she found Wilma Mae’s number, she pushed the call button.
The elderly woman picked up on the third ring. “Hello?”
“Hi, Wilma Mae, it’s Candy Holliday.”
“Oh, hello Candy dear. I didn’t expect your call so quickly. Have you found my recipe?”
“No, not yet. But I’m working on it. And I have a quick question for you. When I was at your place this morning, you mentioned you had some work done on the shelving unit in the upstairs bedroom. You said you brought in a carpenter to do some repairs to the unit. Do you remember the carpenter’s name?”
“Well, let me think. It was a local fellow, I can tell you that. A tall man. Fairly young. Good with his hands. But I’m embarrassed to say his name escapes me at the moment. Isn’t that funny? And we were just talking about him.”
“Do you have any records or receipts with his name on them? It would certainly help with the case.”
“Well, yes, there might be something like that. My Milton took very good care of all the paperwork, you know. He was wonderful at that sort of thing. Very neat and tidy.”
“That’s nice to hear, Mrs. Wendell. Could you look around and see if you could find something like that? With his name on it?”
“Of course. I’ll look today. I’ll call you right away if I find something.”
As she keyed the off button, Candy looked out toward the ocean. Maybe she should stop by Wilma Mae’s house again in the morning and help her look. But Candy quickly nixed the idea. She was scheduled to work with Herr Georg at the Black Forest Bakery for a few hours in the morning, and in the afternoon she had to run some errands before getting ready for her date with Ben.
It seemed she’d just have to wait until she heard back from Wilma Mae.
She had just pulled onto Ocean Avenue when she saw the police cars parked halfway up the street. Several of them had their lights flashing. A crowd had gathered on the street, the onlookers milling about, talking to each other, trying to figure out what was going on.
Candy approached cautiously, searching for a parking spot, until an officer of the Cape Willington Police Department waved her on.
“What’s going on?” Candy called out her rolled-down window as she drove past.
“Just keep moving, ma’am. We have to keep this area clear.”
As she passed by the commotion at a crawl, she noticed most of the attention seemed to be focused on the Stone & Milbury office. Through the front windows, Candy could see several officers inside.
She also could see Maggie talking frantically to one of the policemen, her arms waving dramatically in the air.
“Oh my heavens,” Candy said to herself as the car behind her honked its horn and the officer waved again for her to drive on past. She glanced up at her rearview mirror, giving the driver behind her a dirty look. “Okay, I’m going, I’m going.”
There were no open parking spots along Ocean Avenue, but she found one once she turned onto Main Street, across from Duffy’s Main Street Diner. She scooted into the spot, slapped the gearshift into park, pulled heavily on the emergency brake, and unlocked her seat belt, then jumped out of the Jeep, pulling her purse with her. She ran along the sidewalk on Main Street, turned left at the corner, and headed down Ocean Avenue to see if Maggie needed her help.
Halfway down the street, several officers were trying to keep the crowd back, but Candy flashed her business card. “I’m with the
He gave her a skeptical look. “Can’t right now, Candy, unless you have business inside.”
“My friend’s in there! Maggie! You know her!” she added frantically, pointing at Stone & Milbury’s window front. “She... she needs her medicine. She asked me to bring it to her.” To prove her point, she started digging into her purse. “I’ve got it right here somewhere. She really needs it.”
Officer Martin studied her for a few more moments before skeptically waving her through. “All right. But make it quick. And try not to get in the way.”
“Oh, thank you, thank you so much!” She patted him on the shoulder as she raced past and through the office’s front door.
Inside, it was strangely quiet, compared to the noisy activity on the street. Three men in dark suits stood to one side, talking softly to each other. A few employees meandered around, shocked looks on their faces. “Where’s Maggie?” Candy asked. “Is she hurt? What’s going on?”
An older male employee, wearing a white shirt and a tie, pointed to one of the interior offices. “She’s in there. She’s pretty upset.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” Candy asked again, but she didn’t wait for an answer. She dashed into the office.
Maggie was sitting in an office chair, sobbing. Another man in a dark suit was sitting beside her, talking quietly to her.
Candy crossed the room. “Maggie, are you okay?”
Her best friend looked up. Her eyes were watery, and her mascara had run. She sat with her head and shoulders slumped forward, and her arms and legs folded together, as if she were a schoolkid waiting to see the principal. “Oh, Candy,” she said, her voice quavering.
“Maggie.” Candy knelt in front of her and took one of her hands. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Did something happen?”
Maggie wiped at her tears and nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“Are you okay?”
Maggie shook her head and started crying again.
“For heaven’s sake, tell me what’s going on.”
Maggie blubbered, her lips trembling, but finally she got the words out. “Oh, it’s... it’s Mr. Milbury,” she said as she looked over at the man in the suit seated next to her.
The man gave her a questioning look. After a moment, he nodded. “All right. I’ll let you two alone for a couple of minutes. But I need your statement, Mrs. Tremont. I’ll be right over here when you’re ready to talk.” He rose and walked out of the room.
Candy dropped into his vacated seat. “Maggie, tell me what’s going on. Are you in trouble?”
“I don’t know,” Maggie wailed, the tears flowing again.
“Why, what’s happened? Please tell me.”
It took Maggie a few moments, but finally she was able to get the words out. “It’s... it’s Mr. Milbury,” she repeated. “They say... they say he was embezzling from the company. They say he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
