By Hook or by Crook

“It’s my grandson’s birthday. Ever since my son moved back in the area, birthdays have become an all-day affair. The whole family shows, and there’s a magician for the kids and a pitcher of sangria for the adults.”

“I could do that,” I said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a kid’s party. It would be fun.”

There was such a long pause on his end, I thought we’d been cut off. “Mason, are you still there?” I said finally.

“Molly, about Saturday,” he said with an ominous catch in his voice. “I never take my girlfriends to family things.”

Now the silence was on my end. I didn’t know what I was more upset about. The s on the end of girlfriend or being put off.

“Girlfriends,” I said finally with a huge emphasis on the s.

I heard Mason groan. “It was an unfortunate use of the plural. I meant I never take my current girlfriend to family events. There, is that better?”

“No.” The word slipped out before I really thought it out. All he was doing was offering me exactly what I’d said I wanted. Something casual with no strings, no commitments and no future. He didn’t bring any of his girlfriends to family things because they were just temporary players. I didn’t like being relegated to a list, and I didn’t like knowing the ending when we’d barely begun. “I’m sorry, Mason, that doesn’t work for me. I’m an all- access sort of person, like you’ve had with my family.”

“It’s different with your family. I knew your son first.” Mason made regretful noises. “Molly, lets just erase everything I said and start over.”

“Can’t. I have to go,” I said quickly and hung up. Good work, Molly, from too many men to none. I wondered if Mason would still bail me out if things went badly on my trip.

CHAPTER 29

I STOPPED AT LE GRANDE FROMAGE IN THE morning for a red eye before driving to Long Beach to catch the boat. There was too much hysteria at my house to even attempt to make a pot of coffee. I wished my mother good luck and left as she was yelling “Irv, I can’t find my shoes.” Nobody asked where I was going, and I didn’t volunteer the information.

Everyone in Tarzana seemed to have stopped there for coffee, and I joined the crowd at the counter. Adele found me in line. “Pink, why are you taking the day off?” Adele had a naturally loud voice, and several people turned to see what the noise was about. I tried to give Adele a vague answer, but she saw the printout of my Catalina reservation sticking out of my tote bag. She stared at my outfit—the baggy hooded sweatshirt over jeans, my hair hidden under a baseball cap.

“I get it, you’re going to Catalina incognito. But Pink, consider this: I knew it was you right away. It’s the mystery thing with that crochet piece again, isn’t it?” she said.

“Could you keep your voice down,” I said in a loud whisper. I glanced over the line behind me and saw several familiar faces. Hal was back there and just behind him, Camille. I wondered if they had heard. Then I noticed Matt was at his usual table poring over something as he ate his breakfast.

“I thought you gave that up,” she said, sticking to me like glue.

I merely smiled at her and said nothing, but it didn’t help. “Pink, you have to let me come with you. You need someone to watch your back. Please.” At that she hugged me and hung on to me. “You and Dinah have all the adventures. Let me be your sidekick this time.”

I hated to admit that she had a point. Even with Mason’s number already punched in my phone ready for the send button, it would be better not to go alone. But Adele? She seemed to have forgotten that not too long ago she’d been telling me what a mess I’d made of everything. Now she was acting as though we were almost best friends or at the very least, crochet sisters. Hoping I wouldn’t regret it, I said she could come.

Never the subtle one, Adele started jumping up and down and saying I was going to be glad she came with me.

There were no dolphins on the trip over this time and not much sun. Just a white sky and me trying to will the boat to go faster and Adele trying to grill me about what I was going to do on the island. I told her it was better for her if she didn’t know.

I pulled the hat down as we got off the boat. I glanced ahead to the business area and was relieved not to see Deputy Daniels. When we got to the green pier, Adele and I separated. She went to play miniature golf, and I followed the curved road along the shore. We’d agreed that we would meet back at the boat dock and take the next boat back. And if I didn’t show up, she should call Dinah.

My heart rate kicked up as I passed the Casino Building and went around the bend.

The cats looked up as I approached the house, but other than that it was deserted. The trees shaded the area into gloominess. When I reached the house, I tripped up the stairs with nervous clumsiness. There were two pots of impatiens on the top step. I made a move toward the pot on the left. Hoping Mary Beth had been as much of a creature of habit as I had been, I stuck my hand in the dirt. I dug around, but after a few moments felt nothing but roots. I shook the grit off my hand and my heart rate kicked up as I moved to the pot on the right.

If I didn’t find a key in there I was in big trouble. I rummaged through the dirt feeling more and more frantic. Something crawled up my arm and I started to jerk away. But just then my finger brushed something metal. I grabbed onto it and pulled my hand away from the pot, while frantically brushing the insect off my inner arm. When I opened my hand I saw the key. It was old and crusted with gunk and I wondered if it would still work.

I checked the area again and saw no one. Even so, I stayed low as I tried to put the key in the lock. After some maneuvering, the key slid in and then I had to jiggle it back and forth before it turned and I heard the bolt move.

I opened the door and went inside quickly.

The faster I was out of there, the better. There was always the chance the deputy would come by and see movement in the house or that the caretaker would come by to feed the cats. I walked across the living room directly to the fireplace. As I stood in front of it, examining the tiles and the mantelpiece, I realized I had a problem. While I might be confident a secret compartment existed, I had no idea where or how to find it. Wasn’t that the thing about a secret compartment? They were secret, invisible.

The tension was making me light-headed, and I had to remind myself to take some deep breaths. Even so, my heart was pounding as though it would beat itself right out of my chest.

I ran my hands over the front of the fireplace and then along the mantel between the two metal candleholders. Nothing. I lifted each photo along the top and felt the space underneath for some kind of button or lever. Still nothing.

The tension was turning into panic. In desperation, I pulled Mary Beth’s filet piece out of my tote bag and looked at the fireplace motif for a clue. Was that a mark on the right side of the mantel or just an extra double crochet in a space? Maybe here was something under the candle-holder. I grabbed it to pick it up, but it didn’t move. Then I pushed and it slid, and as it did, I heard just the slightest click. When I looked at the front, one of the tiles was sticking out a fraction ahead of the others. When I pushed on it, it popped out and slid to the side revealing a box-shaped hiding place. My hand was shaking when I reached in. There were several old Polaroid photos. I looked them over and glanced at the crochet piece in my hand. And suddenly I got it. How could I have missed it? The answer was right in front of me all the time.

The several panels of cats didn’t refer to the four-legged variety hanging around the house. I’d needed to change the spelling to Katz. And the figure I had taken to indicate Sagittarius wasn’t really meant to mean an archer. The figure was a hunter. The first photo showed Mary Beth holding a baby and gazing down at it. But in the second, the baby was held by Hunter. He was looking away, as though he wanted to drop the bundle and run.

I put the crochet piece and the photos in my bag, closed up the panel, reburied the key and left quickly while the truth rolled around in my head. And the question of what to do with it.

I retraced my steps. My plan was to go back to the boat dock and wait there for Adele. The less wandering through town, the lower the chance of being noticed. As I got back into the main shopping area and was passing the green pier, I glanced out at the boats. I did a double take when I saw the name across the back of the one in the closest slip. Camille in gold block lettering. Coincidence or had Hunter followed me? I