Bennett took off his sunglasses to clean the saltwater spray from them, and as he did, he wondered about that girl and Ivy. He shook his head and shoved his sunglasses back on.
“She can’t run that house as an inn without a zoning change,” Bennett said. “And I doubt that’s going to happen soon enough for her. But she can still rent out rooms on iBnB. ”
“Sure had a crowd of people over this weekend to help her fix it up.” Mitch paused. “Her sister’s nice looking, too. Shelly called, and I delivered coffee and pastries for the crew.”
Bennett slid on his sunglasses and peered over the rim. “Sounds like you’re interested in her.”
Mitch gazed toward the horizon. “Maybe I am.”
“Be careful. With a sister like Ivy, you don’t know what she’s like. Could be lying in wait like a rattlesnake.”
Mitch let out a hearty chuckle. “And just when have you seen a rattlesnake lie in wait?”
Logan swiveled his head between them with interest. “Have you, Uncle Bennett?”
“As a matter of fact, I have.” Bennett pushed his hat back on his head. “Sometime back, one of my clients cleared out an old date palm grove near Palm Springs to build a golf course. The rattlesnakes that had been growing fat on field mice in search of sweet dates for decades were suddenly displaced. They slithered out to the nearest food sources they could find, which had the neighboring community up in arms.” Bennett glanced at Logan, who was making a face. “Well, you can just imagine.”
“Geez, don’t gross out the kid.” Mitch screwed up his face. “Besides, I don’t know how you can equate that story to Shelly.”
“She and her sister have been displaced, too. For all you know, they’re lying in wait. Looking for husbands.”
“Huh.” Mitch rotated his shoulder and shook his head. “When did you get this cynical?”
“I’m not cynical.” Bennett stole a sideways glance at Mitch. Or was he? He’d been through so much with Jackie, but he was hurt, not cynical. “Do I come off that way?”
“Not usually,” Mitch replied. “Relax. Ivy’s got you upset is all. Can’t blame her for wanting to earn some money in this economy. My mom was like that after my dad died. Did anything she could to keep us afloat.”
Mitch pointed ahead. “Sea lion straight ahead off the bow.”
Logan let out a yelp and scrambled to the front deck to get a closer look.
Bennett laced his hands behind his neck and lifted his face to the sun. “Sure appreciate you taking Logan out. Means a lot to him. But we probably need to get back. Tomorrow’s a school day.”
“For all of us,” Mitch said.
After Logan got a good look at the whiskered sea lion frolicking among the waves, they were back underway toward Summer Beach.
Bennett’s sister and her husband had a cottage near the beach. After he and Mitch had dropped off the tired little boy, Bennett took the beach road back, which led past Las Brisas. As they neared the property, he slowed and peered from the window. The yard had been cleaned up.
Loud music filtered from the house. He glanced at Mitch beside him. “I see what you mean. The place is looking better, especially since—”
A scream ripped through the night, piercing the loud music coming from the kitchen.
Mitch whipped around. “What the heck? Turn around.”
Bennett already had the SUV in reverse. Through the open windows, a chilling scene was playing out in the kitchen.
A shadowy figure had what looked like an ax raised and ready to strike. Bennett’s heart hammered with outrage.
Screeching to a halt, Bennett bolted from the car with Mitch at his side. The two men raced across the sandy lawn and burst into the kitchen before skidding to a stop.
“What’s going on here?” Bennett roared. He’d been ready to pounce on an intruder, but it was only Ivy and Shelly. He strode across to Ivy and grabbed a sledgehammer from her hands, furious that whatever these two were up to had scared the daylights out of him.
“What are you doing?” Ivy yelled, pushing safety glasses up over her head.
Mitch caught Shelly’s hand. “We heard a scream. Are you okay?”
Shelly burst into a cascade of laughter. “We’re taking down that brick wall.” She tapped her phone and turned off the blaring music that was coming from a set of speakers.
“At this time of night?” Bennett felt Ivy’s chilling glare on him.
Jutting out her chin, Ivy took a step toward Bennett. “Mr. Mayor, is there a rule against that, too, in your town?”
“There’s a law against disturbing the peace, which the police assiduously enforce,” Bennett said as evenly as he could. “This is a quiet community. Why all the screaming?”
“We were just having fun,” Shelly said with a mischievous glance at Mitch. Her eyes lit as she gestured toward an old blueprint spread out on the counter. “Look what we found.”
Mitch followed Shelly, and she tapped her finger on the drawing. “There’s a lower level down there. It’s been bricked up, and we’re about to find out why.”
“Know anything about this?” Ivy stood before him, irate.
“Can’t be a basement because this house is too close to the shore.” A flush crawled up Bennett’s neck. Claire hadn’t included any such information in the listing description, and he’d never thought to look at the plans. Had he been negligent?
He leaned the sledgehammer against the wall and looked over the plans on the counter. An idea dawned on him. “The house looks like it’s built on a hill. It’s possible that dirt was mounded up over that lower level to create a sort of cellar.”
“Doesn’t that strike you as odd?” Ivy jabbed her fists to her waist. “And shouldn’t you have told me about this?”
“I didn’t know,
