“Who told you Destiny Falls is a small town?” he asked.
“Really? You just have to look around. It’s pretty obvious.”
“Hmm. Right,” he said, nodding. But he didn’t sound convinced. Oh, seriously? Was there more mystery surrounding this place? I was about to ask, but he launched into his update.
“Olivia was right. Nakita and her husband separated just about a year ago. They both started dating other people. He moved away soon after. For whatever reason, they didn’t file divorce papers, but she was living as a divorced woman. She had her own apartment with no signs of a man living there with her. She was dating, but casually, no one in particular.”
“That’s pretty much what Olivia told me,” I said.
“We still haven’t located her estranged husband, but they separated amicably. No kids, pets, or much in the way of assets. Since he hasn’t been seen in nearly a year, and we can’t detect any motive there, he’s an unlikely suspect.”
I thought about how Oliva had started to say the husband had moved away to ‘Glad’ but never finished her sentence. She refused to say more, but it was clear she was going to say Gladstone. After that, she told me it was a forbidden place to travel to and a topic to be avoided. Add to that the description I’d learned from Edna about the people in Gladstone being untrustworthy and aloof. I wasn’t entirely sure he should be off the list as a suspect.
Vessie came to the table with our breakfast and we took a few minutes to chat with her. Normally, I love talking with Vessie, but my leg was bouncing around under the table. I wanted to hear the rest of Jaxson’s update. And then, I would tell him about the box.
“Well, I don’t want to keep you from your breakfast!” Vessie said. “Enjoy!”
Jaxson took a bite of his omelet and chewed. Then he returned to our conversation.
“Oh, on another topic. I’m doing a background check on your three business neighbors. Nothing out of the ordinary has showed up yet, but there are some gaps. They appear to have been around for a few years, but I haven’t been able to figure out where they immigrated here from. Let me know if you discover anything about them, or if you can provide specifics about any odd behavior. That would give me something to go on.”
“Okay, sure,” I said.
“We have learned something of interest about the ferry captain that could lead to motive and opportunity.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. We’ve found evidence that she was involved in an illegal transport scheme. We don’t know what exactly she was transporting, but we’ve uncovered evidence that it involved large amounts of money and that it has been going on for years.”
What I said was, “Wow. That’s really strange.” What I was thinking was, “Holy crap!” I wondered where he had learned that information. I also speculated that what they were transporting illegally was passengers. Specifically the people on those lists.
“And we have a saying at the office, ‘Where there’s big money, there’s motive for murder.’ Even more, we’ve discovered that she spent a lot of time outside of work hours with Kerbie, the helmsman, and the two mechanics, known as Gronk and Shrek. We’re looking into the ferry records for their full names and backgrounds now.”
I took a deep breath. This was the perfect time to tell him about the box because now it seemed even more connected to the murder than ever before.
Jaxson’s phone rang. “Excuse me,” he said. “Redford here. Yeah . . . Yeah . . . Copy that. On my way.”
“Sorry, Hayden. Duty calls.” He stood up, threw some cash on the table, gave me a quick hug, and hustled out of the café.
32
The walk back home was excruciating. I had totally missed the opportunity to tell Jaxson about the box. And now that I was beginning to understand that it was a major puzzle piece, I was regretting not telling him sooner. I couldn’t really blame myself, though. I had received that frightening warning from the ferry captain. She had said it was life and death, and danger to my family. Then she was murdered. It was no joke.
However, I was new here. The Caldwell family and Sheriff Jaxson understood Destiny Falls. The unique, enchanted town and the odd people who inhabited it. It now felt like I had made the wrong decision to hide this from them.
Or had I?
Would I expose these people to danger? These people who I’d come to care deeply about? Would telling them be like pushing a snowball down a hill that I would not be able to stop? I felt a sense of impending doom, and my stomach clenched. A trickle of sweat ran down my back, and I realized I was making fists so tight that I was digging my nails into my palms.
I needed to stop this ruminating! I had promised Luna I would tell Jaxson. So, I would. I’d try to reach him later today after he dealt with whatever sheriff’s office emergency had caused him to run out of our breakfast.
I opened the door to Caldwell Crest and heard voices in the kitchen, my favorite room in the house. The warm cabin retreat-style design would never grow old for me. I could live in this kitchen and never tire of it. But this morning, I wasn’t feeling that warmth as I usually did. I felt cold and worried.
I followed the cheerful sound of conversation and was glad to see my youngest brother, Cobalt was home from college. He was always a burst of joyful energy in the house and seemed to make everyone just a little happier. I assumed his being the youngest in the family was the reason for that.
“Hey, hey! Look who’s here!” Cobalt sprang up from his seat, dodged the end of the counter, and leaped over to me. He gave me an enthusiastic, brotherly bear hug. “Good to see you, new sister,”
