Murder So Sweet (A Sweet Cove Mystery Book 2) (9 page)

“Did he agree to work with you?” Ellie asked.

“He did. He seemed excited about the possibility.” Finch went quiet. He looked down at his hands and rubbed the skin of his wrists. Circe was still in his lap.

“What happened?” Angie watched Euclid sitting beside Finch’s chair.

“I lived with our mother. She passed away two months before Thaddeus got out of jail. She left the house to us. We agreed to put the house up for sale and it sold quickly. The money was placed in the business account I’d set up at the bank under both of our names. I put all the money I’d saved in there as well.” Finch swallowed. He made eye contact with the four girls. “You can guess what happened.”

Courtney sat up, her blue eyes blazing. “Thaddeus stole the money?”

Finch’s eyes misted over. “After the closing was complete with the new owners, I went to the house to pick up a few of my belongings, my grandmother’s recipe book and a small painting she’d left me. When I entered the house, I heard a noise upstairs. I thought Thaddeus must have come to say goodbye to the house.” Finch snorted. “I was such a fool. I went up to the second floor. I called his name. He came out of my room. He was holding the recipe book and the painting.”

Finch took a drink from his glass. “I’ve never told anyone this.” He sucked in a breath and went on. “I asked Thaddeus what he was doing. His face twisted with rage. He told me he was taking the things. He hated me. He hated our mother. He charged at me and hit me in the chest. I fell. Backwards.” A tear fell from his eye and plopped onto Circe’s fur.

“How terrible,” Ellie whispered.

Finch swallowed hard. “I was unconscious at the bottom of the stairs when the new owners came in late that night. I was in the hospital for a very long time. I discovered that my brother had emptied the bank account and had disappeared. I was penniless. I had no way to find him. I went to the police, but nothing ever came of it. He was gone.”

“What did you do?” Courtney asked.

He gestured at his cane. “Because of my injury, I couldn’t go back to work at the factory.”

“So you became a teacher? You told us you’d been a math teacher.” Angie shifted in her seat.

Euclid let out a small hiss.

Finch gave a half smile to the orange cat. “I believe Euclid is on to me. I only say that I was a teacher because it’s easy for people to believe.” He reached down and scratched Euclid’s cheek. “However, it seems certain orange cats don’t believe that story.” Circe jumped down from the man’s lap and sat beside Euclid. “I discovered that after my fall, I had a certain gift.”

Ellie’s eyes widened. She glanced at her sisters. “What kind of gift?” She braced for the answer.

“I sometimes could see things. Premonitions, if you will.”

Ellie looked like she might faint.

Courtney leaned forward. “That’s so cool.”

“So I set up a business in my apartment. I gave readings to people.”

“You can see the future?” Jenna asked.

“No. It’s not like that. I get a small sense of people. It’s only little things that I see or feel, nothing major or life-altering. People seem to like it though, that I know some slight thing about them.”

Courtney had a thoughtful expression on her face. “I think everyone wants to be known to someone, however little the knowing is.”

The four sisters sat in silence thinking over what they’d learned about the Mr. Finch sitting at their table and the dead Mr. Finch.

Jenna asked, “What was the painting that your grandmother gave you? That your brother stole from you?”

“It was an abstract, by a Swedish painter. Grandmother knew that I loved to draw. Any chance I got, I would spend hours painting and sketching. I’ve always loved colors and shapes.”

“I wonder what happened to the painting.” Ellie absent-mindedly twisted the long locks of her hair.

Finch said, “It’s hanging on the wall of my brother’s living room.”

Chapter 13

It was late when they finally went to bed. No one slept very soundly except for Finch. Angie thought that Mr. Finch seemed lighter after he revealed the details of his estrangement from his brother. She wondered if releasing the story from his mind had helped him in some way.

The alarms woke the four sisters early and none of them had much energy when they first arrived downstairs for breakfast. Mr. Finch, however, was bright and happy. Mr. and Mrs. Foley joined Finch at the dining room table and told him they were sorry he had been unwell the previous day and that they were pleased that he had made such a quick recovery. Angie whole-heartedly agreed with them.

Courtney pulled a gallon of milk from the refrigerator. “Can you imagine your own sibling hurting you like Mr. Finch’s brother hurt him?”

“What a terrible, terrible man.” Ellie was placing dishes in the dishwasher. “We knew he was an angry, miserable old thing, but I had no idea.” She shook her head. “It’s mind-boggling how cruel a person can be.”

“I’d like to know who murdered dead Finch.” Jenna sat at the kitchen table eating an egg and toast. “I’d like to know why.”

“Finch must have been awful to plenty of people. There must be a life-time’s worth of angry people. It could be anyone who killed him.” Courtney poured milk into her cereal bowl. “It could be someone from his past come to get even with him.”

Angie sipped from a mug. “I wish we could help figure out who committed the crime. Even though dead Finch was a monster, people can’t take things into their own hands. There’s a killer on the loose around here.”

“It won’t do the town any good to have an unsolved murder.” Ellie was scurrying around the kitchen. “This is supposed to be a lovely, peaceful place to live and vacation. Townspeople are on edge. The killer has to be caught.”

Courtney tipped her cereal bowl to her lips to get the last of the milk. She set the bowl down on the floor and Circe and Euclid took turns licking up the last drops. “We should go talk to the candy store’s other employees.” She looked at Angie. “You and I are the only ones who don’t have jobs now. Let’s go see what we can learn about dead Finch.”

“I’d be glad to assign you some tasks to do around here.” Ellie glanced at her two sisters as she filled a basket with muffins.

Angie smiled. “I think solving the murder is a higher priority.” She winked at Courtney. “Let’s get ready.”

Courtney didn’t need to be asked twice. “I’ll meet you at the front door in fifteen minutes.”

Ellie stacked some clean plates on the counter. “Attorney Ford is coming by soon to drop off some paperwork about making the B and B an official business. It will help with taxes and insurance and liability. We can go over it later today. He’s also meeting with Mr. Finch.”

Angie did not want to see Attorney Ford. “Thanks for the warning.”

She and Courtney made eye contact with each other.

“I’ll meet you at the door in
five
minutes.” Courtney hurried out of the kitchen with Angie right behind her.

***

The girls walked down Beach Street side by side. Puffy white clouds floated against the bright blue of the sky. The sun’s rays announced the approach of the summer season.

Courtney said, “Let’s go see Mr. Adams. He worked at Finch’s candy store for about two months. After the murder, he got a job working the reception desk at the Blue Waves Inn on the beach.”

Angie said, “Maybe he has some insight.”

Courtney narrowed her eyes. “Maybe he killed Finch.”

Angie chuckled. “I love how you never dismiss anyone as innocent until proven so.”

“Hmmph.” Courtney grunted. “I’m just careful. People can surprise you.” She watched a blue truck drive up the street towards them. “There’s Tom.” She waved.

Angie waved too and looked over her shoulder. “He’s stopping at the Victorian.”

“He’s doing a lot of that lately.” Courtney gave an impish smile. “Whatever could be the attraction there?”

“Hmm.” Angie stroked her chin pretending to ponder that question. “Could it be someone with long, light brown hair and blue eyes?”

“Someone who designs and makes jewelry? Could that be the reason Tom is drawn to the house?” Courtney smiled.

“It’s possible.” Angie’s eyes sparkled. “Maybe we should question Tom about the reason he stops at the Victorian for coffee almost every day.”

“We’ll get to the bottom of it.” Courtney snickered. “Just wait until Tom’s doing the renovation work at the house. We can tease him about Jenna every day.”

“I can’t wait.” Angie rubbed her hands together.

As they walked down the slight hill, the girls looked out over the wide, white sand beach of Sweet Cove. Some people were leaping in the waves, and others sunned themselves on blankets or in beach chairs. Children threw Frisbees and flew kites. A sailboat bobbed on the ocean.

Right before the beach, on the left side of the street, stood a small hotel, an inn, two restaurants, a convenience store, and a snack counter. A little kid sat on a bench in front of the stores swinging his tiny legs back and forth, licking an ice cream cone.

Angie wanted to join the little kid to sit in the sun and eat ice cream. “Want to sit for a few minutes before we go in? The sun feels good.”

The girls took a seat on a bench near the beach. They watched the ocean waves and the people enjoying the sun.

“Tell me about Mr. Adams,” Angie asked.

Courtney rolled up the sleeves of her shirt. The day was turning out to be warmer than expected. “Mr. Adams is retired. He’s had a small house here in town for years. He moved in permanently after retiring from his job. He told me he likes to work part-time to get out, see people. He used to come to Finch’s store for the three to nine at night shift. I sort of envied him because for the last two hours of his shift, Finch would leave the store for the day and go home. Mr. Adams would lock up. He had some peace for a couple of hours without Finch glaring at him and watching everything he did.”

“That’s what Finch was like when you worked there?”

“Oh, yeah. I wouldn’t be surprised if Finch had security cameras trained on us so he could observe what we were doing in the front of the store while he was making the candy.”

“It wasn’t just you and Mr. Adams working at the store, right? He must have had other employees.”

Courtney nodded. “Every summer Finch hired students from abroad to come and work there. They had summer work contracts otherwise I don’t know how any of them would stay for four months working for him.”

“Had they arrived yet?”

“Yes. Two of them had arrived. Mr. Adams was training them.”

“So they weren’t ever there alone with Finch?”

“Not yet. Finch had the Walsh sisters working there too.”

“I forgot about the Walsh sisters.” Angie’s eyebrows went up. “They must be in their late eighties.”

“Mr. Adams said the sisters had worked at the shop for about a year.” Courtney rolled her eyes. “They must have won the prize for longest employment.”

“Prize or punishment?” Angie pushed her honey colored hair back from her face. “How’d they stand him?”

“Who knows?” Courtney looked at Angie and raised an eyebrow. “Maybe we should ask them.”

Angie nodded. “They’ll be next on our interrogation list.”

The girls got up and walked over to the inn where Mr. Adams manned the front reception desk. When they entered the lobby, Adams was writing a note on a piece of paper. He heard the door open and looked up. Adams was thin, slight, and wiry. He was balding and wore black rimmed glasses. His bushy gray eyebrows tried to hide behind the rims of his glasses, but they stuck up over the tops like unruly bushes growing over a fence. He smiled and greeted Courtney cheerfully. They exchanged pleasantries. Courtney introduced Angie to her former co-worker.

“We’ve been wondering about the murder. No one’s been caught,” Angie told Mr. Adams.

“We’ve been trying to piece together who might have had motive.” Courtney leaned against the registration counter.

Adams snorted. “Half the town of Sweet Cove, that’s who had motive. And that’s probably a gross under-estimation.”

Angie agreed. “He wasn’t popular, that’s for sure.”

“Did you ever notice Finch fighting or arguing with anyone? Ever hear any threats?” Courtney asked Mr. Adams.

Adams grunted. “Naw. Just the usual barking from Finch. Nothing out of the ordinary. Don’t know why I took that job. People warned me.” He waved his hand in the air indicating the lobby. “Working here is like a breath of fresh air. We shouldn’t have to put up with poor treatment from an employer for even one day.”

“Did you notice anything that last evening you worked there?” Angie questioned. “Did Finch leave at his regular time?”

Adams nodded, and then said, “Wait. No, he didn’t. I remember because it was always such a relief when he left for the day. He was lurking around that night. It wasn’t that busy, just a few customers. In fact, he told me I could go home early, he’d close up.”

“
He
waited on the customers?” Courtney’s eyes widened. “
He
closed up that night?”

“I know, huh. I thought it was strange, too.” Adams adjusted his glasses.

“Who was in the shop when he told you to leave?” Angie wondered if that might have triggered Finch’s desire to be alone in the shop with someone.

Adams stroked his chin. “Nobody from town. A few tourists. An older couple. Let me think … there was a family with a couple of kids. I remember because Finch didn’t like kids.”

“Why would Finch offer to wait on them?” Courtney’s forehead was scrunched.

Adams’ gray caterpillar eyebrows pinched close together. “Someone else came in right before Finch told me to leave for the night. It was the new manager from the resort.”

“Really?’ Angie asked. “The manager?”

“Did he and Finch speak to each other before you were told to go home?” Courtney lowered her voice.

“I can’t remember. I was busy waiting on the family and the older couple.”

“Did anything else seem off that night?” Courtney asked.

Adams shrugged a shoulder. “Not that I recall. Things seemed normal, except for being told to finish my shift early and go home.”

After a few moments, Courtney thanked Mr. Adams and wished him well in his new job. The girls stepped out into the sunlight.