Seaside Secrets (3 page)

“
It is sad,” Suzie agreed in a wistful tone. “I wish I had known him when I had the chance.”

“
I'm Paul by the way,” he said as he offered her his hand.

“
Suzie, Suzie Allen,” Suzie replied and shook his hand. “It's nice to meet you, Paul, and thank you for your help.”

“
No trouble at all. If you need anything, I'm staying in room eighteen for a few days. I have a boat on the water, but since the waves have been rough the past few days I'm treating myself to some solid ground,” he smiled a little at that.

“
Thanks again,” Suzie said with a nod as she walked over to the vending machine. As he walked away, Suzie watched him retreat through the reflection in the glass in the front of the machine. His words about her uncle made her wonder if that might really have been the reason why Harry had left the house to her. Maybe he was hoping that she would see more value in it than his son did. When she returned to the room with snacks, she found Mary already snoring in her bed. Suzie smiled and covered her up, before settling into her own bed. Despite how tired she was she found it difficult to sleep. Her mind was filled with thoughts of Dune House, of Jason, and of her Uncle Harry.

The next morning Mary and Suzie woke early to head back to work on the house. On the way to the house they decided to stop off at the local diner to have some coffee and breakfast. When they walked in, the locals looked up at them curiously. Suzie offered a friendly smile as Mary selected a table. They were barely seated when a waitress walked up to them.

“
What can I get for you?” she asked in a friendly tone.

“
We'll start with some coffee,” Mary smiled in return.

“
I'm going to use the restroom,” Suzie said as she stood up from the table. Mary nodded and began perusing the breakfast menu. When Suzie returned from the restroom she nearly walked right into Jason, who was waiting for her.

“
Oh sorry,” he said when she gasped. “I didn't mean to startle you.”

“
It's fine,” she said quickly. “I just wasn't expecting anyone to be standing here.”

“
I saw your car, and wanted to speak with you,” he explained and stepped a little closer to her. “I just want to remind you that if you need help with anything, you're welcome to call me any time.”

Mary was watching from the table they had been seated at. She sipped her coffee as she studied the interaction between the two.

“Jason, do you mind if I ask you a question?” Suzie asked gently.

“
Sure,” Jason shrugged and locked eyes with her. She could tell that he likely excelled in his role as a police officer as she had barely seen him blink the entire time they'd been talking. He seemed like a very serious, young man, perhaps with something he thought he needed to prove.

“
Why did the lawyers call me?” Suzie asked as she looked openly back at him. “Why would your father leave the bed and breakfast to me and not to his son?”

“
Ah,” Jason nodded slowly. “I guess you really were out of touch. My father and I had a falling out after my mother passed,” he admitted and cleared his throat.

“
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry,” Suzie murmured, though that was exactly what she had meant to do.

“
It's okay,” Jason shrugged again as if nothing could disturb him. “My father and I never really saw eye to eye. To be honest, not leaving the house to me was probably the only gesture of kindness he ever offered me. I wouldn't live in that place if someone paid me to,” he paused a moment and glanced over his shoulder before looking back at her. “To be honest, Suzie, you're getting the short end of the stick. My father did leave me an inheritance, what he left you is a rotting pile of junk, and it might cost you more to get it liveable than it's worth.”

“
Oh?” Suzie asked, thinking that Jason's opinion confirmed what Paul had said the night before. She was glad that Jason hadn't been left completely out of the will, but she wondered why he had such bad memories about the home itself. “I hadn't planned on just getting rid of it,” she added. “Mary and I are going to refurbish it, once it's fixed up we might decide to sell it. I'd be happy to split the profits with you,” she added in a light tone.

“
That's very kind of you,” Jason pursed his lips slightly. “But honestly, I'd rather see the place bulldozed. I'm sure there are a few offers on the table since the property is right on the beach. From what I understand the mayor is even interested.”

“
I'm sorry to disappoint you,” Suzie replied in a firmer tone after he mentioned the mayor. “But I have no intention of letting such a beautiful and historical structure be destroyed.”

“
Well,” Jason cleared his throat again, and shifted his hand from his hip to the butt of his gun. “I guess that's settled then.”

“
It is,” Suzie replied and quirked a thin brow as she tried to figure out exactly what his intentions were. In her experience as a journalist she had found she had a talent for reading people, but Jason was a very difficult read. She couldn't tell if he was angry, bored, or just emotionally repressed.

“
I think you might be taking on a bigger project than you realize,” he added with warning in his tone. “But like I said, anything you need, just give me a call.”

“
Thank you,” Suzie replied as she smiled at him. “Would you like to join us for breakfast?” she offered.

“
Oh I can't, I'm on duty,” Jason shrugged and then smiled. “Thanks anyway.” As he turned to walk away, Suzie noticed the sway in his step. She could tell that he had a very important role in the town by the way the other patrons in the diner looked up at him when he passed by them. He paused at the doorway of the diner and glanced back over his shoulder.

“
Suzie, this place is a little different to the big city,” he said calmly. “Remember to call me, for anything,” he added as he met her eyes. Suzie was a little unsettled with the way his blue eyes seemed to bore into her own. Then he was gone, yet again without blinking an eye.

Suzie
watched through the window as he started to walk across the street to his patrol car. Before he could step off the sidewalk a sleek, black sedan pulled up in front of him. He paused a moment, then the driver got out of the sedan, walked around it, and opened the rear door for Jason. She watched him place his hand on the butt of his gun again, but just for a moment, before he slid into the back seat of the car. The driver closed the door behind him, and the sleek sedan pulled away from the sidewalk.

When Suzie returned to the table where Mary was nursing her coffee, she felt a little confused.

“Handsome cousin,” Mary said with a smile and a wink as she gestured to the waitress to bring Suzie's coffee.

“
Strange is more like it,” Suzie said with a slow shake of her head. “I can't help but get the feeling that there is an awful lot going on in this town, just under the surface.”

“
Here we go,” Mary said with an affectionate roll of her eyes. “Once an investigator, always an investigator.”

“
Oh foo,” Suzie waved her hand with a laugh. “I haven't worked in a long time, Mary, you know that. The days of me hunting down the story are over.”

“
Sure, I can see that,” Mary joked and finished the last sip of her coffee just as the waitress came to refill it.

“
It seems he wants the place torn down,” Suzie shrugged a little. “At first I felt badly about inheriting the property, but now I'm rather glad I did. At least we'll give it a chance to survive.”

“
Speaking of surviving, we better stock up on provisions before we get to work,” Mary said quickly. “I spotted a grocery store in the middle of town, we should go by before we head back to the house.”

“
Good idea,” Suzie agreed. “But first, we eat!” she said as she opened up the breakfast menu.

Suzie soon discovered that what the little town lacked in culture it more than made up for in the foo
d it served. She hadn't had anything so tasty in a very long time. She pretended not to know that it was the ample amounts of butter and grease that made it so delicious. As she settled the bill with the waitress Suzie could feel the eyes of some of the locals on her. She smiled at the waitress.

“
We'll see you again soon,” she said.

“
Oh, you're staying?” the waitress asked with surprise. She had curly, white hair that was poofed just enough to make her head resemble a turned dandelion. “I thought you might be just passing through.”

“
No, we'll be staying for a little while,” Suzie said as Mary walked up beside her. “And with the delicious coffee you have I'm sure we'll be back for more.”

“
Okay then,” the waitress smiled, her eyes gleaming with the information she'd received. “It's about time that dusty old place had some real life in it again.”

“
We'll do our best,” Suzie laughed before she and Mary walked out the door of the diner.

***

Despite their excited chatter on the way back to the house, when Suzie took another look at the house and all of the help it needed, she felt the wind leave her sails a bit. She didn't want to invest a lot of time and money into something that couldn't be repaired. She frowned as she tested some of the wood on the porch.

“
I think this will all have to be replaced,” she muttered.

“
Don't worry about that now,” Mary reminded her. “One room at a time.”

From the threadbare
, dust-infested curtains to the carpet worn so thin that the bare, wooden floor could be seen beneath it, there was a lot of work to be done. Suzie and Mary were eager to get started.

“
Operation sunlight!” Mary declared and began pulling down all of the old curtains. The rooms that had once been dreary and strangled by shadows were illuminated by the bright sunlight that poured in through the windows. Windows that were in dire need of some cleaning themselves.

“
It seems as if my uncle just gave up,” Suzie said quietly as she tugged a cover off a majestic, old piano that appeared to have been hidden in the corner for many years.

“
He was just living between his bedroom and the kitchen, from what I can tell,” Mary said quietly as she pressed one of the keys on the piano to see if it was in tune. The sound the piano emitted was jarring, but still seemed to fill the room with a sense of hope.

“
Can you even imagine?” Suzie said as she shook her head. “My entire condo could fit in this living room. He had all of this space, and didn't use any of it.”

“
It must have been lonely to live here after his wife died,” Mary said as she glanced around at the floor to ceiling windows and the large fireplace in the center of the living room. “Having space isn't always a luxury,” she added. “I remember when my oldest left home for college, standing in the middle of his room and thinking how empty it was.”

“
But people leave an impression, and even when they've moved on, it still remains,” Suzie said as she flipped through some of the music books hidden inside the piano bench. “The more I learn about old buildings and homes, the more I long to protect them from destruction. Once someone lives there, it's not just walls and a roof any more, is it?”

“
This place certainly isn't,” Mary said with a small smile of affection as she ran her fingertip along a carving in one of the walls. “You know these marks were probably to measure someone's height. It might not have even been Jason's, could have been some other little boy or girl who once lived here.”

“
We'll have to learn what we can about the place while we're here,” Suzie suggested. “All right, let's move this furniture out of here so we can see what we can do about this carpet.”

They worked together to move the furniture, most of which was rather heavy. Then Suzie crouched down and began tugging at one corner of the carpet. When she pulled on it, the carpet disintegrated in her hands.

“Hmm,” she said as she glanced over at Mary. “I think we might need a little help with this.”

“
I think you're right,” Mary laughed and laid her hand on the mantle above the fireplace. When she did she touched the glossy surface of a photograph.

“
Suzie, look at this,” Mary said with a smile as she picked up the photograph.

“
What is it?” Suzie asked and stood up, dusting off bits of carpet as she did.

“
It's a photograph of the sunrise over the beach,” Mary said with admiration as she showed it to Suzie. “It’s not dusty so it was probably taken recently. If your uncle took it, he must have been a good photographer, don't you think?”

“
I'd say so,” Suzie replied in a murmur as she studied the image. The myriad of colors sprawled across the sky were interrupted only by a few sea birds soaring by. “It's beautiful,” she admitted.

“
Let's get started on this carpet,” Mary coaxed her. “In no time we'll have this place looking as wonderful as it once did.”

Suzie had a hard time believing that, but she was grateful for Mary's optimism. They worked together to tear up and roll back some of the carpet. Suzie was inspecting the hard wood floor, wondering if she could just polish
it or if it would need to be redone, when she noticed something strange about some of the floorboards.

“
Look at this,” Suzie said as she traced her fingertips along the thin wood. “I don't think this is sealed,” she frowned as she narrowed her eyes.

“
It isn't, look here,” Mary said and pulled a corner of the wood up out of the floor. It was a large square, all one piece that could be lifted out of the rest of the floorboards.

“
What's underneath it?” Suzie asked with excitement creeping into her voice.

“
I think it's a safe,” Mary said as she looked down at the metal container with a padlock on the front.

“
Wow,” Suzie grinned as she reached into the hole the safe was hidden in and rocked it a little to see if it was loose. “I think I can lift it right out...” she started to say and then lifted the safe out of the hole. She set it down on the floor next to her.