The Chesapeake Diaries Series (195 page)

“Miz Finneran?” he said from the foyer.

Apparently startled, the woman looked up from whatever it was she was reading, then a smile crossed her face.

“Cameron O’Connor, come in here and let me look at you,” she commanded.

Anger was no excuse for poor manners. Cam went into the reception area.

“How have you been, son? It seems like months since I’ve seen you.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m fine, thank you. How are you feeling?”

“I’m doing just fine, too. And your sister? She’s well?”

“Very well,” he replied. “Thanks for asking about her.”

“Of course. Please give her my best.” Violet Finneran lowered her glasses and gazed at Cam. “Were you hoping to see Jesse?”

Cam nodded. “If he has a minute …”

“Let me check on that for you, dear. Why not have a seat?” She stood and walked across the hall, where she knocked softly on the first door. After a second, she went into the office, and a moment later was followed back out by Jesse.

“Hey, buddy. What’s going on?” Jesse was his usual friendly self. “Missed you at the beer tasting the other night.”

“Got tied up with a project.” Cam could have added that he’d been working on a table he was making as a surprise gift for Jesse and his fiancée, but didn’t feel like getting into that right now. “Got a minute?”

“Sure. Come on in.” Jesse led the way back into the office, and Cam closed the door behind him.

“You finally getting around to writing that will, or are you—?” Jesse began as he seated himself behind his desk and pointed to one of the side chairs as an invitation for Cameron to sit.

“Is it true?” Cameron cut him off and ignored the
offer of the chair. “Has Lilly Cavanaugh’s house been sold?”

“Well, yeah.” Jesse looked uncomfortable. “Where’d you hear that?”

“I stopped at Cuppachino this morning and Grace Sinclair mentioned it. She said some woman from up north bought it and she’s—”

“Where did Grace hear about it?” Jesse asked.

“Someone saw lights on in the house and a car in the driveway a few nights ago and called the police. Beck stopped over to see what was what and was informed that the house had changed ownership.”

Jesse nodded. “It did.”

“Why didn’t anyone in town know it was on the market?” Cam folded his arms across his chest. “More specifically, why didn’t
I
know it was for sale?”

Jesse stared at Cameron for a long moment, then said, “The previous owner had given instructions to her lawyer in New York for the disposition of the house. Everything was handled there.”

“By the previous owner, you mean Lynley Sebastian.”

“That’s right.”

“She’s been gone for how many years now? And the house is just now being sold? And sold so quickly that no one around here even knew it was on the market?”

“There may have been some entanglement with the investigation into her husband’s affairs. I don’t know the particulars because as I said, it was handled by the attorneys in New York who handled Lynley’s estate on behalf of her heir.”

“That would have been Lynley’s daughter? I remember she had a little girl.”

“I suppose.” Jesse shrugged. “Want to tell me why you’re so pissed off?”

“I would have liked to have had an opportunity to bid on the property.”

“You’ll still have that opportunity. The new owner is planning on doing some renovations before selling it.”

“Seriously?”

“From what I understand, she has no interest in staying in St. Dennis any longer than she has to. She just wants to clean the place up, make some necessary repairs, maybe spiff it up a little, then get what she can for it before moving on.”

“She a professional?”

“A professional what?” Jesse frowned.

“House flipper. You know, people who buy houses that are run-down or outdated or that have serious problems, fix them up, then sell them for a profit. Such as myself.”

“I didn’t get the impression that she’s done this sort of thing before.”

“So you’ve met her.”

Jessed nodded. “The firm still represents some interests of the estate.”

“What’s her name? The owner.”

“Ellie Ryder. She’s from—”

“Ryder?
R-Y-D-E-R
?” Cam felt a tickle on the back of his neck.

“I think so. Why?”

“Lilly Cavanaugh’s maiden name was Ryder, spelled just like that.”

“I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.” Jesse brushed off any possible significance with the wave of his hand.
“But just out of curiosity, how would you know that?”

“I knew the Cavanaughs pretty well when I was a kid. It’s how I came to take care of the place,” Cam said, his voice softened. “We lived on Bay View for a while. Miss Lilly was … well, she was a special lady.”

“If you knew her, you must have known Lynley.” Jesse sat back in his chair, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Cam hesitated. “When she was in town, we’d exchange a few words about cutting the lawn and raking leaves, looking after Miss Lilly, that sort of thing. I don’t remember how old I was when I realized the connection between Miss Lilly’s niece and that pretty face that was on all those magazines.”

“Cam, if I’d known you had an interest in the property, that you had a history there, I’d have tried to help you out.” Jesse appeared to be choosing his words carefully. “However, the house has now changed hands. I’m sorry. I had no idea that you’d want it, but I’ll make certain that you know when the owner is getting ready to sell.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

Cameron felt his blood pressure lower. Of course, not having arrived in St. Dennis until last year, Jesse wouldn’t have known Cam’s family history. One of these days, Cam would have to tell him about the time he and his family lived on Bay View Road. But it wasn’t going to be today. Maybe some night, when he and Jesse were testing beer flavors for Clay Madison and Wade MacGregor, whose local brewery, MadMac Brews, was still in the start-up phase, he’d tell the story.

Then again, maybe not.

Clay, who’d lived in St. Dennis his entire life, surely knew, but he was a friend and he’d never brought it up. Wade was a little younger, and hadn’t really spent much time here—except summers—until he was in his teens, so he might not have heard. Funny, Cam thought, the things that are so monumental to you, the ones that you carry around inside you and think are always on everyone else’s mind, really aren’t a regular topic of conversation among other people. He knew, though wasn’t sure he totally believed, that if his family’s circumstances ever came up at all, it was in passing, and was either precipitated or followed by the words “… and yet Cam and his sister have turned out so well …”

Cam let go a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

Of course, Jesse wouldn’t have known. And of course, Lynley’s New York lawyers would have been the front line, since surely efforts would have had to be made to keep the house out of the mess Lynley’s husband had made. He hadn’t followed the story all that closely—not much time these days to sit and read newspaper articles on issues that didn’t directly affect him, given his busy contracting business. He had little interest in the Internet aside from searching for materials for a job now and then, and rarely watched television, preferring to spend his spare hours winding down by building furniture—tables, mostly—from old barn boards. The reports of the Chapman scandal had held only a passing interest to him. Had Lynley still been alive when it broke, he would have paid much closer attention. There had been references to
Clifford Chapman’s late wife, of course, but her connection to St. Dennis was rarely mentioned. So with her gone, Cam had merely shaken his head and turned to the sports page.

“But I was going to call you,” Jesse was saying, “to ask if you’d pay a visit to the new owner and maybe help her figure out what needs to be done. I know she doesn’t have a lot of money to invest in the place and she’s planning on doing as much of the work as she can herself, but there will be things that should be checked out or repaired or whatever that she might not be aware of.”

Cam nodded. He’d been taking care of the property for years, long before Jesse arrived in St. Dennis. From the time he was eight or nine years old, the Cavanaughs paid him to help out around the yard, weeding the flower beds and assisting with the spring planting of the vegetable garden. Later, as a teenager, he’d cut the lawn with the old push mower that Mr. Cavanaugh had kept in a shed in the backyard. After her husband died and Miss Lilly was alone in the house, Cam stopped by every week to do whatever needed being done. As she aged, he found himself doing more and more for her, not that he ever minded one minute he’d spent helping her out. Then she passed away, and Lynley inherited the property, but he kept up with the yard and the flower beds that Miss Lilly had taken such pride in. Even after Lynley died, his stewardship continued, not because anyone had asked him to, but because he felt he owed it to Miss Lilly to keep an eye on things in return for all she’d done for him. But that, he reminded himself, was between him and Miss Lilly.

“Sure. I’ll stop over this afternoon, see what’s what.”

“Maybe given your interest in the property, you can come to a deal about the eventual sale. You know, maybe give her a hand here and there, in exchange for a slightly lower sale price. Who knows?” Jesse stood. “The idea might appeal to her, especially since she isn’t prepared to sink a fortune into the place. Of course, if she did, she’d be able to command a pretty steep price. St. Dennis real estate has more than held its own. And sitting right there on the Bay, we both know that place will be worth a nice chunk of change after it’s fixed up.”

“No argument there.” Cam opened the door and stepped into the hall.

Jesse glanced at his watch. “You have time to grab some lunch? It’s one o’clock already.”

“Sure. How ’bout I meet you down at the Crab Claw for a burger?”

“They do have great burgers, but it’s on the highway and I walked to work today.” Jesse leaned against the doorjamb. “Unless I can hop a ride with you, but that means you’d have to drive me back.”

“Sure. I have to come back into town to file for a permit for a kitchen remodel I’m doing over on Parson Middleton Road.”

Jesse told Mrs. Finneran he’d be gone for about an hour and asked if he could bring her something from the Crab Claw.

“No, thank you, Jesse. I already had a sandwich.” She waved from her desk. “Don’t be such a stranger, Cameron.”

“You take care, Miz Finneran.” Cam waved back. The drive to the restaurant took five minutes, during
which time the two men discussed next Sunday’s football games and the statistics relevant to each team. Cam was still extolling the merits of one of his favorite running backs as he pulled into the busy parking lot at the Crab Claw. A car was about to pull out at the end of the row, and Cam waited patiently while the driver strapped into his seat belt and prepared to back out.

“This guy made a first down damned near every time he touched the ball, so you’d think that someone would have figured out how to shut him down, and besides …”

Just then a woman walked out of the restaurant swinging what looked like a take-out bag. Of average height, she was lean in black leggings and a slouchy green sweatshirt and walked with an easy grace. A bright green scarf held back chestnut-brown hair, and her oversize glasses covered a good deal of her face. He wondered if the parts that were hidden looked as good as the parts he could see.

Cam momentarily lost his train of thought.

“Cam.” Jesse tapped him on the arm.

Cam turned to Jesse, who wore an expression of amusement as he pointed at the now-empty parking space.

Cameron pulled into the space.

“What?” he asked Jesse. “What are you smirking about?”

“That woman, the woman you were just all but drooling over …?”

“What about her? You know her?”

“That, my friend, was Ellie Ryder.”

Cam swung around in his seat to take another look,
but the woman had already disappeared into what looked like a fairly new Mercedes sedan.

He turned back to Jesse. “I was under the impression that she wasn’t flush with cash. That’s no cheapie compact she’s driving. I’m guessing that sucker’s worth eighty, ninety thousand if it’s worth a penny.”

Jesse merely shrugged and got out of the car. Cam got out, too, and watched the big sedan exit the lot and head for the light. Once it made the left toward St. Dennis, he turned and followed Jesse into the restaurant. Right now he needed a fat burger and a cold drink. He’d catch up with Miss Ellie Ryder later.

Chapter 4

F
or the fourth day in a row, Ellie headed toward the narrow beach when she needed a little bit of a break. She passed over the dune carefully so as to not disturb the sea grass that grew there and any little living thing that might be hidden beneath it.

The beach itself was an oddity to her, as beaches went. It was narrow and pebbly, unlike the beaches she’d sunned herself on in her old life, beaches that had miles of soft sugar-white sand with nary a stone in sight. Here, a large rock stood at the edge of the dune, and she’d taken to sitting on it with a mug of tea or coffee in the afternoons. The waves here were so gentle as they lapped at the shore, and the sunlight so soft, she almost wished she hadn’t given up painting years ago. Of course, she wasn’t sure she could replicate that pale light. It took on the most beautiful golden glow as it shimmered on the water.

Yesterday she walked along the shoreline until she came across the remains of what might have been a lighthouse. How tall had it been? When had it been built and what had happened to it?

The slamming of a car door shook her from her
mental wanderings. Ellie stood and looked up Bay View Road and was surprised to see a pickup truck parked at the end of her driveway. She jogged back to the house and arrived just as a tall blond man was about to ring her doorbell.

“May I help you?” she called from the foot of the drive.

He turned, his hands on his hips. “I’m Cameron O’Connor.”

“And …?”

“And Jesse Enright asked me to stop by.” The man frowned. “I thought he’d told you.”