The Haunted Bones (A Lin Coffin Mystery Book 3) (11 page)

L
in sat
at her desk in the small second bedroom trying to focus on the computer programming work she needed to get done for the company on the mainland. She really should be in bed, but she was so antsy after arriving home from seeing Quinn and Chloe together near the docks that she decided to try and focus on programming for a distraction. It wasn’t working. Nicky was asleep on the rug at her feet and she looked down at him enviously.

After Chloe hurried away from Quinn, Lin tried to follow her, but got caught up in a crowd of tourists and lost sight of the young woman. Ever since she saw the two together, her mind had been working at the puzzle of what was going on.

She turned her desktop computer off and padded in her stocking feet to the kitchen where she put on some water for tea. Leaning against the counter, Lin wished she could talk to Viv about what she’d seen. It was too late to call so she’d just have to wait until morning. The tea kettle started to howl and Lin nearly jumped out of her skin. Taking a deep breath, she removed it from the burner and poured the water into the cup. A loud knocking on the front door startled her and caused hot water to spill over the counter. Nicky started to bark.

Lin whirled around with the kettle still in her hand.
Who could be knocking at this hour?
Her throat tightened and her heart raced. She walked softly to the door and peered through the peephole.

Leonard stood on her front steps.

Lin swung the door open. “What are you doing here?”

Nicky danced around the man to welcome him.

“Hello to you, too.” Leonard looked slightly sheepish. “You okay?” He noticed Lin was holding a tea kettle. “You making tea or are you going to hit me with that?”

Lin stepped back to let him in. “You scared me to death when you knocked. If someone was about to break in I thought of pouring boiling water over him.”

Leonard’s mouth turned up in a grin. “Good thinking.”

The two walked to the kitchen with the dog still wiggling around Leonard.

“It’s kind of late for a social call.” Lin took out another mug. “Tea?”

Leonard nodded. “I was out. I was driving home and I….”

Lin turned slowly around and cocked her head. “And what?”

Leonard shifted around uncomfortably. “I saw you had the lights on so I stopped.”

Lin didn’t believe a word of it and said so. “What’s the real reason you’re here?”

The creases in the man’s face seemed to deepen and worry lines showed at the corners of his eyes. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Lin put a hand on her hip. “Viv could have been staying over or Jeff might have been here. You know those things. Why wouldn’t I be okay?” Lin thought back to the last case she’d looked into. The murderer ended up sitting in her living room and when he attempted to attack her, Leonard happened to show up at that very moment.

A shiver ran down Lin’s back. She leveled her eyes at the man. “Did you have some sense that I wasn’t okay?”

“What?” Leonard sputtered. “No.”

“Because if you did, then tell me.” Lin glanced at the kitchen door that led to the deck. She hurried over and locked it. She tried to remember if she’d locked the front door when she’d let Leonard in. “Leonard, did you or didn’t you sense something?”

He looked down at the floor. “Maybe.”

Lin rushed to the front door and bolted it. She hurried about the room turning off the lamps so somebody standing outside couldn’t see into the room. When she returned to the kitchen, her eyes were wide and her hands were shaking. Leonard wouldn’t make eye contact with her.

Lin touched his arm. “You need to be straight with me. What did you feel?”

Leonard turned around and poured himself a cup of tea. “It’s just stupid. I shouldn’t have come.”

Nicky sat at the man’s feet and whined.

“Take it seriously.” Lin hesitated and then said, “I get feelings, too.”

The big man slowly moved to face Lin. He seemed to be wrestling with something. “Okay. I wasn’t out, I was home watching TV. I felt all cold inside and I had a feeling that you weren’t safe. It was a strong feeling. I had to come over. When I got here, I saw the lights were on and no one’s car was out front, so I knocked. Now you probably want to have me locked up.”

Lin smiled. “Thank you. For coming over even though it seemed silly.” She teased him. “You could have just called.”

“Somehow, that didn’t seem effective enough at the time.” Leonard took a swallow of the tea. His cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. “I guess I can go now.”

Lin sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen island. “Stay and finish your tea. I need to talk to you.”

L
in told
Leonard everything that had happened since she and Nicky found the bone behind the farmhouse even though he’d heard some of it before. She did leave out the part about seeing ghosts.

“Jeff’s sister is right. Quinn’s parents died years ago. So he isn’t taking trips to the mainland to help out his elderly parents. Quinn’s wife, Brin, her parents are dead, too, so he isn’t going to the mainland to help his in-laws either.”

Lin looked at Leonard with a smile. “Quinn and Brin?”

“I know, huh?” Leonard rolled his eyes. “They’re like characters in a kid’s story.”

“What could Quinn be doing with Chloe Waring?”

Leonard shrugged. “Affair?”

“I wonder what he handed her in that envelope tonight.” Lin put her chin in her hand. “Could they be working together? Stealing the bones together? Selling them? Maybe the envelope had her cut of the money in it.”

“Quinn works at the cemetery.” Leonard thought things over. “That would make it easier to steal bones. But why is the girl involved? They’re having an affair and they hatched a plan to steal and sell bones? Seems pretty weird.”

“I’ve been trying to come up with a motive. All I can think of is money. Human bones and full skeletons bring in a hefty sum. I looked it up. Money seems like the only reason to do such a horrible thing.”

Leonard shrugged. “Money is a powerful motivator.”

“Could Quinn be in some financial trouble? Maybe he needs money and happened to read about grave robberies and decided that was the answer to his worries.”

“I’ve lived on Nantucket for almost forty years. I know a lot of people, but I don’t know their personal issues. Well, some I do, but I haven’t heard anything about Quinn.”

Lin sighed. “And then there’s Jonas. Olive Sawyer thinks he’s trouble. He used to drive that old dark sedan. Maybe he still does. Maybe Chloe was just borrowing his car when Viv and I saw her driving it.”

“And then there’s Lloyd.” Leonard took a can of seltzer from the fridge and popped it open. “What did you say he was an expert in? Some kind of bone thing?”

“Forensics. Osteology. The study of bones.” Lin rubbed her temple. “I’m getting a headache from all this. How will the bone thief ever be caught?” Her voice carried a tone of despair.

“Maybe the person will make a mistake.” Leonard sipped from his can.

The sound of shattering glass and a loud crash in the front room shook the house causing Lin to let out a shriek and the dog to start howling. Leonard was on his feet in a flash and dashed for the living room. Lin and Nicky were right behind him.

They all stopped short at the threshold to the living room when they saw what had rolled across the floor after being thrown through the window. Lin gasped and turned away while Leonard stepped closer. Nicky approached and sniffed.

A skull rested on the floor, its eye holes gaping up at them.

Leonard knelt down. “It’s not real. It’s heavy plastic. A brick came through the window first then this must have been lobbed in after it.” He picked it up.

Lin breathed a sigh of relief that the skull wasn’t real, then almost immediately her relief was replaced with rage and she started to rant. “Who would do this? What a terrible thing to do.”

Leonard ignored the rant. “There’s a note inside.” He removed the pale blue rectangular piece of paper and unfolded it.

S
tay
out of it

“
Y
ou want
to call the police or should I?” Leonard asked.

“You know how you said maybe the bone thief will make a mistake?” Lin turned her eyes away from the paper to look at Leonard. “I think they just did.”

L
in had seen
the blue pad of paper on Chloe’s desk when she was there for her appointment with Jonas. “So the note that came through my window last night with the brick could have been written by Chloe.” She fiddled with her horseshoe necklace as she finished telling Viv about the events of the last evening. The café was buzzing with early morning customers’ conversations. People stood in line to order, sat at the tables and on the comfy sofas, and stood talking in small clusters holding coffee and tea cups and nibbling on bakery treats.

Viv’s lips pressed into a tight thin line and she wiped her hand on her blue apron. “Chloe might have seen you tailing her or maybe she saw us at the parking lot the other day when she drove away in the dark car.”

“If she’s working with Quinn then she knows my suspicions about the mausoleum and the lock and that someone is up to something at the cemetery. Quinn would have told her.”

“I’m so glad that Leonard was with you last night.” Viv greeted a regular customer with a smile and a nod and then gave her cousin a worried look. “I’m glad you weren’t alone in the house.” She shuddered. “God. A brick through your window.”

“Don’t forget about the fake skull that came along with it.” Lin glowered. “Where do you even get such a thing?” Finishing the last of her latte, she handed the empty cup to Viv. “You know, that’s the second time Leonard has shown up when I’ve been in trouble.” Lin narrowed her eyes and leaned against the serving counter. “He must have really good intuition or he has some powers that he doesn’t seem to be aware of. He’s uncomfortable about it, brushes it off as silly nonsense.”

John swooped around the corner wearing a tan summer-weight suit and a starched white shirt and approached the counter for his usual black coffee to go. “I’ve got some gossip.” His eyes twinkled as both girls moved closer to him.

“My friend at the police station told me that some officers asked to be let into the mausoleum that had the broken lock. They wanted all the crypts inside opened to check that none of the bones had been stolen.”

“And?” Lin was eager to hear what they’d found.

“All the bones were present and accounted for.” John picked up the take-out cup.

“Huh.” Lin looked across the room. “Why was that person we saw wearing the hoodie inside the mausoleum then?”

“Maybe he heard or saw us and got frightened away.” Viv wiped the counter with a cloth. “We spoiled his plans, I bet.”

Lin asked John, “Did the police order any of the other mausoleum crypts to be checked?”

“My friend only heard about the one you’d complained about.” John leaned over the counter and gave Viv a quick kiss and then was off.

“John seems a lot less nervous about showing unoccupied houses.” Lin watched the young Realtor hurry away to see a client.

“I’d been nagging him to talk to a therapist about finding the murdered body in that house. At first, he was very against it, but right after you found the skeleton at the house he was showing, he decided it might be a good idea to make an appointment with someone to talk about his anxieties. He’s seen the therapist three times and already he seems less worried. I think it’s been good for him.”

Lin put some money on the counter to pay for her drink. “I’m proud of him. It can be hard to ask for help.”

“That is a foreign concept to me.” Viv chuckled. “I have no problem asking for help of any kind.”

“Speaking of needing help….” Lin eyed her cousin.

Viv’s face lost its smile and she took a step back. “I said I have no trouble
asking
for help. Giving it is another story.”

Lin ignored the statement. “We need to find evidence that Quinn and Chloe are stealing the bones.”

Viv crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m listening,” she said warily.

Lin lowered her voice to a whisper. “We need to look in the cemetery office. See what’s in there. Files. Records. We need to look around and see if there’s anything that can link the bones to Quinn.”

“The office.” Viv’s blue eyes flashed. “At night, I assume.”

Lin nodded.

“How will we get in there?”

One of Lin’s shoulders shrugged.

Viv’s eyes went wide. “Break in?”

“Shh.” Lin held her finger to her lips. “Not exactly break-in.”

“I am not doing anything illegal.” Viv had her hand on her hip.

“We won’t. Well, you won’t. If we get caught, we’ll just say we knocked on the door and it happened to open. Someone mustn’t have pulled it tight when they left.” Lin raised her hand in a helpless gesture. “It happens.”

“How would we really get in? You don’t know how to pick a lock.”

A broad smile spread over Lin’s face. “Yet.”

“
J
iggle it a little
.” Leonard mimicked how to move the thick piece of wire.

Lin knelt on the porch in front of the door to her house. She’d already mastered opening the lock on her back door and the ones at Leonard’s house. This one was proving difficult.

Leonard held his hand in the air and mimed how to move the pick. Lin watched and gave it another try.
Click.
The door opened. Lin beamed at the man standing next to her and let out a whoop at her success. “I knew you’d be able to help me with this.”

Leonard looked serious. “Of course, I don’t condone this sort of behavior. I’m just teaching you a new skill. In case you get locked out of your house someday.”

“Thank you.” Lin smiled and put the pick in her back pocket. “I’m sure it will come in handy.” She winked. “How’d you learn to do it?”

They sat down on the front steps. “I was in the military.”

Lin laughed. “That’s what they teach you in the military? Jeff was in the Air Force. I’ll have to ask him if this was one of the required tasks he had to learn.”

Leonard stood up. “Are you still going out to Quinn’s house to look at that truck?”

“Yeah. Tomorrow. I thought it might be helpful to go to Quinn’s place to see it. Maybe I can find something that links him to the bones. I told him I was going to be out that way anyway, so I’d swing by.” Nicky sat on the porch and rested with his side pushing against his owner. His eyelids started to close.

“Take Jeff with you,” Leonard said. “Don’t go there alone.”

“I’ll have my trusty dog with me.” Lin nodded at the little brown dog.

“You might want a little more power in your protector.” Leonard headed to his pickup. “Ask Jeff. If he can’t go, then call me.”

Lin waved to Leonard as he pulled out of the driveway and on the way inside she glanced at the piece of plywood that Jeff had hammered over the broken window. A sigh slipped from her mouth. She had to have some proof before she told the police who she suspected of stealing the bones.

Lin fed the dog, warmed some leftovers and ate her dinner while she did programming work at the desk in the spare bedroom. Halfway through her tasks, she turned away from the computer screen and looked out the window to the dark side yard. Thinking of the sound of last night’s shattering glass, Lin’s throat tightened.

Feeling like she was being watched, she went to the window and pulled down the shade to help her feel less exposed to the outside. Her body buzzed like she’d had too much caffeine. Sitting back at her computer, Lin tried to pick up her work where she’d left off, but it was no use. Unable to focus, she logged out and turned off the screen.

Walking into the kitchen for a cup of tea, Lin thought she caught a glimpse of movement on the deck. She froze while taking a mug from the cabinet. Afraid of what she might see, she stood in place facing the cabinet, but trying to see out of the corner of her eye to the deck. Lin’s posture shrank as she braced herself for an object to come flying through the glass.

A sudden wave of cold engulfed her and she sucked in a breath. She looked to the deck.

A man stood next to the deck table, unmoving, staring at Lin. His transparent body shimmered. He seemed to be in his late twenties and wore a brown three-piece suit, at least it looked brown in the feeble light of the old security lamp that shined onto the deck from the roof. The style of the suit and the cut of the man’s hair gave Lin the impression that the garment and the haircut were from the 1940s. The man’s facial expression was emotionless. Lin noticed that one of the ghost’s legs was missing below the knee.

She closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind hoping that she might receive a mental message from this new ghost. Lin breathed in and out in a slow easy pattern. Several minutes passed and Lin started to feel less cold. Her eyes flew open, afraid the ghost was about to leave.

Suddenly, the spirit’s arm rose in the air and extended, the finger on one hand pointing up to the roof over Lin’s bedroom. His eyes locked onto hers and then the atoms of his body glimmered and swirled and he was gone. Lin’s eyes followed to where the man had pointed.

Three little birds sat on the gutter at the edge of the roof. Sparrows.

Sparrow.
That was the family name of the mausoleum that had the broken lock at the Mid-Island Cemetery.