Maritime Caper (Coastal Fury Book 12), Matt Lincoln [good books to read for beginners TXT] 📗

“Well,” she said when I was finished, staring straight ahead at the wall and shaking her head. “I’ll tell you one thing, you guys at MBLIS really know how to shake things up. You’re never not dealing with some huge thing.”

“Well, there was a bit of a downturn for a while there while our funding got back into gear,” I chuckled. “But yeah, that’s pretty much true.”

“So, you’re not going back?” she asked, turning to look straight at me. “They don’t need you? Don’t stay for my sake, Ethan. I completely understand if you have to go.”

“No, they told me to stay,” I sighed. “Well, Holm told me, and Diane told him, at least. I don’t particularly like it, but I also don’t like the idea of leaving you hanging and not following up on all this weird stuff at the museum. I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

“That’s because you are,” Tessa said sympathetically, reaching out and squeezing my hand between us on the edge of the bed. “But whatever you choose, don’t make it on my account, okay? I’ll be just fine either way, as much as I’d hate to part ways so soon after seeing you again.”

“Thanks,” I said, giving her a smile and squeezing her hand back, not wanting to let go. “I just have to remind myself that no one’s hurt, and if Diane really needed me, she would say so. Holm, not so much. I wouldn’t put it past him to want to steal this case all for himself. But Diane would tell me.”

I chuckled a bit on the part about Holm, knowing that it probably wasn’t really true. If MBLIS really was in dire straits without me, my partner would let me know. And my colleagues knew what they were doing. I had to trust them to handle this on their own, and I had no doubt that they could.

“Alright, so it’s settled, then,” Tessa said, squeezing my hand a second time and clapping her other hand on her thigh in a note of finality. “You’re staying, for the time being, and we’ll reevaluate when your colleagues update you next. And if you change your mind at any point, just let me know. I’ll understand.”

“I appreciate that,” I said, looking into her eyes and smiling warmly. She returned the gesture.

“Of course,” she said. “But don’t you be walking around all freaked out about it all day. We have our own mystery to get to the bottom of, and I’m ready to get started.”

She laughed and shot me a grin, and I smiled, already feeling better just from talking to her.

“Thanks, Tessa,” I said. “I appreciate your understanding.”

“Of course,” she said, leaning over and kissing me on the cheek. “Now, let’s go downstairs and let this old lady feed us breakfast.”

We both got up, our hands still interlinked, and we climbed down the staircase where we found Paulina waiting for us on the bottom step.

“Oh, I was just about to go up and let you know that breakfast is ready!” she said, holding her interlocked hands in front of her chest excitedly. “Would you like to join us?”

“We would,” Tessa said, giving the old woman her best smile as we approached her.

Paulina led us into a small dining room area off from the kitchen. There was a large round table that took up most of the room, and there were four other guests sitting around it, filling their plates from assorted platters in the center of the table. There was homemade French toast made out of sourdough bread, sausage, bacon, pancakes, fruit salad, steel-cut oatmeal, and other assorted breakfast foods available. I had to admit that it all looked delicious.

“This is amazing, Paulina, thank you,” I told the old woman, reluctantly dropping Tessa’s hand and smoothing out my jeans before sitting down and taking a plate for myself, handing a second one off to Tessa.

I grabbed some french toast, sausage, bacon, and fruit salad. It smelled mouthwatering and tasted even better. This was a good choice for our stay, I decided.

“Now, Ethan, what is it that you do again?” Paulina asked once she was confident that no other guests were coming and had settled down at the table herself, spreading a napkin on her lap. “I remember you mentioning something about investigative work?”

“Oh, yes,” I said, clearing my throat as I swallowed some french toast, which was incredibly rich even without the added syrup. “I’m in law enforcement.”

“Ooh, now that sounds interesting,” the old woman said, giving me another toothy smile.

“Uh, yes, it keeps me on my toes,” I said, giving her a forced smile and returning my attention to my plate.

She seemed a little disappointed that I didn’t offer up any more details but quickly turned her attention to Tessa.

“And you, dear?” she asked, raising her eyebrows at my companion, who was fully absorbed in her own meal.

“Oh, me?” Tessa asked, pointing at herself, and Paulina nodded. “Oh, I’m a photojournalist. I mostly do work for National Geographic, but I have other clients, as well.”

“A couple of many talents,” the old woman said, looking at us each approvingly. “Well, we’re glad that you’re here with us today.”

“We are, too,” Tessa assured the woman, and this seemed to satisfy her.

My stomach was just about stuffed when I was through eating, and the rest of the guests had left and either returned to their rooms or gone out on the town.

“That was excellent, Paulina, thank you,” Tessa said, dabbing some syrup off of the corner of her lip with her napkin.

“Yes, that was wonderful,” I told the old woman, and she beamed back at us. “Can we help you clean up?”

“I’m so glad to hear that,” she said, clearly enjoying the praise. “And no, thank you so much for offering, but I have a boy from the local high school who comes in before class to clean up for me. He should be