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

going to get to the bottom of whatever was going on here at the museum.

“So, have you all worked here for a while?” I asked, and they all nodded.

“Jimmy here’s the most recent hire,” the old guy said, clapping the younger man on the shoulder almost violently, startling him into dropping my card. “He just graduated from a community college in December. Worked here since January.”

“Congratulations,” I told the kid genuinely as he scrambled to pick up my card and pocket it like the others.

“Thanks,” he said sheepishly, braving a look up in my direction and smiling slightly.

“Right, so are you only here during the day, or do you also look after the place at night?” I asked, and Tessa swiveled her head to look at me, no doubt catching on to my meaning.

I was, of course, hoping that one or more of these guys had been on patrol at the museum the night before and that their presence there explained the strange experience Tessa and I had had in the garden. But alas, it wasn’t to be.

“Ah, no,” the bald guy said, shaking his head dismissively. “We’re not that big of an operation. We just hang out during the day, make sure kids don’t touch the old stuff with their sticky fingers and all that.”

“I understand,” I said, more than a little crestfallen. “So you don’t know of anyone who could’ve been inside the museum last night?”

“I guess it could’ve been Martha,” the bald guy suggested. “But she doesn’t usually stay late. No one does. Except for Henry, sometimes, but he’s not here right now.”

“Have you heard from Henry since he left?” I asked. All three guys shook their heads. “What about just in general? Has anything strange been going on lately at the museum? Anything unusual?”

“Eh, the staff’s been pretty keen to avoid some guy who keeps calling about one of the artifacts,” the bald guy pointed out. “I don’t know why.”

“And that would be me,” I chuckled. “I’m the one they’ve been avoiding. You never overheard anything indicating why?”

They all shook their heads again.

“Alright, thanks, guys,” I said, nodding to them each in turn. “Can one of you take Paulina home for us?”

“Sure thing,” the old guy said, crossing over to Paulina. “I can take her.”

“Thanks,” I said. “And Paulina, if you could please not mention any of this to anyone, for the time being, we would really appreciate it.”

She hesitated, but to her credit, it was only slightly.

“Of course, Agent Marston, I wouldn’t want to jeopardize an important case,” she said, puffing out her chest a little with her newfound importance, and as she and the security guard walked away, Tessa and I both laughed.

17

Ethan

The younger security card, Jimmy, escorted Tessa and me all the way back up to the manager’s office. He continued to fidget and give me occasional nervous glances on the way.

“You okay there, son?” I asked him as we rode the elevator back up to the submarine-like fish tank area on the second floor.

“Yeah, fine,” he mumbled, staring at the floor.

“You just seem a little nervous,” I remarked.

“There’s nothing to be nervous about,” Tessa added, placing a hand on his shoulder kindly, though this caused him to flinch. “We don’t bite.”

The kid just stood there for a few moments, staring at the floor some more, before seeming to make a decision and blurting out, “I smoked pot once, but I didn’t like it, and I never did it again, and I don’t know who the dealer was, okay?”

Tessa and I exchanged a bemused look, and then we both burst out laughing. And here I had been thinking the kid was actually hiding something substantial about the museum.

“I think you’re good, kid,” I chuckled, clapping him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, MBLIS doesn’t care about anything like that. But good on you for not doing it again. Keep that up. Anyway, if you think of anything about the museum or Martha Willis, just call the number on my card, okay? You still have it?”

“Yeah,” Jimmy said with a nervous laugh, running a hand through his mat of blond hair and pulling my creased card out of his pocket.

“Good man,” I said, patting him on the back again as the elevator dinged open. “I think we can take it from here, okay?”

“Just don’t let her try to kick us out again, all right?” Tessa asked him, and he nodded. “And don’t tell anyone about this just yet.”

Jimmy nodded again, and we left him behind in the elevator.

“Cute kid,” Tessa laughed, shaking her head as we walked past all the fish tanks once more.

I looked back longingly at the mariner’s exhibit again, but we had work to do.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I chuckled. “I don’t know why he thought I’d care about that, but that he did means he probably stays out of trouble most of the time, anyway.”

“Exactly,” Tessa agreed as we opened the staff door again, it having been left open for us by the security guards. “How are we going to play this, then? She’s probably not expecting us to come back to try to talk to her again.”

“There’s no doubt,” I murmured darkly as we rounded the corner toward Martha’s office door, which was shut tight now. “Just follow my lead.”

When we got to the door, I tried the handle. Unsurprisingly, it was locked.

“Who is it?” the old woman’s voice asked sharply, having noticed the doorknob moving when I tried to open it.

“It’s Agent Ethan Marston from MBLIS,” I called through the door. “Your security guards didn’t want to mess with a federal agent. They’re smart like that. You might want to follow their lead.”

There was a long period of silence as the woman considered this.

“I thought I warned you not to come here,” she said at long last in a hushed tone that barely carried through the door.

“Are you aware that it’s a federal crime to threaten someone like me?” I asked her, flashing Tessa a grin that