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

explained, standing behind the chair he had been sitting in before. “We just got cleared to work with local law enforcement on this. You’ll have a protective detail on you the whole time. You’ll be staying at the bed-and-breakfast with us if Pauline agrees to it. Otherwise, we’ll use one of the chain hotels. She’s also going to check up on your friend Henry and see if he’s really staying with his grandson.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you!” Martha exclaimed, and she looked like she could just about kiss Ethan.

“I do have a couple more questions for you, Ms. Willis, if you don’t mind,” Ethan said, taking his seat again.

“Oh, Martha will do fine,” the old woman said, blowing her nose one last time and then discarding the tissues into an overflowing miniature trash can at her side. “And ask away.”

“Martha, of course, thank you,” Ethan said.

“She really doesn’t know anything else. I don’t think,” Tessa murmured to Ethan as she crossed back over to his side of the desk. “I was talking to her a bit while you were outside.”

“Did you ask about last night?” he asked.

“Last night?” Martha quipped, looking from Ethan to Tessa and back again nervously. “What happened last night?”

“No, I didn’t get to that yet,” Tessa said, though she knew that she was stating the obvious at that point.

“Right, so last night we came down here just to check the outside of the museum out and make sure you would be open tomorrow and everything,” Ethan said quickly. “And we got the sense that there was someone watching us. We thought we heard someone sneaking up behind us, too, but the security guards told us that they aren’t on duty at night.”

“Oh, no, we’re far too small an operation to mandate that,” Martha said with a small laugh. “No one wants to steal what we have, anyway. Or at least, I would’ve thought not until recently.”

“So you can’t think of anyone who would’ve been on the premises last night?” Ethan asked, his brows furrowed together in worry. “Around nine or ten at night? Not you or one of your employees? Your intern, perhaps. He looks enthusiastic enough.”

“No, no one,” Martha said, shaking her head. “I can’t imagine why anyone would be here that late. And Pierce lives in a small town with his parents in the outer county area. He wouldn’t be in town on a weeknight, anyway.”

“You didn’t stay here late to avoid going home?” Tessa prodded kindly. “It would make sense if you did. I wouldn’t want to go home, either, if I worried that someone was watching me there.”

“Oh, I didn’t,” Martha admitted, her eyes widening at the memory. “But what was the alternative? Sleep here? They would’ve known if I didn’t go home, and they could’ve hurt me for it. I was afraid not to stick to my regular schedule. Oh, when they realize I’m not coming home tonight…”

The old woman looked like she was on the verge of panicking again, and Tessa crossed back over to her.

“It’s okay,” she assured her, patting her on the shoulder sympathetically. “We’ll make sure nothing happens to you, right, Ethan?”

“Right,” Ethan agreed, clearing his throat as he looked down at his phone again. “I just got a message to that effect from the police department. Diane is in contact with them, and an escort will be arriving at the bed-and-breakfast to talk with Paulina shortly about the situation. We’ve got it covered, I assure you.”

“Alright,” Martha said, her voice shaky as her trembling subsided. “Alright. Oh, dear, what about my cats?”

Tessa glanced over at Ethan and stifled a laugh.

“We’ll… uh, have someone retrieve them for you,” he said, clearing his throat again, no doubt this time to cover a laugh of his own. “Um, how many are there?”

“Four,” Martha said.

“Of course there are,” Ethan mumbled. Then, in a louder voice, “I mean, very good. I’ll make sure all of them get out safely.”

“Thank you,” Martha gushed again, not seeming to have noticed the quip about her cats.

“So, what about this journal?” Tessa asked, returning to the task at hand. “You said that it’s still here?”

“Oh, yes, of course,” Martha said, standing up haphazardly and steadying herself with her hands on her desk. “I checked right after you called and told me about the one that was sent to you, and it was still there.”

“Can you show it to us?” Ethan asked, and the old woman hesitated.

“I… I don’t know how I feel about handing over old historical artifacts to laypeople without Henry’s supervision,” she admitted sheepishly.

“I understand,” Ethan said kindly. “But we do need to check and make sure that it’s still there.”

“And Ethan is far from a layperson when it comes to this stuff, believe you me,” Tessa added with a laugh. “He’ll probably handle it with more care than you would.”

“I doubt that,” Martha said, seeming a little miffed at this suggestion, though she looked Ethan up and down and gave him an almost appraising look. “Very well, follow me.”

Tessa and Ethan exchanged a look and then got up to go after her. As the old woman led them back down the winding hallway toward the submarine room, Tessa leaned in to speak with Ethan.

“Anything new from Diane about the Hollands?” she asked in a low enough voice that Martha wouldn’t be able to hear her.

“No,” he said glumly, shaking his head slightly. “Though she wasn’t exactly happy about having to divide more resources now that things are getting dicier here.”

“I can imagine,” Tessa said darkly. “You’re not going to need to leave now, are you? I doubt the local police will be able to handle this without you. This is a bit out of their depth, so to speak.”

“You could say that,” Ethan chuckled. “And no, I’ve been cleared to see this situation through to its conclusion, regardless of what happens with the Holland case in Miami.”

The conversation ended there as Martha led them out of the staff hallway and into the