COFFIN COVE a gripping murder mystery full of twists (Coffin Cove Mysteries Book 1), JACKIE ELLIOTT [most recommended books txt] 📗

explain it.” She stopped and smiled at Jim. “Gavin used to say I was ‘playing detective’. I dunno, maybe he was right.” She paused, horrified to feel tears coming. The humiliation she’d felt back at the office was overwhelming.

“Tell me about Roberts,” Jim said, to Andi’s relief, pointing to the blown-up picture of Captain Gerry Roberts that Andi had copied from the DFO website and pinned to the wall.

“Well, there’s definitely a connection between him and Mason, judging by his reaction. Listen to this.” Andi played back the voice recording of the last few minutes of her meeting.

“Wow. You’re right. Quite the reaction,” Jim agreed.

“Apart from that, I found him to be . . . well, a bit pathetic, really.” Andi described his appearance. “He came across as angry with his lot in life, as if he was owed something. But he came completely unglued when I mentioned Mason.”

“He didn’t say anything about the Pipe Dream or Harry Brown?”

“No. He just got mad when I pointed out the DFO boat.”

“Hmm.”

Jim and Andi sat in silence for a moment. Jim got up and took a few steps back so he could view the wall in its entirety. He studied it for a minute more. Andi kept quiet, knowing that Jim was processing all the information — trying, as she had, to make sense of it all.

“You still think there’s a connection between the two murders?” Jim asked.

“I’m not sure,” Andi admitted. “Now I see the connections in front of me, it’s showing a pattern. See here—” Andi pointed at the wall — “this is new information. Mason has more overlapping connections in Coffin Cove than just the McIntosh family. He’s connected to Hades Fish Co. somehow, and the DFO. Plus, he has an old connection with Harry.” Andi showed Jim a printout.

He sighed. “Yes, I remember. They charged Harry when he threatened Mason with a gun. But in fairness, it was after Mason had rammed his boat and nearly caused a deckhand to go overboard. Look, you can see from this there were multiple witnesses supporting Harry.”

Andi stared at him. “Jim, I get it, I do. Harry’s a friend, Hephzibah too. But this is a significant connection, right? Mason sent a picture of Harry’s boat to me just before he was killed. And—”

“I see where you’re going with this,” Jim interrupted, “but we’re missing Harry’s story. I’ve known him a long time, and yeah, he has a temper, but killing Mason over something that happened years ago? I don’t buy it.”

Andi looked down and took a deep breath. She wanted to believe Jim, more than she’d realized. But not chasing down every lead had got her fired before. “OK. I’ll keep working on it. But it was you who said we go where the facts take us, remember?” She met Jim’s eyes, challenging him.

He nodded.

“I said that. I meant it too. So, what’s next?”

Andi grabbed her notebook. “Try to find Mason’s wife. I’ve searched the marriage registry in Quebec, and I’ve even joined one of those ancestry sites, but I can’t find anything.”

“She might be common law, or they may have got married in Mexico or something,” Jim suggested.

“Yes. So I’ve left a message with Captain Robert’s secretary, Christina. Her friend was one of the Black OPS protesters. If she’ll talk to me, she might have contact details for the mysterious Mrs Mason. And in the meantime, I thought I’d poke around Hades Fish Co.”

“OK.” Jim smiled. “Good work. I have to put some calls in to advertisers so we can pay some bills, but I’ll wander down to the dock later and see if I can chat with Harry. Over a coffee.”

Jim’s phone rang.

He listened for a moment. “Thanks, we’ll get down there.”

Andi looked at him expectantly. “Well?”

“Vega brought in a diver. And it looks like they found something.”

“You go on ahead, I’ll catch up.”

Jim nodded. “OK, meet me down there.”

He stopped before opening the door to leave.

“You know something Andi? This is good work. Great work. You’ll get through this.”

After Jim left, Andi sat in her apartment with her head in her hands. Jim was right. This was a good story. She was a good journalist. Working for him and the Gazette wasn’t punishment for her fuck-up, it was a second chance. She saw that now.

She had to move on. She couldn’t allow Gavin to waltz in to her life and destroy her all over again.

Andi’s face burned as she remembered her encounter with Gavin’s wife and then felt tears at the back of her eyes. Why had he lied to her? She’d loved him so much. Maybe she still did, a little bit.

But then she heard his mocking words echoing in her head, and remembered the smirk on his face as he belittled her in front of his colleagues, and this time, instead of being reduced to tears, she felt anger. How bloody dare he? Who the fuck did he think he was?

Andi got up and marched out of her apartment, letting the door slam behind her.

Gavin and his assistant were alone in the office. They were sat beside each other at Jim’s desk, their heads close together as they studied the laptop screen in front of them.

Andi faltered for a moment and nearly turned to leave, but Gavin looked up.

“Andi,” he said, without much enthusiasm. “Did you forget something?”

“No,” she said, keeping her voice level, “I wanted to talk to you, Gavin.”

His assistant stared at her but Andi kept going.

“If you don’t mind, this is a personal matter. Maybe you could get a coffee or something?”

“Andi . . .” Gavin began, but Andi held her hand up to stop him.

“Gavin, I’m going to say what I want to say, whether we are alone or not.”

He glared at her,