Is This Suitcase Taken? Read online

  “Brenda, everything is so beautiful,” Morgan said when they finally had a chance to chat amid the happy talk and music and picture-taking. “There are no words for how perfect it all turned out. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.” Tim echoed his appreciation and his eyes shone in the dimming late-afternoon sunlight. He had eyes only for his new bride, who he cradled in the circle of his arm the whole time.

  “I am so glad you approve, but we’re not finished yet. The big celebration is yet to come,” Brenda teased.

  Phyllis and Allie waved to the ukulele player, who ended the dance tune with a flourish so Mac could stand up and call for a toast. He asked everyone to lift their drinks to the happy couple. “Tim and Morgan, I’m so happy for you. You show us that love and marriage can surprise us at any age. Here’s to years and years of adventures together. To love, no matter when it finds us…to family, no matter where we find it…and to home, no matter where we make it.” The audience cheered.

  “We’ll take a break for a while and then the main dinner will be served.” He pointed to the dance floor. “Be prepared to shake a leg tonight.” He thanked Ben, the ukulele player, after introducing him. The guests clapped and some stuck around talking and others dispersed to recoup.

  “The early fall temperature is so refreshing,” Sandra Dickinson said when she came around to congratulate Brenda and her father. “Perfect for a wedding. I can see why you decided to move out this way. No wonder your father was convinced to join you here! There’s something special about the ocean air.”

  Brenda discussed how happy they both were with their choice. “My uncle Randolph was very generous in leaving the bed and breakfast to me. If that hadn’t happened, I would never have met Mac Rivers and Dad wouldn’t be so happy today with Morgan. I think it was meant to be.”

  They chatted for a while and Brenda introduced Sandra and Shane to her friends and other guests. Then she excused herself when she saw Mac and David step out into the hall and return with heaping platters of food. The others followed suit and helped bring the catered dishes out to the tables.

  “Nothing can possibly mar such a wonderful day,” Hope said. She walked with Brenda as they carried trays of skewered fruits. “I love this theme. I can’t get enough of this pineapple,” she said and grabbed another skewer of the mouth-watering tropical fruit.

  Brenda beamed. Everyone enjoyed the delicious lomi-lomi salmon and mochiko chicken served with fragrant side dishes of gingered sweet potatoes and a colorful coleslaw. Cilantro lime rice and Thai curried beef completed the main course options.

  “It’s too bad some of the bed and breakfast guests are missing this celebration. I didn’t expect to be welcomed like this,” Alexandra Cornell said, peering up from her plate. “I wonder where Daniel is. Have you seen him?” The guest near her had no idea who Daniel was and when Alexandra explained he was another guest, the woman guessed he may be walking along the beach. Brenda was surprised she said so much. Since her arrival, Alexandra had spoken little and clearly felt timid in such a crowd.

  Allie pulled Brenda aside some minutes later as they were refilling their cups with sparkling fruit punch. “I didn’t think Alexandra knew anyone here,” she said.

  “Apparently she knows Daniel. I suppose she’s talking about Daniel Swift.”

  Allie smiled. “Maybe she just thinks he’s cute? Maybe he’s been flirting with her, too.” Allie rolled her eyes.

  The party was in full swing when Morgan and Tim began to circle the room hand in hand, mingling with the crowd and ensuring they thanked every guest for coming. They stopped in front of Brenda and Phyllis and expressed their happiness at the hard work the women had done to pull it all off.

  “We’re leaving now,” Tim said. “We’ll drive to New York and spend the night. Our flight leaves for Hawaii around noon tomorrow. Thank you, Brenda.” He hugged his daughter and she congratulated him again.

  After they left, Brenda searched for Mac. She was ready to dance again. She spotted him away from the crowd on his phone. The look on his face told Brenda he probably would not stick around for the party. She was right. He approached her with an unsettled look on his face.

  “What is it, Mac?”

  “Bryce left the party to go back and man the station for a while. He called and said some officers reported hearing a noise at the rear door. They thought it was a raccoon knocking over boxes in the dumpster. When one of the officers went to check, he found a large black suitcase of some kind wedged back there.” Mac looked around at the group of happy revelers with an anxious look. “Where’s Jenny? Bryce is worried about her going back home alone. She’s almost ready to have that baby. Convince her to stay here tonight so he won’t have to worry.”

  “She can stay in one of the guest rooms in our cottage, Mac. I’ll find her. What’s the matter? You look like you saw a ghost. What was in the suitcase?”

  Mac hesitated before leaning in close to her ear to tell her the grisly details. “They found a dead body in it when they opened it. The man hadn’t been dead for very long. They are taking DNA evidence and other things now to determine his identity.”

  Phyllis, Allie, Hope and Molly watched the couple in their serious conversation.

  “What’s going on?” Jonathan said. The boat rental owner put his arm around Molly’s shoulders. “I was hoping we could have this next dance.”

  “I’ll be happy to dance with you and only you, Jon, but we’re curious about what’s going on between Brenda and Mac. It looks like there’s something serious afoot. Maybe we need to end the party a little early.”

  Brenda parted with Mac and knew she would have to tell her friends something. She swallowed and looked around. No one else was aware of anything amiss. To their expectant faces, she said only, “There is a situation at the police station...a body needs to be identified. That’s all I know. Have any of you seen Jenny? Bryce will be busy all night down there and he doesn’t want her going home alone.”

  Allie pointed across the room where Jenny danced, the dress on her bulging stomach twirling out, its pink bow fluttering in the air. “Baby bump first. That’s how I find her these days.” She grinned and waved for Jenny to join them when she caught her eye.

  Jenny often spent a night in the cottage guest room when Bryce worked late nights, and the girls had been up chatting late into the night. Brenda and her young daughter-in-law had become closer than ever over time, and it comforted them both to have Jenny sleeping close by someone else in case the baby made an early appearance.

  “I don’t want any of the guests to be alarmed. Perhaps…Phyllis, will you tell Ben the ukulele player that we’re all done for the night? Without music I think folks will start to head home or up to their rooms,” Brenda said.

  Phyllis quickly got to work and everyone else began to clear the tables. As Ben ended his last song and thanked the enthusiastic little crowd, a number of the guests started to pick up their jackets and bid everyone goodnight. Soon the dining room space was nearly empty.

  Phyllis and William walked Jenny and Brenda over to the cottage Brenda and Mac called home. It seemed terrible luck for a wedding to end like this, and Brenda tried to convince herself it was merely a coincidence.

  “No matter what’s going on over at the police station, you can rest easy tonight, Brenda,” William said as they walked. “At least your father left town without ever knowing that something had happened. He and Morgan were so happy tonight.”

  “You’re right,” Brenda said, but her mind remained troubled. “I just want to know…why would anyone dump a dead body right at the door of a police station?” Phyllis and Jenny nodded, thinking.

  Brenda had no answer.

  2

  The Dead Body

  Daniel Swift could not believe his eyes when he saw Alexandra Cornell in the sitting room at Sheffield Bed and Breakfast. Finally, he had managed to escape the never-ending demands of his dealership business and had begun to enjoy the refreshing salt air. But he had not left h
is stalker behind, after all.

  Daniel and Alexandra dated for only two months when they were in college. That was almost two decades ago. Since the breakup, Alexandra made sure she knew his every move. More than once, he’d sensed her eyes on him if he went out with another woman.

  He had yet to determine how she knew he’d planned a getaway along the Atlantic Ocean in this quaint little town, and specifically at the Sheffield Bed and Breakfast. His anxiety heightened every time he was forced to avoid her. That was no easy task. The Queen Anne mansion, though large, had hallways and rooms that connected. Alexandra appeared around every corner.

  When Daniel confirmed that Alexandra planned to attend the wedding, he breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he had most of the day free without having to dodge her. He set out as soon as he could in the morning for the bracing salt air of the beach, walking along the pebbly surface.

  “I can’t believe it’s you, Daniel,” a familiar voice called after him. “What in the world are you doing up in Sweetfern Harbor? I didn’t think you liked small towns and anonymity like this.”

  Patrick Anderson still had the same cocky mannerisms Daniel remembered well. His first inclination was to act as if he didn’t recognize Patrick, but he knew that was a hopeless approach.

  “I get away at times,” he smiled gamely.

  “What did you do with that college degree?” Patrick cocked his head sideways. “You did graduate in the end, right? I hope you’ve made it big.” The scowl and anger on Daniel’s face would have stopped the most blatant questions of most people, but Patrick read him like a book and laughed. “I guess you ended up back in that rundown town you came from, am I right?”

  “I’m a successful businessman, in spite of your wasted attempts to cause failure to rain down upon my life. You didn’t win, Patrick.”

  Daniel realized his old acquaintance was not only going to be unpleasant, but downright combative, so he walked toward the sandy area away from the small pebbles and away from Patrick Anderson. He heard the low chuckle that escaped Patrick’s mouth. Daniel felt he had two options now that two of the people he despised most in life would be sharing close quarters with him at the bed and breakfast. He could pack up and leave early or he could make sure he avoided them as much as possible.

  There was another option he could consider but it would be risky. He watched the sailboats to calm himself and became intrigued with the seagulls. He studied their dipping and swerving along the rollicking winds to feed from the waves. Each bird carried out a single-minded purpose to remain free. He would have to seek the same single-mindedness himself.

  Alexandra Cornell found it impossible to release her feelings for Daniel Swift. Even after twenty years had passed since her college days, she clung to the memory of the time they had spent together. Alexandra knew that one day Daniel would realize his mistake and come back to her. She knew he had married and divorced twice; obviously she was the right one for him if the other two had proven to be disappointments. If she could convince him that she was his true love, then her life would be complete, as would his.

  Daniel may try to ignore her as usual, but she knew this time it would work. How could he hope to avoid her in a quaint seaside town? How could anyone keep from falling in love with such a beautiful backdrop?

  Soon after she checked into Sheffield Bed and Breakfast, Alexandra was surprised to see Patrick Anderson there, too. She had never liked him. Something happened long ago between Patrick and Daniel that left a lingering sense of sour distaste between the two men. Patrick was also part of the reason Daniel left her all those years ago. She was sure of it. Now she shuddered when she thought of Patrick’s greeting to her.

  “Still the mousy girl I knew in college, aren’t you, Alexandra? Are you still scurrying around half-scared of your own shadow? I thought you and Daniel would be happily settled in together by now.” The leer in his eyes penetrated to her soul. “I’m glad to see both of you here, in fact. Are you married or just engaged?” He continued, relentless, peering down at her finger and spying the lack of a ring. “Neither? Never fear, dear. I’m sure everything will work out between you.”

  The man was as obnoxious as ever. Alexandra didn’t answer him and locked herself in her room as soon as she could. She had hoped Daniel would lodge in the room next to hers. Instead, she heard Patrick enter the room next door. She steamed over her plans going awry so quickly. Alexandra took a deep breath and concentrated on how to win Daniel over to her once and for all. She was nothing if not persistent. Patrick would simply be a speed bump, not a dead end.

  When Alexandra dressed and went down for the wedding, she searched for Daniel, anxiously smoothing down her dress. She decided he must be coming later. Brenda Rivers had offered her a mai tai cocktail and she’d accepted, clutching the drink nervously as she eyed the growing crowd.

  “What do you think of the bed and breakfast?” Brenda said. “I hope you enjoy your stay with us.”

  At the time, Alexandra mumbled an answer, but her focus was on finding Daniel and not whether she liked her lodgings or not. Without thinking, she crept away from Brenda and wandered around the wedding area. Brenda trailed off mid-sentence, thinking that her guest must be quite tired and distracted; she did not like to think that Alexandra was being rude.

  During the ceremony, Alexandra had taken a seat next to Sandra Dickinson. Sandra tried to strike up a conversation before the ukulele player began the entrance song, but Alexandra was frantically looking up and down the rows of seats for her quarry. Sandra gave up with a shrug when the woman didn’t respond.

  After the wedding, Alexandra still failed to locate Daniel. Frustrated and overwhelmed by the noise and bustle of the party, she decided to take a walk toward the seawall until dinner was served. She listened to the distant music and dreamed of planning her own wedding and going to Hawaii with Daniel one day. When she got to the seawall, she sat on the lower end of it. This gave her a view of the sandy beach below and the ocean, as well as the wedding celebrations in the garden and the house beyond. It was pretty from a distance. It was exactly the right kind of romantic setting to convince Daniel they were meant to be together. She waited, and she watched, and she knew what she needed to do.

  Carrie Porter strolled down the main street of Sweetfern Harbor and searched for her boyfriend Rick. She was pleased to have avoided the wedding at their accommodations but annoyed that she could not head back there to rest. She loved Rick Dawson deeply but had long ago agreed with him that marriage would ruin everything for them. In any case, they had always been very loyal to one another, enjoying their freedom and never missing the chance to skip out on horribly boring weddings.

  She hadn’t seen him in over an hour and he wasn’t answering his cell phone. Carrie continued strolling down the quaint street, gazing in the store windows and checking for Rick as she went. Most of the shops were open and she noted people beginning to line up along the sidewalks of the main street. It didn’t take long for her to realize they were waiting to cheer the newlyweds on as they drove by in the limo.

  Carrie rolled her eyes gamely. She stood in the background of the crowd, amused to see the two people in their sixties waving to the whole town after they had exchanged wedding vows. She window-shopped along the street and went inside several of them. After a few purchases, she reached Morning Sun Coffee and saw one table available near the window with a street view. She decided to sit and watch the crowds go by, and perhaps she would see Rick.

  “Why are there so many people in town?” she asked the young server.

  “It’s a weekend, and that’s when tourists come up. Other than the wedding at Sheffield Bed and Breakfast, there isn’t anything special going on this weekend, but they still come.” She set the latté down in front of Carrie. “Of course, the wedding was only for close friends of the couple, but it’s a small town. Everybody knows everybody. We all celebrate it from a distance. As you probably noticed.” Her melodious laughter caused Carrie to smile.

&
nbsp; After another hour, Carrie gave up the waiting game and walked back toward the bed and breakfast, attempting another call to Rick. She had no idea why he wasn’t answering his phone and left another message. “I had hoped we could have dinner at the Italian restaurant downtown, Rick. You like Italian. Where have you been all afternoon, anyway? Give me a call.” She then told him she was on her way to Sheffield Bed and Breakfast.

  The dead body found at the back door of the police station kept Brenda’s mind busy. Unable to sleep, she had joined a few employees and friends continuing the cleanup at the main house. She wiped her hands on the towel and told everyone thanks again. Phyllis and William sat down at the kitchen work table. Brenda put on a fresh pot of coffee and joined them.

  “I suppose you haven’t gotten word yet from Mac on who the body is,” William said.

  Brenda shook her head. She hadn’t even had time to assess which of her guests were around and who were not. She had been so busy with the wedding arrangements and the celebration, she was not even certain exactly who had attended. Brenda felt a little guilty for not paying more attention. At least by morning, she should know who spent the night in their rooms.

  “More coffee, Phyllis?”

  Her friend yawned with a wan smile. “We’re ready to go home, Brenda. I’ll do the last lock-up for you and we can all leave through the kitchen door,” Phyllis said.

  When Brenda arrived at the cottage, she peeked into the guest room. Jenny snored softly, and Brenda closed the door and got ready for bed. It took less than five minutes for her to fall into a deep sleep.

  Brenda awakened at seven and put coffee on. The teakettle simmered on low and she placed several tea bags out for Jenny. She left a note that she would be in the dining room of the bed and breakfast and once again checked on Jenny, who began to stir and then settle back into sleep. Brenda turned the teakettle off.