Pineapple Beach House by Amy Vansant

Author:Amy Vansant [Vansant, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
Published: 2017-08-13T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Half an Hour Earlier.

Munching on a mini-hamburger, Charlotte made eye-contact with Seamus and gave him the signal to head to Elder Care-o-lina.

He nodded and strolled from the room.

Dinah and Emmitt had been at the beach house for their impromptu meat party for twenty minutes. They’d brought deviled eggs and cream cheese stuffed celery. Charlotte wasn’t sure how they’d made the snacks on such short notice, unless they possessed the same superpower she’d thought reserved for Pineapple Port residents. Back at home, she could invite any older person to a party and five minutes later they’d appear with deviled eggs and cream cheese celery. She’d thought it was Florida magic, but now suspected it was old-people magic, regardless of state.

Not that she minded. She loved deviled eggs, and celery made a fine vehicle for a blob of cream cheese.

Emmitt had joined Bob, Seamus, Declan and Chuck for a bourbon. She noted that the Florida group had enjoyed Emmitt’s company enough to offer him the good stuff for his second splash. He had no idea just how honored he should feel.

Dinah was regaling Carolina, Mariska and Darla with stories of her youth in Iowa. Apparently, she’d been Corn Queen of her town three years running, a record that still stood.

With everyone occupied, Charlotte put phase one of their plan in action by giving Seamus the signal. Once he left, she noticed the box of contractor bags Seamus had borrowed from earlier and grabbed one to serve as a slicker.

“What are you up to?” said a voice behind her.

She shook and whirled to find Declan behind her.

“Were you a ninja in another life? You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“You’ve been slowly backing out of the room for the last ten minutes. We’ve been together long enough that I can tell when you’re up to something.”

“I’m that predictable?”

Declan stared at her and Charlotte frowned.

“Shoot. I like to think I’m a little more mysterious than that.”

“Let’s say you’re predictably mysterious.”

Charlotte grinned. “I’ll take it.” She booped him on the tip of the nose with her fingertip because she knew he hated it and she hadn’t liked being called predictable.

Grr.

He wrinkled his nose. “Don’t try to distract me with cutesy. What are you up to?”

“I love how you know me so well.”

“Uh huh. I know Seamus, too, and he’s AWOL, so I know you’re both up to something. Probably the same thing.”

She glanced back into the living room to be sure all parties were engaged before pulling Declan close. Open concept houses were great for entertaining but terrible for clandestine meetings: historically the second most important function of a kitchen after food preparation.

“You know the blob I found with the tattoo on it?” she whispered.

“The barfed turkey?”

“That’s just it. I think it might be a person’s tattoo and I might have seen the person in a photo over at the nursing home. He had an army tattoo. A-R, like the blob.”

“You think they killed one of their residents and buried the body out back?”

“I don’t know.

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