When the Sandpiper Calls by Peggy Darty

Author:Peggy Darty [Darty, Peggy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-55108-5
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2010-03-24T00:00:00+00:00

Later, sitting at her desk, she swiveled in her chair, staring at the bulletin board beside her. While writing her mystery, she tacked up a poster board that listed all her suspects and their motives in a red felt-tipped pen. An adjoining poster, which to the uninitiated appeared to be a graph of mountains and valleys, actually showed plot points, the highs and lows her characters faced. While she was looking at the poster, an idea struck. Why not approach the towns unsolved mystery the way she would construct a mystery novel?

She grabbed a sheet of computer paper and began to write down the people she believed were suspects in Marty’s murder.

At that precise moment the phone rang, and she jumped, sending a jagged red line across the paper with her pen. She reached for the handset. “Hello,” she snapped. She hated being interrupted when she was deep in thought.

“Hello. And I apologize.”

She bolted upright in her chair and laid the pen down. It was Dan Brockman’s voice.

“Hello again. And why are you apologizing?”

“From the tone of that ‘hello,’ I’m obviously interrupting you.”

“Did I sound that bad?”

“I would never say you sounded bad, at least not to me. Distracted is a better word.”

She glanced at the list of suspects she was putting together and sighed. “Well, you aren’t distracting me from my manuscript, that’s for sure. Which is probably the true source of my irritation.”

“Sounds like you need a good meal. I’m told nutrition does wonders for the brain.”

Leaning back in her chair, she found herself thinking about how much fun she’d had with him the night before. And yet … it still nagged her that he hadn’t mentioned Marty sooner. She was determined to learn more about him.

“You could be right,” she admitted after a moment of silence while her thoughts churned. “I’ll accept that offer for dinner.”

“We could make it someplace close to your home so you won’t lose time. To further persuade you, I’m going to be out of town for the next few days, so that’s the reason I called. And then we’ll have a real celebration when you complete the manuscript. Where would you like to go?”

She hesitated. Dan Brockman—Major Dan Brockman didn’t fool around. When he had a mission, he didn’t alter his course. For some reason, she seemed to be one of his missions. Or maybe he was just lonely.

Her eyes drifted to the list of suspects, and suddenly she had an idea. “Actually I think a drive would do me good. Why don’t we meet at the Seafood House? It’s not far from you, and I do like their food.” What had Marty liked about that place? “Particularly the way they mesquite grill their fish.”

“Great idea. In fact, my parents treated me to dinner there on the second night after I arrived on their doorstep.”

No point in mentioning this was the parking lot of the restaurant where Dr. Stewart was killed, for then he would think she was only using him. Was she?

“I’ll be glad to drive over and pick you up if you’ll tell me where you live.

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