Spring Tides at the Starfish Café by Jessica Redland

Author:Jessica Redland [Redland, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books

28

HOLLIE

‘Let’s see it, then,’ Jake said on Saturday evening, stepping out of the shower following a twelve-hour shift at the hospital.

‘You’re sure you don’t want to get dressed first?’

‘I’m too intrigued about this new information you’ve uncovered.’

‘Don’t get too excited. I haven’t solved it.’

Jake followed me up to the top floor and Pickle chased after us. When we dropped Irene back off at Bay View Care Home last night, she’d invited us in for a coffee.

‘I keep the paper in case I fancy doing the crossword,’ she said, rifling through a pile of newspapers in search of the article about Slippy Smythe getting his family’s documents back. ‘The storm was late January. Let’s see.’

I’d been surprised to find my heart racing as she tossed several editions aside before she found the right one. ‘Bingo! Front page news. Here you go.’

It had been late when we returned to Sandy Croft with the copy of Bay News so I’d only added the article to The Smuggler’s Key this evening, but I’d also done further digging.

‘Smythe purchased a derelict pub about a mile down the coast a decade ago.’ I pointed to the new information I’d printed off the Internet. ‘You can read it yourself later but, in brief, the plan was to refurbish the pub but he knocked it down instead. There were rumours of asbestos but the previous owner swore there wasn’t any. There was a lot of excavating of the site and then nothing.’

‘I’d forgotten about that pub,’ Jake said. ‘There’s nothing there now.’

‘Exactly. I couldn’t find any explanation for him not rebuilding it, so that’s a lot of money down the drain. From what I’ve seen, Smythe doesn’t make bad business decisions like that.’

‘Interesting.’ Jake scanned his eyes across the Post-it note questions I’d added. ‘Very interesting. Although I see what you mean about it not solving anything.’

‘It’s so frustrating. It’s like clue after cl—’

My phone ringing stopped me mid-flow and my stomach lurched as ‘C&L Alarm Systems’ appeared on the screen.

‘It’s the alarm company,’ I told Jake as I connected the call. ‘Hello?’

‘Is that Ms Brooks?’ a man asked.

‘Yes. Is everything all right?’

‘We’ve received a notification that the alarm is sounding at The Starfish Café at Starfish Point and we’ve linked into the CCTV system but I’m afraid nothing’s showing.’

‘There’s no CCTV?’

‘Either there’s a fault in the system which we’re checking now or somebody has deliberately damaged it. There’s a police patrol car in the area and they should be there within five to ten minutes.’

I closed my eyes and pressed my hand against my scrunched-up forehead. ‘Thanks. I’ll go there now.’

Feeling sick, I hung up. ‘It sounds like there’s been a break-in at the café. I need to meet the police there.’

‘I’ll drive.’

‘Would you? Thank you. I’m shaking.’ I held my hand out to show him and he drew me into a hug, helping calm me.

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