COFFIN COVE a gripping murder mystery full of twists (Coffin Cove Mysteries Book 1) JACKIE ELLIOTT (books to read for teens TXT) 📖

Steve was trouble. He knew right from the start when he hadn’t wanted to tell Nikos he’d employed him. He’d just hoped it would all work out. But he’d allowed Steve to cheat his customers and fire the loyal staff who’d worked for Nikos for years.

They’d even paid that environmentalist to fuck up the herring fishery, so they could leverage the fishermen and push down prices. The only person who questioned any of it was Brenda.

And look what happened to her.

Another thought passed through Adrian’s mind. Steve had left her in the freezer. He didn’t deny it. What else had he done?

“Adrian? Are you OK?”

He looked up. It was Amy.

“Of course.” He mustered a smile and sat up straight, trying to look professional.

“It’s just that we heard you and Steve arguing yesterday, and then you left . . .”

“Just business, Amy, it’s all good . . . What do you have there?”

She was holding an envelope.

“I think it’s from Brenda. You were waiting for it?”

Adrian remembered. Yesterday he was worried about Brenda suing them. Now he wished that he’d listened to her.

“Thanks. I’ll take that.”

He opened the letter and saw Brenda’s signature on the paper. He looked at it for a long time. A few hours ago, he’d have been relieved.

He stared at the paper in his hand and he remembered something else Steve had told him.

He looked up at Amy, who was still at the door and waiting for him to say something.

“Awesome!” he said with a big smile. “Just what I’ve been waiting for!”

Amy smiled back at him. “You want to go over this week’s social media?”

“Not at the moment, Amy, I’m taking an hour or so to visit my father.” And he got up and put on his suit jacket. “I probably won’t be back this afternoon, OK?”

“Not a problem,” she smiled, and trotted back to her desk.

Adrian got into his car when he left the office and turned left out of the parking lot, as if he were leaving Steveston Village.

I don’t know where all the cameras are hidden, he thought as he took a left onto Moncton Street, almost doubling back on himself. And I don’t know if Steve is listening in to conversations.

He knew, from now on, he’d have to be careful.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Brenda wandered around Steveston. After morning rain, the skies cleared, and it was good to feel the sun on her face. She was tired of sitting in her apartment. No use feeling sorry for yourself, she scolded her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

She tried to feel optimistic. Now she could do all those things she hadn’t had time for. Reading, travelling — maybe she’d buy a little camper van and drive the Oregon Coast and visit those little fishing towns she’d heard so much about.

She started by taking a walk around the town she’d lived in for her whole adult life. So many changes, she marvelled, and she’d barely noticed any of them, she’d been so focused on her work.

Brenda wandered in and out of boutique stores on Moncton Street. It was strange not to be hurrying.

Not many fishing stores left now, Brenda thought sadly. The Commercial Marine Store had closed down. The windows were boarded up, and a notice told her that a developer was planning smart new condos.

Brenda found herself at the Steveston Hotel. She was drawn to the familiar, she supposed. The café had updated the flooring to smart new tiles and painted the walls — to clean up the nicotine stains, Brenda thought, remembering that breakfast time with the fishermen was always accompanied by billows of cigarette smoke — but the black-and-white photographs of fishing days gone by on the walls were still the same.

Brenda ordered coffee. There was a time when she couldn’t come in for a coffee without bumping into someone she knew. She looked round the café. Nobody. She’d walked through town from her apartment, and nobody had nodded or waved, or called out her name. She was anonymous now.

Brenda stared out the window and her attention was caught by several large trucks parked on the street, and men shouting and waving. A movie crew was spraying foam on the sidewalk and hanging Christmas lights and wreaths around one of the storefronts.

This is the new Steveston, Brenda thought. Smart apartments, art stores and movie stars. I don’t belong here anymore. I’ve just been clinging to the past.

Brenda remembered the last time she was in the café and flushed with embarrassment at the memory. Maybe I belong in the movies, she thought, making up all that drama.

So what if Adrian was running the business differently? What business was it of hers? But she had to make a big fuss and even to go and phone Harry. What was she thinking, that Harry would rekindle their relationship?

She felt tears coming.

“A top-up?” A waitress was standing beside her with a pot of coffee.

“No thanks.” Brenda forced a smile.

She finished her cup and paid the waitress.

The sky was a brilliant blue. Brenda heard the cry of gulls and the clink of boats moored by the cannery. Usually, she would walk beside the river and spend a few moments absorbing the sights and sounds that were the hallmarks of her life.

Today, she retraced her steps through the town, not wanting to pass the bistro and her old workplace. She also had a stop to make.

I’m a silly old woman, she thought. Harry and Nikos were just being kind. Humouring me. I have to move on.

Brenda entered the real estate office, a block from her condo. An elegant young woman sitting at the reception desk smiled in welcome.

A few minutes later, Brenda had a sheaf of papers, real estate statistics, legal information and a booklet, How to Stage Your Home for Sale.

She felt happier