Beachside Murder (A Team Gossip Cozy Mystery Book 1) Read online

  Beachside Murder

  Copyright © 2016 Martha Rivers. All Rights Reserved.

  Meghan Croft expected her new restaurant manager job to be easy. She’s working with her best friend, her boss is her grandfather, and she lives in an enviable summer town in Florida. It can’t be too hard to control a diva chef and the small town’s peculiar neighbors, can it?

  It’s actually harder than it seems, and Meghan’s problems will only get worse.

  When one of the restaurant’s customers dies in strange circumstances, the murder investigation will involve everyone in town: one of Meghan’s ex-boyfriends, the victim’s lover, and a quartet of senior snoops and their nosy yet adorable dog.

  Meghan is no detective, but she’ll try her best to solve the case and save the family restaurant.

  Will she retain her sanity while facing both old and new heartbreaks, unpredictable employees, and an unsolvable crime full of unexpected twists?

  Chapter 1

  “Tell me that you haven’t come to work on Sunday!” April shook her head as if I were impossible. She took a seat at one of the cafe’s tables and waved at me to sit in front of her. She was halfway through her shift, but she never stressed out about entertaining friends while at work. “Megs! It’s your day off, you dirty workaholic! You don’t need to come to work on Sundays. This is serious; you need a therapist.” She crossed her legs with her classic super-feminine pose, and several men turned their heads to look at her. She didn’t even notice the men; she’d always lived in her own world.

  April was tall and slim, and no man could stop looking at her green eyes and fiery hair. Whenever she crossed her legs wearing a mini-skirt, she broke several men’s hearts. She was my best friend and the sous-chef at the Sand & Sea cafe. And she thought I was obsessed with work.

  “I haven’t come here to work,” I lied. I had, but I wasn’t going to own up to it. If April realized that she was right, she’d lock me out of the Sand & Sea and not let me go back for weeks.

  “You lied terribly when we were 5, and you haven’t gotten any better.” April laughed to herself and covered her mouth with her hand. “You’re the worst liar in history.”

  I was. But let me ignore my friend’s accusations and go back to my demanding new job.

  My grandpa had opened up the Sand & Sea cafe, spa, and hotel resort in the beautiful beach town of Greensea, Florida. If you have never been there, imagine the cleanest waters in the world, combined with the charm of a classic Floridian beach town. Nobody ever leaves Greensea voluntarily… as long as they can tolerate the locals.

  I’d grown up at Greensea, at least during the summers. I’d stayed with Pops during every school break and learned the family business while he managed his touristic resort, and he loved to see his favorite granddaughter. Now that I’d worked for a couple of hotel firms after finishing college, Pops had asked me to become the Sand & Sea’s restaurant’s manager. My life was perfect… except that I still didn’t balance work with anything else.

  “So what brings you here?” April inquired. “I’ll eventually force it out of you, so you’d better speak up soon.”

  I’d gone to work because I had a date, and my date wanted to eat at Pops’ restaurant.

  I’d started dating a man named Vincent a few months back, and he wanted to dine with me at the famous Sand & Sea restaurant. I didn’t want to sound picky, but I worked there. Couldn’t he take me elsewhere? He was probably after the family discount that Pops always offered us, but he sometimes took his stinginess too far.

  I accidentally forgot to mention my date to April because she and Vincent didn’t really see eye to eye. As in, if both looked at each other for long enough, one would probably end up with a black eye.

  I couldn’t wait for the afternoon. Vincent was finally going to arrive, and I was very eager to see him. He worked for one of the tech giants in Seattle and rarely had any free time, but he’d finally taken a week off and he was going to spend it with me.

  April wouldn’t have approved my plans. She always said that Vincent was a manipulative, selfish and arrogant pig. Their dislike for each other was mutual.

  Okay, I know he wasn’t perfect. He was busy and sometimes moody, and I had to plan all our dates, but he was a busy man and I had to go to the restaurant anyway. It wasn’t an inconvenience, I promise.

  Besides, there was nothing like walking around town holding Vincent’s arm. He wore fine Italian suits and everyone looked at us as a couple. I’d been a couple of pounds overweight during most of high school and college and I’d felt invisible. People always looked at me when I was with Vincent. Call me superficial if you like, but I called it therapy. It was my own way of feeling special. I had the handsomest man in Greensea all for myself.

  I caught myself smiling. Vincent wasn’t perfect, but his mood would improve once his schedule got better.

  “Ugh.” April frowned. She’d read my mind. “I know that face.” She pointed a finger into her open mouth and made a puking gesture. “I know that Vincent’s your soulmate and you’re completely in love with him, but don’t you love him more when he’s in Seattle? I mean, he’s handsome and looks awesome on Facebook, but he lacks your brains, Megs. I don’t think he has a brain at all. He’s just a handsome body, nothing else. He’ll grow old and sad. You can do much better. Much, much better.”

  I swear that my best friend’s a witch, and she’s awesome at reading minds. I need her to pick my next lottery numbers in case she’s also a clairvoyant.

  April had never been a romantic, but she was obsessed about Vincent. They didn’t stand each other, full stop. The very first day they’d met, shortly after he’d started dating me, she’d caught him looking at her breasts. She’d considered it inappropriate for her best friend’s boyfriend. Their enmity had worsened when he’d accused her of buying her homemade apple pie. After those first conflicts, their disagreements had only escalated. Now, they always stared at each other’s eyes like gunslingers in the Old West. I wanted them to get along, but it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

  I hadn’t been lucky with men. April didn’t like Mike because he always criticized me behind my back, and she’d caught Simon stealing from my wallet. Vincent wasn’t like either of them, though. He had a real job and rarely spoke badly of anyone, and he wasn’t jealous or possessive. Still, he wasn’t the perfect, made-for-me Nathan that April had always wanted me to catch.

  Back in the Pleistocene, I’d dated Nathan Barton, one of my closest childhood friends. He was intelligent, handsome, and everything any girl could wish for. He’d been very shy, but when he’d grown up and gained confidence, his shy laugh had always given him away as down-to-earth. We’d fallen in love in high school and we’d had a perfect relationship, but everything had fizzled when he’d gone to college. We’d grown up and parted ways, and the dream had ended. I was totally over it, but returning to my childhood home reminded me that everyone in the neighborhood had rooted for Nathan and me at some point. Everyone at Greensea was rooted in the past, a past that wasn’t returning anytime soon.

  Vincent and I had a good chance of becoming a long-term couple despite April’s reservations.

  April continued criticizing my boyfriend until she ran out of creative insults. Believe me, she was very creative whenever she criticized men.

  I’d known Vincent for a few months, since shortly before we’d started dating. Everything had gone very quickly because nobody could resist his irresistible smile and easy laugh. We were both very busy and we barely saw each other every other weekend, but he wanted me to leave everything behind and go with him to Seattle. I wasn’t read
y.

  I sometimes wondered if he liked me without reservations, or if he kept dating me out of laziness to find someone else. People aren’t supposed to have those doubts when they’re in love, but I sometimes questioned my own feelings towards him.

  No matter how much I doubted my own feelings, I wasn’t going to acknowledge anything before my best friend. She didn’t need any extra encouragement.

  “I don’t mean to criticize anyone…” she said as if she hadn’t spent several minutes spitting venom out of her mouth. “Vincent is handsome and dresses well, I’ll give you that. And he’s wealthy. That’s good enough, I guess…”

  Was she joking, or was she serious? April sometimes scared me.

  “I won’t marry for money,” I said almost automatically.

  “I know,” she said, “but he won’t need your money if he’s rich. He can waste his own and buy dozens of those silly Italian suits and expensive shoes. You’re a hopeless romantic, but men are not. Some of them are fortune-hunters, and it’s safer if you pick someone who doesn’t need a wealthy girlfriend.”

  I was no empty-headed romantic. Grandma had set up a trust to give me a head start in life. She’d picked a stock market genius to manage the trust, so my modest nest egg gave me a lot of freedom. I loved to work for Pops, but I managed my money responsibly. I wasn’t going to let anyone catch me and then waste Grandma’s efforts. In my family, it’s everyone’s responsibility to grow their inheritance and pass it on to the next generation.

  I’d grown out of fairy tales and true love stories long ago. Life wasn’t a story and it rarely led to a happily forever after. I’d once held hope back when I’d dated Nathan, but he’d preferred his new super-sexy college girlfriends to his plain and average childhood friend. I couldn’t blame him, but nobody could blame me for being skeptical about love stories.

  Is this the second time I mention Nathan? I hadn’t seen him or thought about him in years. Why was I thinking about him? He’d been my first love, but I was over it. Seriously; I wasn’t stuck in the past and waiting for my noble prince to rescue me on his white steed. Besides, we’re in the 21st Century. Why can’t I hold the reins for a change? Or rescue him on my pink pony? I know, I know; princesses riding pink ponies aren’t Hollywood material, but I’m no damsel in distress.

  Chapter 2

  I headed upstairs and ran onto our chef. Tony, who styled himself Antoine since he’d returned from a prestigious cooking course in France, carried a tempting tray of cupcakes. His chef’s hat was slightly tilted to the right to look more sophisticated.

  Antoine barely tolerated anyone who didn’t flatter him. Like April said, I was a terrible liar, so I tried to dodge the chef whenever I could. There was no way to dodge him now, though, so I forced a broad smile.

  “It smells fantastic, Antoine,” I told him, hoping that he’d let me taste them.

  He didn’t. Instead, he grunted at me and headed for the cafe. He kept muttering things under his breath as he walked away. He was a diva at times, but his food was fantastic and he’d worked for Pops for many years.

  Antoine ruled over the restaurant downstairs, and April worked in the cafe by the beach. The cafe’s terrace had incredible views, and you could jump over the knee-height fence to get to the beach. Many customers dined at the restaurant and ate their desserts by the sea, so Antoine took some of his sweet treats downstairs.

  April and Antoine didn’t get on too well with each other. She called him snob and grumpy, and she got on his nerves. My predecessor had clashed with him several times, and he’d quit after Antoine’s most recent diva tantrum. I was starting to understand why.

  Luckily, April didn’t mind annoying the chef or getting on his wrong side, so she did the arguing while I stayed safely neutral.

  I know: my attitude was neither mature nor professional. It was the easiest way to survive around the madhouse, though.

  Life at the Sand & Sea wasn’t as easy as I’d expected. Instead of finding a cozy hotel with wonderful views and quiet customers, I’d found a small family hotel full of curious people with unique and very strong personalities. If you put the staff in one room and shake it, the room will end up exploding. The neighbors weren’t easier to handle, though, so this was the ideal place for anyone who wanted a life of adventure and entertainment. Shy people, you’ve been warned!

  The Sand & Sea was great for Pops, though.

  My grandfather lost a part of his soul when my grandmother died. The family had encouraged him to fill his time with something, so he bought the old Sand & Sea hotel, an old-fashioned family guest house and one of the oldest businesses in Greensea. Greensea was a small town by the sea, about 10 miles away from the city of Corton. We had about 4,000 neighbors during the winter months, but the number rose to over 50,000 when the snowbirds arrived. Some of our guests stayed with us every year. We were doing something right.

  The Sand & Sea was an old and prominent building, built in the art-deco style at the start of the 20th Century. It had been close to bankruptcy when Pops had bought it, but he’d restored it to its former glory while respecting the original style, refreshing both the business and the neighborhood. He’d added modern shower rooms, heating, A/C, HD televisions, and broadband access. The Sand & Sea had everything tourists needed, including wonderful sea views.

  When everything fell silent at night, the constant murmur of the waves sent me to sleep slowly and peacefully. What else could I ask for?

  I was about to discover that Greensea had much more to offer, aside from rest and relaxation.

  Chapter 3

  Vincent arrived just in time for our dinner date, so we quickly went downstairs to the restaurant. Pops considered it appropriate to greet us.

  “Tell me, son,” Pops said, raising an eyebrow at Vincent, “are you looking after my granddaughter?” He gave me one of his classic amused expressions and winked an eye at me, but he looked dead serious when he stared at Vincent. Pops had a funny day and he’d picked a target. It wasn’t a good sign.

  “Pops,” I hushed him.

  “I need to ask him, Meghan.” Pops never stopped to think before asking questions. He didn’t care that Vincent and I were in the middle of our dinner date at the Sand & Sea restaurant or that we hadn’t seen each other for a while. His interrogation had begun, and it wasn’t going to end until he was satisfied. He turned to Vincent. “What do you plan to do if she follows you to Seattle and doesn’t find a job there?”

  Pops was uncommonly tall and elegant, with a wrinkled but wise expression and snow-white hair. He wore a dark and impeccable suit that made him look like a retired Hollywood actor. His looks made him even more imposing when he questioned my boyfriends.

  I should’ve expected it, but my cheeks burned anyway.

  Way to scare my boyfriends, Pops.

  Vincent had arrived earlier that day. His flight had been delayed and he’d arrived in an awful mood, but I’d been so eager to have a romantic dinner with him that I paid no attention to his constant grumbling. The moment we’d seen each other, he’d held my hand and told me that he’d missed me, but he’d been more worried about his phone’s screen than about me.

  Pops and Vincent didn’t know each other too well, and I didn’t know if they liked each other. Pops didn’t like men who would end up breaking my heart, and he had a radar for that kind of men.

  Vincent wasn’t scared by Pops’ questions. Instead, he laughed rather condescendingly. “I’m doing well enough at my job, sir, if that’s what you’re asking.” He forced a smile at Pops, but his eyes remained cold. “And I do treat your granddaughter well; she’s very sweet.”

  What a flattering and lying man! He hadn’t meant a word he’d said. And besides, he wasn’t being nice lately; he was grumpy and moody all day long because of his job.”

  He continued smiling at both of us, and his expression sent a chill down my spine. I hadn’t noticed Vincent’s hypocritical side.

  Pops noticed too, and he raised an inquisitive eye
brow at me. Unlike before, he was thinking exactly what April had told me just hours before: I could do better than Vincent.

  Why was everyone trying to make me single again? Vincent wasn’t that annoying, was he?

  Pops and Vincent continued speaking cordially, but neither of them liked the conversation. Pops’ mouth was tense with disapproval for Vincent’s dishonesty, and Vincent continued forcing a smile. None of my friends or relatives liked Vincent; he was definitely doing something wrong.

  Derek, one of the kitchen assistants, quickly ran out of the kitchens and greeted Pops. “Mr. Truman! How good to see you again.” He stretched Pops’ hand and tilted his head slightly forward like he usually did. He was very enthusiastic, and even though he was over 35, he looked much younger. He wasn’t the smartest man in town, but he always flattered Pops. “Customers like the new salads, but I liked last year’s better. Have you tasted them?”

  Derek had started working at the restaurant only a few months earlier. One of our employees had had a beautiful and round-faced baby, and she’d taken several months off. Derek was her substitute. She was going to come back to work soon, so Derek wanted Pops to keep him even after she returned.

  Derek was a curious genetic combination: he was incredibly handsome and had a benign and youthful face. His expression remained pleasant even when angry, so nobody took him seriously whenever he threw a tantrum. His conversations were usually superficial and random, but nobody cared because he was very polite. If he’d been a girl, people would’ve joked that she was blonde.

  Derek always meant well, but he didn’t realize that Pops had other responsibilities aside from chatting with employees. Pops was very patient, though, so he smiled and took Derek aside to chat for a while, giving us some privacy.

  Vincent sneered at Derek as he walked away. “He isn’t quite right, is he?” He didn’t even lower his tone, as if Derek couldn’t hear us.

  “He’s perfectly right,” I cut him. Derek was no intellectual, but nobody deserved a sneer for not being too intelligent.