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

  Derek stared fixedly at Vincent. He didn’t blink or look away; his eyes were focused on him. Vincent scoffed in disgust and looked away. He chuckled condescendingly to himself. Was his condescension towards Derek, or towards me?

  “What’s that for?” I asked. I tried not to get annoyed; I wasn’t going to ruin the night.

  “Oh, come on!” Vincent rolled his eyes. “You can’t be this blind!” He raised his eyebrows and leaned forward. “If you can’t see this, you’re lucky to inherit the family business.”

  Had he said what I’d just heard?

  Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! Vincent joining Meghan’s list of ex-boyfriends in 3… 2…

  “It’s a joke, okay?” he said, annoyed. “Just don’t pay attention to me. I’m not myself.” He ran a finger along the inside of his collar to loosen it around his neck.

  No, it hadn’t been a joke. I was going to tell him what April and Pops would’ve asked me to say, but two men started arguing by one of the tables on the other side of the room. A tall and slender man with gray hair argued with a shorter man with a rounded belly. Both men dressed well and looked too elegant to speak so loudly in a restaurant.

  “This is armed robbery!” the shorter man said. He shook a finger in the air under the taller man’s nose. “I won’t sell my business – my life – so cheaply!”

  The taller man casually dug both hands in his pockets and looked at the other with pity. “It’s nothing personal; just business. My advisors had given me a lower figure. I’m overvaluing your shares because I’ve known you for years, Russo.”

  “You’ve used every possible means to destroy my company! You aren’t overvaluing anything that you haven’t previously destroyed!”

  Vincent chuckled to himself and raised an eyebrow at them. He stopped eating and turned his chair around to face the scene directly. Around us, most people had stopped enjoying their meals and were focusing on the improvised show.

  This wasn’t good for the business; we were an expensive restaurant, and we didn’t need any fights. I walked to them with a broad smile in my face and tried to calm them down. “Gentlemen,” I said. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but the Sand & Sea would like to invite you to some wine and cheese if you could postpone your disagreement for another time.”

  I heard a condescending and irritating chuckle to my right. Vincent had followed me to help, but he dug both hands in his pockets and stared at the men from head to toe as if he considered himself better than either of them. Was he looking for a fight?

  Russo, the shorter man, stared at Vincent and didn’t like his expression, but then he looked at me with pity. “I was leaving.” He pointed once more at the taller man’s chest. “And I hope that he chokes and agonizes to death. If life were fair, we wouldn’t have any men like him in the world.” He darted to the door without looking back.

  “To agonizing to death.” The taller man raised his pint of beer in the direction of the other man and drank from it. He turned to me, visibly exhausted. “I’m not as strong as I used to be. Men didn’t dare to raise their voices at me when I was younger.”

  The taller man sat down and continued eating his appetizers as if nothing had happened. Everyone else returned to their meals and I nodded at one of the waiters to invite them to dessert or coffee to reduce their inconvenience. It was a subtle gesture, but enough to preserve our fame. The Sand & Sea couldn’t afford to lose its prestige.

  When Vincent and I were walking back to our table, we crossed paths with a spectacular woman: tall, blonde, and half-starved. She wore more makeup than I needed in a whole week, and if she’d made a false move, her tight mini-dress wouldn’t have let her breathe. She strode along the room like a beauty queen and sneered at the women who looked at her.

  I’m not resentful, but why do some beautiful women treat the rest of us as if we were inferior?

  I was curious about the woman’s purpose at the Sand & Sea, so I glanced back to see where she sat.

  Vincent had also stopped to stare at her. He wasn’t looking at her figure; he was looking at her rear. He caught me staring at him and he cleared his throat and looked down.

  The woman walked straight to the taller man who had just made the scene and kissed him in the lips. It was no chaste kiss; she was neither her niece nor her granddaughter. She smiled at him and fluttered her eyelashes as if he were the most attractive man in the world. He gave her a red rose, and she toyed with it, smelled it and ran it along her lips. He prized her gesture with a small jewelry box. She gasped and fanned herself exaggeratedly.

  She was exaggerating, but they were both enjoying their private moment. I rolled my eyes and noticed Vincent staring openly at them with a sardonic smile.

  “Dirty old man,” Vincent mumbled. We returned to our seats, but he kept glancing at them. “They should rent a room or something, you know?”

  The girl didn’t see anyone else in the room, just our grumpy businessman who lived off devaluing and buying rival businesses. She smiled broadly and leaned her face on one of her hands. Each of her poses was carefully studied to look pretty while appearing natural. Some girls had too much free time in their hands.

  He turned around to call one of the waiters, and the girl frowned at him. Her face even acquired hints of disgust and displeasure. As soon as he turned around again, she returned to her innocent-looking smile and unquestionable devotion.

  Was she acting as though she liked him? Was she a gold digger? Wow.

  Vincent was also intrigued by the odd couple, enough to forget about our early discussion. I didn’t return to the topic either; we could enjoy our dinner and think about our relationship on another occasion.

  Vincent nodded in the direction of the couple. “If he’s Parrish, he’s an idiot. He’s rich enough to get a girl who really likes him, not a selfish leech. She’s after his money; I can see that. Though I can’t see what he gets from her.” He took a sip of wine and chuckled into his cup, choking slightly. He cleared his throat and grinned. “Actually, I do.”

  Vincent talked loudly, too loudly. I tried to avoid the conversation so that he lowered his tone. Criticizing my restaurant’s customers wasn’t good for the business. And besides, grown-ups can do whatever they want with their lives.

  One of the new weekend-shift waitresses approached us in case we needed something else. We’d hired several waiters for the season, and I still didn’t know all of them. This girl was tall, dark-haired, and very stylish, with a perfect olive tan. Antoine always picked attractive personnel for his restaurant, and I’ve always suspected that he wanted the rest of us women to feel bad in comparison.

  She moistened her lips before approaching Vincent, who raised an eyebrow at her and seemed pleased by her flirty smile. She talked with a cheerful voice and wrote down our desserts, but she continued staring openly at Vincent even after we’d finished ordering. “Where are you from, sir? We don’t generally have many handsome men around. Our customers are somewhat older. Are you an actor? An artist, perhaps? I think I’ve seen you somewhere.”

  She openly ignored me as if I had no chance to retain Vincent for myself. Way to treat customers properly. No wonder that we rarely had any younger customers at the Sand & Sea.

  Vincent looked at her as she walked back to the kitchens. He had a proud smile on his face.

  Wait, what? Wasn’t he dining with me instead of flirting with others?

  “Was she flirting with you?” I tried not to sound jealous, but I couldn’t hide it completely.

  “She was, wasn’t she?” He chuckled to himself and glanced back in her direction. “Is she new around here?”

  She was.

  Was Vincent trying to get me to fire her in a fit of jealousy? Tough luck; I wasn’t going to mix business with my personal life. If he wanted another girlfriend, he was free to flap his wings and fly elsewhere. I wasn’t going to make a scene, beg, or cry.

  If he left me, I’d probably cry myself to sleep in front of three pints of chocolate ice cream
, but I wouldn’t give him the benefit of seeing it. Women need to keep their dignity even after a breakup.

  We hadn’t even continued eating when April walked out of the kitchens with a worried face. She glanced around the room before crouching by our table and nodded in the direction of the businessman and his model girlfriend. “Tony’s throwing a serious diva tantrum,” she murmured. April rarely stressed out, but she looked awful that night. “Some of our guests haven’t liked his food, and he doesn’t want to cook for anyone else.”

  “April!” Vincent leaned back on his chair and grinned broadly at her. He used a sarcastic and very inappropriate tone, almost as if he wanted to call everyone’s attention. “It’s been a long while.”

  “Vincent.” April forced a fake smile back at him. It wasn’t the time for any interruptions, and she wasn’t in the mood to entertain. She turned back to me. “It’s a red code, Megs. I don’t know what to do.”

  Antoine was more trouble than he was worth, but we couldn’t let him stop the kitchens.

  “Deny it,” I told her. “Blame one of the waiters and say that everyone likes his food.”

  April took one of the waitresses aside and instructed her to go back into the kitchens and calm Antoine down. April returned to our table visibly more relaxed and took a seat. “I don’t know what we’d do without you, Megs.”

  She told us about Antoine’s moody day and his constant threats of leaving the Sand & Sea. He was getting more and more difficult, and it was affecting the rest of the staff. I’d have to speak to him as soon as I had the chance, but not while the restaurant remained open.

  April told us about our distinguished guest, Billy-Bob Parrish, the local business tycoon. He’d gone abroad for years, built a business empire, and changed his name to William Parrish so that it matched his newly found rank. He’d returned to town about a week ago, and he was staying at the Sand & Sea hotel. It was his first visit to the restaurant.

  Before leaving town, he’d dated Flora, one of my Aunt Agnes’s friends. Her family had boycotted the relationship and they’d managed to scare him away. Now that he’d made so much money, love had become much easier for him. The gossips in town only knew that Parrish’s latest girlfriend was called Brittany, and April seemed disappointed about her limited news sources.

  When April left, Vincent was staring openly at Brittany. He seemed interested.

  What was he thinking of?

  He noticed that I was looking at him and let out a low chuckle. “The girl isn’t after the old man’s body, that’s for sure.”

  “It’s none of our business,” I said flatly. I didn’t want to revisit the topic.

  “But it’s obvious,” he insisted. “Crystal clear.”

  I was about to complain when Parrish’s head fell straight onto his table. He’d lost consciousness.

  Brittany stood up and cried for help. She was hysterical.

  A nurse was dining at the restaurant and hurried to help Parrish. She looked at his eyes and checked his pulse. He wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t healthy either.

  Pops called an ambulance to send the man to the emergency room. The paramedics arrived within minutes. The man was close to death and they didn’t stop to give us any explanations.

  Brittany chased after the paramedics. “You can’t leave me here!” she said. “He’s my boyfriend. My fiancé! I can’t stay here! I’m going to marry him!” She almost forced herself into the ambulance. The paramedics allowed her in to avoid wasting more time.

  Nobody knew what had happened.

  Several people started murmuring. Some mentioned a heart attack; others wondered if he’d choked.

  Mabel Reynolds, a short and stout lady with a pointed nose, stood up and moved her food aside. “He might’ve been poisoned. I’m not eating anything else.”

  Her husband tried to get her to sit back down, but she shook her head self-righteously. A few more customers hesitated and started moving their food slowly aside.

  Pops knew Mabel and tried to calm her and the other guests down. “I’ve worked for the police,” he said, “and I’m going to check for poison in Parrish’s food.”

  Pops had worked as a forensic doctor for many years, and he’d worked alongside the Corton Police Department to solve countless crimes. He approached the man’s food and smelled his wine and beer. His expression hardened and he headed to the hotel and took the man’s beer with him.

  His sudden disappearance increased the tension in the room. Nobody knew what was going on.

  I hurried after Pops to get an explanation. Someone owed it to everyone who was dining at the Sand & Sea.

  Pops was waiting for me outside the restaurant with the glass of beer in his hand. He showed it to me: it smelled strange and a strange white powder had settled at the bottom. “Bad business,” he said. “Bad, bad business. This wasn’t a heart attack; he didn’t show any symptoms. Parrish’s been poisoned.”

  “It can’t be,” I said. “A murder attempt in the hotel? It’s awful!”

  “It’s worse.” Pops looked down and bit his lower lip to try to keep his emotions in check. “Let’s hope he survives, because nobody will eat here if someone tries to poison our customers.”

  He called the police, but the hospital had already sent them on their way. The hospital also gave us the bad news: Parrish was dead.

  Vincent took a while to join us. We explained the situation and he was surprised but somewhat indifferent. Still, my grandfather’s hotel had never undergone such a crisis, and I needed someone to help me overcome the situation. I was grateful for Vincent’s support.

  Instead of comforting me, he rubbed my upper arms with his hands and whispered into my ear, “Our coffee’s getting gold.” He kissed my cheek and returned to the restaurant to drink his coffee.

  Pops didn’t even judge Vincent. His gaze was lost somewhere ahead of him, but he was no longer there. The hotel guests would soon learn of the crime. Nobody would feel safe at the Sand & Sea if we didn’t catch the murderer.

  Chapter 4

  “They’re here, they’re here!” April hurried into Pops’ office, clapping her hands excitedly. She winked an eye at me and giggled. “You won’t guess. You’ll never, ever, ever guess!”

  Guess what?

  April ran out of the office before anyone could ask, and Pops and I followed her. Vincent had volunteered to pick Brittany up from the hospital, and he’d left me with Pops, assuming that we’d manage without his help. There had only been a murder in our family restaurant; we didn’t need any support from our loved ones, did we? Vincent was too insensitive at times.

  We reached the hotel lobby, where most of the hotel and restaurant customers had gathered to wait for the investigators. April stopped on her tracks and stared at me openly with her bright green eyes. Why was she acting so weird?

  The captain, an old man wearing a long and dark coat, was talking with an old couple who had been dining at the restaurant. Beside him, a tall and elegant man with intense dark eyes and raven hair, brought a hand to his square jaw and covered his mouth to chuckle. He was confident in every movement, but his laugh still let out a hint of shyness.

  I knew that laugh.

  It belonged to Nathan.

  My Nathan.

  Well, he wasn’t mine anymore. We’d been together in the past, but our story had ended a long time ago.

  What was he doing there?

  Oh, wow. I’d heard that he’d become a cop, but I didn’t know that he investigated serious crimes.

  I hadn’t seen him in years. He looked amazing, and I’d spent half of the night stressed out and worried. I looked awful.

  What was I supposed to say? Hi Nathan, how’s your life going? You look awesome, but don’t pay attention to my looks. I’m not looking my best.

  I headed back to my office.

  April opened her mouth in shock and scoffed with a broad grin on her face. “Meghan Croft, you are a coward! You can’t run away from Nathan. He was your friend for years!” />
  “And yours,” I said. “The three of us were friends, and you aren’t talking to him either.”

  “I’ve already greeted him, silly. And he’s asked me about you.”

  “Tell me that you haven’t told him I was here.”

  “He’s a cop, Megs!” April said. “What did you want me to do? Lie to him?”

  April continued trying to convince me to head to the middle of the lobby and greet my ex-boyfriend in front of half of our neighbors. I didn’t want anyone to think that Nathan and I were still together. Plus, I didn’t want to tell everyone about Vincent; we hadn’t been together for long, and, honestly, he’d been so disagreeable lately that I didn’t want to introduce him to anyone.

  And what if Vincent saw Nathan? Even if our story had ended long ago, he wouldn’t like him. And what if Vincent started acting like... Vincent? Nathan had always had incredibly gorgeous girlfriends who’d acted polite while they stabbed my back. Vincent was outright rude whenever he wanted.

  “Meghan?” Nathan’s smooth voice said behind me. “Is that you?” He generally had a deeper and more confident voice, but he smoothed it whenever he talked to me. I didn’t know why he did it, but it made me feel special.

  April gasped, giggled and ran away before I could even react. She was supposed to be my friend! I was with Vincent; she wasn’t supposed to encourage me to spend time with other guys!

  “My god, Meghan!” Nathan’s eyes flashed down to my body for an instant and went back to my eyes. “It’s been a long time, an awfully long time!” He looked down again and blinked twice, confused that we were almost the same height.

  Nathan didn’t look surprised by April’s reaction. He acted as though I were back in my freshman year and I were still madly in love with him. He walked straight towards me.

  Oh my God! He’s going to kiss me! I haven’t taken any mints. When did I brush my teeth?

  He stopped himself a foot away, close enough for his subtle masculine scent to reach me.

  My heart accelerated.