I'll be posting a chapter from "Murder in Half Moon Bay" every day until the end of the month. Enjoy!
CHAPTER 7
If you like to read about lovely places and fabulous cuisine, enjoy the Jillian Bradley mystery series.
The reception was already full of people by the
time I arrived. A small band was playing some good seventies music in the back
corner of the room. People were standing around, drinks in hand, chatting.
Others sat at tables enjoying various drinks and delicious hors d’ oeuvres.
I picked up a plate, took some pot stickers and
sprinkled them with the soy ginger sauce. I wandered over to the next table,
trying not to look like a hungry wolf, and added some Rumaki and stuffed
mushrooms. A fruit kabob and some shrimp cocktail rounded out the rest of my
plate.
I went to the bar, ordered a glass of white wine,
and looked around for a table. Regina Anatolia sat with Dominique and Marianne.
Seeing me, Regina waved and pointed toward a vacant chair.
I sat down and took a first delicious bite as
Regina started talking.
“I’ve been getting to know one of your garden club
friends, Jillian. I don’t know many African artifact importers. She’s an interesting
conversationalist, for sure.”
Dominique smiled at the compliment.
“It’s nice to see you again, Marianne.” I nodded.
“Earlier today, Marianne rode back with me from town.”
“I guess it doesn’t take long to get acquainted
with the staff.” Regina chuckled.
I nodded and looked at her. “What did you do this
afternoon, Regina?”
The question seemed to catch her off guard, and she
hesitated before answering. “I, ah...I just caught up on some last minute plans
for the ball tomorrow night. You know, selections for the band and some last
minute details on the decorations.”
Dominique sighed. “Doesn’t sound like much fun. I'd
much rather find myself on a secluded beach with Mr. Youngblood."
We giggled like girls. Dominique had a way about
bringing the kid out in everyone.
Ann found us. Trailing her were Evelyn and Thomas.
Focusing on them, Regina asked, “Are you both
enjoying the conference?”
Thomas smiled. “I’ve enjoyed the golf. It’s a
beautiful course. A tough one, though. I did hit a couple into the ocean."
Everyone laughed except Evelyn. She clearly didn’t
enjoy the attention he received.
“I must say, Regina,” Evelyn kept her eyes half
closed as she spoke, “You’ve done quite well with this conference, considering
your background.”
Evelyn sneered, clearly pleased with her jab.
Feeling the tension mounting, I decided to defuse
the situation. “I understand we’re to have dinner at the Distillery tonight.”
Regina took a moment to regain her composure before
she responded. “Yes, the entire staff is going. We’ve also invited the Westovers
and Celeste Osborne, since they have so generously donated their time and
resources to the Society.”
She smiled slyly. “Spencer insisted your garden
club ladies join us, Jillian. Will you come?”
“That’s very thoughtful of him.” I nodded.
“Speaking of my garden club, I see Nicole coming in.”
Regina stood. “The Distillery will be sending over
a bus so we can all ride together. Meet in the lobby in half an hour.”
The group broke up and went their separate ways. I
glanced toward Nicole. She whispered, “We need to talk.”
“By all means.” I motioned for her to follow me to
my room.
***
Teddy stretched lazily from his nap and then
whined, taking his normal place in my lap.
Nicole pulled the chair out from the desk and faced
me dramatically.
“Spencer Hausman has a gambling problem.”
“Oh.” I gripped Teddy a little too tight around the
middle. He tried to wiggle free. “Sorry, boy.”
I needed information. My mind needed satisfaction.
I had lots of questions. “That would explain a lot.”
“Well, it seems that’s his life.”
“Expensive life, wouldn’t you say?”
“Maybe he lives frugally.” Her dry tone
indicated her skepticism.
“He’d have to live in a dirt cheap apartment to
support that wardrobe of his.” I huffed. “See if you can check on his addresses
for the past five years. He said he’d worked for the Westovers for four.”
“Okay. I think I can get the information.”
“And see if you can find out who his previous
employer was, just out of curiosity. It might be important.”
Nicole looked at her watch. “We’d better get downstairs.
We don’t want them to leave without us.”
“Just one second.” I fed Teddy and changed
his water. “All right, I’m ready.”
Teddy looked at me with his little brown eyes as if
to say, “Be careful.”
“I will, boy.”
***
We were the last to board the bus. Everyone
else waited for us in the misted waning light. Walter helped us on. He winked
as he helped me up the steps.
“Maybe you’ll see the ‘Lady in Blue’ tonight.
I hear that’s not incredibly uncommon, especially at this hour,” he teased.
“Have fun.”
“I’ll just be glad to get there and back safely in
all this fog. Thanks for the scare.”
The ride only took twenty minutes. Pleasant
conversation buzzed until we reached our destination.
The maître d’ greeted us and showed us to our
private room.
“So sorry you cannot enjoy the sunset.” His Italian
accent sounded charming. “The fog is highly unusual for this time of day.”
He handed us our menus and took drink orders.
“Enjoy your meal.” He bowed, and left.
Spencer Hausman spoke up. “I know people will enjoy
Marianne’s pointers on tree peonies tomorrow afternoon. Are everyone’s rooms
comfortable? Any problems so far I should know about?”
Celeste responded with a grin. “There aren’t enough
men to keep things interesting.”
Regina looked pointedly at her. “How many men do
you need, Celeste?”
Celeste didn’t miss a beat. “Only one at a time,
Regina, not like some women I know.”
Regina flushed and sat back.
Evelyn smiled, evidently satisfied with the put
down. She spoke to the server, “Thomas and I will have the Chateaubriand for
two.”
She looked at Thomas with a flirtatious eye while everyone
else looked at each other in utter amazement.
Marianne chuckled. “Why, Evelyn, it looks
like this ocean air has worked a little magic on you and Thomas.”
Thomas smiled at her. “Why, Marianne, whatever do
you mean?”
Ann and Dominique raised their eyebrows. Nicole was
looking at Spencer Hausman.
He didn’t look happy at all.
***
The Destination Distillery bus delivered us safely
to the front door of the hotel where the twin giant pumpkins welcomed us
warmly. Thomas and Evelyn obviously had had a little too much to drink. I
couldn’t tell whether they had been celebrating something privately, or whether
they were trying to drown their sorrows.
Paul stood inside the front door talking to Regina.
Neither of them looked happy. Celeste waited impatiently for them to finish, and
just stared at Paul until Regina walked away.
Spencer caught up with Regina and followed her to
the bar, where the Westovers also headed.
I could hear strains of a jazzy blues singer
wafting down through the halls of the hotel lobby.
The mood overall was a festive one. Hugh and
Marianne went into the salon by the fireplace seemingly to warm up after being
out in the damp air. I decided to join them. Ann, Dominique, and Nicole, went
up to the Club Room to see what the evening offerings were.
As we warmed ourselves by the fire, Marianne said,
“I really don’t know what’s come over Evelyn. She usually treats Thomas like
dog meat.”
Hugh looked into the fire thoughtfully. “Evelyn and
Thomas have had a tough time of it with their son. I hope she’s finally coming
to her senses.”
“Yes, that’s the way it looks.” I turned my head in
the direction of the bar.
Marianne saw that I was referring to the
Westovers.
“I hope so.”
“Well, it’s time for Teddy’s walk, and then bed.” I
stifled a yawn. “I want to be at my best for your talk tomorrow.”
“Oh….” She perked up, evidently remembering Society
business. She smiled warmly. “Well, of course you do.”
***
I took the elevator and poked my head into the Club
Room to see if my friends were still there. Behind the wall where the coffee
service had been set out, sitting on plush brocade sofas, sat my entire garden
club.
“Jillian!” Ann seemed a little too glad to see me.
“Come and sit for a minute.”
“I will, but just for a minute. I need to walk
Teddy and get to bed. It’s been a long day.”
“You can say that again.” Ann’s voice contained a
touch of irony.
Dominique explained. “Ann’s been telling us all the
gory details about Celeste’s love life.”
“You mean love lives.” Nicole’s contribution
sounded a bit catty.
“I hope she hasn’t overheard you in here.” I
lowered my voice hoping not to be heard.
“We haven’t seen her since the bus dropped us off.”
Ann’s voice was a little quieter this time.
“Well, I really don’t think this is the place to
discuss it. Why don’t we meet for breakfast in town? The first session isn’t
until ten, so I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to get back before it starts.”
I looked around at all of them.
“Sounds fine to me.” Nicole stood to leave.
Dominique and Ann nodded in agreement.
I hugged each of them and waved them on their way.
“Goodnight, I’ll meet you all in the lobby at eight o’clock.”
***
Once again, the room had been prepared for the evening
with the guests’ comfort in mind. The same gentle classical music played, and
the down comforter lay turned down, with fluffed pillows dressing the bed
invitingly. On the nightstand sat my foil wrapped truffle, atop a tiny golden
tray.
They had closed the windows due to the fog, I
supposed. Glancing out to see the beach, I saw spots of softly shrouded light
here and there. I couldn’t make out anything else. “Come on, Teddy. Let’s go
for that walk I promised.”
Teddy jumped off the bed with enthusiasm, fetched
his leash and laid it at my feet.
“Let me get my sweats on first. From the looks of
things, you’re going to need your sweater.”
Teddy uttered a tiny growl and I knew I’d better
hurry if I didn’t want a puddle on the carpet. The orange sweater was rather
snug but eventually it pushed on over his head then his stubby legs.
“Okay, boy, let’s go!”
The walk was uneventful. We stuck mostly to the
building’s perimeter because of the fog. The sweater had Teddy panting in only
a few minutes.
On our return, I pulled down the blinds and closed
the drapes. The cold night air had chilled my bones–I could use a good warm
bath.
The water was hot and fragrant, steaming the mirror
quickly while I soaked in the moisturizing bubbles. The rich chocolate mocha
aroma melted away the tiredness in my mind and clothed me in temporary bliss.
I put Teddy on his towel, climbed in bed between
the cool soft sheets and fluffy cloud of the duvet, and closed my eyes.
Now outside of the warm bathroom, the memory of the
cold almost crept into my bones as before. I wondered if this was an omen. My
eyes popped open. Was the $8,000 just the beginning? A cover for an even bigger
secret?
Teddy turned around twice and settled in for the
night.
I wanted to be at peace, like him. Thoughts of the
Westovers’ strained marriage and Spencer Hausman’s gambling problem kept
rolling through my mind, undoing the good work the bath had done for my
muscles.
I tossed around, straining for strands, ribbons of
sensible thoughts instead of those that toyed with me. I squinted like a
surfacing groundhog for the fifth time and looked for a clock.
What time….
I found the glaring numbers hovering over my
nightstand. They announced half past one in the morning.
I tried to hunker down again. I pulled and tucked
the covers firmly around me on all sides. I needed something to help me weather
this wretched, clammy, bone-chilling night.
So I prayed for peace.
Book 1 MURDER IN HALF MOON BAY
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See you in my books!
~Nancy Jill
Mystery
novelist Nancy Jill Thames has published Christian fiction since 2010.
The author of seven books in the Jillian Bradley series, she is an award
winning blogger and listed numerous times on the Author Watch Bestseller’s
List. In addition, she won first place in her church's 4th of July celebration for her chocolate cream pie.
When she isn’t plotting her next
book, she spends time with her six
grandchildren, tags along with her husband on business trips, and
plays classical piano for her personal enjoyment. She is an active
member
of the Leander Writers' Guild, American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW),
CenTex Chapter-ACFW, and supports the Central Texas SPCA with a portion
of her book sales. She resides with her husband in Leander, Texas.
CONTACT INFORMATION jillthames@gmail.com
