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Chapter 1
Bear Cove, Maine, population three hundred and twelve souls at the height of the
lobster season, was normally a sleepy little town, just the way Carly Turnquist
liked it. But not this morning.
Faintly at first, building in volume quickly, came sounds not normally heard in
quiet Bear Cove. Horns blared, voices shouted, and bass music boomed, rattling
the pictures on the walls. Carly pressed her face closer to the window pane,
tipping her head first right, then left, determining the direction of the
commotion.
“Sounds like it’s coming from downtown,” she muttered to no one in particular.
“I hope it’s not one of those Watkins boys joyriding again.”
Not wanting to be left out of the loop, she took the stairs two at a time to the
bedroom she shared with her husband Mike, arriving at the top landing slightly
out of breath. Deciding what to wear to check out the blaring horns and loud
voices wasn’t difficult. As a forensics accountant who worked out of her home,
Carly had a handy wardrobe replete with sweats, jeans, tshirts, and hoodies.
Sitting on the edge of the bed to tie her sneakers, Carly checked her reflection
in the mirror over the dresser. She brushed her shoulder length brown hair back
behind her ears and fluffed her bangs. Tugging at the hem of her hoodie, she
pivoted slightly. Not bad for fifty. Need to walk more. She patted her derriere,
smiling at her mock vanity.
Grabbing her keys from the end of the kitchen counter, she headed for the front
door. On the way, she snatched a box of files ready for mailing back to a
client. Make every trip a business trip was her motto.
After turning her key to lock the front door, she walked quickly to her car and
set the box on the back seat. Starting the engine, she drove towards the
downtown section, drawing ever closer to the continuing commotion. Carly rounded
the corner to Main Street then parked. The town’s two police officers tried to
control traffic without much success. A large parade style float sat in the
middle of the street, surrounded by people and cars.
Music blared from the display, which Carly couldn’t quite see from her angle.
Getting out of her car to get a better look at the float, her jaw dropped.
Amidst the trees and oversize flowers dotting the platform of the flatbed truck,
nearly naked men and women danced on the float. A large banner read “Bare
yourself in Bear Cove”. A tinny sounding recording played and Carly strained to
make out snatches of the words: adult entertainment community, first of its kind
in the state, express your individuality, and get an employment application
here.
Carly crossed the street, dodging an oncoming vehicle. She stood on the corner
of the intersection and waved to the town’s only female officer who stood in the
middle of the street directing traffic. “What’s going on?”
Maria shrugged. “Promoting some kind of new development on the outskirts of
town.”
“Don’t you need some kind of permit for a parade or demonstration?”
“The chief checked on that already. One was issued first thing this morning.”
Maria waved a white-gloved hand at an oncoming vehicle, directing it through the
intersection.
“It’s not even nine o’clock. Who issued the permit?”
“Personally hand written out by the mayor is what I heard.”
“Since when does the mayor bother with a parade permit? Or much of anything
else, for that matter?” Carly kicked at a pebble near her foot and watched it
skitter across the street.
Maria nodded. “I know what you’re saying. Still, the paperwork is in order.”
“The signs say something about an entertainment facility.”
Maria leaned in closer and lowered her voice slightly. “Sounds like they don’t
really want us to know what they’re doing.”
“Why would the mayor think Bear Cove would want such a business here?”
Maria waved another car through. “He probably doesn’t have final say. All he did
was approve the parade permit.”
Carly craned her neck to get a better look at the float. “Why would he even do
that?”
Carly didn’t have answers to these questions, but she knew one thing for sure:
If a nudist colony was coming to Bear Cove, it would be over her dead body.
* * *
Back home a few minutes later, Carly heard the phone ring as she put her key in
the lock.
Tripping over a shoe in the entryway, she grabbed the handset on the fifth ring
before it went to the answering machine. “Hello.”
Her stepdaughter, but daughter of her heart, Denise replied. “Hi Carly. Do you
have a few minutes?”
“A few. What’s up?” Carly checked her chair for a sleeping cat before sitting.
Denise sniffed. “I’ve gotten into a situation here at the school.”
“You have all the skills you need to be their volunteer treasurer. Is there
something specific you need advice on? How to handle a particular entry?” Carly
tried to understand what Denise might need.
“It’s more than that. This is serious. The bank called today and said fifty
thousand dollars is missing. We can’t pay the teacher’s payroll this month
without that money, and we don’t know where it went, or who took it.”
“The money has to be somewhere. It didn’t just disappear. Did you miss making a
deposit? Maybe some checks bounced.”
“You don’t understand. The board of directors thinks maybe I took the money.
They’ve called a board meeting for Friday and if the money isn’t there, or a
really good explanation of where it is, they’re going to bring me up on
charges.”
“Want some help tracking it down?”
“Do you have some time today or tomorrow? If you could come here and help me go
through the paperwork and bank statements, I’d really appreciate it. I don’t
know where else to turn, Carly.”
Carly heard panic in Denise’s voice. She thought quickly. Her last project was
done, Mike was out of town until Friday, and Riverdale was just over an hour’s
drive. Even if she left this evening, she still had time to find out what was
going on with this new entertainment facility. “I have a few things I need to
take care of here today. I could drive there this evening and stay a few days.
We’ll be able to get all this figured out in no time, I’m sure.”
“Thanks, Carly. I really appreciate that.”
After offering a few more encouraging words, Carly disconnected and checked the
clock. Ten-thirty already. So long as she left before dusk, she’d make it the
seventy miles to Riverdale by full dark. She had six hours to find out what was
going on before leaving town for the week.
She was a woman on two missions. First, she had to find out what was going on
with some kind of nudist colony showing their faces -- and other parts -- in
Bear Cove. Second, she had to find a large sum of missing money before her
daughter got carted off to jail. When it came to her home and family, no one was
going to worm their way in and mess it up.
No one. |