Excerpt: Plymouth Undercover

“You’re really going to give up on acting? To be a private investigator? I think you might be having a mid-life crisis,” Emma’s soon-to-be-former roommate, Lucy said. They’d been friends since meeting freshman year in the film program at UCLA. Emma’s dream had been acting, and she’d moved to LA right after high school and spent a year waitressing and establishing residency so she could get the in-state rate for tuition. Lucy’s focus was on film production, specifically directing, and she was well on her way. She’d been working as a production assistant for various shows and just landed a new role with ShondaLand, a woman owned company with several hot series at Netflix, and Emma was thrilled for her.

“I just turned thirty a month ago. It’s been almost ten years since I graduated from college and it hasn’t happened for me. It would have by now.” Emma had come to terms with her decision. She was at peace with it now after losing her father two months ago. When she’d headed back east for the funeral, to her hometown of Plymouth, MA, she’d felt a surprising pull to return. When she’d moved to LA after high school, she couldn’t wait for her life to begin and to get as far away from Plymouth as possible. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her hometown. Even though it was the state’s biggest town geographically, it still felt like a small town, as she couldn’t go anywhere without running into someone she knew. But all she’d ever wanted to do was to be an actress, and that wasn’t going to happen in Plymouth.

So, she went to UCLA, which had one of the best film programs. And she’d been so hopeful for so long. She’d gotten the occasional bit part and finally what she thought was her big break, as part of an ensemble cast for a sitcom. But it never got picked up, and the feedback from those who saw it was that she really wasn’t very funny, so maybe she should stick to dramas. Which she happily would have done, if they’d given her a chance. But no one ever did. The competition for acting roles was more fierce than Emma had ever imagined.

She’d always felt reasonably attractive. She was short at barely five two, but she ran and did yoga to stay a size four—that was important as the camera added a good ten to fifteen pounds. Her hair was good. It was honey blonde, long and naturally wavy, her best feature. Her nose was maybe a little bigger than average, which probably immediately took her off many lists, as everyone in Hollywood seemed to have perfect noses, small, sculpted and rarely original. But Emma never considered surgery. Well, she did once, and then came to her senses. She had her dad’s nose and it fit her face. She also knew that many surgeries had complications, with collapsed valves and breathing issues, and she didn’t need that. But still, the reality was that she was up against other prettier, thinner, more talented or more connected actresses and she was tired of losing out to them. She was tired of all of it.

She looked around the tiny apartment in the Hollywood Hills that she’d shared with Lucy. For what Emma paid for her share of the rent, she could rent a cottage on White Horse Beach all to herself. And she had—before she flew back to LA, she signed a lease on an adorable place. Her mother called it a beach shack, and Emma supposed she was right. It was one of many small cottages that literally sat on the sand at White Horse Beach. Most of them were only used in the summer. But a few, like Emma’s, were year-round. It was tiny, just a little over six hundred feet, but it was ocean front, with a deck almost as big as the cottage. It had a tiny kitchen, one bedroom and bathroom, and a cozy living room with big windows looking out at the ocean.

She was lucky to get it, as most of those cottages were strictly summer rentals, as the owners could charge crazy high weekly prices and easily get it, because of the location. The owner, Helen Whitman, was an older woman who had been a client of her father’s and she’d said that she didn’t want to deal with weekly rentals anymore, and was tired of worrying about cleaning it every Saturday before the next arrival. Emma also suspected she’d had a soft spot for her father, and maybe they’d chatted about Emma moving home if anything happened to him. Because when her father’s attorney read the will to them, there was a note for Emma to call Helen for a possible lead on a rental. Emma’s mother had tried to get her to move home as her house in the Pinehills had plenty of room. But moving home to Plymouth and back in with her mother was a step further than Emma wanted to go. The beach cottage was perfect, and she knew her mother understood.

“Maybe I am having a bit of a mid-life crisis,” Emma admitted. “I just feel like I should be much further ahead than I am at age thirty. It’s one of those numbers that makes you stop and evaluate where you are and where you want to be. You know?”

Lucy nodded. “I do. I get it. For what it’s worth, I think you’re enormously talented and maybe if you stayed, someone might figure that out, eventually.”

“Maybe. But maybe not.” Emma smiled. “I can always act in local theater productions.”

“You could. Private investigating, though. Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Reasonably sure. Enough to give it a good shot. When I was in high school, I used to help my father in the office. He always told me I was a natural. I answered his phones and did research for him on the internet.” She smiled at the memory of it. She’d loved working with him. Once she moved out to California, she hadn’t given it another thought though, until recently. It was going to be strange to be in his office without him, but it felt like it was something she needed to try.

“He left it to you and your mother to run together? Why not your brother too? I would think that kind of thing would be more up a guy’s alley?” Lucy asked.

“Matt never had any interest in it. He’s also crazy busy with his car repair business.” Her older brother and his best friend, Ryan, owned a business together, repairing cars and storing them in the winter. Business was booming and Emma was proud of him. He was doing what he loved.

“How’s your mother doing with it? Didn’t she used to help your dad too?”

“She did some, before they divorced. She mostly ran the office part-time for him while he was out in the field. It’s been a long time though, and I think she’s feeling a little overwhelmed. And it’s a lot for Mickey to handle on his own.”

“Who’s Mickey?”

“My dad’s employee. He’s wonderful, an older retired detective that mostly works part time for something to do. My mom has had him working full time the past few weeks, and she’s worried that she might be burning him out.”

Lucy sighed. “So, it sounds like they need you. Do I have to worry about you? Is this kind of work dangerous?”

Emma laughed. “No. It’s nothing like you see on TV. It’s a lot of driving around, sitting and waiting, or surfing the internet trying to track people down. It’s actually kind of fun. And we’re always careful. We have to be, so we aren’t spotted following someone.”

“That’s not exactly reassuring. Stay safe and call me once you get settled. I’m going to miss you.” Lucy’s voice cracked a little.

Emma felt her eyes water. She was going to miss LA and especially Lucy, too.

“I will. You’ll probably get sick of hearing from me.”

***

“Why don’t you just sell the business? You haven’t worked in Fred’s office in over twenty years. Is this really what you want to do?” Cindy’s best friend, Rachel, asked. They were all sitting on their other best friend, Lee’s back deck. It was Friday night, a little after six thirty, which meant happy hour. They lived a few houses apart on a cul de sac in the Pinehills, a golf community in Plymouth. None of them golfed, though their husbands had.

Lee’s house was in the middle and had the best deck, so that’s usually where they went. Cindy brought the Bread and Butter chardonnay, Rachel brought the pub cheese and crackers, and Lee had some frozen pizzas heating up in the oven and sipped a vodka and soda because she hated wine. The three of them had been friends for close to thirty years, since they’d all been newly married and moved into the neighborhood.

Lee was the only one of the three that was still married. Her husband, Bob, was a great guy who was semi-retired and was happiest down in his basement, doing his woodworking projects or golfing with his buddies. Rachel was widowed about five years ago and Cindy had been divorced for almost twenty years now. Though with Fred’s recent passing, she felt a bit like a widow too, especially as he’d left his private investigating agency equally to her and her daughter, Emma.

It hadn’t surprised Cindy that he’d left the business to Emma as she’d always been good at it, and she guessed it was Fred’s way of tempting Emma to move home, to be closer to her family. Cindy was surprised that he’d included her too, though. Cindy had worked at the agency with Fred when they were married, but it was just to help out. She’d never shared the passion for the business that both Fred and Emma had. But maybe he’d also thought it would be good for both of them.

She really didn’t know what had gone through Fred’s mind. He hadn’t shared any of it with her. He hadn’t even told them he was sick until he only had a month left. He’d had a rare brain cancer that had been discovered at a late stage, and there wasn’t really anything they could do. The only blessing was that he said he’d felt good until he didn’t and then passed a few weeks later. It was still a shock she was trying to get used to.

She hadn’t seen Fred much in recent years, but when they did bump into each other, it was always civil, much like seeing an old friend. Their divorce had been amicable too, as far as a divorce could be. There was of course plenty of sadness and disappointment on both sides, but there was no anger. The relationship just hadn’t worked out. They’d both grown apart over the years, and even counseling hadn’t helped. Fred had gone on to have several long-term relationships and Cindy had dated here and there, but it never turned into anything serious. And after a while, she just stopped trying. It was easier to put off trying to find someone else than to ‘get out there’ as Rachel often said. Rachel had ventured into online dating a few years ago and kept them entertained with her various dating disasters. She still kept at it, though, while Cindy held off.

Though Fred’s passing was a wake-up call. In the blink of an eye, twenty years had passed and Cindy was still alone. She told herself she liked it that way, but truth be told, she envied what Lee and Bob had, their companionship. Maybe she should make more of an effort. The thought of online dating, like what Rachel was doing, was intimidating though. It was easier to put it off and hope that maybe she’d just bump into someone somewhere, the way it used to happen when she was younger.

She turned her attention back to Rachel’s question. “We can’t sell it. Fred was the business. Without him, there’s nothing to buy.”

“Oh. Hmm. Well, maybe once Emma gets here it might be fun for you?” Rachel said.

“It’s not too much for you?” Lee asked.

Cindy shook her head. “I thought it might be, but it’s really not. Most of my yoga classes are early evening and a few mornings. The other girls handle the mid-day and weekend classes. And I hired a new girl last week to take over a few of my classes to free up more time.” She’d started the yoga studio years ago, while she was still married and the business had grown over the years. She’d always loved yoga, how it quieted her mind, helped ease any stiffness or achy muscles and kept her in shape. And she had a great group of regular customers that had become friends over the years.

“Thank goodness for Mickey though. I don’t know what I’d do without him. I’ve never done any of the actual investigative work, like surveillance. He’s been busy these past few weeks,” Cindy said.

“How old is he?” Lee asked.

“I think he’s almost eighty. But he’s sharp as a tack and in good shape. Except for the donut eating. He needs to cut back on that, but says it goes along with surveillance work.”

Rachel laughed. “Sounds like an excuse to eat donuts to me.”

Cindy nodded. “His said his wife, Betty, read him the riot act. She watches his diet pretty closely.” Mickey was a character. She knew he missed police work and enjoyed keeping busy.

“Speaking of age, what are we going to do for Rachel’s birthday? It’s a big one,” Lee said.

“Double-nickels!” Cindy laughed. Mickey had teased her a few weeks ago when she’d turned fifty-five and had said her double nickels birthday was good luck. “How about 42 for stuffed lobsters?” The nearby restaurant, 42 Degrees North, had the best stuffed lobsters in the area. Occasionally they went there and splurged.

Rachel nodded. “That sounds perfect to me. I think I deserve a baked stuffed lobster.” She glanced at Lee and Cindy. “I think we all do.”

***

Emma loved looking out the window whenever she flew into Boston’s Logan airport. As they flew over the city, she could see the streets of downtown Boston below and they looked like such a tangle. Unlike most modern cities with their carefully planned growth and perfect grid of streets, Boston was a bit of a mess with one-ways and streets that didn’t go where you would expect. But as they drew closer and she could see Boston Harbor below, she felt a thrill. She was almost home. It felt like a new beginning and although she was sad to give up on her dream, she was looking forward to settling into her beach cottage and starting work at the agency.

When she got off the plane, she collected her two giant suitcases and made her way to a shuttle to the rental car agency. Eventually, she settled into her rental car, a silver Honda CRV and two hours later, after getting stuck in some rush hour traffic going through the city, she arrived at her rental at White Horse Beach. She grabbed the bigger of the two suitcases and dragged it down the wooden walkway and through the beach grass and sand until she reached the back door. The key was under the mat, as Helen had said it would be. Emma unlocked the door, shoved her suitcase inside and went back for the other one.

Once her luggage was in, she put it in the bedroom and went out on the front deck and took a deep breath of the fresh, salt air. She’d gotten used to the smog of LA and this was so much better. It was late April, and the sun was shining brightly, but the air was cool. Emma knew it would take her a while to get used to the difference in temperature, LA was much warmer this time of year. Even in April though, at almost five o’clock, there were still people out walking along the beach. White Horse Beach was a little over a mile long, a white, sandy beach lined with cottages and the occasional larger home. The water was shallow, but in recent years it had become a favorite hunting ground for great white sharks. They liked to feed off the seals that sunned themselves on the rocks.

Emma remembered her mother telling her that two summers ago there had been a scare when two college girls in kayaks had foolishly paddled out to the jetty where the seals liked to sunbathe. A shark had attacked one of the kayaks, testing to see if it was a seal. Both boats capsized and fortunately the shark swam away, disappointed when it realized the kayak wasn’t a seal. The girls were very lucky and were quickly rescued by the coast guard. When asked why they’d gone to such a dangerous area where sharks were known to visit, one of them had said, “We heard a shark had eaten a seal earlier that day, so we didn’t think it would still be hungry.”

So, tempted as she was to try paddle boarding, Emma decided to stick to the lakes for that and just get her feet wet in the ocean instead. She was excited to get up early and have her coffee on the deck in the morning and watch the sunrise. Reluctantly, she went back inside. She didn’t have time to stay on the beach and daydream. She and Matt were expected at their mother’s house for dinner—a welcome home dinner for Emma. She just about had time to put some of her clothes away and take a quick shower before heading over to the Pinehills.

Cindy fussed around the kitchen, checking the time before putting a tray of her famous cheesy artichoke garlic bread in the oven. The kids loved that. She mixed chopped artichokes with garlic, butter, sour cream and two different kinds of cheeses, then slathered it on both halves of a loaf of Italian bread and baked it until bubbly. She also made a tossed garden salad to go with Emma’s favorite meal, chicken, broccoli and ziti with Alfredo sauce. It wasn’t a low cal meal, but now and then Cindy liked to indulge, especially if she was cooking for others.

Her oldest child, Matt, was the first to arrive with his girlfriend, Dana. Matt recently turned thirty-three, and Dana was the same age. She was an elementary school teacher, and Cindy really liked her for Matt. They balanced each other out. Dana was calm and relaxing while Matt was high energy and out-going. They weren’t engaged yet, but Cindy had a feeling it might be coming soon, and she approved.

Matt gave his mother a big hug and kiss on the cheek, and Dana did the same. He put a six-pack of beer in the refrigerator and handed Cindy a chilled bottle of wine. “This is the one you like, right? Butter?”

Cindy smiled. “This is great, thanks honey.” Bread and Butter was actually her favorite, but Butter was good too.

Cindy opened the wine and poured a glass for herself and Dana while Matt grabbed one of the beers that he’d brought. A moment later, she heard a car pull in the driveway. Emma walked through the door with a bottle of wine as well, Bread and Butter, which Cindy thanked her for and put in the refrigerator to keep cool. Emma helped herself to a glass of wine and they went on Cindy’s back deck to relax before dinner.

Emma caught them up on her final days in California and told them about the cottage.

“You all have to come over soon to see it. It’s small, but it’s going to be great this summer. I’ll have a third of July party on the deck—it’s the same size as the house!”

“That will be fun, honey. I haven’t been over to White Horse Beach on the third in years.” Unlike the rest of the country, White Horse Beach held its Fourth of July celebration on the third. It was a tradition that started many years ago and was like a giant neighborhood block party. The streets were shut down, and the police patrolled the area to make sure no one got out of hand. Oddly enough, although fireworks were illegal in Massachusetts, there was an understanding of some sort and the police allowed it to happen on the third. Along with bonfires up and down the beach. The fireworks were often more spectacular than the official town fireworks the following day.

They headed back inside for dinner and for the next two hours, Cindy was pretty much in heaven. It was such a treat to have both of her children under the same roof. She felt bad for Emma that her dream of being an actress hadn’t gone the way she’d hoped. But she was glad that she was back in Plymouth and she hoped that she’d be happy working at the agency. Fred had always thought she had a talent for it. Emma had always done well in school, especially in math. She loved to solve puzzles and was always curious about how things worked. Cindy was more than happy to hand over the computer work to Emma and she’d focus on the office management duties, accounting and that kind of thing.

“So, what time do you want me at the office tomorrow?” Emma asked over coffee. She’d refused dessert, which didn’t surprise Cindy. Matt and Dana happily said yes to cheesecake though, and Cindy indulged in a small slice as well. She got up and opened a desk drawer in the kitchen and returned with a set of keys for Emma.

“I usually go in around nine, but here’s your keys for the front and back doors. Mickey usually comes in around ten.”

“Okay, I’ll probably shoot for eight thirty or so, to get settled and have another cup of coffee. Do we have much going on right now?”

“Mickey has a surveillance job in Kingston tomorrow. That’s really it. We were crazy busy the past two weeks but closed out a few cases and it’s slowing down some.”

Emma laughed. “Figures, now that I’m here. Maybe I’ll go along with Mickey and keep him company. I’ve never gone on surveillance. Dad would never let me.”

“I suppose that would be okay.” Cindy felt a bit unsure, but realized it was ridiculous. If they were sending a man out who was almost eighty, then of course it was safe for her thirty-year-old daughter to go.

“Mom, I’m going to have to learn how to do it. We can’t rely on Mickey totally for that kind of stuff.”

Cindy nodded. “I know. I know. I’m still getting used to being back in that world again.”

“If you ever get stuck or want someone to go with you… I’m happy to help,” Matt offered.

“I don’t want to take you away from your work, honey,” Cindy said.

“Thanks, Matt. Hopefully we won’t need to take you up on that, but I appreciate the offer,” Emma said.

“Between Emma and Mickey, we should be able to handle things. We don’t generally get very exciting cases,” Cindy said.

“What are most of your cases like?” Dana asked.

“The bread and butter cases are often surveillance for people who suspect their spouse is being unfaithful. Sometimes it’s finding someone that has disappeared owing money and we track them down. Occasionally we work with law firms or insurance companies—particularly workman’s comp claims and we find evidence that they are not injured as they claim. Not as often, but once in a while, we get a case when a family member feels the courts got it wrong and they want us to investigate further.”

“Those are the most interesting,” Emma said.

“Speaking of interesting. Did you hear that local woman is still missing?” Matt said.

“What woman?” Emma asked.

“Nancy Eldridge. She was a new partner at the biggest law firm in Plymouth and young too, in her late thirties. She went out to dinner with friends a few weeks ago, went home and no one has seen her since,” Cindy said.

“That’s so sad,” Dana said.

“They haven’t turned up anything useful yet,” Cindy said. “I just read about it this morning. Scary thing is, it looks like she made it home and someone was waiting for her in her garage. Her car is there and there was pepper spray residue on the garage door.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Emma said.

“No, it’s awful. Fortunately, we almost never get cases like that.” She glanced at Emma. “Tomorrow will be a good day for you to go out with Mickey. It’s a pretty straightforward case. The wife suspects that her husband is seeing someone else, either on his lunch hour or right after work. She doesn’t believe he’s just working late so often.”

Emma smiled. “We’ll find out.”

***

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