Scent of a Mystery

Chapter One “Megan, would you please sit down! I’m nervous enough with this hurricane getting ready to make landfall sometime tonight without watching you pacing. For goodness sake, even Barney has settled down!” A loud clap of thunder shook the house, and the strong winds from Hurricane Arlene beat the rain against the sliding glass doors looking out onto the pool terrace. The beagle puppy looked up at the sound of his name and whined as he moved closer to Fred, the old basset hound he cuddled with in their doggy-bed. The redhead, who was pacing the floor, stopped and reassured the dogs before she looked over to the petite woman sitting on the couch with her feet tucked up under her. “I’m sorry, Lucy. I keep forgetting thunderstorms make you nervous.” “Thunderstorm! That is the understatement of the year, Megan. Between the thunder, lightning, eighty-mile–an-hour winds and monsoon rains, I’m not nervous, I’m terrified! For goodness sake, this is a serious hurricane coming our way. How can you be so calm? What if we end up with a storm like Hurricane Andrew? You remember all the damage and destruction that hurricane caused, and it was an early season storm too.” “Ladies, ladies, you have no reason to fear! We are safe and secure in here. The house has been battened down like a fortress. Lucy, this is no Andrew coming our way. At the most, the likes of Hurricane Jean or Frances. Besides, it may only graze us.” Turning towards the voice at the front door, both women smiled at Paul Cassidy, Lucy’s husband and Megan’s cousin. The tall man had just entered through the kitchen’s side door and was pushing it closed against the strong winds. His presence immediately calmed his wife’s frazzled nerves, and even Megan felt a bit more at ease. She was not usually afraid of the rough weather, she liked watching a good storm, but no matter how many times she sat through a hurricane, she worried. So many things could change in a short time. Like this current storm they now faced. Arlene had shifted at least three times as she focused her attention on the South Florida Coast, and with this last shift, the little town of Citrus Beach was now in what the meteorologists call the ‘cone of error’. That meant that the eye of the storm could make landfall anywhere within this cone. Arlene was a relatively small storm and did not have a wide path like hurricanes of the past, like Katrina or Charlie. She was moving quickly, which could mean less rain, but stronger winds in the range of ninety-five to over one-hundred-miles-per-hour, but no matter how small, she could still be dangerous and could produce spin-off tornadoes. Paul draped his wet raincoat over the back of one of the chairs, grabbed a towel Megan had put by the door, and wiped the drops of rain from his dark auburn hair. Slipping out of his soaking wet sneakers, he walked over to sit by his wife and gave her a reassuring hug. “Seriously, Lucy. This is the safest place to be right now. Megan’s house was built to last the big one and has been through many storms in the last forty-five years. Plus, we are far enough inland that we don’t have to worry about the storm surge from the ocean. Megan, I just double checked the rest of the buildings, they are tight and secure. We will probably lose power shortly, but the backup generator is all set to kick on when needed. From the sounds of that wind, the storm is getting stronger. At the very least, we are going to have some damage to the trees and lose a few shingles off the roof.” “Thanks, Paul. Everyone did the best we could on getting everything ready for the storm, both here and at our clients’ homes. Now all we can do is wait it out and pray for safety. I know your house is sealed up tighter than a drum, so you don’t have to worry. I am glad you both agreed to stay out here with me and the animals! You were right, Paul, investing in the clear hurricane shutters and roll down shutters does make a difference. The light they allow to come in is reassuring. I wouldn’t want to be going through all this and not be able to see outside, even if it’s not a clear view. And knowing that we have those huge generators, wired to both the house and the office, is a major comfort.” As Megan spoke, she walked over to stand in front of the windows, looking out to the front of her property. She winced as she watched her favorite tree, an exotic Foxtail Palm, bend towards the ground with the force of the wind. Paul was right, the storm was increasing in strength. Straining her eyes, she could just barely make out her private office on the other side of the small bridge connecting the property her home was built on to the property where their businesses resided. There were ten acres in all, including a large house that was now the corporate office for Paul and her, a couple of barns that had been converted to meet their needs, including an upper apartment, and of all things, a small airplane landing strip. Centered in the property was a spring-fed pond, which the landing strip circled around, and most of the buildings had been built adjacent to it. Paul and Megan had jumped at the chance to purchase the property next to her home when it came available, so they could expand their businesses into one location. Paul was a high-end builder, specializing in custom residential homes, and Megan’s company was a personalized gardening and concierge service for the citizens of Citrus Beach. Since their clients often overlapped, it was a perfect fit for the two cousins to combine the locations of their business into one place. The employees of both companies often worked together, and Megan could not have been more pleased with the arrangements. Frowning at her reflection staring back at her, Megan didn’t see the long, red, curly hair she was tucking behind her ear. Nor the green eyes crinkled at the corners from forty-five years of life, or the deep tan of days in the south Florida sun, or the fit five-foot-five body of hers. Instead, she saw a mental list of all her clients and their properties, double checking that they had completed all the work needed to be done to secure their homes. “Stop fretting, Megan. Everything that could be done was done. All we can do now is wait out the storm. How about we try a snack to keep us occupied?” Paul spoke to both women, his mind, as ever, on his stomach. “Lucy, I saw you put some food in the refrigerator when we got here. Anything good?” But before Lucy could answer her husband, Megan saw lights from a car driving up the long drive to her home. Turning around, she headed to the same door that Paul had just come through to find out who could be out in such bad weather. “We’ve got company! Who would be crazy enough to wander out in this weather?” “Whoever it is, we know them, because they needed the code to open the entry gate. Let me through, and I’ll go help them, it looks like there is a car full. Lucy, hang on to Barney before he decides to help too.” Paul had come up behind Megan and grabbing his raincoat, gave her a nudge out of his way as he opened the door and headed outside. Lucy grabbed the puppy’s collar to keep him from rushing out the door in his excitement. But it was Fred, who hearing the voices from outside, jumped out of his bed and with ears dragging on the floor, headed to the door at what was a fast pace for him. Looking down at the old dog, Megan rubbed his ears, but didn’t worry about his wandering outside-not in this weather. As she watched through the heavy rain, four adults emerged from the car, tightly holding onto their belongings, and headed for the house. It only took a few steps for Megan to recognize the youthful stride of the woman coming towards her, and the happy bark from Fred confirmed that it was Emma, Megan’s daughter. “Emma! What in the world? Why aren’t you safely tucked in your dorm room?” Megan asked “Come on, come on, all of you, let’s get out of this weather and in where it’s safe. Oh, my gosh, Emma, I can’t believe it’s you!” Megan pulled her daughter in for a tight, although wet, hug as the young woman reached the doorway, not letting her get a word in. Only after that did she look behind her daughter to see who her companions were. She wasn’t too surprised to see Emma’s college roommate, Ashley, hurrying to get to the safety and shelter of the house. She moved quickly even with one arm full of tote bags and the other hopelessly trying to keep the hood of her raincoat pulled up onto her head to protect her straight, shoulder-length brown hair. However, Megan was surprised to see who the other two occupants of the small car were as they ran to the front door. One was Janice, her young office manager, and the other was Debbie, another employee who oversaw the housekeeping details of the business. Together with Paul, they all had their hands full of supplies and food that they had just gathered from the car. Urging the four younger women inside, Megan started to shut the door when she saw the lights of another vehicle, making its way up the drive. “Paul, wait. It looks like there is someone else coming.” Megan stopped Paul as he was starting to take off his rain gear and pointed to the headlights coming their way. This time the approaching vehicle was a pickup truck with Citrus Custom Builders on it, the name of Paul’s company. Behind the wheel was Paul’s lead foreman, Eric and one of his crew chiefs, Zack. Honking the horn, Eric pulled to a stop and the two men jumped out and ran through the downpour to join the others in the now-crowded kitchen. With everyone trying to talk at once, coupled with Fred’s loud, deep bay and the puppy’s excited barks, it was almost as noisy inside as it was outside in the storm. Finally, in exasperation, Lucy put her fingers to her lips and produced a sharp whistle that would rival any team coach. The sudden silence was almost as overwhelming as the noise had been as everyone looked at the petite blonde who could produce such a sound. Taking charge, Lucy pointed to the wet floor and then started giving directions. “Okay, let’s get everyone out of their wet shoes and get that rain gear hung up,” she said “Janice, let me help you and Debbie with those containers. Come on, once you’re all done, head into the family room. Emma and Ashley, take those dogs with you and try to get them to settle down.” Megan moved away from her daughter and rushed to help Janice empty her arms. As she did that, Paul reached into the hall closet and grabbed a stack of beach towels stored in there. He tossed a towel to each of the newcomers as they peeled off wet raincoats and removed their shoes. They moved into Megan’s large family room, drying their dripping wet hair. Chairs were quickly filled, and the conversation started back up in a calmer manner. “Not that you’re not all welcome, but what is everyone doing out in this storm? What were you thinking?” Megan was shaking her head as she followed Lucy into the room. “The storm is supposed to make landfall in the next couple of hours and no one should be out on the roads.” “It’s our fault, Mom,” Emma spoke up before anyone else had the chance. “We have no classes tomorrow due to a scheduled administrator’s work day. We wanted to surprise you with a visit and had planned it all out with Janice a couple of weeks ago. We had no idea we would be driving in the middle of a storm.” “I called them yesterday, but they were already halfway here, Megan. Arlene had changed directions so many times that no one knew where and when she was going to hit,” Janice broke in to defend the two college students. “Ashley has never been through a hurricane,” Emma continued, “So we decided to keep coming and got to Janice’s house first since she lives closest to the turnpike. Once we got there, we found Debbie was there also, and Janice decided that we should all come out together since Ashley was nervous about driving in the weather.”