“Well, I’m not killing you, but your lack of a life is killing your hoo-ha. I’ll make sure E.F. stops by to see you next time he visits. Have fun in Shadows Landing, dear. Tell Ellery I want to see my little Chase soon. Great-grandma Tibbie wants to spoil him.”
Olivia held the door open for Miss Tibbie, and once she was on her way, headed for her condo. She kicked off her heels and took down her hair. It seemed as if her blonde hair was never down, but with it being in a twist all day it now cascaded in waves down to her shoulder blades. She watered her plants, took out the trash, and changed into short jean shorts with a cute brown belt and a loose white T-shirt. She slid on some flip-flops, locked up, and prepared to relax. Finally.
“Don’t you look pretty? Going to the beach?”
“Dax!” Olivia said, smiling at her neighbor across the hall. There were three condos on the other side of the house. Dax was in one, another was kept empty as a guest room for any of Tibbie’s friends and family, and the third was occupied by a physician. Dax was an engineer who did a lot of work from home and was her go-to neighbor when she was out of town and needed something checked on. “I’m off to Shadows Landing after a hell of a day. Week.”
“Work?” Dax asked, pushing his black-rimmed glasses up his nose. He was sexy in a nerdy way that some girl would love. He wasn’t muscular like Granger or refined like Mark. But there was something cute and sexy about the wrinkled shirt and slightly tousled hair look he had going on.
“What else would it be?” Olivia teased. She had no life outside work.
“Let’s grab a coffee when you get back. We’ll start the week off right.”
“Sounds good. Have a good weekend, Dax.”
Olivia heard his door close as she headed for the elevator. Olivia looked through the mail she’d gotten while she waited for the elevator. Bill. Bill. Law school asking for a donation. Announcement of upcoming shows and exhibits for Ellery’s art gallery. Then a letter with no return address.
The elevator doors opened and Olivia stepped into the small but elegant elevator as she ripped into the envelope with her finger. Inside, she found a folded piece of white paper, but the envelope was heavy. Olivia unfolded the paper and her stomach felt as if the elevator were plummeting. The letter was typed in big, bold letters and read:
YOU THINK YOU’RE SO SMART, BUT YOU STILL DON’T SEE WHAT YOU HAVE COMING. YOU’LL FINALLY GET WHAT YOU DESERVE AND WE’LL BOTH LOVE EVERY MOMENT OF IT.
Olivia tipped the envelope and out rolled a small, handmade doll with yellow yarn hair, a little red suit, and eyes made from black string X’s landed in her hand. The doll stared blankly up at her with what looked like a corsage pin stuck in her heart.
Her hands shook and the doll dropped to the floor as the elevator door opened. Miss Tibbie’s ancient Yorkshire terrier leaped forward, growling, snatched the voodoo doll up and ripped it to shreds.
“Oh dear,” Miss Tibbie gasped. “Was that yours? I’m so sorry. I don’t know what’s come over my little darling. Please let me buy you a new one.”
A giggle escaped Olivia’s lips as this Yorkshire terrier with barely three teeth left in its head managed to completely shred the doll and the black mood it had cast. Olivia bent and quickly picked up the pin to make sure the dog didn’t eat it. Olivia tried to retrieve what was left of the doll but was thwarted when the dog tossed it to the side and peed on it.
“Oh my word!” Tibbie gasped, looking as if she might have a fit of the vapors. “I am so sorry.”
Olivia stared for a second and then burst out laughing. “That made my day. Thank you. Have a great weekend.”
Olivia took a doggie waste bag from Tibbie, picked up the nasty thing, and left the pee-soaked, shredded voodoo doll where it belonged. In the trash.
3
“Thank you, Sheriff!” Landry Jr. waved from his front door as his mother stepped outside.
Lydia was a couple of years younger than Granger and had been married to Landry Sr. for fourteen years. They’d been high school sweethearts, possibly even middle school sweethearts if Granger’s memory was right.
“You didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it.” Lydia’s hair was pulled back in a messy bun and the sound of children playing in the backyard of their small cottage house echoed around the neighborhood.
“He’s a good kid. I was happy to have a surfing partner today.”
Lydia didn’t head back inside. Instead, she leaned her forearms on the open window of his car door and leaned closer to Granger.
“I haven’t told them yet, but Landry’s tour has been extended another eight months. He was supposed to be home in three weeks. They’re going to be devastated.”
“When was he here last?” Granger asked, hoping Lydia wouldn’t cry. He didn’t do well with tears. They clammed him up and led him to do awkward things like patting someone on the shoulder too hard.
“Almost eight months ago. I’ve been a wreck since he left. I’ve been binge eating and watching sappy romance movies. I had to get new clothes from all the chocolate, and I won’t even tell you how many pies I conned Miss Ruby and Miss Winnie out of. Last year he’d talked about trying to wind things down and come home. Maybe try for a transfer to the base in Charleston. I thought I only had this one last tour to survive, but now this. I was so upset I ate a whole BBQ pork bowl from Pink Pig while crying in my closet. I don’t know why I’m telling you this, just to explain how you saved me today. You called and asked to take Landry Jr. to something he’s been begging me to do for years, and it just made me realize it was all going to be okay. I’m not alone.”
“Want me to call Tamika to babysit and you can come to the bar with me? I’m meeting the guys, and the ladies are there for ladies’ night.”
“Oh, no. It’s Friday. I’m sure Tamika is busy waiting tables at the Pink Pig. It would be nice to have some adult time without the kids, though. I love them, but thank goodness I had my tubes tied after Leo was born.”
“I bet Miss Ruby and Miss Winnie would watch them. They do enjoy imparting their knowledge to the next generation.”
Lydia perked up. “I’ll call them right now. Well, if you don’t think the girls would mind me joining them?”
“Nope.” Granger held up his phone. “Tinsley said to meet them there as soon as the babysitters arrive.”
“You’re a lifesaver, Granger!”
Granger smiled as Lydia ran back into the house, issuing orders like a battalion commander. Landry Sr. would be proud.
Harper’s Bar was a mainstay of downtown Shadows Landing. Well, if you could call the couple blocks of Main Street a downtown. There was Gil’s Grub and Gas, the historical society called Daughters of Shadows Landing, Bless Your Scarf boutique, Tinsley Faulkner-Kendry’s art gallery with Savannah Faulkner’s interior design business on the second floor, Darcy Faulkner’s treasure museum, rival barbecue restaurants—The Pink Pig and Lowcountry Smokehouse, and a diner called Stomping Grounds. And, of course, the sheriff’s station and courthouse. However, the linchpin, the anchor in more ways than one, of Shadows Landing was the church that sat in the middle of Main Street. It had been designed and built by the pirate founders of the town. There were secret tunnels, weapons, and more secrets than people buried there.