Booking A Killer Vacation

  BOOKING A KILLER VACATION

  A Myrtle Beach Mystery

  J.R. Ripley

  BEACHFRONT ENTERTAINMENT

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblances to actual places or events, or persons, living, dead, or even zombiefied, is purely coincidental, liberally twisted to suit my needs, or a figment of your imagination or mine.

  Copyright © 2020 J.R. Ripley

  All rights reserved, preserved, and possibly even pickled, under international and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Beachfront Entertainment.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without our written consent, with the exception of brief passages contained in critical articles or reviews.

  First edition 2020

  Cover Design by http://www.StunningBookCovers.com

  Booking A Killer Vacation

  Contents

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  Hi, thanks for reading!

  1

  Kelly loved the beach, especially the gorgeous one here in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. But she wasn’t loving it so much at the moment. The tide was coming in. Her patience was running out. Work was piling up back in the Beach Lovers Inn office.

  And a perfectly good pair of leather sandals were now soaking up warm salt water.

  Why had she agreed to meet one of the guests—the weirdest one—Harry Leland, out here at the beach, around the corner and out of sight from the Beach Lovers Inn?

  Did he think they were in some goofy spy novel?

  She must have been out of her mind. She couldn’t get enough of the beach but she had had enough of this guy.

  Gullible, that’s what she was. She was too gullible. Her brother, Sam, always said so. The fact that she was standing there proved Sam right. All because Harry Leland urged her to meet him someplace private.

  Like the freaking beach was private. There were sunbathers everywhere.

  Then again, maybe Harry Leland had a point. Beachgoers were more interested in their tans than in what two fully-clothed people might be talking about at the ocean’s edge.

  Harry Leland insisted he had something important to tell her and that he didn’t want “prying eyes” overhearing their conversation.

  What did that mean? Could eyes pry? Crow bars pry, not eyes. And they don’t hear anything. They see things, thought Kelly.

  A small wave sent a dead fish of some sort, which appeared to have been half-eaten by a hungry seagull or a crab or possibly both, up against her toes.

  A growl vibrated in Kelly’s throat. Her feet were wet and she was shivering. She’d probably end up with pneumonia on top of a wrecked pair of sandals.

  Now she had fish guts on her toes.

  “Did you hear what I said, Mrs. Green?”

  “I heard you, Mr. Leland.” Kelly raised her voice over the sound of the crashing waves and the brisk breeze blowing in off the Atlantic Ocean. “But why would anybody want to harm Aunt Ruth?”

  Her aunt Ruth was a wee wisp of a woman. She’d never harmed anyone in her entire life.

  The next wave rose over Kelly’s ankles. Further increasing the damage to her sandals. On the bright side, maybe the salt water would wash away the fish goop.

  “I don’t know why, Mrs. Green,” Harry Leland replied to her question. “It’s my sixth sense, that’s all.” He crossed his arms over his scrawny chest. “Trust me.”

  “Trust you?” Kelly eyed him appraisingly. “Why should I?”

  Kelly wasn’t so sure Harry Leland had five senses in good working order, let alone a sixth one that alerted him to potential trouble. If he had, he would have known she felt like punching him for dragging her away from her work to have this idiotic and pointless conversation.

  “I am somewhat of an expert at this sort of thing.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “What sort of thing?”

  “Mysteries, intrigue.” He paused for dramatic effect. “Murder.”

  “Murder!” Kelly grabbed him by the collar. “Are you crazy? What right do you have going around talking like my aunt is going to be murdered?”

  Harry pulled away. But it wasn’t without effort. Kelly easily outmatched him. “You forget. I write a detective series.”

  Kelly arched her brow. “I checked you out, Mr. Leland. You wrote two detective novels. Just two.” She held up her fingers. “That’s not a series. That’s a novel and a sequel.”

  Harry staggered backwards. Was it her words or the stiff breeze?

  “And the last one was over four years ago. Why haven’t there been any since? Poor sales or have you run out of ideas?”

  Harry winced. Kelly could see she had wounded him. This whole conversation was getting out of hand.

  “Look, I’m sorry, Mr. Leland.” She straightened his shirt for him. “I didn’t mean to get carried away. But murder?”

  Harry Leland was overdressed for Myrtle Beach in the summertime. No wonder he was sweating profusely. Since she’d been at the inn, Kelly had rarely seen him in anything less than long-sleeved shirts and baggy trousers.

  “I feel it in my bones.”

  Kelly extricated her feet from the wet sand that had been gobbling her up. Why wasn’t Harry Leland sinking? He wore boxy black shoes that looked like they weighed practically as much as him. “Thank you, Mr. Leland, for your concern for my aunt. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got guests to attend to and a reunion to prepare for.”

  “Going to your reunion? Nice. High school or college?”

  “Neither. The inn is hosting one. Now, if you don’t mind?” She motioned toward the inn.

  “Okay,” said Harry. “But don’t forget what I said.”

  “Oh, I won’t,” Kelly assured the young man. She plodded through the sand and over the dunes, silently cursing Harry Leland as she left him behind to his madness and own devices.

  Back at the inn, she kicked off her sandals outside the kitchen door and inspected them. With luck and a little sunshine maybe they’d be salvageable. She set them on the stoop to dry.

  “You’ll never guess who I saw at the Golden Arms,” began Aunt Ruth as Kelly entered through the side kitchen door.

  “Who?”

  “Oops!” Charles “Charlie” Barron, a new guest, cursed from the dining room.

  “Sorry, sorry.” Charlie Barron held up his hands as Aunt Ruth flew into the room.

  “Charlie, really!” admonished his wife, Mary.

  “I do apologize for my language,” Charlie said, looking helplessly at the busted water pitcher laying sideways in the center of the dining table.

  Aunt Ruth dabbed first at him then at the tablecloth. “I’ve heard worse. You can darn well curse all you want,” she closed with a wink.

  Dr. Barron laughed. “Besides, you bumped my elbow, dear.” Charlie Barron rubbed his elbow with his opposite hand while casting an accusing look at his spouse.

  “Sorry, darling.” Mary Barron apologized to my aunt as
well and used her linen napkin to help soak up the spill.

  Aunt Ruth picked up the broken handle. “No need to apologize. This is my fault. I should have replaced this old pitcher years ago. I thought I could get away with gluing the handle back on. I see now, I should have gotten rid of it.”

  Harry Leland entered from the other door. “Not too late for dinner, I hope?”

  “Not too late at all, Harry.” Ruth smiled at the young man. “Take your seat. I’ll bring you a plate.” She dropped the broken handle into the pitcher and carried both off.

  Back in the kitchen, Kelly was holding the dishcloth helplessly over a geyser. “The faucet’s broken again, Auntie!” Water thundered from the spout to the white porcelain sink, sending cold spray every which way. Unfortunately, very little of it remained in the sink.

  “Bang on it, dear.” There was a resounding crash as Aunt Ruth dropped the busted pitcher in the trashcan kept out of sight inside the pantry.

  “Bang on it?” Kelly wanted it to stop leaking. She didn’t want to snap the faucet off like a dead tree branch. The thing was a gusher already. “It might break.” She eyed the faucet suspiciously.

  “It won’t break.” Aunt Ruth pulled the string to the pantry light and shut the door behind her. She padded across the pink and white-tiled kitchen floor and calmly eyed the out-of-control faucet. “Trust me. If I’ve done it once, I’ve done it a hundred times.”

  Ruth took aim. “One, two, three!”

  Kelly held her breath as Aunt Ruth proved her point by slamming her aged fist down three times in quick succession atop the spigot.

  To top it off, she’d somehow managed to keep each and every one of the tiny blue and rose-colored petunias decorating her high lace-collared rayon dress dry while doing so.

  “There,” Aunt Ruth said with a smile. “See?” She turned the faucet on then off again. “All better.”

  Kelly squinted skeptically at the faucet, waiting for a telltale drip or, more likely in her opinion, a catastrophic failure.

  But nothing bad happened.

  “If you say so.” Water trickled down Kelly’s nose and dribbled from her hair to the counter. The kitchen window looked like a summer shower had unexpectedly formed inside the vintage yet stylish kitchen. Water dripped sluggishly from the fruit punch-colored curtains.

  The smell of lemon-scented dish soap hung in the air along with a million miniscule bubbles. Two went up Kelly’s nose and she sneezed.

  “Oh, dear.” Aunt Ruth made tsk-tsking sounds and pulled open the door to the white cabinet beneath the sink to reach for a towel.

  “I’ll take care of it.” Kelly sniffed, reaching past her aunt and grabbing the towel that hung on a plastic hook on the inside of the cabinet door. “Why don’t you go rest for a while?”

  “Rest?” said Aunt Ruth, pulling herself up to her entire four-foot whatever. “With an inn full of guests?” She shook her head. “Not very likely. We have guests to attend to, plus that special party.”

  One of the Beach Lovers Inn’s regular summer visitors had chosen to host a vacation reunion at the inn. Although the party was small in size, having booked four of their rooms for eight guests, it would be a real boon to the business’s bottom line. With so many newer, fancier places in Myrtle Beach, the Beach Lovers Inn was feeling the financial strain.

  “Not quite full, Aunt Ruth. We do have several rooms empty, remember? And a no-show. Not to worry, it won’t be your problem much longer.” It would be hers.

  The corner of Aunt Ruth’s lips turned down. “Oh, yes. The Nelsons. It’s the first time they’ve been a no-show in nearly twenty years.”

  “Speaking of which,” Kelly began, “what’s with that weird guy in 209, Auntie?”

  “209?” Kelly’s aunt tapped her pink cheek. “You mean Harry Leland.”

  “Yes, Mr. Leland.” She didn’t dare bring up what he had said to her aunt. It might frighten her. Maybe she had some insight into his psyche.

  “Oh, dear. I forgot. He needs his dinner.” Aunt Ruth moved quickly to the range and pulled a warm plate from the oven. “I’ll be right back.”

  While the inn didn’t normally serve dinner or any other meals, except for providing a casual, daily breakfast bar, Ruth had prepared a special banquet that evening to which all guests and staff had been invited. This was intended as a welcome dinner for the vacationing reunion group and something of a farewell meal for Ruth herself.

  Kelly had helped her aunt prepare the informal feast which they had laid out on the long buffet that normally held the breakfast bar. Many had taken advantage of the free meal. Harry Leland, included.

  Of course, with Harry, that meant meeting his special dietary needs.

  When Ruth returned from the dining room, Kelly was mopping up. “Careful,” said Kelly. “It’s wet. You were telling me about Mr. Leland.”

  “Was I?” The older woman stepped aside as her niece swabbed the floor. “There’s not much to tell. Such a dear boy. What is it you want to know about him? He is single,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

  “No, no. Nothing like that.” Kelly cringed. “How much longer is he staying?”

  Aunt Ruth settled herself at the old hickory table occupying the middle of the kitchen. Its top was scarred by years of use and its legs wobbled. Ruth frowned as it jiggled under the weight of her hands. “Until he finds a place of his own, dear.”

  “Why do you rent to him?” Kelly leaned on the wood handle of the mop looking through the open doorway to the guest dining room. He sat picking daintily at his food. The brooding, gangly man reminded her of someone but she couldn’t think who.

  “We run an inn. That’s what we do.”

  “Yes, but he’s so…strange.” Kelly rested the mop against the old-fashioned two-tone white and teal refrigerator.

  Aunt Ruth was surprised by Kelly’s assessment. “Whatever do you mean?”

  Kelly stole another glance into the dining room at the thirtysomething man in question. “I mean that in the two weeks I’ve been here, I’ve barely seen Mr. Leland. He’s always in his room.”

  Kelly plucked clean glasses from the drying rack at the sink, wiped them meticulously and returned them to the cupboard. “With the curtains closed, no less.”

  She moved on to the silverware, dropping piece after piece into the tray tucked inside the drawer. “It’s weird. Don’t you think?”

  “His money’s as good as anyone’s. Besides,” Aunt Ruth smiled, “I like him.”

  “I suppose,” Kelly said, though she was far from sure she felt the same. She laid the damp mop outside the backdoor. She noted her sandals were turning a salty brown. Maybe she’d buy a new pair and add the cost to Leland’s bill.

  “Are you sure you have to leave tomorrow? Couldn’t you stay another day or two?” Kelly squeezed her auntie’s hand. “Maybe one more year or two?”

  “Sorry, Kelly. Sun City beckons.” Ruth Evans would be on a plane for Arizona the next day—Kelly would be driving her to Myrtle Beach International Airport—to live out her years in a retirement community nearer her remaining sister. “Besides, I’ve taught you all I know. At least enough to get by. You call me if you get into any trouble.”

  Kelly mulled over her aunt’s words. Though she had agreed to the schedule, two weeks had not been nearly enough time to learn the ropes.

  “Are you sure you aren’t going to miss Myrtle Beach too much?” Her aunt and uncle had been running the quaint fifteen-room Beach Lovers Inn for nearly forty years. When Ruth’s husband, Kelly’s uncle Jim, died unexpectedly of a ruptured aortic aneurysm the year before last, the business began to go adrift. At seventy-three years old, Aunt Ruth was finding it hard to manage the day to day operations without him.

  “This place will always be in my heart. But it is time for a change.” Feeling that it was time to move on, Ruth had put the inn on the market. The only potential buyer in the past year had been a hotel chain that had wanted nothing more than to knock the inn down and put up a ste
el and glass twenty-two story timeshare tower.

  Aunt Ruth couldn’t bear the idea and had refused the generous offer. The Beach Lovers Inn had been going downhill ever since.

  Then Kelly had come along, fresh off her divorce from her second husband, Alan. Her ex-husband ran a big resort down in Hilton Head but had never let her help with the business operations. Now she was running the show at the Beach Lovers Inn—at least she would be starting tomorrow.

  She may not have had an MBA like dear old Alan, but she had common sense and initiative, that’s all it took to be successful—not a piece of paper.

  After all, she and Alan had had a piece of paper—a marriage certificate—and their marriage had been anything but successful, although she had stuck it out for seven long years until she finally gave into the idea that Alan would always be more married to his work than he ever had been to her.

  The choice to end the marriage had been a mutual decision, although the look on Alan’s face when they had reached that mutual conclusion clearly showed relief, like the face of a weary general at the end of a long, drawn-out military campaign.

  Kelly had initially resisted divorce despite knowing their separation was for the best. She had been married once before, however briefly. Theirs had been a whirlwind courtship followed by a hasty marriage and an equally speedy but reasonably amicable divorce.

  Fresh out of college then, Kelly had met Tommy Johnson, a professional surfer—at least that had been his goal in life. The pair had first crossed paths at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. She had been majoring in advertising. Tommy had been majoring in athletic training with a minor in sport and entertainment management. They shared a course in media planning.

  Tommy, all tan and teeth and oozing Southern charm, asked her out to lunch where they shared a pitcher of beer and a main course of deep dish pizza. Before long, they were spending all their free time together. Not long after, Tommy dropped out of college to join the pro surfing circuit while Kelly remained behind to complete her degree.

  On one of his infrequent returns to Columbia, Tommy suggested they marry. Kelly had been young, impressionable and filled with optimism. Swept off her feet by Tommy’s rugged outdoor looks and laid back attitude, Kelly said yes to his proposal. They were married at the Chapel Of The Beach in Daytona Beach in the middle of the Surfari Surfing Competition.