Evil At Shore Haven. Alice Zogg
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Also by Alice Zogg
Stand-Alone Mystery
A Bet Turned Deadly
R. A. Huber Mysteries
Guilty or Not
Murder at the Cubbyhole
Revamp Camp
Final Stop Albuquerque
The Fall of Optimum House
The Lonesome Autocrat
Tracking Backward
Turn the Joker Around
Reaching Checkmate
This book is a work of fiction.
Copyright 2016 Alice Zogg,
All rights reserved.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2745-4
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
In memory of Eunice, my friend of five decades
CREDITS
Credit is due to Karen Carter, who parted with valued information about retirement communities. Thank you, Karen, for taking the time and effort to educate me on the complex subject of retirement living. Stan Carter gave tips on a mixed-doubles tennis match. I appreciate your expertise, Stan. As with every book, I relied on my daughter Franziska’s proofreading skills. How wonderful to have such a gem in the family! Again, Valoise Douglas applied herself to a superb editing job. Last, but not least, I thank my husband, Wilfried, for his readiness to explore locations with me. For researching this book, he accompanied me on a trip to Utah and helped scout out a Ventura beach for the setting of my fictional retirement community.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
| R. A. Huber | Ex-private investigator; acting as consultant |
| Peter Huber | R. A. Huber’s husband; a writer |
| Antoinette LeJeune (Andi) | Huber’s former assistant; now running the show |
| Carla & Kirk Ralph | A couple; they hire Andi to investigate Shore Haven |
| Kitty Ralph | Kirk’s mother; drowned in the ocean |
| Dave Beaulieu | Executive director of Shore Haven; efficient |
| Bea Guinto | In-house LVN nurse; a no-nonsense woman |
| Caitlyn Novark | Front desk receptionist; young, pleasant, and cute |
| Dr. Wang | Physician available to residents; comes once a week |
| Emilia Munoz | Maintenance director; rules over her domestic staff with an iron fist |
| Hailey Sparks | Activity coordinator; always chipper |
| Minerva Moore | One of the caregivers; has a knack for handling old folks |
| Jim and Jane | Residents; married for over four decades but keep their romance going |
| Tom | Resident; has caught the attention of the ladies |
| Bill | Resident; a great athlete |
| Rose | Resident: a mute who keeps her eyes wide open |
| Cheryl | Resident; not above a bit of gossip |
| Elaine | Resident; loves to sing, although not always on key |
| Todd | Elaine’s nephew; known among residents as “the nice young man” |
| Betty | Resident; the oldest boarder, yet sharper than most |
| Claudia | Resident; keeps her celebrity status under wraps |
| Charley | Assisted resident; can be difficult if provoked |
PROLOGUE
Two figures trekked through the sand toward the water.
“Ready for your first swimming lesson?” the taller one asked.
“I am,” old Kitty Ralph replied. And with a sudden sparkle in her eyes she added, “My bathing suit sure is pretty!”
“I’m glad you like it. You’re keeping this our little secret, right?”
She nodded and said, “Everyone will be surprised that I can swim!”
“Let’s hurry up, then, before it gets too dark to see the waves coming. I promise, we won’t go in farther than where you can comfortably stand.”
At sunset, there was no one else near the ocean by Shore Haven’s stretch of beach on this mild, early March evening. They left their towels and flip-flops on the sand, carefully watched their steps when treading over the rocks, and then waded in the shallow water, holding hands. Kitty shivered when the frigid Pacific reached her thighs.
“Just a few steps farther and the instructions can begin,” the other person coaxed.
When the first breaker reached them, Kitty felt a push. She screamed and swallowed some water. She was still coughing when the second wave rolled along, and it was easy to hold her under and keep her there; she barely weighed 105 pounds. The old woman scarcely put up a struggle, and it was over with in no time.
As the last glimmers of the vanishing sun against the horizon reflected on the surface of the ocean, a lone figure scrambled out of the water and over the strip of rocks, tossed Kitty’s flip-flops and towel into the nearest trash bin, and then walked casually away along the sandy shore.
CHAPTER 1
Andi parked her Harley-Davidson in the lot and then took the few yards with long, cowboy-booted strides to the two-story building on North Lake Avenue in Pasadena. Her office was at ground level. Her office! she mused. Two years into the venture, the young woman was still amazed by the fact. The sign “R. A. Huber, Private Detective” had long been replaced by another that read “Antoinette LeJeune & R. A. Huber, Private Investigators.” Andi stood looking at the shingle for a second and thought, Holy Krewe, that’s me! Then she quickly turned the key in the lock and let herself in.
She took off her helmet, shook the wavy, auburn hair loose, and hung her black leather jacket on the office chair’s backrest. She then settled at the desk for some secretarial chores, mainly typing up a bill for a recently solved case. The task would have to wait. She had scarcely entered her password