The Cottage on Nantucket Read online

  The Cottage on Nantucket, a Women’s Fiction Mystery

  Nantucket Point, Book 1

  Jessie Newton

  JEN Publishing

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Sneak Peek! THE LIGHTHOUSE INN Chapter One

  Sneak Peek! THE LIGHTHOUSE INN Chapter Two

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  Jessie’s Books

  About Jessie

  Chapter One

  Tessa Simmons walked inside the ferry station, her sensible weekender bag rolling along behind her. Her sister should be here already, as her flight to Boston had been hours earlier. Janey, however, rarely arrived anywhere on time, so surprise darted through Tessa when she spotted her sister standing at the counter at the cupcake shop, reaching for a cup of coffee.

  She turned, the remnants of her smile still on her face, and Tessa lifted her hand as she changed direction.

  “There you are,” she said as she released her bag to hug her sister. Only fifteen months older than her, Janey stood an inch taller and at least thirty pounds lighter. She hugged her sister tightly, getting notes of clove and strawberry—her sister’s preferred flavor of vape—coffee, of course, and mint. She chewed the gum to try to hide her vaping habit, but Tessa wasn’t sure why. She wasn’t on a business trip this weekend.

  “I haven’t seen you in forever, it feels like,” Janey said, stepping back.

  “Since the funeral,” Tessa said, retreating to get her bag. She faced Janey again with a wide grin. She and her sister were cut from wildly different cloths, but they both had the Clarke barrel-like torso, a square, almost masculine face, and long, slender fingers that could bend and twist in weird ways.

  Tessa had delighted and amused her friends as a teenager with her double-joints, but as a forty-five-year-old on her way to the summer cottage they’d frequented, that kind of thing didn’t much matter anymore.

  “I like your hair,” Tessa said, smiling at her sister. “When did you put in the blue?”

  “Last month, maybe?” Janey lifted her cup to her lips and sipped. She left dark maroon lipstick on the lid and started toward the ticket desk. “Did you get online tickets or do you need to buy one?”

  “I got the app.”

  “I’ll only be a minute then.”

  Tessa stopped by a bench and let her sister join the glut of people in line to buy a ferry ticket to Nantucket. Annoyance sang through her, but she tamped it down. She and Janey had already texted to death about getting tickets in advance, so they wouldn’t have to arrive on Nantucket Point in the dark.

  Tessa wanted to see the cottage. The whole point of this trip was to see the cottage. She told herself she had plenty of time, and the sun would rise tomorrow too. She wished she had something to sip while she waited. Instead, she watched Janey tap away on her phone, her long nails getting in the way several times.

  Tessa had no idea how she did anything with the slender, pointed claws on her fingers. Janey’s hair had been dyed what they used to call “vampire black” as teens, then highlighted with a deep, rich blue. Tessa did like it. In fact, she wished she were brave enough to do something like that with her hair.

  Her dark brown hair—not the luxurious dark brown to be called a brunette, but just one shade past mousy—had started to get gray growing in it a few years ago. She’d decided she didn’t mind. She was closer to fifty now, and she didn’t need to hide it.

  Janey wasn’t hiding anything. She simply lived a more exciting life than Tessa ever had. She flew all over the country for her job, and she moved from hobby to hobby as if she had this intense drive to try everything before she died.

  Currently, Janey rode with a group of women out of Jersey City, where she lived. On weekends and holidays, the group wore leather and bandanas as they took long road trips on their motorcycles. When Tessa had found out, she’d called her sister in shock.

  “Motorcycles?” she’d asked. “Since when do you like riding a motorcycle?”

  “I wanted to try it,” Janey said. “It’s so amazing, Tess. I feel so free.”

  Janey was always trying to feel free. Tessa had no idea how she could afford a motorcycle, but she didn’t ask. Her sister had had her fair share of financial trouble over the years, but she’d always managed to come out on top.

  The line moved forward, and Janey did too, almost without looking at all. She wore a nose ring on the left side, bangles in gold, silver, and bronze, and a large pair of silver hoops in her ears. On the left side, studs dotted the lobe five or six deep, some with gems and some without.

  Tessa had forgotten to put earrings on at all this morning. She wore mom jeans and a light blue blouse with tiny white butterflies on it. Janey wore loose, flowing pants like the beachcombers Tessa had packed. Her tank top flowed down over her barrel torso, with a shawl over that. She had long legs and long arms, and it was no wonder she was currently dating two men. At the same time.

  Something gathered in the back of Tessa’s throat, and she couldn’t quite name what. She wasn’t jealous of Janey. That ship had sailed decades ago. As her sister stepped up to the counter, Tessa realized she simply wanted more color in her life. Everything about her eastern Pennsylvania existence was so dull.

  “Ready,” Janey said, breaking Tessa out of her thoughts. They walked toward the line to get on the ferry, Janey asking about Ron and Ryan. Tessa gave a dutiful report on her husband and son, and asked Janey about her kids.

  Their father had died years ago, and Mom just a couple of months now. Tessa had taken care of most of the funeral arrangements, though really, she’d just carried out Mom’s wishes. Their mother had been detailed almost to a fault, and both Janey and Tessa had owned a binder with what to do upon her death.

  The last thing on the list before the pour-over will could actually be poured over was to go to the cottage on Nantucket and clean it out. Mom had been very specific in her instructions that the sisters go together, and that nothing would be released from the trust until the binder in the cottage was retrieved. They also had to meet with the lawyer on Nantucket that had prepared everything in Mom’s estate.

  They’
d been given ninety days from her death to go through everything, and Tessa couldn’t remember the last time she’d worked a full week at the library where she curated their adult mystery collection. Janey, however, had business trips and meetings, and she hadn’t been able to just get away.

  Tessa had gone through the New York City apartment alone, as well as visited the bank in the city and the one in Newark where they’d grown up to get the contents of the safety deposit boxes and check on the financial status of the accounts there.

  Everything after that was fairly straightforward. Janey and Tessa had been named co-trustees, which meant neither could make a decision without the other. Janey had defaulted to Tessa’s suggestions over the past six or seven weeks, and while they didn’t see eye-to-eye on everything—or hardly anything—Tessa didn’t anticipate a problem with the cottage.

  “I can’t wait to get there,” Tessa said, standing at the railing on the ferry as it pulled away from the dock. “I love this ferry ride.”

  “Me too,” Janey said with a smile. “Remember when Daddy brought doughnuts for everyone on board?”

  Tessa grinned into the sky, the sun behind her in the west as the ferry headed east. “I wish I had a doughnut right now.”

  “We’ll go to Distillery in the morning.”

  “Deal.” Tessa glanced at her sister, finally feeling comfortable with her. Things always took a few minutes to settle inside her after she met up with Janey, and she wasn’t sure why.

  The ferry ride reminded her of simpler times, and Tessa decided to tuck away all the problems at home, the complete mundaneness in her life, and enjoy her time on Nantucket. After all, there were beautiful beaches to visit, the best restaurants in the world to eat in, and the cottage at the Point where she could relax.

  Thirty minutes later, the sisters emerged from the taxi-van and stood in front of the bright blue beach cottage. The sun hung on the horizon, lighting the cottage from behind and giving it a halo.

  It seemed bigger than Tessa remembered, but smaller at the same time. There were probably hundreds of flaws she’d never noticed before, and a shiver ran up her arms as she thought about going through more of Mom’s stuff. Another binder. More clothes. Personal pictures and knickknacks that meant so much to her.

  She’d never come here without Mom, and a wave of grief threatened to drag her under an invisible surface where breathing was difficult. Her chest pinched, and when she pulled in a breath, it stuttered painfully down her throat.

  Tears pressed behind her eyes, but Janey took a step down the sidewalk, and Tessa hitched everything tight, tight, and followed her older sister.

  Chapter Two

  “Thank you.” Tessa smiled at her sister when she set the plate with the fast food on it.

  “Nothing like fish and chips in Nantucket.” Janey grinned too, turning to get the teapot she’d set on the stove. With that sitting in the middle of the table, she finally sat down. “The cottage is in better shape than I expected.”

  “Really?” Tessa asked.

  “Yeah.” Janey pulled her first fish fillet out of the paper bag. “No one came this summer.”

  Mom had died in the middle of May, only a few weeks before she’d planned on coming to the cottage.

  “It’s still summer,” Tessa said. “We’re only six weeks late.”

  “Mom always cleaned for days before we showed up,” Janey said with a smile that could only be described as sad.

  “I didn’t see a binder,” she said. “For some reason, I expected it to be sitting right in the middle of the kitchen table.” Tessa gave a light laugh, glad when Janey’s smile perked up.

  “If only we could all plan when and where and how we’re going to die.” Janey glanced down at her phone as it vibrated. A frustrated sigh escaped her lips, and Tessa watched as she typed out a response to the message with the pad of her pointer finger. She looked up and said, “Sorry. My boss is trying to find something in my office.”

  “It’s fine,” Tessa said. “I get you’re busy.” She offered her sister a smile. “You never did say what Cole’s doing in Atlantic City.” They’d been interrupted by the need to buy tickets, and Tessa did enjoying hearing about her niece and nephew. She only had one son, and Ryan had two semesters left before he’d graduate from Columbia with a degree in civil engineering.

  “He’s working construction there,” Janey said with a fast smile. “He also works on the docks in the summer, so he’s really busy right now.”

  “What does he do with the boats?”

  “Detailing,” she said. “Inside and out. It’s pretty intense, from what he’s said.”

  “Good for him,” Tessa said, hoping she didn’t sound condescending. Neither of Janey’s children had gone to college, and she knew her sister felt inferior to her about it. Tessa wasn’t sure why. It didn’t matter to her what Janey’s children did.

  “He likes it,” Janey said. “Keeps him busy and out of trouble, and I like that.”

  Tessa laughed with her sister. “He’s still living with McKenna?”

  “Mm hm.” Janey nodded as she chewed the last of her fish. After swallowing, she added, “Yep, they’re still together.”

  “Do you think they’ll ever get married?” Tessa asked, immediately wishing she could recall the question. She knew a lot of young people delayed marriage or chose never to enter into holy matrimony. She wasn’t passing a judgment, but Janey sometimes thought she was, when Tessa was just asking an innocent question.

  She sighed, and she actually didn’t look too happy. “I don’t know. I used to ask him all the time, but I stopped. He’s twenty-one years old. He can do what he wants.”

  “Yes, he can,” Tessa said with plenty of knowing in her voice.

  “Is Ryan seeing anyone?”

  Tessa shook her head. “He insists he has no time for dating, but I’m pretty convinced he doesn’t even try.” She didn’t mention that she hadn’t actually spoken to her son in almost three months now. When he’d first moved New York to attend college, he’d called every Monday, rain, shine, snow, busy, tired, bored, or whatever.

  The further he got into his program, the less he called. The more he separated his life from his parents, the less he came home. She and Ron had funded his first year for him, to help him get off to a good start, and since he’d been working to pay his tuition and rent, the busier he became.

  As it was, Tessa hadn’t seen her son since Christmas. Well, besides for a very brief few minutes during her mother’s funeral.

  She hadn’t truly seen him or spent any meaningful time with him for six months. She hadn’t heard his voice in almost three.

  New York City sat less than two hours from her home in Easton, and Tessa’s husband made the commute to the city every week. She’d asked him if he saw Ryan as they both lived there during the week, and he’d said no.

  Tessa had often thought she should pack a bag and hit the road for the weekend. Let him know she was coming, and ask if he had time to go to lunch. Her treat.

  She hadn’t done it, because spring had hit, and Tessa spent a lot of time in the yard in the spring and early summer. She loved pruning back the overgrowth and cleaning up anything that hadn’t gotten done in the fall. Walking outside and finding new, bright green shoots coming back after the winter made her smile. Every day held a new adventure in her garden, and she could lose hours with gardening gloves on her hands.

  Which was fine. She didn’t have to give an accounting of her time to anyone. Her husband, Ron, had been working in the city for two decades, and back when he’d first started, they’d lived much closer. Close enough that he could commute across the river every day and be home in the evening.

  When they’d moved to Pennsylvania twelve years ago, he started staying in the city Monday through Friday and only coming home on weekends. Ryan had been ten years old, and he and Tessa had adjusted to the single parent life the best they could.

  Rarely, Ron would come home mid-week for a concert or perfo
rmance, but as time wore on, Ryan didn’t even tell his father about them.

  Tessa mindlessly finished her fish as she thought about her family, the familiar loneliness and sense of boredom filling her. Everything in her life was so quiet, and Tessa really needed someone to scream and wake her up. Wake up Ron to what their family and their relationship had become.

  Dead.

  Her lawn and garden might be a showstopper and town winner, but everything else in her life had died.

  Despite Tessa’s heroic efforts, her family and marriage were both hanging on by a thread, and she didn’t know how much longer she could keep her grip.

  She dusted the salt and crumbs from her hands, still chewing her last bite of chips, when someone rapped sharply on the front door.

  Janey looked up from where she’d fully engrossed herself in her phone. “Who on Earth could that be?”

  Chapter Three

  Tessa stood up and left her empty cardboard container on the plate on the table. “I’m sure it’s probably Bobbie.” She crossed through the living room, a smile already lightening her step. Bobbie Friedman lived next door to the cottage, and she and her husband watched out for the house when no one was here.