Secrets of a Small Town Read online

  Secrets of a Small Town

  A Paige Moore Mystery - Book One

  Adele M Cooper

  Copyright © 2018 by Adele M Blocka

  All rights reserved.

  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 written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  1. Otter Rock

  2. Reunion

  3. Beverly Beach State Park

  4. The Body on the Beach

  5. The Senator’s Secrets

  6. A New Partnership

  7. Hidden Lies

  8. A Son’s Grief

  9. Hiding the Truth

  10. Suspicious Minds

  11. Cracks in the Case

  12. Broken Bonds

  13. Chasing Suspects

  14. Time to Breathe

  15. The Lover

  16. The First Move

  17. Another Clue

  18. The Final Truth

  19. Tracking the Culprit

  20. Closure

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Also from Lirios Publishing

  1

  Otter Rock

  Frowning, Paige Moore clung to the last tendrils of sleep, momentarily confused about her surroundings. The sounds—or rather, the lack of sounds—puzzled her; instead of harried engines and bustling foot traffic, she only heard a bird chirping faintly somewhere outside her window. As she woke fully, however, memory returned.

  Right… she wasn’t in Portland anymore.

  A little annoyed at herself, Paige blinked her eyes open, squinting against the brightness, and sat up, yawning and brushing strands of blonde hair out of her face. Through the gap in her curtains, a shaft of sunlight had fallen across her pillow and woken her. She was half tempted to just roll over, close her eyes, and try to get that extra half hour of sleep before her alarm went off. Instead, she forced herself to push off the blankets, knowing that it would be pointless. Once she woke up, she was awake for the day and she couldn’t rationalize lying around aimlessly for even the short thirty minutes.

  Not that there was any need for her to rush. Not anymore. Paige reminded herself of this, as she did every morning, while she gathered her clothes for the day. Needing to slow down and take things easier was precisely why she was no longer in Portland.

  It was hard to believe that she had been living in the busy city only recently. It felt a world away. Everything there had been so much busier and flashier; people rushing about from morning until late at night, bright lights pulsing outside her window, a schedule planned down to the last second of every day. It had all been perfect, brand new and like clockwork.

  Paige grimaced as she fiddled with the taps in the shower. She missed her old home, especially when she had to waste several minutes trying to get the various appliances in her old apartment working properly.

  This was necessary. It was important for her health, Paige told herself when the shower abruptly turned cold as she washed her hair. She had been working herself into an early grave back in Portland; moving to a small town had been the best thing for her.

  Still…

  Absently drying her hair, Paige stepped up to her bedroom window and peered out at the familiar scenery beyond. If someone had told her last month that she would ever move back to her hometown, she would have told them that they were crazy. After all, getting out of this place had been exactly why she had worked so hard. There was probably some irony in the fact the same work ethic that had gotten her out of Otter Rock eventually landed her right back where she started, but Paige couldn’t appreciate it.

  Otter Rock was beautiful, but too small to have any claim to fame. It was the type of town where it was impossible not to be on a first-name basis with everyone who lived there, and very little about it had changed over the years. The tiny shops, of which there was a grand total of five, still sold the same odds and ends to the occasional camper that ventured from Beverly Beach State Park. Andy Parker still ran the local grocery store/café. A bus still transported the handful of students who lived in town to the closest schools in Newport. It was all exactly as she remembered it.

  And she did not remember it fondly. In fact, Paige had hated it as a child. She had been so proud to leave it all behind for Stanford. When she had graduated from law school with honors, she had watched her new life unfold before her like a red carpet. She had gone to work at one of the top-ranking law firms in Portland, barely looking back at where she had come from. At the time, she had thought it funny to still be living in Oregon, yet a world apart from sleepy little Otter Rock. She had done everything in her power to achieve her goals.

  But that had been the problem, hadn’t it?

  Checking to make sure she had everything, Paige grabbed her bag and stepped outside, blinking in the sunlight. Across the road, the street’s only other occupant made her way to the sidewalk, dog in tow. She raised a hand in a greeting that Paige felt compelled to return. As she disappeared around the corner with her dog, Paige fished her car keys out of her bag and unlocked her car (inwardly despairing at the increasingly dusty silver paint) so she could head into town.

  Within minutes, she pulled to a stop in the parking lot across the road from the row of shops. Her phone chimed. Having already expected it, Paige glanced at the message in some exasperation, shaking her head.

  Had breakfast?

  The phone chimed again before she could think about forming a reply.

  And coffee doesn’t count.

  Paige scowled. Not long ago, she had been one of the top-rated lawyers in the state, so good that celebrities flocked to receive her counsel. She was intelligent and capable… so she didn’t need to be told what constituted a proper breakfast by her mother!

  Abruptly, though, Paige’s ire drained and she sighed. She couldn’t blame her mother, considering what had brought her back to Otter Rock in the first place. A diet of coffee and health bars, coupled with sleepless nights and far too much work and stress, had led to an inevitable collapse mere weeks ago. As such, her doctor had not-so-subtly suggested (demanded) that she not live on her own any longer.

  I’m just getting a pastry at the supermarket, she texted back, knowing she had approximately five minutes to do so before her mother rang Andy Parker to double check.

  It didn’t take long to collect her breakfast and snag a bottle of water for good measure. Then, as the sun rose higher, she strode two doors down and opened her little law office.

  It was nothing special: two rooms, a reception area outfitted properly but manned by no one, and an inner office where she worked. In short, it was nothing like the offices she had left back in Portland, sparkling and filled with lawyers and clients.

  Still, looking around the office, the sign in the window simply stating Paige Moore, Attorney at Law, reminded Paige of why she had quit her high-profile job and decided to work in Otter Rock, the place she had tried so hard to get away from.

  It had been a long time since she had left home for the city that had tried to destroy her. This, right here, was her new beginning. The odd sense of pride she had felt when she had first bought this place three weeks ago had not yet disappeared. She had accomplished this without anyone else, and her name had already drawn in prospective clients.

  Speaking of clients…

  Frowning, Paige put her bag down on the desk, eyes drawn to the folders scattered across it. She had made notes in some of them yesterday as she received phone calls, but one had not been touched.

  Her first client, Cynthia Johnson, was beautiful, a little snobbish… and in the proce
ss of divorcing State Senator Robert Johnson.

  Despite all her high-profile cases back in Portland, Paige could honestly say she hadn’t expected to get such a big name in her first week, especially with her decision to cut back on work by specializing in divorce cases.

  Then Cynthia swept in, jewelry sparkling on her wrists and fingers, and gave Paige the bare bones of her story. She was divorcing her husband. Due to being in the public eye, it would likely be difficult. She wanted custody of her seventeen-year-old son, Avery, who had apparently already voiced his desire to live with her. She only had so long to talk, she said, and asked if Paige was free at that moment. Upon receiving confirmation, she sat down, leaving Paige bemused at how quickly it all happened.

  In the last week, she and Cynthia had spoken at more length about the situation, and they had set up an appointment for Wednesday this week.

  But now it was Thursday and there was no sign of Cynthia.

  Trying Cynthia’s cell didn’t work; it went to voicemail each of the four times Paige tried it, growing more confused and irritated each time. The house phone similarly rang and rang until the machine picked up, though she didn’t leave a message that time, unaware of what Cynthia had told her husband and son regarding her divorce plans. She half considered calling Robert Johnson’s office to find out where his wife was, but that would be overstepping her boundaries.

  She honestly didn’t know whether to be worried or not. Cynthia had always been precisely on time for appointments in person and by phone. For her to miss an appointment completely without a word was completely out of character.

  Ignoring the sneaking suspicion that something wasn’t quite right, Paige sat at her desk. She would just have to try again later.

  Despite Paige’s best efforts, Cynthia remained unreachable throughout the day. By the time she closed the office, Paige’s suspicions had grown into deep concern. Hoping she was doing the right thing, she stopped in at the police station and filed a missing person’s report; even if they just found Cynthia at home, at least Paige would finally get some peace of mind.

  Still deep in thought over the matter, she drove up to her parents’ house. It was the one thing in Otter Rock she had loved growing up. A quaint beach house that bore the signs of her father’s work on it, it was full of warmth and laughter. Even as an adult, Paige had loved returning for brief visits.

  She saw a lot more of it these days. She had lived briefly here after leaving Portland and now returned at least twice a week so her parents could make sure she was looking after herself.

  As she climbed the stairs to the porch, the front door flew open.

  “Paige!”

  Paige barely had time to blink before her mother was upon her, engulfing her in a hug as though she hadn’t seen her in months instead of just three days. Rolling her eyes, Paige returned the hug and pulled back. Jennifer Moore was small, but her heart was huge, and her eyes sparkled as she took in her only daughter.

  “Still looking a little peaky,” she said with a note of disapproval. “Come on in. Dinner is almost ready. Your father’s finally trying to fix the shed out back so it doesn’t collapse on him one of these days.”

  Paige grinned. No doubt the roof was getting too low to stand under, which would have prompted her father’s desire to fix it after years of her mother’s warnings.

  “How was work?” her mother asked as Paige followed her into the kitchen, inhaling the delicious aroma that filled the space.

  “Quiet,” Paige said, shrugging as she plopped into a chair. “I had no appointments today.” She frowned slightly. “Though I wasn’t able to get ahold of a client that missed an appointment yesterday.”

  “Yesterday?” Jennifer asked, pursing her lips. “That’s a little rude.”

  “What’s rude? Oh, Paige, you’re here.”

  At the sound of her father’s voice, Paige swung around and smiled up at him. Tall as his wife was short, his graying hair as thick as ever, Patrick Moore leaned down to drop a kiss on his daughter’s forehead.

  “Paige was just telling me that one of her clients missed an appointment yesterday,” Jennifer told her husband.

  “Which one?” Patrick asked with a frown.

  “Confidentiality, Dad,” Paige reminded him; despite the trust she had in her parents, she really couldn’t discuss case details with anyone, especially with such a high-profile client. “But it is unusual. She’s not the type to miss appointments. I filed a missing person’s report.” She shrugged. “Even if that’s going overboard, something doesn’t feel right.”

  “All you can do is follow your instincts,” Patrick said wisely. “Hopefully nothing will come of it.”

  Paige thought back to the many messages she had left for Cynthia, all of them unreturned.

  “Hopefully,” she said.

  Somehow, though, she knew that was unlikely.

  2

  Reunion

  Paige had been certain when she had filed the report that she would receive some word of either Cynthia’s whereabouts or, failing that, the search efforts, by Sunday at the latest. Yet it was now the following Thursday, and she had not heard anything at all from the police nor from Cynthia, whose phone was now going straight to voicemail.

  This was not acceptable.

  Paige found herself marching up the road to the small police station that morning, full of righteous indignation. The officer at the front desk drew back slightly as she approached with fierce eyes.

  “Can I help you?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said tightly. “Last Thursday, I filed a missing person’s report for Cynthia Johnson, and I haven’t heard anything about it.”

  The man frowned and typed at his computer. Paige resisted the urge to tap her foot, reminding herself to slow down and pointedly ignoring her chiming phone; she had forgotten to get breakfast, and she knew she was going to get an earful about that later.

  “Right, here, I have it,” the man said finally. “Look…?”

  “Paige Moore,” Paige supplied, crossing her arms.

  “Paige,” he repeated. “I understand that you’re worried, but we haven’t heard anything from the family yet. Since they haven’t filed a report, there’s really nothing we can do.”

  “I tell you that there’s a woman missing and you want to argue over who filed the report?” Paige asked incredulously. “She had an appointment with me last Wednesday, and I still can’t get ahold of her. Her phone isn’t even ringing anymore.”

  “I understand,” the officer said patiently. “But until we’ve heard from her family…”

  All right, she’d had enough of waiting around and taking things slowly. Spying a door nearby labeled Sheriff, Paige spun on her heel and strode away, ignoring the yelped “Wait!” behind her. If the officer at the desk wasn’t going to help her, she would just go over his head.

  Not hesitating even to knock, Paige barged into the office, startling the only occupant. She prepared to launch into her complaint, but familiar eyes blinked at her and her words faded. He had grown up quite a bit, but she would still recognize him anywhere.

  “Jack?” she asked numbly.

  Well liked as a young man for his intelligence and dedication, in high school, Jack Lewis won numerous awards and entered honors classes. He was at the top of his class and a strong contender for valedictorian, challenged only by one other: Paige Moore.

  However, their rivalry was friendly, and they spent much of their time together in their later school years, often studying together. The connection between them was impossible to ignore, but Jack managed to keep himself from acting on his feelings since anything between them was destined to fail.

  After all, Paige had big dreams that didn’t include staying in sleepy Otter Rock. She wanted to take on the world. The betrayal in her eyes, following graduation, when she realized that Jack planned to stay put, had stabbed him like a knife, but he had never regretted his decision; Otter Rock was a treasure, and he had no intention of ever being any
where else. So, he had waved goodbye to Paige, knowing that it would likely be the last he saw of her.

  And it was, until Paige suddenly moved back several weeks ago for reasons Jack still didn’t know. He had half thought about making contact again before deciding that there was little point after all this time. He had resolved to avoid dredging up the feelings of the past a reunion would be sure to bring.

  Of course, like always, Paige had to throw a wrench in his plans. He’d never really been able to keep up with her. He hadn’t expected her to barge into his office that morning, but it wasn’t as much of a surprise as it might have been. Fiery, strong Paige had always dragged him along in her wake.

  The years had been kind to her. The rumor mill said that she had been sickly when she had first returned, but she appeared to have gotten back on her feet. She had cut her once-long hair to her shoulders and her blue eyes were just as intense as they had been back then. Her clothes were certainly more upmarket than they once had been, highlighting her tall, slim figure as she stood framed in the doorway.

  “Jack?” she asked, eyes wide and mouth agape.

  “Took me a long time, but I’ve finally managed to surprise you,” Jack quipped with a grin. He glanced at the flustered officer behind her. “It’s all right, she’s an old friend; she can be here.”

  The officer scowled but turned away, grumbling. Jack hid a smile; Paige’s stubborn nature always did have that effect on people.

  “What are you doing here?” Paige asked, momentarily derailed from whatever had brought her here.