Gnarly New Year (Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery #2) by Anna Celeste Burke Page A
Authors: Anna Celeste Burke
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what he was up to out there in the cove.” That was, after all, why we were here. In our hotel suite, after we had failed to find Mick’s black bag with the GPS device in it the wheels had started turning. What if Owen had other secrets hidden in the chamber? There had to be a reason Albert Simpson took Dopey Opie seriously. That’s when it occurred to me that we ought to come back in here and take another look around.
My heart sped up as we removed the tarp, carefully. It was not only dusty but damp in spots covered with muck that resembled droppings of some kind. I didn't want to get it on me.
We all jumped back when we heard scurrying, followed by squeaking. I tossed a lid from one of the boxes we had just exposed in the direction of that scurrying. My tolerance for vermin does not extend to allowing the little buggers to share my personal space. I’m that way with spiders, too. Stay on your turf, no problem. Surprise me on mine and take what you have coming to you from a higher life form.
The rat picked up the pace as I stamped my feet and tracked it with my lantern light. It darted across the floor and then did the same thing the previous one had done—ran along the base of the wall for twenty feet or so, and hung a left. Hmm , I thought. That’s interesting. Is there another opening into this chamber? I was about to ask that question out loud when Brien exclaimed.
“Look at that will you? It’s a Rolex.” Brien had pulled packing material from the box and peered in at the contents.
“Rolexes, Dude,” Mick countered. He was right. We stared at lots of little boxes wrapped in white cardboard sleeves. Brien had slipped one out of the sleeve revealing a dark colored box with a five-point crown logo, like those found on Rolex watch boxes. He popped it open and Mick oohed!
"Now that's a real treasure. Well, a fake, real treasure. Oh, you know what I mean."
“This must be where Mick stashed the high-end goods. We’ll have to ask that Goddard kid if the inventory they planned to auction off online included Rolex watches. Fake ones would be my guess, too,” Brien said, holding that velvety-looking box.
Mr. P had owned several genuine Rolexes, but I don’t have the expertise to discern a real one from a counterfeit one. Not at first glance, and I had no intention of taking a closer look at the moment. It occurred to me, all of a sudden, that the police might not be the only ones interested in the contraband we'd found.
“I guess we should look through the rest of this stack, don’t you think? These Rolexes tie Owen to the cove piracy scheme, but they don’t tell us about any other angle he was working.”
“True, let’s go for it!” Brien said, as he reached out and gave the box a good shake, and then bumped it against the others in the stack. I hoped any remaining rodents would run for it.
Twenty minutes later we had gone through about sixty boxes. We found more watches, not just Rolex, but other luxury brands. Bracelets, charms, and other jewelry items packed in lovely blue boxes stamped with the Tiffany and Co. logo. Pricey sunglasses too—the $300 a pair and up kind, bearing lux labels. No wonder Owen had ticked off those cove pirates. This stash alone constituted a significant loss to those scoundrels.
“Let’s take a few samples with us. That ought to convince Mitchum to send a crew in here to snoop and take this booty into evidence.” Not that I imagined he’d thank us. All Mitchum needed right now was another crime scene to investigate. With two beach sites where dead bodies had washed ashore, the bar, the storage unit, Goddard’s home and Sanctuary Grove, even with help from the County, investigators had to be spread thin. There was the cave area below us, too, that opened to the cove. The police hadn't officially finished their work there yet, either. I suddenly felt a bit exposed, not knowing how far we were from that open area. Police tape hadn't kept Mick out.
“Mick, do you
My heart sped up as we removed the tarp, carefully. It was not only dusty but damp in spots covered with muck that resembled droppings of some kind. I didn't want to get it on me.
We all jumped back when we heard scurrying, followed by squeaking. I tossed a lid from one of the boxes we had just exposed in the direction of that scurrying. My tolerance for vermin does not extend to allowing the little buggers to share my personal space. I’m that way with spiders, too. Stay on your turf, no problem. Surprise me on mine and take what you have coming to you from a higher life form.
The rat picked up the pace as I stamped my feet and tracked it with my lantern light. It darted across the floor and then did the same thing the previous one had done—ran along the base of the wall for twenty feet or so, and hung a left. Hmm , I thought. That’s interesting. Is there another opening into this chamber? I was about to ask that question out loud when Brien exclaimed.
“Look at that will you? It’s a Rolex.” Brien had pulled packing material from the box and peered in at the contents.
“Rolexes, Dude,” Mick countered. He was right. We stared at lots of little boxes wrapped in white cardboard sleeves. Brien had slipped one out of the sleeve revealing a dark colored box with a five-point crown logo, like those found on Rolex watch boxes. He popped it open and Mick oohed!
"Now that's a real treasure. Well, a fake, real treasure. Oh, you know what I mean."
“This must be where Mick stashed the high-end goods. We’ll have to ask that Goddard kid if the inventory they planned to auction off online included Rolex watches. Fake ones would be my guess, too,” Brien said, holding that velvety-looking box.
Mr. P had owned several genuine Rolexes, but I don’t have the expertise to discern a real one from a counterfeit one. Not at first glance, and I had no intention of taking a closer look at the moment. It occurred to me, all of a sudden, that the police might not be the only ones interested in the contraband we'd found.
“I guess we should look through the rest of this stack, don’t you think? These Rolexes tie Owen to the cove piracy scheme, but they don’t tell us about any other angle he was working.”
“True, let’s go for it!” Brien said, as he reached out and gave the box a good shake, and then bumped it against the others in the stack. I hoped any remaining rodents would run for it.
Twenty minutes later we had gone through about sixty boxes. We found more watches, not just Rolex, but other luxury brands. Bracelets, charms, and other jewelry items packed in lovely blue boxes stamped with the Tiffany and Co. logo. Pricey sunglasses too—the $300 a pair and up kind, bearing lux labels. No wonder Owen had ticked off those cove pirates. This stash alone constituted a significant loss to those scoundrels.
“Let’s take a few samples with us. That ought to convince Mitchum to send a crew in here to snoop and take this booty into evidence.” Not that I imagined he’d thank us. All Mitchum needed right now was another crime scene to investigate. With two beach sites where dead bodies had washed ashore, the bar, the storage unit, Goddard’s home and Sanctuary Grove, even with help from the County, investigators had to be spread thin. There was the cave area below us, too, that opened to the cove. The police hadn't officially finished their work there yet, either. I suddenly felt a bit exposed, not knowing how far we were from that open area. Police tape hadn't kept Mick out.
“Mick, do you
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