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    Holidays in Ocean Alley
    Holidays in Ocean Alley
    Holidays in Ocean Alley
    Ebook154 pages3 hours

    Holidays in Ocean Alley

    By Elaine L. Orr

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    Opening your apartment door to see a woman sliding down it is distressing. Especially when that woman has a knife in her chest. How could a murderer be roaming the halls in the middle of the night? After all the times she has encouraged Jolie to mind her own business, Aunt Madge has had a change of heart.
    It's Jolie's boyfriend Scoobie Madge turns to to help her figure out who the murderer is. Not that being temporarily in an assisted living apartment prevents Aunt Madge from investigating herself. No, a fall from a stool that results in a broken wrist and ankle can't hold down the owner of the Cozy Corner B&B.
    Could the murderer be a resident with a grudge, or a philandering neighbor who didn't want to get caught in someone else's bed? Aunt Madge's scooter rides take her to the laundry room where she thinks she spots a body in a bin, and into the cold to check exit doors to be sure they can't be entries for murder. All she gets is a reputation for being nosy. It's hard not to be when a dead woman's blood is on your carpet.
    Murder's not all Madge and friends juggle. What will happen to the Alzheimer's patient whose husband wants to keep her in their apartment? Will Scoobie find information about Melvin, his ornery former professor, that will explain his odd behavior? And how will Madge and her good friend Lance avoid the acid-tongued Elmira Washington, who has decided she wants an apartment in their building? Elmira has been a thorn in Jolie's side for years. Would she be willing to kill to eliminate a roadblock to her move?
    For a change, it's Madge whose persistence annoys Sergeant Morehouse of the Ocean Alley Police. He tells her she is moving up on his pain-in-the-ass list. Certainly the director of the Silver Times senior complex wants Aunt Madge to get well enough to leave. And she does miss her exuberant retrievers and husband Harry. He's busy burning muffins at the B&B instead of helping Jolie with the appraisal business.
    Good humor at the Jersey shore. Except for the poor dead woman. Add the Christmas and Hanukkah season and there's good fun mixed with the murder.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherElaine L. Orr
    Release dateOct 29, 2015
    ISBN9781311412591
    Holidays in Ocean Alley
    Author

    Elaine L. Orr

    Elaine L. Orr writes four mystery series, including the thirteen-book Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series, set at the Jersey shore. "Behind the Walls" was a finalist for the 2014 Chanticleer Mystery and Mayhem Awards. The first book in the River's Edge series--set in rural Iowa--"From Newsprint to Footprints," came out in late 2015; the second book, "Demise of a Devious Neighbor," was a Chanticleer finalist in 2017.The Logland series is a police procedural with a cozy feel, and began with "Tip a Hat to Murder" in 2016 The Family History Mystery series, set in the Western Maryland Mountains began with "Least Trodden Ground" in 2020. The second book in the series, "Unscheduled Murder Trip," received an Indie B.R.A.G. Medallion in 2021.She also writes plays and novellas, including the one-act play, "Common Ground" published in 2015. Her novella, "Falling into Place," tells the story of a family managing the results of an Iowa father’s World War II experience with humor and grace. Another novella, "Biding Time," was one of five finalists in the National Press Club's first fiction contest, in 1993. "In the Shadow of Light" is the fictional story of children separated from their mother at the US/Mexico border.Nonfiction includes :Words to Write By: Getting Your Thoughts on Paper: and :Writing When Time is Scarce.: She graduated from the University of Dayton and the American University and is a member of Sisters in Crime. Elaine grew up in Maryland and moved to the Midwest in 1994.Her fiction and nonfiction are at all online retailers in all formats -- ebooks, paperbacks, large print, and (on Amazon, itunes, and Audible.com) audio in digital form. Paperbacks can be ordered through Barnes and Noble Stores as well as t heir online site.Support your local bookstore!

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      Book preview

      Holidays in Ocean Alley - Elaine L. Orr

      HOLIDAYS IN OCEAN ALLEY

      Ninth in the Jolie Gentil Series

      ELAINE L. ORR

      Originally Copyright © 2015 by Elaine L. Orr

      This electronic edition of Holidays in Ocean Alley is licensed for your personal use

      and may not be copied in any form other than brief references for reviews. All rights reserved.

      Discover other books by Elaine L. Orr

      www.elaineorr.com

      https://elaineorr.com/jolie-gentil-cozy-mysteries/

      www.elaineorr.blogspot.com

      @elaineorr55

      Brief Synopsis of Holidays in Ocean Alley

      Aunt Madge is staying briefly in Ocean Alley's Silver Times Assisted Living Apartments. That's what happens when you stand on a stool to hang garland and lose your balance. Her niece Jolie's good friend Scoobie has been known to call the place detention central.

      Madge's broken wrist and ankle are healing enough that she hopes to join the family at her Cozy Corner Bed and Breakfast for Christmas. The body that falls into her apartment in the wee hours one morning kind of changes things.

      Does the killer think Aunt Madge knows something she shouldn't? Will Madge follow the advice she regularly gives Jolie -- to accept that she may not ever know all the answers? It's not looking like it.

      * * *

      In this book of the Jolie Gentil series, the story is told from Aunt Madge and Scoobie's points of view. Readers often say these are their favorite characters, and with Aunt Madge laid up, Jolie has a few other things on her mind.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      CHAPTER ELEVEN

      CHAPTER TWELVE

      CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      CHAPTER FOURTEEN

      CHAPTER FIFTEEN

      CHAPTER SIXTEEN

      CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

      MORE BOOKS BY ELAINE

      ABOUT ELAINE

      CHAPTER ONE

      SCOOBIE IN CHARGE

      HAVING A MILD stroke does not have to be a big deal. Unless you're standing on a step ladder three weeks before Christmas, hanging garland. When you break a wrist and ankle at the same time, it's hard to run a bed and breakfast at the Jersey shore.

      Aunt Madge has had to ask her Harry to run the B&B. That means my Jolie will manage the real estate appraisal business she and Harry usually run together.

      What could possibly go wrong? If you knew my family, you could imagine possibilities.

      For some reason, I was the one who was finally able to get Aunt Madge to agree to spend a few weeks in Ocean Alley's Silver Times assisted living apartments. Today, she and I were in the living/kitchen/dinette combo of her apartment.

      Please, Aunt Madge. Just wiggle your fingers one more time.

      If I could, I would wiggle a certain one at you.

      If you don't do one more wiggle, I'll write something rude on your cast when you're sleeping.

      Adam, you do that and I'll, I'll…

      Kick me? I grinned at her, and then lowered my voice. You promised to call me Scoobie.

      Aunt Madge shifted slightly in her wheel chair. I said I'd try to remember to call you that silly name.

      Good enough. I glanced at the clock. It sits above the kitchen sink, which Aunt Madge says is no bigger than a Kleenex box. Dinner starts at five. I'll wheel you to the dining room. I think you're having New England clam chowder and biscuits for supper.

      I want to go to the bathroom one more time. You can push my chair in and I can pivot and take care of my own business. Please.

      I turned the wheelchair and we moved from her living area through the bedroom to the large bathroom. Jolie and I hide Madge's dogs in there when we sneak them in for a visit. It works until Mister Rogers smells food. Then we're outed.

      After closing the door to the bedroom, I called Jolie. Scoobie here. Reporting from detention central.

      Hey. Is she any better?

      I knew Jolie didn't mean Aunt Madge's bone health. It's the first time either of us had seen her really down. For the few days in the hospital she was her usual self, but when she assented to move into assisted living for four to six weeks, she seemed to wilt.

      She didn't say she wanted to skip supper, so that's good.

      Thanks so much, babe. I've never done three appraisal visits and two write-ups in one day.

      You know I don't mind. I think I'll sit with her for supper, and then head home.

      Harry said if we go to the B&B about six, he'll feed us.

      Are we talking his leftover muffins or real food?

      He's ordering in Chinese. He practiced making sugar cookies, but they burned and he's airing out the downstairs.

      Harry sometimes joins Aunt Madge for lunch. He was widowed for many years before he married Aunt Madge two years ago. Their combined ages are 161, with Aunt Madge having a nine-year edge. Harry says that since they married he has forgotten much of what he knew about cooking, so he's gotten good at ordering in. I think he's practicing selective retention.

      Jolie and I said goodbye, and at the sound of a flush, I stuck my head in Aunt Madge's bedroom. You transferred back to your chair yet?

      You didn't hear a splat, did you?

      Did you say splash or splat?

      I'd be grateful if you'd push me down the hall.

      I walked to the now partially opened bathroom door, leaned in, and grabbed the back handles of her chair. If you can transfer so well, I'd say we should look for a scooter for you."

      One of those things the tourists speed down the boardwalk in? I'd be afraid I'd kill someone.

      At least you wouldn't be wearing a wet bathing suit. Where's your sense of adventure?

      Madge appeared to think about the scooter idea as I pushed her toward the dining room. I suppose it would be worth a try. They're awfully expensive, though.

      Lester said he could get you a deal. Lester is a sometimes-pushy Ocean Alley real estate agent who is known for listing houses too high, and giving Jolie and Harry grief when the appraisal won't support an offer. He's also cheap.

      Aunt Madge laughed loudly, and then covered her mouth for a second. Lester and his deals.

      I'll call him tomorrow.

      She put a hand over mine on the handle. You're good to me, Scoobie.

      Flattery will get you everywhere. I touched her lightly on the top of her snowy head. Usually she changes hair color every few weeks. She uses some kind of temporary color that washes out. It occurred to me that her spirits would improve with one of her more vibrant shades of red.

      When we got to the dining room, Lance Wilson waved to us from a table near the back of the room. He's in his mid-nineties, and is on the local food pantry donation committee with Jolie and me. Last month he sold his house in Ocean Alley and moved to Silver Times.

      Oh, good. Lance is back. Aunt Madge turned her head to look at me. I'll sit with Lance. You go on home.

      Sure. I want to stop by Melvin Hamburg's place. He came in for an x-ray today but wouldn't stay to get treated.

      We were nearing Lance as Aunt Madge asked, Why ever not?

      I can tell you that, Lance said. Got his finger caught in his car door. His middle finger. Doesn't want to get it splinted.

      Melvin lives in the independent apartments that adjoin Madge's assisted living building on the large campus, which also has a nursing home and town homes. He can take stubborn to a new level. Since he was an instructor when I got my radiology technologist degree, I figured I owed him at least the pretense of saying no one would think he's flipping the bird at people all day.

      I left Madge and Lance to fill each other in on their recent hospital stays, Lance's being for a hernia acquired when he tried to move his big-screen TV himself, and walked to the independent living building. After buzzing Melvin's apartment twice I gave up, and went to look for Lester.

      The air was crisp, and it was in the upper thirties, decent weather for December at the Jersey shore. Since it was after school let out for the day, I drove carefully down the narrow side streets. One of the silver bells that hung from lampposts had come partially unfastened and blew in the light breeze. I was about to pull out my mobile phone to call the public works office when a patrol car slowed to a stop under the swinging bell.

      Better them than me. I kept driving.

      Ocean Alley is almost two miles long but only twelve blocks deep. Each street that is parallel to the ocean is named for a letter of the alphabet, but the alphabet starts with B. The Great Atlantic Hurricane removed the old boardwalk and most of A Street in 1944. It’s the main reason Aunt Madge bought a B&B that was four blocks from the ocean.

      I drove through Ocean Alley's downtown, such as it is. The area near the courthouse has a small grocery store, the post office, a couple of law offices, and a few restaurants. We were lucky that Ocean Alley was fully built before the condo craze hit. There are lots of hotels and beach rental cottages, but it still has the feel of a small town.

      I pulled into Burger King to look for Lester. He meets prospective clients there, which reinforces anyone's perception of him as a bargain-basement kind of guy.

      Sure enough, Lester, unlit cigar hanging from his lips, was at a back table. A pile of paperwork sat beneath a glass of iced tea.

      Hey ya, Scoob, get your butt over here.

      Lester isn't usually so friendly, so I figured he wanted something.

      How's the old la…Madge holdin' up? You tell her I said hello?

      I sat across from him. She's getting better, but she'll be in that wheelchair a good while. You still know where we can get an inexpensive scooter?

      Lester leaned across the table. The distinctive mole on his cheek was no more than eight inches from my nose. I got it outta the garage at that dump on Conch I bought, you know, for investment. I just…

      Didn't you tell Jolie and me that dump would be a good upgrade for us?

      He gestured with the cigar. After I get it renovated. Anyhow, old man Koester's daughter sold it to me with anything she left in it. She thought the scooter was toast, but all it needed was a new battery.

      That'd be great. What can we pay you for it?

      Lester leaned back and squinted. How about I just rent it to Madge? Say ten dollars a week.

      That doesn't sound like much. You sure?

      "It's Madge. Plus, she can be my test

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