Read A Watery Death (A Missing Pieces Mystery Book 7) for Free Online Page B

frequently poop in the middle of his parents’ bed. Not a pleasant situation. See you later, Dae.”
    I stood at the large plate glass window in Missing Pieces that overlooked the boardwalk and the Currituck Sound. There were dozens of smiling tourists going in and out of the shops. It was easy to tell them apart from Duck residents that afternoon because the residents all knew about Captain Lucky’s death and were either sad or angry—sometimes both—about the news.
    Between customers, I took out my feather duster to run over the shelves and their contents. I checked my email, sometimes receiving offers on goods that I had listed at eBay. Nothing there, but I heard from Dillon Guthrie, a businessman I’d met. He was detailing some of the finds he’d had in South America where he was diving off the coast.
    Dillon and I weren’t friends. He was a thief and a killer who lived outside the law. We had nothing in common except for a deal we’d made over some valuable silver bells. I’d had one of the bells made by the Augustine monks in Florida centuries before. Dylan had given his bell to me because he thought I’d find the third bell.
    And he was right. A man had offered me the third bell last month. I knew it wouldn’t be long before he came to give me the details on his terms for the priceless artifact.
    In the meantime, I shut off my email and paused to consider the coral horn behind the counter where I’d left it.
    Captain Lucky wouldn’t be coming back for it. Maybe he had a family member or friend who’d like to have it in memory of him. I wouldn’t mind having my five hundred dollars back, if possible. There was no way to imagine that something like this could happen to the romantic young man who’d made such an impression on the people of Duck.
    I put the horn away in the closet at the back of the shop. No doubt it was just a coincidence that Captain Lucky had been killed right after someone had sounded it.
    But I didn’t like those kinds of coincidences.
     

Chapter Four
     
    When the shop was straightened and dusted, I was happy, and ready to bring on the huge crowds tomorrow after the parade. Sometimes I made as much in that single day as I did in a normal month. It was exciting to consider.
    I had a few intriguing items that were up for sale that I had discovered over the winter.
    There were two tea services that I’d found at a flea market in Morehead City. I verified their owners by touching them. They’d both belonged to the first governor of North Carolina, who by all accounts, had started his career as a pirate.
    There was good evidence of the facts even before I’d removed my gloves for the rosewood tea service. The owner claimed kinship with the governor, and my gift told me it was true. But that was only the first service.
    The second service was richly appointed with gold rims and yellow jasmine flowers. That service had been owned by the governor’s mistress. The rosewood had belonged to his wife. Interesting facts that I thought could help their sale price.
    I also had acquired two Revolutionary War pistols and an oil lamp that was verified as being used on the Queen Anne’s Revenge—Blackbeard’s flagship. Usually I ignored anything attached to Blackbeard because there were so many frauds. Not to mention that discovering a piece that had been on the Revenge meant feeling all the emotions that one could imagine being on a pirate ship.
    Kevin had been right beside me. I had touched the lamp gingerly. It was too valuable to ignore from my initial feelings toward it, even though he wasn’t happy with me doing it. He worried a lot, but then he’d also seen me in bad straits after a few dark meetings with other artifacts.
    In this case, the piece was genuine and hadn’t been peppered with death and dismemberment. The oil lamp had actually belonged to the mother of a young cabin boy who’d survived Blackbeard’s death at the hands of the British. He’d gone on to live a good, long