Chapter 9
The Smuggler's Trail
August and Bree connect the dots: missing people, poisonings, and hushed conversations point to a smuggling ring using the boardwalk as a front. Croft is likely involved.
The salt-laced air, usually a balm to August’s soul, felt thick with unspoken dread. Each churning of the ice cream machine seemed to echo the frantic beat of her own heart. Bree, usually a whirlwind of cheerful chatter, was unnervingly quiet, her gaze fixed on the shimmering expanse of the ocean as if searching for answers in its endless blue. They’d spent the better part of the morning piecing together the fractured puzzle pieces that had been dropped, or perhaps deliberately left, into their lives over the past few weeks.
“So, the note,” Bree began, her voice a low murmur against the distant cry of seagulls. “The one from the old man with the parrot on his shoulder. ‘The tide brings more than shells.’ We thought it was just some weird beach bum poetry.”
August nodded, tracing a condensation trail on the glass of the display case with her finger. “But then Captain Finnigan goes missing. And Mrs. Gable, who’d been raving about your ‘Mango Tango Surprise’ all week, suddenly