Runaway for Christmas: Citrus Beach Mysteries, #4

A Word From The Management

From Miss Marple and Fletch

Before you begin this story, there are a couple of points we would like to make...

This is fiction. The characters, businesses, settings and events are part of our friend's vivid imagination. Yes, it takes place in the great state of Florida. That part is non-fiction. But the rest? Nope, it's all from her mind. So if you think the characters, settings or events remind you of the real thing, then that is purely coincidental.

Mistakes happen, no matter how hard we try, or how many beta readers or rounds of editing happen, something always sneaks by. If you find an error, please email us at sunsandstories@gmail.com and we will make the corrections.

We hope you will enjoy the story, and when you're finished, please tell a friend about it and post a review.

On behalf of our boss,

Miss Marple and Fletch

Prologue

Yuletide Rescues and Runaway Revelations

Megan talked to the dogs as she turned back to the main house, throwing the ball Gypsy gave her towards their destination. The dogs quickly ran after it, then brought it back to Megan for another toss. With each toss they got closer to the bungalow/guest house. On her last throw, the ball went a little wild, landing further up the dune than Megan had intended. It didn’t matter to the dogs and they quickly went after it. Watching them, Megan glanced at the back corner of the bungalow—and noticed a movement and a flash of color. Whatever it was, the dogs noticed it too.

The ball forgotten, Barney and Gypsy started barking and took off in the direction of the movement. Megan yelled for them to stay put and ran after them. Just when she had almost reached them, the dogs broke into a run, chasing something around the corner. Megan rounded the corner seconds later and was shocked to see a group of teenagers.

They were just as shocked to see her and began to run away, splitting into two groups. Without pause, Barney ran after four of the oldest kids, heading in the direction of the preserve. Gypsy took off after the other three as they tried to scamper over the dune. Since the group of three seemed closer and slower, Megan gave chase after them, yelling for them to stop. But they were younger and faster than her, and the dune seemed to give them no problems. Megan, however, was running out of breath and having a hard time getting a good footing in the loose sand.

Just when she was ready to give up the chase, the smallest of the three lost their footing and went down hard on an arm, face first into the sand. Gypsy was there immediately, barking and growling. The figure cowered in fright and Megan called for Gypsy to stay. The dog obeyed, but kept up the barking. The teen curled into a tight ball, protecting both the injured arm and head.

Gasping for breath, Megan reached the two, and without thinking, grabbed the teen by the shoulder and forced her to roll over so she could look her in the face. They stared at each other, one in fear and the other in shock.

Megan couldn’t believe her eyes. This was no teenager in front of her, it was a frightened little girl, no older than ten. Tears ran down her checks, making miniature rivers in the sand that stuck to her wet face. There was none of the expected teenage defiance, instead the child appeared terrified.

What is going on around here?

Chapter 1

Monday

By midmorning, Megan felt like she’d worked a full week already. It seemed like today was the day for her customers to call searching for quick fixes to problems that had developed over the weekend. Or to ask her suggestions for the upcoming holiday season. Megan appreciated the business, but it felt like winter season was going to be even more chaotic than the fall season. Maybe it was because all her clients were either in town, getting ready to come to town, or had company coming. Or more likely, it was because the holiday season was beginning, and people were getting excited. Whatever the reason, Citrus Beach Concierge was busy and Megan and Janice, her office manager, were jumping from phone call to phone call.

Thinking she had a moment to herself, she took a quick bite of her breakfast bagel. It had been sitting on her desk untouched for the last hour and a half. Before she even swallowed her food, the phone on her desk rang simultaneously with her cell phone. Glancing over at Janice, her frustration written on her face, Megan motioned for Janice to pick up the desk phone while she reached for her cell. A few moments later they were both hanging up the phone, and Megan was laughing.

My gosh Janice, I’ve never seen it this crazy. We need to get a handle on this before we are overrun with requests. I think the first thing we need to do is bring in some temporary help to work in the office before you’re run ragged. The second thing is stop me before I say yes to somebody asking for me to volunteer for anything else. I feel like my name is on a list of some sort.

I take it that was another phone call about the tree decorating?

Yes, it was, Megan answered her and then sighed. For some reason people think because we’re hosting the event, we’re also in the business of decorating trees. Don’t get me wrong, I love the season and I love to decorate trees. It’s just that we’re too busy with everything else.

The problem is, Megan, there are people out there that remember the beautiful trees you’ve created in the past for your customers. That, and the fact that some of our seasonal folks don’t want to accept a no answer. Oh, and there is that problem of you not saying no when you’re asked to volunteer for things.

Megan peeked at her office manager who was a good 10 years younger than her, who seemed to take on the role of house mother for Megan and all the other staff. She was a godsend to Megan and could run the office and most of the staff with ease. This gave Megan the freedom to do the things she liked the most about her job and to cater to a few of her special clients without feeling guilty. Citrus Beach Concierge had evolved from her personal gardening service. As she took over more and more jobs for her clients, the business had developed into something different—and she was forced to decide what direction she wanted her business to go. Should she stay as a gardening service or move into more personal services? She’d found that three of her best customers were willing to support her and help her when she needed to make the new aspect of her business a success.

Today her business provided a range of personalized services that made her clients’ lives run smoothly, regardless of whether they were in town or not. She still provided gardening design services, letting her creative talents give her an outlet to enjoy her work to the fullest. With Janice managing most of the day-to-day duties, Megan found that she could have interests outside of the business. Like giving back to her community by working with local charities and projects. And occasionally getting involved in the odd mystery that surfaced. Oh, and there was the little matter of a fledgling romance developing between her and the newcomer to Citrus Beach, Aiden Tory.

Before Megan could respond to Janice’s jab at her being volunteer of the year, the phone rang again. A client was requesting information about pet sitting while they went out of town for the holidays. It just so happened that Megan’s daughter and her daughter’s roommate ran a business that handled pet setting. The two of them were living on a local farm with a petting zoo that they’d incorporated into pet sitting as well. The girls were the caretakers of the farm, tending to the town’s inheritance from one of the founding families whose last family member, Mary Wheeler, had died. When she died, she’d left the property to the town, with the condition they continue to run it as a petting zoo and a retirement home for old, unwanted animals.

Megan’s daughter Emma, and her best friend Taylor, lived at the farm as part of their employment. Then there was the extra bonus of the fact that Taylor was attending the local college to get her degree as a veterinarian. Emma was working on her graphic arts degree. The job’s flexibility worked out perfectly for the two of them. They ran the small petting zoo, kept the books, and organized the overall working of the farm, while the estate had employed farmhands to do the heavy work.

As Megan was giving her client the farm’s information, she glanced over in the corner of her office where her sweet beagle lay sleeping on his dog bed. She and Barney had been through a lot in the last few months, and the dog kept close to her side. She smiled at the sight of the other puppy sleeping by Barney. The little white fur ball was Aiden’s dog. He had adopted Gypsy, or rather she had adopted him, and it wasn’t unusual to find the two dogs together. Aiden traveled for his job as a FBI consultant, and while he traveled Gypsy spent her time with Barney and Megan.

Reassuring her customer that her pet would be in good hands staying at the farm while the customer went up north to celebrate the holidays with her family, Megan said goodbye and hung up the phone. It seemed like all her customers were either coming or going at this time of the year. Most of them spent Thanksgiving in the tropical town of Citrus Beach, but many then returned to their northern homes to spend Christmas with their families. Everyone would return after January 1 and then Citrus Beach’s season would be in full swing.

Regardless of whether they were coming or going, it was the responsibility of Megan and her staff to keep their homes running, ready for the client to walk in the door at any time. Megan’s desk was scattered with notes about the schedules of her customers and the latest charity project she was involved with. This is why she was so grateful that Janice was on staff. Without her, she would go in circles.

Grabbing a couple of the notes, she walked over to Janice and the two of them went over the work to be done. They got a solid 15 minutes’ worth of work done before the next phone call. Megan became uncharacteristically short tempered. Janice could see the tell-tale signs of stress as Megan’s brow wrinkled. She watched Megan put her finger and thumb across the bridge of her nose, pressing to ease the tension. Janice worried about her employer; she had been through a lot over the past summer from witnessing a murder, dealing with the hurricane, solving an old mystery, and then just recently solving the murder of her dear friend. And in top of all that, she was trying to work out where her relationship with Aiden was going. Megan would never admit she was stressed, but Janice was fully aware. They had a strong friendship, so she took the bull by the horns and stated the obvious.

Megan, you need to take time for yourself before the season gets crazy. You know how nonstop it becomes, and if you go into this season stressed out, you’re going to end up exhausted and sick. Why don’t you take a couple days off? Take Barney and go on a road trip. Go on one of your antique hunts or just go to the beach and soak up the sun.

Do I seem that bad, already?

Janice didn’t answer her. Instead, she gave her a hard stare. Megan saw the answer in her eyes and decided that Janice was right. There was no reason she couldn’t take a couple days for herself. She nodded her agreement and Janice sighed, relieved.

Okay, I’ll do it. But we need to go over some things first, and then I need to tell Paul what I’m planning.

Why don’t you ask Lucy to go with you and make it a girls’ getaway. You two always have a great time together, and Paul has plenty of things to do here. He probably won’t even notice you guys are gone.

Megan nodded in agreement; pleased Janice had come up with such a great idea. Her cousin Paul and his wife Lucy were her best friends. Paul was a high-end homebuilder, and his offices shared the property with Megan’s office and home. The property was 10 full acres. At one end was her home and personal office, the other end was an airstrip for small planes. In the center sat the business offices, a couple of barns that housed the equipment for Paul’s business, as well as the second-story apartment that Aiden rented. The airstrip circled a spring-fed pond that most of the buildings were next to. The entire property was walled in, with an electronic gate at the front for both security and to keep as many of the wild animals out as possible. Paul and Lucy lived closer to town, but Megan loved her little house right here on the property. It didn’t bother her one bit to have the property to herself. The recent addition of Aiden as a renter was an unexpected bonus.

Lucy ran her jewelry design business from her home and was always more than willing to drop what she was doing for a little girl-time with Megan. Megan went over the possibilities of where the two of them could go for a couple days and decided it made the most sense to stay close to town, instead of wasting her time off driving.

She stared down at the note in her hands, and the solution was right in front of her. One of her three clients who had originally backed her business idea was out of town, not due back until the first of the year. He had a wonderful guest house right on the beach that would be perfect for their needs, and he’d always told her to use his house as her own.

Her smile grew as she talked to Lucy and set up their getaway. Lucy sounded excited to escape too, and Megan finished the call with a satisfied nod of her head. She glanced over at the two dogs, now watching her, and her sense of excitement grew. She clapped her hands and they jumped to their feet, coming over to her as if to see what she had to say.

Okay, babies, it looks like we are running away for a couple of days.

Chapter 2

Tuesday

Megan finished her day in the office, wrapping up as many details as she could so that Janice wouldn’t be overwhelmed while she was gone. It wasn’t as if she was going away on some exotic vacation; she wasn’t even leaving town. She made her office manager promise to call her if anything major came up. Janice made two promises, the one Megan asked for and the one to herself—that there was no way she would disturb her boss unless the building was burning.

Once Megan was convinced that she had done everything she needed to, she agreed to leave early. She decided to have a nice dinner with her daughter before she headed out in the morning with Lucy. Mother and daughter enjoyed a nice meal at one of their favorite places to eat, Susie’s Diner. They talked and laughed, catching up on what was going on in their lives since they had last spoken. Megan couldn’t help herself. She kept staring at her daughter as if she didn’t recognize her. In a way she didn’t.

Emma had cut her long hair short since they’d seen each other just two days ago. Her long red hair had been similar to Megan’s; the coloring was a family trait, and even her cousin Paul sported the auburn curls. Emma’s hair was straighter instead