Page 88 of The Beach Hut on Plum Island
Finn nodded in agreement. “Before we went to dinner, your uncle and you sprung your plan to acquire Gladstone Acres on me.” Finn tapped the page for her to write it down.
“Then you nearly got us arrested for having lied to my uncle about our engagement,” Harriet told him. “You could’ve given me some sort of heads-up about that.”
“I knew you’d catch up and go along with it.” Finn grinned. “Then we did a double charade by telling him we’d fallen in love for real.”
“After that, we discussed the plans for getting you to Greece and came up with taking Alex and Daniella to separate parties in Europe.” Harriet jotted down on the pad. “Now that I see it, I agree with my mother that it wasn’t a very good plan.”
“We didn’t have a lot of time to come up with something better,” Finn defended their planning. “Oh, and don’t forget the olive groves and fruit trees being ruined back on Joyce Isles by that…,” Finn clicked his fingers. “What’s the disease that’s wreaking havoc on the trees?”
“Xylella fastidiosa,” Harriet added, a frown knitting her brow. “You know we overlooked checking that detail to ensure my uncle was speaking the truth and not just trying to motivate us to help him get Gladstone Acres.”
“Why would he lie to us about something like that?” Finn looked at her questioningly.
“He doesn’t have a very good history for being completely honest with us,” Harriet reminded him and wrote next the section about the olive plant disease;verify this point.
“Then we all went to dinner, and you and I performed our new getting re-engaged for Titus, your parents, our friends, and the other people present at the dinner,” Finn told her, and Harriet wrote that down.
“Then we put the plan in motion for the trip to the UK as a cover to get to Greece trip.” Harriet’s neat handwriting wasn’t that neat at the moment as she jotted down points, underlining and circling various points. “All these plans fell apart when I was drugged. The fire alarm was set off. I landed up in the hospital.”
“Let’s make a sublist beneath this point,” Finn pointed to the last one on the page. “You got into bed with some ginger tea.”
“Then a message threatening me that I was going to pay for what I did from an unknown number was sent to me,” Harriet added. “I fell asleep and was awoken by one of the security detail but don’t have any recollection of this.”
“You had your phone with you and passed out in Gray’s arms,” Finn continued for her. “I’m not sure if the text was already on your phone, but I found the second message from a blocked number after you passed out.”
“I was taken to the Plum Island Clinic,” Harriet said. “Where it was found that I had sleeping powder in my hair.”
“While you were being taken to the clinic, I searched your room,” Finn told her as she wrote. “I took all the evidence that I thought could have been drugged. I didn’t know at this stage that it had been sleeping powder or that it may have been on your pillow. But I do know that when I left your suite, your linen was still on your bed.”
“After you got to the clinic, you heard that sleeping powder had been found in Estelle’s room, and when you went back to get my pillows, the linen was gone,” Harriet put the points down, circling the note about the sleeping powder found in Estelle’s room.
Finn nodded solemnly. “We deduced that the fire alarm was a diversion, probably to kidnap you. And then Murphy took your linen to a secret lab for analysis while your mother took over the plans for Greece. Your uncle vetoed any plans to go to the UK for the wedding guests and especially the royal family.”
“While Liam is buying back Gladstone Acres, you helped me get out of the hospital and trapped me in my suite,” Harriet scribbled, grinning at Finn, who rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Then I escaped and sought out Estelle. She gave me thephone with evidence on it for you to see. It has nothing to do with the current case, but I just need to note this.”
“Write this: Harriet used a cruel method of entrapment to force Estelle and Murphy to admit what each of them had done and admit to having a romantic relationship,” Finn dictated. Then, he saw what she had written. “Hey.” He tapped the page, and they both laughed. “Write what I’ve said, please.”
“Fine,” Harriet said, laughing and enjoying their time together while they pieced together the puzzle of their mystery. She wrote what he’d dictated. “Happy?”
“Yes, thank you.” Finn laughed. “Then write about how you fired, then rehired, and then demoted Murphy only to fire him again and get him arrested.”
“But I’m adding the reason why I did that,” Harriet told him, jotting it down. “Gray called to let me know that Uncle Titus was missing. His jet is gone, but his pilot is still on Plum Island, and his personal belongings are still at the beach house.”
“Which leaves us not knowing anything,” Finn pointed out as he read the information Harriet had written.
His shoulder brushed hers, sending a shiver down her spine that woke the fluttering things in her belly. Harriet took a mental breath to calm her wayward emotions to concentrate on the mystery at hand.
“I think we need to find the missing jet’s flight plan,” Harriet suggested.
“And we need to have a chat with Leon,” Finn noted.
“We also need to talk to Dawn and ask her what she knows about her aunt and Uncle Titus,” Harriet added.
“What has that got to do with anything?” Finn asked. “Should we be prying into their business?”
“It could have a very significant factor in what’s going on,” Harriet insisted. “As we’re here in the hotel, let’s start with Dawn.”
“Okay,” Finn agreed. “But only because I think she’ll also have more information for us on who arrived when at the restaurant.”
