The Haunted Wedding

Book 12: A Lin Coffin Mystery

by J.A. Whiting

Genres: Literary Fiction; Supernatural suspense; Romantic Suspense

Synopsis

This is book 12 in the Lin Coffin cozy mystery series by USA TODAY Bestselling Author J.A. Whiting.

The double wedding of Lin Coffin, her cousin, Viv, and their fiancés is fast approaching.

One afternoon, the two young women decide to take a walk around the fairgrounds and sports fields of the Tom Nevers area of Nantucket, when they notice a commotion down by a storage shed.
Inside the building, a young man has made a ghastly discovery and the police have been called to investigate the find.

Is what's inside the shed linked to a decades-old double murder on the island?

When a ghost appears to request Lin's help, will she and Viv, with the assistance of a friend from Boston who has arrived for the marriage celebration, be able to solve the mysteries before the special day turns into a haunted wedding?

This story has some mild paranormal elements.

Release date: November 9, 2019

Publisher: J A Whiting Books and Whitemark Publishing

Print pages: 268

Sample

Chapter 1

 

 

The afternoon was warm and sunny as Lin Coffin and her cousin, Viv, walked near the playing fields in the Tom Nevers area of Nantucket. The cousins had lunch at Lin’s fiancé’s house, and afterwards, decided to take a long walk near the large park nearby where there were playing fields, a playground, fairgrounds, a sandy beach, and 180-degree views of the ocean.

 

The Tom Nevers section of the island was located between the towns of Surfside and Siasconset and consisted of large, open spaces, gorgeous beaches, and secluded neighborhoods. As the story goes, around 1725, Tom Never, a Native American, was born on the island. His name was so long that the British settlers shortened it to Tom Never. Twenty years later, Tom was employed to manage the whale lookout station.

 

“Let’s walk over to the bunker,” Viv suggested as she and Lin stood on a sandy cliff looking out over the Atlantic, watching some seals swimming past.

 

The bunker was built into a hilly mound to protect former President John F. Kennedy who, in the event of a nuclear war, would have been flown by helicopter from Hyannis Port on the mainland to Nantucket. The bunker was only in use for a year and a half until Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

 

Lin leaned down to peek into one of the openings next to the chain-locked, metal green door.

 

“Has anything changed in there?” Viv chuckled watching her cousin. “You look inside every time we come out here.”

 

“I like to imagine what it was like in 1962.”  Lin pushed her long brown hair back over her shoulder. “Have you heard any more about the museum someone wants to create here? I’d love to have a tour of the bunker someday. They want to restore it back to the way it was in the ‘60s. Wouldn’t it be cool to see it?”

 

“No,” Viv said with a serious shake of her head. “I’m claustrophobic. I wouldn’t want to go inside some creepy long metal tube.”

 

Lin smiled. “It’s not a tube you have to crawl through. You can walk upright down to the rooms.”

 

“I don’t care.” Viv’s nose turned up at the thought of being inside the bunker, and then she gestured to the hill. “The rooms are under this mound. It’s like being buried alive.”

 

“I give up on you. Let’s hope they make it into a museum like they plan to. It will be restored and refinished. Then you won’t be so creeped out by it.”

 

“Oh, yes, I will.”

 

The cousins climbed back up to the top of the mound and sat down to admire the view.

 

“Can you believe we’ll be married in a few weeks?” Lin asked.

 

“It came really fast. The summer flew by.”

 

Lin and her fiancé, Jeff, and Viv, and her future husband, John, became engaged on the same day thanks to the clever scheming of the men, and the couples decided to have their ceremonies on the same day as a double wedding.

 

“I’m glad we started planning well in advance,” Lin noted. “Now we can relax and enjoy the time before the event without running around like crazy people. I can’t wait until my friend, Claire, arrives for the wedding. I haven’t see her in a long time. She and her boyfriend will be here about a week before the wedding.”

 

“Hey.” Viv looked off across the fields to the fairground area. “What’s going on over there?”

 

The young women stood up to better see why police cars were congregating.

 

Suddenly, icy cold air raced over Lin’s skin leaving her shivering under the warm, late August sun. Lin’s eyes were drawn to a large, metal storage shed over by the basketball courts where the police vehicles had parked.

 

A young man stood in front of the building looking in Viv and Lin’s direction, and his gaze, even from that distance, chilled Lin.

 

“Lin?” Viv asked for the third time, then turned to her cousin, and when she saw the look on Lin’s face, her heart sank. “What is it?”

 

Lin shook herself and took a deep breath.

 

“What do you see?” Viv asked with a tone in her voice that seemed like she really didn’t want to know.

 

“How do you know I see something?” Lin ran her hand over her arms to warm them.

 

“Because I know you … and I know that look on your face. Do you see something?”

 

“Yes.” Lin shifted her attention back to the storage shed.

 

“Please don’t tell me what I think you’re going to tell me.” Viv’s shoulders sagged.

 

“There’s someone standing in front of the shed.”

 

“I knew it.” Viv sounded like a forlorn hound. “Are you sure? Why now? Can’t we have a normal wedding? Can’t we just enjoy ourselves? Is this going to be a haunted wedding?”

 

“It isn’t going to have anything to do with our weddings,” Lin said.

 

“How do you know?” Viv sighed. “Go ahead. Tell me what you see.”

 

“It’s a man, in his early to mid-twenties, medium height, slender. His hair is sandy blond. It’s cut short.”

 

“Is he see-through?” Viv asked with resignation.

 

“Yes. His atoms are shimmering in the sunlight.”

 

Lin had been able to see ghosts since she was a little girl, but she’d pushed her ability away for many years until she returned to Nantucket, the place of her birth. Since she’d been back on the island, there was no denying her skill. Ghosts regularly appeared to Lin, always needing her help, and she would never refuse a spirit any aid she was able to give.

 

“Is he still looking at us?” Viv questioned.

 

“Yes, but his atoms are losing their glow.” Lin kept her eyes on the man. “I’m here if you need me,” she said softly. After a few minutes passed, she told her cousin, “He’s gone now.”

 

“For now,” Viv said. “Next time you see the ghost, could you tell him we’re getting married in a few weeks and we would like the day not to be interrupted.”

 

Lin smiled. “I’ll see what I can do. Anyway, he might not need anything from me.”

 

“Really? He just stopped by to say hello? Since when has that ever happened?” Viv rolled her eyes. “Come on. Let’s walk over to see what’s going on down there with the police.”

 

The cousins hurried down the hill and walked across the grassy fields to where the two police cars had pulled to a stop. A slender, athletically-built man who looked to be in his early-thirties was standing next to his bicycle talking animatedly with the four officers. Two of the law enforcement officers nodded and then headed for the storage shed.

 

Off to the side, a couple was watching what was going on and Lin and Viv went over to talk to them.

 

“What are the police doing here?” Viv questioned.

 

The woman, who seemed to be in her late sixties, was short, and had chin-length gray hair. “The young guy with the bicycle stopped here to rest and look around. The shed door was partially open. He went in out of curiosity.” The woman gestured to her husband. “We were walking down the cliff side to the beach when we heard him scream.”

 

Viv put her hand over her mouth.

 

Lin wanted to ask a million questions, but she held back so the couple could tell the story in their own way.

 

“We hurried back.” The man was tall, gray-haired, and in his late sixties or early seventies. “The guy stumbled out of the shed. He was as pale as a ghost. We went over to see if he was okay.”

 

The wife took up the tale. “He kept saying over and over there was a body. He could barely stand upright. I got scared. I wondered if the guy might be crazy, but I dismissed that idea pretty quickly. He was so upset. My husband peeked inside the shed.”

 

The husband said, “I couldn’t see anything.  I wasn’t going in there though. If it was a crime scene, I didn’t want to tamper with anything. I asked the man if we should call the police. He said ‘yes, yes, call the police.’ So we did.”

 

“What did the man say was in the shed?” Lin asked. “Did he say anything more specific than a body?”

 

The woman told Lin, “We stayed with him until the police arrived. He began to calm down as the time went by. His name is Marty Lane. We asked him if he was sure the person he saw was dead. We worried that someone was in the shed who was hurt and might need help.”

 

“What did he tell you?” Viv asked.

 

“Marty said the body seemed like it had been dead for a long time,” the husband said.

 

Lin glanced at the storage shed. “The building isn’t abandoned. If the body was in there for a while, someone would have seen it, wouldn’t they?”

 

“I have no idea,” the woman said with a shake of her head. “I just want to go home. This has been very upsetting. We have a truck. We offered to drive Marty to his house. We’re waiting for him, otherwise, we’d be gone.”

 

Lin asked the couple their names and they introduced themselves as Kay and George Williams.

 

“We live here in Tom Nevers, nearer to ‘Sconset,” George said. “It’s such a nice day, we decided to drive over here and hike around. We didn’t get far.”

 

“Did Marty say anything else about what was in the shed?” Lin asked.

 

“He was too distraught to talk. We calmed him down by asking everyday questions,” Kay said. “I was afraid he was going to have a heart attack.”

 

Looking dazed, Marty walked towards them. “The police want me to go to the station with them. I can put my bike in their SUV. Thanks for your help.”

 

George and Kay nodded and shook hands with the man.

 

“Good luck. It will be okay,” Kay encouraged Marty.

 

An icy shiver ran down Lin’s back and she looked over to the storage shed as one of the officers stepped out.

 

The ghost-man stood in the doorway shimmering in the light. His eyes were so heavy and sad with misery that Lin’s heart ached for him and she had to blink fast to keep her tears from falling.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

 

Located on the cobble-stone main street of town, Viv’s popular bookstore-café was abuzz with customers when Lin took a seat at the small table with Libby Hartnett, a lifelong resident of the island and a distant cousin of Lin who had powers of her own.

 

Lin’s dog, Nicky, trotted over to the easy chair where Viv’s gray cat, Queenie, was resting and he jumped up to join the feline.

 

Libby was a trim, fit, older woman with short, stylishly-cut, silver-white hair who the cousins guessed might be in her early seventies. Since Lin had returned to Nantucket from the mainland to make her home in the cottage she’d inherited from her grandfather, Libby had been a huge help to the young woman … assisting Lin in her understanding and use of her unusual skill.

 

Lin gave Libby a short summary of what happened the previous day in Tom Nevers.

 

“I talked to Detective Forrest. He told me much the same things.” Libby sipped from her coffee mug.

 

“I saw a ghost when we were there.”

 

Holding her mug, Libby gave Lin a long look. “Did you?”

 

“He seemed full of misery. I felt the heaviness of his sadness.”

 

Libby leaned forward and despite the noisy chatter of the early morning crowd, she lowered her voice. “Did you pick up anything about the spirit?”

 

“He looked to be in his twenties. He was average height, slim, had sandy blond hair. He just stared at me. I couldn’t sense anything about him.”

 

“I’m sure he’ll be back,” Libby nodded. “Was he the ghost of the deceased man from the storage shed?”

 

“I don’t know yet.” A strand of hair had loosened from Lin’s long, brown ponytail and she pushed it away from her face. “Did the detective tell you how long the person may have been dead?” Lin asked.

 

“The medical examiner will have to determine that.”

 

“Where was the body found in the storage shed? Did it seem like someone had just dumped it there?” Lin remembered that Kay and George Williams told them that Marty said the body must have been inside the building for a long time. “A man named Marty Lane found the body. He thought it had been in the shed for some time.”

 

Libby sniffed. “Unless the young man is a medical archeologist or other such professional then I don’t think he knows anything about decomposition or death. There are many things that contribute to the breakdown of tissues. Just because the body didn’t appear recently dead, doesn’t mean a thing. We’ll wait for the examiner’s report before jumping to conclusions.”

 

“Did Detective Forrest think Marty was a credible witness?”

 

“He didn’t think Mr. Lane was making anything up, but the detective withholds judgment until more of the facts are in,” Libby explained.

 

“Did the detective share any other facts with you?”

 

“Detective Forrest is a careful man. Not much rattles him,” Libby said. “But he seemed slightly disturbed about this case, although he didn’t share many reasons why he felt that way.”

 

Lin’s heart began to race. “Did he say anything at all about why he felt uneasy?”

 

Libby leaned against the seat back. “Nothing specific. He mentioned the old uses of the Tom Nevers’s fairground and ball fields, the Kennedy bunker, the Navy’s use of the property during World War II.” During the second world war, the military used the area for air-to-ground training exercises and now is categorized as a Formerly Used Defense site. The woman narrowed her eyes. “I bet he thinks there are a lot of ghosts down there.”

 

Lin sat straight. “Really?”

 

Libby shook her head. “I don’t know what’s bothering him about the case. Maybe he doesn’t know why either.” Looking across the shop, she said, “Here comes Anton. He might have some input to share.”

 

Island historian, Anton Wilson, hurried to the table carrying his briefcase. In his early seventies, Anton, a thin and wiry man with intelligent eyes, was a retired professor, author, and expert on Nantucket’s past.

 

“I’m sorry I’m late.” Anton pushed his black-rimmed eyeglasses up his nose while taking a seat. “What have I missed?”

 

Lin shared her experience with the ghost and Libby told him some things she’d learned from Detective Forrest.

 

Blinking quickly, Anton looked from one woman to the other. “Hmm. Not much to go on yet.” He began to go through the papers in his briefcase, pulled some out, and placed them on the table. “Here are some photos. The Tom Nevers area was a top secret military base for years. They claimed they were doing oceanographic research at the base, but in fact, Cold War intelligence was being carried out.”

 

“What sort of intelligence?” Lin questioned.

 

“On submarines, destroyers,” Anton said. “Low frequency sound was being studied and tracked in order to identify and classify targets. Submarines could be identified by their sound output. Listening posts went from Barbados to Nova Scotia to keep track of hostile submarines. At the time, no one on the island knew what was really going on at the outpost … except for the Navy personnel, of course.”

 

“That’s all very interesting, but what does it have to do with the dead body and the ghost?” Lin asked.

 

Anton said, “I’m providing some history of the area which may come in handy as the investigation progresses. You’re aware of the Kennedy bunker?”

 

“Yes, I know about its history and I understand it’s being considered as a museum,” Lin said.

 

“That’s correct. There are also the unsolved murders off of Tom Nevers Road from about thirty years ago.”

 

Lin’s eyes went wide. “What? What murders?”

 

“A young couple were found dead in a house not far from the fairground area. Their throats had been slit. No one was ever arrested for the crime.”

 

“Why haven’t I heard about this before?” A shiver ran over Lin’s skin.

 

“It was decades ago,” Anton said. “It’s been forgotten.”

 

“Do you have any details about the murders?” Lin asked.

 

“The couple was engaged to be married. They’d moved to the island about six months prior to their deaths. I believe the man was a builder and the woman was a real estate agent. If it would be helpful, I can certainly do more research into the incident.”

 

 

* * *