Sneak Peek Triple Trouble

SNEAK PEEK: TRIPLE TROUBLE

A MIA MURPHY MYSTERY

"So much darn fun!" Five-star Goodreads Review (Penny)

CHAPTER ONE

X.

I stared at my phone, stunned at the text that had just come in from an unfamiliar number. My brain immediately shouted at me that the X meant bad things, bad, bad things.

Then I remembered that I wasn't ten years old in the middle of a con with my mom. She wasn't standing on the other side of a luxurious room crowded with celebrities, holding up two crossed fingers, giving me the X sign that meant "abandon the con right now because it's going south."

I was, in fact, a grown woman who had walked away from that life and my mom ten years ago. I was currently standing on my dock in the gorgeous morning sunlight on a beautiful Maine lake, going over my list of all the must-do items still undone prior to the grand reopening of my new marina.

Not a celebrity or con in sight. And definitely no mom.

I took a breath. Wow. My head had gone to old places in an alarming hurry.

I grinned at my massive rescue cat, who was perched on the end of the dock, his tail twitching in anticipation of the next unsuspecting fish to swim past. "It's all good, King Tut."

He ignored me, but I knew that the love was still there.

My life was great. I had friends, a home, and a marina that I was determined to turn into a success. I looked down at my phone again, studying my list. The landscapers were due to finish today, and?—

A second X popped up.

My heart sped up, and I sucked in my breath. What the fudge?

Tentatively, almost terrified of getting a response, I texted back. Mom?

I got an immediate, automated reply stating that the phone number was not in service.

I felt both relieved and weirdly sad. Of course it wouldn't be my mom. I hadn't had any contact with her since I'd left her when I was seventeen. Granted, I'd always felt that she knew exactly where I was and what I was doing, but even if that were true, why would she be texting me XX after all these years?

One X had meant abandon the con. XX had meant that it was getting dangerous and to get out as soon as possible. Get out? From my own home? That made no sense. But I couldn't help but take a more careful look around me.

The lake was relatively quiet, but there were a few boats around. Across the cove was Jake's Yacht Club, with its upscale blue and white awnings. Staff in their navy shirts and khaki shorts were strolling around helping customers. Everyone was calm. No danger that I could see.

I studied each driver of the boats that were near me, but I recognized everyone. No one new.

I turned around to examine my marina. The painters were working, the landscapers were making things beautiful. The front window that had been shot out my first week, almost killing one of my new besties, had been replaced, so the big plywood board was gone.

Everything was coming along well.

But despite all the warm fuzzies surrounding me, I could feel panic starting to build in my chest. I'd been relaxed for days, so the sudden descent into panic was throwing me. I was out of practice being on guard for my life.

I looked at King Tut again. He was my gold-star surveillance system. He'd sacrificed morals, pride, and common decency to save me more than once. "King Tut!"

He didn't take his gaze off the lake.

I took a breath, trying to get my head back into focus. The fact King Tut wasn't concerned meant there wasn't a threat. Granted, it could also mean that he was so deeply immersed in predator mode that he had no mental space for anything else…

My phone dinged again. My heart jumped, and I looked down.

X.

Three Xs.

Three Xs meant get out fast, no matter what it takes.

I looked around again, the hair on the back of my neck prickling even as I tried to talk myself out of freaking out. It was a few Xs. There was nothing special about an X. Anyone could type an X. Glitches could produce Xs with zero effort.

I was at home at my marina. What could possibly be so dangerous that I needed to get out as fast as I could? My mom's messes hadn't been mine for a very long time.

Then my gaze settled on Vinnie, the sometime-gang-leader-ish guy who was currently acting as my unofficial bodyguard, due to the fact that my real one had been murdered (by a person unrelated to me and my life). The feds still couldn’t figure out who had put surveillance cameras in my marina, so Vinnie had taken over keep-Mia-alive duty.

It had never once occurred to me that the spying had anything to do with my mother. I'd assumed it was connected to my ex-husband, who was currently in federal prison for being a drug kingpin. I'd put him there, and his mom had tried to kill me for it.

Vinnie was standing in the parking lot, his arms folded as he scanned the area. He looked dangerous and armed, despite the fact he had already admitted he would never shoot anyone for me, due to his aversion to a life of guilt and trauma, and things like that.

But at six-foot four, muscular, and wearing just the right amount of bling for a gang leader, he looked like a deadly force, so I doubted anyone would try while he was around. Plus, honestly, after spending so long looking over my shoulder, I'd gotten used to the possibility of being a target.

I was chill now.

Except, apparently, when being triggered by my past.

I looked down at my phone again, trying to think of a reply that might help me figure out if the sender was my mom.

My mom had been a code person, because living a life of crime had taught her that paper trails were never good for the criminal.

I tried to remember something from the code we'd used, but all I could think of were the made-up symbols that we'd created, none of which were on the keyboard of my phone (go figure, right?). I couldn't quite recall how any of them went together anyway.

I did remember the symbol for my name, though.

I quickly knelt on the dock, dipped my finger in the water, and then drew the symbol on the wood. I took a picture of it then texted it to the number.

Again, an immediate reply that the number was not in service.

Then, right after that, another text came through. XXX .

Alarm shot through me, the kind that she'd triggered in me so many times as a kid. Run, Mia, run!

"King Tut," I shouted. "Let's go. Now." I didn't know where to go, but I had to get out, and get out fast. I had no idea what was happening, but I liked my life too much to be willing to die. "Vinnie," I shouted. "We gotta go!"

Vinnie started running toward me, but King Tut ignored me. I ran to the edge of the dock to get him. Leaving my cat behind didn't qualify as "no matter what." He was my family, and there was no way I was leaving him. "King Tut! We gotta go?—"

He shot off the dock and dove into the water, disappearing under the surface. "Hey!"

I immediately jumped in after him, knowing that sometimes King Tut vanished for hours once he got under the water. I didn't know where he went, but wherever he came up for air was out of my sight. It used to freak me out, but I'd gotten used to it.

But now was not the time to lose my cat for hours. The late June water was warming, but still a shock to my system as I hit the lake. I immediately ducked under, searching the crystalline water for my black cat.

I didn't see him.

I stood up, water dripping off me. Vinnie was already at the end of the dock. "What's happening?" He looked alarmed.

"Where's King Tut? Can you see him? We need to get out of here, but I need to get him first!"

"King Tut?" Vinnie pulled off his sunglasses and scanned the water.

At that moment, I heard the roar of the lake patrol boat. I whirled around and waved my hands at Devlin Hunt, the too-handsome-for-anyone's-good cop who was driving it. "Stop!" I shouted. "King Tut's under the water! Turn off your propeller!"

Because we'd done this drill many times since I'd bought the marina a few months ago and discovered that my cat was an avid underwater hunter, Devlin immediately shut his boat off and leaned over the edge to search the water.

For a long moment, there was silence as the three of us scanned the water for my baby.

"There!" Devlin pointed close to the beach, and I sloshed through the water toward where he was pointing, my heart pounding.

"Something's wrong!" I shouted as I hurried after King Tut. "I'm in danger!"

"What?" Devlin stood up and put his hand on his gun. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" I saw a black shadow under the water, and I lunged for him. My hands wrapped around King Tut's waist, and I dragged the yowling beast out of the water. "I need to go!" I started running toward the shore. I had no idea what the danger was or where it was coming from, which made me even more alarmed.

Just as I reached the shore, fighting to hold into a sodden ball of long-haired anger, an extended-cab pickup truck shot into the parking lot. I knew that black truck. It belonged to one of my two best friends, Hattie Lawless, a seventy-something chef who ran a café in my marina and raced cars on the side. "Hattie!"

She hit the brakes and the truck skidded to a stop. She jumped out, grabbing my shoulders as I ran up. "What's going on? Why do you look like you're freaking out?"

"A triple X! I think my mom sent me a triple X!"

"Is that porn?" Hattie looked intrigued. "I had no idea your mom was into porn. I mean, not surprising because she's a wild card, but porn? Can I see it? I assume it's girl power porn, right? She seems empowered."

"Porn?" I stared at her. "No. It's our signal that the con has gone south, and we need to run."

"A con?" Her eyebrows shot up. "You're running a con with your mom? What con?"

"I'm not. I mean, that I know of. But I got this text from this random number, and it could have been her, and?—"

"Wait a minute." Hattie put her hands on her hips. "Mia Murphy. Pull yourself together. You're not running a con. You own a marina in the charming town of Bass Derby. You don't engage in illegal activities, except to help others. And you haven't heard from your mom in over a decade. Whatever you think is going on, isn't."

I grabbed my phone and handed it to her as Vinnie ran up. "See?"

Hattie took the phone, and the two of them peered at it. "This?" Hattie frowned at me. "Some random text from a number that doesn’t even work? You're freaking out about this? How do you know it's her?"

"I don't know it's her, but what if it is? What if there's something going on and she's trying to warn me and?—"

"Hey!" Hattie cut me off. "Take a breath, girlfriend." She held up her hands palm up and inhaled. "Deep breath. Channel your inner river."

I blinked. "My river?"

"Yes. A calm, scenic river. Tranquility. Peace. Serenity. Imagine chiseled, charming men lined up on the banks, singing about how wonderful you are."

I stared at her. "Seriously?"

"Yes. Imagine their deep voices, singing 'Mia is a badass. She rules the world!' Maybe they're even dancing for you, some manly, synchronized beauty. How can that not feel good? Breathe in. Breathe out."

Devlin finally caught up to us. "What's going on?"

"Keep channeling your river, Mia. I got this." Hattie held up my phone. "Mia thinks this text is from her mom, signaling that the end of the world is upon us, and she must run away. To where? She doesn't know. From what? Also unknown."

Devlin took the phone and frowned at it. As he studied it, I found my pulse slowing and my panic easing. Devlin was a local cop in the small town of Bass Derby, but I was pretty certain he had a black ops background.

His buddy, Agent Hawk Straus, who I called Griselda to reclaim my personal power, was the FBI agent who had coerced me into a two-year-undercover sting against my ex. When I'd moved to Bass Derby, Griselda had asked Devlin to make sure no one from my ex's life assassinated me. He trusted Devlin with my life, which means I did, too. With Devlin standing by my side, no one would be able to get to me.

Plus, the river visualization had been surprisingly helpful.

I took the deep breath Hattie had wanted for me, and she nodded her approval as she studied me. "It's not like you to freak out like that," she observed. "You're very unflappable when it comes to danger like assassins, guns, and other imminent threats to your life. Why are you having a fit over this?"

Devlin looked over at me. "Hattie's right. This could easily just be some random text."

They were right. I usually was pretty calm. A childhood of crime had inured me to the small dangers in life. In fact, it had instilled in me an affinity for a high-risk life, which I tried to suppress as much as possible. "I know. It's just…well…it's my mom ."

"It's probably not your mom," Hattie said.

"I know. I just meant that she triggers me." I let out my breath again. "The purpose of the triple X code was to get my attention when I wasn't taking things seriously. She would use it to freak me out and get me to do what she needed me to."

Hattie cocked her brow. "That sounds a little manipulative."

"When you're a criminal, sometimes you can't mess around." I looked over at Devlin, who was frowning at me. "What?"

He held up my phone. "I'm going to have Griselda, I mean Hawk, track this number and see what he can figure out."

I nodded. "Okay, great. Thanks."

"But in the meantime, I agree with Hattie," he said. "Keep an eye out, but we're already on alert, so I don't think we raise the alarm any higher. Unless you know something else?"

I looked at the three of them, and buried my chin in King Tut's soggy head. "You know, I think you guys are right. It makes no sense that my mom would be telling me to run from here." My tension eased even more. "It was an old trigger, I guess."

"We all have those," Devlin said softly.

I knew he understood. He'd been in a gang when he was a kid, so I imagined he had his own share of childhood land mines that came up from time to time. "Thanks."

He nodded. "It's all good, Mia." But he continued to study me. "You do look like hell, though."

"Thanks." Not too long ago, Devlin had declared his interest in dating me. On the same day, Griselda had made the same announcement. They were besties. Griselda had warned me off Devlin. Devlin had warned me off Griselda. I didn't want to ever date anyone again.

It was awkward.

And yet somehow, I'd agreed to have dinner with Devlin tomorrow night. Umm…

Hattie peered at me. "You know, you do look haggard. It can't all be from that text."

"Mia was up all night working on the marina," Vinnie offered. "She's freaking out about having it ready in time for her grand reopening."

Empathy flashed across Hattie's face. "Sweetie, it looks amazing. It's going great."

"I know, but it's just that I have to overcome the marina's reputation and mine. Do you know that the sheriff came over here with some woman a couple days ago? She'd lost her diamond ring and accused me of taking it, due to my criminal history and all."

Devlin narrowed his eyes. "I didn't know about that." No one in the entire town was impressed with our sheriff, not even the mayor, who had hired him. She also happened to be his mom.

"Well, the lady found it under her own bed," I said.

"Which you could have put there," Hattie said. "It doesn’t exonerate you."

I looked at her. "How is that helpful?"

"Just wanted to remind you of your awesomeness. Just because someone doesn’t appreciate your specialness or sees it as a threat doesn't make you any less awesome." She put her arm around my shoulders. "You need a vacation."

I sighed. She'd offered this trip about forty times in the last two weeks. "I can't take a vacation. I'm opening my marina in ten days."

"And yet, you were ready to abandon it all forever, because of a random text," she said.

I grimaced. "So I freaked out a little."

"A lot," Vinnie said. "You dove in after your cat like he was about to be murdered."

I tightened my arms around my soggy cat, who was now purring and happy to be snuggled. "I thought he was in danger."

Hattie put her hands on her hips. "As I have told you repeatedly, I'm going to visit my cousin Thelma for a couple days to celebrate her birthday. Come with me. It's a five-star island resort on the coast of Maine. You'll come back rested, refreshed, and ready to receive all texts with a clear mind."

I wanted to go so badly, because having friends was a precious new treasure, and I loved every second of it. But setting down roots in my new town was critical for me, and getting accepted by the town was more difficult than I'd expected. I had a lot riding on this grand opening, and I needed to be here working, not on vacation. "I already told you I can't. I have the grand opening?—"

"If the triple X was from your mom, then leaving for a couple days seems like a great idea as well," Hattie interrupted.

Huh. "You're not wrong about that," I admitted slowly.

"And Lucy's coming on the trip," Hattie said. "Girl bonding. You know you love it."

Aw…Lucy was going, too? Now I really wanted to go. The three of us had become such a tight trio since I'd moved to Bass Derby.

"I think it's a good idea to go," Devlin said. "Get off the grid for a few days while we figure this out."

I looked at him, both disappointed and relieved at the idea of missing our date. "Our dinner?"

He grinned, looking pleased that I'd even remembered we had plans. "I don't know about you, but I'll still live in this town when you get back. We'll figure it out."

I bit my lip. The idea of stepping away from the marina for a couple days did sound good. I was drained, I loved Hattie and Lucy, and a little part of me was worried that the text really had been from mom. "Is the resort cat-friendly?"

"I don't think so, but hang on." She pulled out her phone and made a call. "Beau. It's Hattie."

Beau Hammersley was a reclusive, wealthy mystery writer who claimed to hate the world, except for me, my mom, and Hattie. I suspected he liked people a lot more than he claimed, but I adored him either way.

"Mia needs to leave town for a couple days because her mom might have just sent her a cryptic text about danger. Can you come over and grab King Tut and watch him?"

I grinned. Beau was obsessed with my mom. He'd run across a documentary on the infamous Tatum Murphy when he'd been researching one of his books, and the obsession had been born.

Hattie hung up the phone. "He'll be here in a few seconds. He's around the corner. He's out boating."

My arms tightened around King Tut. "I don't want to leave King Tut behind?—"

"Yo! I'm here!" Beau came flying around the corner in his boat, shouting and waving his arms. He sped up to the beach and ran his boat right onto the sand. He leapt out and came racing up. He was wearing his bejeweled sandals, denim shorts, and his tee shirt with the bloody dagger on it. His hair was ratty from the wind, and the only sign of wealth on him was the brand of his sunglasses. "Your mom's in danger?"

I almost started laughing at his delight about my mom being involved. "I don't know. Maybe."

Hattie pointed to King Tut. "Mia needs King Tut safe."

Beau eyed the cat. "Tatum might come to check on him?"

"She might," I agreed. Who knew what my mom might do? No one. Checking on my cat was as possible as anything else.

"Then he's safe with me." Beau held out his arms. "Come on, King Tut. Let's go." The reclusive mystery writer liked to put on a tough persona, but in his heart, he was a good man. If he said he'd keep King Tut safe, he would. He'd do whatever it took. After decades as a mystery writer, the man had ideas about danger, death, and murder that no one wanted to know.

King Tut gazed at Beau and didn't budge from my arms.

Beau met his steely gaze. "I have caviar."

King Tut immediately leapt out of my arms, raced down the sand, then jumped into Beau's boat. He sat down on the bow, flicked his tail, and gave us all a sullen, serious glare with his unblinking yellow eyes. Even with his black fur still dripping with water, he looked huge, menacing, and dangerous.

"Damn, girl." Hattie grinned. "If you decide not to go and deprive that cat of Beau's caviar, you will never be safe from that feline again."

"I need to channel King Tut's attitude for my next villain," Beau said. "Look at that threat. It's brilliant. Subtle. Unyielding. And yet disarming in that kitty-cat ball of soggy fluff. It's almost diabolical. I love it! He's my new muse. Get me his life jacket, and we're off."

I bit my lip. "I've never been without King Tut since I rescued him."

Hattie put her arm around my shoulder. "King Tut will be safe away from the marina, and you'll be safe too. Plus, both of you will have fun."

"I think it's the best call," Devlin said. "Give me a couple days to figure out what's going on." He looked over at me. "I'll keep an eye on the marina."

"I will, too. I know what the contractors are supposed to be doing, and I'll manage it," Vinnie said. "I'll sleep in the spare storefront. It'll cost you, but I'm worth it."

I looked at the three of them, and my heart got all mushy. These were my friends, people who cared if I died, cared if my cat was safe, and cared about my marina. I might not have had my breakthrough with the rest of the town yet, but I'd found a little niche of home, and I appreciated it with all my heart.

The truth was, I did want to go with Hattie and Lucy. I wanted to go with every fiber in my being. "How long's the trip?"

"Three days and two nights," Hattie said. "The ferry leaves in four hours, though. We need to hurry. How fast can you pack?"

I looked over at her, and suddenly, I knew she was right. They were all right. Those texts might not be from my mom, but they were the impetus I needed. I was supposed to go on this trip, and I wasn't going to miss it. "Fast."

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