Death Rides the Surf (A Kate Kennedy Mystery Book 5) Read Online Free PDF

tiny supermarket. The store was located in a mini mall on the north side of Neptune Boulevard in the shadow of the bridge. Before grocery shopping, the two old friends planned to have ice cream sodas at Dinah’s Restaurant next door to the supermarket, where Ballou and other small pets were welcome.
    They’d crossed A1A and were waiting for the bridge traffic to abate before crossing the boulevard. A riot of red and pink hibiscus filled a small garden in front of the beauty salon. Unlike many of her Ocean Vista neighbors, Kate didn’t think of Palmetto Beach as paradise, but it would suffice until she arrived there.
    “I’ve been wondering about Acapulco.” Kate adjusted her sunglasses. They seemed to spend more time on top of her silver hair than covering her eyes, but the sun was wickedly bright today.
    “And my guess would be that you aren’t considering a vacation there.”
    “What do you remember reading about that girl who disappeared there last summer? Amanda. I forget her last name.”
    “Rowling. A beautiful girl. Drama major at UCLA, you know. Her mother was on the Today show again just the other day.” Marlene nudged Kate. “Come on, let’s cross while we have the light.”
    The smell of the sea mixed with the fragrance of the flowers and the aroma of freshly baked bread that wafted from Dinah’s. Heaven’s scent couldn’t be any better than this.
    Suddenly starving, Kate opened the restaurant’s front door and grabbed a window booth. She might have a blueberry muffin with her ice cream soda.
    Strange how the mind and body could focus on mundane pleasures while the heart and soul fretted over major problems. Katharine’s infatuation with Jon Michael might become a major problem. The loss of Charlie made Kate’s heart ache every day, though the pain no longer throbbed. Nevertheless, she craved that muffin.
    Most of the waitresses at Dinah’s were Kate’s and Marlene’s age. A few needed the money, but several of them worked there because they loved their customers.
    “Hi, girls. What’ll you have?” Myrtle, blonde, brassy, seventy-six, and kicking—she was in a tap dance group the performed in assisted-living residences with Mary Frances—was all smiles. The crinkles around her eyes deepened. Their favorite waitress had the leathery skin of a woman who’d grown up in a beach town with year-round sunshine decades before there were any warnings about skin damage.
    “A black-and-white ice cream soda and a blueberry muffin, please,” Kate said, thinking she came across as defiant.
    Marlene laughed. “Same for me.”
    Kate remembered them as eight-year-olds sitting at the counter of their candy store in Jackson Heights, sipping sodas, her mind and her heart grateful for their friendship. “When did Amanda Rowling disappear? I know it was after Katharine returned from Mexico.”
    “Late August.” Marlene petted Ballou who sat at her feet, behaving like the gentleman he was. “Between our two back-to-back hurricanes. That’s why we missed most of the original TV coverage; we were a tad busy picking up the pieces.”
    “I wonder when the three boardsmen returned from Acapulco.”
    “Well, they didn’t show up on our beach until after Labor Day, so chances are they were still there when Amanda disappeared.” Marlene waved across the restaurant at Joe Sajak, Ocean Vista’s much sought after widower who, at four o’clock in the afternoon, had to be the earliest bird eating dinner in all of South Florida.
    “What about the other boardsman, Sam Meyers? Do you think Jon Michael, Claude, and Roberto met him here after they’d returned from Acapulco?” Kate ripped the paper off her straw as Myrtle placed the ice cream soda in front of her.
    “I know Sam Meyers,” Myrtle said. “He brings his granny here every Friday night for the fish fry. Ms. Meyers is an activist, you know, and a founding member of NOW. She’s fighting city hall. The town fathers want to let some New York outfit buy