At the River’s Edge The Chesapeake Diaries Read Online Free Page A

“Wait up. You don’t know what might be living around this place.”
    “Like what?”
    “Raccoons, rats …”
    “Oooh, not raccoons! Anything but raccoons!” She feigned horror, rolling her eyes, and kept walking.
    The building was perfectly square, the front door smack in the center, with big double windows on either side, both of which were boarded up. Dead vines clung to the stone as far as the second floor, and the entire front was flanked by an impressive growth of dead weeds that must have been formidable last summer. A large sign hung crookedly from the side of the building. The name of the restaurant was painted in faded green letters on what had been a white background, but dirt and debris made the sign illegible.
    Sophie pointed to the sign and asked, “Can you read the name?”
    “Let me see.” Jesse pretended to look from several angles. “Yeah. I think it says D.I.V.E.”
    Ignoring his sarcasm, Sophie took a few steps back and to the right, trying to get a different perspective.
    “I think it says ‘Walsh’s.’ ”
    “Maybe the people who owned the place.” Jesse appeared unimpressed.
    “How long do you suppose it’s been boarded up?”
    Jesse shrugged. “No idea. I only noticed the place the other day when I drove by on my way to drop off some papers at Dallas MacGregor’s office.”
    “It still blows my mind that an A-list movie star like Dallas MacGregor lives in St. Dennis.”
    “Not only lives here, but she’s got her own production company here now. She bought some old warehouses just down the road and is renovating them. She wants to make her own films here.”
    “I heard about the studio.” Sophie stopped in mid-stride. “It’s going to be right down the road?”
    “Yeah, about a half mile. Maybe a little less.”
    “Hmmm …” She tucked away the information.
    Her inspection took her around the right side of the building, where she found more boarded-up windows and a staircase that led to the second floor.
    “I don’t know how stable those steps are,” Jesse cautioned when she started up the stairs.
    “I just want to peek. I bet there’s an apartment up here.”
    “If there is, it’s locked up, so you’re wasting your time.” Jesse looked at his watch. “And mine.”
    At the top of the stairs, Sophie tried to peer through the windows, but the tissue she found in her bag was woefully inadequate to remove the amount of dirt that had built up on the glass. “I can’t see much,” she called down to Jesse, “but it looks like it’s totally empty. What do you suppose is the story on this place?”
    “I don’t know. Violet might, though.”
    “Violet who works in your office?”
    “She’s lived in St. Dennis forever. If there’s a story, chances are she’d know it.”
    “Good point.” Sophie descended the steps and walked around to the back of the building. More windows, another door, all boarded up.
    “Seen enough?” Jesse joined.
    “Almost. Any idea where the property lines are?”
    “Well, you’ve got the river down there, so it could go all the way down to the river through the woods.”
    She could see through the labyrinth of shrubs and bare-limbed trees all the way down to the riverbank. When summer came and the trees leafed out, that view would be obscured. The dense leafless overgrowth continued as far as the gravel driveway that belonged to the boat rental place a stone’s throw down the road to the left.
    “And I’d guess that the end of the parking lot out front is the right-side line,” Jesse said, pointing toward the macadam lot.
    “That cyclone fence your first clue?” She frowned at the ugly fence that ran the length of the property on the right side. “I wonder who owns that hot mess.”
    Jesse shrugged. “I’ve no idea.”
    “That fence has to go.”
    “Good luck with that.”
    Sophie stood with her hands on her hips, surveying the tangle of vines and brush that surrounded the building, mentally removing it. Except for a