You Ain't Seen Muffin Yet: The Mysteries of Cozy Cove

You Ain't Seen Muffin Yet The Mysteries of Cozy Cove Book 5 Virginia K. Bennett Copyright © 2023 by Virginia K. Bennett All rights reserved. Published by Virginia K. Bennett. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Cover by PremadeCozyCovers on Etsy To Virginia Cantara, Barbara Keenan and Gilly Bennett, the grandmothers who were fiercely ahead of their time and gave me my name. Thank you for being authentically you! I love you! Table of Contents 1. The Gravity of the Situation 2. Skydiving Has Many Downfalls 3. No Strings Attached 4. In For the Long Fall 5. Flying Feels Air-mazing 6. Librarians Think Highly of Themshelves 7. Flying Coach, Not First Class 8. Seas the Day 9. Sherlock Went to Elementary School 10. Long Time No Sea Also by Virginia K. Bennett Recipe About the Author Chapter 1 The Gravity of the Situation Mackenzie stood on the bridge leading from the Cozy Cove peninsula over to the quaint residential part of the town where her home was waiting for her with two loving cats, pajamas and an iPad filled with books. The hardest part of her afternoon was going to be choosing where to sit and what to read. Memories of yesterday’s group date continued to swirl in her head. From the exhilaration of beating the sixty-minute clock to the disappointment of riding in a van that lost its air conditioning, she couldn’t wait to do it all again another time. Original Michael announced yesterday that he had decided not to go back to teaching, so that added to the possible future of Monday group dates. While her Tuesday-brain recalled the details she and Arthur had spent much of the afternoon reliving between customers, she was momentarily stunned to see a large object come flying past her, less than six feet in front of her face. Flying was the wrong word because whatever it was, the direction was straight down. There was nothing graceful or elegant about the way it plummeted into the waters below the bridge. Red hair falling to either side of her face, Mackenzie leaned over the southwest rail to see rings and ripples of water spreading concentrically out from the impact of something that hadn’t quite surfaced. As the object made its way back into the afternoon sunlight, the very distinct shape of a person caused her to run back in the direction of the bakery. When she reached the bottom of the wooden stairs, she grabbed the lowest handrail to help propel her around to the side of the bridge that now featured a floating body. The comfy work shoes were quickly discarded amongst the rocks that led down to the water. This side of the bridge didn’t have any docks or ramps, so she tried to scramble over the boulders that lined the water’s edge. The shock had been so great, as was the gut reaction to help, Mackenzie realized she hadn’t even yelled for help. When she got to the water, just before leaping in, she yelled under the bridge to a number of fishermen that were in docked boats. Had they passed under the bridge minutes earlier, they may have been in the direct path of the form she was now attempting to rescue. “Hey! Somebody call 9-1-1! Guys! Someone… Call 9-1-1!” While it might have been the peak of gorgeous summer weather along the coast of Maine, the water was still shockingly cold. Mackenzie looked up to the bridge above as a couple now peering over caught her eye. “Hey! Call 9-1-1!” She pointed to the floating body and proceeded to jump into the water after it, not waiting to see if they had made the call or not. The water was quickly over her head, the bottom dug deeper over the years to allow larger boats to pass through. She was a strong swimmer, but now questioned whether or not she would be able to bring this person back to shore on her own. When she reached the face-down figure, she turned it over revealing a female face she did not recognize. Hooking an arm under her armpit, Mackenzie began the arduous trip back to the rocky edge where she now noticed several people had gathered. Standing knee-deep in water, two large fishermen were there to grab the body and drag it out of the water. Mackenzie, exhausted, crawled up onto a flat rock and flopped onto her back, gasping for air. She could hear the onlookers asking questions, but she didn’t know if they were speaking to or about her. Ignoring the chatter, she rolled to her side to see what was happening with the body. One fisherman, who she now recognized as Jake Kipper, was kneeling, moving his hands in the neck area. After a minute, he moved to the wrist, presumably looking for a pulse. Mackenzie propped herself up on her elbows and gasped when she saw the head at a very peculiar angle. “I’m pretty sure she’s gone.” Jake bowed his head. The other fisherman, with his back to Mackenzie, concurred. “I didn’t find a pulse either.” Within seconds, the first sirens could be heard approaching. When the ambulance pulled up, EMTs rushed to the deceased. “Excuse us. Please move.” They quickly came to the same conclusion. Mac dropped from her elbows to her back, soaking wet and now sobbing uncontrollably. “Miss, are you okay?” An EMT approached Mackenzie to check on her. “I’m fine. No injuries here.” Fine was not an appropriate word to describe the woman the EMT observed, so he stood