Between the Seams Errand NaNo

The primary setting for Between the Seams is Martha's Vineyard, a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. The Vineyard is primarily a vacation destination as the population goes from 15,000 during the year to over 100,000 in the summer. The island is primarily known as for its history with the Kennedy family and as a setting to the film Jaws. The Vineyard is home to six major towns and the adjacent island, Chappaquiddick. The neighboring Island of Nantucket can also be reached by ferry from the Vineyard. It is the 58th largest island in the United States (third largest on the East Coast) with a land area of 96 square miles. The Vineyard is not particularly easy-to-get-to, accessible only by ferry or plane. Boats arrive either in Oak Bluffs or West Tisbury while the airport is located near the center of the island.

The Vineyard was originally inhabited by the Wampanoag people, a Native American tribe. They called the island “Noepe” or the “land amid the streams.” In 1600s, their people were about 3,000 strong on the island but that dropped to just over 300 in the 1700s as a result of European exploration. Bartholomew Gosnold first sailed to the island in 1602 and the name “Martha’s Vineyard” originally given to a southern island was transferred. It is notable that there never was a Vineyard on the island so we are uncertain where that part of the name came from. There are suspicions the first part of the name is named after Gosnold’s mother-in-law or daughter, both of whom shared the given name “Martha.”

The first English settlement on the island in 1642 was the town of Edgartown, originally called Great Harbor. Visiting Edgartown today, very much of it is preserved from its colonial days. The houses and businesses are painted entirely white, including the siding. Many of the roads are still cobbled brick. The chimney tops are either white or black—a relic from revolutionary times where a white chimney indicated the household was loyal to Great Britain and a black chimney indicated the inhabitants sided with the rebels. This was a way for passing travelers to know if they were heading towards a sympathetic household or not when seeking shelter from the road. Edgartown maintains the large harbor that first gave it prominence. In modern times, Edgartown has become the most affluent city on the island, which is evident by the high-end boutiques and restaurants that line its street. You could spend $300 on lunch in Edgartown if you choose to. Hotels and accommodation are of a comparable price point. The homes are large and grand, often with multiple floors. The architecture is distinctly colonial. Even the island prison, which is in close-by Edgartown, could be mistaken for a charming country home. Notably, Edgartown is also home to a wonderfully quirky independent bookstore, Edgartown Books, which boasts a café and painted staircases.

Edgartown is connected by bus to the rest of the towns on the island. The bus system is very good on island, but the best way to get around is by car as the towns are far apart distance wise. The easiest bus connection from Edgartown is to Oak Bluffs, a central town for summer tourists as it is where the ferry comes in. The bus route passes the infamous Jaws Bridge on Seaview Avenue. This is a simple wooden bridge that looks a bit like a fence, but it was used for the filming of Jaws. Its distinguishing feature is that is the only bridge on island that it is legal to jump off and as such, it is a frequent stop for tourists.

Oak Bluffs has a very different feel from Edgartown. Where Edgartown can seem stuffy and upper-class, Oak Bluffs has more of a beach town vibe. To the west of the ferry terminal, Oak Bluffs boasts a wide harbor with many boats especially in summertime. To the east of the ferry terminal is Inkwell Beach, a popular spot for sunbathing and swimming. A lifeguard is not always present and there is no fee to enter the beach. Because of the geography, the current often runs calmly parallel the shore, making it perfect for swimming, especially lap swimming (as opposed to jumping waves). At beach entrances, there are signs concerning rip tides, but this is an infrequent occurrence. With climate change, it is true that shark patterns are drifting closer to the island, but you are still more likely to see a shark on a t-shirt in a tourist shop than out on shore. Quahog shell (hard-shell clam) are found on Inkwell Beach as well as all beaches throughout the island. The shells are known for their distinct purple color and are often used in Wampanoag jewelry. In addition to the beach, Oak Bluffs is home to the country’s oldest carousel in operation: Flying Horses Carousel, brought to the island in 1884. The red carousel building sits on the edge of Circuit Avenue, the main street in the town, which contains the vast majority of the shops and restaurants. But perhaps most of all, Oak Bluffs is known for the Gingerbread Houses, which were built on a Methodist camping ground in the late 1800s. The Carpenter’s Gothic aesthetic of the houses are illuminated by the bright and vibrant paint jobs the houses are dressed in. Despite being a tourist attraction, the houses are still lived in and often passed down from generation to generation. In the middle of the houses is a tabernacle: a circular pavilion with a tent under which services are held and community events take place.

The other towns on the Vineyard are Vineyard Haven, West Tisbury, Chilmark and Aquinnah. Vineyard Haven is directly opposite Oak Bluffs and is home to the second ferry terminal as well as a theatre. West Tisbury is the island’s primary centre for shipping. This is a very important role as everything needs to be imported to the island, making most things much more expensive than they would be on the mainland. Chilmark is particularly known for their chocolates and the company that creates them and specifically employs disabled people. Aquinnah, formerly known as Gay Head, is the stronghold of a Wampanoag. Additionally, Aquinnah boasts spectacular natural cliffs like those in Europe, which are very rarely seen in the United States.

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Joanna "Joey" Isabelle Graciela--Protagonist. Joanna is a 27 year old Editorial Assistant at Miss magazine. Unlike many of her colleagues who were attracted to the lights of the big city, Joanna was born in New York City and raised in a sleepy New Jersey town. In this way, she knows it and she isn’t fascinated by city life like her colleagues. On the contrary, she’s become rather bored of New York, and acutely aware of its flaws from the pollution and homeless population to the fact that the tunnel now costs $15. She also stands out from her colleagues because she fell into publishing on accident; it was never something she had her eyes fixed on. At the time we meet her, she is frustrated with where the magazine is headed and publishing in general. Recent cutbacks in employment targeting older employees makes her feel like the company is abandoning their values and the wisdom these people have. It is in this state of boredom and frustration that her curiosity is set alight by the notion that Carolyn’s younger sister Katy disappeared.

Physically, Joanna is a short, but lean. She has medium brown hair with light highlights and deep brown eyes. Her skin is a light olive tone and she occasionally still gets spots, which she hates. Fashion-wise, she has to dress up for work, but always feels uncomfortable there. This is due to the fact that most of the others in her office have much more expensive wardrobe, either coming from money or marrying money as is typical in the publishing industry. Unlike the flamboyant style of her peers, Joanna sports cheaper black suit pieces, often breaking up what might seem like a first year legal associate’s suits into separates. She typically carries a navy blue satchel bag, which she uses as a makeshift briefcase. When not in the office, Joey can usually be seen wearing a pair of jeans and an Oxford shirt. Nothing too casual or two formal, just appropriate for going out of the house. Her hair sits just past her shoulder and falls straight down. She has a habit of putting it up when needing to focus or get work done.

Joanna Isabelle Graciela was born to Eliza Rankin and Julian Graciela. Rankin worked in as an advertising executive for Ogilvy & Mather. Graciela emigrated to the United States from Panama and unable to find a skilled job, worked in construction out in Brooklyn for his first few years. Eventually, he got a job in his trained field of journalism at a borough newspaper, but never got very far there. As such, Eliza was the primary breadwinner during Joanna’s childhood, something she constantly reminded her daughter of: that woman could and should have her own salary and be able to support her family. A certain focus on busting gender roles was not only a focus of Eliza, but Julian as well. His reasons were different, however. He had wanted a son and so treated Joanna as such to the point calling her ‘Joey,’ a nickname which stuck ever since. Unfortunately, she never lived up to his expectations when it came to sports and her job at Miss magazine felt like a nail in the coffin. Considering the salary, both her parents thought she could do better, but Julian accepted at least that this is what journalism pays, period. She remains on good terms with her parents, though Eliza wishes she would visit more often considering she only lives an hour away on the train.

Growing up, Joanna didn’t have a lot of friends. She was weird and quirky other pupils thought. Her parents tried to encourage her to make friends, but somehow not knowing about the latest cut and color of blue jeans seemed like an obstacle. So did not have an opinion in the gel manicure debate. Instead, she focused on her studies. It wasn’t until high school that she found a group of like-mind women with whom she didn’t mind spending time with. It was in this group of four others that she first encountered Carolyn Asker, a girl a grade younger than her, but quiet and bright. The girls got along well, often staying at one another’s houses or visiting the mall together. This made Joey privy to the inner workings of the Asker family, including her siblings, Katy and Brian. As Brian was much older, Joey had little time with him, but she was invited to his funeral when he committed suicide by jumping in front of a train while the girls were in college. After this event, Carolyn asked Joey to hang out with Katy and Katy grew close to the older girl despite the distance.

Joey attended Sarah Lawrence College on a partial scholarship. There, she excelled in the humanities, particularly Literature, which would become her degree. She also worked on the newspaper and swam on the school team. In keeping to herself, she didn’t garner the attention of men or anyone else. Upon returning to New Jersey, she needed a job if she wanted to leave her parents’ house. A friend of hers had been obsessively connecting with people in the publishing industry on LinkedIn and came across an opening, sending it to Joanna. She didn’t expect to get the job and chops it up to the fact that Dana didn’t want a dimwit for an assistant considering how publishing was going down the tubes.

Joanna didn’t mind Miss when she started, but overtime, she’s grown bored and moody. She has one office friend, Catriona, who started as an assistant at the same time. She doesn’t particularly like new assistants or staff, anyone who can rock the boat in an already volatile market.
Her personality is curious, intelligent, and determined. She values friendship a great deal and goes, as we will see, to great lengths to protect it. She doesn’t particularly see herself as a strong character, but circumstances will allow her ferocity to come out. It’s about time she’s had a real adventure.

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What Really Happens

The events on the Vineyard are dark and convoluted, more than Joey could ever have imagined and they started, in fact, before the Vineyard. It all started with Brian’s death five years before the events of the book. Chronically depressed and unsure of his life, Brian took his own life by jumping in front of a New Jersey transit train on Thanksgiving morning. Suspected of being a sociopath, it was an event that perhaps could have been predicted but wasn’t. With police on the scene, it was quickly reported to local newspapers and media. The family held a memorial service, but then receded from social events of their small town. Any death would be devastating, but it affected the Asker family so terribly, a sin against their religion and culture that they couldn’t discuss it at all. It was a disgrace, dishonorable.

Instead of talking to a therapist or even talking to each other, individual family members kept their grief to themselves. One family member in particular did not take well to this particular approach: Katy. With her sister moving away and her friends abandoning her as she finished college, Katy was left on her own to process her grief. She didn’t handle it well and when Carolyn got married on Martha’s Vineyard, something inside Katy finally snapped. She couldn’t bear the idea of being anymore alone. The night after the wedding, she gets drunk in her bridesmaid dress at Look-Out Tavern, and stumbles out onto Inkwell beach where she gets the idea. She stays there awhile before heading out onto the rocks, where she cuts herself and ruins her dress. She catches hypothermia and drowns. Carolyn passing by in her car, sees her and finds the body. She decides to intervene, staging a scene to look like murder instead of suicide because she doesn’t want to bring her family any more pain or dishonor.

Her staging is multi-faceted. When she stops the car, she swims out to the water, where the body is, already dead. She monoverse it out and rips the fabric of the dress to look like a struggle. She places the body in the front seat of the car and messes up her hair. She crouches inside, sitting on top of the body to drive the car over the pier. Once in the air, she jumps out of the vehicle, leaving the car and the body exposed to the ocean below. She swims up and walks back home under the thief of night, waking up to learn her sister is missing. She keeps this cover up a secret until Joey shows up at the Vineyard and begins investigating with detective sergeant Conner Murphey, and she realizes she risks exposure. She returns to the Vineyard to thwart their efforts by force if necessary.

What Happens as Joey perceives it

For Joey, this whole thing begins at her office at Miss magazine when they have a new assistant, Vivian, join the department. As is the custom, Joey and the other assistants take her out to lunch on her first day. Joey did particularly want to go because she doesn’t like small talk. At the lunch, Vivian reveals she was recently in a wedding and it was a disaster. This prompts others to share their disastrous bridesmaid stories, including Joanna, who was kicked out of Carolyn’s wedding twice several years ago.

With the memory brought up in her head, Joey goes on Google like any respectable millennial and starts to try and figure out what Carolyn and her family is up to. As she starts digging, she finds Brian’s obituary and a blog supposedly written by his ex-girlfriend. In this grossly over-descriptive blog, she finds lots of information, including one blog post that suggests that their younger sister, Katy, had also died and also by suicide. Quickly, Joanna is consumed by the notion that this girl she knew and spent time with is dead. Unbelieving that a friend could die without her knowing it, she begins to spend all her time looking into it until she writes to the Oak Bluffs Police Department.

Her email is answered by Conner Murphey, a new Detective Sergeant who’s gotten a bit bored with the lack of true crime on the Vineyard. He states that the case was before his time and he doesn’t have knowledge of the details, but he invites her to the Vineyard to review the files.

At the Vineyard, she goes through the files to learn that the incident had been classified as a cold case murder. Joey sets out to find this murderer, but along the way, notices certain things within the files that don’t quite add up. She and Conner start by visiting the pier, which has since been repaired. The car has been destroyed, but they find some pieces by the pier. Notably they find fabric from Katy’s bridesmaid dress which sheered off the seam. This gives Joey the idea that something might be off because if she were in a struggle, it’s much more likely that Katy’s polyester dress would have torn along the seam.

Later that night, when Joanna returns to her hotel room, she finds it ransacked. Reluctantly, she decides to stay on Conner’s couch for her safety. Around this time, mid-investigation, Joey gets a phone call from her boss at the magazine, Lana, who insists that she returns to New York. Already too far in with her feet, she quits over the phone, determined to sink her teeth into this case.

As the investigation ramps up, Conner goes missing after not returning. Joey eventually tracks him down to her hotel room, where she finds him being held captive by Carolyn. Joey and Carolyn enter a philosophical face-out in which Joey tries to reason with her, believing that Carolyn will not harm her because her goal is to cause her pain. Conner manages to break free and shoot Carolyn in the legs. They arrest her for conspiracy, having learned that she covered up her sister’s suicide by painting it as a murder.

Joey and Conner are seen walking along the pier the next day, processing the events of the novel. Conner suggests Joey stay on the Vineyard now that she has little to return to New York. She says she’ll consider it.

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Romantic Interest

A key sub plot in Between the Seams is the growing romantic tension between Joey and Conner. As this book may evolve into a mystery series across several novels, this romance will be taken slow and primarily teased through the course of this first book.

Although a mutual attraction, it is Conner who is first attracted to Joanna. This is largely because she is so very different from the women he usually meets on island. The exact opposite of a typical vacationers, Joey arrives on the Vineyard with a very specific purpose. She had a courage and a tenacity he admired and wished his peers in the police department had. Moreover, her actions, though reckless and obsessive, were driven by care. In an island that people consider carefree, care was a precious commodity.

As for Joey, she had to admit that strong Irish brogue had her at hello. But what really got her stuck on Conner was when he helped her on the investigation, taking time away from other arguably more important police work. He has a patience and a laissez-faire attitude that she really appreciates after working under such stress and high pressure deadlines in the publishing industry. Furthermore, he has a sense of humor that she is sorely lacking in herself. They work very well as a team, something she hasn’t experienced yet at work and that she finds she actually quite enjoys.

Early on in the manuscript, evidence of attraction is mostly small, little instances. A look here or comforting hand on the shoulder. Towards the middle of novel, Conner begins to tease Joey playfully, both because he likes her and because he needs a way to break the constant tension that exists within police work. By the end, there may be some mild flirtation. But what really comes to fruition is the events when Conner is kidnapped.

When Carolyn shows up and kidnaps Conner, Joey is driven to find him. Primarily, this is because it’s just the next step in the investigation, but when she walks in on Carolyn, that’s when it becomes clear that she does care for him because it’s something that Carolyn uses against her. With a gun to Conner’s head, Carolyn uses psychological language and tactics to scare Joey into backing off. A key part of this is suggesting that she has feelings for Conner, which Joey denies because she is aware of what Carolyn is trying to do. But after saving his life, she is forced to question what life would be life without him. While she is not aware of how deep her feelings are and nothing is directly expressed, she knows in her soul that he is important to her. Similarly, after she saved his life, he feels not only debt, but awe and care. As a result, he is very glad that she chooses to stay on the Vineyard and they set up a make-shift detective agency together.

Working 9 to 5

A second sub plot is Joanna’s relationship to her work at Miss magazine and her colleagues there, most of whom she does not particularly like. As she abandons her job to go to the Vineyard in search of truth, her relationships with magazine and the people there begins to shift and change for the worse, except for Vivian who she comes to realize she owes some gratitude because her annoying conversation is what spurs her visit and eventual move to the Vineyard.

Before Vivian, she only had one friend at the magazine, Larissa, the other assistant to Lana, Editorial Director and her boss. Mostly they bonded over the difficult of dealing with Lana, who had a large personality and an even bigger personality. Lana would often give them bigger than possible projects and assignments, so Larissa and Joey shared the load and helped each other to get things done and keep their jobs. When Joey goes to the Vineyard and stays there, Larissa ends up taking on more work than she can handle and she resents Joey for it. Over the course of the novel, the two become increasingly distant. Despite this, Larissa does call early on when overwhelmed and when concerned that Lana might be upset that Joey hasn’t returned yet.

Speaking of Lana, that was never a good employer-employee relationship, but over the course of the events in the novel, it crystalizes and explodes. Lana is so demanding and her being out of the dark, just makes this works. When Joey goes to the Vineyard, Lana is under the impression that Joanna is just taking a few days vacation. She emails when Joey does not turn up in the office after her extended weekend, but Joey never replies or when she does, she does so curtly. The culminating phone call they have is intense with voices raised. Lana suggests that she may have to fire Joey from a job “a million girls would want” and Joey decides to quit then and there. This is what causes Joey to check out of her hotel and stay on Conner’s couch because she’s concerned about money on top of the stress of the investigation.

On a more general level, being away from New York and the magazine allows her to reflect and reprioritize. The quiet and natural beauty of the island is a sharp contrast to the concrete of New York City or even New Jersey. The closest she has come to this kind of setting is at Sarah Lawrence, but even that cannot compare to the sunsets on the island. Similarly, the pace of life is so very different. The Vineyard is such a strange place—there are no road signs and people don’t lock their front doors. Despite the intrigue, the Vineyard really strikes Joey at her core, making her question what is important. Especially when she quits her job and is indeed of some direction in her life, Joey realizes that life on Vineyard holds a lot more of what she wants than New York ever did. After all, the publishing industry is in the tank and there’s little for her to move up there. Life on the Vineyard is much more appealing, even if it holds a great deal of uncertainty.
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Carolyn Asker -- Primary Antagonist. The middle child of a Turkish family and the child of immigrants, Carolyn struggled her whole life to balance the culture of her family and the culture of her country. Being the middle child didn’t help as she was often unsure of exactly what her role was within her family. Her father was a doctor and her mother trained as a nurse before becoming a stay-at-home parent. As a result, all three children experienced pressure to join the medical field or at least the sciences. Regardless, they were all pushed very hard academically.

Physically, Carolyn is about average height for her age with olive skin. Her dark course hair frames her face down to her shoulders. Her eyes are dark brown, almost black. In her youth, she had a bad case of acne, but she has since worked to resolve this through various skin regimens. Carolyn never took great effort in what she was wearing, preferring comfort over fashion. In her youth she was a jean-and-a-t-shirt type girl and this has hardly been elevated since she began her career as a teacher. Similarly make-up is nearly non-existent, especially after she got a boyfriend and no longer felt a need to play up her looks for personal gain.

Carolyn’s history with Joanna goes back to high school, which they attended together. Joanna first went up to Carolyn and her friends at lunch when she was new to the school. The girls bonded over popular culture more than anything else, but their friendship deepened after Carolyn’s older brother killed himself by jumping in front of a train. Several years later, Carolyn asked Joanna to be a bridesmaid alongside her sister, Katy. Carolyn would accuse Joanna of being drunk and kick her out of the wedding. This would be the last time Carolyn would see Joanna before the events of Between the Seams.

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Conner Murphy -- Side-kick character and love interest. Conner was born to an Irish family on the Vineyard and he grew up there until he attended university at Boston College. The family lived in Vineyard Haven, where his parents own and operate a large B&B. He is one of four siblings, all of whom have, by the time of the novel, left to move onto bigger and better things. Two are on the West Coast and one landed in Minneapolis, working for Target. Conner studied psychology and linguistics at Boston College before joining the Boston police force. There, he did his time and worked through the ranks. It was only when his father became ill with Parkinson’s that he choose to return to the Vineyard to help his mother look after him. This was much to the disgruntlement of a girl he’d been seeing in Boston who had no intention of leaving her coveted city life. When he arrived at Vineyard, he was going to start with Tisbury force, but once the Oak Bluffs police force lost a detective sergeant, he moved to that branch. His predecessor, Matt Jones, had retired after a Cancer scare, and no one wanted to succeed him. When Conner took the role, he inherited a slightly blind assistant, Margie, a staff of five officers, equal in rank, and a black Labrador called Orpheus. One day his supervisor realized that he always reading crime novels, and tried to convince him to return to Boston where there would be something more exciting besides parking tickets, but Conner couldn’t be moved. He was committed to making it work in his native home. Physically, Conner is tall and average weight for his height. He has dark brown hair in curls and piercing green eyes like a leprechaun. He ends up working with Joey simply because he’s the only one that will listen to her hysterics about this cold case. After all, when you’re there all year round, it’s easy to get bored on the Vineyard.

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