Sweets Shop Cozy Mysteries Boxset

by Maisy Morgan

  “I don’t understand,” Cindy said. “You seem to be suggesting that Lenny killed Josiah, am I right? That doesn’t make any sense. Lenny always liked Josiah just fine! I doubt he cared about the affair… why would Lenny—?”

  “We have reason to believe…,” Preston began, hesitating for a moment before saying, “we believe that Josiah might have been the hit-and-run driver that crippled Hannah. He was a closet alcoholic, and he had been hoarding newspaper clippings about the accident.”

  Hannah covered her face. “And you think my dad… you think he found out?”

  “I think so,” Preston said. “Though, I’m not sure how. We believe your dad found out that Josiah was the one who caused the accident and went after him.” He took a breath and stood. “I’ve got to get a BOLO out on Lenny.”

  “Are you two going to be okay?” Mary asked.

  “We’ll be fine,” Cindy said. “You two go do what you need to do.”

  “I’m sorry, Hannah,” Tripp said under his breath, but Hannah wouldn’t even look at him.

  Mary hated leaving the home in that way, but Preston now had work to do. They had legitimate evidence that pointed to Lenny now, and they needed to find him. They pulled out of the driveway, and Preston called into dispatch that they needed to locate Lenny Sharp as quickly as possible. They were only a few minutes down the road when they started to hear police sirens. “Does Lenny live near here?” Mary asked.

  “Not too far off,” Preston said. Then, dispatch radioed in to Preston that Lenny had not been found at his place of residence. “I should get you two home,” he said. “I’m going to have go out looking for him.”

  Tripp suddenly spoke up. “What if Lenny realizes you’re looking for him?” he asked.

  “I doubt that he will,” Preston said.

  “If he saw cop cars all around his house and dipped out,” Tripp said. “Do you think…? Do you think he would try to go see Hannah when he realizes the police are looking for him?”

  Preston hesitated to answer this question, and that was all the fuel Tripp needed. “Take us back! Please, let’s go get Cindy and Hannah. They can stay at our house until you find Lenny,” he insisted.

  Preston looked to Mary for a moment, and she nodded. “I think that would be a good idea until you find Lenny.”

  “Okay, call her and let her know we’re coming to get her,” Preston said, and Mary did just that.

  On the way there, they received a call that they had found Lenny’s car abandoned on the side of the road not too far from where they were, and this seemed to light a fire in Preston. They sped down the driveway, and he hurried inside to fetch Cindy and Hannah. Mary sat for a moment before telling Tripp to stay put and that she was going to help with Hannah’s wheelchair.

  Tripp watched his grandmother dart up to the house, and he exhaled heavily. He would feel a lot better knowing that Hannah and Cindy were with them instead of home alone where Lenny could easily get to them. He leaned his head back against the seat feeling a pang of guilt for telling his grandmother and Preston about Hannah’s little secret, but if it was going to help solve a murder case, he was hopeful that Hannah would forgive him. He had only said anything because he had felt concerned for her.

  Suddenly, there was a banging sound behind him followed by a mumbling voice. “What in the world?” he said, spinning around and realizing that someone was locked inside the trunk of Preston’s patrol car.

  Tripp jumped out of the patrol car and unlocked the back of the trunk, and there was that weird kid, Draco, staring up at him in his Doctor Who-like attire. “Thank God,” the kid said. “It was getting hard to breathe in there.”

  Tripp stared back at him in absolute disbelief. “What the…” that was all that Tripp could manage to say. He grabbed Draco by his coat sleeve and jerked him out of the trunk. “What are you doing in there?!” Tripp finally snapped.

  Draco held up his hands defensively. “I was in your driveway earlier… and you all came out so suddenly. I have been kind of following you, and I wanted to try to talk to you, but I panicked, and the trunk was open, so I hid in it. Trust me, I can explain.”

  “Why were you in our driveway?” Tripp demanded.

  Draco looked very embarrassed. “I was… well… spying on you.”

  Tripp had to fight every instinct he had not to start cussing at the strange boy. “What do you mean you were spying on us?”

  Draco kept trying to avoid eye contact, but Tripp wouldn’t break his intense glare. “Ok. I will try to explain if you will hear me out. I’m part of this summer club which is a spy club.” He opened up his satchel, revealing some of the weirdest little gadgets Tripp had ever seen in his life. “We were supposed to be journaling about a spy-related project.”

  Tripp snatched the small journal Draco was holding out of his shaky hands, and he flipped through it, finding weird things all about himself and his grandmother. “You freak!” Tripp shouted and finally just shoved the poor kid over. “You’ve been spying on me AND my grandmother! This is stalking! You’re freakin’ weird as s— ”

  Before Tripp could say anything more, he could hear his grandmother speaking frantically with Cindy up by the house. It was dark, so they couldn’t see much. “Whatever,” Tripp said and shoved the small journal into his back pocket. “This is mine now. Now I get why you knew my name. Just get in the patrol car, and we’ll drive you back home.

  Draco looked absolutely humiliated as Tripp grabbed him by his collar, jerked him back up to his feet, and shoved him into the patrol car. “We ought to make you ride in the trunk again,” Tripp grumbled. “Now we’re going to have to squeeze in here, and there’s barely enough room!” Tripp sat down beside Draco in the back seat mumbling about whether or not they should make him walk back. He started flipping through the journal. Draco had found out all about them. “What is this? Some sort of weird assignment for your summer club you’re a part of?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Draco said looking out the window to avoid Tripp’s gaze.

  For a moment, Tripp’s temper softened. He found a journal entry about Sweet Feet that was rather amusing. He at last had to laugh when he saw that Draco had journaled about Mary’s fondness of rainbow cake. “What kind of club is this?” Tripp asked when a small flier about the Summer Spy Club fell out of the book.

  “It’s just something to do in the summer,” Draco said. “Just a bunch of losers getting together and honing a stupid, useless skill.”

  Tripp smirked. “You would actually make a pretty good detective,” Tripp said for a moment until he came across a printed article Draco had taped in his journal. It was from an online newspaper in LA, and it was about his father’s murder.

  Tripp glared at Draco, and he lost his temper at last. He reached over and grabbed him by his hair and jerked the kids head aside, banging his face into the window. “What is wrong with you!” Tripp snapped. “You looked me up online? You think this crap is funny?”

  “No!” Draco wailed. “No, I’m sorry. It was just supposed to be like a sort of game; it’s a club!”

  “I don’t think this is a fun game!” Tripp snapped. “If I wanted you to know about my dad, I would have told you! No wonder you don’t have any friends!” Tripp mustered up the best punch he could for Draco even though it was close quarters in the back seat of the car, and Draco cried out. Then they both found themselves surprised when driver’s side door opened.

  Tripp glanced up, expecting to see Preston, but was mortified to see Lenny Sharp taking the wheel. He had been so distracted by Draco that he hadn’t noticed Preston hurrying down from the front porch towards them with Mary on his heels and both screaming and waving their arms. Lenny backed the patrol car up and spun around in the driveway kicking up rocks and dirt.

  Draco and Tripp both shouted out in surprise, but Lenny ignored them and sped out of the driveway. Turns out, Tripp’s concern that Lenny might come to see Hannah before they had a chance to arrest him was dead on. Lenny zipped out of the drivew
ay with both boys in too much shock to even scream as he drove them out of sight.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  In that moment, Lenny looked like something out of a horror movie to Tripp. As the patrol car sped through the streets, Draco looked like he was going to throw up all over the backseat. Tripp made a move to the center seat, buckling himself in and reaching around Draco to buckle him in also. “Mr. Sharp,” Tripp spoke softly, as Draco leaned over putting his head between his knees.

  Lenny glanced back and nearly swerved off the road. He cussed under his breath, evidently, he just now realized he had guests in the car with him. He didn’t respond to Tripp’s comment.

  Draco was hyperventilating. “Easy, man,” Tripp said quietly to him as Lenny went rapidly around a curve, causing Tripp to fall all over the significantly smaller boy.

  “I’m going to puke,” Draco said as he breathed in and out like he couldn’t catch his breath.

  Tripp and Draco both screamed out in unison when Lenny swerved off the road and began driving the patrol car through the trees. The vehicle shook and bounced in all directions, and Tripp hit his face against the back of the front seat. Draco had his hands over his head, and he was mumbling something under his breath that sounded almost like the Lord’s Prayer. “Mr. Sharp, please, can you just stop and let us out?” Tripp spoke, but it only caused Lenny to accelerate quicker through the woods while barely avoiding trees.

  Tripp breathed a sigh of relief when Lenny whipped back onto a main road even though his driving was still very reckless. “Sir, please, stop!” Tripp nervously begged when he spotted patrol lights behind them. They were now officially in a chase.

  “Shut up!” Lenny shouted as he sped up.

  Tripp reached down into the floorboard. Finally locating his phone, he texted his grandmother to make sure she knew that he was in the patrol car. Tripp knew that she saw Lenny speed off in the patrol car but with all the action, he couldn’t remember if she knew he was in there. Lenny must have realized it because he suddenly had a gun pointed around toward them which caused Draco to break into panicking screams and cries. “Phone – out the window – now!” Lenny forcefully demanded.

  “B-back windows d-don’t open,” Tripp said.

  Lenny slammed the gun down in the passenger’s seat and rolled the back window down, then ordered Tripp to get rid of it. Tripp immediately tossed it out the window.

  “You too!” Lenny snapped.

  “I- I don’t own a phone,” Draco said, sobbing.

  “All kids have phones,” Lenny snarled.

  “He doesn’t!” Tripp assured him, though truthfully, he had no idea whether or not the neighborhood spy owned a cellphone.

  Lenny banged his fists down on the steering wheel. Suddenly, a cellphone started going off, and Lenny pointed his gun back at them and started swearing. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Draco said rapidly. “I-I texted m-my Mom,” Draco said, sobbing.

  “Give me the phone!” Lenny shouted.

  He snatched the phone as Draco held it out to him. Lenny answered the it. “Tell the police to…” Then his voice trailed off. “Hannah?” he questioned.

  Even from the back seat and the throbbing sound in his ears from the panic he was feeling, Tripp could hear Hannah’s voice yelling and crying on the other line. What she said exactly, Tripp wasn’t sure. “I just wanted to see you, Hannah,” Lenny said. “Yeah, there’s two kids in here. The police made you call me, didn’t they?” Lenny paused, and Tripp felt the car starting to slow down.

  Draco seemed calmer too, and Tripp was starting to feel sorry that he had punched him right before the craziness had started. “Are you okay?” Tripp asked mouthing the words.

  Draco nodded, though his tear-stricken swollen face said otherwise. His hands were shaking. Tripp put a hand on Draco’s shoulder. “We’re going to be fine,” he told Draco even though he had no way of knowing this for certain.

  “Your friends?” Lenny questioned into the phone. Then he held the phone away from his head and asked the boys, “What are your names?” However, he started to speed up slightly as he continued down the highway.

  There were more patrol cars following them now. “I’m Tripp,” Tripp said, and since Draco looked like he was going to pass out, he added, “and this is Draco.”

  “Tripp and Draco,” Lenny said in to the phone. “Yes, Hannah, they’re fine.” There was a long pause, and from where he sat, Tripp could see in the rearview mirror that Lenny had tears in his eyes. “Yes, Hannah,” he said. “I did it. I… I found out it was Josiah. There was a picture in the slideshow that Kristin did of the two of them by this old car. I had thought it was him for a long time, but when I saw the picture of the car in the slideshow I immediately recognized it from that night.” Lenny paused for a moment as Hannah was speaking, though Tripp wasn’t sure what she was saying. Her voice sounded less shrill than before almost like she was trying to understand him now. Lenny continued after a moment. “I ran him off the road, and I confronted him about what he did to us. He admitted it, and said he had been drinking. I simply lost it. I’m so sorry Hannah. I just wanted to make things right and I messed up again, baby girl. I shouldn’t have ever left you and your mom. I killed him Hannah. I didn’t plan on it. I was just so angry about what he did to you.” The man wiped his face with the back of his hand, the car swerved slightly, and both boys hollered loud enough in surprise to cause Hannah’s tone on the other line to escalate. “Tell your mom and them that I’ve got a gun, but I’m going to throw it out the window when I stop,” he tried to reassure her and then added, “I love you, Hannah,” before hanging up the phone.

  The car came to a rolling stop just in front of a gas station. Police had already closed off the road, so there were no other cars coming from either direction, and their vehicle was immediately surrounded by additional police cruisers. Lenny glanced back at them both. “Sorry, kids,” he said as though he had merely caused them a mild inconvenience.

  “Mr. Sharp,” Tripp said firmly. “Hannah told me what happened a year ago about how you came to see her, and how she told you she didn’t think you loved her anymore. She also told me she had thrown that locket at you.”

  Lenny stared back at him blankly. “She told you that, did she?”

  “Yes, sir,” Tripp said. “And I’m sorry about what I said to you at your clinic. I was just mad at you for leaving her.”

  They could hear the police shouting at Lenny to get out of the car. He rolled down the window and tossed out the gun, just as he had told Hannah he would. “I know were, kid,” Lenny said. “She’s going to hate me even more now.”

  “Maybe,” Tripp said. “But you can fix that. At least, I really think you should try. You hurt her, but you can make it better. Please, Mr. Sharp, do whatever the police say, okay?”

  Lenny nodded, and he stepped out of the patrol car. The next moments were rather blurred. All Tripp knew was that he was suddenly sitting on the pavement next to a shaky Draco, and two vans came pulling up. His grandmother, Cindy, who was also helping Hannah out, and Preston came pouring out of one of the vans while an unfamiliar looking older couple and a younger girl came darting out of the other one towards Draco. Evidently they were his family.

  Mary practically jerked Tripp up off the ground to hug him. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did he do anything to you?” The questions came far too fast for Tripp to answer.

  Hannah came rolling up behind them with her mother pushing her chair quickly. Hannah was wiping her eyes. “Tripp, Draco, are you two okay?” she asked.

  “You talked your dad down,” Tripp said with a proud grin on his face.

  “She did,” Preston said. “Draco, your mother called in after she got that text from you, and that’s why we had Hannah call the phone.”

  Hannah started to cry. “I’m so sorry! My dad could have…” her voice trailed off.

  “We’re fine, Hannah,” Tripp assured her. “He confessed to everything.”

  “We know,” Prest
on said. “We got it all recorded. It’s finally over.”

  The grand opening had finally arrived. With everything that had happened the night before, Mary was amazed they had managed to pull it off. She and Tripp stood behind the counter, dressed in matching t-shirts with the shop name, Lily Pad Sweets across the front. Tripp was mostly working the counter, and she was running back and forth from the kitchen to put additional treats in the oven or pack up decorative dessert boxes. The rainbow cake was selling like crazy, and everyone who entered the shop paused to take a selfie with Sweet Feet.

  In the corner, Cindy, Hannah, and Draco had claimed a chair where they were enjoying one of the freshly baked cakes that Mary had made. Around lunch time, just as things were finally starting to slow down, Preston entered the shop with a big grin. He was dressed in uniform, and evidently was using his lunch break to pop in for a visit. “I heard it’s been busy!” he exclaimed. “I’ve been keeping an eye out on your fan page online. Tripp has been posting updates.”

  “It’s been crazy,” Mary said. “I can hardly believe it.”

  “Well, I’m glad to hear it,” Preston said as he ordered a dessert box of her rainbow cake. “I got some more good news for you.”

  “Oh, really?” Mary questioned.

  “As was expected, Lenny dropped the charges,” Preston said. “You are no longer going to be needing that lawyer recommendation I gave you.”

  “Oh, thank goodness!” Mary exclaimed. She waved Tripp over, telling him to take a break. He seemed quite relieved and went and sat with his friends and Cindy whom he immediately started whispering to.

  Preston smiled at her. “So, things are going smoothly?” he asked.

  “Things were a lot busier than I was expecting,” Mary said. “But Tripp is super helpful. This is the first time I’ve had much of a chance to breathe since we opened up this morning.”

  “I’m guessing all that online promoting Tripp has been doing on the side has had a lot to do with the crowd,” Preston said.