Sweets Shop Cozy Mysteries Boxset

by Maisy Morgan

  Mary was beyond herself. She loved seeing Lilly in this state. She was happy, healthy, and clearly long past the withdrawals stages of her recovery. She hadn’t seen this version of Lilly since she had been a little girl, and she found herself coming close to getting choked up thinking about it. Lilly and Tripp talked a lot—bonding over conversations about his school and football team—and Lilly told him all about her life in LA with Matthew. “I really want to come check out the sweets shop later,” Lilly said to her. “Matthew will get a break from filming later today, so we’ll swing by. Are you open on Sundays?”

  “No, not on Sundays,” Mary said. “I’ll have the shop opened up again on Monday morning, though.”

  Lilly checked her phone. “Oh, Matthew is asking about his power bar he left in his trailer. Donnie must not be answering his phone,” Lilly said. “We’re not far from there. I’ll go grab it and take it to him.” And with that, she started in a brisk walk towards the trailer.

  Mary, Preston, and Tripp stood not far from where Matthew was currently filming a scene with Sven, and Tripp was looking jittery with excitement. “When Mom gets back, we should head over there so that we can watch,” he said with a big wide-eyed gaze as he looked over at the scene, and Mary was just about to agree when they heard a loud, shrieking sound coming from Matthew’s trailer. It was Lilly.

  They all bolted, unsure of what could have caused the outburst but with adrenaline pumping. Preston made it there first and hurried into the trailer. Mary was right behind him where she saw Donnie lying dead on the floor, strangled to death by a belt.

  Chapter Eight

  Though Mary had made a rule on the first day of their arrival that Lilly and Matthew were not to be at the house, that rule went out the window after what had happened to Donnie. Mary had witnessed firsthand that her daughter was dating a loving, caring man when she had seen him completely break down when Preston had informed him of why he was not permitted inside his trailer. Preston had called in a crime scene unit, and Mary and Tripp had sat with Lilly and Matthew in the grass for nearly an hour. Matthew had been shaking for most of that hour in shock that his oldest friend was dead.

  Filming for the day had been cut short for the police to do a full sweep of the studio, and Mary had briskly invited Matthew and Lilly back to the house—not wanting them to have to sit through this alone in a hotel room. Mary finished up the hot chocolates she had promised and hurried back into the living room, toting a serving tray in front of her. Tripp jumped up from where he had been seated on the floor in front of the fireplace, and he kindly handed both his mother and Matthew a cup. The couple had been seated on the couch for the better part of the evening.

  “Thank you,” Matthew said hazily. He was not crying now, but the occasional sniffles and long pauses between his sentences let Mary and the others know that he was pretty close to breaking down in front of them again. He was embarrassed, it seemed. He didn’t really know either of them, but it wasn’t as though he was around family and friends at the moment. He took a sip of the hot chocolate and muttered, “This is really good…”

  “I’m glad you like it,” Mary said, sitting herself down in the lounge chair across from them.

  “Mom, have you heard anything from Officer Preston?” Lilly asked hopefully.

  “Not yet,” Mary said. “They’re still at the scene.”

  “I can’t believe he’s gone,” Matthew said, and Mary watched as Lilly reached out and touched his knee, squeezing it reassuringly.

  “You two were really close?” Mary asked.

  “He’s my best friend,” Matthew said airily. “We’ve known each other since we were kids growing up in LA. We went to elementary school together. High school. We went to different colleges, but we hung out together just about every weekend since we weren’t far from each other. Then he became my manager. We room together in LA. He’s always had my back. I mean, he does everything for me.”

  “Donnie is a pretty big aspect of our lives,” Lilly said, her eyes a bit glossy as well. “Matthew, I’m so sorry.” She wiped her eyes. Lilly had had a good cry earlier, but she was staying strong now. A traumatic event like this worried Mary. From experience, she knew it didn’t take much to send Lilly back to square one when it came to her addictions. Lilly was seated firmly beside Matthew, gently coaxing him out of his shakes.

  Tripp sat near them, looking up at Matthew with sorrowful eyes. “I wish there were something we could do for you, Matthew,” Tripp said. “What was he like? I mean, we only just met him, you know?”

  A sad and slight smile crossed over Matthew’s face. “He was a cool guy,” Matthew said, and he launched into a story from their college days. Matthew painted a lovely picture of two college freshmen meeting up every weekend for study sessions. Donnie, Matthew said, had always been better at schooling and would help him make study cards for his classes. “Donnie was a smart guy. Always at the top of his class. Our dads were both in film. It was kind of like we were both destined for it ourselves. Donnie always liked the behind-the-scenes aspect of it. Probably why we made such a good team. I’ll never forget the first gig he booked me.”

  “What was it?” Tripp asked curiously.

  “It was this terrible little one-liner in a low budget television show. I was on scene for less than a minute, but you should have heard Donnie when he called me and told me he actually had an audition lined up for me. He was losing it—you would have thought I had just gotten called in to perform in one of the new Marvel movies or something. But that was my first time getting a gig, and it was just awesome. Donnie came with me and he talked me up to a bunch of the people on set that day. Got my second audition for my first movie role thanks to Donnie—he knew that he’d have the opportunity to talk to people on set—that the little one-liner was enough to get my foot in the door because while I was filming, he was chasing leads for new jobs for me.”

  Mary smiled at Matthew. The way he talked about his friend warmed her heart. He seemed to be putting the man up on a pedestal. They wound up spending half the evening on stories about Donnie. Matthew had plenty of them. Lilly shared one or two herself, but she was very timid about talking about him. Mary imagined she must have still been in a bit of shock being the one to have found him. Lilly seemed very drawn into herself, and that worried her.

  They did what they could to be supportive of Matthew. It was evident he didn’t want to go back to the hotel anytime soon. He needed the company, and he seemed to be the type who needed to talk his way through what he was feeling. Telling all these stories about Donnie seemed to be helping him feel better. While Mary and Tripp didn’t know Matthew well, Mary wasn’t willing to give him the boot to let him and Lilly deal with all of this on their own. By that night, Mary was increasingly glad that she had invited them over. Soon they were all watching the movie Titanic, laughing a bit at Tripp’s expense, and Matthew was giving Tripp acting tips and running lines with him.

  Eventually, though, it grew late, and Matthew and Lilly ran out of reasons to stay. Mary sent Tripp up to bed shortly after the young couple left to return to the hotel room. Mary herself curled into bed, a knot forming in her stomach as she thought about the day they’d had. Mary had hoped that this would be a happy, memorable time for Tripp—not one riddled with something as serious as murder.

  She laid awake for a while, thinking about Lilly and Matthew. She hoped that, despite his obvious state of grief, he would be keeping an eye on her. Lilly was hardly a fully recovered addict. Just a few months ago, she had nearly had a relapse, and this would be a rather perfect opportunity for her to do something foolish while Matthew’s guard was down. Matthew, though Mary had only just met the young man for the first time not but a few short days ago, already had a rather special place in Mary’s heart. He was the one who did what she hadn’t been able to do—get Lilly the help she needed. Mary had spent most of Lilly’s life trying to help her, and she had hit brick wall after brick wall. Matthew, though, had found Lilly when she had hit
rock bottom, and he hadn’t abandoned her. It would have been so easy and reasonable for him to have walked out on Lilly—he had hardly known her when he had started helping her—but he hadn’t. The thought that a sweet young man like that was hurting right now caused Mary’s heart to ache.

  Mary, at last, fell asleep on that final thought, and it was a deep sleep. So deep, in fact, she almost didn’t hear her phone going off. She sat upright in bed and rubbed her tired eyes several times before it registered with her that what she was hearing was indeed her cellphone. “Uh…” she groaned, glancing at her alarm clock that was displaying an early time of 4:23 AM. “You have got to be kidding me…” she mumbled and threw her legs over the side of her bed. Her phone was not on the nightstand where she would normally keep it, and it took a moment for her to recall that she had left it sitting on her dresser across the room.

  She pulled herself up to a standing position just as the phone stopped ringing. As she dragged her feet across the floor, her phone started going off again. Clearly, someone really wanted to get a hold of her. When she reached the dresser, she saw Lilly’s name flashing on her phone screen. There was a jolt of panic that went through her, and she snapped out of her sleepy daze in an instant. Mary grabbed at her phone, answering it and putting it up to her ear. “Lilly!” Mary exclaimed. “Lilly, sweetie, is everything all right?”

  “Mom!” Lilly wailed, her voice shaking. She had clearly been crying, and from the sound of it, she still was. “Mom, the police came and got Matthew! They think he did it, Mom! They think he killed Donnie!”

  “What?” Mary questioned. “Why do they think that? How could they possibly… Lilly, where are you?”

  “I’m at the hotel,” Lilly sniffled. “They just took him away. They knocked on our door, and they just arrested him right here in our hotel room. Matthew would never hurt Donnie! I know he would never hurt Donnie.”

  Mary had to agree with Lilly’s sentiment. After spending the evening with Matthew listening to the way he talked about Donnie and the friendship they had shared over the years. “No, I don’t think he would either. Lilly, I need you to remain calm, okay? I’m going to come get you…”

  “Wait,” Lilly said vapidly. “No, no… you don’t need to do that… I shouldn’t have bothered you so early… geez, Mom, what time is it?”

  “No, you definitely should have called me,” Mary countered.

  “I’ll… I’ll get a cab,” Lilly said. “Go to the station. You should stay with Tripp. He’s got school in the morning… I don’t want you to have to wake him up…”

  “Lilly, Tripp would understand—”

  “No, Mom, please,” Lilly insisted, taking a few deep breaths. “I’ll go to the station. I’m sure I can get a cab or an Uber or something. Would you just… would you call me in the morning after you drop Tripp off at school?”

  “I’ll come meet you at the station,” Mary promised her. “Maybe you should rest a bit, Lilly, before you go yourself?”

  “No, I need to go now,” Lilly insisted. “I’ll call you if I need anything…”

  “Lilly, please call me,” Mary reiterated. “I mean it, sweetheart.”

  “I know you do,” Lilly said. “I will. I promise. I love you, Mom.”

  “I love you too, Lilly,” Mary said, feeling incredibly anxious as Lilly hung up the phone. Neither of them knew just what to do and both felt worried about Matthew. Mary was nervous about Lilly being left alone for the night, but after seeing her strong and keeping it together all day for Matthew, she felt her anxiety lessen a little bit. There was nothing that either of them could do now and Mary figured she’d better try to rest before the long day ahead.

  Chapter Nine

  Tripp tried not to let his irritation towards his grandmother be too obvious. He was starting to feel like he’d had a smart mouth with her a lot lately, but it was difficult to hide his growing frustration. “I really don’t think I should be going to school today,” he said as Mary drove them up into the drop-off line.

  “Yes, I think you should,” Mary stated blatantly. “I know a lot happened last night—”

  “Mom’s boyfriend is in jail!” Tripp barked, a bit louder than intended. He sighed and crossed his arms, trying not to act too childish. He knew his grandmother well enough by now to know that an attitude was not the way to win an argument with her. “I just want to be there for my mom. That’s a good thing, right?” If anything would convince her that he should stay home, it would be that.

  “I know, Tripp, but your mom and I agree that you need to go to school,” Mary said firmly. It seemed that she wouldn’t budge. “Nothing serious has happened yet. Until I have some more answers, there is no reason for you to be missing school. If something changes, I will, of course, come and get you. Your mom… bless her… she has a tendency to dramatize things. For all I know, I’m going to get to the station this morning and find out that Matthew was just brought in for questioning because it was his trailer that Donnie was found in.”

  “You think my mom is just making it up that the police came and got Matthew last night?” Tripp questioned.

  “No, I didn’t say that,” she said quickly. “I just don’t want you to get all worked up until I see for myself exactly what is going on, okay?”

  Tripp sighed. He supposed his grandmother was right. His mom’s word still meant very little. She might just be panicking over nothing or exaggerating, he supposed. “Okay, okay,” Tripp said as they pulled up in front of the school. “Just… will you promise to text me when you find out what’s going on? So I don’t worry?”

  Mary smiled at him as she slowed the car down. “Tripp, please don’t worry yourself. Everything is fine for the moment. Think about it. Matthew was on the other side of the movie set filming when Donnie was… Matthew will be fine, sweetheart.”

  Tripp nodded, and he told her goodbye before hopping out of the car and hurrying up the path towards the main entrance. He really was worried. He had known Matthew for less than a week, but Tripp had really liked him. He was funny, smart, and he had done so much for Tripp’s mom. Matthew had tried so hard to be nice to Tripp—he had really cared to get to know him. Tripp reflected on growing up in LA with his dad. Oftentimes, Tripp knew he overromanticized his dad. He had been a good dad. A great dad, in fact, but there was one thing Tripp always hated. His girlfriends. Tripp’s father rarely dated; he had made Tripp his top priority, but that didn’t mean there were not a few women in the man’s life over the years. Tripp had hated every one of them. The one who had stuck around the longest, a woman named Tonya, aka “call me Toni,” had been the worst. She tried to impress Tripp when he was ten years old with expensive gifts, like a new bike, but she also looked for any excuse to keep Tripp at arm’s length. The gifts were all just a for show for his dad, and eventually, Tripp’s father had figured that out for himself and given her the boot. Matthew, though, Tripp had felt truly welcomed by. The man cared about him, and Tripp knew that it was heartfelt despite only having known him for such a brief time.

  Tripp dragged his feet into the building; he was a bit late, it seemed, because students were already getting up in preparation for first bell. Sure enough, the bell rang before he even had a chance to find Hannah and Draco, and he grumbled silently. He always enjoyed that time before first bell because it was the last time all three of them were together until lunch and then drama class at the end of the day. Tripp hurried to his locker, where he met up with Hannah, and once he had the appropriate books, he wheeled her to class.

  “So, tell me all about this weekend!” she sang, her books and his in her lap so he could push her along speedily. “What was this Matthew guy like? Is he really some big movie star? What was it like meeting your mom?”

  Tripp smiled at her. She really was excited for him. He sighed, and on their way to class, he gave her the whole story. He told her about picking them up from the airport—how awkward it had been for those first few hours, but how his mom was nice and pretty and tried hard
with him and respected that he needed boundaries with her. He talked a lot about Matthew and how cool he thought he was. By the time they got to the classroom, Tripp was telling her about what had happened to Donnie.

  “I’m so sorry, Tripp,” Hannah said as he sat down in the desk by her. “Sounds like it was really hard on Matthew.”

  “He was really upset, and… well…” He launched into a discussion about the phone call that had come in at four in the morning and how his grandmother was headed off to the local station to find out whether or not Matthew was really being accused of murder. Hannah looked at him wide-eyed.

  “Tripp, if there’s anything I can do—”

  Before she could finish her statement, though, the bell rang, and their teacher was a real stickler about getting right to work as soon as she heard the bell. Class went on as usual, and Tripp resisted the urge to check his phone during class. After class, he quickly checked his phone to see that his grandmother had told him she was still waiting on Preston to meet her at the shop. He grumbled, knowing he wouldn’t be able to check his phone again until much later. His next few classes were frightfully busy, so he didn’t get a chance to check again until lunch.

  “Well?” Draco asked, sitting down beside him with his lunch tray, trying to look over Tripp’s shoulder. “What did your grandma say?”

  Tripp huffed and shoved his phone in his pocket. “That Matthew is going to be staying in jail until he makes bail. He was arrested. Guess my mom’s not as dramatic as grandma says she is.”

  “Do you think he did it?” Hannah asked nervously, already having eaten and shoving her tray aside. She was pulling out some homework she was behind on—probably the reason she had scarfed down her food so quickly.