A Wonder Springs Cozy Mystery Omnibus: Books 1, 2 & 3

by B. T. Alive

  “No way,” she said. “Harriet hates him. Most locals do. That’s why we keep him up here.”

  “That explains Natisha,” I said.

  “You used Keegan on Natisha?”

  “Sure. Why?”

  Tina shook her head. “Grandma is not going to be happy.”

  “It’s fine,” I said. “I… took care of it.”

  “Summer!” she said. “You can’t start zapping Natisha! She’s local. We’ve talked about this. Tourists come and go, they’ll shrug stuff off, but—”

  “It’s fine,” I said. “She was sitting in her own tea shop. She actually looked relaxed. I’m sure she just thought she lost track of time.”

  “I hope so,” Tina said.

  “And I hope this Harriet woman tells us something useful,” I said.

  “Oh, she will,” Tina said. But she frowned, and then she sat up and pulled her knees close and rested her chin. “That’s not what I’m worried about.”

  “Worried? What do you mean?”

  Tina met my eye, and her voice was grave. “Harriet always has a price.”

  Chapter 20

  We climbed downstairs, and Tina said she needed to pop into the dining room first to check with Grandma on the weekly lunch special. As we approached the dining room, the hall echoed with a rumbling hubbub.

  “That place sounds packed,” I said. “I forgot about that lunch special being today.”

  Everyone loves Grandma’s weekly lunch special. The whole town comes in for lunch, locals and everyone, because she does a deep discount to entice the locals to mingle with the guests. The catch is, you only get the discount if you sit with a stranger. Very Grandma.

  “Harriet might even be here,” I said, as we walked into the din of the dining room. A massive buffet table was spread in the center, and a constant stream of eaters were filing past, chatting as they filled their plates. I loved the high energy, and I buzzed on the swarm of conversations, so many possible entry points into whole new groups of people. But I forced myself to scan the crowd, looking for our possible informant.

  Instead, I saw him again. The elusive sport-coated developer, David Sky. Loading up at the buffet on pasta and scones.

  “Tina! Look!” I said, but she was already halfway toward Grandma at the greeter podium.

  Grandma, of course, was sparkling. As always, her short, wiry frame was resplendent in an outfit that she could have worn to either a royal christening or a United Nations summit with equal calm. Her makeup was impeccable, her styled short hair was gracefully blonde, and even in the midst of a deafening lunch rush, she barely looked tired. I still had no idea if this woman was sixty or eighty, although basic math favored the latter. For Grandma, age was irrelevant.

  I also had no idea how long Tina would take “checking in” with Grandma. But I couldn’t risk losing David Sky again.

  At the buffet, David piled his plate high, and then he found a seat at one of the last empty round tables and sat himself down to luxuriate in a private carbfest. Then he looked up to see he had company.

  “Hello, stranger,” I said. “Wouldn’t want you to miss the discount.”

  David jolted back, but he’d picked the wrong table for a quick getaway, and his seat shoved against the wall. “You,” he said. “Why do you keep harassing me? What do you want?”

  “What do you want?” I said. “Why are you sneaking around Wonder Springs?”

  “Sneaking?” he said. “I have every right to be here. Who are you?”

  “I’m Summer Sassafras,” I said. “I live here. And I want to know why you want Una Graves’ orchard.”

  David Sky creased his lean cheeks in a grimace. “I see word travels fast,” he said, and he lifted a coffee to his lips.

  “Does it?” I said. “Did you hear she’s dead?”

  The coffee spewed, and I narrowly missed the spray. “What?” he demanded. “How? When did this happen?”

  As a spontaneous reaction of shock, it was pretty convincing. But it also felt slightly overdone. I couldn’t know for sure that he hadn’t been acting. Maybe I should have waited for Tina after all.

  “David! Hi!” Tina cried. To my surprise, she’d come up beside me, and she was favoring Mr. Silver Fox Coffee Geyser with a huge, warm smile. “I didn’t know you knew Summer!”

  “What?” I said. “Tina! This is the guy who was sneaking around the orchard!”

  “Oh yeah, but he’s a developer, remember? He’s staying here at the Inn,” Tina said. “We’ve talked a bunch of times.” She gave him another smile (oh my gosh, was she blushing?) and he straightened up and grinned. Then his chest literally expanded, like an overconfident toad.

  Great. One more dude was falling for Tina. And clueless that she couldn’t help mirroring his feelings. One day I was going to get her a shirt that said, “It’s Not You, It’s My Empathy.”

  “I know he’s a developer,” I said. I turned to David. “But what are you developing?”

  He was still locked into grinning at Tina.

  “Hey!” I said, and I snapped in his face. He startled, then gave me a huffy scowl. “What are you trying to do to this town?” I demanded.

  I can be loud when I want to. At the nearby tables, people started to hush and watch. David flicked glances around in alarm.

  “No no. Eyes on me,” I boomed, and he turned unwillingly back to my gaze. “What’s your big plan, David Sky? You want to make our orchard into a giant mall? Or maybe an army of condos? How exactly are you going to make your millions by wrecking Wonder Springs?”

  The hush had rippled out through the entire room. The whole crowd was watching, with that breathless, excited dread we all get whenever anyone shouts in public.

  Even Grandma was watching, standing at her podium with arms crossed.

  I hadn’t planned to do a public shaming. But whether he’d killed Una or not, he wanted that land, and a stunt like this might mobilize real opposition before he could sneak any secret deal.

  David Sky cleared his throat and darted his eyes side to side, sweeping the room and taking in the moment. Then he raised his voice, openly addressing the crowd.

  “I’d prefer not to make any public statement at this time,” he said.

  The crowd simmered with angry mutters.

  “I bet you wouldn’t—” I began.

  But he held up his hand. “I said prefer,” he said. “But if you insist, I’ll be happy to share the good news early. Wonder Springs deserves… a hospital.”

  The muttering died. Everyone in the entire room stared in dumbstruck silence, including me.

  Grandma found her voice first. “We already have a hospital close by,” she said, her firm voice piercing across the room. “It’s a twenty-minute drive.”

  “It’s at least twenty-five,” the developer answered. “A full half hour if there’s any hint of traffic. And you’ve got a mature population here that’s entitled to proper care.”

  “He’s right!” cut in an older Asian woman, whom I recognized as a yoga regular at Natisha’s shop. “My mother has appointments three times a week, and she gets exhausted just making the trip.”

  “No, a hospital would be a traffic nightmare,” bellowed an even older white dude, with a thick shock of hair that he’d dyed bright blond. “You’d have out-of-towners clogging the streets at all hours, plus all the new doctors and nurses and staff. This town’s like a castle with a moat and a drawbridge. The traffic’s bad enough as it is with the tourists.”

  “We survive on tourists,” a woman called in a reedy voice from a far corner in the room. I couldn’t see her face, but I thought I knew her voice; she ran a Main Street ice cream shop. “All those new people would be an economic boon.”

  “You mean bomb,” said a younger woman, Dakshina, who ran a pottery store with classes and a kiln. “We all need customers, but if we build too much, we’ll destroy all the reasons people come here.”

  “What do you mean we?” cried another voice, a man I didn’t recognize
. “It’s Graves land. They can sell it to whoever they want.”

  “It’s an orchard. It’s irreplaceable,” a woman boomed, raising her voice as people began arguing at their tables. “It’s a public treasure and we should all decide as a town!”

  “You just want to keep your property values through the roof!” the man shot back.

  At this point, the room erupted into an open frenzy of debate. Even the people I recognized as tourists were arguing, their faces flushed with passion as they either pleaded for Wonder Springs to stay a pristine refuge or else demanded that they have the peace of mind of a hospital close by.

  David Sky leaned back, watching the ruckus with a small smile. “Tight-knit town,” he said, and he forked a huge mouthful of cheesy fettuccine. “I’m sure they’ll make the intelligent choice.”

  But the noise of the fight was rising to a roar… the sound of a town starting to tear.

  Chapter 21

  I had no interest in sticking around to watch Sky load up on carbs, so I pushed away from the table and rose to leave with Tina. She was ready to go too; the second that Sky had broken eye contact and focused on me, she’d snapped right out of her empathic spell.

  “Oh, hey!” Tina said. “Look, there’s Harriet!”

  “Yeah, sitting with Jamie Graves,” I said. “Great.”

  We weaved our way among the tables and approached the two women. Jamie had slipped out of her Lawyer’s Office Mourning Garb into a bright sundress that was far more flattering, and she was eagerly recounting the reading of the will and the subsequent remarks of Ambrose James.

  Geez… Harriet really did know everybody. Jamie didn’t even live here. Although I was getting the impression that she and Paris had come to visit fairly often.

  But when we came up, Jamie stopped, and she gave us both a hostile smile.

  “Summer! Are you feeling better?” she said. “You left in such a hurry, I thought you might be sick.”

  “I’m fine, thanks,” I said. “Just needed some fresh air.”

  “I think I might need some myself,” Jamie said, with a slightly insulting glance my way, and she rose to leave.

  “Jamie? Hold on!” said Harriet, her wide mouth practically glowing with its fire-engine lipstick. “You didn’t finish your story!”

  “I’m sure Summer can tell you everything that happened,” Jamie said. “She was clearly paying attention with intense interest.”

  “What exactly do you mean by that?” I snapped.

  “Nothing at all,” she said, with a smirk. “I’m sure if Cade had inherited a million or two, it wouldn’t have affected you in the slightest.”

  Then she sashayed away without a backward glance.

  I was fuming, but I kept it under control. Harriet, however, huffed openly with disappointment, but then she gave us a gleaming crocodile smile and waved us down to sit. “So?” she said, her rouged cheeks dimpling with delight. “Did Ambrose actually accuse Cade right there? In front of his father?”

  Um, I thought. And also his quasi-girlfriend.

  “And also you, of course,” Harriet added, giving me a doleful look of sympathy that didn’t quite conceal a spark of gleeful malice. “I’m so sorry, Summer. This must be just horrific.”

  “I’ve had better mornings,” I said. “But I’ll be just fine once we catch the real killer.”

  “Who do you mean?” Harriet said. “You think it’s not Cade?”

  “Of course it’s not Cade!” Tina cried. “How can you even say that?”

  Harriet patted her hand. “I’m sorry, yes, of course. You’ve been friends forever; you’d know much better than I would. I just can’t think who else it might be.”

  “Well, think some more,” I said. “Tina tells me you know everything in this town. We’re willing to pay.”

  Harriet snorted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. Her tone was laughing, but she seemed to watch me with new care. “I’m just a people person, Summer. People fascinate me.”

  “Great. Same here,” I said. “So in a spirit of interpersonal exploration, can you think about what Una might have told you the day she died?”

  “What?” Harriet blurted. “What are you talking about?”

  “She had an appointment with you,” I said. “To do her hair. Remember? You mentioned it the night before, at my class.”

  “Oh my god,” Harriet said. She touched her collarbone and stared off into space. “I hadn’t even thought about that… at the time, it just all seemed so normal.”

  “Think,” I said. “She must have said something.”

  “I… I don’t know. We really weren’t that close.” She picked at the lacy low collar of her shirt, and she bit her bright lip. “She might have made some reference to Cade and changing her will.”

  “We know all about that,” I said. “Anything else?”

  She frowned. “I mean, there was the bit about Ambrose, but I can’t imagine…” She trailed off.

  “Imagine what? You mean Ambrose her lawyer?”

  “Oh, he wasn’t just her lawyer,” she said. “Well, he was, but that’s not how he wanted it.” She sighed. “This must be killing him.”

  I looked to Tina for clarification, but she shook her head and shrugged.

  “Are you saying,” I said, “that Ambrose James, that prim lawyer dude, was… in love with Una Graves?”

  “I don’t know about love,” Harriet said. “There was at least a long-standing infatuation. Unrequited. Isn’t that common knowledge?”

  Tina touched her heart. “That poor man,” she said. “No wonder he tortured Cade about the will.”

  “He really did lead Cade on and skewer him, didn’t he?” I said. “I hadn’t even thought about that.”

  “I’m sure Ambrose must be traumatized on multiple levels,” said Harriet. “After what she must have said in that letter.”

  “Letter?” I said.

  Harriet glanced around at the still-noisy dining room, and then she leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I would never share this if there weren’t so much at stake,” she said. “But the fact is, from what Una told me, Ambrose had finally gotten up the gumption to ask her out.”

  “When?” I said. “To what?”

  “To that Classic Movie Night,” Harriet said. “When she’d called him about cutting Cade out of her will, he must have made the obvious guess that she was free for the evening.”

  “Oh my gosh,” I said. “If she’d gone with him… she would still be alive.”

  “I know,” Harriet said. “And she didn’t even tell him ‘no’ right away. She said she’d think about it, and then she put him off again when they met for the will. But by the time she came in to see me, she’d told me she’d made up her mind. She even quoted a few snippets of the letter she’d written.” Harriet shook her head. “That woman had a talent for sarcasm.”

  “But why?” Tina said. “Why would she be so mean about it?”

  “Honey, no one likes a play for the rebound,” Harriet said. “I’m not defending her, but she’d just had to pay the man to undo the humiliating damage from her besotted, hopeless crush. If I were Ambrose, I’d have given her a few weeks.”

  “What exactly did she say to him?” I said.

  Harriet pursed her lips. “I’d rather not say.”

  My mind buzzed with the possibilities…

  I imagined Ambrose clutching that venomous letter, looping her contempt, seething that she would rather pine after an oblivious young man than even give him a tiny chance.

  And Ambrose would know that she’d be drunk. Alone in the house, while Cade was out.

  A house for which he just might know the security code.

  Not to mention that he’d know firsthand just how damning the case would be against Cade. Una had hired Ambrose to cut Cade out of her will… which would give Cade the perfect motive.

  And how soon had Ambrose shared this information with the sheriff? Before he’d even finished reading the will. />
  “Summer?” Tina said. “What are you thinking?”

  “I think you’ve been really helpful, Harriet,” I said, turning to the hairdresser. “Thank you.”

  “Now don’t make any rash assumptions,” Harriet cautioned. “I still think you’d be better off bracing for the worst with Cade.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m braced.” I rose to go.

  “Oh, but what about my price?” Harriet said. She was totally serious.

  I stood there like a goof, stunned, and then she started laughing.

  “Sit down, sit down! Oh, the look on your face,” she said, as I sat back down. “Like I wanted your firstborn. Geez Louise.” She smiled. “It’s no big deal, I’m just a little curious. How much would you say… is your grandmother’s total wealth?”

  Now I was stunned.

  The question was so unexpected, so bizarre. “I have no idea,” I said.

  “No way,” Tina said. She’d crossed her arms and was frowning hard, but the tips of her fingers were trembling. “That’s not for us to discuss.”

  “Of course, of course,” Harriet said. “I’m sorry. I was just trying to get a rise out of you.”

  “You did,” said Tina. “Satisfied?”

  “Well, not quite,” Harriet said. “You see, Tina, Wonder Springs looks a bit different when you’re not a Meredith. A bit more… mysterious. People at least like to know how many digits their neighbors have in their bank accounts, don’t you think? And have at least a vague idea of why they have so much.”

  “She’s been running the Inn for decades,” Tina said. “And everyone knows she’s put lots of her profits right back into this town, with public projects and investing in other small businesses.”

  “Yes,” Harriet said. “She’s certainly made her mark.”

  “She’s made this town!” Tina said.

  “Not really,” Harriet said. “But she definitely thinks she owns it.”

  Tina was clutching her arms now, her fingertips digging into her skin. “No, she doesn’t,” she said, with forced calm. “She’s a leader.”

  “Because she can afford to buy followers,” Harriet said. With a sudden shift, she turned to me, and her red lips said, “Did you ever ask Natisha how she got such a sweet property for her tea shop?”