Deadly Sweet Dreams

by Connie Shelton

  “Right. But the phone …”

  “I waited until she got in her car and drove off, and then I got up to leave. Her phone was on the floor. I guess she dropped it.” He fidgeted with an apple from the fruit bowl on his table. “I was going to return it, honest. In fact, I could have followed and taken it to her hotel right then. But … honestly, it was so nice not hearing from her six times over the evening … I just put it off. I had no idea something had happened to her.”

  Sam believed him. The aura was clear and clean again. “Where is her phone now?”

  He thought hard for a minute. “I guess it’s still in my truck. I haven’t driven anywhere—been busy around here.”

  “You really should turn it in to the sheriff, Danny.”

  He set the apple down and nodded. “I will.”

  “Do it sooner rather than later. As soon as they release her name—or even before that. Tell them what you just told me about her leaving it behind. Okay, you can probably leave out the cupcakes.” Her smile lightened the mood.

  “Thanks, Sam. I appreciate the advice.”

  “Beau and I are on your side. You can come to either of us.” She left the casita, feeling better about Danny and his story, suddenly hungry for the burrito in the fridge.

  Chapter 16

  It was shortly after noon when Kelly drove up to the ranch house. With shining coats and big smiles, Ranger and Nellie bounded from the back of her car and raced to the door. Sam sat at the dining table with her sewing machine.

  “I swear, I don’t know how every one of Beau’s flannel shirts manages to rip itself out there in the barn.” She laid the shirt aside and turned to Kelly.

  Both dogs sat back on their haunches, fixing her with eager stares.

  “Don’t believe them,” Kelly said. “Riki and I both gave them treats when we complimented them on how pretty they look.”

  Sam stroked their heads and sent them away. “Can you make time for a cup of tea? I’m tired of mending and could use a break.”

  In answer, Kelly dropped her jacket on the couch and held up a small bag from Sweet’s Sweets. “I was so hoping you’d suggest that. I brought butter spritz.”

  Sam put the kettle on and pulled two of their favorite mugs from the cupboard while she briefly told Kelly what she’d learned about Lila’s death.

  “Oh, good, it didn’t have anything to do with our anti-love potion.”

  “Thankfully, no. I’m still worried about Danny though. Evan’s going to make the connection eventually, and I’m sure he’s in for some questions.”

  “But he didn’t—”

  “No. I’m sure he’s innocent.” Unless my aura detection skills have tanked, I’m sure.

  “Do you think he’ll go back to Texas or stay here?”

  “He says he loves working on the ranch, so my guess is he’ll stay.”

  “So, he’s single again …”

  “Kel … what are you thinking?”

  Kelly opened the cookie bag and reached for one. “I’m thinking that Jen has a younger sister who would be so perfect for him.”

  “You’ve had this in mind for a while, haven’t you?”

  A tiny shrug. “Maybe a week or so. Since the birthday party, actually.”

  The kettle screeched and Sam shifted her attention to the teabags and hot water. Handing Kelly a cup she said, “Okay, little miss matchmaker. First off, let’s make sure he’s perhaps slightly interested in dating again. He got badly burned last time.”

  “Oh, right. And we’ll need to be sure he doesn’t actually end up in trouble with the law. I can’t see setting Crystal up, knowing she’d be visiting a felon on death row.”

  “Kelly! Don’t even joke about it.”

  “Sorry. That was in really bad taste.”

  “He’s not a felon, and he won’t be in trouble with the law. He just needs the chance to talk to Evan and clear his name.”

  But what if the evidence was way too strong against him? Sam had no idea what the department had gathered at the crime scene. And how damning would those text messages on Lila’s phone appear?

  Chapter 17

  Sam stood near the French doors at the back of the house the next morning, sipping her first cup of coffee. Beau had actually slept past sunrise and by the time they came downstairs, she could see Danny out at the barn with the feed bucket for the two horses. Their breath made white clouds in the morning air as he dumped feed into the trough for them, and he stood by as they began to eat, stroking each of their foreheads in turn. She smiled at his kindness toward the animals.

  “I toasted you an English muffin,” Beau said, walking up behind her.

  “Did you get something?” She took the plate from his hand.

  “Oatmeal. That should hold me for the morning. I’d better grab my coat and get outside.” He ruffled her hair and gave her a kiss.

  She set her plate and cup on the dining table, thinking about the day ahead and how, for once, she didn’t have a half-dozen duties awaiting her attention.

  “Huh.” Beau’s attention was drawn to the driveway out front. “One of my guys is here.”

  Sam turned and spotted the blue lightbar of a sheriff’s department vehicle. She smiled at Beau’s words. Despite his adamant claims that he’d completely given up law enforcement, he would always think of the deputies as ‘his guys.’

  But this time it was Sheriff Evan who stepped out of the cruiser and walked up the porch steps. Beau had the door open before the knock came.

  “Hey, Sheriff.”

  “Hey, Sheriff.” Beau smiled at Evan’s acknowledgment of his old status. “Come on in.”

  Evan stomped his boots on the doormat and walked in, smiling at Sam across the room. He and Beau shook hands before he spoke. “Unfortunately, folks, this isn’t a social call.”

  “What’s happened?” Sam had crossed the room, prepared to take Evan’s jacket and offer coffee.

  “The new murder case—the victim, Lila Contreras, has direct ties to Danny Flores. I need to talk to him about her. Based on items we found in her hotel room—including a map and directions to your place and a phone number she’d jotted down, she was in touch with your ranch hand.”

  So, here it was, the interview. She’d done her best to warn Danny. The way Evan presented the news, Sam guessed Danny hadn’t yet gone forward with Lila’s phone. Now, he would have to simply tell the truth, and she could hope he didn’t implicate himself.

  “It’s cold out there,” she said. “Shall I invite him inside?”

  “Not necessary,” Evan said. “I’m dressed for it, so I’ll just step out back and find him.”

  Beau was already putting on his own coat. “He should be in the barn.”

  Sam stayed behind. No need to overwhelm Danny now. She would simply have to grill Beau later about the interview. She closed the French door and watched anxiously through the glass.

  Danny stepped out of the barn as the two men approached. When he saw Evan’s uniform, he halted in his tracks and watched them.

  It took all she had to turn away, but Sam couldn’t be of help by staring out the windows. She went into the kitchen to clean up the breakfast dishes and check the coffee supply. If Evan lingered, coffee would be a way to keep him around long enough to ask questions.

  As it turned out, she had no such luck. Less than ten minutes later, Beau was back in the house and Evan was driving away. She cornered her husband at the coat rack.

  “So? What happened? What did Danny say?”

  He kept his coat on and reached for his Stetson. “Not much. He gave Evan her cell phone, which he said she left behind at a coffee place where they’d met for dessert. Evan asked him about the relationship. Danny admitted knowing her, said they had a relationship for a short time before he came here. He said he’d been very surprised that she tracked him and came to Taos, but he agreed to meet her for coffee and talk things over. He says he told her, quote, ‘Once and for all, Lila, it’s over between us.’ He says she took
it well, and he told her she ought to just go home and pick up her life. Then he says she left.”

  Other than the direct quote, it went along with what Danny had told Sam. She pondered it all as Beau went back outside to begin his day’s work.

  Back in the kitchen, she hung the dish towel over the handle on the stove. All she could do at this point was trust that Evan would find all the facts and they would match with Danny’s actions that evening. For now, she had other work to attend to. She picked up her coat, locked the front door, and went out to her SUV.

  Since the big scare when she nearly lost Beau, Sam had sold her fine-chocolates business and curtailed her hours in the bakery. Becky was a skilled decorator now, and she handled nearly all the custom orders. During wedding season and busy holidays she called in a couple of extra helpers. Jen met with clients and helped design their cakes, as well as running the front sales counter with speed and efficiency. Julio, the Harley-riding baker, remained a man of few words but the man could turn out every one of Sam’s recipes as well as she could do them herself.

  Her routine, nowadays, was to check in with the crew a couple of times a week, take care of a select few of her old-time clients who insisted she be the one to make their cakes and pastries, and afterward pick up a new book for Ana at the bookshop next to the bakery. It had been going this way nearly four years, and Sam was only now beginning to feel a hint of discontent. She needed to stay busy.

  A chill March wind channeled down the alley behind Sweet’s Sweets, gripping Sam’s ankles as she got out of the car. She picked up her pack and whisked up the two steps as quickly as possible. The warm kitchen smelled of cinnamon and chocolate, comfort scents that counteracted the harsh breeze outside.

  “What have we got?” she asked, automatically, as she crossed the kitchen area and hung her jacket on a peg near her desk.

  “The Salazar wedding is your big job of the week,” Becky said, not raising her eyes from the intricate white lace she was piping onto a background of yellow. “I’ve got this bridal shower under control. The party is tomorrow but they want to pick up the cake this afternoon.”

  She attached the end of the delicate icing strand in place, then straightened her shoulders and glanced at the stack of orders on the corner of the heavy stainless worktable.

  “Two kid birthdays and one for a great-grandmother tomorrow. That should be easy enough.” She picked up an order sheet from the stack and handed it to Sam.

  Sam looked at the Salazar order’s specifications. Five tiers, basic ivory fondant coating, spring flowers in ivory, peach, and yellow. She could pre-make the daffodils and lilies so they had plenty of time to set up. The wedding was in three days—Julio would bake the cake layers tomorrow, and Sam could assemble and decorate it the next day. A reasonable schedule. She could remember a whole bunch of times she’d had to work on three or four cakes of this magnitude, with a lot less time to finish them.

  Yeah, and I turned to the magic box a lot of those times, too.

  She tamped down that thought and went to wash her hands.

  Two hours later, Sam set the last of the flowers aside, checked on the sales room, said goodbye to the crew, and headed home with a sense of satisfaction.

  Her peace was shattered when she pulled up to the ranch house to discover a cruiser out front with lights flashing. What the hell? She practically leaped out of her SUV before it had rolled to a stop.

  The front door opened and out came Deputy Rico, escorting Danny Flores by the arm.

  Chapter 18

  “Rico! What on earth?” she called out. “Did you actually drive up here with lights and siren?”

  Rico put Danny in the back seat before he turned to her.

  “Hey, Sam,” he said with a smile.

  “Don’t ‘hey Sam’ me. What’s going on?”

  “I was sent out to pick up a suspect.” He glanced at the car and looked somewhat embarrassed. “Okay, I could have left off the lights.”

  Beau stepped out to the porch just then, pulling his coat over his arms. “There’s been another development, sweetheart.”

  “Beau, we should go along. He doesn’t have anyone else.”

  There was a short discussion when they got to the sheriff’s department, but out of respect Evan allowed Beau and Sam to watch from the observation room as he began to interrogate Danny. Beau admitted the tone was far more serious this time.

  “Am I under arrest?” Danny asked before Evan had hardly settled into the chair opposite him.

  “At this point we’re just asking questions, clarifying a few things.” Evan leaned back in his chair. “Some things you told me last time didn’t quite match up with the evidence.”

  Danny squirmed a little.

  “For instance, you said you met Lila Contreras for coffee at Java Joe’s, but we’ve learned that you also met her in the hotel bar for a drink and you two talked. This was the night before she was murdered.”

  “Right. Well, she had a drink. I didn’t want anything.”

  “Yes, the server remembered that.” Evan had his pocket notebook out and flipped back a page or two. “She also remembered the two of you leaving together, walking toward the elevators.”

  “Yeah, uh, I told Lila it was over between us and then I left.”

  “Danny, your fingerprints were in her room. How do you explain that?”

  Sam felt herself swallowing hard, mirroring Danny’s reaction to the statement. He had not told her about any of this. Evan never took his eyes off Danny’s face.

  “Well? Obviously, you went up to her room. Once you two were alone, I’m guessing the conversation went a different direction.”

  “I never laid a hand on her!”

  “So, then tell me about it.” Evan’s tone was skeptical and Danny fidgeted some more.

  “Down in the bar, I was getting up to leave. I’d said all I had to say. And at first Lila seemed to accept what I told her. But as I was standing up she said, ‘Oh, by the way. I have your grandmother’s ring, the one you gave me.’ And I was all shocked, because I never gave her a ring. But she described it exactly, a ring that’s been in my family a long time. And then she tells me if I want it back, I’ll have to come up to her room to get it.”

  Another thing Danny hadn’t told her. Sam looked at Beau. “Had he ever mentioned this?”

  He shook his head.

  “So you did go up to her room?” Evan asked.

  “I wasn’t even going to go inside. In the elevator, I told her to just go in the room and get the ring. I wanted to see it for myself ’cause I didn’t believe she had it.”

  “So you got to the room and what happened?”

  Danny took a deep breath. “She handed me her keycard and had me unlock the door, and then she reaches over and takes my hand and pulls me inside. It was the same old Lila all over again, rubbing up against me, telling me how much she loves me, begging me to change my mind.”

  “And you did what?”

  Danny rubbed his temples. “I couldn’t listen to her. She always got to me. So I just pushed her hands off my shoulders and asked where the ring was. I went over to her suitcase and pulled some clothes out, looking for it. She laughed. In the bathroom, her makeup and stuff was all over the counter, but no ring. I said I’d never given it to her and she laughed even more.”

  “Getting tricked by a woman. That must have made you furious.”

  Danny could see where this was going. “I was pissed, yeah. But all I did was walk out. I took the stairs and went out the side door to my truck and got the hell out of there. That’s it, that’s all the contact we had.”

  Sam waited for the other shoe to drop, for Evan to say there was more evidence that Danny had stayed longer, maybe he and Lila had ended up in bed. But Evan merely stuck his notebook back in his pocket.

  “Okay, then. We’re still processing evidence, going through her phone data, and we’ll probably have more questions before we’re done. Don’t leave town.” He held the door open and let
Danny walk out.

  Sam and Beau joined him in the lobby a couple of minutes later and offered a ride home.

  “You heard all that?” Danny asked, once they had settled in Beau’s truck.

  Sam nodded. “It doesn’t sound like they have much against you.”

  “I took the sheriff aside for a minute after he spoke with you. He says the places they found your fingerprints in the room were consistent with what you told him just now. That’s good.”

  Danny relaxed a bit into his seat. “After I left the hotel that night, I went back to the ranch and called my mother in San Antonio. She looked around and found my abuela’s ring with some other stuff I had packed and stored at her place when I came here. I knew I hadn’t given it away. Lila was just baiting me.”

  “Sounds like she did that a lot,” Sam said quietly. The rest of the ride went by in silence.

  When they reached the ranch, Beau sent Danny out to make sure there was no ice on the horses’ water trough.

  “There’s more, isn’t there?” Sam asked.

  “There was a message to Danny on Lila’s phone, setting up the meeting at the hotel that Evan was asking him about.”

  “Only one? I—” I am not going to admit to Beau that I peeked at the phone message thread and there were dozens. Instead, she said, “He went so far as to change his number, and he didn’t tell her about his move to Taos, and she still tracked him down.”

  “A Fatal Attraction kind of thing?”

  “Maybe. But there’s a weirder element. Danny told me she insisted they were supposed to be together because God told her so. Or sometimes it was an angel. She fully believed some universal force brought them together and she wasn’t going to let him go.”

  “Wow.”

  “Yeah, creepy.”

  Beau opened the refrigerator door and stared inside.