Murder in Cottonwood Springs: A Cottonwood Springs Cozy Mystery (Cottonwood Springs Cozy Mystery Series Book 1)

by Dianne Harman

  “I think you’ll be very happy with your decision,” Linc said. “I met the previous owners a couple of times, but that was about it. Sometimes Jett would end up over in my yard when he was chasing a rabbit or a squirrel. That’s the most interaction I really ever had with his owners or him, but he always seemed like such a cool dog.”

  “He is. They told me they bought him from a breeder in Denver who specialized in training dogs for law enforcement. I guess they thought it would make him a better guard dog,” she shrugged, “although I don’t know why anyone would need one out here. Seems very safe to me. I just fell in love with his fluffy face.” Brigid reached down and petted Jett. In return, he licked her arm. Once she’d stopped petting him, he went to the back door and whined.

  “Excuse me a moment,” Brigid said. She wrapped her red flannel shirt around her as she let the dog out into the backyard, feeling the cold air come in. “So, tell me about yourself. What do you do?”

  “I’m a financial advisor. Actually, I have clients all over the United States. I love the internet. No more commuting to work or dealing with an office staff,” Linc said as he settled back and took a sip of his wine.

  “I know the feeling. It really makes things easier, doesn’t it? The internet. I love being able to work from wherever I want and wearing whatever I want. Where did you live before you moved here?”

  “I lived in New York, but I got tired of the constant fast pace of life there,” he said. “Sometimes when I was out late at night I found myself wondering how all the people I saw could be busy at that time of night. At some point in time I decided it was ridiculous.”

  “I can understand that,” Brigid said. “I grew up here in Cottonwood Springs, but I moved to Los Angeles when I finished college. After my divorce and when the company I worked for went bankrupt, I decided it was time to head back home, and enjoy a slower way of life.” She took a sip of her wine. Surprised by how good it was, she took another slower sip.

  “You grew up here, huh? That must have been nice. I moved here after I talked to some guys in an airport security check line when I was coming back from a ski trip to Whistler, British Columbia,” Linc said, smiling.

  “Are you serious?” Brigid asked. She was amazed anyone would ever talk about Cottonwood Springs in general, let alone at an airport in Whistler, which was far better known than Cottonwood Springs.

  “Yeah,” his laugh was a low rumble. “My marriage was dead. I held no love for New York, and I was looking for a change. It sounded like a sign when I overheard these guys talking about some epic ski slopes and trails. I talked to them and when I got home I did a little research. Sounds schmaltzy, but I fell in love with the area. The pictures on the internet were amazing, and just like that, I started looking for a place to live here.

  “I found the place next door, stayed at a B & B in town for a few days until it was ready, and then moved in. The only downside is living on the outskirts of town, I haven’t met many people, but that’s a small price to pay for the view.”

  “That’s crazy. I can’t imagine doing something like that. Hearing about a place in passing and deciding to move there?” Brigid began to look at Linc in a completely different way than she had when she’d first met him when he’d walked through the front door as a total stranger. Obviously, he was a man who followed his intuition and did what felt right to him.

  “You mean, kind of like when you moved to Los Angeles?” he raised his eyebrow as he took another drink and looked at her.

  “That was a little different. I knew Los Angeles would have a lot more going on than Cottonwood Springs. You have to zoom in pretty close on a GPS before Cottonwood Springs even shows up on the map,” Brigid said with a grin.

  “Point taken.”

  They talked for a little longer, slowly working their way through the bottle of wine until a familiar scratch at the door interrupted their conversation. Brigid went to the back door to open it for Jett, and as he pushed his way into the house, Brigid saw that he was dripping wet.

  “Oh, Jett, not again,” Brigid said as she reached for one of the beach towels she’d started keeping on a shelf by the back door. The dog was forever going for a swim in the creek and coming back dripping wet.

  “Need any help?” Linc asked as he walked into the kitchen.

  “No, thanks. I’ve got this. He’s done it to me more than once already,” she complained as she grabbed for Jett. She had to hurry to dry him off before he decided he needed to shake the water off by himself. The last time he’d done that, she had to spend an hour on a ladder cleaning muddy water drops from the blades of the ceiling fan.

  Linc laughed and joined her, picking up a clean towel and helping her wipe Jett down. Jett stood still, licking both of them when they got near his face. Once they were done, Brigid released Jett, and he went back to his loveseat. He circled around on it several times before finding the exact spot he wanted and then flopped down.

  “It’s getting late, and I really should get out of your hair,” Linc said. He leaned forward in his seat and downed the last bit of wine in his glass.

  “Thanks for stopping by,” Brigid said. “I really appreciate you coming over here and bearing gifts. I needed a break, and it’s nice to know there’s a friendly face nearby.”

  “Brigid, if you need anything, please let me know. I’ll check in with you occasionally to see if you need something done around the house. I’m fairly handy, so don’t be afraid to ask for help.” He stood up and began to walk towards the front door.

  “Thanks. I appreciate that,” she said following him. “By the way, one of my old friends, Lucy, is going to have a little coming home party for me in a couple of days. Would you like to come? It’s nothing fancy. It’s just a little get-together with finger foods.”

  “Yes, I would very much like that,” he said turning back to face her. “As I said earlier, I’ve lived here for several months, but since all my work is done on my computer, I haven’t exactly made many friends. Might be a nice opportunity for me to meet some people.”

  “Consider it done. It’s in three days. Why don’t you come here around six, and we can go together?” she asked. She wasn’t going to call it a date, but it was the closest thing she’d had to one in a long time.

  Linc smiled as he opened the door. “I’m looking forward to it. See you around.” He walked out into the darkness with Brigid watching until he disappeared from view.

  CHAPTER 2

  “Henri, I am getting tired of waiting,” Joelle Dubois said as she laid on her back in her bed, still nude after making love to Henri, who was lying beside her. She stretched languidly, rubbing against him in the process.

  “So am I, darling, but we must have patience. Now is not the right time. Lucy has all the money, and if I left her now I would have nothing. There would be no money to treat you like the princess you are,” he said as he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. They snuggled down into the soft pink sheets. He sprinkled kisses along her neck as she cooed with satisfaction.

  “I didn’t come all the way here to Colorado from France just to be your little side fling, Henri. You promised me if I came to the United States, we could be together for a while, and then you would leave her. When we started emailing each other, you told me how much you wanted to go back home to France and be with me. It is taking far too long.” Joelle propped herself up on one arm. “My patience is wearing thin, Henri.”

  You are not my side fling,” Henri Bernard said as he pushed her dark hair away from her eyes. Trying to keep Joelle happy while he figured out what he was going to do about Lucy was a constant struggle. “I consider myself married to you more than I am to her.” He pulled her down and kissed her forehead. “You are the light in my life. You complete me in every way.”

  Joelle pulled away from him and climbed out of bed. “Well, I don’t want to wait any longer for you to keep your promises to me. I think it’s time I went back to France, with or without you. I moved halfway around
the world, so I could live just a few miles from you. And you know why? Because I loved you, and I believed what you told me about the two of us going to France. Now you are telling me I need to wait even longer?”

  She wrapped the ivory-colored silk robe around her voluptuous body and walked over to the large wooden framed mirror above the dresser. She studied her reflection for a moment before she picked up a large paddle brush and began pulling it through her hair. “Perhaps I shall find someone else who will keep his promises to me.”

  “No, my pet. I promise. Only six more months. What is that compared to how long we have already waited? The time will go by before you know it. All I ask is that you give me a little more time.” Henri scooted up in the bed, leaning back on the headboard. In spite of her comments a few moments earlier about finding someone else, she knew she was still very much attracted to him. His dark hair was mussed, but Joelle always thought he looked sexier that way. He’d gotten a tan from working outside so much, and although Joelle had ivory skin, she had to admit that the darker coloring suited Henri.

  She used one finger to wipe away a smudge on her normally perfect eyeliner and turned to face Henri. “Perhaps the time has come for me to take a more direct approach to this problem. Waiting for you to make your move is taking far too long. Maybe I should do something about Lucy myself. Perhaps I should kill her?” she asked as she approached the bed seductively. “Boom. Problem solved.”

  “I hope you’re kidding. No, Joelle, that is definitely not a wise thing to do,” he said in a worried tone of voice. “If you were caught we could never be together. Please, let me take care of it. It won’t be much longer. It probably won’t even take me the full six months. I just need a little bit more time.” He knew Joelle could be impulsive. Although he loved her and didn’t want to stay with Lucy any longer, he didn’t want Joelle to put herself at risk by doing something rash.

  Joelle turned away from him and walked over to the window, looking out on the dark street. She wasn’t really sure if she trusted Henri anymore. She was torn. Maybe he really did love her and was just trying to make sure he could secure a good future for them. After all, his story never really had changed during the time they’d been together. But there was another possibility that had been floating around in her mind for quite a while and was becoming more and more insistent. She’d started to wonder if maybe Henri loved Lucy more than he did her.

  She had to admit that Lucy was attractive in her own way. Lucy was a bit plain for her taste, but if she spent a little more time on herself, she could become much more attractive. Did Henri see that and think she could be prettier than Joelle? She turned around when she heard Henri getting dressed. “Are you leaving already?” she asked as feelings of jealousy coursed through her.

  Henri had already pulled on his pants and was tugging his shirt over his head. “I’m afraid so, Joelle. I don’t want to be too late, or Lucy may begin to get suspicious. I don’t want her to find out about us, particularly when we’re so close to being together forever.” He sat down on the bed and began to put on his shoes. “If she found out about us now, there’s a good chance she’d take everything, and I’d get nothing. I love you.” He kissed her goodbye as he hurried out of the bedroom and walked towards the front door.

  “I love you too, Henri,” Joelle said as she followed him to the door. He turned and blew her a kiss as he stepped out the front door. She returned it, and he softly closed the door. Joelle leaned against the closed door, thinking.

  “Maybe you think you need time to deal with things, Henri, but I think the time is up,” she said aloud to herself. “I think I need to eliminate the one thing that’s standing between us, and that one thing is Lucy.”

  Henri climbed into his green truck and started the engine. He was beginning to get worried. Joelle was getting impatient, and she tended to get reckless when things weren’t going her way. As he backed out of her driveway and pointed his truck towards home, he knew he had his back against a wall. He couldn’t stall much longer. Things were going to have to change and soon.

  Lucy had been a bit of a drag in the last few years as her time and energy became completely focused on the B & B. He’d understood why she wanted to return to her hometown and take over her parents’ business after they died on that icy road. And it wasn’t just the business, there had also been her younger brother, Rich. But Rich was a grown man now, and Henri needed Lucy far more now than Rich did.

  He had to admit he didn’t enjoy their present relationship. It seemed the only time she talked to him was to tell him something that needed to be done at the B & B. Over the years, their relationship had turned more into one of employer and employee, rather than equals, a married couple.

  As he drove along the dark mountain roads on his way back to the B & B, he thought about how much he’d really come to despise everything about his current way of life. When they’d first gotten together in France, Henri had loved Lucy more than life itself. She was fun-loving and vibrant, always quick with a smile. It was part of the reason he’d started seeing her even though he’d been with Joelle back then. It had been hard for him to leave Joelle, and now it was just as hard, if not harder, to have to make a choice between the two women.

  Joelle was fiery and beautiful. She looked like some sort of Greek goddess that had descended from the heavens to be with him, or at least that’s how he saw her, but she had another side to her. She could also be vain and selfish. Lucy was more like an earth mother, nurturing and caring. What one woman lacked, the other more than made up for it. They were like the yin and yang, light and dark, summer and winter.

  Something had changed in Lucy as the years went by and she became totally immersed in her role of running the B & B. She began to smile less and less. She didn’t take care of herself and barely made time for Henri unless it had something to do with the B & B. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d made love to her, but at least he had Joelle.

  The more he thought about it, for the first time he had to admit he really didn’t love Lucy anymore. She’d become a weight around his neck, kind of an albatross, and he felt she was constantly holding him back, although from what he really couldn’t say. In his heart of hearts, alone and in his car, he admitted for the first time that he’d rather be with the vivacious, passionate Joelle. He was finished with Lucy.

  Henri knew that divorce was not an option. He’d end up penniless in a country he couldn’t stand. No, it was time he took his future in his own hands. No more waiting for things to change on their own. They hadn’t changed while he’d been in the United States, and there was nothing to make him think that things were going to change in the near future. Joelle was right, maybe the best way out of all of this was if Lucy was dead.

  The more he thought about it, the more he realized it was the only way out of an untenable situation. One of the upsides if he killed Lucy was that since he was still a citizen of France, the United States couldn’t extradite him for her murder. He knew an extradition treaty existed, but from the news reports he’d read about some famous people, he’d become aware that only applied when the person in France was a United States citizen. His country would protect him.

  For the first time in a long time he felt hopeful about the future. With a plan beginning to brew in his mind, he pushed down on the truck’s accelerator, thinking how great it would be to return to France as a single man and be with Joelle.

  CHAPTER 3

  Three days later, Linc knocked on Brigid’s front door and after she opened it, he said, “Are you about ready to go?” He was dressed in a hunter green shirt and dark blue jeans with a crease so sharp she wondered if he’d ironed them.

  “Give me just a minute. I need to check on Jett’s food and water, then I’ll be ready.” Linc waited by the door as Brigid walked to the kitchen. She felt like she was stalling, because she wasn’t sure how she felt about Lucy and Fiona giving this party for her. She didn’t like being the center of attention and she hoped her friend Lucy
and her sister Fiona hadn’t gone overboard with the party.

  Now that the time for it had arrived, she had to admit she was even more nervous than she’d thought she would be. Her palms were slightly sweaty, and she was glad Linc hadn’t tried to shake hands with her. She didn’t want him to know she was shyer than she seemed. She’d tried unsuccessfully to convince Lucy she didn’t need to have a welcome back party for her, but Lucy had insisted. Brigid knew her sister, Fiona, had been in on it from the start. It was hard to tell which one of them was more excited that Brigid had moved back to Cottonwood Springs. She wiped her hands on her navy-blue pencil skirt and straightened the collar of her white chambray shirt, as she glanced in the hall mirror one last time.

  “Who’s a good boy?” she heard Linc say as she walked back to the great room. “Yes, big old Jett’s a good boy, isn’t he?” Linc was kneeling down on the floor next to Jett who was on his back with his feet up in the air. Jett was rolling around as if he were a puppy getting his first belly rub. His leg started kicking as Linc found his tickle spot and started scratching.

  “I see you two are getting along well,” Brigid said with a laugh.

  Linc stood up. “What can I say? I’m a dog guy. The bigger the better.” He smiled a big, toothy grin. “By the way, Brigid, you look great.”

  “Thanks,” she said, feeling the color rise to her cheeks. It had been a long time since she’d had a compliment from a man. “We better head over there or we’ll be late, and I doubt Lucy would be happy if the guest of honor was late.”

  A few minutes later they pulled up outside her sister’s book store, “Read It Again.” It was located in the older business section of town, and was the only place one could buy books in that part of Colorado. Fiona not only sold new books, but she also bought and sold used books. Book lovers came from miles away, their cars filled with the books they’d bought and read since their last visit. There was always coffee, tea, and lemonade for people who wanted to hang around and read a book in one of the many mismatched chairs scattered throughout the store.