Ashley Crane Cozy Mystery Boxed Set

by Laurie Anne Marie

  “Okay, he knows that. He said he understood. But he was disappointed. Why don’t you just go to a movie with him? Maybe your feelings will change. Mine did. After just hanging out with Josh as a friend, I saw how sweet he was, and I decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did.”

  Lara then stared off dreamily while thinking of her boyfriend.

  “So that’s still going well?” Ashley asked.

  Lara patted her friend’s shoulder. “It’s going great. I want to see you happy too. With a good guy. And we both know Sean is a good guy.”

  “Okay. The movies it is. I’ll tell him before I leave.”

  Lara smiled. “Good. I have a great feeling about this.”

  Ashley smiled at her friend. “Love sought is good, but given unsought is better. Twelfth Night, from you know who.”

  Lara stared back at her friend then laughed. “Whatever! See you later!”

  Ashley called out after her.

  “What? I agreed with you. In Shakespeare’s words.”

  “Agreeing about what?” Sean asked, as he sat down and smiled at her.

  “Oh, silly stuff. Hey, I was thinking, how about a movie tonight? And I promise not to forget about it this time.”

  “Great. Know what you want to see?” he asked.

  Ashley gave him a big smile. “You choose. You know what I like.”

  “You know, there’s that indie movie about a chef who opens a café on a mountaintop.”

  “Oh yeah, I heard about that one. Sounds weird though, a mountaintop?” she said, skeptically.

  “Well, we can see something else. I just thought it might be fun to see how the chef pulls it off.”

  “Okay, but don’t hint at spoilers, all right?” she teased.

  Sean smiled again. “Okay. Pick you up at seven?”

  “Great, see you then,” Ashley said.

  ***

  Ashley drove home and checked in with her parents. Her mom had made a great dinner again, and Ashley ate quickly, as Sean was coming by soon. Her parents knew Sean well, so they couldn’t stop grinning as she told them she was going to a movie with him.

  “What? It’s just a movie,” Ashley said.

  April smiled. “Well, dear, it’s nice that you’re going out with a nice man who has always been a good friend to you.”

  Burt grinned from ear to ear. “No fooling.”

  “Mom, Dad, he’s just a friend.”

  “Well, your father was ‘just a friend’ when we were in high school together. Then a few years went by, and look what happened,” April explained.

  “Yeah, your mother decided to snatch me up before Becky Cromwell got her hooks in me,” Burt recalled.

  April stared him down.

  “Well, as far as I can see, there was no comparison. Otherwise, you would have chosen her. But you’re no fool.”

  “No, ma’am!” Burt saluted her as he went out the door.

  “Where are you going? We just had dinner,” April asked.

  “I’m going to the garage to look for something. Be right back,” Burt said.

  April smiled at her daughter. “Just make sure you have fun tonight, and don’t take anything for granted.”

  Ashley sighed. “Okay, Mom.” She knew there was no stopping her parents when they were on a roll.

  ***

  Sean arrived promptly at seven. He looked pleased to see Ashley’s parents again and actually had on real clothes instead of an apron over black sweats. He had some light cologne on that vaguely smelled like pine and lemon. Ashley thought he looked quite attractive.

  “Wanted to show you something, Sean. Remember this?” Burt asked. He pulled out a dusty yearbook and handed it to Sean.

  Sean’s eyes lit up.

  “Wow, I haven’t seen this in forever. I didn’t know you still had this, Ashley,” Sean said.

  Ashley could see it was their elementary school yearbook. It must be what her dad had fished out of the garage. She hadn’t seen it in ages either.

  Burt grinned. “She had forgotten about it too. I found it in the garage a short while ago when I was cleaning up. You two looked pretty cute back then.”

  Sean opened the yearbook, and staring out at him and Ashley were mini versions of themselves, all gawky and awkward. Sean had a missing tooth in one picture. They both laughed.

  “I was a little pudgy even back then,” Sean said.

  “Me too,” Ashley groaned.

  “Don’t be silly, you two, that’s called baby fat. Every little kid has it,” April said.

  Sean laughed. “In my case, I still do.”

  “We better get going, or we will miss the first part of the movie,” Ashley said.

  She was eager to get away from her parents’ grinning faces like they were conspiring about something. At the same time, the whole scenario was very comforting.

  “Good to see you again,” Sean said as they walked to his car.

  As they drove off, she glanced back and saw her parents still at the door, waving. The cop car was parked across the street. She didn’t know what made her feel better, the fact that her parents were being watched over or that they were really happy to see her and Sean go out.

  All she knew was that she felt good. And comfortable. And that it was nice.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Well, did you enjoy it?” Sean asked as they left the theater after the movie.

  “Loved it. It was a lot different than I expected,” Ashley replied.

  The movie had turned out to be lots of fun. Quirky, due to a guy opening a café on that mountaintop. Fun, because he made it work and fell in love along the way with a hiker who found his spot. A bit unbelievable but perfect for romantics. Ashley and Sean discussed it all the way home.

  “Thanks for coming out tonight. I know you’ve been hyper busy,” Sean said.

  He was staring at her with adoring eyes.

  Ashley smiled back. “It was a lotta fun.”

  She noticed he kept gazing at her.

  “Well, guess I better get in there and go to bed. Long day tomorrow,” Ashley added.

  “I purposely didn’t ask you about work or the murder case, as you noticed. You really need to take some time for yourself and relax, Ash,” Sean said.

  “I could say the same for you,” she said.

  “Yeah, well, at least we’re working, right?”

  “True. But I wouldn’t mind winning the lottery.”

  Sean laughed. For a minute, she gazed back at him, and then he caught her looking and started to lean in for what she thought might be a kiss.

  “Thanks again. Night night,” she said.

  She jumped out of his car and walked to the front door and waved back at him. She saw him wave as he drove off. That may or may not have been a kiss that he was thinking of, but whatever, she wasn’t ready.

  But one thing was for sure. It had been one of the nicest evenings out that she’d had in a long time.

  ***

  Ashley went straight to bed even though tomorrow her shift started later in the day. She was exhausted and slept in the next morning.

  When she woke up, there were more great smells coming from the kitchen, and she could hear her mom on the phone.

  “Really? That’s incredible. Are you sure? Oh well, you would know then. This is really something. I’ll let her know. Thanks,” April said.

  Ashley shuffled into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes. She leaned down to pick up Charlie and give him a pet then rubbed Susie Q for good measure. Susie and Charlie were really getting along, much to everyone’s delight. Charlie gave her a look that seemed to say, “Thanks for bringing her home, Mom” then started to chase Susie around the living room.

  “Morning,” Ashley said.

  “Good morning, honey. How did you sleep? Guess you’re going in later today, right? And more importantly, how did your date go last night?” April asked.

  Ashley looked at her mom’s smiling face. She knew her parents wanted to see her settled down and happy.
What parents didn’t?

  At the same time, she wasn’t ready to rush into anything, either, and get their hopes up. Or was it that she was still confused and didn’t want to get her own hopes up? Either way, she was very careful with her answer.

  “First, I slept very well. Secondly, yes, I’m going in later to work. And lastly, I had a good time last night.”

  “Care to share anything?” April teased.

  “Just that Sean is great, and we liked the movie, and it was a nice evening, that’s all.”

  “Well, that’s good news any way you put it,” April gushed.

  She put a plate of eggs and sausage in front of her daughter.

  “I’ve got news too,” April whispered.

  “Mom, why are you whispering?”

  “Because it’s pretty intense. Listen up. Betsy, who’s in my decoupage group, just called this morning with some amazing news. She saw your dear departed boss’s wife kissing another man last night.”

  Ashley stopped eating.

  “Are you sure? I mean, is she sure?”

  “Ashley, she saw it with her own eyes. She knows the woman, at least as an acquaintance, as they’ve done some charity work together, and there she was, kissing him outside of a car on a side street as Betsy drove home last night.”

  “Wow. That is news,” Ashley said.

  “Remember I said that you should look towards the wife and a possible lover? Well, the girls at decoupage at least said that. Maybe it’s true. Maybe she and her lover got rid of her husband.”

  April was flushed with the excitement of the news.

  Ashley furrowed her brow. Should she let Thompson know about this? But then he’d have to question her mom’s friend, Betsy.

  “Mom, do you think that Betsy would talk to Detective Thompson about this?” Ashley asked.

  “I’m sure she’d love to!’ April said excitedly.

  “Well, maybe you should ask her first. After all, this could be very serious.”

  “I’ll give her a call,” April said as she rushed to the phone.

  Ashley went back to her bedroom to get dressed while her mom called her friend. More and more things were piling up. But she was sure the detective would be interested in this news.

  Hopefully, Betsy had gotten it right at least. She didn’t know her mom’s decoupage group’s friends very well. They had always seemed like a nice group of ladies, but maybe the murder had put their imaginations in overdrive.

  Just then her mom burst into her room.

  “Betsy agrees she should talk to him as soon as possible,” April said. “Are you going to call him now, or should she?”

  “Uhh, why don’t you give me her number, and I’ll call him and let him choose the best time to get in touch with her.”

  “Okay!” April said as she rushed out again.

  Ashley thought it best that she give Detective Thompson a heads up that this was someone from her mom’s hobby group. Plus, it would give her another chance to talk to him. She smiled at the thought. Then she instantly thought of Sean’s sweet, smiling face the night before.

  Is one side of my brain ricocheting off of the other? What am I supposed to do? Am I really weird? Why don’t I have the answer to my love life by now? Ashley thought.

  Then she realized with another pang of guilt that the detective had never even really expressed interest in her. Or had he? Maybe she had read too much into his looks and stares. He had winked at her several times and always held on to her hand a second longer when she had shaken it. And the advice about watching herself? That couldn’t all be just professional, could it?

  At least with Sean, she knew that he was interested. She sighed. She was getting too old for so much confusion.

  ***

  Ashley said goodbye to her mom and drove off to work. Would she be able to get more information out of the employees when she got there? And what additional news was there of Chris Jackson and why he had been arrested?

  She had a bit of time, though, and instead of calling Detective Thompson, she decided instead to stop by his office quickly and give him Betsy’s phone number and relay the news personally of Julia kissing another man. She could just as easily call him, but something told her to drive over.

  When she pulled up in front of his office, she had the answer to why she didn’t just pick up the phone. Detective Thompson was standing there passionately kissing a pretty woman, who then got into her car.

  “See you at home,” the pretty woman cheerfully called as she drove off.

  Detective Thompson waved back and walked into his office.

  So there was Ashley’s answer. He was either married or living with someone. She felt herself get red in the face with embarrassment. Here she had been dreaming of him and getting weak in the knees every time he was around.

  Ashley had wasted her time, even though he didn’t know it. Suddenly she felt angry at him. What right did he have to be so attractive and stare at her or give her winks? He was just a big flirt after all. He must know how attractive he was to other women, and he certainly played it well.

  Ashley sighed. “However. I was the dope who fell for it. No one put a gun to my head and told me to fantasize about him.”

  She sat in the car debating whether or not she should go in then decided that was exactly what she had to do. She needed to get this illusion of “hunky detective with cute cook” out of her mind once and for all.

  She knocked on his door and heard him talking on the phone.

  “Come in,” Thompson said.

  Ashley eased open the door and walked in. The detective stared at her while he finished the call.

  “Well, go over that with the guys first, then we’ll decide what to do. Okay. Have to go.”

  Thompson then gave her a big grin as he hung up the phone.

  “Well, Miss Crane, what brings you in? No forgotten revelations, I hope.”

  “No. I just have one bit of recent news, and I thought you should know about it,” Ashley said.

  Ashley stood straight and stiff as a board and looked squarely at him. And she didn’t blush this time.

  He got up and leaned against the desk with his arms crossed and that wide grin all over his face.

  “Okay, shoot.”

  She realized that he wasn’t taking her seriously again. He probably never did, Ashley thought. She looked him directly in the eye.

  “Here is a friend of my mom’s phone number. Her name is Betsy. She belongs to the same hobby group my mom belongs to. She also knows Darren Short’s wife, Julia. They worked on a charity together a while ago. She was driving home last night and saw Julia Short outside by a car, kissing another man. She said to call her if you want more information.”

  Detective Thompson reached out and took the number. He looked at it then stared back at her for what seemed like a long time.

  Ashley didn’t feel like standing there any longer in his gaze. Plus she had to get to work.

  “Okay, nothing else. Give her a call if you need to. Bye.”

  Ashley turned towards the door.

  “Miss Crane. Excuse me, but what makes you think I need to talk to your mom’s hobby friend? Julia Short can kiss anyone she wants. That’s not a crime. And if this woman said this happened at night outside, how can she even really be sure it was Julia Short? And lastly, maybe your mom’s friend is just imagining things because she’s caught up in the excitement of all this murder stuff? Thanks, but I don’t think I have the time to waste on this.”

  Thompson was still standing at his desk, grinning at her and rolling his eyes. Then he winked at her again.

  Really? This time, it was Ashley’s turn to glare at him. She straightened herself up as high as she could and spoke firmly to him.

  “Detective Thompson. You told me to come to you with every bit of information I had as soon as I found out about it. You don’t need to make fun of me or speak to me in a condescending manner. I know that I blew it a while ago by forgetting to tell you some details
right away, and you had every right to be impatient with me for it. But enough is enough. You talk to me as if I’m a ditz. I’ve given you some very important information up until now, and you should give me credit for it,” Ashley said.

  Now Thompson was half grinning, half smirking at her.

  “I’m sorry if you think I’m being condescending. I certainly don’t mean to be. It’s just that this information seems to be trivial and makes me wonder if a group of overzealous women are sitting around getting worked up about things that they shouldn’t even be involved in.”

  “I’m not an overzealous woman. And my mom’s friend was just trying to help. Even though you keep telling me not to get involved, I already am. And since this murder has not been solved yet, I should think that you would be happy to have all the information you can get,” Ashley said.

  That got his attention. He stopped leaning on his desk and wiped the grin off his face.

  In this small town, this murder was very big news. And he had to be frustrated by the turn of recent events and every day that went by without solving the case.

  “Look, I really appreciate your help. I really do. But we are professionals here, and we are doing everything we can to solve this crime. So again, thanks for this bit of news and have a good day.”

  “And I appreciate the cop car watching over us and you being concerned about my family, but you need to understand that I can see and hear things that you can’t just by working at the restaurant. I intend to keep my ears and eyes wide open. And don’t worry, I’ll continue to share everything with you.”

  They both stood there staring at each other, and then he looked down at the floor and sighed.

  “You’re stubborn; you know that, don’t you? I hope you don’t get hurt in any way. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “You did. Warning taken.”

  She started to walk to the door then turned and looked at him again.

  “And by the way, that news of Julia Short kissing another man so soon after her husband was murdered could mean she had been plotting something. I’m sure you thought of that for a second before you dismissed what I had to say. And the question is, who is the man? Maybe he knew Darren too? I’d give the hobby lady a call. You never know,” Ashley suggested.