Ashley Crane Cozy Mystery Boxed Set

by Laurie Anne Marie

  “That’s no help, George. And you won’t learn anything. Now get over here and watch how Sean gets this thing started,” Burt said.

  “It might hit me in the face,” George said.

  “Don’t worry,” Sean said. “I got it.”

  Ashley laughed to herself at the dynamics.

  Such a big deal, she thought. But as long as they have fun.

  Ashley sat on the ground on a thick blanket and pulled another one around her to watch the action. Sean launched the drone and it took off, flying through the field high above. It was fascinating to observe. It circled several times above the trees and the quarries. The men kept exclaiming on how well it was going. She couldn’t take her eyes off of it. Like all technology, it was amazing. But also it gave her the creeps in a way. She was glad that she hadn’t seen any flying over where they lived. But it was only a matter of time. Everything changed, and drones were one of those things that were a part of life now.

  After a while, Sean brought it down. They sat on blankets and dug into Ashley’s lunch, talking excitedly about how cool it all was. Sean began to review the video that the drone had captured. They oohed and ahhed at the landscape from above. It even caught birds in the trees, things they would have never seen otherwise.

  Suddenly a man popped into one of the frames. He was running into the tree line to hide after looking up and spying the drone above him.

  “He was probably out taking a whiz when he looked up and saw he was on camera,” Burt laughed.

  “Yeah,” George agreed. “Nothing worse than getting caught with your pants down.”

  While the two men laughed, Sean looked at the video again. His face contorted.

  “Don’t think that’s what it was guys,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” Ashley said.

  “Look,” he said. He rewound the video.

  Just before the drone captured the man running into the woods, you could clearly see him coming out of a hole in the ground. Ashley and Sean peered at it, then rewound it and looked at it again. There he was, clearly lifting himself up from a secluded hole in the ground.

  “What the—?” Sean said.

  Burt peered at it and shook his head. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that hole could lead to an underground tunnel. But that can’t be. Doesn’t make sense way out here. Nowhere for the tunnel to go.”

  Ashley shuddered. She instantly remembered what she had heard from Mary.

  “I see tunnels,” Mary had said. “I don’t know why, but look for tunnels.”

  Sean looked at her face. She was as white as a sheet. “Ash, what is it?”

  “We should all leave. Now!” she said.

  The men didn’t need an explanation at the moment. They all knew that look on Ashley’s face and the history of strange things that caused it. They packed up and got in the car as fast as possible. All the while Ashley was saying they shouldn’t act or look stressed in case someone was watching them.

  “Just look as if it’s time to go and act naturally,” she said. But her heart was racing.

  As soon as they had driven down the hill and around the corner, she explained what Mary had said.

  Burt scoffed. “We can’t give credence to that woman who ‘sees things,’” he said. “That’s not what you’d even call evidence.”

  “It’s not just what she said, Dad. How do you explain what you saw on the drone?” Ashley asked.

  “She’s right, Dad,” Sean said. “Sure looks like he came out of an underground cave or a tunnel.”

  “And he took off like that because he saw our drone, and then probably watched us as we drove away. He might come after us,” she said. The thought made her stomach drop.

  Burt took her hand. “It’s okay, honey. I’m sure he’s just glad we drove off so he can go back to whatever he was doing. He just saw a bunch of people out flying a drone, having fun. Don’t think he suspects us of anything.”

  “I don’t think he’d suspect us of going up there to spy on him; I’m just afraid he doesn’t want witnesses to him popping out of the ground from who knows where doing who knows what,” Ashley said.

  Even though he had tried to make his daughter feel better, Burt was worried too. He had been through enough of her involvement in crime capers to know how scary they could get. But he didn’t want to say anything else right then.

  ***

  As soon as they dropped off Burt and George, Ashley and Sean drove home and looked at the video footage again. Sure enough, there it was: a man pulled himself out of a hole in the ground, and ran into the woods after he looked up at the sky and saw the drone. But just before he ran, he quickly pulled on something.

  “Go back!” Ashley said.

  Sean ran the footage again.

  The man had quickly pulled a cover over the entry underground before taking off. It looked like a plank with vegetation on it so it blended in with the landscape.

  “That’s a camouflage cover,” Sean said.

  “It sure is,” she replied. “Have to go back up there and take a look at it.”

  “No way!” Sean said. “You’re the one who told us to get out of there quickly because of the danger of that guy spotting us.”

  “Okay, so I’ll let Thompson know so he can check it out.”

  “Good. He can take a look at the drone to get the coordinates so he can find the spot.”

  “Play the footage again, I’m trying to see what the guy looks like,” Ashley said.

  Sean played the clip a few more times and Ashley peered at the image as hard as she could. It was hard to really see him, but she scribbled down a few features of the guy.

  Taller than average. Pale-ish. Balding. Sharp-ish nose.

  She sighed. That was the best she would get.

  “I’ll call Thompson now.” Ashley reached for her phone just as a call was coming in.

  Ironically, the call was coming from Thompson.

  “Hi, Nate,” she said. “Perfect timing, I have some information for you.”

  “And I have some for you,” Thompson said. “Can you come over?”

  “Can you tell me over the phone? It’s Sunday. Sean and I have a rare day off together.”

  “No. Please come over now. Important.”

  Ashley sighed. Thompson had asked her for help in this case and she had agreed. Time to live up to that. She leaned over and gave Sean a kiss.

  “Sorry, he says I have to get over there. I’ll keep it as short as possible. Then we can have dinner.”

  She smiled weakly at him. “And I can give him the drone video to review.”

  “That’s okay. I’ll watch a movie or something. Anything to keep me awake so we can eat dinner together.” He kissed her back. “Tell Thompson not to break my drone.”

  “Later,” she said.

  ***

  Ashley grabbed her coat and headed out the door. The news had said a cold front would be coming in that day. She had to put the heat on her feet for the drive over to the police station. As she drove by the town park, the effigy she and Sean had seen before was gone. But a lone man sat on a child’s swing towards the back. He looked vaguely like the man in the drone footage. She squinted. It was hard to tell since the footage was far away and the man sat in the back of the park on the swings. But he stared in her direction as she drove by. She glanced in the rearview mirror and caught him still staring, then he reached for his phone and started to talk into it. Did he recognize her from the drone outing? She felt her stomach lurch and drop. It was always the sign. The trouble sign.

  As soon as she got to the police station, Thompson was standing outside talking to a few cops. He saw her and gave her a wave, then did the five-minute sign. Ashley decided to wait in the car and listen to the radio for news. It was the usual reporting on the weather, upcoming holiday sales, school activities, and national news. She saw Thompson start to shake the hands of the cops and look like he was getting ready to end the conversation.

  She reached for the r
adio to turn it off but stopped as soon as she heard, “More on the case of Jon Carlson whose body was found up on Hawk Ridge. DNA definitely connects him to a murder scene from forty years ago.”

  Meanwhile, Thompson had finished up. He waved her into the station. Ashley shut off the radio and walked inside.

  Before Thompson could speak, she loudly exclaimed, “So Carlson was the murderer in that old case!”

  Thompson stared at her. “Ash, not sure if he actually committed it yet. But it does put him at the scene. Apparently there is other DNA too.”

  “Whose?” she asked.

  “They’re running it through databases now.”

  “The widow’s brother? I read they were estranged.”

  “Slow down, Ash. They’ll match up whoever it was.”

  “So why am I here? I was actually relaxing with my husband today. What did you want to tell me?”

  “To tell you something that we aren’t letting get into the news. At least not yet until we check it out.”

  She stared at him wide-eyed. “What?”

  “You know old widow, Beatrice Small? She came in here and confessed to the killing years ago. Said we could close the case now.”

  “What? That seems impossible! I don’t really know her. But she ran that cute little bakery I used to go into as a child. My mom and Sean’s mom used to get her baked goods all the time. And she’s a bitty little thing, just like her name. And she seemed so sweet,” Ashley said.

  “Come on, Ash. You know very well that ‘seems so sweet’ is a great cover for a lot of dubious folks. And you don’t have to be big like a linebacker to kill someone. You just have to have sleight of hand.”

  “That’s true. Still hard to believe. If it’s true, bet she had help with the murder.”

  “We still have to investigate her now. Maybe she did do it, maybe she’s covering for someone who actually did it, or maybe she just wants attention. In any case, no stone left unturned.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Whenever you’re on the way home, drive by her place. She’s not too far from you. Here’s the address. Just let me know if you see anything unusual. And now that you tell me that your mom and mother in law used to go into her bakery, ask them a few questions. Just don’t let on that she came in and confessed.”

  Ashley sighed. “That’s not going to be so easy. My mom will want to know why I’m asking, and then try to dig.”

  Thompson smiled at her. “You’re a pro by now. You can handle it.”

  “Okay. I’ll try.” She sighed.

  He stared at her. “More bad news?”

  “Here’s the drone we flew today. Please examine it. There is clearly a guy coming out of the ground, then covering the entryway. We all thought he must’ve come out of a tunnel. He took off when he saw he was being recorded. Maybe you’ve seen that guy before? In any case, now you know where to go and investigate the opening he came out of.”

  “Thanks,” Thompson said. “Will do.”

  “Maybe that ties in with the old murder? Hard to tell, but obviously somethings going on. And pretty sure it’s not legal,” she said. “Oh, and by the way, a guy that looked like the person in the drone was in the park and stared at me as he made a phone call on my way here.”

  Thompson continued to stare. “And so it begins.”

  “Yep,” she said. “Oh, and Sean says don’t break the drone.”

  Thompson looked at her wryly. “Tell him we have experts that will check it over, not me.”

  “Okay, gotta go. Want to have at least one dinner with my husband this month.”

  “Ash?”

  She turned at the door to see Thompson with a pleading look on his face.

  “Yes, sir?” she asked.

  “Could you call my fiancé Clarissa? Here’s her number. She wants to go over some things about the menu with you. Says it’s urgent, which of course it’s not. But I don’t know what to tell her to calm her down.”

  “Of course,” she smiled. “Now this is the fun stuff.”

  ***

  Driving home, Ashley thought about everything she and Thompson talked about. Did Beatrice Small actually commit the old murder of that poor woman, or was she covering up for something or someone? Why would she do that? And who would she try to protect? She felt weird driving by her place, but decided it was a smart move. Thompson was right; she might see something, and that was important. She turned down the street to drive by the house.

  Everything seemed quiet; there was no activity and Beatrice was either out for the day or inside the house. Ashley slowed down just a bit to get a better look but not seem too obvious. Nothing really. She quietly drove by. Just as she was ready to turn the corner, she saw a car pull into the widow’s driveway and a man get out in her rearview mirror. Ashley pulled over and kept looking in her mirror. The man walked up to the front door. She saw the widow open the door and let him in, then close it quickly.

  She decided to take a picture of his license plate, but had to be careful turning around and snapping it without anyone seeing her. She drove by the man’s car slowly, leaning out the window to snap a photo with her phone. Just as she did, the man came out the front and saw her. His mouth hung open and he turned to point it out to Beatrice as she walked out. As Ashley drove off, they were both on the porch staring at the back of her car. No doubt making a mental note of her license plate as well. She couldn’t be sure, but he looked like the man who had come out of the ground in the drone footage and was in the park staring at her. Clearly, she was onto something here. But now, she could be in danger too. She quickly dialed Thompson and let him know what she had seen.

  “Don’t panic, Ash,” Thompson said. “You don’t know who that guy is for sure and it’s highly unlikely that he would come after you.”

  “You don’t know that, Nate,” she answered. “My experience is that he most likely would come after me!”

  “Just drive home, and let me know if anything unusual happens. I’ll go over to the widow’s place and question her again. In the meantime, give me his license plate number, we’ll check him out.”

  She passed on the number to Thompson and drove home. Hopefully there would be no trouble at her place after she got there.

  Chapter Seven

  Sean was waiting for Ashley when she got home. He had decided to cook a meal for them both, and she was bowled over by that.

  “How nice of you!” she said. She hugged him from the back as she stared at the pan, trying to figure out what it was that he was making.

  “I’m making a chicken stir fry. Found the recipe online. Hope it tastes good.”

  “I’m sure it will taste great,” she said. “And I’m hungry!”

  Sean beamed as he served up his dish. “Oh wait! It’s supposed to go over rice!” He gave her a sheepish look. “But I forgot to make it.”

  Ashley laughed. “Don’t worry about it. We don’t need the extra starch anyway.”

  They sat and ate in silence for a minute, and Ashley exclaimed, “Really good.”

  Sean stared at her. “Are you sure? It needs something, but I can’t figure out what.”

  “Salt,” Ashley said. She reached for the shaker. “Here, just a little, but it will make a difference.”

  Sean put some salt on the stir fry, stirred it, and then smiled. “See, that’s why you’re a chef, you know what to do.”

  Ashley leaned over and kissed him. “It’s just salt. But thank you. And this is truly delish. Thanks for making dinner.”

  “How was your day?” she asked him.

  “Crazy. Must’ve made over five hundred pastries. I’m going to have to hire another person. I’m happy business has grown, but we can’t keep up anymore.”

  “How about Will? Lara said he’s looking to go into the hospitality business and needs a job. He was great at the last event we did.”

  Sean furrowed his brow. “You told me that he’s changed after his ordeals a few years ago, but I don’t know, Ash,
I need someone really stable. And someone who can get there early. Can’t have him showing up late. Or out of it.”

  “Why don’t you at least try him? Lara swears he’s different, and he seemed so stable when he helped me catering at that dinner I did. He’s really trying, and he would really appreciate the job.”

  Sean squirmed uncomfortably in the chair, then got up and collected their dishes to take to the sink. Ashley looked at his back. His shoulders were tense and his jaw was tightened when he turned to the side. She knew he would say yes to hire Will if she pressed him, but she didn’t want to do that. She wanted him to arrive at that decision himself.

  “Look, don’t worry. Hire who you feel is best for the job. You need to be comfortable. Besides, it was my idea, Lara didn’t mention a thing.”

  “Thanks for understanding, babe. I’ll think about it.”

  ***

  Sean walked into the living room and reached for the TV remote. Ashley thought this would be the best time to tell him everything that happened today after her visit to see Thompson. And after they had food in their stomachs.

  “Sean? Don’t you want to know what Detective Thompson had to say when I brought in the drone?” Ashley asked.

  “Not really. As long as he doesn’t bust it.” He saw her puzzled face. “Unless you want to tell me now. Otherwise, I’d rather wait until later. I never get a chance to watch sports lately and really want to watch the game if that’s okay.”

  He turned back to the TV and Ashley realized he just needed a break.

  “That’s fine, enjoy. We’ll talk later,” Ashley said.

  She went into the bedroom and sat on the bed and opened her laptop to her menus for the next events. But her mind drifted and she went to her search engine looking for more information on the trial where Jon Carlson was a suspect. She searched everywhere, then found an old newspaper site. There were three entries on it including photos of him and the deceased.