Dragonfruit and Dread

by Allyssa Mirry

  Dragonfruit and Dread

  Sticky Sweet Cozy Mysteries, Book 6

  Allyssa Mirry

  Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  Copyright 2019 Summer Prescott Books

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying, or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder.

  **This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional.

  Contents

  1. Slow Business

  2. Girl’s Night

  3. Terrible News comes to the Taffy Shop

  4. Suspicions at the Station

  5. Debating with Daniel

  6. Another Attack?

  7. The Body at the Beach

  8. Dragon Fruit and Discussion

  9. Grabbing a Partner

  10. The Crumbling Construction

  11. Leo’s Arrival

  12. Falling Rain

  13. Taffy Shop Suggestions

  14. Another Suspect

  15. Untangling the Tentacles

  16. Appointment with a Killer

  Epilogue

  Also by Allyssa Mirry

  Author’s Note

  Contact Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  1

  Slow Business

  Lydia Doherty leaned against the counter and tapped her fingers. Business had never been so slow at Doherty’s Taffy and Trinkets before – well, except for the brief period of time that Lydia had been a suspect in a poisoning case as she was preparing to open the shop. However, as the summer had progressed, her little taffy shop on the boardwalk in Ocean Point at the Jersey Shore had been very well received and was usually packed with happy customers eager to try her latest creative flavor of candy.

  However, now the only people in her shop were two of her faithful employees. Kelsey was dusting the shelves to keep herself busy even though there really was no dust that had accumulated, and Jeff was killing time by seeing how high he could pile up pieces of the delicious taffy on top of each other.

  “I hoped the somewhat exotic flavor I created this week would bring in some customers,” Lydia said with a little sigh.

  “It’s not the taffy that’s the problem,” Jeff said, though his tower of taffy chose that moment to fall down and he hurried to pick up the pieces. “This dragon fruit salt water taffy is amazing.”

  “I guess I can let you enjoy some more free samples,” Lydia said. “There’s no point in letting it sit on the shelves and gather… well, it’s not going to gather any dust with Kelsey working.”

  Kelsey smiled and walked over to join them as Jeff immediately took advantage of the offer for free taffy and popped a maroon candy into his mouth.

  “It’s not the shop’s fault or your new taffy,” Kelsey said.

  “That’s right,” Jeff agreed, though it was a little difficult to understand him with a mouth full of chewy taffy. “You can’t control the ocean.”

  “People aren’t avoiding the shop. They’re avoiding the beach.” Kelsey gestured to the nearly empty boardwalk outside the window. “It has nothing to do with us, personally.”

  “People are scared that there have been jellyfish sightings and they want to go somewhere where there is no chance of getting stung,” said Jeff, finishing the candy and becoming more easily understood. “It’s scared me too. I haven’t gone surfing for the last few days because I don’t want to face their tentacles. My friend offered to pee on me if I got stung, but that didn’t make me feel any safer.”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s an urban legend, and if you do get stung, you should see a doctor,” Lydia said. “And I do understand people avoiding the water. I just hoped that, after everything we’ve been through so far this summer, that we might have finally reached a patch of smooth sailing.”

  “I bet this won’t last too long,” Jeff said. “I don’t remember jellyfish ever being a long-term problem for the town.”

  “I hope that they move on by next week,” Kelsey said. “That’s when my show is, and the theater is right by the water. Normally, this attracts more audience members in from the beach, but I hope it doesn’t keep them away this year.”

  “I’ll face my fears and still see your show,” Jeff said. “Of course, I don’t think we have to worry about them as long as we’re not really in the water. There’s no such thing as land jellyfish, are there?”

  Lydia shook her head. “There’s only jellyfish in the sea. Unfortunately, they are right by our section of the sea at the moment. But you’re right. They should move on soon with the changing tides, and we are lucky that the jellyfish we get in this area aren’t very dangerous. Most of them can’t even hurt us with their stings. And the ones that can sting us might cause some pain, but they’re not poisonous.”

  “But there are definitely some around here that can sting,” Jeff said. “I’ve heard of several people in town who got stung a few days ago. There was a doctor and the guy who runs the hot dog truck who got stung. I heard that there were several tourists who said they saw the jellyfish and at least one felt it. And my friend’s mom, Mrs. Mumflower, got stung. She’s miserable because of it. Actually, she’s usually miserable, but this makes it worse.”

  “Oh, I hope Gayle in my cast doesn’t find out about this,” Kelsey said. “She would hate to hear how widespread this is. She was already afraid of going into the water.”

  “But everyone who was stung is all right, aren’t they?” asked Lydia.

  “I haven’t heard of any serious injuries because of it,” Jeff said. “Though Mrs. Mumflower will talk about her ailments for hours if you let her.”

  Lydia looked around the spotless, but empty shop and made a decision. “I do love having you both here to help me pass the time, but it feels silly to make you work when there is no work to do. How would you both like to leave early today? If there are any customers that stop in, I’ll be able to deal with them.”

  “Well,” Kelsey said. “If you really don’t need me, I would appreciate the extra time off before the tech week for my show.”

  “And it will stop me from eating all the dragon fruit taffy we have on display,” Jeff said.

  “Go and enjoy this nice weather – even if you’re not going in the water,” Lydia said.

  “All right,” Kelsey said, smiling. “Since you’re not currently chasing down a killer during one of your investigations, I guess we can leave you alone without worrying about you.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Lydia assured them.

  She was pretty sure that the only thing she would have to fight that afternoon would be boredom. She waved goodbye as she let her younger employees go with their pockets full of extra taffy.

  It continued to be slow for the rest of the day, and Lydia used the opportunity to think up some new flavor ideas for the summer and do some office paperwork that she had been putting off. The summer had been so fast-paced between opening the shop, dealing with the seasonal rush of tourists, and joining in on an occasional murder investigation, that it felt strange to have such a slow day where not much needed to be accomplished. She was looking forward to the girl’s night that she had planned with her best friend, Trina, that evening. Hopefully, Trina could give her some news from the hair salon she worked at that would dispel her boredom.

  After a few hours with no business, Lydia was considering closing for the day. However, she was glad that she was open when a certain customer walked inside.

  “Mr. Gardner,” Lydia said, happily. “It’s great to see you.�
�

  The older gentleman was moving slower than usual, but he still had a twinkle in his eye. He had been one of Lydia’s neighbors since she was a child. He was very friendly with her aunt and uncle who had raised her, but she had only seen him occasionally since her uncle’s funeral earlier in the year. He had stopped by the taffy shop once or twice to comment on how proud her Aunt Edie must be of the new business and to boast about the strength of his teeth and how they were still able to handle taffy.

  “You’re going to have to start calling me Miles,” he reminded her. “You and your brother are completely grown up now, and you’ve always felt like family. Edgar was one of my best friends. Being ten years his senior, I never thought that I would outlive him.”

  Lydia felt a lump form in her throat as she thought about how much she missed her father-figure. However, what she voiced was, “Calling you Mr. Gardner is a hard habit to break, but I will work on it.”

  He smiled. “Where is everyone today? The last time I came into your shop, it was bustling.”

  “There’s not a lot of people on the beach because of the jellyfish scare,” Lydia reported. “Which is a shame because it would be perfect weather to enjoy it. The water is just starting to warm up too.”

  “I did hear about those jellyfish, but it doesn’t bother me much. I’ve never been one for swimming in saltwater. Though I do love your salt water taffy.”

  “Maybe because it doesn’t actually use saltwater,” Lydia joked.

  Miles Gardner laughed. “It could be. And I bet it seems strange to you that I don’t swim much when I live so close to the water, but I grew up here, and I still love the town. I never considered moving away. And I suppose you love it too. You left, but you came back. And you even set up shop.”

  “I do love it here,” Lydia said. She had been very grateful that she returned to her hometown, even though the original reason for it had been Uncle Edgar’s illness.

  “And I love that I get to enjoy your taffy. What new flavor do you have this time?”

  Lydia explained about the dragon fruit taffy and how she had decided to experiment with the unusual fruit. She tried to capture the exotic look with the coloring of her snack and had tried to match its taste, which was somewhat like the cross between a kiwi and a pear. “Of course, this taffy might be a little sweeter than the real fruit.”

  “I can’t wait to try it,” Miles Gardner said. “Truth be told, I haven’t been feeling very well lately. My trouble with my ticker seems to be getting worse. But I am determined to live each day to the fullest. And today seems very full with seeing the neighbor I care so much about and trying something named after a dragon.”

  Lydia smiled as she handed him a piece of dragon fruit taffy to try and prepared a box of assorted candy to take with him. She promised that she and her dog, Sunny, would come by to visit him soon while Miles Gardner chomped on the new flavor. He gave her the thumbs up and then headed out of the shop.

  Lydia found that she was glad that she had remained open. The one good thing about stinging jellyfish in the nearby waters was that it gave her a chance to reconnect with a family friend.

  2

  Girl’s Night

  “I’ve been talking about myself all night,” Trina said. “I’m sorry.”

  Lydia was seated with her best friend on her couch. They were each enjoying a glass of wine after finishing their takeout as part of girl’s night. Lydia’s dog, Sunny, was snoozing on the chair next to the window after slurping up her fair share of table scraps. Sunny was a French bulldog mix that loved sunbathing and naps. After meals, she liked to curl up with a blanket.

  “It’s quite all right,” Lydia told her friend. “I don’t have anything new to report. Things are still moving slowly with Daniel, but we both seem happy when we get coffee together. My brother has started dating Suzanne, and he doesn’t have any new cases that he’ll need to tell us not to get involved in. My time at the taffy shop has been pretty boring because most people are avoiding the beach right now.”

  “There are a few women at the salon who are loving this jellyfish scare,” Trina said. “They said there are no crowds on the beach so they can work on their tans. Of course, Mrs. Mumflower hates hearing that sort of thing.”

  “She was one of the people who was stung by the jellyfish, wasn’t she?” asked Lydia. “Jeff said she’s the mom of one of his friends.”

  Trina nodded and took a swig of her wine. “She’s one of my regulars. And I really wish anyone besides her had been the one to get stung.”

  “You like her that much?”

  “No! It’s because no one else would complain as much as she does. And she was a bit of a hypochondriac, to begin with. Now, you give her a real injury and something that is unusual as the cause? She never shuts up about it.”

  “She has a real injury?” asked Lydia. “I thought the jellyfish that were native to the east coast this far north weren’t very dangerous.”

  “Apparently, they stung her foot, so it makes it painful for her to walk. I can appreciate how awful that could be, but that doesn’t mean that you should expect your hair stylist to carry you to your car. Especially because Mrs. Mumflower is sizably bigger than me.”

  Lydia covered her mouth with her hand to hold back laughter as she imagined Trina’s ordeal.

  “What did you do?”

  “Actually, I stole the office chair that had wheels on it to scoot her along.”

  “That was a smart idea,” Lydia said.

  Trina grinned. “Well, I have been exercising my brain power when I help you look for clues. Are you sure Detective Leo doesn’t have any new cases? I was upset that I was sick for the last one.”

  “No new cases,” Lydia reiterated. “And even if he did have a case, it doesn’t mean that I would have to get involved. I’ve only started sleuthing for other cases when I needed to – like because you looked like the prime suspect in the crime.”

  “Fine,” Trina said, making sure that both of their glasses were refilled. “And you really have nothing new to report? Because I could keep going on about how Carl started blowing me off at the last minute for poker games again.”

  Though Lydia didn’t have other news that she wanted to share with her best friend, she wanted to make sure after two and a half glasses of wine that she didn’t say anything too negative about Trina’s off-and-on-again boyfriend. Lydia had thought for a while that her best friend deserved someone who made Trina more of priority in his life. She had gently voiced this opinion before, but she knew that she wasn’t someone who was an expert in romantic relationships who should be giving advice. Recently Carl had seemed like a more devoted boyfriend, but it seemed like his new better habits were waning.

  “There is something,” Lydia said, latching onto the one interesting moment that had happened that day. “My neighbor came to visit me at the shop today. I’m sure you know him, Miles Gardner. He hasn’t been feeling too well lately, but I told him that I would bring Sunny by to visit sometime soon. Maybe I’ll do that in the morning.”

  “He’ll love that. I’ve never met a more mellow dog than Sunny.”

  However, as soon as she said that, something happened to upset the dog and the women. A car raced by on their street outside the window, and the revving of the engine reverberated loudly. Sunny woke up and cried out as she became entangled in the blanket she had been snoozing on.

  Trina and Lydia jumped up and ran to the window. Lydia helped untangle and calm Sunny down, while Trina peered outside.

  “I couldn’t see the license plate, but it looked like an expensive car,” Trina reported. “That’s rude. Just because you have a lot of money doesn’t mean you can race down the street like that.”

  “Maybe it was an emergency,” Lydia suggested, trying to give the driver the benefit of the doubt.

  “Maybe he should get pulled over by Ocean Point’s finest.”

  “If we had the license plate, I would call Leo,” Lydia said. “But if I only describe it
as an expensive car, he’ll make fun of me.”

  “If you do visit Mr. Gardener tomorrow, maybe you can ask him if he got a better look at the car,” Trina said.

  Lydia nodded. She thought it was a good idea, and she was amused that Trina also had trouble transitioning from calling her neighbor “Mr. Gardner” to “Miles.”

  “But I guess there’s nothing else we can do tonight,” Trina continued. “I suppose we can finish our drinks and be glad that I won’t be driving home later.”

  “Let’s drink to what we want for Ocean Point,” Lydia suggested as she picked up her glass. “We hope for safe drivers and no more jellyfish.”