Dragonfruit and Dread

by Allyssa Mirry

  “I’m going to need a vacation after this,” Dr. Adams said. “Maybe I’ll go somewhere with safe beaches. I liked Florida.”

  “Well, I like the Jersey Shore,” Lydia said. “And I think there might be more to this death than meets the eye.”

  “Ignore her,” Leo said. “My sister is upset by Mr. Gardner’s death and doesn’t want to accept that jellyfish are the cause. She’s also irrationally protective of our home state.”

  “I do have Jersey pride,” Lydia said. “But that’s not coloring my opinion. I know something is wrong.”

  “Why don’t we let the medical examiner decide that?” Leo suggested.

  “Temporary medical examiner,” Dr. Adams corrected. “I can’t wait to get back to my regular practice. I much prefer seeing patients when there is still a chance I can save them. But I’ll help serve my community in whatever way it needs me.”

  Leo led the unhappy doctor to the body. Suzanne held onto Lydia’s arm for support.

  “I think I’ve seen enough of the crime scene,” Suzanne said. “I understand the important work that Leo does, but now that I know who the dead person is… well, I don’t want to just stand around here.”

  “I’ll take you home,” Lydia agreed. Since she tricked Suzanne into coming so she could get more information out of her brother, it seemed like the least she could do.

  They said goodbye to Leo and started walking away.

  “I also feel bad about this, but I never particularly liked Rusty Smith,” Suzanne said. “I know that sounds awful.”

  “His actions when he was alive must have formed your opinion of him,” said Lydia. “You don’t have to apologize for that.”

  “I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but I think he was a dishonest contractor. I think he might have purposefully done a poor job on projects so he would have to be called back and paid again. I never worked with him again after that one time.”

  “If he was doing shoddy work, then there might have been many people who were upset with him,” Lydia said.

  “I guess so,” Suzanne agreed with a nod.

  Lydia found that she was glad that Suzanne had come to the crime scene for another reason. Because of her knowledge of the victim’s work, Lydia now knew that there were definitely suspects in town who might have worked to kill him.

  8

  Dragon Fruit and Discussion

  Lydia suggested that they take a detour on their way to Suzanne’s house and stop at the taffy shop. Suzanne agreed when Lydia suggested that a little sugar was comforting after a shocking experience.

  They walked into the shop and found that they were the only people there besides the two employees on duty. Jeff was exceeding his previous exploits in taffy stacking, and the quiet Quinn was reading a book.

  “Welcome to Doherty’s Taffy and Trinkets. Thanks for braving the beach, but you won’t be disappointed,” Jeff began. “Oh, it’s you.”

  “Still slow today?” asked Lydia, though she was sure of the answer.

  “It’s been dead,” Jeff agreed.

  “Dead,” Suzanne repeated. She started to look faint.

  Lydia grabbed a stool that she had behind the counter and brought it over to Suzanne to sit on. The other woman nodded appreciatively.

  “But since you’ve brought her in, we have one customer,” Quinn said.

  “I’m not going to charge Suzanne for anything,” Lydia said. “Hand me some dragon fruit taffy, please. She’s getting some on the house because she went to a crime scene with me.”

  “I appreciate that,” Suzanne said, accepting the maroon taffy. “But I will be a customer as well. I’ll buy one of your boxes of assorted taffy. I’ll use it in candy dishes in some of the homes I decorate. If I don’t eat it all first.”

  Suzanne chewed on the dragon fruit taffy as Quinn fetched some of their assorted boxes. Jeff moved closer to Lydia.

  “What sort of crime scene was it?”

  “Another person looked like they were killed by jellyfish stings,” Lydia said.

  “But you don’t think that’s what happened?” asked Jeff.

  “I think that there is something odd about Mr. Gardner’s death, and so I intend to look into the other death as well.”

  “If you need any help, I’d be happy to do something,” Jeff said.

  “Thank you. I might need it.”

  Then, Suzanne called for Lydia’s attention. “This taffy is delicious. I didn’t know what to expect with a name like dragon fruit.”

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  “And I bet I really could incorporate it in some of my home designs. This is a vibrant color,” Suzanne said, admiring the treat before eating another one.

  “Thanks,” said Lydia. “Hey, Suzanne, do you happen to know the names of any people that Rusty Smith had worked for? The ones who were unhappy with the building he did?”

  Suzanne shook her head because her mouth was full. When she finished the taffy, she explained, “I don’t know specifics except for the place where we were both working. But that was for Mrs. Shellhammer who was fixing up her beach cottage to sell. And she did sell it and moved out of town. I didn’t like his work there and never recommended him to my clients. However, I only know of rumors of other bad jobs he did. I don’t know the names.”

  “Do you know the name of his company?” asked Lydia, hoping that might still give her a place to start.

  “It’s called Not-Too-Rusty Builds.”

  Quinn showed Suzanne her options for assortments of taffy, and then Suzanne happily made her purchase. Lydia was contemplating the best way she could track down people who had used this contracting company when she was distracted by the shop door opening.

  However, again, it was not a customer. Kelsey smiled at everyone as she walked closer to the counter.

  “Kelsey, you’re not scheduled for today. And honestly, I don’t need everyone who is already here to be here. I’m thinking that we’ll close early today out of respect for the victims of the jellyfish.”

  “I actually just came in because I wanted to ask Quinn something,” said Kelsey.

  “Me?” asked Quinn as she handed Suzanne her purchase and receipt.

  “That’s right,” Kelsey said with gusto. “Quinn, I know that you’ve always seemed shy and quiet, but I bet there’s a part of you that is just bursting – waiting for a chance to perform. And I want to offer it to you! How would you like to be onstage in a role opposite me? We’ll use makeup to make you look older. It will be a great character part and a lot of fun. What do you say?”

  “You want me on stage? In front of people? Talking to them? As they all stare at me?” Quinn started to look woozy as she imagined this scenario.

  Jeff moved over quickly to steady her on her feet before she had the opportunity to faint.

  “Um, never mind,” Kelsey said. “That’s the worst case of stage fright I ever saw. We’re not even near the stage, and you’re scared.”

  “Sorry,” Quinn said. “I just don’t think that’s right for me.”

  “It’s okay,” Kelsey said.

  “Quinn, why don’t you have some water and a piece of whatever taffy you want,” Lydia suggested. “And I think I definitely will close early now.”

  Kelsey was eyeing Suzanne. “Hello, I’m not sure we’ve met, but I’m Kelsey. I’m an actress as well as a taffy purveyor. You have a natural stage beauty. Are you busy for the next two weekends?”

  “I’m going to be at a convention on curtains next weekend,” Suzanne replied.

  Kelsey snapped her fingers in frustration. “Well, there’s one more female employee around here I can ask. I’ll see if Mona wants to do it next time I see her.”

  “She might be your best bet,” Jeff said. “She likes talking to people, even if it is about ghost stories.”

  Lydia headed to the window and checked that there were still as few people on the boardwalk as before. Then, she turned to her employees.

  “I think we should close
now. I’ll make a sign explaining that we’re closed out of respect for the people who recently passed on the beach.”

  “I don’t think we’ll lose any business,” Jeff said. “It’s been so slow with people avoiding the ocean.”

  “Suzanne, if you want to get a little fresh air while I close up, you can,” Lydia suggested. “I’ll meet you to take you home in a few minutes. I just need to make a sign for the door and close the register. Boring stuff.”

  Suzanne agreed and walked outside. She headed to a nearby bench, while Lydia gathered her employees close by.

  “I really wanted her to leave us alone, so I could ask for your help,” Lydia explained. “Please keep your ears open and see if you hear anything about a company called Not-Too-Rusty Builds. He might have had some unhappy customers. I want to see if anyone is unhappy enough to have caused him harm. But don’t put yourselves in any situations that would tip people off that you’re looking for a potential killer. Just keep your ears open.”

  “We will,” Jeff agreed. “This is going to be much more exciting than stacking taffies.”

  “And maybe I can find another actress while I look for a suspect,” said Kelsey.

  “I’ll keep my ears open,” Quinn said.

  “And what are you going to do?” asked Jeff.

  “Well,” Lydia said. “After I take Suzanne home, I want to see if I can find any proof that a murder really did occur.”

  9

  Grabbing a Partner

  After Lydia made sure that Suzanne was home safely and that she hadn’t been scarred for life because of the experience, Lydia returned to the beach. She stayed beyond the police tape but tried to see if there was anything that she might have missed before. Unfortunately, she didn’t discover any new clues. If Rusty had anything with him before he went into the water, it was certainly gone now.

  Lydia hadn’t really been expecting to find any new evidence, but she thought it was worth the second look. After all, Leo and Detective Grey seemed convinced that an animal was behind these deaths. However, Lydia wasn’t convinced. She couldn’t understand how Miles Gardner would have gone into the water without some sort of foul play and she also thought it was unlikely that the second victim, Rusty Smith, would have decided that a swim in the ocean was a good idea right after there were reports that someone else had died apparently due to jellyfish stings. It’s true that the public wouldn’t have known about the Man O’War at the time, but it was announced that a man was killed apparently due to complications from the stings. Why would Rusty Smith want to risk a dangerous swim when there were stinging jellyfish? He also would have to have gone at a time before the lifeguards were on duty – otherwise, they would have seen him. It seemed unnecessarily dangerous to her.

  She was thinking up other scenarios that seemed more likely. She thought that there had to be more than chance behind these deaths. Maybe someone had forced them into the water and to come into contact with the poisonous jellyfish. Maybe they were brought out on the water in a boat and then pushed off. Maybe they were tricked into going into the water because they thought there was someone out there who needed help, or maybe they were even chased into the ocean. Footprints in the sand were easy to dispose of.

  Lydia was looking forward to running these ideas past Daniel. That was the other reason why she was willing to return to the beach. Even if she discovered any new clues by the water, she would be able to catch up with one of her investigative partners.

  In truth, she’d always had help when she solved the other cases that she had worked on. Her employees had found out information for her before, and Daniel and Trina had been very helpful when she needed it. Lydia had already called Trina after she left Suzanne. Trina had to finish her shift at the hair salon before she could meet her in person, but she promised to find out what she could about Rusty Smith. If there was a contractor who didn’t keep his promises in town, Trina was certain that some of the women who came to get their hair done would know about it – and they would love to talk about it!

  Lydia went by the lifeguard stand where one of Daniel’s coworkers said she had just missed him. Lydia thanked him and hoped that she could still catch him on the boardwalk.

  She hurried onto the wooden structure, keeping an eye out for Daniel. Unfortunately, when she did see him, she didn’t like what she saw. He was near the ice cream shop, Cones and Cola, and the proprietor looked a little too cozy next to him.

  Lydia gritted her teeth. She knew that she and Daniel weren’t officially dating, and he was free to talk to whoever he wanted. However, she didn’t like walking in on him sharing an ice cream soda with someone. She liked it even less because Amber Allen was the woman.

  Amber had decided that she and Lydia would be enemies because they both ran sweet shops on the boardwalk. While Lydia thought they could coexist peacefully because they sold different types of treats, Amber believed that there should only be one of them there. Amber seemed to be catty and negative towards everyone (except her best friend, Brie, and certain handsome men in town), but she really kicked it up a notch when dealing with Lydia. She had also started rumors accusing Lydia of murder twice and always spoke ill of her taffy.

  Lydia debated what to do for a moment but then walked straight up to Cones and Cola. She had nothing to be ashamed of, and she now had two murders that needed to be investigated.

  As Lydia walked closer, she noticed something strange. Amber wasn’t quite as perfectly made up as usual. There were bandages on her arms and legs. Though Lydia was not the biggest fan of the woman, she felt a pang of concern.

  “Amber, are you all right?” Lydia asked.

  “I was until you got here,” Amber muttered. “I mean, I am in some pain, but Daniel here was helping me. There have been so many kind people who are supporting me and my business during my recovery.”

  “What happened?”

  “I was a victim of those nasty jellyfish too,” Amber said. “Though Daniel was just telling me that someone died because of those stings. I guess I’m really lucky.”

  “Two people died now,” Lydia said. “You are lucky.”

  Amber nodded solemnly but then winced. “I suppose my neck is sore too. It’s such a shame. Everything hurts because of these terrible stings. But Brie has been getting people to come and buy ice cream cones so my business won’t suffer just because I am.”

  Lydia was starting to get suspicious. “If you’re in such pain, why don’t you have one of your employees run the shop for the day? I know you had bad luck with one of them, but surely you have some staff members that you trust.”

  “I don’t want to leave my business alone for too long. It relies on me.”

  “Though at the moment, aren’t you relying on the people who come in to buy things to help you prepare them?” Daniel asked. “I made this ice cream soda for you.”

  “I know. I was so thirsty, and my arms were weak. You saved me from dehydrating with drinks so close by. You’re my hero,” Amber said, gesturing that she could barely pick up the glass of soda. She leaned forward to take a sip and then said, “I did invite you to join me. Please, have a sip.”

  “Actually, I should get going,” Daniel said, standing up.

  “Promise you’ll come and check on me,” Amber pouted.

  “I will,” he agreed.

  Lydia was frowning as she walked away, even though Daniel was at her side.

  “What?” he asked.

  “If you were having fun with Amber, I didn’t mean to pull you away from her,” Lydia said more calmly than she felt.

  “I was going around and telling shop owners to avoid the water when she told me that she already knew the reason why. Before I knew it, she was asking me first aid questions because of my training and got me to make her a drink.” Daniel eyed her. “Why? Did that make you jealous?”

  “I just hoped that my partner in investigating these murders was still a good judge of character,” she retorted.

  Then, to confirm her suspicio
n, she glanced back toward the ice cream shop. Just as she thought, now that Amber didn’t have anyone close by to pamper her, she was lifting the soda glass to her mouth that a moment ago she said was too heavy to lift. Lydia shook her head. Amber must be faking her injuries in order to gain some customers out of sympathy when the beach was deserted. Lydia didn’t appreciate the dishonesty, but she had to admit that it was effective. The ice cream shop had gotten more business than her taffy shop did. It must have been a perk for Amber that she got to have Daniel assist her and provide her with a chance to flirt with him.