by Kathi Daley
I’d never met the man, but I had to wonder how he’d managed to convince so many women to cheat on their husbands with him.
“So, you said you arrived around seven?” I asked.
“Yes, around then.”
I paused as I tried to work out a timeline in my head. If Brenda didn’t kill Bradford, then who did?
“Okay, so you arrived around seven, but then you realized you were short ten plants and you went back to your shop to get them.”
She nodded. “Yes, I guess I must have left the lot by seven-twenty or maybe seven twenty-five. When I got back to my shop, I loaded up the van with the missing poinsettias and was about to return to the Christmas tree lot when my husband called, letting me know that my daughter couldn’t find her math homework. I spent some time on the phone with him, so I didn’t return to the tree lot until maybe seven forty-five. I unloaded the van since Bradford wasn’t around. I was about to leave when I noticed the door to the storeroom was open. I peeked inside and saw him dead, so I left. After I got back to the shop and had time to think things through, I decided to come back. I returned around nine. You were here waiting, so I conveniently found the body, making me a witness and not a suspect.”
“So, if you didn’t kill the man, who did?” Jemma asked.
“What about the guy delivering the Christmas trees?” Brenda asked.
“He didn’t arrive until eight,” I said.
“No. I saw his truck when I left to get the missing poinsettias around seven-twenty, and it was still there when I returned and found Bradford dead around seven forty-five.”
“The guy told me he showed up at eight, saw the van blocking the gate, parked, and went and had breakfast,” I informed her. “I checked with the diner, and he did come in for breakfast around eight.”
“I’m telling you that the truck was parked on the street the first time I left around seven-twenty,” Brenda insisted. “Maybe he lied. Maybe he arrived when I was here the first time, so he parked on the street. Maybe he intended to kill Bradford, so he waited for me to leave. When I left, he got out of his truck and came over to the office, where he stabbed Bradford with a knife and then fled. He figured if he went to eat breakfast before dropping off the Christmas trees, he’d have an alibi, so that’s what he did.”
“That might work,” Jemma said. “Brenda shows up at seven, and then the guy with the trees comes by at maybe seven-fifteen. He sees the van and decides to wait. Brenda leaves around seven-twenty, at which time the guy comes back to the lot and kills Bradford. He then goes to breakfast. Meanwhile, Brenda returns and finds the body around seven forty-five. She leaves and goes back to her shop. When Jackson sees Bradford’s truck at the Christmas tree lot, he comes to talk to him only to find him dead. He runs just as Ainsley is getting here. The guy with the Christmas trees has had his breakfast and established an alibi by this point. He returns to the Christmas tree lot and asks Ainsley for help backing in, and then he immediately leaves. While Ainsley is in the office waiting to check-in, Brenda comes back and conveniently finds Bradford’s body.”
“That whole thing is crazy,” Josie said.
“Crazy, but possible,” Jemma countered.
“So, what now?” Josie asked.
“I think it’s time to call Parker,” I said. “We’ll need to notify Deputy Todd of our theory, and she knows him the best.”
“But if you tell the cops what happened, my husband will find out I was with Bradford before he died,” Brenda pointed out.
“Yes,” I said. “I imagine your husband will find out the truth. Perhaps it’s time for you to go and talk to him yourself.”
Chapter 17
By the time Christmas rolled around, the mystery of who’d killed Bradford and why had been solved. As we’d already figured out, the timeline initially presented by the man with the Christmas trees had been altered to provide him with an alibi. Brenda admitted to stopping by the Christmas tree lot around seven o’clock to drop off the poinsettias. While she was unloading that first batch, the man with the Christmas trees had come by, seen the van, and pulled up along the street and parked. He’d told us he’d headed toward the diner right away after parking, but the reality was that he’d simply waited in his truck for the van to leave. When it had, he’d gone into the office where Bradford was waiting for Brenda to return and killed him. He’d then headed over to the diner for breakfast and an alibi.
When Brenda had come in after returning with the missing plants, she’d found Bradford dead and ran. Less than an hour later, Jackson had come in and seen the body and had also decided to run. Meanwhile, I’d shown up for my shift and had seen Jackson make his escape.
The man with the Christmas trees had finished his breakfast by this point and had gone for a walk. He’d returned to the Christmas tree lot through the front gate and had asked for my help backing into the tree lot. The rest unfolded exactly as the gang and I had discussed. There were two pieces of the puzzle I hadn’t been quite sure of until I’d spoken to Parker at the Christmas Eve get together Jemma and Josie had thrown after the boat parade the previous evening. The first was why the man with the Christmas trees had killed Bradford in the first place; the second was why he’d reentered the lot through the front gate when the diner where he’d eaten, as well as his truck with the Christmas trees, was on the street behind the Christmas tree lot.
“Don’t tell me that Bradford was sleeping with the Christmas tree delivery guy’s wife as well,” Keni said as I filled her in on my crazy story.
“No. The man with the Christmas trees didn’t kill Bradford over a love triangle. It turns out that his motive had more to do with money. It seems he had put a bid in on a piece of property he wanted to buy so he could open his own Christmas tree farm, but at the last minute, Bradford came in with a cash offer and bought it out from under him.”
“So this guy, Stan, I think you said his name was, decided it was a good idea to stab the guy in the heart over a piece of land?”
“Based on what Parker told us, it sounded like Stan had been trying to buy the land for over a decade. The first time it came up for sale, he couldn’t get the funding he needed to close the deal, so Stan worked hard to get a line of credit in place so he’d be able to act when the land became available again.”
I paused and then continued. “I guess the land came up for sale a few weeks ago, so Stan jumped right in with an offer. The owner verbally accepted Stan’s offer, but then Bradford came in with an all-cash offer as opposed to the offer Stan made, which included a loan that Stan would need, and the owner of the land decided to sell to Bradford. Stan said he knew that if he wanted the land, which had been his dream for a long time, he’d need to act fast.”
“I guess I can see how the guy would have been mad enough to want to enact some sort of revenge, but how would killing Bradford help him get the land?” Keni asked.
“I guess Bradford had put in a cash offer which had been accepted, but the sale of the land hadn’t been finalized as of the day of the murder. According to Parker, a meeting of some sort was scheduled for the following week during which the paperwork would be signed and the deal finalized. When Stan found out that Bradford had been the one who ordered the Christmas trees from the farm where he worked for the Christmas tree lot in Gooseberry Bay, he offered to deliver them. Stan told Deputy Todd that he’d brought the knife with him that day to threaten Bradford and try to get him to withdraw his offer. He swore he hadn’t planned to kill the guy, but things got heated, and the next thing Stan knew, he had blood on his hands.”
“So he washed up, went to the diner, and then what?” Keni asked. “Did he ever explain why he came in through the front gate?”
“He told Deputy Todd that after he’d eaten, he’d gone for a walk to clear his head, and get his story straight, and had ended up closer to the front gate than the back when he noticed my vehicle and realized the time had come to put his plan into motion.”
Keni blew out a breath. “I thought you told me that Gooseb
erry Bay was a nice little town with nice residents.”
“I did. And it is.”
“You’ve been there less than two months, and how many murders have you been involved with?”
“A lot,” I admitted. “But Gooseberry Bay really is a wonderful small town. I think I might even settle here.”
There was a pause before Keni spoke again. “Really? You aren’t coming back to the east coast?”
“I haven’t made up my mind for certain, but there is something about Gooseberry Bay that makes me feel like I belong here. If I stay, I’ll miss you, of course, but other than you, there really is nothing for me on the east coast anymore. And we can still visit each other. I think you’ll really love it here.”
“I’m sure I will. And I do want you to be happy, but I’ll miss you.”
“I know. I’ll miss you too. But the reality is that after I moved back to Georgia, we didn’t see each other all that often.”
“I guess that’s true.”
“I’ve been thinking about looking into what it would take to transfer my PI license to Washington State. I haven’t had time to even look into the requirements, but it should be doable.”
“Well, it certainly sounds like the area needs someone with your skills.”
I laughed. “I guess it does seem that might be the case. I’ve spoken to Parker about it, and she thinks the two of us will work really well together. She even said she could probably pay me to help her with the stories she researches for the newspaper, although Dad left me enough cash that I don’t have to have income for a while if I want to take the time to really settle into something.”
“What about your case? What about Ava and Avery?”
“It’s been slow going figuring that one out, but I do have an update.”
I took the next thirty minutes to bring Keni up to speed. She’d been my best friend for a long time, and I really did miss her, but the longer we spoke and the more she shared about what she’d been up to, the more certain I was that our lives had veered off in different directions. I promised to call her again in a few days and then signed off.
The dogs and I were due to meet up with Jemma and Josie for a late breakfast, and I knew that Parker and Coop planned to join us later in the day for dinner, but this morning, as the dark sky began to lighten and the gently falling snow landed softly on the bay, I felt perfectly at peace. I made another cup of coffee and then snuggled up with Kai and Kallie in front of the colorfully lit tree and roaring fire. As I let the peace and serenity of this perfect moment wrap me in a warm hug, I knew in my soul that whatever the new year might bring, right now, at this moment, I was exactly where I was meant to be.
Coming Next from
Gooseberry Bay
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USA Today best-selling author Kathi Daley lives in beautiful Lake Tahoe with her husband, Ken. When she isn’t writing, she likes spending time hiking the miles of desolate trails surrounding her home. She’s authored more than a hundred and fifty books in thirteen series. Find out more about her books at www.kathidaley.com
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