Books, Blogs, and Bloody Murder

by Michelle Ann Hollstein

  “I think you should leave… now!” Melissa said, looking around. “I’ve had a complaint and I don’t want to cause a scene. If you don’t leave, I’ll have to call the police.”

  “A complaint?” Aggie asked.

  “Sounds like guilt to me,” Anita whispered.

  Melanie didn’t answer but her eyes quickly cut to the coffee shop counter.

  Aggie nodded. “We were just leaving. Sorry for any inconvenience. We were just curious about what had happened to that poor lady.”

  “Well, yes, it’s a shame,” Melanie said. “But I can guarantee that her death had nothing to do with the bookstore.” She followed them to the front door and watched them leave.

  ◆◆◆

  That evening, Aggie couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Something wasn’t sitting right with her about that woman’s death.

  Curled up on the sofa, in her PJs watching Masterpiece Theatre while eating a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, Aggie tried to concentrate on the show but was having a hard time, when her cell phone rang.

  She snatched it from the coffee table and answered when she saw Tom’s photo on the screen.

  “Hello,” she answered.

  “Hey, Aggie. I just called to say, hi.”

  “Hi,” she said. “How was your day?”

  “Busy,” he said. “I’m still on call. Had to fill in for someone on medical leave.”

  “Oh no! That makes for a long day.”

  “Yeah,” he sighed. “Double shift. Still have company?”

  “Company? Oh! You mean, Anita? No. She went back to Sarah’s, thank God. I never thought that woman would leave. I had to do an investigation just to get her on the road.”

  “Investigation?”

  “It’s silly, really,” Aggie said. “Betty was writing her blog and had writer’s block…”

  “I don’t like where this is going,” Tom said.

  His tone irritated her. “I haven’t told you anything yet,” she said, defensively. “So how can you not like where this is going?”

  “Don’t tell me this has to do with the woman at the bookstore…”

  Aggie frowned. She didn’t like when Tom was condescending. “For your information, yes,” she said. “Something doesn’t sit right with me.”

  “It was natural causes, Aggie. She was old and had issues with her health.”

  “Well, if you ask me,” Aggie snapped, “just because she was old and had health issues, doesn’t mean she hadn’t been murdered.”

  “Let it be, Aggie,” Tom said. “You’re not the police. If you have concerns, you need to put in an official report. And then we will determine what needs to be done.”

  “Then consider this my official report,” Aggie said and hung up on him.

  Fuming, she scowled at her phone before turning it off. She didn’t like being talked down to.

  Feeling agitated, she ate the last spoonful of ice cream but didn’t enjoy it. She shut off her TV and headed for her bedroom. As she lay in bed, she stared up at the ceiling. She was too upset to fall asleep. She wondered if she should turn on her phone to see if Tom had tried calling her back. Maybe she’d been acting irrationally. Still, she didn’t like being told what she can or cannot do.

  ◆◆◆

  Frowning, Tom stared at his phone. After Aggie hung up on him, he’d tried calling her three times. Each time, the call went directly to voicemail. His stomach tied up in knots. He hated when Aggie was upset with him. But then again, he was feeling pretty heated with her for hanging up.

  Tom tried calling one more time. Again, it went straight to voicemail.

  “Hello, you’ve reached Aggie. Leave a message, and I’ll call you back. Cheers!” At the tone, please leave a message. Beep!

  “Aggie, this is Tom. Come on, this is silly. I’m tired of talking to your voicemail. You know what? It’s a slow night on call. I’m coming over. I want a goodnight kiss. No reason for us to spend the night upset with one another. I love you.”

  Tom ended the call and headed in the direction of Aggie’s condo. He was only a couple of blocks away.

  ◆◆◆

  Aggie grabbed her phone from the nightstand and switched it on. The not knowing whether Tom was trying to call was killing her. She smiled when she noticed 4 missed calls and a new voicemail.

  Just as she dialed her voicemail, “You have one new message…” Crash! The sound of glass shattering from the other room made her jump.

  “What in the world!” Aggie leaped out of bed and raced for her bedroom door. She flung it open, ran down her short hallway and came to a screeching halt. Coughing, she waved at the thick wall of smoke and then pulled the fabric of her nightshirt up over her nose. Flames encompassed her entire living room. The deafening sound of the smoke detectors blared.

  Frightened out of her mind, she ran back to her bedroom. She was going to escape through her sliding glass doors. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest when she noticed her bedroom was also on fire.

  Trapped in the hallway, Aggie wasn’t sure what to do. She turned to look again at the living room when she felt a hand on her shoulder. To her amazement, Tom was there. He guided around the flames to the sliding glass door in her bedroom. That was when Aggie noticed the shattered glass and a brick on the carpet.

  A Molotov cocktail had been thrown through her living room window first, and then through her bedroom window. Someone wanted to cut off her escape routes. Luckily, Tom had gotten there just in time to guide Aggie around the flames to the sliding glass door before the entire room had been engulfed in flames.

  Between the thick smoke, and the watering of her eyes, Aggie hadn’t been able to see a thing.

  “You’re okay now,” Tom said, standing in the golf course located behind Aggie’s condo. He took her into his arms and placed a kiss on Aggie’s forehead. “I caught the arsonist in the act.”

  Aggie looked over at Betty’s condo next door and was suddenly aware that her friend’s life was in jeopardy. “What about…?”

  “Aggie!” Betty yelled waving her hands. All the neighboring condos were being evacuated. People were fleeing their units as the fire alarms blared. Betty ran over to them.

  “Thank God you’re alright!” Betty said. “What happened?”

  “Aggie’s gut was right,” Tom said. “I should have listened.”

  “You think this is linked to the woman from the bookstore?” Aggie asked, surprised.

  “Oh, I know it is,” Tom said. “I have the arsonist handcuffed in my car as we speak.”

  ◆◆◆

  A couple of days later, Aggie, Betty, and Roger were sitting at Roger’s kitchen table having their morning coffee.

  “Thank you again for letting us stay with you,” Aggie said to Roger.

  “Yes, thank you!” Betty said, grabbing a sugar-coated biscuit from the tin on the table.

  “Of course,” Roger said. “You’d do the same for me.”

  Aggie’s living room and bedroom had been pretty much burnt beyond recognition, but the firemen had managed to contain the fire before it could spread much further. Unfortunately, since Betty shared a common wall with Aggie’s condo, a portion of her bedroom had been scorched where the fire had made it through. Mostly, Betty’s place reeked of smoke. Everything else had been untouched.

  “Thank God for insurance,” Aggie said. “Hopefully they work fast.”

  “You can stay as long as you’d like,” Roger said, getting up from the table and pouring himself a second cup of coffee.

  Aggie smiled. “That’s very kind of you. However, I’ll probably find a nice hotel room. I don’t want to be an inconvenience.”

  “I wouldn’t hear of it,” Roger said.

  Aggie’s smile wavered. She was more than grateful for Roger’s generosity, however, being that he was the biggest cheapskate on the face of the planet, plus a neat freak, and being that she was the opposite, she knew she’d feel much more comfortable in a hotel room. She wasn’t an extravagant
spender or a slob, but in comparison to Roger, she was. And, since Betty was also staying with Roger, she’d have to listen to the two cousins constantly bicker.

  Just then, Aggie’s cell phone began to ring. Aggie frowned when she saw Anita’s name pop up on the screen. “Oh, bugger,” she groaned.

  “Who is it?” Betty asked.

  “Do you even have to ask?” Roger said, sarcastically.

  “Oh hush!” Betty threw him a dirty look and then scowled. “You don’t have to be rude!”

  “I’m not being rude!” he retorted. “I’m stating the obvious. Who else makes Aggie groan like that?”

  “I don’t know,” Betty said, shrugging. “Who?”

  “Anita!” both Aggie and Roger said simultaneously. Aggie went to answer the call, but it was too late. It went to voicemail. She suddenly felt relieved. The last thing she wanted to do was to talk with Anita. The last two days had been stressful enough, and she didn’t want to deal with Anita.

  Betty’s cell phone began to ring, and Aggie groaned again.

  “I wonder who that can be?” Betty said, getting up from the table.

  “Gee, who do you think?” Roger asked, rolling his eyes.

  “Oh hush, Roger!” Betty said and then grabbed her phone from the kitchen counter where it was charging. “Hello, Anita! You did? You read my blog post already? I was working on it all night and just posted it. Uh, huh… uh, huh. Yeah, let me put you on video chat. Yes, Aggie’s right here. So is Roger.”

  Aggie sighed. Roger twitched his mustache.

  “Hi everyone!” Anita said, waving, as Betty carried over the phone. “Let me guess… don’t tell me… you’re all having coffee.”

  Betty laughed. “Yes! How’d you know?”

  “I knew it!” Anita said. “I could be a detective!”

  Aggie and Roger briefly made eye contact. He twitched his mustache and pointed at their coffee mugs on the table. Aggie shook her head.

  “Well,” Anita said, clapping her hands. “Don’t keep me in suspense! Is it true? Was the story true?”

  Betty nodded. “It was. I mean, of course, I embellished it a little here and there.”

  “I like how you wrote me into the investigation,” Anita said. “I’m a star! I sent a link to your blog to everyone I know in Georgia, along with a link to your new book!”

  “Thank you! I appreciate it,” Betty said.

  “Of course, I told people not to pay too much attention to the racy cover though. You know, with Aggie being so scantily dressed and all. She wouldn’t want to be causing any heart attacks.”

  Aggie felt her cheeks redden and she shot Roger a look, but he avoided eye contact. He continued to look at Betty’s phone while smoothing his mustache with his forefinger.

  “The woman’s heart attack wasn’t due to racy book covers!” Aggie said, upset. “And besides, I’m not scantily dressed on the book cover. Roger created it!”

  “That story is just so unbelievable,” Anita said, ignoring Aggie’s protest about the book cover. “And then she tried to kill you?”

  Aggie sighed. This wasn’t the first time Betty’s blog had landed her in hot water. However, this time she also blamed Anita since she’d practically strong-armed her into questioning the staff at the bookstore and coffee shop.

  “She tried to kill me by throwing a Molotov cocktail through my living room window and then one through my bedroom window. If you hadn’t talked me into that stupid investigation, none of this would’ve happened. And if Tom and I hadn’t had an argument, causing me to hang up on him, he wouldn’t have come over to check on me.”

  Aggie’s eyes teared up as she thought of Tom. Thank God, for Tom, she thought. Without him, she could’ve died.

  “I still don’t understand… the whole frozen eggs thing… It seems a bit farfetched. How could that woman not know she was a mother? It just seems surreal. The only part of the story that was truly believable was when I helped you to investigate. I mean, Betty, you wrote me beautifully. I love how you describe my appearance and bubbly personality…”

  “Thank you,” Betty said, grabbing another sugar cookie. “Aggie, you explain the egg thing and Mrs. Baxley. Frances Baxley was the name of the woman that died, by the way.”

  “Yes, please explain,” Anita said.

  Aggie frowned. She agreed with Anita. The story did seem surreal.

  “Mrs. Baxley was Sherry’s mother. Sherry is the woman that worked in the coffee shop. Actually, Mrs. Baxley was both Sherry and Chuck’s biological mother. They’re fraternal twins. Not sure if you noticed the resemblance; the red hair, pale blue eyes, and freckles.”

  “Oh!” Anita said. “Yes, I see it now.”

  “Sherry had recently found out from her father that the woman she thought was her mother, was in fact, her stepmother. Frances Baxley had been his first wife.

  “Frances and her husband had been trying to conceive but had been unsuccessful. She’d had some of her eggs frozen and they were going to employ a surrogate. The first go didn’t take. During this time, Frances and her husband had hit a rough patch in their relationship due to this and divorced. What Frances didn’t know was that her husband had given the okay for a second try with the surrogate. And that time the pregnancy held.”

  “Oh my! And Frances didn’t know?” Anita gasped.

  “Supposedly not,” Aggie said. “Or anyway, that’s what Tom had told me.”

  “You never hear of a woman not knowing she’s a mother!”

  “I know!” Betty said. “We were all shocked!”

  Aggie continued, “Thirty years later, Sherry had searched for her biological mother. Through some research, Sherry found her, and they met a couple of times…”

  “What about Chuck?” Anita interrupted. “Did he know she was his mother too?”

  “Strangely enough, no,” Aggie said. “Even though Chuck and Sherry were both employed at the same place of business, due to the store being family-owned, they weren’t particularly close. According to Tom, Chuck hadn’t a clue that their stepmother wasn’t their biological mother.”

  “Well, I’ll be!” Anita gasped. “So strange! I still don’t understand why Sherry killed her biological mother?”

  “Inheritance,” Betty said.

  “Inheritance?” Anita gasped.

  “Frances Baxley was a very wealthy woman,” Aggie explained. “She’d done quite well for herself financially with her second marriage. That’s why Sherry didn’t tell Frances about her twin brother. She didn’t want to share any possible inheritance with him.”

  “My goodness,” Anita said. “That’s plum crazy. And you knew something wasn’t right from the get-go. That’s what gets me. What tipped you off?”

  “While we were having coffee on the day of Betty’s book signing, I’d noticed a cup of coffee on the table across from Frances Baxley,” Aggie said. “There was bright orange lipstick on the rim. The lipstick was the same shade that Sherry was wearing. At the time, I couldn’t figure out what was bothering me. Then later, it dawned on me when the pieces fell together.

  “From what I understand, Frances had come into the coffee shop to have a chat with her newfound daughter. Tom told me that Sherry had stated that her biological mother came in to discuss her Will. She’d recently told Frances about her weak heart and health issues. The reason she’d come into the bookstore that day was to tell Sherry after a great deal of thought, she wasn’t going to include her in the Will. She didn’t feel Sherry was family due to not having known she’d even existed before then.”

  “That’s horrible!” Anita said. “No wonder why Sherry was upset!”

  Roger shrugged. “Makes sense to me. The woman didn’t even know she had a daughter.”

  “But still,” Anita gasped. “Her own flesh in blood!”

  Roger twitched his mustache. “I wouldn’t leave her a penny.”

  “Roger!” Betty said. “How insensitive!”

  “What?” he asked, throwing his hands up into the air. �
�It’s true! I wouldn’t!”

  “Oh, please!” Betty said.

  “Betty,” Anita said, interrupting the cousins’ bickering before it got out of hand. “Your blog post mentions that Frances died of a heart attack. So, it wasn’t murder… Right?”

  “Yes, that’s true,” Betty said. “She died of a heart attack.”

  “See?” Anita said, smugly. “It was because of those racy book covers, wasn’t it?”

  Aggie sighed. “We don’t know exactly what triggered the heart attack.”

  “Since it wasn’t murder, then why would Sherry think she killed her? I’m still confused.”

  “Frances ordered a decaffeinated coffee because of her heart issues,” Aggie explained. “Sherry had been so angry with her decision to not include her in the Will that she decided to give her a triple shot of espresso instead of making her a decaf coffee.”

  “Therefore, when Mrs. Baxley dropped dead, Sherry believed the caffeine in the coffee killed her,” Betty added.

  “Even though they’re not exactly sure what caused the fatal heart attack,” Aggie said.

  “So, it could be the covers,” Anita said, stubbornly.

  Feeling defeated Aggie sighed, “Sure. Why not?”

  “But why would Sherry try to kill you?” Anita asked. “Doesn’t make sense.”

  “Because someone kept telling her that I was a detective and that her biological mother had been murdered,” Aggie snapped. “She was worried I’d somehow pin her mother’s death on her. When I used my membership to pay for our coffees, Sherry looked up my account on the computer to get my address to shut me up.”

  “Oh my!” Anita said again. “You’re always stumbling into trouble. You really should be more careful!”

  Aggie fumed. It was Betty’s writer’s block and Anita’s fake investigation that had gotten her into this mess.

  “You know what?” Anita said very seriously. “You really should start your own detective agency.”

  Roger suddenly burst out into laughter. He was laughing so hard that he began to choke on the sugar cookie he’d been eating. Betty patted him on the back.

  “Ha ha ha ha! You? A detective?” Roger laughed while pointing at Aggie. “Ha ha ha ha!”