Twice Layered Murder
A Rita Reincarnated Cozy Mystery
Daphne DeWitt
Copyright © 2017 by Daphne DeWitt
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Rita’s Perfect Wedding Cookies
Thank You for reading!
Author’s Note
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Also by Daphne DeWitt
Rita Reincarnated
Twice Baked Murder
Twice Layered Murder
Twice Dipped Murder
Cursed Coven Cozies
Cursed at First Sight
Cursed on the Second Date
1
Most girls dream about getting married. It’s a whole thing. The culture teaches girls to idolize weddings and brides. It’s the brass ring we’re all supposed to reach for. Unless, of course, you’re the reincarnated daughter of a former town sheriff with a vaguely defined mission from beyond.
Then you have a whole different set of goals.
“You’ve got a lead foot, don’t you?” Aiden said, looking over at me from the passenger side of my dusty red pickup and smiling.
It was both true and untrue.
Yes, the foot that now pressed the gas pedal, sending us flying down the road at sometimes overly fast speeds was a little heavier than it needed to be.
But no, it was not mine. At least, not technically. The foot, along with the rest of the body, was sort of a new model for me. I got it two months ago when I was reincarnated and sent back to my hometown of Second Springs to ‘finish unfinished business.'
Naturally, I figured that solving my murder was at least a pretty vital part of that business. Though I did solve a murder my first week back among the living, it sadly was not my own.
Whatever. I guess there’s plenty of time for that.
“I suppose I’m something of a professional pedestrian,” I said, smiling back, but careful not to take my eyes off the road.
“I’d have never guessed,” Aiden murmured sarcastically. Somehow though, he made even that sound charming. That was the thing with Aiden. He had a way of making everything-no matter how mundane- seem like the most amazing thing in the world.
It was one of the things I had always loved about him.
I shook my head hard. I couldn't think like that anymore.
Aiden had been my high school sweetheart, my fiancé once upon a time. But that was a different life. He had been engaged to Rita Clarke but she was gone, pushed down a flight of steps right into an early grave. I was Rita Redoux now.
She wasn’t allowed to feel that way.
“We made a pretty good score,” I said, trying to change the subject to something more generic.
A catering company out of Crestview closed down last month and, as a result, they were liquidating their assets. When Peggy- my best friend and the woman who engaged herself to my fiancé after I died- found out about that, she made plans for us to run up to the auction today. But when Aiden’s mom unexpectedly popped in from Dalton for what she called ‘some exclusive mother/daughter time, Peggy had no choice but to let Aiden accompany me instead.
I tried to convince her I was okay to go alone, but she insisted. Truth be told, awkwardness aside, I was glad for the company.
If the last two months had taught me anything, it was that looking at your old life from the outside in was a lonely prospect. Only three people knew the truth about me. One was some kind of guardian angel, one was a dog, and one almost certainly didn’t believe me.
Darrin, the cocky sheriff who took my father’s job during my death induced hiatus- had watched me use my past with Harvey to convince him to turn himself in but, in the weeks that had passed since that fateful night, we hadn’t so much as spoken about that. In fact, we hadn’t really spoken much at all.
I bit my lip and tried not to take that personally.
“I guess,” Aiden said, rubbing his eyes. “I know we got the industrial mixer and the five hundred pack of pie tins. I suppose that’s good.”
“Good?” I balked. “That’s great, and don’t forget about the freezer that’s being delivered next week. Do you have any idea how much that’ll help us? We can store so much fresh fruit now.” I shook my head. “It totally revitalizes the entire operation. Peggy is going to flip her griddle.”
Aiden chuckled hard. “You, Rita Redoux, are a godsend. Do you know that?” He shook his head.
“I don’t know about that,” I said sheepishly. “After all, it was Peggy’s idea to get the stuff.”
“An idea you executed perfectly,” he said beaming. “I can’t believe how lucky Peggy was that you walked into her shop and into our lives that night.”
Just hearing him speak of me like that-even if it wasn’t technically me- made my heart speed up the way it used to whenever he came to pick me up for a date.
My palms started sweating against the steering wheel as I told myself over and over again not to take my feelings seriously.
“It’s safe to say that something definitely sent me,” I answered. “I’m not sure what it was quite yet.”
I quirked my mouth to the side.
“So, I got an invitation to your wedding.”
“And one of the less hideous bridesmaid dresses in a long time, if I’m not mistaken,” Aiden answered, fiddling with my ancient air conditioner because down in Georgia we only have two seasons; Hot and Cold. We had moved past ‘Cold’ and “Hot’ was coming on strong. Unfortunately, the dusty red truck Charlie gifted me with when he plopped me back down in my exceptionally tiny hometown of Second Springs two months ago didn’t come with a very good cooling system.
“That’s perpetually busted,” I answered, shaking my head.
“Such is life,” Aiden mused.
“About the dress, I was meaning to ask you a question.”
“Is it not your color?” he asked, smiling wide.
“No, it’s not that. I mean, it isn’t, but I can grin and bear that. It’s just, do you not think it’s a little fast?” I blinked but kept my eyes on the road. The truth was, it was absolutely not fast. There was no one in the entire world better suited to be one of Peggy’s bridesmaids than me. We had been planning it since we were practically in utero. I was destined to be her Maid of Honor.
But I wasn’t that person anymore, and I certainly didn’t want her feeling like she had to include someone that (for all she knew) was a virtual stranger out of some misplaced sense of Southern politeness.
Also, if I was being completely honest with myself, I could t
hink of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than watching the man I’d planned to spend my life with pledge himself to my best friend.
Call me old fashioned like that, but there was something about going to my own wedding sans me that made my heart cringe.
“Maybe,” Aiden answered, surprising me more than a little. I had half expected him to go the polite route with it, too. I should have known better. He was a doctor, after all. He knew a thing or two about cutting down to the quick of things. “Don’t overthink it, Rita. Take this as a compliment. Peggy has a good heart, an open heart. One you’ve found your way inside of. Sure, it was a little touch and go for a while when you started taking those long lunches, but I think that can be forgiven now that we know what you were really up to.”
I bristled. What I had been up to was solving a series of murders that I thought was going to allow me to- as Charlie called it- move on. That turned out to be a dead end though, and it turned out the only thing solving those murders did (aside from stopping them) was to strip Aiden of one of his best friends.
“I’m sorry about Harvey,” I said softly, thinking of the goodhearted deputy who I’d grown up with and the way he lost himself in the web of a devious woman.
“I am, too,” Aiden answered.
“Have you spoke with him?” I asked, arching my brows. I was half curious because, even though he’d done horrible things, I still cared about him. And half because there was a good chance that he could tell Aiden that somehow, someway Rita Redoux seemed to acquire Rita Clarke’s memories.
“No,” Aiden shook his head. “I just, I wouldn’t know what to say.” After a silent moment, he added, “He was going to be my best man.”
“I’m sorry,” I repeated. “Who has the honor now?”
“Darrin,” he answered, sounding instantly lighter. I guess being a doctor also taught him to compartmentalize bad news in a way I couldn’t quite mimic. “I think you two know each other.” He winked at me.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I blushed. What did that wink mean? Certainly he didn’t think Darrin and I knew each other that well.
“Nothing at all,” Aiden lied. “Peggy has her eye on the two of you, though. I probably shouldn’t say this, but she thinks the two of you would make quite the couple. Though you haven’t really seen this side of her, she can be something of a matchmaker when she sets her mind to it.”
I most definitively had seen that side of Peggy. She was the reason our neighbors Steve and Karen Douglas were constantly exhausted by three kids. She had even, ironically enough, had a hand in getting Aiden and me together all those years ago. However, this particular venture wouldn’t bear fruit for her.
“That seems a little farfetched,” I answered, trying to keep my voice steady and unaffected.
“It always does at first,” Aiden said, a sly grin slapped across his face.
“No, you don’t get it,” I answered and, of the briefest of seconds, I took my eyes off the road. “I’m not sure that I’m ready for something like-”
Rita, look out!” Aiden yelled.
My head snapped forward, but it was too late. Before I could move, before I could even think of moving, we slammed head-on into a big, black SUV.
2
The airbags deployed the instant we made contact, which was definitely a relief. This truck was old and rickety, and I wasn’t sure if they were even equipped with them. Charlie hadn’t exactly given me an owner’s manual when he gifted it to me from the great beyond.
Still, everything seemed to be in order as firm white balloons expanded in front of Aiden’s and my face, bracing us from the worst of the impact.
My body flew forward and then fell back against the dusty, cracked leather seat. I couldn’t even turn before Aiden’s voice was in my ear.
“Rita, are you okay? Say something.”
His voice was strong, if a touch on the frantic end of things. At least he was conscious and-what was more- concerned about me.
“I’m fine,” I answered, rubbing the stars out of my eyes and taking a deep breath. “What happened?”
“Some moron crossed the center lane. He hit us head on.”
“Are you okay, Aiden?” I asked, worry sprouting in my chest. If Aiden got hurt because I was too busy making googly eyes at him to fully pay attention to the road, not only would Peggy make sure I died (again) but I’d hate myself for the rest of my second life.
Luckily, Aiden replied with a strong “Just fine, ” and I could breathe again.
“What about the guy who hit us?” I asked, looking over at Aiden. Though he was basically fine, he had a knot on his head that almost certainly was going to bruise. “Your head!” I said, instantly forgetting about the poor sap who very well could be laying on the side of the road or limping toward us after this collision.
Aiden turned to me, his hand scanning his head until he found the mass. “It’s okay. I'm not dizzy or nauseous, and as long as this thing is pointing outward, then I feel like we’re in good shape. No matter how ugly it makes me.”
“You could never be ugly,” I said instinctively.
“What’s that?” he asked, looking over at me.
I blanched. “I said you should still see a doctor when we get back to town.” Blinking hard, I added, “We should probably check on the other driver.”
I pushed open the driver’s side door and slid out of the truck. My head spun a little as I steadied myself, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Hearing Aiden exit the truck too, I made my way to the front of the truck.
As I rounded to the front of the cab, I saw the black SUV smashed against the front bumper of my seemingly untouched red pickup.
Smoke billowed out of the hood of the dented and crumpled SUV, but none of that affected my ride.
“Wow, that’s some amazing build quality,” Aiden said, mouth agape, as he looked at the state of my vehicle. “It doesn’t look like it’s been in an accident at all.” He shook his head. “It’s uncanny. How do you explain that?”
“I guess someone out there was looking out for me,” I said, chuckling nervously and shrugging. “But where’s the guy?”
Looking around, I saw that the road-and the driver’s seat of the SUV- was conspicuously empty. My stomach lurched as the idea that he may have been thrown out of the vehicle settled on my frazzled mind. But as I scanned the truck, I noticed that the windshield was intact.
Whoever was driving this car had stepped out of it, and that was a good sign.
Where was he now?
“Hey!” Aiden yelled, looking on either side of us. “Anybody out here?”
He jogged toward the back of the SUV and shouted, “Oh no!”
My heart leapt, and my stomach soured. What if this guy was hurt? What if he had stumbled out of this SUV and passed out behind it? After all, my truck might have been miraculously spared, but his was in bad shape.
I darted toward the back of the SUV. Biting my lip, I was unsure what I was going to find.
Aiden was the first thing I saw, wide eyes staring down at a road that I still couldn’t see. As I neared him, the rest of the picture came into view.
A man was sitting on the road with his legs crossed and his face in his hands. He didn’t look hurt, the parts of him I could see anyway. But he was muttering to himself and-surrounding him- pounds and pounds of cake and pastry lay splattered across the pavement.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting that,” I murmured, looking over at Aiden as relief that he wasn’t hurt flooded me. “Is that-Is that buttercream?”
“Yes, it’s buttercream!” The man shouted, looking up at me. He pulled his face from his hands, revealing deep brown eyes, a large nose, and one of those close cut mustache and beard combos.
His eyes were wide and troubled, but his face had no cuts or bruises. He was young looking, with brown hair and a face that didn’t look as though it had seen many days in the sun. It seemed he had gotten out of this okay. His SUV and desserts, on the other hand, weren’t
so lucky.
“It’s buttercream and French silk.” He stood. “It’s cream puffs, and eclairs, and a bunch of other very fragile things. It’s a little over half of the entire inventory for our wedding.” His hands went to his hair. “Which is in five days, by the way!” He shook his head. “I told her. I told her that I did not want to do this. But does she listen to me? Does she even listen to me?” He pointed downward. “I guess you can look at the ground if you want the answer to that question.”
“Sir, are you hurt?” Aiden asked, leveling a gaze at him. His tone was low and calm, like a seasoned doctor. A bit of pride danced across my mind. He had come so far since I left him two years ago. Back then, Aiden was just a resident. He’d have lost his mind if he had found himself at the scene of an accident. But here he was now, handling it like a pro, injured and all.
“No,” the other man said. “I’m fine.” His eyes got wide. “Oh, goodness. Are you two okay? I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Look at your head, man. Do I need to call an ambulance?”
“We’re both fine,” Aiden assured him. “I’m a doctor. There’s no need for an ambulance. The police alone will do just fine."
“Of course,” the man said, nodding.
“I’ll call Darrin,” Aiden said, motioning to me.
Ridiculously, my heart skipped a beat as he pulled out his phone and called the Second Springs sheriff. He walked away to explain things, leaving me alone with this man and his destroyed desserts.
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