Ashley Crane Cozy Mystery Collection

by Laurie Anne Marie

  “I have to go over there and see what is happening,” Ashley said to herself.

  She grabbed an apple and yogurt to keep her stomach from rumbling.

  When she arrived at the restaurant, there was yellow tape around it, and people were milling around outside as the police went in and out gathering information. At first she didn’t see anyone she knew. Was she the only person from work who had showed up today?

  Finally she spotted her fellow cook, Chris. He was talking to a police officer and looked surlier than ever. Had they just routinely questioned him? She waited until he was finished, then waved to him as he turned and walked to his car.

  “Chris!” Ashley shouted.

  He turned and looked at her, then continued walking.

  “Chris!” she called, as she ran up to him.

  “What do you want Ashley? I need to do some stuff. Can we talk later?” he replied.

  “What do you mean later? Our boss was just murdered!”

  “I know that,” he snapped. “But I’m in a hurry.”

  “Chris, what did the police say? Did they tell you anything else about the murder? Do you know when we go back to work? Or if we even do? Do you know anything about the future of the restaurant?” And do you really think Jimmy could’ve done it?”

  Ashley had asked so many questions; she ran out of breath.

  “I heard that Darren’s investment partner might be taking it over now. I really don’t know much else. Like you, I’m in the dark,” Chris replied.

  Ashley picked up a nervousness about Chris. He was also averting his eyes as he talked to her. She didn’t feel she was getting the whole truth from him.

  “Sorry, I really gotta go. Let me know if you hear any more news and I’ll do the same.”

  Chris then jumped into his car and sped off.

  “Weird,” she thought.

  Then again, Chris was always weird. This time however, she got a strange feeling in her gut. One that said he knew more than he was admitting.

  “I’m going to have to check up on him,” she thought.

  Just then it hit her.

  “I’m not a detective!”

  But the minute she said that to herself, something inside of her began to stir. Like most of the employees, she didn’t like Darren. Still, she was sorry that he had wound up murdered. It was terrible for him and his family and terrible for the entire community. She couldn’t believe this had happened where she worked and where she lived. And to arrest Jimmy? He was rough and gruff, but she felt deep down in her gut that he couldn’t have killed Darren. The more she thought about it, the more upset she got. It didn’t seem fair he was sitting in a cell now after everything he had gone through in life.

  Suddenly, she had an overwhelming urge to try and put some clues together to see if she could figure out who the real killer was.

  Ashley used to love to read mysteries when she was younger. Even though her schedule didn’t allow for much time to read books, she found herself watching crime shows on TV whenever she could. Was it so silly to think she could figure something out? After all, the police were on the case. They were trained professionals.

  But maybe they would miss something. Perhaps because she had worked at the café, she could figure out things and pick up clues that strangers would miss. Even though the cops had already taken Jimmy in, there were still a lot of questions. At that moment, with the image of Jimmy’s sad face in her mind, every fiber of her felt certain that she should be involved.

  As if on cue, a detective walked up to her. The detective’s eyes were steel blue. He was tall and well-muscled. His dark blonde hair shone in the sunlight. A veritable hunk.

  “Excuse me, are you one of the employees of Gratitude Café?”

  “Uh…yes,” she stammered.

  “I’m Detective Nathaniel Thompson.” He stuck his hand out to shake hers, but she could barely raise her arm up to shake back.

  “I’d like to talk to you about Darren Short please. We need to interview all the employees.”

  Ashley stammered again. “Yes, of course.”

  “When did you last see your boss?”

  “Yesterday afternoon when I left work after my shift.”

  “What time was that?” He kept looking up and gazed intently at her as he wrote down her answers.

  “Around 4:00 pm.”

  “Around 4 or at 4? When did you punch out?”

  “Yes, at 4, but then I stayed to talk to a fellow server and my boss for a moment.”

  “What did you say to him?”

  “Actually, I just talked to the server, and then my boss saw me chatting with her and told me if I stayed around talking any longer, he’d find work for me to do, so I immediately left after that.”

  The detective peered into her eyes. “Was he angry with you?”

  “No, just annoyed that I was hanging around I guess.”

  “Did you get along with your boss?”

  “Uh….I did, but…”

  “But what?” Now he looked impatient. “Did you like him?”

  Ashley sighed. “No, I didn’t like him. But I acted professionally at work and did what he told me to.”

  She felt herself getting weak in the knees, not only from the questioning but because the detective was leaning in and staring at her with those steel blue eyes.

  “I was told you had an argument with him yesterday. Would you care to elaborate on that please?” he said.

  He continued to stare at her.

  Ashley felt numb. Who had mentioned what she had said to Darren to the cops? And what difference did it make? She only briefly told him off in the kitchen for not hiring enough people. It was no big deal. Yesterday a lot more people got frustrated with him more than she did. She realized she better answer the detective’s question fast.

  “It wasn’t any big deal. I had the day off before, but I was really sick. So I turned my phone off and went to bed. He had left some messages for me throughout the day to come in and substitute for people who didn’t show up to work and with my phone off, I never got them until the end of the day when I woke up. The next day at work…uh...yesterday that is, he told me off for not answering my phone. I told him he should stop cutting labor and hire more people. We were in the middle of a busy breakfast, and there was no time to talk about it further. He was obviously mad at me for talking back to him, so he told me we needed to have a meeting at the end of my shift. He got preoccupied, and we never did.”

  “Nothing else was said between you two?”

  “No, but I’m sure he would have talked to me today if he had liv….” Ashley broke off mid-sentence and started to tear up.

  Everything felt awful. Was she a suspect? That would be crazy!

  “Do you have an alibi for where you were last night?”

  The detective kept staring at her so much with those blue eyes that it made her itch.

  “Yes, I was home. I told you I was in bed sick the day before, so yesterday I worked my shift, then stopped for some food, then went home and a friend came over for dinner and to spend the night.”

  “What were you sick with?”

  She sputtered. “What?”

  Ashley didn’t know what this had to do with the murder.

  “You said you were sick. What with?”

  Ashley sighed. “A hangover.”

  She saw the detective’s mouth curl up in a faint smile as he continued to write.

  “Too much partying will do that,” he said.

  It was her turn to stare at him. Did he just say that? She noticed how well built he was and blushed as he glanced up and caught her staring.

  The detective continued. “What friend came over last night? And can this person verify they were with you?”

  “Yes, it was my friend Lara. Lara Longley. She brought over some rum for cocktails, and I made dinner, then she was going to leave, but we had the TV on and heard about the murder, so she wound up staying the night because I was a mess.”

  Ashl
ey ran out of breath at the end of the sentence.

  “Cocktails so soon after a hangover? You should take better care of yourself.”

  He quickly switched gears.

  “Ok, thank you, if we need to get in touch with you or your friend, we will give you a call. Don’t leave town. That’s all for now.”

  This time, Ashley didn’t even try to hide the fact that she was staring at him.

  Cocktails so soon after her hangover? Take better care of herself? Was he flirting with her or was she imagining it? And why did he have to be so cute? He didn’t notice her mouth hanging open as he had already walked away. She gazed at his tall frame and noticed his wide shoulders and steady stride.

  Ashley sighed. “Just my luck.”

  Why did such an attractive guy have to come into her radar so soon after that weasel Ray had broken up with her? She had intended to take some time off from men and concentrate on herself, and now after meeting the hunky detective all she could think about was dating again.

  “Why couldn’t he have been a fat, bald detective with bad shoes?” Ashley grumbled.

  She had to get a hold of herself. What was she thinking? She had to find a new job. Not to mention there had been a murder that involved her old job! Her head was about to explode. Unfortunately, so were her hormones.

  “Oh get a grip,” she told herself.

  Then she realized that she hadn’t told the detective about the fight in the parking lot she had witnessed.

  “I guess I’ll have to call him up soon with that information,” she mused.

  The thought made her blush. She wondered if he was single.

  ***

  Just as Ashley was walking back to her car, one of the servers, Serena Patz from the restaurant, ran up to her crying.

  “Ashley, isn’t this terrible? I can’t believe it! Darren shot three times!” Serena said.

  Although Ashley was very stressed at the moment, she did her best to calm her co-worker down.

  “Yes, it is. But I’m sure they will solve the case. We just have to be patient,” Ashley replied.

  “What are we going to do about work? I really needed this job.”

  Serena kept blubbering, and Ashley rolled her eyes.

  “We all need the work Serena. Maybe a new owner will be taking over, and we can start work again soon while they are trying to solve the case. But I’m still going to look for another job, and I think you should too.”

  “I can’t. I just can’t. I had intended on working here a long time. This was my favorite job and like a second home to me!”

  Serena’s sobs could be heard for miles.

  “Serena get a hold of yourself. I’m sorry. But you may not have a choice. Unless you’ve got rich parents or win the lottery, I think it’s smart to say that you should start looking for another job just in case. Hopefully, we will all be called back to the restaurant as soon as possible.”

  Ashley sighed. She had done her best to be comforting. Now she really had nothing else to say. Serena dried her eyes and thanked Ashley and started to walk away.

  Just as Ashley got to her car, Serena shouted at her.

  “I hope that dishwasher Jimmy burns in hell for killing Darren!”

  Ashley was startled by the outburst. Serna looked devastated. She started to call out to Serena that there shouldn’t be a rush to judgment in this case, but there were still too many people hanging around gawking and she thought better of it.

  Why was everyone so sure Jimmy did it? Was she missing something? Did she not know something about Jimmy from his past? Maybe the other employees felt he was a ticking time bomb with his PTSD, and she was not in tune with it like everyone else.

  Ashley shook her head. She remembered how Jimmy had quietly told her that ‘killing never solved anything’ the day they talked. Her instincts still told her the murderer wasn’t Jimmy.

  But people who had worked at the café longer than her probably had a different view on lots of things. Ashley pretty much had come into the cafe, done her work, and remained nice and polite to all. Her close friends were all from outside work, however. She just didn’t believe in mixing work and friendship that much. The fact that Chris had even grumbled to her that Darren would ‘get his due’ the other day and Serena having a meltdown now in front of her were surprising to Ashley.

  She really wasn’t close to either of them and thought they must have been at a breaking point, and Ashley had just been the one to unload on. Whatever. She had always thought there were a lot of weirdoes at the restaurant, and while it made for a colorful workplace, sometimes it was just annoying, like now.

  Ashley noticed more people were being questioned by the police in front of the restaurant. Some were employees like herself; others were town folk. The police would certainly grill everyone they could to get information. Things like this didn’t happen in Comfortville. She could only remember one murder before in town when she was in high school. It turned out to be a domestic squabble gone badly. It had shocked everyone then and no doubt this would have the same effect. She shook her head again and sighed.

  “Time to get back home and start job hunting.”

  Chapter Six

  Suddenly, Ashley’s sweet tooth acted up again. In times of stress, there was no better cure than a delicious treat. Ashley drove to the favorite local bakery, Babycakes. The minute she walked inside, the smells almost toppled her. As a cook, she believed in using great ingredients, and that was also the philosophy of Babycakes’ owner, her friend Sean McDonell. He was an excellent pastry chef and had a slightly ample figure to go with it. The man loved to eat.

  “My kind of man,” she thought to herself. She walked up to the counter and drooled at all the choices in the case.

  “Ashley!” Sean said. “What’s up?” His voice boomed throughout the bakery.

  Ashley gave him a weak smile. “The usual, too much stress and a need for a sugar rush.”

  She looked at Sean’s sweet face and wide smile. He was the kind of guy who would make a great husband, but he had never been married. And she could tell by the way he was looking at her that he was still carrying that big crush for her he confessed about the other night.

  “What can I get you? The chocolate croissants are sold out, but I still have some fresh apple or blueberry muffins and cinnamon dusted buttermilk donuts,” Sean explained.

  Ashley sighed. She had vowed over and over again to cut down on sweets, but this was not the time. Besides, she couldn’t come in and smell and see all this bounty and then just order coffee.

  “You choose,” she said.

  Sean picked out a cinnamon crusted buttermilk donut, put it on a plate, and poured her some of his best strong roast coffee. The man knew her so well.

  Ashley sat at the counter and immediately took a bite of the donut.

  “Wow Sean, this is amazing.”

  She followed the bite with a sip of his excellent coffee. Instantly she felt better about everything. Good food did that for her.

  “So how’s it going Ash? What a big mess over at the restaurant, huh? Who would’ve thought this could happen?”

  “You can say that again. It’s pretty horrible to have your boss murdered. You see it on the news and read about it everywhere else, but who would have ever thought it would happen here in our nice, little town?”

  “I heard a lot of people couldn’t stand your boss, but jeesh, murder him? I also heard they arrested the dishwasher that worked there. Do you agree that he did it?” Sean asked.

  “No. Honestly, I don’t. He seemed like a hothead on the surface, but I don’t know, I get the feeling the real killer is still out there,” Ashley mused.

  There were a lot of people hanging out in the bakery, so Sean leaned in and whispered to her.

  “Who do you think did it then?”

  “I don’t know. Almost everyone who worked there could be a suspect. There was a lot of bad blood between some of the employees and Darren. Not to mention the investor who had put a
lot of money in the place and was always unhappy about the way Darren was running it. Or his wife maybe. I had heard arguments between her and Darren where she was really upset with him. They always seemed to be at each other’s throats.”

  “Well, I’ve met her. Julia Short is a real piece of work. She comes in here a lot to order baked goods. Demanding and always complaining. I even heard some rumors that Darren was fooling around on her,” Sean said.

  Ashley furrowed her brow. Maybe the server Meagan and Darren really were sleeping together. Or maybe he was fooling around with someone else--or a lot of women for that matter.

  “Yeah, in one of the arguments I heard she was telling him off for cheating on her,” Ashley muttered.

  “That could have made her into the person she is. Always bad-tempered and rude with people because she wasn’t loved at home,” he replied.

  Sean gave her a wistful look all of a sudden. She thought perhaps he was emotionally wounded by love gone wrong, but he never wanted to talk about past relationships. Even though they were close friends, that topic was off limits.

  “Tell you what, if Darren’s wife comes in again, can you let me know if she looks any different or says anything funny?” Ashley asked.

  “Sure, but since he was just murdered, I don’t think we will see her anytime soon,” Sean said.

  “You never know. Just keep an eye on her and let me know how she acts,” Ashley insisted.

  “You don’t think she could have killed her husband, do you?”

  Sean looked taken aback at the thought.

  “I don’t know, but I’m sure the police aren’t going to rule out anybody just yet.”

  “I guess not. But hey Ash, you’re beginning to sound like a wannabe detective to me. I don’t think you should get involved. That could get you in trouble.”

  “Eating too many pastries could get me into trouble,” she laughed.

  Sean stared at her with a serious look on his face.