Chloe Cook Cozy Mystery Bundle

by Kayla Michelle

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Lily Foster was the last suspect that Chloe needed to talk to. Chloe wasn’t looking forward to this. Lily was already an emotional wreck, especially given the fact that her husband had just kicked her out of the house. There was a high probability that Lily could take out her frustrations on Chloe. She had to take that chance.

  Chloe got the address of Lily’s sister’s house from Paige, then drove over there. She had no idea what to expect. It had been an afternoon of high-octane drama. Chloe was due for a break. Would this confrontation be easier than those that had come before it?

  Chloe walked up to the front door and rang the bell.

  Lily’s sister, Jacqueline Nettell, answered the door. She was a petite woman in her late thirties, with curly brown hair, and hazel eyes.

  “Yes?” Jacqueline said.

  “I’m here to talk to Lily,” Chloe replied.

  “She doesn’t want to see anyone.”

  “I understand she’s been through a lot, but it’ll only take a moment.”

  Jacqueline started to shut her door. “No.”

  Chloe wasn’t expecting an answer that abrupt.

  Then again, Jacqueline looked eager to close the door. It was at that moment that Lily Foster walked out of the living room and emerged in the hallway.

  “Is it Adam?” Lily asked.

  Jacqueline turned to her sister. “No.”

  Lily looked confused to see Chloe at her sister’s house.

  “What are you doing here?” Lily asked.

  After getting this much friction already, Chloe had to curry some favor. She didn’t want to be shut out so quickly. This conversation was too important.

  “I just wanted to extend my sympathies,” Chloe said.

  “For what?”

  “I know what happened between you and Adam, and I’m so sorry. I hope you two can find a way to work things out. It would be a shame to have your child grow up in a broken family.”

  Lily gave her a curious look. “How do you know all this?”

  Chloe had to think on her feet. She wasn’t about to tell her that she’d just come from Adam’s house. “The Cape is a small place. As you know, news travels fast here.”

  Lily rolled her eyes. “Don’t remind me.”

  Chloe was trying her best to get Lily comfortable and slowly open up, but Lily was proving to be a tough nut to crack.

  It was time to mix things up a little. Chloe decided to come at the situation from a slightly different angle. “You know, if it makes you feel any better, I think if you give him time, Adam might be willing to take you back eventually.”

  “Really?”

  Chloe had her right where she wanted her. Now it was time to turn the conversation on its head. “As long as the baby is his. It is his child you’re pregnant with, isn’t it?”

  Lily narrowed her eyes. “That’s none of your business.”

  “There’s a murder investigation going on, and you’re one of the main suspects. You shouldn’t be trying to hide away, you should be doing everything you can to prove your innocence. It’s in your best interest to remove the cloud of suspicion around you. Instead, here you are, acting defiant while you’re pregnant with a child that may belong to a murder victim.”

  “You have it all wrong,” Lily insisted.

  “About which part?”

  “The baby.”

  “So it is Adam’s kid then?” Chloe asked.

  Lily averted her gaze, then sighed. “I guess with Adam kicking me out, there’s no reason to keep up the charade anymore.”

  “I don’t understand. Are you saying you’re pregnant with Adam’s child, or Ryan’s?”

  Lily shook her head. “Actually, it’s no one’s.”

  Chloe was more confused than ever. “What are you talking about?”

  Lily finally remade eye contact. “I’m not really pregnant.”

  Chloe was having trouble putting the pieces together. “But I heard you say at the party--”

  “I made it up. The pregnancy was all just a hoax.”

  Chloe had to keep her jaw from dropping to the ground. That explanation only led to more questions. “What were you going to do in nine months when you didn’t give birth? Or even in six months, when your stomach didn’t start showing?”

  “I planned on waiting four or five months; then I was going to tell Adam that I had a miscarriage,” Lily revealed.

  Talk about a bombshell. Chloe took a moment to let that sink in, then replied.

  “Why would you put him through that?” Chloe asked.

  “Our marriage was in serious trouble, even before I cheated on Adam. My husband was just so focused on getting ahead at work. He poured all this energy into the hotel while completely ignoring me in the process. I could feel Adam slipping away. That only got worse when he found out that I was sleeping with Ryan. So I came up with a plan to get my husband back. I thought if I told Adam I was pregnant, the idea of him becoming a father could get us back on track as a couple. That it would bring us closer, and even save our marriage,” Lily explained.

  Chloe had to take a moment to process what she’d just heard. It was such an “out there” story. She didn’t sugarcoat her response. “That’s one of the most twisted things I’ve ever heard.”

  “It’s also the truth. So there you have it. Not only did my plan backfire, but it also managed to make me look like a murder suspect.”

  “I hate to break it to you, but you’re still very much a suspect.”

  “I just told you the truth. I didn’t kill Ryan.”

  “I heard what you said. But think of it like this, your plan, your pregnancy hoax, it might have actually worked had Ryan not crashed the party last night. The fact is; Ryan ruined those plans. When Adam saw how you were looking at his brother last night, he realized that you were still attracted to Ryan. On top of that, your husband began to worry that your fake child was Ryan’s. If that wasn’t enough of a motive, I saw how much it burned you that Ryan had moved on and was now dating Olivia Ellerby,” Chloe explained.

  Lily started to panic. “I didn’t do it. I’m not a killer.”

  “How can I believe that’s the truth when you’ve been trying to pull off one of the biggest lies I’ve ever seen with this pregnancy hoax of yours?”

  “Look, I’ve told the truth. You’re not getting anything else out of me,” Lily insisted.

  “But--”

  Lily cut her off. “Goodbye.”

  Lily then slammed the door.

  Chloe groaned.

  She didn’t know what bothered her more, having another door slammed in her face or feeling like she was so close, yet still so far away from finding out the real truth?

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  After all Chloe had been through, the last thing she needed was to be dropped into the middle of another stressful situation. Yet that was exactly what she was about to happen. When she walked back to her car, she found a surprise waiting for her. Unfortunately, none of the recent surprises in her life were positive experiences. It’s not like she’d found out she’d won the lottery or was getting a big promotion. Instead, she was staring down bad news, this time in the form of Detective Thicke waiting at her car.

  Chloe had been loathing this moment. It was almost inevitable that they’d run into each other again. They were both investigating the same suspects. Chloe was just relieved that she’d managed to question each of the suspects once before the detective stepped in to flex his authority. She would have preferred to do some follow-ups, but after the first round of confrontations, a lot of those bridges had already been burned.

  Not so secretly, Chloe wished the detective would work with her in solving this case instead of being so dismissive of her sleuthing. Chloe’s pluck could only take her so far. She’d love to be able to dip into the police department’s considerable resources. She knew that if they joined forces, they could become a formidable foe for any would-be killers.

  Judging by Detecti
ve Thicke’s folded arms and disapproving stare, it was clear he had other plans. The detective made no secret of his distaste for Chloe’s amateur detective work. He’d been pretty clear in telling her that he wanted her to go back to selling makeup and leave this case alone.

  She’d disobeyed his orders and now had to answer for that. There was no doubt in her mind that the detective was about to give her an earful. The good news was that Chloe was a sales professional. Perhaps she could find a way to talk herself out of trouble.

  “You don’t ever learn, do you?” the detective asked.

  Chloe played dumb. “What do you mean?”

  Detective Thicke didn’t buy her act. “You’re interfering with my investigation…again.”

  Chloe decided to pull out the ace up her sleeve. “You should be thanking me.”

  He scoffed. “For what?”

  Chloe pulled the pearl earring she’d discovered earlier out of her purse. “I found this in the grass outside of Ryan Foster’s garage. It belongs to Olivia Ellerby.”

  In Chloe’s eyes, a “thank you” was in order. Apparently, she was asking for too much. Given how stubborn the detective was, she would have settled for an acknowledgment that she’d made a good find. As low as her expectations were, even they failed to be met. Chloe didn’t even get a smile out of the detective.

  Instead, Thicke furrowed his brow. “I don’t see how that’s possible. My men combed every inch of that property.”

  “Maybe they missed something,” Chloe suggested.

  The detective was offended by that statement. “How dare you make an accusation like that?”

  “I’m just saying, I found the earring next to the garage. It must have come from somewhere.”

  “My men couldn’t have missed something like this. This earring must have been dropped after we left.”

  Chloe wasn’t about to debate the competence of the detective’s staff, especially when he was already so grouchy. She handed over the earring.

  “Either way, it’s evidence.”

  Detective Thicke looked at the earring, then stared Chloe down.

  “You’re still interfering with my investigation,” he said.

  Chloe tried to distract him. “Speaking of the investigation, I guess you didn’t find any prints on the murder weapon.”

  “You know I’d never tell you that.”

  “You don’t have to. The mere fact that you haven’t arrested Paige O’Doul or any of the other suspects tells me the killer must have wiped the prints off.”

  Detective Thicke’s patience was growing razor-thin. “Enough speculation. I’m warning you, stay away from this case.”

  “Are you going to take Paige off your suspect list?”

  The detective scoffed. “No.”

  “That’s a mistake.”

  “No. The mistake would be to cross me. You have no business investigating this murder.”

  Chloe shook her head. “You’re missing a golden opportunity here. We could make a great team if we worked together.”

  Detective Thicke scowled at her. “I’m going to tell you for the last time, leave this to the professionals.”

  Chloe realized the detective wasn’t going to back down. There was no winning this one, nor talking her way out of it. She decided to tell him what he wanted to hear, for now.

  Chloe sighed. “Alright.”

  Little did the detective know, Chloe had no intention of dropping the case.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  It had been a long day, and it wasn’t even over yet. After all the investigating she’d done, not to mention contentious arguments she’d had, Chloe thought a change of pace would do her psyche some good. After all, she was not exactly in the best place at the moment.

  Chloe expected things to go much differently. Solving a murder case wasn’t easy, but this one seemed particularly hard. The added wrinkle of her friend being in the middle of this case only made things harder.

  It was important for a sleuth not to get emotionally involved with a case. There was a chance of her emotions clouding her from the truth. Ideally, a sleuth could objectively take a step back and look at the big picture. The fact was, Chloe had been wrestling with her emotions all day. Even more, she was not on the winning side of the battle.

  That’s why she welcomed a change of scenery, as well as a new topic of conversation. Getting some distance from this case would no doubt be of great benefit to her. Dinner at her parents’ house could do just that.

  Or, maybe not.

  ***

  Chloe normally looked forward to dinner at her parents, but tonight had a different feel to it. She had a good idea of what was waiting for her, and it wasn’t just going to be just fish and chips. There would no doubt be a heaping side of gloating from her mother.

  Amanda Cook had a number of admirable qualities, but humility was not one of them. When she was right, she made sure the world knew about it. So it came as no surprise to Chloe what the first words out of her mother’s mouth were at dinner.

  “I told you so,” Amanda said.

  Grandma Betty rolled her eyes, all too aware of the spectacle that was to come. “Here we go.”

  Amanda had lobbied hard for Chloe to go on a blind date with Dylan. She was convinced that they were a perfect match. So when Chloe turned down the blind date, only to hit it off with Dylan in the pie shop a few days later, it played completely into Amanda’s hand. As Chloe and Dylan’s relationship started to progress, Amanda only became more convinced of how right she was.

  As much of a pie aficionado as Chloe was, humble pie was the hardest for her to swallow. Then again, it would be much easier to stomach if her mother wasn’t so determined to gloat. Still, Chloe wasn’t too proud of a person to refuse to admit when she was wrong. She could take her lumps. She decided to do just that.

  “You were right,” Chloe replied.

  Amanda smiled wide. “Of course I was. That’s what mothers are for.”

  Grandma Betty sighed. “I have a feeling this is going to turn into ‘perm gate’ all over again.”

  Back in high school, Chloe went through a phase where she got tired of having straight hair. So she decided to get a perm. Her mother warned her not to, but Chloe didn’t listen. In the end, Chloe didn’t just get an awful perm, but it also happened the week the school pictures were being taken.

  Where some mistakes of youth faded into the past, Chloe’s was immortalized in her school’s yearbook. To this day, she had not lived down the decision at home either. The debacle had become known as ‘perm-gate’ in the Cook household, and Amanda referenced it whenever she wanted to make a point about her opinion being correct.

  “I was right about not getting that perm too,” Amanda replied.

  Grandma Betty shook her head. “It’s been seventeen years. Just let it die already.”

  Chloe couldn’t help but laugh at the lunacy of the universe. She’d gone into dinner convinced that the murder investigation would be the last thing she’d want to talk about. With her mother so eager to say ‘I told you so,’ suddenly bringing up the case seemed like the perfect change of subject.

  “Mom, you know there’s been a murder in town, right?” Chloe said.

  Amanda grimaced. “I know, but who wants to talk about something that unpleasant at dinner?”

  Chloe and Grandma Betty shared a knowing look over the irony of the situation. Betty was quick to call Amanda out.

  “You don’t want to talk about unpleasant things, yet you dug up memories of ‘perm-gate’? Can you taste the hypocrisy?” Grandma Betty said.

  “Actually, right now I just taste meatloaf, but I do see your point.” Amanda turned to Chloe. “I’m sorry, hon.”

  Chloe was just eager to move on. “It’s alright.”

  Grandma Betty had something else on her mind. “There’s something very wrong here. Two murders in the Cape in the same year? This is unacceptable. Don’t people know this is Cape Cod? This kind of thing doesn’t happen here.”r />
  “Apparently, it does now,” Chloe bemoaned.

  Grandma Betty refused to believe it. “When did all this change start happening?”

  Just then, Chloe’s father, Robert Cook, came home. He took a seat at the table, looking very grumpy. “Well, some things never change.”

  “What’s the matter, did your blood sugar crash?” Amanda asked.

  Robert muttered something under his breath that no one else at the table was able to understand.

  Amanda looked for some clarification. “Can you repeat that? All I heard was grumble, grumble, grumble.”

  “I said, stupid Joe Norton,” Robert complained.

  “Uh oh, is he still grinding your gears after all this time?” Chloe asked.

  “He hasn’t stopped, and I don’t think he ever will. The man is the fingernail on the chalkboard of my life.”

  “I feel for you, Robert. Claire Watterson used to always find new ways to get under my skin. She somehow managed to be a thorn in my side for forty years,” Grandma Betty explained.

  “Used to, as in she doesn’t anymore?” Chloe asked.

  “No. She bit the dust last year. There aren’t a whole lot of good things about getting old, but seeing your enemies kick the bucket is one of them.”

  Chloe laughed.

  Amanda meanwhile, turned the attention back to her husband. “What did he do Joe Norton do now?”

  “He keeps shooting his mouth off about how great he is,” Robert said.

  Amanda furrowed her brow. “He does realize his fifteen minutes of fame is over, right? I mean, he caught that eight hundred pound tuna ten years ago.”

  “Don’t tell him that. The man will always be a fishing legend in his own mind. As far as he’s concerned, ten years ago was just yesterday. He lives in a state of perpetual delusion,” Robert said.

  Amanda sighed. “He should just get over himself already.”

  “There’s a fat chance of that happening. I know a woman who still brags about her blue ribbon from a pie bake-off that took place in 1986,” Grandma Betty said.