A Drizzle of Deception_A Cozy Mystery

by Constance Barker

  I picked up my empty plate. “We agree.”

  “Are you ladies from Caesars Creek?”

  I nodded. “Yes, I’m Tara Beckley and this is Paige Murphy and her daughter Sammi.”

  “Nice to meet you all…I’m Lincoln Hodges.”

  “Are you staying at the old home place right now?” Paige had no trouble diving right into the nitty-gritty.

  “Yes I am. I kind of like the solitude during the cool months.”

  “Tara here owns the Frozen Scoop…if you like ice cream.” I think Sammi wanted Lincoln to notice her and that’s all she could come up with.

  Lincoln looked at me with an odd face. “Oh really. I’ve been meaning to stop in there some time. It always appears busy with customers.”

  “We do a pretty good business.”

  “I noticed Jeb Lawson in there the other day.”

  Paige and I perked up. “Oh, you know Jeb?” I asked.

  “He and my grandfather knew one another, back when they were younger.”

  “I didn’t know that,” I answered. “But then Jeb knows almost everyone in town.”

  Lincoln nodded. “Well it was nice meeting you all.”

  We answered in kind, grabbed our ticket, and paid for our food up at the front register. We glanced back at Lincoln who was sipping a cup of coffee and waiting for Patty to bring him his meal. Outside was the black Hummer Sammi spoke of and that I had seen pulling away from my shoppe in quite the hurry the other day.

  I started the car. “Do we know anymore than we did before about Lincoln?”

  Sammi buckled her seat belt. “He’s really cute.”

  Paige turned around to look at her daughter. “I think you already knew that.” Then she turned to look at me. “Did you think it strange that he brought up Jeb?”

  It did seem odd, especially since I wondered if it was his Labrador retrievers entering Jeb’s property. “It could have been a coincidence.”

  Paige shook her head. “I don’t believe in coincidences.”

  Neither did I.

  “You girls want to go on a reconnaissance mission?” I asked.

  Paige buckled up. “Where to?”

  “The Hodges estate.”

  “Ohhh, that sounds like fun.” I knew Sammi would be onboard.

  “What about tripping their security system?” There she was, my practical Paige.

  “I’m not talking about breaking and entering.” Well, not exactly.

  Chapter Eleven

  The automatic front gate at the entrance to the circular driveway of the Hodges estate was locked. We knew where Lincoln was, at the diner, but it might not be long before he came home so we had to work fast. I parked down about half a mile and off the shoulder of the road. Lincoln would be coming from the other direction so he shouldn’t pass my car. Paige and Sammi got out of the car while I grabbed a flashlight out of the glove box.

  “What the heck are we looking for?” I could tell Paige was already regretting her decision to spy on Lincoln.

  I shone the flashlight down the road. “Anything out of the ordinary. But mainly I want to see if he owns three Labradors…the ones that have been visiting Jeb. Lizzy said he’d mentioned them to her so I want to see if they’re the same dogs.”

  “What if they attack us?”

  “Well, since they’re labs, the only thing they’ll be attacking us with are their tongues and tails.”

  Paige blanched. “Let‘s just hope they haven‘t been licking their butts with those tongues.”

  As we walked closer to the edge of the Hodges property, we heard barking coming from the rear. We ambled alongside the tall pine trees towards the rear of the house. After rounding the last pine tree we saw the kennels and the dogs inside. Three yellow labs barked and wagged their tails at us.

  “Okay, there are three wooly creatures in their cages,” Paige said, pointing out the obvious. “So let’s vamoose.”

  “I want to make sure they’re the same dogs.”

  “How are you going to do that?” Paige exclaimed impatiently.

  “Mom, calm down. It’s not like we’ve broken any laws.”

  “Trespassing is against the law my girl.”

  I kept my eyes on the dogs. “We can always say we were lost, flat tire, ran out of gas.”

  Paige rolled her eyes. “I’m sure Greg will accept any of those excuses.”

  I ignored Paige and hiked over to the dogs. Sure enough, they each had on the same colored collars as they did at Jeb’s house the other day. They even acted like they knew me. But then again they’re labs…no one is a stranger.

  On my way back to Paige and Sammi I noticed something peculiar in the back yard. A large round platform of some sort lay on the ground. It appeared to be almost as big as a small house, but circular instead of square. I stopped to look at it, much to Paige’s chagrin.

  “What are you doing? Hurry up!”

  “Come look at this. What is it?”

  “Who knows? Some kind of stage maybe?”

  The platform was supported underneath and raised two feet off the ground. Round holes were placed so many feet apart not far from the outer edge of the platform. Finally Paige grabbed my arm.

  “I have no idea what it is, but let’s go.”

  We headed back to the car and once inside I saw headlights turn into the Hodges estate. “That was close.”

  Paige looked white as a sheet. “Thanks for the additional gray hairs I’ll wake up with tomorrow.”

  You’re welcome.

  Chapter Twelve

  The next day at The Frozen Scoop I filled Stormi in on what had transpired the night before.

  “So you saw Lincoln huh?” I could tell Stormi still didn’t care for the guy, even after all these years.

  “Yeah, he seemed very nice.” I spritzed some Windex on the inside glass of the ice cream case and wiped it with a clean cloth. “I think Sammi has a crush.”

  Stormi guffawed as she put change in the cash register drawer. “She’ll get over it. So, you say he owns the dogs we saw at Papaw’s.”

  “Yep. I’m pretty positive they were the same dogs. They had those colored collars, but no tags.”

  Stormi slammed the register closed. “What in the world would his dogs be doing out at Papaw’s place? Lincoln has to be out there too, don’t you think?”

  “Unless he’s hired someone to take the dogs out on runs, which is a possibility.”

  Stormi considered it. “Yeah, I could see that. Well, now where does that leave us?”

  “We also saw some kind of construction going on in the back yard area. It was some round platform with holes in it. We couldn’t see it that well with only a flashlight though.”

  Stormi dismissed it. “Hard to say with Lincoln. I know his grandfather use to do some carpentry. Maybe he’s taking it up too.”

  “How would you like to do a stakeout tonight at Jeb’s? I’ve already asked Paige and Sammi. Sammi is all for it and Paige reluctantly said she’d tag along.”

  “I’m in. Are we telling the boys?”

  “Telling the boys what?” Brandon had sneaked through the back door.

  Stormi clutched her chest. “I swear little brother. One of these days I’m going to knock you into next week.”

  “I love you too Sis. Now what are we keeping from the boys?”

  I looked at Brandon guiltily. “I thought us girls would do a stakeout at Jeb’s tonight.”

  Brandon leaned against the counter. “Will the old boy know you’re there?”

  “I hadn’t planned on telling him. I was thinking us girls could drive up as close as possible and sit in the car and see if anything happens. We’d have our cell phones and could call for help if we needed too. Plus we can always honk the horn and warn Jeb.”

  Brandon crossed his arms. “And what happens if you trip his alarm system and he comes out guns a blazing?”

  “Ummm, I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “He shut it off and told the company to take
it back.” Stormi interrupted. “That’s what he told Momma yesterday. He’s tired of it going off and then nobody believes him that something’s out there.”

  Poor Jeb. It must feel awful to know that something’s going on, but no one believes you or they think you’re getting senile. My heart broke for him.

  I scooped a small cup of Mississippi mud into a cup for Brandon. “See, we won’t have to worry about the alarm.”

  Brandon grabbed a small plastic spoon and took a bite. “Okay ladies. Just be careful and try not to scare Jeb. He’s had enough frights this Halloween season.”

  The four of us piled into Paige’s black SUV. She demanded on driving so we’d have no choice when she wanted to leave. We all dressed in black, including dark hats and gloves. Stormi even work a black ski mask, much to Paige’s annoyance.

  “Okay, what is with the ski mask?” Paige looked in the rear view mirror at Stormi as she backed out of the driveway.

  “I don’t want the moon bouncing off my creamy complexion like a high beam.”

  Paige rolled her eyes. “Why? You might scare a possum?”

  “All the better.” Stormi adjusted the mask. “I’ll keep the critters away while we probe the property.”

  “Could you not use the word probe.”

  “Why Mom? Are you scared of aliens?” Sammi pulled her black sock hat down over her ears.

  “I don’t have to worry about aliens with Stormi parading around Jeb’s in that ski mask.”

  “I brought some tiny binoculars.” I lifted them out of my purse to show the girls.

  “Our luck nothing will happen tonight.” Paige pulled down past Jeb’s driveway and off the road. She would be wrong.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The three flashlights stabbed the air like beacons. We hiked over to a row of bushes situated near Jeb’s house and outbuildings and hunkered down to wait.

  Stormi sat between me and Sammi. “Did anyone bring any snacks?”

  Paige was on the other side of Sammi. “You’ve got to be kidding? How can you eat at a time like this?”

  Stormi’s too small ski mask was hiking up her face with the open section for her mouth trying to reach her nose. “This stupid thing,” she said pulling it down. “It must have shrunk.”

  “Really?” Paige pulled her feet up to sit cross legged. “You wear it that often?”

  “So I take it no one has any food?”

  Sammi dug into her pocket and pulled out a wrapper. “I have half a Snicker’s bar left.”

  Stormi reached for it. “That‘ll work.”

  Just as Stormi grabbed the half eaten Snicker‘s, weird lights pierced the air above the outbuildings on Jeb’s property. Stormi dropped the Snicker’s bar as we all watched in amazement.

  The lights danced around near the roof of the buildings. I stood up. Paige whispered, “Sit down!”

  “We have to figure out what they are,” I whispered back.

  Stormi grabbed my arm to get up. “I’ll go with you.” She turned to Paige and Sammi. “You two stay here.”

  Paige nodded but I could tell Sammi wasn’t happy.

  Stormi and I held onto one another as we slowly walked towards the strange lights. Whatever it was, the thing was emanating a loud humming noise. As we rounded one of the outbuildings we could see the shadow of the flying saucer thingie on the outbuilding next to it.

  We peeked around the building and saw a small flying object with lights.

  “Those are mighty small aliens.” Stormi whispered.

  “I think it’s a drone,” I whispered back.

  I could see Stormi’s puzzled eyes through the holes in the ski mask. “Why would the government be spying on Papaw?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think it’s the government. Let’s circle back.”

  We made our way back to Paige, but Sammi was no where to be found.

  “Where’s my girl?” Paige demanded.

  “How should we know?” Stormi pulled her mask off. “We left her here with you.”

  “She wanted to go with you girls and I couldn’t stop her. You didn’t see her out there?”

  “Do you think we would have left her out there if we did?”

  “Okay, everyone calm down.” I needed to get control of the situation. “Let’s all of us go back and find her.”

  Now three of us held onto one another, with Stormi in the middle. What a fine group of detectives we were. We kept loud whispering Sammi’s name. Then all of a sudden Paige stopped dead, pulling Stormi’s arm.

  “What the heck is that?” She pointed upwards toward the buildings.

  “Oh, we forgot to tell you,” Stormi said. “The government is spying on Papaw with drones.”

  Paige looked at me. “I told her it wasn’t the government.”

  “Well who the hell is it?” Paige was becoming more unglued.

  All of a sudden we heard Jeb yelling from the front porch. “Who’s out there?” He yelled. “I’ll load ya full of buckshot if you don’t answer me!”

  Stormi opened her mouth to answer, but before she could we heard a high-pitched yell. Sammi!

  “Oh my Lord girl!” Paige screamed. “Where are you?”

  I knew where her voice came from and started running away from the outbuildings towards it. Paige and Stormi followed behind. Up ahead I could see several figures struggling. I shone my flashlight on them as I ran towards the ruckus. My mouth fell open.

  Brandon had someone face down on the ground and Sammi was holding her flashlight like a weapon over someone else. Then we heard barking and someone coming up from behind us. This was getting completely out of control!

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jeb handed out some doggie biscuits to the labs as we sat on his front porch. The night had definitely been one to remember. It turned out that Lincoln Hodges was running drones in an attempt to see inside Jeb’s buildings and the property. He had asked to look inside, but like everyone else, Jeb had turned him down.

  Evidently he was searching for the original horses from the carousel his great grandfather had built years ago. Lincoln wanted to restore it, which explained the huge platform in his backyard. A noble effort, but one performed in a heinous fashion. Scaring a poor old man half out of his mind wasn’t going to sit well with the county judge, no matter how much money Lincoln’s family had. But Greg said the most he’d likely get is a trespassing charge. I was hoping for more.

  What saddened Brandon, who followed us to Jeb’s, was that Denny was also involved. Lincoln had hired him to snoop around to see what he could come up with, which wasn’t much since he couldn’t get into the buildings either. What was sad, after Jeb allowed Stormi and I in to see his treasures, he was going to let Denny know that he could look around them as well. If only Denny had remained loyal to Jeb, he would have eventually gotten the inspiration he wanted for his sculptures. Instead he got a reputation for being unscrupulous.

  Greg arrived in his squad car and stuck Denny and Lincoln inside. Then he turned to us.

  “Ladies and wife. Please no more of this investigating. I don’t think Bruce’s heart can take it.”

  Bruce had also been summoned. He put an arm around Paige and Sammi. “That’s right. You two trying to kill me off for the insurance money?”

  “No Dad. But it was fun tackling Lincoln.” Yep, Sammi saw Brandon struggling with Denny and Lincoln standing at the side looking at a tablet screen. The same tablet that was controlling the drone. She took it upon herself to bring down the wealthy socialite, which sent his tablet soaring and the expensive drone plummeting to its death.

  Brandon had already called Greg and Bruce before he went after the two men, so he knew help was on the way. But he decided to take matters into his own hands, afraid the men might hurt us. My hero! I snuggled up against his chest as we sat and rocked on Jeb’s porch swing.

  “I am so glad this is over with.” Jeb sat in one of his porch rockers with a serene look on his face.

  Stormi walked over to him a
nd put her hand on his shoulder. “I am too Papaw.”

  Jeb put his hand over hers. “But you have to promise me that you, or any of you girls, won’t do anything foolhardy like this again. You could have gotten hurt.”