Valentine's Blizzard Murder

by Linnea West

  "The first two people we need to talk to are Anna and Dawn," I said. "Obviously Anna because she couldn't find the medicine and Dawn had a very intense reaction to Jake's death. Plus, both of them were helping to serve dinner."

  "Okay," Mandy said. "Whatever you say, boss."

  We each grabbed a tray and brought it out to the living room. Everyone still seemed to be sitting exactly where I had left them a while ago. Mandy and I wound our way around the room, giving everyone the drinks they ordered and offering cookies.

  I ended my trip around the living room by sitting down next to Anna. Her eyes were ringed with red and her long blond hair was covering her like a security blanket. She didn't look at me right away; she was staring off into space and I couldn't really blame her. She had just lost her husband.

  "Anna, I'd like you to come with me," I said quietly. "I'll bring your tea to the kitchen if you'll just follow, please."

  She stared up through the curtain of hair and gave me such a blank look that I wasn't sure she had actually heard me. But as I stood up, she did too and together we walked to the kitchen with Mandy following behind. As I held the door for them, I glanced at Tank. He was stationed in the doorway and he gave me a nod. He was keeping an eye out here in the living room.

  In the kitchen, I pulled a chair out at the table and motioned Anna to sit down. As she sat down, she took her smartphone out of her pocket and put it next to her on the table. She seemed a bit obsessed with it, which just made me glad once again to have traded mine in. Mandy and I took a seat across from her. She looked like she wanted to keep crying, but she had run out of tears at the moment.

  "Anna, I know this is a really hard time and you just lost Jake, but I need to ask you just a few questions," I said. "I'll keep it brief, but I want you to tell me anything you know."

  Anna looked a bit surprised but nodded her head slightly, making her hair shimmer like a wave.

  "First of all, do you have any idea who would want to do this to Jake?" I asked. From the true crime stuff I have watched, it is best to start with something pretty general and work towards the specific. If I was lucky, maybe it would make less work for me.

  "No, I mean, not anyone specifically," Anna said. She took a small sip from her tea cup. "Jake was not the nicest, even to me. But I can't think of anyone who would actually want to kill him. Besides, he kept his fish allergy mostly a secret. I think deep down, he always worried something like this would happen."

  Anna's voice cracked just a little and Mandy hurried over to the counter to grab her a tissue. Anna took it gratefully and wiped her face before sipping a little bit more of her tea.

  "So what you are saying is that not just anyone would know about this allergy, so it would have to be someone close to him," I said. "Like his wife? You haven't been married long, but how is your marriage going so far?"

  "Tessa," Mandy hissed as a few tears and a sob escaped from Anna. I glanced her way, but if Mandy didn't understand the whole "good cop, bad cop" routine, she was about to learn.

  "Our marriage was going as well as I thought it would," Anna said. She seemed to be picking her words carefully. "Like I said, Jake was not always nice and honestly I think I could have found someone nicer. But what Jake did was allow me to follow my dreams. He knew I wanted to pursue a career as a dancer and he let me. When you start out, it isn't all sunshine and daisies. A lot of times, I would go weeks between paying gigs and would have to spend money in the meantime on dance classes, new outfits for auditions, a personal trainer, that sort of thing. He didn't mind that I didn't have a steady job because he made enough money for both of us. Plus, I was pretty and willing to put up with his more childish tantrums. It may not have been the best sort of relationship, but it was working for us."

  Well I couldn't argue with her on that front. The older I got, the more I was realizing that a relationship didn't have to make any sense as long as the people in it were happy. I took a sip of coffee and grabbed a cookie off of the plate in the middle of the table, pushing it towards Anna who politely refused.

  "But you were clearly unhappy to be here in Shady Lake," I said, remembering all of the time she had been spending on her phone and computer.

  Anna gave a sigh and grudgingly took a cookie. She took a bite and stared out the window at the ever-blowing snow while she chewed. Looking out at the blizzard, I could understand how this trip to the frozen tundra would not be exactly what this California girl would be looking forward to.

  "Shady Lake is a cute little town," Anna said. "And I was happy to meet Jake's grandparents and spend time with his parents. But it is hard to leave California, especially during Valentine's Day. I had been hoping to have a very romantic evening."

  Anna glanced around nervously and poked the button on her phone, lighting the screen up so she could check for notifications. When there was nothing new there, she pushed it away from her a bit and sighed.

  "There is another reason too, isn't there?" I asked. "Another reason why you didn't want to come so far away from California? What is it you are always doing on your phone?"

  Mandy gave me a little shove and when I glanced at her, she bulged her eyes at me. She wanted me to stop pushing Anna so far, but I really didn't think I had done too much. I was just trying to get as much information as I could.

  "Yes, there was another reason," Anna said. She paused and took another sip of tea. I could tell she was thinking about what exactly she should tell us. She must have decided we were trustworthy. "And before I tell you, let me just say that Jake knew and he didn't mind as long as I was discrete."

  Mandy let out a little yelp and it was my turn to shove her a little bit. Hopefully Anna wouldn't think Mandy was being judgmental because whatever it was she needed to be discrete about, I needed to know about it.

  "I may as well tell you because I want to make sure you know everything," Anna said. "I have a boyfriend back home in California. His name is Lark. Jake knew about our relationship and was okay with it. In fact we had discussed him having a girlfriend also, if he found the right girl."

  Anna looked in my eyes and I could tell that she wasn't lying. I appreciated her honesty, but there was no way for me to check if Jake knew about Lark and what he thought of the entire situation.

  "I have one more question," I said. "When you went to find Jake's medicine, it took a very long time. What happened?"

  While some of my questioning had taken her away from the what had happened, this plopped her right back in the life-altering mess that had happened earlier in the evening. She teared up again as she described what happened.

  "I told Jake he should always carry the epinephrine if he was going to eat," Anna said. "But he kind of just laughed me off as being too worried and said that it was always near enough. He keeps it in a little carrying pouch that he can bring with in a briefcase or backpack. But when I went upstairs, it was like the pouch had been moved. I finally found it in the top drawer of the nightstand."

  "And that was odd?" I asked.

  "Definitely," Anna said. "He never would have put it somewhere like the nightstand where it could have been forgotten. He always left it in one of his bags. It was like someone had moved it, but I don't think anyone else knew about it."

  With that, she collapsed back into sobs, the tears flowing again. I reached over the table and grabbed her hand. I knew what she was going through and the pain of losing Peter felt like a fresh wound. But I took a deep breath and tried to put a bandage on it because I just couldn't deal with it and a murder investigation right now.

  "I'm sorry for what happened, Anna," I said. "But I promise that we will figure out what happened to Jake."

  She looked in my eyes and nodded. Mandy stood up and helped Anna through the kitchen and up to her room. We both figured she had been through enough tonight and should be able to get some rest if she needed to.

  As I waited for Mandy to come back, I thought through what Anna had said. Someone had moved the epinephrine. Had it been the same
person who had put the fish in Jake's bowl? It had to be someone close to Jake who knew about not only the allergy, but also the pouch where he kept his medicine. But who was as close to him as his wife? Had Anna been the one to do it? If so, maybe she should go into acting instead of dancing.

  Chapter Ten

  When Mandy came back into the kitchen, I could tell by her face that she was already a little overwhelmed. While she had helped me figure things out when I investigated mysteries previously, usually she just provided more of a listening ear and some moral support. This time she was totally in the investigation and she was already feeling the enormity of it.

  She sat back down and took a cookie, which was definitely another sign that something was different. For someone that works in a donut shop, Mandy has extraordinary willpower when it comes to sweets.

  "So, do you think Anna was telling the truth?" Mandy asked as she nibbled on the cookie.

  "Yes, I do," I said. "Which is a bit confusing because she is the one who makes the most sense to be the killer. But I could tell that she was being sincere. She even told us about her boyfriend, which she didn't have to do. She seemed genuinely upset about losing Jake."

  "But couldn't her boyfriend also be her motive to kill Jake?" Mandy asked. "Maybe marriage was not what she thought it would be and she just wants to be with her boyfriend."

  "Sure, it could be," I said with a shrug. "And it would make sense because from what Anna said, whoever did this to Jake must have been intimately close to him. He hid his allergy and whoever did this must have hidden his medicine so that he wouldn't get it in time."

  We quietly drank our coffee and tea and munched on our cookies while the wind blew by the window outside. I couldn't believe how bad this storm was. I couldn't even see the trees that were just out the window. Max had said this was the worst storm he had ever seen and I had to agree with him. Thinking of Max, I hoped he was getting someone out here soon.

  "So if we can't add people to the list of suspects, are there people we can take off of the suspect list?" Mandy asked.

  "Yes, I actually think we can take Linda, Dave, Cheryl, and Joe off of the suspect list because they don't seem to know Jake besides the fact that he is from Shady Lake," I said. "They also didn't have anything to do with the dinner. Same with my mother."

  "On that note, we can take Clark and Candy off of the suspect list too," Mandy said. I had to agree, as much as I was feeling like pinning it all on them would be great retribution at the moment.

  "I think we can take Claudia off of the list, but Lyle needs to stay on because he helped bring the dinner plates out," I said. "Same with Dawn and my father. They all were in contact with dinner."

  "Didn't Anna bring dinner plates out also?" Mandy asked.

  "Yes," I said with a sigh. "I suppose we should leave her on the list, although towards the bottom because I really have a gut feeling that she did not do it."

  So there was our suspect list: my father, Anna, Lyle, and Dawn. The only one who we knew had a connection and could have done it was Anna and if there was anything I'd learned from doing a little amateur investigation was that going with your gut was almost always the right thing to do. And my gut was saying that she had not done it.

  I was about to speak up in Anna's defense again when suddenly all of the lights went out and Mandy and I were plunged into darkness. I was immediately enveloped in crippling anxiety. My breathing was shallow and I tried to take deep breaths, but it wasn't working. My stomach felt like it was eating itself and I was starting to shiver.

  A hand suddenly landed on my arm and I jumped before I turned and saw Mandy kneeling next to me. She had turned on the little flashlight on her smartphone and it was lighting up a little area of the linoleum tile on the kitchen floor. I stared at the spot that was lit up, trying to focus my attention on it and push back the fear of the dark.

  "Tell me where the nearest flashlight is, Tessa," Mandy said, her voice flat and calm.

  "Basement stairs," I managed to say.

  Mandy squeezed my shoulder before she stood up and dashed towards the door to the basement. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the facts of the case while I waited for Mandy. Through my eyelids, I could see a light approaching and when I opened my eyes, Mandy was holding the butt of the flashlight towards me.

  As soon as the cold, metal flashlight was in my hand, my anxiety immediately dropped back down to a manageable level. I took a moment and did some deep breathing while I shone the flashlight slowly into each corner of the kitchen.

  "Let's go to the living room," Mandy said.

  She grabbed my arm and looped hers through it before helping to lead me into the living room. Thankfully, the fireplace already had a roaring fire which was lighting up most of the room. Everyone was still in the room except for my parents, who I assumed were doing damage control by checking the electric panel and gathering candles and flashlights.

  I saw that Candy and Clark appeared to be cuddling on the sofa and as I came in, Clark sheepishly tried to push Candy away as Candy tried to pull Clark closer. They ended up in a sort of odd, wrestling match that I turned away from so that I didn't have to watch it. Instead, I walked over to where Tank was still stationed in the doorway.

  "Are you okay?" he asked before I could even open my mouth. He knew about my fear of the dark after one night when I woke up in a panic and found that my bedside flashlight wasn't working anymore. In my panic, I had started to yell and Tank had come to my rescue.

  "I'm fine," I said. "Mandy helped me get my flashlight. How are things going in here?"

  "Well, the lights going out was certainly something, although I can't say it was a surprise to me," Tank said.

  We had grown up in this old house and we were used to the power going out frequently. Any time there was supposed to be a winter storm, we bought up an entire supply of candles and batteries for flashlights. In the summer, we kept a tote of candles and batteries in the basement for severe storms and tornado warnings. Sometimes the power would just go out for no reason, so it was all old hat to us.

  I peeked around Tank's hulking figure and saw my parents in the entryway. I squeezed my way past him and walked over to where my parents were setting up and lighting candles. When we had been little and the power had gone out, we were each given a flashlight and my mother would carry around a camping lantern.

  But now that we had a bed and breakfast, my parents had gone all out. Every surface in the entryway and hallway had lit candles on top of it. The entire area glowed with candlelight. It looked like we had planned this romantic atmosphere for Valentine's Day weekend.

  "Tessa, are you okay?" my father asked, looking concerned when he noticed me. "We knew you were with Mandy and that she would take care of you, otherwise we would have come in immediately."

  I smiled, knowing that was true. My father frequently supported my flashlight habit by buying large amounts of batteries for me. He had always been kind of a sucker for his firstborn daughter. But then, he was kind of a sucker for all of his children. My father may act big and tough sometimes, but he has a soft heart inside.

  "I'm fine Dad," I said, grabbing a few candles and finding more spaces to put them as my father followed me to light them. "You're right. Mandy took care of me."

  "If you two are alright, I'm going back in the living room," my mother said.

  We waved her off as we continued lighting candles. I suddenly had an idea and ran over to the stairs, setting a candle on the very edge of the staircase on every other step. My father stood looking for a moment before starting to light them for me.

  "Dad, I had a question for you," I said. I knew this would be a perfect time to ask him about Jake's allergic reaction because my mother wasn't around. She never approved of me investigating anything and I'm sure she thought I should butt out this time also, even though someone had to investigate and obviously the police couldn't get here yet. I've always heard that the first few hours are the most important when investigating a cr
ime and I wasn't going to waste them.

  "So like I said before, Mandy and I are pretty sure this was not an accident," I said. "So you don't have to worry because we didn't find anything with fish in it in the kitchen."

  My dad let out a sigh of relief, even though he still looked worried. I didn't blame him. Even though he hadn't accidentally killed Jake, someone had still died in the bed and breakfast.

  "But I wanted to ask if you saw anyone acting suspiciously or anyone who came in the kitchen and was curious about what you were cooking?" I asked, placing the last few candles on the top stairs.

  My dad finished lighting the candles and motioned me to follow him. When we got back to the main floor, my dad sat down behind the welcome desk and I stood next to him.

  "Honestly Tessa, most of the guests were acting suspiciously," he said. "I know it is pretty special that Jake is in town and chose to stay here, but it is like everyone went a little nuts. I have overheard more whispered arguments in the past two days than I have in the past month."

  "Who was arguing?" I asked.

  "Everyone," my dad said. "Jake and his wife. Jake and Dawn. Jake and Lyle. Lyle and Claudia. Lyle and Dawn. Jake and Candy. Anna and Candy. Honestly, it is like some sort of very quiet, very secretive soap opera over here. I just thought Jake was pretty high-maintenance. And he was, but obviously there must have been something else going on too."

  He was definitely right about that. But what was going on? The only thing I knew so far was that Anna had a boyfriend back in California, but was that what she and Jake had been arguing about? I would have to ask her.

  "Tessa?" my dad said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Are you going to be alright tonight? Do you have enough batteries and flashlights?"

  "I think so," I said. "Plus Mandy will be sleeping in my room, so I will have all of my bases covered."

  My dad's shoulders relaxed down as he let out a big exhale. Even though I was firmly in my adult years, he would never stop worrying about me.