Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mysteries Boxset

by Brianna Bates

  But had Eliana even been killed? Missy had no way of being sure.

  “Does anything look different to you about her?” Simon carefully approached the body.

  “No.”

  The lieutenant surveyed the muddy ground as he walked. “Did you see any other footprints down here when you and Marie climbed down?”

  Missy frowned. “I wasn’t thinking about footprints when we came down here at first.”

  “But you did later?”

  “Like I said, we were on the higher trail up above. I saw some prints up there and the ground was torn up right near the edge. Almost like …”

  Like two people had been struggling?

  “Like what?”

  She told him what she thought, and he just took it in without expression. Then he went back to examining the body. The rain continued to slow, turning back into a drizzle once more. She was soaked from head to toe.

  “So you came down, remembered the prints you saw up top, then went up there to look around? But you didn’t look for prints down here?” he asked.

  When he put it like that, she had to admit it did sound pretty amateurish. But like she told everybody, she wasn’t a trained detective. Just because she’d solved a few crimes through hard work—and admittedly some luck—didn’t mean she was Sherlock Holmes.

  “We were in shock,” Missy said. “I thought I saw signs of a struggle up top, so that’s where we focused. We wanted to check it out before the rain washed everything away.”

  “I see.” He looked back down at the body, hands on his hips. “Show me up top.”

  Missy led him back to where they could safely climb the slope. Carefully, she made her way up first. As she turned, the lieutenant shifted his eyes away quickly, pretending like he hadn’t been checking her out.

  “Enjoying the view?” she asked, a little miffed.

  He actually smiled. “Is it this way?”

  She let it go and nodded, letting him lead this time. She didn’t like the way he’d used the hill as his opportunity to check out her derriere.

  Simon walked on and slowed as they came to the edge. Missy frowned. The pouring rain had erased the footprints she’d seen earlier and the ground no longer looked churned up near the edge where, presumably, Eliana had fallen. Though the dead bush she’d seen earlier still had the obvious appearance of being trampled.

  Simon examined the ground as he walked on and carefully approached the edge. Peering out for a few moments, she watched him take the scene in.

  Then he spun back around. Maintaining the angle that Eliana must have been on when she went over the edge, he walked across the trail. His line led him to a much smaller path that Missy hadn’t even noticed before. It was barely wide enough for him to use.

  He didn’t invite her over, but all the same Missy had come out this far with him. She decided to take a peek at what he was looking at.

  The trail had probably been made by deer. It was very narrow and turned a little bit. There was a lot of bracken flanking it, so no wonder she had missed it when they’d been up here earlier.

  Examining the ground closely, Missy saw tiny indentations that could have been footprints. But the rain had washed these out too probably. All the terrain up here was sloped. That explained all the runoff they’d seen from down below.

  She turned back around and kept her eyes along this path, right where it intersected with the wider trail. If she had been running full-tilt along this deer path and didn’t realize quickly enough there was a sheer drop ahead, she could easily see herself—or anybody—running right off the edge. The churned ground and the trampled bush weren’t exactly along this line, but they weren’t that far off from it either. It was conceivable somebody realized too late they were going to run right off the edge, tried to turn to avoid the fall, and chewed up the ground and stomped the bush.

  Eliana might have just run right off the edge if she was moving as quickly as Anastasia thought.

  Chapter Five

  Lieutenant Simon asked her more questions on their way back to the cabins, none of which Missy could answer. She just didn’t know Eliana well enough to offer anything substantive. Her only interaction with the woman had been the awkward introduction earlier today. And she’d never even heard of the woman before today. Her path and Missy’s had never crossed.

  Eliana’s death cast a pall over the carb-loading dinner. Barely anyone spoke the entire time. Missy ate her pasta and barely tasted the spaghetti sauce. She couldn’t stop thinking about finding the body and the footprints and the ground and wondering if it had been an accident or not.

  She told herself to let it go. Though she felt terrible, she didn’t know Eliana at all and more importantly the police were handling it. But it was pretty awful that Eliana and Anastasia had just reconciled only for this to happen.

  Then again, there was never a good time for somebody to die.

  She forced the morbid thoughts out of her mind and got up from the dinner table. Missy walked her plate back to the kitchen and washed it off, depositing her leftover pasta into the garbage disposal. It made an awful racket when she turned it on. Waiting a few seconds for it to chop the food up, Missy flicked it off.

  “Missy.”

  Jeremy had startled her. She must not have been able to hear him coming because of the loud garbage disposal.

  “Hi, Jeremy.”

  They had shared all of two words before this moment: hello and goodbye. He was very polite and always greeted or acknowledged her in the gym, but they had no discussion beyond that. The man was very focused when he exercised and shared what few words he shared with his workout partners.

  Jeremy’s eyes were red-rimmed. “What happened to her?”

  He could barely say the last word, never mind the woman’s name.

  “She fell,” Missy said, leaving out the part about the possibility of a broken neck.

  He just looked at her. “I know. I mean: what happened?”

  “I’m sorry, but the lieutenant told me to keep the details to myself while he investigates.”

  Jeremy’s face twisted. “He thinks she was killed.”

  Missy held her palms out. “I didn’t say that, Jeremy. I honestly don’t know what he thinks.”

  He half-nodded. “But you’ve solved a lot of murders. You should have some idea.”

  She made a pained face. “Jeremy, I’m trying not to get involved. I’m not even a private detective.”

  “Come on, Missy. She was my friend.”

  She thought from the way he sounded and looked they’d been much more than friends. But Missy kept that to herself.

  “Look, Jeremy, the lieutenant was very clear that I couldn’t share anything. I’m sorry you lost your friend, but I’m really trying not to get involved. Yes, I’ve helped to solve some crimes before but under very different circumstances.”

  She’d solved five murders before this but almost all of them out of necessity. Either she had been the prime suspect or one of her friends had, or someone very close to her had died. Missy had had little choice but to get involved in those cases.

  “But you found her.” Jeremy stepped in, real close. He was still sweaty from the run. “And you know everybody here, so if you think somebody killed her then you could really help.”

  “Jeremy, I can see you’re very upset but you’re starting to get a little pushy—”

  He made a fist and tapped his other palm. “If somebody did this to her, I am going to kill them.”

  She backed up a step. “Please don’t do anything rash. We don’t even know if that’s what happened. And if it did, then you should really let the police handle things. That’s what they do.”

  Jeremy was about to say something, when he finally realized how uncomfortable he’d been making her.

  “Miss, I’m sorry. I just …” He broke down and started crying. Reluctantly, Missy patted his shoulder. She didn’t know him that well, and he’d just tried to intimidate her into investigating Eliana’s death.<
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  Jeremy buried his face in his hands for a moment, then wiped under his eyes.

  “Sorry.” He gave her a weak, sad smile and she could almost feel how badly he was hurting.

  “You two must have been very close.”

  “We were together,” Jeremy said.

  “Oh. I had no idea.”

  He was having a hard time getting the words out. “Before, I mean. I was so happy she came back to WiredFit …”

  The way his voice lifted at the end of the sentence made him sound hopeful. Like he had been planning on reconciling with her before she turned up dead.

  “My God, Jeremy, I’m really sorry.”

  He nodded again and tried to get himself under control. “Excuse me.”

  Without another word, Jeremy hurried out of the kitchen. Missy followed him to the dining room and watched as he practically ran out of the building into the rainy night.

  ***

  “Marie, are you okay?” Missy asked.

  Sitting on her cot, Marie nodded. “It was sickening … I don’t know how you didn’t break down like me.”

  Missy sat beside her friend and put her arm around her shoulders. “You did great, actually. You did not break down, Marie. We had to think quickly on our feet, and we did.”

  “Do you think someone …?”

  Missy looked down the long row of cots to the other side of the cabin. Everybody else was in the dining room still, taking turns with Lieutenant Simon. Everybody except Anastasia. The trainer was lying on her stomach with her head turned away from everybody.

  Missy doubted Anastasia could hear them from that distance, but all the same she lowered her voice.

  “I am leaving this to the police,” Missy said.

  Marie looked up at her. “But.”

  Missy sighed. She really should just keep her big mouth closed. Lieutenant Simon and his colleagues could handle this.

  But at the same time, it was eating away at her. She had to talk to somebody about it. She’d tried Tyler a few minutes ago, but he hadn’t answered.

  “The evidence is ambiguous. The disturbed ground on the trail could have been her trying to stop herself when she realized too late that she was going to run off the hill. Or …”

  “Or it could have been signs of a struggle.” Marie shivered, even though she’d changed out of her wet gym clothes and taken a long hot shower. “That’s what I’ve been wondering ever since we got back and the shock wore off. I think somebody pushed her, Missy.”

  “I don’t know, Marie.”

  Marie kept going with that train of thought. “Which means somebody here is a murderer.”

  They lapsed into silence. In her mind, Missy thought of everybody here one-by-one. Some she knew well, some she barely knew at all. Most were somewhere in between the two extremes.

  “Nobody liked her,” Marie said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “Jeremy and Byron did. Did you see how much they were cheering for her? And it seemed like she and Anastasia were back on really good terms.”

  “You know what I mean, Missy.” Marie stood and began pacing. “Other than those three people, literally nobody else liked her.”

  “It takes a lot more than dislike to kill someone.”

  “Have you read the news lately?” Marie said, still pacing. “People are nuts.”

  Missy could tell her friend was close to panicking. “The news skews our worldview because all we ever hear about are the whackos.”

  “We should go home,” Marie said.

  Missy considered it. She hadn’t even thought that far ahead because she’d been running from one thing to another. “I can’t imagine anybody is going to be up for continuing.”

  “Let’s just go.” Marie shivered again. “I won’t sleep a wink if we stay.”

  Missy surprised herself. “It was probably an accident. Don’t get me wrong—it’s terrible what happened. But I’ve trained pretty hard to get ready for this weekend … I know this sounds selfish, but this is kind of a big deal for me.”

  Marie pursed her lips.

  Missy blushed. “It’s just … the old Missy would never have even tried doing something like this. I used to run at night or go to a secluded place where nobody could see me because I was so self-conscious about how I looked exercising. And now here I am. Here we are.”

  Marie nodded and looked away.

  Missy couldn’t tell what Marie was feeling. Was she judging Missy for not being a little more sensitive to the situation? Or—

  “I understand if you want to go.” Missy got up and grabbed the keys off the night stand they were sharing. “If you want to take my car, please feel free. Tyler won’t mind picking me up on Sunday.”

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet.” Marie looked away. “But I might take you up on the offer.”

  Missy smiled. Marie lapsed into silence once more, and rather than pester the woman Missy figured she wanted to be left alone for a little bit. Missy got a quick shower then changed into sweats and a t-shirt then headed out of the cabin.

  She realized as she drew near the entrance that Anastasia hadn’t moved since she’d come in to talk to Marie. Slowing as she approached the cot, Missy said:

  “Hey, Anastasia”

  Slowly, the personal trainer rolled over and sat up. Her eyes had a vacant look about them. Her normally perfect posture was anything but—her shoulders had slumped forward. Missy realized that Anastasia hadn’t changed into fresh clothes yet.

  “Missy.”

  “Do you want to talk?”

  Anastasia smiled sadly. “I don’t want to, but I know it’ll be good for me.”

  Missy sat on the adjacent cot so they could face each other. “I’m so sorry.”

  Anastasia looked down. She was fighting tears.

  “This must really be hard,” Missy said, trying to think of something that would comfort her.

  “She was really tough and really rough around the edges, and a lot of people didn’t like her.” Anastasia said it with a smile, like those were positives. “But she didn’t care. She was always herself, no matter what.”

  Missy didn’t find that an admirable quality across the board. Plenty of people did and said whatever they wanted all the time, but they did so without regard to anyone else’s feelings. Missy wisely kept her opinion to herself.

  “But at least we were friends again. That probably makes this even more difficult to deal with, but if we hadn’t reconciled and this had happened to her …” Anastasia searched for the words. “I just would have been filled with regret.”

  Missy nodded. “Whatever happened between you two, it must have been pretty serious. It must feel good to have moved past it.”

  Anastasia laughed while a tear trickled down her face. “She and I are both alphas, so we butted heads a lot.”

  Missy was really curious now to better understand their falling out, but it hardly seemed the time to ask for details when it wasn’t any of her business.

  “I wouldn’t know anything about that.” Missy laughed. “I’m as beta as they come.”

  Anastasia frowned. “You’re wrong. You’re not the loudest woman in the room, and you’re way too hard on yourself, but anybody that’s solved murders isn’t your run-of-the-mill beta.”

  Missy had never in a million years thought of herself as an alpha.

  Anastasia put her palms on the cot and forced her shoulders back so she was sitting ramrod straight. “You know what I’ve seen from all my work in the gym? Everything depends on what pond you’re swimming in.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Some of my clients are CEOs that make millions of dollars per year. But when they’re in my gym, they’re following my lead. I’ve also seen stay-at-home moms lead classes filled with loud, obnoxious men. I don’t think we’re all alpha or all beta—the circumstances can change who we are.”

  Missy smiled. This was one of the reasons she loved exercising at WiredFit. Anastasia wasn’t just a great moti
vator of others, she was deep and thoughtful and offered a unique perspective.

  “Do you think it was an accident?” Anastasia asked.

  Missy shook her head. “The million dollar question.”

  Anastasia sat a little more forward on the cot. “Well?”

  “Sorry, but I am going to leave this to the police.”

  Anastasia nodded, a bit reluctantly. “That’s probably a good idea.”

  Chapter Six

  Missy went outside to try Tyler again. She had to walk a good fifty yards from the cabins till she got a weak signal on her phone. The rain was less than a drizzle now.

  “Hey, babe,” Tyler said. “What’s going on?”

  Up until now she had kept on a brave face. Though she hardly knew Eliana, Missy was still saddened by the death and overwhelmed by the whole situation. As she told Tyler what happened, she broke down.

  “What did you say the lieutenant’s name was?” Tyler asked.

  “Simon. I didn’t get his first name.”

  “Don’t know him. I’ll call around.”

  “Don’t bother,” Missy said. “I’m not getting involved.”

  “Where have I heard that before?”

  His humor cut right through her emotions, and she laughed. “No, I mean it.”

  “Yeah, yeah, Melissa. I’m sure you’ll just sit by and do nothing. Like always.”

  Had she heard agitation in his voice? Maybe he wasn’t just kidding around with her but expressing some frustration.

  “Is there something you’re trying to tell me?” Missy asked.

  He let out a deep breath. “No, I’m just tired.”

  He sounded tired. She wondered what it was. He’d been working a little more than usual lately.

  “Tyler, I am not going to get involved here. It was probably an accident.”

  “That’s good.” Again, she thought she heard a little bit of an edge to his voice. He was acting a little funny. It made her think about last night, when he’d called her snarky. That wasn’t like Tyler at all. He’d never said a mean thing to her in his life.