Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mysteries Boxset

by Brianna Bates

  She went outside. It was still hot, which was good because the rumor was tonight’s session would include some type of swimming.

  At least she’d always been a good swimmer! She’d spent many summers at the local pool with Noreen growing up, especially when they were younger. When they reached seventh grade, Missy had become very self-conscious about her body so she only went to the pool during off-hours, where fewer people (and next to no classmates) would see her in a bathing suit.

  Missy walked toward the men’s cabin. She nearly walked by without noticing Byron and Gabby on the porch.

  “Hey, guys.” She gave them a little wave.

  Byron and Gabby had been standing pretty close, and now they moved a couple feet apart. They both awkwardly looked at Missy, like she’d just invaded a private conversation. It was weird seeing them converse like that. Byron was one of the few people who’d liked Eliana, while Eliana had pretty openly disliked Gabby.

  They both said hello. Missy could tell when she wasn’t wanted, so she kept going. But then Gabby called out to her.

  “Missy, hold up a sec.”

  Missy stopped where she was and waited. Gabby and Byron exchanged a few more words, then she came off the porch and joined Missy.

  “Where are you headed?” Gabby asked.

  “Nowhere in particular.” Missy smiled. “Just stretching the legs to keep moving.”

  “I hear you.”

  They started walking. Neither woman said anything for a minute.

  Then Gabby said, “I just had the most interesting conversation with Byron.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  Gabby nodded. “Eliana told him she was going to apologize to everybody.”

  “Really?”

  “I almost didn’t believe it either, but Byron swore to it. Apparently, she had planned out apologies to everybody she’d ever ticked off.”

  “Must have been a long list of people.” Missy still didn’t know why Eliana had gotten angry with Gabby and hoped the details of their feud would just come out naturally.

  Gabby laughed. “I’ll bet.”

  “I’ll bet Anastasia put her up to it. Maybe Eliana wanted to come back to WiredFit, but Anastasia said, no way, you can’t, you’ve ticked off too many of my customers. Maybe Anastasia said she could only come back if she made peace with everybody.”

  Gabby shook her head no. “I said the same thing to Byron and he swore that it was Eliana’s idea.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did she get a chance to apologize to you?” Missy asked.

  Gabby frowned. “We all got here around the same time, and we did that run right away.”

  It was a vague answer. Missy could tell Gabby didn’t want to get into it.

  “When did she and Jeremy break up?” Missy was struggling to retain the details and the timeline of Eliana’s coming and going was still fuzzy for her.

  Gabby hesitated. “That was right after she and I … and the same time Eliana quit the gym.”

  Missy kept walking, even though she wanted to stop and take Gabby by the shoulders. “A lot all happening at the same time.”

  Gabby looked down. “You’re a smart woman and a detective. I don’t need to spell it out for you, I’ll bet.”

  Now Missy’s curiosity was really piqued. Apparently, Eliana’s fight with Gabby, her break-up with Jeremy, and Eliana’s ouster from the gym were all connected.

  But how?

  She had no idea. Only details would enable her to connect the three things.

  “Missy,” Gabby said. “It’s really not my place to say anything else. If you’re interested, you should talk to Anastasia.”

  “Do you know why Jeremy and Eliana broke up?” Missy asked.

  Gabby paused so long that Missy didn’t think she was going to answer. “I don’t know. But I have a theory.”

  “Did you share this with the lieutenant?”

  “Of course.” Gabby looked back the way they’d come. “Let’s get back now.”

  “Wait.” Missy knew she shouldn’t stick her nose in other people’s business. But at the same time, this was looking more and more like murder. And she couldn’t help it. She wanted to help solve it. “Do you think Jeremy pushed her?”

  Gabby shook her head no. “I doubt it. He was one of the few people here who actually liked her.”

  “Maybe he still loved her,” Missy said. “Maybe he always wanted to get back together, but she wasn’t interested?”

  Gabby frowned. “He just got engaged a couple months ago. He’s head over heels about his fiancée.”

  ***

  When Missy got back to the cabin, Lieutenant Simon was waiting for her.

  “Hi, Missy.” He smiled professionally and without an ounce of warmth. “Can you spare ten minutes?”

  “Sure.”

  She followed him back to his SUV and climbed in again. He closed his door and nodded at the cabins.

  “So I’ll bet people are talking.”

  “You can say that again.”

  He looked over at her. “Did you see anybody else last night?”

  “No.” She wondered where he was going with this. “Like I said, Marie and I were coming up the rear, probably by a long shot.”

  He scratched the back of his head. “You’re sure about that?”

  “Yes.”

  “I know a lot of people didn’t care for her. And I know you’re friends with most of the folks here.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “All it means is, I understand if you left some details out of your story because last night it looked like an accident and you didn’t want to get anybody into trouble.”

  “You’re saying it wasn’t an accident?”

  “I’m not saying anything.” He smiled at her. “I’m just hypothesizing about your state of mind when you found Eliana.”

  “I told you everything.” She could feel herself getting angry. “And I don’t appreciate your thinking otherwise. You know how I’ve helped the police before, so why would you think I’d hold back on this case?”

  He looked out the windshield. “You didn’t have much choice on all those other cases, did you?”

  “Excuse me?”

  He held out a palm. “I’m not judging, Missy. I’m just pointing out a simple fact. On those other cases, either you or a close friend was a suspect, or someone you were close to was murdered. You had a personal stake every time. This time you don’t with Eliana.”

  “And because I don’t have one here, you think all my morals just go flying out the window?” Missy didn’t check her anger anymore. “You think I’d protect someone for killing Eliana just because I didn’t know her?”

  “Protect is too strong a word, maybe.” He kept his annoying calm. “You keep telling everybody you’re not getting involved here. I just wonder why not.”

  “Because I didn’t know her and this isn’t my job!” Missy shouted. “But you know what? Forget that. This is where I officially get involved.”

  He frowned. “Why now?”

  “Because you’re busy questioning me when all I’ve been is helpful. You’re wasting your time, Lieutenant.” Missy folded her arms. “If you think this was murder, then you should be focused on everybody who had an opportunity to kill her.”

  “I’ve talked to them and will continue talking to them.” He was still calm, but the smile was gone. “And I shouldn’t have to remind you that you are not allowed to interfere with an investigation.”

  “You can’t have it both ways,” Missy said. “Suspecting me of hiding something or protecting somebody because I’m not getting involved and then telling me I can’t help when I want to. That’s ridiculous.”

  “I mean it, Missy.” Simon glared at her, all pretense of friendliness gone now.

  “You can’t stop me from talking to anyone.” Missy threw open the door and jumped out.

  ***

  When Missy got back to the cabin, she was s
till fuming from the conversation with Lieutenant Simon. What a class-A jerk! She nearly ran into Anastasia as she stepped inside.

  “Missy, is everything okay?” Anastasia asked.

  “Oh yeah. Everything’s great.”

  “Whoa.” Anastasia got in her way. “Let’s talk it out.”

  “Okay.” Missy took a deep breath. “Why don’t you start by telling me why Eliana quit the gym?”

  Anastasia didn’t answer. For a moment, she looked at Missy then behind her. There were a dozen other women in the cabin. A few of them were sitting around a table on the other side, talking. Everybody was out of earshot.

  Anastasia kept her voice low. “She didn’t quit.”

  “What?”

  Anastasia nodded. “She violated one of the gym’s policies, so I kicked her out.”

  “Which policy?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It does matter,” Missy said. “She’s dead and it might have bearing.”

  Anastasia gave her a look. “Are you on the case now?”

  “No. Yes.” Missy shook her head. “Maybe.”

  “There’s an answer.”

  “I want to help,” Missy said. “And Lieutenant Simon is busy prodding me when he should be … anyway, what happened?”

  “I was made aware of a violation of gym policy and I confronted Eliana about it. When she confirmed it, I told her she had to leave.”

  Finally Missy made the connection. As soon as she did, it seemed obvious to her. “Gabby saw her doing something and told you. Right?”

  Anastasia didn’t nod. But she also didn’t deny it, either.

  Missy went on. “What was she doing?”

  Anastasia sighed and looked away. Missy didn’t think she was going to answer. But then:

  “She was taking a performance enhancing supplement.” Anastasia closed her eyes. “Gabby saw her doing it in the women’s shower.”

  Missy was floored. “Right in your gym, in the shower? For all the world to see?”

  Anastasia nodded.

  “I can’t believe she would put you in that position.”

  “It wasn’t illegal per se,” Anastasia said.

  “What do you mean per se?”

  “It was a derivative of a metabolite of something else that was clearly defined as illegal.” Anastasia stuck her bottom lip out. It was paining her to share this with Missy. “She’d found a loophole. The substance wasn’t illegal, because it hadn’t been made illegal yet. From her point of view, it was within the rules to use it. From my point of view, the rules always always always lag behind the science. So you’ve got all these substances popping up, left and right and over here and over there, that will clearly be deemed illegal when the governing bodies get around to banning them.”

  Missy thought she understood. “You were fighting over the spirit of the law as opposed to the letter?”

  “Yes.” Anastasia paused. “And not just that. It made my other paying customers uncomfortable. A few other women had noticed but didn’t speak up. They wanted to mind their own business, but at the same time they were very uncomfortable being around that. I wanted to build an environment where people could come and focus just on exercise and being part of a team. This wasn’t helping. After I spoke to the few women who knew about this, I found out they didn’t come forward because Eliana and I were so close and since she was outperforming everybody else, including some of the men … they actually thought I knew what she was doing and was okay with it.”

  “It was hurting your reputation.”

  “It was just bad all around,” Anastasia said. “I had to act swiftly so that everybody knew I did not tolerate it. At the same time, though, I didn’t think it was fair to paint Eliana as a cheater when what she was doing was technically legal.”

  “You had to walk a very fine line.”

  Anastasia nodded. “And she was my best friend. It killed me to do it. Just absolutely killed me. Word got back to a few of the local governing bodies, and they banned her from competing. She couldn’t do the Celtic Games last year. I felt awful.”

  “That must have been difficult.”

  “Eliana reached out to me, after the substance was officially declared illegal. We had a real heart-to-heart.”

  “Why did she do it?” Missy asked. “I mean, why get that close to breaking the rules?”

  “Many athletes are like that. They look for any edge they can get over the competition. Most do it, I like to think, within the rules. Some push the boundaries a little bit. In Eliana’s mind, she wasn’t breaking the rules. But once some time had passed, she told me she’d realized it had been a mistake.”

  Missy still couldn’t believe it, though. “Okay, I can understand professional athletes doing it. They get paid lots of money to perform and that’s their livelihood. I’m not saying I agree or that I’d do it if I were in their shoes, but I get it. But Eliana isn’t a professional athlete. She’s an amateur who competes in mud runs and WiredFit competitions and local sporting events.”

  “It’s not always about the money,” Anastasia said. “She just had something inside her. A competitive fire that made her want to be the absolute best she could be.”

  Missy still didn’t understand. What was the point of winning the Celtic Games in the women’s age group, thirty to thirty-nine, if you had to blur the lines between cheating and not cheating? What satisfaction would that bring you?

  “Anyway, Eliana called me up and admitted she was wrong. She said she wanted to come back and would do things my way. I was going to say no, but then she told me she also wanted to apologize to everybody here. She said she understood that she’d made enemies and didn’t contribute to a positive atmosphere.”

  Missy bit her tongue. Apparently, old habits died hard. From what Missy had heard, Eliana had still been up to her old tricks just minutes before the run last night.

  “I thought it over for a week. Literally. It ate away at me. She was a good friend. We helped each other, a lot over the years, in so many different ways.” Anastasia fell silent as she retreated into the past in her mind. Missy let her have a moment.

  Missy nodded. “I know what you mean. My best friend and I, we went through an intense period where it seemed like we were headed in completely different directions. I thought I’d lost her, to be honest.”

  Anastasia smiled sadly. “Eliana was going to speak to everyone individually this morning. She didn’t want Friday night to be all about her, she wanted the start of the weekend to be about the group, about everybody challenging themselves and getting stronger.”

  Missy nodded. “Gabby told me she was planning on apologizing to everybody.”

  “Not everybody.” Anastasia shook her head and laughed. “Not everybody hated her!”

  “Yeah, like Jeremy. I would have sworn he still had feelings for her, but I just found out he’s engaged.”

  “His fiancée is absolutely gorgeous and a genuine sweetheart. I’m sure you’ll meet her one night. He’s trying to get her to join WiredFit, but she’s afraid to take the plunge.”

  Missy laughed too. “So I guess that’s why Eliana and Jeremy broke up? He found out she was using that substance and thought it was wrong?”

  “I don’t really know why they broke up.” Anastasia frowned. “He begged me to reconsider my decision when he found out what had happened.”

  “What was his argument?”

  “The same one she’d made. That what she was taking wasn’t technically illegal. I don’t know if he really agreed with her, but he loved her so I think he was just taking her side.”

  “He must have known,” Missy said.

  “That’s exactly what I said to him.” Anastasia leaned in and lowered her voice. “We got into it too.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Jeremy swore he didn’t know that Eliana was taking the supplement.”

  Missy was skeptical. They had dated for awhile from what Missy had heard, and judging by Jeremy’s reaction t
o her death they had been very close.

  “Did you believe Jeremy?”

  “At the time? No.” Anastasia thought about it. “But looking back now I think he was telling the truth. Jeremy wouldn’t have lied.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because he’s worked very hard over the years and I know he doesn’t take anything. So she likely hid it from him.”

  “How do you know he doesn’t take anything?” Missy asked.

  “If you’ve ever talked to Jeremy, you know within a minute he’s very much against any PEDs. He won’t even take most legal supplements.”

  Missy thought about it. “Could be all talk. I mean, how could you really know if somebody’s clean without a test?”

  “Jeez, Missy.” Anastasia smiled. “You’re really grilling me here.”

  Missy smiled sweetly. “Sorry. I get carried away sometimes.”

  Anastasia laughed. “You can say that again. I don’t know for sure, obviously, because whatever he does in the bathroom is his business. But I’ve seen Jeremy get stuck, quite a few times over the years. It always takes him a long time to progress when that happens.”

  “Stuck?”

  “With his lifts.” Anastasia had to think about it. “I remember talking to him last year. He was stuck on four-ninety-five with his squat for almost the whole year. He tried everything: de-loading, doing heavy negatives, trying partials, but nothing worked for him.”

  Missy didn’t know what any of that meant. Her head was swimming with all these strange terms. “You’re saying that, if he’d been on anything, he wouldn’t have been stuck that long?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Okay, I’m with you now.” Missy gave her a look. “But did you just say four-ninety-five? As in, four hundred and ninety-five?”

  Anastasia laughed. “Pretty impressive, right? That’s two-and-a-half times his bodyweight.”

  Missy didn’t tell Anastasia how many times her bodyweight that was. “Did she plan on apologizing to Jeremy? I’m assuming they broke up over this if he was clean?”

  Anastasia frowned. “Actually, no. Now that you mention it, Eliana didn’t say anything about Jeremy when we talked about all the people on her list. Like I said, I don’t know why they broke up.”