Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mysteries Boxset

by Brianna Bates

“I’m not telling you to quit. I’m telling you it’s okay if you don’t solve it. It’s okay if the professionals who are paid to do this actually solve the case. That’s okay.”

  “I know.” Missy looked out across the field. The grass was dewy and the sun was lighting it up. “I really do. But I just feel compelled. The more I learn about Eliana, the more I think of her as a three-dimensional person who didn’t deserve this. And honestly, I want to show that detective up.”

  Tyler laughed. “There’s honesty.”

  “I’m always honest.”

  “Yes, you are. I love that about you too.”

  They didn’t say anything for a moment. It was one of those wonderful silences that they could share. Missy had never had that with anybody else: the ability to say nothing and enjoy it.

  Tyler said, “So keep at it, but don’t feel bad if you can’t solve the case, Melissa. All you can do is your best. That’s what I tell my crew. It’s easy to get burned out as a cop, because there’s so much you can’t help with. You have to focus on what you can help with, and let it go when things don’t work out. Otherwise you’ll harp on all the wrong things.”

  “You’re a pretty wise man, Tyler Brock.”

  “Ha. I’m just repeating what my many mentors told me after years of often bitter experience.”

  She laughed.

  “So what’s the final workout?” Tyler asked.

  “I don’t know.” Missy was really sore from yesterday. She hoped that a little bit of walking this morning would limber her up for whatever hellish torture Anastasia had planned. “But you’re going to be proud of me.”

  “I’m always proud of you.”

  “I ran four miles last night on an obstacle course.”

  “That’s great!”

  She told him all about it also told him how she was working on the case at the same time by watching how people ran.

  “I’m always amazed by your ability to multi-task. I have trouble walking and chewing bubble gum at the same time.”

  “We both know that’s a lie.”

  They talked for a few more minutes, then said their goodbyes. Missy wished for the umpteenth time that he’d joined her this weekend. Everything was better with Tyler.

  Missy headed back to the cabins.

  ***

  She ate half a bowl of cereal. Missy didn’t want too much food in her stomach because today’s workout was at starting at nine-thirty.

  Her last suspect was Adam. And honestly, she didn’t have the heart to question him again. She really wanted to throw her hands up and just tell Lieutenant Simon everything she’d discovered and then leave the case to him. If there was a case at all. For as many reasons as she thought it had been murder, there seemed to be just as many that suggested it was an accident.

  As she argued with herself, she saw Simon’s SUV pull into the lot through the windows of the cookhouse.

  Missy got rid of her trash and stepped outside. Simon was just getting out of his car.

  “Can we talk?” Missy asked.

  “In a few minutes.” He motioned toward the cookhouse. “Is Adam in there?”

  “I actually haven’t seen him this morning.” This couldn’t have been a coincidence. “Before you question him, we should talk.”

  “Oh really?” He arched an eyebrow. “Playing detective when I asked you not to?”

  “It might help be able to help.” Missy was tired of dealing with this guy. “I’m not looking to get my name in the paper.”

  He unarched his eyebrow. “Okay, Missy. Let’s hear it.”

  They talked for a good twenty minutes. Or rather, she talked and he listened. Lieutenant Simon took it all in and offered little in return. When she had finished telling him everything, he nodded and grew thoughtful.

  “That’s solid work right there.” He smiled. “You want a job?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “We are always looking for new blood.”

  “I’m not so new anymore.”

  He laughed. “Maybe as a private consultant, we could call you in from time-to-time.”

  The last thing she expected was to get a job offer from this guy who had challenged her so much the last two days. And as nice was it was to get a job offer, she didn’t really want to work with this guy.

  Simon smiled. “It’s hard to find good people. I’m sure your fiancé has told you that.”

  She nodded. “That’s what I’ve heard.”

  “We’re under a hiring freeze right now, but there are some loopholes that allow me to bring on private consultants on a temporary basis if I can justify it.”

  She wondered if all cops everywhere faced the same challenges as Tyler, like hiring freezes.

  “Thank you very much, Lieutenant. I’m truly flattered. But I’ve got more than a full-time job running a tea room.” She stood taller to stretch her back and rolled her shoulders. Just trying to stay limber for today’s session. “And honestly? I’m about ready to quit this case. I just don’t know if it’s murder or if it was an accident.”

  He nodded in a way that told her he was struggling with the same question. “All the disagreements Eliana had were a few years old. And nobody except Anastasia knew she was going to be here, so it’s not like her enemies got worked up before this weekend just thinking about how much they loathed her.”

  “And,” Missy added, “Eliana got here not too long before the run on Friday night. From what I can tell, she had little time to really talk to anybody before that night’s workout.”

  “In other words, no opportunity to be grating enough to spark old angers.”

  “It’s a shame,” Missy said. “She came here to exercise, but also to make amends. She planned to apologize to everybody.”

  “Well, not everybody.”

  She gave him a look. “Okay, Lieutenant, I wasn’t being exact in my words. But you know what I mean.”

  He held a palm up. “Fair enough.”

  She looked back toward the cabins and saw the group beginning to congregate. It was almost time.

  “Gotta go, Lieutenant.”

  “I’ll see you, Missy.”

  She headed back. Her legs were pretty sore from the last two days, and all of her back felt stiffer than an ironing board. But at least nothing hurt.

  Marie met her on the edge of the group. “Were you and the detective talking shop?”

  Missy chuckled. “I just basically washed my hands of this.”

  “Well, that’s good.”

  Missy tried to smile, but couldn’t. “I guess. I feel like …”

  “Missy.”

  “Yes?”

  “You’re not Superwoman.”

  “Believe me, I know that.”

  Marie faced her. “Do you?”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means, you always want to help and you take on so much and really get down on yourself if things don’t work out.”

  Missy took a deep breath. She knew Marie was right. It was the same thing Tyler had told her last night. And probably once a month.

  “I know you’re right.” Missy looked around at the group. “But it’s going to bother me. Not knowing whether Eliana was killed. And if she was, not being able to help find out who did it.”

  “I think you’ve done all you can,” Marie said. “Now it’s time to focus on yourself. We’ve got a difficult morning ahead of us.”

  “I’m ready for it.”

  Anastasia came out of the women’s cabin and stood next to Jeremy in front of the group. “I want to congratulate all of you on a job well done. You’ve all pushed yourselves farther and faster than ever before. Think about the journey you’ve been on since you joined WiredFit and think about what you’ve accomplished the last two days.”

  There was a moment of silence. Then Anastasia pointed at Missy.

  “Missy DeMeanor ran farther than she ever has before last night, and did so while completing a series of difficult obstacles, and did so after a hard workout in the
morning.”

  Everybody cheered. Missy hated being the center of attention and bowed her head, hoping the applause would die down. But they didn’t stop until she raised a fist.

  Anastasia started going around the group, calling everybody out individually to identify their recent accomplishments either from this weekend or at the gym. Everybody, it seemed, had set a PR in something of late. It was really inspiring. Missy couldn’t help but feel totally pumped up and loved being around all this positive energy.

  Then Anastasia turned finally to Jeremy.

  “Jeremy ran the obstacle course faster than anybody else ever has last night. He’s in prime position to win the overall on this year’s Celtic Games!”

  There was wild applause. Missy cheered too.

  “Last, but not least, I wanted to thank you all for being willing to give Eliana a second chance …” Anastasia got choked up. Jeremy rubbed her back. She got herself together and then worked up to saying the rest. “It would have been great having her back at the gym, pushing me, pushing everybody. She was in a much better place. I think you all have heard by now, but in case you haven’t, she was planning to speak to everyone individually yesterday morning about the past. She wanted to apologize and make amends. She wanted to heal old wounds and move forward.”

  Jeremy gave Anastasia a hug as she continued to cry.

  Missy thought about what Anastasia just said and what Lieutenant Simon had pointed out to her. Eliana hadn’t planned on apologizing to everybody.

  And the one person that stuck out in her mind was Jeremy.

  They had been dating when Eliana was caught doping in the women’s locker room. He had come to her defense, trying to change Anastasia’s mind about pushing her out. And despite that support, they had broken up.

  Something didn’t seem right about that. If Jeremy had stuck his neck out for her, what caused the rift between them?

  While everybody was cheering, Missy leaned over and kept her voice low. “Marie, why did Jeremy and Eliana break up?”

  “I never got the whole story there.”

  “Was she mad because he decided to stay at WiredFit after Anastasia forced her out?”

  Marie shook her head no. “He was going to quit. I think he did, actually, and then she broke up with him.”

  “What?”

  “I think that’s what happened.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I always assumed they were having trouble before Eliana got caught. And when she was humiliated, maybe that was the last straw? I don’t know.”

  “But he stuck up for her.”

  “I know. He must have really loved her, because Jeremy has always been so vocal about training clean.”

  “Hmm.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Why didn’t Eliana plan on apologizing to him then? He went to bat for her, she broke up with him, and only after they split up did he decide to come back to WiredFit. He did everything right.”

  “Who knows what went through her mind? She wasn’t great with people, and she wasn’t the nicest person in the world. Maybe she was still mad at him?”

  “Maybe she was.”

  Marie leaned closer. “What are you thinking?”

  Missy checked her watch. They had twenty minutes till they got started.

  “I need you to be my lookout.”

  “What?”

  Missy pointed at the men’s cabin. “I’m going in there.”

  “What! Are you crazy?”

  “Probably. No, definitely. But I’m going. Will you help me?”

  “Are you kidding?” Marie smiled. “I wouldn’t miss a little intrigue for the world.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Back outside, everybody was warming up by jogging in place. Anastasia still hadn’t revealed what the final workout would be. Missy quickly found Lieutenant Simon and told him what she thought had happened. He nodded and admitted it was a possibility. They came up with a plan where she would confront the suspect. In her other cases, she’d reached a point of near-absolute certainty of the murderer, but here she still wasn’t sure.

  Missy took a deep breath. Now was the best time to do this. There were a lot of other people around, so she had plenty of protection and Simon would be conveniently nearby to close the net.

  If the net could be closed.

  She made her way over to where Jeremy and Byron were warming up. Her legs were shaking. Not from exhaustion. As much as she loved solving mysteries, she was always petrified at this point.

  “Jeremy,” she said.

  “Hey, Missy.”

  Her back was slimy with cold sweat.

  He sensed something was up, so Jeremy stopped hopping back and forth on one foot. “What’s wrong, Missy?”

  “Why did you do it?” she asked.

  He laughed nervously. Then grew serious. “Sorry—what?”

  “I asked you why you pushed Eliana.”

  Byron stopped stretching and stood up. “What did she just say?”

  Jeremy frowned. “I don’t know what the hell she’s talking about.”

  By then, more people had taken notice of the commotion and were walking over tentatively. They formed a big circle around Missy and Jeremy.

  Anastasia came up behind Missy. “What is going on here?”

  Missy ignored the personal trainer and focused on Jeremy. “You were vocal about training clean. About following the rules. And you lived with Eliana. You had to know what she was taking.”

  “I didn’t! I had no idea!” He looked around, searching for friends in the group. “I stuck up for her because I loved her.”

  “Missy,” Anastasia said. “Let’s talk about this, just me and you and Jeremy. There’s no need—”

  But Missy didn’t want to stop. Right now she had momentum. A little. “You knew she was taking a supplement and yet you defended her when Anastasia kicked her out of WiredFit.”

  “I was in love with her!”

  “How could you be? If you were so dead-set against cheating?”

  “Because … because I loved her.”

  “And you stuck up for her,” Missy went on, “you even quit WiredFit, but she still broke up with you. Why would she do that when you were nothing but supportive?”

  “Relationships are complicated. We had other issues.”

  Missy could feel herself starting to lose. Part of her wanted to tuck tail and run. She was way out on a limb here. But she had gone this far, and she thought she was right.

  “Eliana saw the error of her ways and planned on apologizing to everybody. Everybody except you.”

  “So what? What does that prove?”

  “It proves she didn’t think she needed to apologize to you. Even though you sided with her in that very difficult time and then she wasn’t good to you.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything.”

  Missy looked around. All eyes were glued to her.

  “You were taking the supplement also. That’s why you stuck up for her.”

  “No!” Jeremy pointed at Anastasia. “She knows how hard I’ve worked over the years to get where I am. I didn’t cheat! I’m not a cheater!”

  “That doesn’t prove anything,” Missy said, thinking about what Tyler had told her. “Sometimes supplements don’t help.”

  “Oh that’s real fair? I’m juicing if I make gains, and I’m juicing if I don’t make gains. Guilty until proven innocent, Missy?”

  “Then what’s this?” Missy reached into her pocket and took out the tiny syringe she’d found in Jeremy’s gym bag. She held it up for all to see.

  There were gasps from the crowd.

  “You went through my stuff?” Jeremy roared.

  “What is this?” Missy asked, glad she had showed it to Simon before revealing it to Jeremy. Simon took one look and had known what it wasn’t prescription medication somehow.

  “It’s—it’s medicine.”

  “For what?”

  “For none of your bus
iness!” he raged.

  Anastasia stepped next to Missy and took the syringe. “Jeremy, what is this?”

  “It’s nobody’s business but mine.”

  Missy shook her head. “Eliana wasn’t going to apologize to you because you were being a hypocrite. You were pretending to be clean, but you weren’t. And when she got caught and you didn’t, she got mad. Real mad at you. It wasn’t fair. She had to leave the gym, while you didn’t. She was barred from the Celtic Games, while you competed and won. While her titles were being stripped, you were taking something that maybe wasn’t illegal, but wasn’t exactly legal either. You saw what happened to her, and you weren’t willing to come out and admit what you were doing. Because you didn’t want the same thing to happen to you. That’s why she broke up with you, wasn’t it?”

  “I don’t have to answer your questions.” Jeremy started to walk away.

  But Anastasia stepped in front of him. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  “Get out of my way!”

  Missy took a deep breath. “What did she say to you? On the trail? She must have said something.”

  “I didn’t see her on the trail.”

  Missy pointed at his feet. “The footprints leading away from the crime scene were made by someone who runs with a heel-strike.”

  “And I don’t! Like everybody here knows!” Jeremy said, getting in her face. “I don’t run like that anymore.”

  Missy shook her head. “I thought there were two sets of footprints, but I was wrong. It was only one set of prints.”

  “What are you saying? This doesn’t make any sense. I don’t even understand what you’re saying!”

  “Like you told me, you revert to your old form when you’re tired or distracted. I’ll bet you were pretty distracted and not thinking clearly after your argument with Eliana. So you ran without thinking. You ran with your old form first, then switched. That’s why the prints leading away from the crime scene looked different. It wasn’t two sets. It was only one.”

  “This is ridiculous! Where are these footprints? I want to see them for myself.”

  “The rain washed them away.”

  “So you admit to making all this up then!”

  “Marie took pictures while we there. You can see those.”