Murder, Money, and Moving On

by Stacey Alabaster

  “You know, Georgina, you really need to stop dropping in like this… It’s not healthy, for anyone.”

  I thanked her and quickly jogged down the hall while she pointed out the direction of the bathroom.

  Where was Jasper? I crept into the first bedroom on my right and whispered his name.

  No one there. I left and tried the next door—the laundry room. “Jasper!” He was in there, but locked up behind a barrier on the hard, tiled floor.

  He was whining at me, trying to get out and over the gate. I raced over and tried to free him, but I couldn’t get the lock undone.

  “Georgina?” Alice called out

  “Just finishing up in the bathroom!” I called back. Surely she wouldn’t come looking for me once I’d said that.

  I needed to find those photographs.

  Alice’s bedroom was the next door down. I hurried in and pulled open her dresser drawers until I found those same photos she had shown me at Brenda’s house that day. Things were starting to come back to me. I was remembering. There was something I had seen in one of those photos that was now oh-so-familiar.

  I started to sift through the photos until I got to the one of Jasper as a puppy. There it was. In the corner of his dog bed. The little, blue cat toy. My heart froze. My suspicions were correct.

  Alice was the one who killed Lleyton.

  This had all been about Jasper, all along.

  “What are you doing with those?” Alice asked me in a low voice.

  I was still in shock. I dropped the photos and they spilled out all over the floor. I could hear a car approaching with sirens blaring.

  The cop car pulled up into the driveway. Alice looked around in shock. She was thinking that she was caught, but my own stomach sank.

  “There are not here for you. They are here for me,” I couldn’t help pointing out.

  Well, this was going to be fun to explain to Ryan when he walked in.

  But I stopped. It wasn’t Ryan this time. It looked like I was all out of luck. It was two officers who I only vaguely recognized, a young female one with brown hair and an older, balding gentleman.

  “Is that your truck out the front, miss?” the male officer asked.

  “No, but…but I was only borrowing it. It’s my ex-husband’s, you see, and he can be a bit touchy. You know how it is with exes?”

  “Miss, you are under arrest for stealing a car.”

  “No, you don’t understand,” I said as I watched Alice place a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter. “I’m not the guilty one here, she is!”

  Alice couldn’t hide her delight at this turn of events.

  The female officer approached me with handcuffs. “I am very sorry, ma’am. We will get this woman out your house as soon as possible.”

  “Thank you, Officer.” Alice smirked.

  I kicked my feet out, trying to free myself. This could not be happening. “Jasper!” I cried out. A loud, sudden bark came back.

  “What is that noise?” the female officer asked, looking concerned at the intensity of the barking.

  “It’s my dog!” I cried out.

  She shook her head at me once she’d been in the laundry to check out the noise. “So not only did you steal a vehicle, but you locked up a dog as well.”

  “No!” I cried out. “That’s not what happened at all…”

  “The dog is actually mine,” Alice said nervously. “This woman was trespassing. Trying to steal him back, I can only assume.”

  “He is MY dog.”

  The two officers looked at each other. “We’d better check this out. Make a call back to the station.”

  It was just me and Alice left alone for a few minutes in the room—me cuffed, her free. I wasn’t sure I was safe.

  Alice raised an eyebrow, even though the nervousness had not left her face entirely. “Looks like this has all worked out perfectly,” she said smugly.

  “You are not going to get away with this,” I said, trying to get my hands free. “I can prove that you killed Lleyton.”

  She threw her head back and laughed. “And how are you going to do that?”

  “You left something behind at the scene of the crime,” I said slowly, watching her face turn white. “A small blue cat. Jasper’s toy.”

  “Officer!” Alice suddenly called out.

  But I needed to know what had happened—even if it meant I was going to be arrested.

  “Jasper never ran away, did he?” I asked her. “You did give him up to the shelter, years ago.” I could already piece together most of what had happened. “You never wanted him back. But then you must have gotten that email from the breeder, and realized that if you took Jasper back, you could make a lot of money.”

  Alice was still yelling for the police to come back.

  I nodded to myself. “That’s the only reason you wanted him back. The only reason you needed him back when I was in Sandy Point as well. What I don’t get is why you killed Lleyton to get to him?”

  We could hear the cops walking back down the hall toward us. Thinking that I was about to be arrested, Alice started talking. “Because Lleyton wanted Jasper for himself.” She shook her head and laughed. “Don’t go thinking people in that town are your friends, George. Lleyton was going to steal Jasper from you so that he could get the money from the breeder. I’d already tracked you down. I was there that night at your house, following you…”

  I froze. I remembered Jasper barking at ‘nothing’ that night. First, the front door at the shop, then the door at home. Not a ghost after all. Just his previous owner, spying on us.

  “I thought I might have the perfect opportunity to get him back. I was up on the roof, with his favorite toy, and there was already a hole there for me to climb down into. It was all working out perfectly…”

  “But then Lleyton tried to beat you to it.” I laughed and thought about how he’d lured me out there with the call out about the broken pipe. Which Brenda and Les had been behind in the first place. What a tangled little web they had all weaved. “And you made Lleyton pay the ultimate price.”

  It wasn’t me who needed to be arrested, it was Alice—but I was the one in cuffs, and I was the one being dragged away by the female officer, when the male one held his hand up and told her to stop because he’d just gotten a call.

  He sighed. “It’s a call from the ex,” he said, irritated. “Seems like it was just a misunderstanding after all…waste of our time…” he muttered. “Can’t people learn to keep their domestic issues between the two of them?”

  I was freed, much to Alice’s shock. She ran out the back door of her own property, making a quick stop in the laundry room first.

  “Go after her!” I screamed. The cops just stood there.

  “We’ve had enough of a muck-around today, ma’am…”

  “Please, she is a murderer. You have to trust me!”

  Not only was she a murderer, now she had Jasper.

  “Well, if you two aren’t going to do anything, then I will.”

  I was already halfway up the hill when I heard Ryan’s voice behind me. “I thought you guys might need some backup.”

  I was panting. “Why didn’t you turn up in the first place?”

  “I thought that maybe it would be awkward if I came to arrest you for stealing your husband’s truck.” He had his phone ready to call for even more backup if we needed it.

  “That’s not what happened.”

  “Isn’t it?” Even in that moment, with everything that was going on, he was trying not to laugh.

  I had to laugh as well. “Okay, that is kind of what I did.” It dawned on me. “Wow, okay, that is exactly what I did.” Shoot, I’d actually been lucky to get off without being arrested. Adam was right. I needed a car of my own.

  And after all this was done, that was exactly what I intended to do. I stared out over the horizon for just a moment before we continued the chase up the hill after Alice and Jasper. If everything went to plan, I would have more than en
ough money to buy a car and then, well, the world really was my oyster.

  I stared at the man ahead of me who was already twenty feet ahead of me. I wondered if he would be a part of the plan. It would be up to him.

  As Ryan zeroed in on Alice, she let go of Jasper’s leash and dashed off, leaving Jasper completely alone and free.

  Would he come to me?

  “Jasper!” I called out. That was all that was important to me in that moment. As long as Jasper came back to me, I didn’t care if Alice got away. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. It was just secondary in that moment.

  Jasper looked at the hills, then he looked at Alice, and then he looked at me.

  And he came dashing back down the hill and straight into my arms, while Ryan caught Alice in the distance.

  “I knew you would choose me, boy,” I said, hugging him tightly.

  “So, who’s dog is this anyway?” the female officer asked as she reached me while Alice was taken away in handcuffs.

  I stared up at her, my eyes heavy with happy tears. “He’s mine,” I said. “And I’m taking him home.”

  Epilogue

  I couldn’t believe the total I was staring at on the screen in front of me. Who would have thought you could make so much money selling beads online?

  “What do you think, Jasper?” I asked, showing him the screen proudly. I now had a professional photograph up on my page, the background decorated with my bead collection.

  “Do I get an opinion on any of this?” Ryan interjected.

  “Oh, of course.” I turned the screen around to show him.

  Ryan just shook his head and laughed as I petted Jasper. “I’m always going to be the second male in your life, aren’t I?”

  I stuck my tongue out at him. It was true enough. I just hoped he was going to be in my life, first or second.

  He was more than impressed with my monthly total. “You know what this means, don’t you, George?” Ryan asked.

  I grinned at him. I sure did. “A fresh bottle of red, to celebrate.”

  He laughed. “It means you can live anywhere you like…you’re not tied to this place. Or to any place, actually. That seems to suit you. Freedom, I mean.”

  Ryan may have been twelve years younger, and a little naive about some things, but it was strange just how well he always seemed to know me.

  “You’re right,” I said, standing up to open that bottle of red. “And sometime soon, it will be time to hit the road.”

  Brenda took another circle of the property, glancing at her own reflection in the glass. She was back to wearing turtlenecks and cardigans. I’d never told Ryan about the damage she had done to my property. Our little secret. I figured she’d already been punished enough.

  I’d always kind of known that she wanted to have my life. My shop. My house. But maybe it hadn’t really been ‘my’ life after all. Perhaps all this time I had simply been borrowing it from her. Now, with her own house on the market, and Les’s help, she was able to make her own dream life real.

  I handed over both sets of keys. “Keep the places safe for me, all right?”

  “Oh, you know I will,” Brenda said, snatching them from me. “And I will do a far better job of running the store and keeping this house nice than you ever did.”

  I shook my head and laughed. I wouldn’t have my final words from Brenda be any different.

  Brenda was so happy she was practically dancing around. I say practically. I didn’t think Brenda had danced in her life. But she was happy. And I was happy for her.

  Finally, I had a car. I was going to need one for the journey ahead. I didn’t even know where I was going, but I was going to need four wheels to get there.

  But I was going to need even more than that. I was going to need my best friend by my side.

  “Come on, Jasper!” I said, opening the passenger side of the car for him.

  This time, he sat up happily, grinning as we pulled out of the driveway and began our next journey together, with Casper in the back seat. We could go anywhere, do anything.

  Just as I took the left turn that would lead me out of Pottsville, I saw a figure with black hair in the rearview mirror. My heart fluttered. I hadn’t expected to see him again after we’d said good-bye. And certainly not carrying a suitcase.

  I pulled the car over and opened the passenger side door.

  “I see this seat is already taken,” Ryan laughed.

  I nodded and shrugged a little. “But there are still plenty of empty ones.” I looked down at his suitcase. “So what do you say… Do you want to come along with us?”

  “No promises,” Ryan said with a grin. But somehow, it still felt like one.

  <<<<>>>>

  Thanks for reading Murder, Money, and Moving on. I hope you enjoyed the story. If you have been with George, Jasper, and the rest of the crew since the beginning, I hope you enjoyed the series. Even though this is sort of ‘goodbye’, there is more to come. I have already started plotting out another series that I hope you will like.

  If you enjoyed the story (and series), it would be awesome if you left a review for me on Amazon and/or Goodreads.

  At the very end of the book, I have included a couple previews of books by friends and fellow authors at Fairfield Publishing. First is a preview of Up in Smoke by Shannon VanBergen - it’s a fun (and funny) story about vigilante grannies in a retirement home who solve crimes and stir up all kinds of trouble. Second is a preview of Croissants and Corruption by Danielle Collins - it’s the first story in the popular Margot Durand Cozy Mystery series. I really hope you like the samples. If you do, both books are available on Amazon.

  Get Up in Smoke here:

  amazon.com/dp/B06XHKYRRX

  Get Croissants and Corruption here:

  amazon.com/dp/B06X9C3G5T/

  If you would like to know about future cozy mysteries by me and the other authors at Fairfield Publishing, make sure to sign up for our Cozy Mystery Newsletter. We will send you our FREE Cozy Mystery Starter Library just for signing up. All the details are on the next page.

  FAIRFIELD COZY MYSTERY NEWSLETTER

  Make sure you sign up for the Fairfield Cozy Mystery Newsletter so you can keep up with our latest releases. When you sign up, we will send you our FREE Cozy Mystery Starter Library!

  FairfieldPublishing.com/cozy-newsletter/

  After you sign up to get your Free Starter Library, turn the page and check out the free previews :)

  Preview: Up in Smoke

  I could feel my hair puffing up like cotton candy in the humidity as I stepped outside the Miami airport. I pushed a sticky strand from my face, and I wished for a minute that it were a cheerful pink instead of dirty blond, just to complete the illusion.

  “Thank you so much for picking me up from the airport.” I smiled at the sprightly old lady I was struggling to keep up with. “But why did you say my grandmother couldn’t pick me up?”

  “I didn’t say.” She turned and gave me a toothy grin—clearly none of them original—and winked. “I parked over here.”

  When we got to her car, she opened the trunk and threw in the sign she had been holding when she met me in baggage claim. The letters were done in gold glitter glue and she had drawn flowers with markers all around the edges. My name “Nikki Rae Parker” flashed when the sun reflected off of them, temporarily blinding me.

  “I can tell you put a lot of work into that sign.” I carefully put my luggage to the side of it, making sure not to touch her sign—partially because I didn’t want to crush it and partially because it didn’t look like the glue had dried yet.

  “Well, your grandmother didn’t give me much time to make it. I only had about ten minutes.” She glanced at the sign proudly before closing the trunk. She looked me in the eyes. “Let’s get on the road. We can chit chat in the car.”

  With that, she climbed in and clicked on her seat belt. As I got in, she was applying a thick coat of bright red lipstick while looking in the rearview mirror. “Gotta loo
k sharp in case we get pulled over.” She winked again, her heavily wrinkled eyelid looking like it thought about staying closed before it sprung back up again.

  I thought about her words for a moment. She must get pulled over a lot, I thought. Poor old lady. I could picture her going ten miles an hour while the rest of Miami flew by her.

  “Better buckle up.” She pinched her lips together before blotting them slightly on a tissue. She smiled at me and for a moment, I was jealous of her pouty lips, every line filled in by layers and layers of red.

  I did as I was told and buckled my seat belt before I sunk down into her caramel leather seats. I was exhausted, both physically and mentally, from the trip. I closed my eyes and tried to forget my troubles, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly to give all my worry and fear ample time to escape my body. For the first time since I had made the decision to come here, I felt at peace. Unfortunately, it was short-lived.

  The sound of squealing tires filled the air and my eyes flung open to see this old lady zigzagging through the parking garage. She took the turns without hitting the brakes, hugging each curve like a racecar driver. When we exited the garage and turned onto the street, she broke out in laughter. “That’s my favorite part!”

  I tugged my seat belt to make sure it was on tight. This was not going to be the relaxing drive I had thought it would be.

  We hit the highway and I felt like I was in an arcade game. She wove in and out of traffic at a speed I was sure matched her old age.

  “Ya know, the older I get the worse other people drive.” She took one hand off the wheel and started to rummage through her purse, which sat between us.