Red Hot Velvet Murder: A Frosted Love Cozy Mystery - Book 32 (Frosted Love Cozy Mysteries)
Page 3
“What’s this about?” she demanded, sitting back in her chair and staring at the detective.
“A body was found in the bottom of a boat at the marina last night,” he began.
“Yeah, I heard all of that when you were talking to Tim. Everything that he said was just the way that it went down, there’s really nothing helpful that I can add,” she shrugged, glancing pointedly at her watch.
“Do you think that Captain Lansing’s behavior angered your boss?”
“I don’t know that anything actually angers Timmy, other than sloppy treatment of corpses. He kind of marches to the beat of his own drum, you know?”
The detective nodded. “That certainly seems to be the case. Was there ever a time that the captain was rude to you, where Mr. Eckels might have perceived a need to protect you?”
Fiona snorted and gave Chas a lopsided grin. “Protect me? No. I can take care of myself. Besides, I think that the captain thought we were a couple and was kind of disgusted by that idea, so he pretty much ignored me.”
“And, are you?”
“Am I what?” she blinked at him in a way that was eerily similar to the way that Timothy Eckels had regarded him just moments before.
“Involved with Mr. Eckels.”
The assistant blushed, her cheeks turning bright pink. “Seriously? He’s my boss, and like, a thousand years older than me. He’d never find someone like me attractive,” she protested, gazing at the top of her desk.
Chas made note of her reaction and decided not to pursue that particular line of questioning any further…yet.
“Is there anything else that you can tell me that might be helpful?”
“Well, I think that Andrew might have been a little bit jealous that I was going fishing with Timmy. He asked me to go out for tacos with him and I said no. He also had a fight with the captain when we came back in.”
“A fight? About what?”
“I don’t know,” Fiona shook her head. “We were far enough away by then that I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but their voices were raised, and Andy gestured like he was upset. The captain was just leaning over with his hands on his knees.”
Her story lined up with Andrew’s, as did Tim’s. So far the heart attack hypothesis was looking pretty accurate. He’d just have to wait for the results from Nichimura’s tests to confirm.
“Thank you for your time, Miss McCamish. Best of luck with your new job,” he offered his hand and she shook it.
“Thanks. Tim’s a good guy who’s good at what he does. If he thinks it’s a heart attack, it probably was.”
“Do you always listen to your boss’s private conversations?”
“Every chance I get,” she grinned mischievously.
“Well, let me know if you hear anything helpful,” Chas smiled back, shaking his head in amusement. He was glad to see that the young woman was getting a positive new start in life.
Chapter 7
Missy and Echo were sitting at the cupcake shop, drinking coffee and planning out a shopping list for the party store, where they’d go later to buy decorations for the Valentine’s Day banquet that was being held at the Inn.
They both looked up when the bells over the door jangled, signaling an arrival.
“Chas,” Missy lit up like a sunny day at the sight of her husband. “What brings you over to our little world?” she asked, offering her cheek for a kiss.
“Breakfast on the run, unfortunately,” the detective sighed. “Good morning, Echo.”
“Hiya, handsome,” the mischievous redhead grinned.
“You worked late last night…why such an early morning?” Missy asked, moving behind the counter to put a couple of cupcakes in a bag. Chas didn’t usually indulge in sweet treats, so she knew there must be something important going on if he needed to grab cupcakes and run.
“Some lab results that I’ve been waiting on came in early,” the detective explained with a yawn.
“You look like a man who could use some strong, hot coffee,” Echo remarked, heading for the coffee pot and grabbing a to-go cup on her way.
“I knew I liked you for a reason,” Chas teased tiredly, smiling at his wife’s best friend, who was like a beloved sister to them both.
“Yeah, well don’t get too comfortable, I could become rude and disagreeable any minute now,” she joked right back.
“I’ll sic my wife on you,” the detective replied, gratefully accepting the coffee from Echo and the bag of cupcakes from his wife, whom he kissed again. “I’ll try to get home at a decent hour tonight. It all depends on how this case goes.”
“Fingers crossed,” she replied, feeling sympathy for her exhausted husband.
**
Chas Beckett eyed the manila envelope that was waiting for him on his desk with a degree of trepidation. After having spoken with Timothy Eckels yesterday, he’d been nearly certain that Marco Lansing had died from a heart attack, and he was hoping that the Medical Examiner’s report would support that theory. Stanley Nichimura had said that the lab work would take at least a day to come back, so he was surprised to have the results so soon, but if the tests confirmed a heart attack, at least he’d be able to put the case to rest.
The detective opened the test results and studied them for several minutes, his frown deepening. Reaching for his car keys, he headed toward the parking lot, bound for the marina.
Striding down the dock toward the guard shack, Chas spotted Andrew Koslowski reclining in a beach chair, sipping on a bottle of water.
“Mr. Koslowski?” he called out, alerting the young man to his presence.
“Hey dude, what’s up?” Andrew shaded his eyes with one hand, peering up at the detective.
“I’m thinking that Captain Marco’s death was probably just a heart attack, but since it’s a slow day, and the test results aren’t back from the lab yet, I was hoping that you wouldn’t mind if I just poked around here a little bit,” Chas said casually, scanning the horizon.
“Sure man, no problemo,” the young man shrugged, not rising from his chair. “Go for it, my casa is your casa and all that.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it,” the detective nodded, then went to the boat where Marco Lansing had died.
He really wasn’t looking for anything in particular, and had only gone over to this boat first in order to put Andrew at ease. Once he’d pretended to examine the boat thoroughly, he’d casually move over to the guard shack and Andrew’s personal boat. When he stepped on board, he gazed around the general area where the captain’s body had been found and saw something that he hadn’t seen at the site before. Bending down, he saw what looked like a pile of ash. Had it been under the body the entire time? And, if so, where had it come from?
He took a page from his mini-notebook and scooped up the small pile, after taking a photo of it with his phone. He folded the ash securely within the paper and put it in his pocket to take to the lab later. After checking around a bit more carefully, Chas stepped back onto the dock and meandered back to Andrew.
“You a smoker, Andrew?” he asked, as though he wanted a cigarette.
“No, sorry, dude. Back in the day I used to partake of some herbal remedies if you know what I’m sayin, but I haven’t done that stuff in a long time. Don’t wanna lose my business license, ya know?”
Chas nodded. “I understand. Did Captain Marco ever do any cooking on his excursions?”
“Nope, the only thing he had onboard was a microwave, but he never used it, other than to warm up his coffee.”
“Gotcha. I’m just going to wander around a bit more, if you don’t mind. I love being out here by the water.”
“I hear ya, man. Better than the office any day, am I right?” Andrew chuckled, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.
“Exactly right,” Chas replied, heading for the guard shack. He returned a few minutes later.
“You have much of a bug problem around here? I’ve heard that some of the boats just get infested.”
“I saw a can of pesticide in the guard shack, do you mind if I borrow it? I’m having the worst time with those biting flies out at my place.”
“Help yourself, dude. I don’t buy chemicals, so that stuff has probably been there for years. I figure that it’s seriously bad karma to kill all those little critters with stuff that makes them suffer. I don’t want that kind of deficit with the universe, ya know what I mean?”
“Yep, completely understandable,” Chas nodded, forcibly containing the urge to roll his eyes.
He did a quick sweep of Andrew’s boat after their conversation, then went on his way, receiving a jaunty wave from the beach chair.
Chapter 8
Missy and Echo stood with hands on hips, surveying their handiwork in the ballroom. The atmosphere that they’d created was elegant and romantic, with lots of pink and red hearts, flowers, garland and magnificent table settings and centerpieces. As of right now, they had eighty couples who had made reservations for the Valentine’s Day Banquet, and Missy would be finalizing the numbers with the caterer later this afternoon.
“Wow, looks great in here,” Spencer’s voice came from behind them.
“Wait until you see it bathed in candlelight,” Echo replied with a slightly star-struck grin. She and Missy were more than proud of the décor that had been hours in the making.
“Oh, I hope everything goes well,” Missy worried, admiring the scene in front of her, while mentally reviewing logistics.
“It’ll be fine. It always is,” Echo assured her friend with a hug.
“True story,” Spencer nodded in agreement. “Hey, Mrs. B., if you don’t need me this afternoon, I have a couple of errands to run.”
“Sure Spence, no problem. Do what you need to do, but get some rest because you have Echo’s grand opening tomorrow,” his boss reminded him.
“Trust me, she hasn’t let me forget that for a second,” he teased, his adorable dimples making their presence known.
“Bright and early,” Echo called after him as he headed for the foyer.
“Yes ma’am,” he called back, without turning around.
“What would we do without him?” Missy asked, watching the Marine go.
“Hopefully, we’ll never have to know.”
**
Spencer had snuck into enemy enclosures, defused bombs, conducted top secret missions and more interrogations than he could count, but his palms were slick with sweat as he considered what he was going to say to Fiona McCamish when he saw her. For some strange reason, he couldn’t get the girl out of his mind. He’d brought a box of the heart-shaped cupcakes with him as a gift and hoped that she wouldn’t read too much into it…he just hoped that she’d think they were delicious and pretty, not that they were meant to convey any sort of message other than that.
When the Marine pulled into the parking lot of Memorial Mortuary, he sat in his car debating with himself as to whether or not he should actually go in and talk to her, and was on the verge of restarting the car and driving away, when he took a deep breath, let it out in a rush and opened his door. He trotted up the imposing marble steps in front of the mortuary and opened the carved mahogany door, the scent of flowers engulfing him upon entering.
He stepped into the velvet draped interior and suddenly, irrationally, felt incredibly underdressed in his jeans and Beach House polo. The first office that he came to had a plate with Fiona’s name on it beside the door, but she was nowhere in sight. Spencer poked his head in and looked around briefly, nearly jumping out of his skin when he heard Tim’s quiet voice behind him. The man truly moved like a ninja.
“May I help you?” he droned, not sounding at all as though he were in the mood to be helpful.
“Uh, no, thanks. I was just here to see Fiona. Is she around?” Spencer asked, forcing himself to be charming to someone who, for whatever reason, definitely rubbed him the wrong way.
“No,” Tim replied, staring at the Marine blankly.
“Okay…well, I’ll just leave these here for her then,” he replied, gesturing to the cake box that he was holding.
Timothy Eckels continued to stare, blinking and saying nothing, which creeped Spencer out more than a little bit. There was just something about that guy…
“So, should I just leave them on her desk, or…?” the Marine asked, looking for some sort of reaction other than the current fish-eyed stare. Still no response.
“Alrighty then,” he said finally, stepping into the office and putting the cupcakes on Fiona’s desk blotter. “Have a good day.”
Spencer brushed past the mortician without another glance as the strange doughy man continued to stare at him like an unpleasant intruder. Once outside, he took a deep breath, and was more than pleased to be out of the oddly quiet and pleasantly scented mortuary. Fiona’s car pulled up beside his, just as he reached it.
“Hi,” he smiled, leaning against his car when she got out.
“Hey,” she replied casually. “Somebody die?”
Spencer laughed. “Nah, I just dropped by to bring you some cupcakes that my boss made for Valentine’s Day.”
Fiona looked confused. “But I didn’t order any.”
“I know, I just…well, honestly, I just used them as an excuse to come by and see you,” the Marine decided to go with honesty, come what may.
“Why?” she looked mystified.
“Because I’m trying to figure out what you’d say if I asked you out,” he gave her a lazy grin, bursting with dimples.
“One way to find out,” she raised an eyebrow at him and headed for the mortuary.
Chapter 9
Fiona went straight to her office and saw the pink bakery box sitting at her desk, tied with a white ribbon that had red polka dots on it. Shaking her head and smiling, she lifted the lid and took out one of the cupcakes. The slim young woman almost never ate dessert, but she’d skipped lunch and was starving, so she took a huge bite and was utterly blown away by the rapture of flavors and textures.
She closed her eyes chewing slowly, making a mental note to do something kind for the hot Marine, and jumped, nearly dropping her cupcake when she heard a familiar voice in the doorway.
“Hey Fi, wanna go grab a burrito and hang out at the beach?” Andrew Koslowski grinned at her, coming into the office and seating himself in a club chair.
“No, Andrew. I’m not your girlfriend anymore. We’re not going to hang out, it would be weird. And you scared the daylights out of me,” Fiona accused him, taking another bite of the heavenly cupcake and wishing he’d go away so that she could focus on enjoying it.
“My bad,” the young man agreed easily, looking distinctly out of place in his board shorts, loose-fitting t-shirt and flip-flops. “Just because we aren’t going out doesn’t mean that we can’t go out, you know.”
“Yes, Andrew it does,” she sighed, licking frosting from her thumb. “You need to take off, I’ve got some work to do,” Fiona directed, sinking into her creaking leather chair.
“Wow, that’s so not cool of you,” Andrew blinked at her, looking like a whipped puppy dog.
“Well, fortunately I don’t care at all whether I seem cool to you or not,” she smiled tightly, deliberately casting her glance toward the door.
He stared at her, his face turning to stone right in front of her. “You’ve changed, Fi. You used to be fun. Now it’s like, you’ve got new clothes and shoes and stuff and you think you’re better than me. That’s bogus, sincerely,” he shook his head in disgust.
“I do not. You know me better than that. I just have a life now, and responsibilities, that, at the moment, don’t include babysitting you,” she arched an eyebrow at him.
“Geez, you don’t have to be so rude. I can take a hint,” Andrew stood up so quickly that his chair slammed into the wall beside him, causing Tim to appear instantly in the doorway with a look on his face that made the hair on the back of Fiona’s neck stand up.
<
br /> Andrew looked from Fiona to Tim and back again, his eyes narrowed.
“Oh, I get it,” he made a face that oozed contempt. “I see how it is. Well, good luck with that. I hope you get what you deserve,” he muttered, stalking past the mortician and out the front door.
“That’s the plan,” she sighed, dropping her head down onto the hand that wasn’t holding the cupcake. “What is it, “hit-on-Fiona-day?” she grumbled. Tim cocked his head, looking at her, baffled.
“Want a cupcake?” she held up the box and wiggled it back and forth.
“Yes,” he replied, without expression, taking the box from her and selecting a cupcake. “My grandmother made the best Key Lime pie,” he said to himself, drawing a strange look from his assistant.
“Cool,” she replied, moving her mouse to bring up her computer screen. She quickly tapped in a password to access her home screen.
“When did you put a password on this computer?” Tim asked, chewing his bite of cupcake.
“A couple of days ago, why?”
“Why did you do that?” He took another bite.
“Because I don’t want some random client to be able to come in while I’m in the bathroom and access the financial information for every client that we have,” she looked at him as though he’d lost his mind.
“Okay,” was the extent of his reply, before he turned around, making a beeline for the basement.
Chapter 10
Detective Chas Beckett had used the passkey that was given to him by the building supervisor to let himself in to Marco Lansing’s apartment. He wanted to poke around the irascible captain’s home to see if he could find any clues as to who might have had a motive to harm the old man.
Lansing certainly wasn’t the world’s best housekeeper, and the fact that the house had been vacant since his death was evident in the putrifying smells coming from the refrigerator and the trash. The detective rubbed a bit of menthol-scented petroleum beneath his nostrils, and snapped nitrile gloves on his hands, thankful that at least he hadn’t entered a home with neglected pets who would’ve expired in their master’s absence.