An ambulance parked right outside the shoppe and two medics jumped out. The three of us stood frozen at the window. Even Winchester placed his two front paws on the window to look outside.
“Oh no, they’re going into Bruce’s office!” I exclaimed. My heart raced. Please don’t let anything happen to my friends. I was about to run out when Trixie grabbed my arm and pointed. The medics were helping a woman walk to the back of the ambulance. It was Sandra Morgan. Bruce and Paige were walking behind them.
We came out of my shoppe and walked over to Bruce and Paige. Stormi carried Charlie’s cup of coffee.
“What happened?” I asked.
“She came in the building and said she wasn’t feeling well,” Paige explained. “We had her sit down in one of the chairs in the waiting area and she almost passed out so I called an ambulance.”
One of the medics came over to Bruce and said they were taking her to the hospital to be checked out. After the ambulance pulled away Charlie yelled from across the street. “You got my coffee?”
Stormi looked at us. “Nothing deters that man from his coffee.” She crossed the street with Charlie’s coffee.
I turned to Bruce and Paige. “What do you think happened?”
Bruce leaned against the building and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not sure. Hopefully she wasn’t poisoned.”
“Why does your brain go there?” Paige asked. “Maybe her blood sugar was low and she got woozy. There could be a number of simple explanations.”
Trixie wasn’t as convinced. “Yes, but you add in the deal with the car accident and now she’s sick…what’s the kids say nowadays…it sounds hinky.”
Stormi came up behind us and waved the air in front of her face. “Maybe it was the aroma of Charlie’s cigars. Even I’m feeling a little peaked after getting a snout full.”
Trixie agreed. “Yes those things are pungent. But surely it wouldn’t make her almost pass out.”
We all agreed and decided to table the discussion as it was time to open my shoppe and Bruce had clients coming in. However, when Sammy came in for her shift after school both Stormi and I pounced on her for any information on Jeremy’s mother. Even Paige raced over from Bruce’s office when she saw Sammy.
Stormi cornered Sammy in the back as she put on her Frozen Scoop apron. “What happened to Jeremy’s mother?”
Paige and I gathered around her. “Still don’t know. They’re running blood tests. They gave her fluids at the hospital to flush out her system, and she’s home now.”
“Are they thinking she was poisoned?” Paige asked.
Sammy shook her head. “Don’t know until the tests come back.”
“This is getting stranger by the minute,” Paige remarked.
I wasn’t sure what to think. We still didn’t know the test results, but like Trixie alluded too…if it walks and talks like a duck. Fortunately we didn’t have to wait long before we knew the outcome of the blood tests. Around 6:30, Colton, Jeremy and his little brother Joshua entered the shoppe to see Sammy.
The last few customers left the shoppe and when they did Stormi rushed over to their table. “Jeremy, how is Sandra? Did you find out what happened to her today?”
Leave it to Stormi to be subtle. Jeremy didn’t seem to mind.
“They found an abnormal amount of sleeping pills in her system. She said she only takes one at night and doesn’t know how that many got into her system. The doctor said it wasn’t enough to kill her or anything like that.”
I walked over to the group sitting at the table. “But why would someone do that?”
Sammy spoke up. “Maybe to scare her?”
Sammy had a good point. Perhaps someone wasn’t trying to actually hurt her but to scare her. But why? Jeremy had his head down while Joshua looked over the ice cream in the case.
“Joshua, would you like some ice cream?” I asked.
“Yes please,” he answered. “I’d like one dip of Coffee in a sugar cone.”
“Coming right up.” I looked over at the group who remained huddled at the table talking about the recent events. Then I looked at Joshua who didn’t seem in the least interested at what was going on thank goodness. I could see how Sandra Morgan doted on the boy. He was soft spoken with gentle manners. Of course in a few years when puberty hit that could possibly change.
Joshua handed me a couple of dollar bills and I gave him his change. He smiled and took a lick of his ice cream.
As I walked over to the group still discussing what occurred that day the door opened and a woman said, “Your father thought you boys might be here.”
Joshua jumped up and ran to his mother. Jeremy stood up and took his cell phone out of his pocket. “Yep, my phone’s dead. Sorry Mom.”
Jeremy introduced us to his mother. She was decked out in a cream-colored A-line dress and her neck was bathed in large costume jewelry that sparkled amber and orange. When she’d reach up to pull her black hair behind her ear, the three bracelets she wore on her wrist jingled. She definitely looked like she fit more in New York than here. Also, I couldn’t see her crawling under a vehicle to mess with the brakes or steering. That ruled her out, at least in my mind.
Patsy turned to her sons and said, “I’ll be leaving for New York in a few days and wondered if you boys would like to go with me to Stone Mountain for an overnight trip. I’ve booked a little cabin for us. We’ll cook out, hike, all the outdoorsy things you like to do.”
“Sounds great!” Joshua squealed.
Patsy headed to the door. “I’ve already okayed it with your Dad. I’ll pick you boys up tomorrow morning at 7.”
“Ugh, why so early Mom?” Jeremy complained.
Patsy smiled. “Don’t worry; you can sleep on the way there. Now you better get home and pack. Nice to meet you ladies. I’ll be sure and stop in and actually partake of your goodies next time I’m in town.”
Patsy Morgan seemed like a nice woman, not bitter at all. But sometimes first impressions can be deceiving. I would find out that it would be so in this case.
*****
Paige and Bruce decided to have one last cookout at their place on Sunday evening before the winter cool down marched across northern Georgia. Stormi and I brought several dishes, including broccoli salad, baked beans, coleslaw, a veggie tray and chips. I brought chocolate chip cookies sandwiched between scoops of ice cream, something new I was trying out in the shoppe.
Bruce was busy with the hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill when Brandon, Winchester and I arrived. Brandon walked over to see if he needed any help while I tied Winchester’s long lead to the handle of my chair. The lead was long enough so he could visit with everyone.
“Is Sammy going to join us?” I asked Paige as she gathered the paper plates and cups.
“She will later,” Paige answered. “She’s at Colton’s right now.”
“Never fear, we are here!” Stormi exclaimed as she and Greg walked through the gate into Bruce and Paige’s backyard. She and Greg both carried large coolers brimming with food bowls covered with aluminum foil.
“Looks like you’re ready to feed an army…or just Bruce,” Paige laughed.
A voice carried across the lawn. “I heard that.”
Paige shrugged. “He has selective hearing. I can be in the same room and tell him to take out the trash and he’ll walk out like I was conversing with the sink.”
We sat down at the long patio table and indulged our hungry bellies until we could consume no more. It was the last barbecue of the year and we wanted to take full advantage of it. Afterwards Bruce lit the wood in the fire pit and we sat around the flickering flames watching the evening sun as it was swallowed on the horizon. Only a few minutes later Sammy and Colton showed up with interesting news.
Paige directed Colton to the food now wrapped up on the counter or in the refrigerator. Sammy plopped down in one of the lawn chairs. “Well the mystery’s been solved.”
Stormi straightened in her chair. “Wait…what?”
We all turned to look at Sammy. “Colton heard from Jeremy.”
We all waited with baited breath, expect for Stormi. “Was it her…I just knew it was her…it was her wasn’t it?”
Sammy gave her a questioning look. “Who?”
I thought Stormi would blow a cork. “Who? Sandra Morgan! She planned the whole thing to get Jeremy out of the house.”
Sammy shook her head.
Stormi was confused. “Huh? Well crimony! I’m always wrong.”
“Don’t leave us twisting in the wind daughter,” Paige piped in. “Who did it?”
Colton emerged from the house and sat down next to Sammy. “Joshua.”
“Who?” Stormi blurted out.
Colton took a bite of his hamburger so Sammy answered. “You know, Jeremy’s little brother.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. That sweet young boy. “No…why in the world?”
Sammy explained the situation to us. Seems that Patsy Morgan had an inkling that Joshua was the culprit. Which is why she decided to take the boys on the weekend camping trip to Stone Mountain Park. She knew her boys pretty well, and even though they hadn’t lived with her the last few years, she kept in touch with them almost every day. She knew Joshua was into cars and that he’d been studying mechanics, something that he didn’t share with his father who wasn’t into that sort of thing. He was more into sports and computers, which didn’t interest Joshua, so he kept his extracurricular activities to himself.
Patsy Morgan found out, not from Joshua, but from an old friend who still lived in Caesars Creek. Her son hung around with Joshua and knew of his love of cars. And although Joshua appeared to like Sandra, that wasn’t the case. He would complain to Patsy all the time about how she was treating Jeremy and how much he hated it. He wanted his mother to come back to Caesars Creek so he could live with her, but by that time Patsy had found a dream job. She tried to get Joshua to come live with her, but like Jeremy, he didn’t want to leave the only home he ever knew.
So Joshua concocted the idea that if he scared Sandra enough, she’d leave. Now most of us would see how flawed this plan was, but to a 13-year-old boy, it seemed perfectly logical. He’d scare her by messing with the car’s brake line, steering and maybe she’d leave, and his mother and father could mend fences. That was his best-case scenario but one that wasn’t likely to happen. What he hadn’t counted on was her blaming Jeremy. This made him very angry. She and Jeremy already had a tumultuous relationship, and now Joshua made it worse.
He knew she took sleeping pills so he decided to crunch up a few and put it in her lemonade. He wasn’t trying to kill her, just make her ill. For some reason he thought that scaring Sandra would drive her away. Who knows what goes through the mind of a young boy who’s desperate to rid his home of someone he considers an outlier, a person who doesn’t belong.
Patsy wanted to get the boys away from here for the night. She thought that by taking them to a neutral place, like a cabin in Stone Mountain Park, she could get them to talk. Jeremy had no idea what his brother had done, but he did help his mother to get Joshua to confess. It was a sad state of affairs, but somehow the truth came out. Patsy called her ex-husband and had him meet them at the cabin to talk things out….without Sandra.
First they contacted a lawyer and then the prosecutor. Sandra did not want to press charges, but the prosecutor wanted Joshua sent to a mental facility for 60 days to work out his anger issues. Joshua was upset, but his father told him they would visit and that it was better than being charged for a crime. He told him he had to own up to his actions, but that the family would be there to support him, even Sandra. The prosecutor couldn’t order this, but he suggested the family get counseling as well.
“Wow,” Stormi replied. “I’m flabbergasted. I would never have suspected that sweet boy. Just goes to show you never know what’s going on in someone’s mind.”
We all nodded in agreement. I was happy this mystery had been solved, but sorry it happened in the first place. Hopefully, with counseling and therapy the young boy could work through his problems and have a healthy relationship with his step mom. Maybe he’ll mature and understand that there are some things you have to accept in life. I didn’t want to divorce my husband. I tried to make it work, but sometimes you have to let go.
But what I’ve come to realize is that letting go doesn’t mean giving up. If I hadn’t let go of my marriage when I knew it was dying, I would never have the man sitting beside me today. I knew in my heart Brandon was my destiny. I wasn’t for sure if he felt the same way though. We’d found a comfortable groove that suited us both, but I wanted more. I wanted the home with the picket fence and someone to grow old with.
However, maybe Brandon was content with how things were. Maybe he’d never want to move past where we were. I felt my stomach churn with the realization that this may be it for us. Perhaps I would have to take me own advice and just accept our relationship for what it was.
As the fire turned to embers and the cold night set in, I gathered up Winchester and Brandon and I made our way to his truck. He opened the passenger side door and I scooped Winchester inside. Before I knew it, Brandon put his arms around me and turned me around to face him.
“Do you know how beautiful you look in the moonlight?”
I put my arms around him. “You’re such a charmer.”
He took my face in his hands and said, “I love you Tara. I want you to know that.”
I could feel tears well up in my eyes. “I love you too Brandon.”
We kissed under the moonlit sky.
My stomach no longer churned. I told myself to be patient. Baby steps.
*****
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You can read my books for free with Kindle Unlimited. These books are all from the Caesars Creek Mystery Series.
A Frozen Scoop of Murder (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book One)
Death by Chocolate Sundae (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Two)
Soft Serve Secrets (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Three)
Ice Cream You Scream (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Four)
Double Dip Dilemma: A Cozy Mystery (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book 5) Page 4