by Tonya Kappes
“Aren’t you the blushing bride.” Spencer Shepard’s deep green eyes looked me up and down, his wallet in his hands. “I’ll have a pumpkin spice latte.”
“I never figured you to attend a fun festival unless there’s been a crime.” I joked. Kelly grabbed a cup and started to make his latte. “I’m not a bride for Halloween. I’m Mrs. Patrick Cane. We got married right before the festival started.”
He lifted his hand to chest.
“Roxy, I’m hurt. You didn’t ask me to be your best man? And after all the time we’ve spent together.” He put his hands in his pockets. His sandy blond hair curled around the edges and hung over his ears.
It was true. Since I’d opened the coffeehouse, there’d been a few crimes that I’d been a little curious about. I blamed the lawyer in me for that. Still, I was pretty proud of myself because I had uncovered more clues than Spencer’s entire sheriff’s department.
“Nope. Pepper did that.” I laughed and took the drink from Kelly. “No one was invited. Even the groom was surprised.” I was still pretty pleased I’d pulled it off. “But, we are having a reception and of course you’re invited.” I handed him the coffee. “Nice sheriff’s costume.”
“I was hoping Timmy would be my deputy tonight.” He smiled. “Congratulations, Roxanne Bloom Cane. I’m sure y’all be happy.”
“I’m telling you, he’s lost his mind.” I overheard a conversation between two men dressed in business suits standing behind Spencer.
“I’ll see you later.” He held his cup up in a sorta cheers gesture. I nodded.
“Businessmen. Nice costumes.” I smiled and looked between the two men when they stepped up to the counter.
“We are businessmen.” The man looked confused behind his wire-rimmed glasses. His thin blond hair was cut short and tidy. He had a long pointy nose and pale skin. “Oh, you mean the party. Can you believe he wanted all of us to dress up for this thing?”
He smacked the guy next to him with the back of his hand in a friendly gesture. Both of them laughed.
“Did you hear Sharon?” The pointy nose guy asked.
“No. What did she say?” The shorter one twirled his finger around his ear gesturing Sharon was cuckoo.
“She told Ron that he’d have to give her more shares if he wanted her to dress up and how Bev has ruined Jimmer’s summer.” The guy rolled his eyes. “That’s not the first time she’s threatened him since he’s let her back in his life.”
“I heard she barely missed his head with that two-by-four on the Rocky Mountains worksite.” My ears perked up. I knew they were talking about the relationship between Ron and his daughter. It was much worse than I thought.
“Yes. We are actually businessmen.” The other guy laughed. He had thick black hair that was also neat and tidy. He had a small nose that held up black thick glasses. He was about four inches shorter than his friend. “We’ll have two macchiato lattes.” He reached around to his back pocket and took out his wallet.
“Is it always this cold during Halloween?” The pointy nose guy asked. “This isn’t good weather for a lake.”
”I’m sorry. Who are you?” I asked and let Kelly start their drinks.
“We are here on business with the Harvey Foundation.” He confirmed what I was thinking.
“I told Ron he was going to have to dig so deep to hit bedrock over there.” The shorter guy took the money from his wallet and handed me a one-hundred-dollar bill. “Can you make change?”
“Of course I can.” I tried to be nice and on my best behavior. My insides were churning. There was anxiety rolling around in my head begging me to get the words out and tell them we didn’t want their company here. “To answer your question, the seasons in Kentucky aren’t typical. We might have snow tomorrow and eighty-degree temperatures the next day.”
“Is that so?” He asked as if he didn’t believe me. “See.” He hit the guy again. “This isn’t a great investment and I’m not going to let him waste my shares on this po-dunk place.”
“I don’t care if he wants to cater to families.” He took the change from my hands. “Can you believe he’s actually trying to act like he’s a family man when he can’t stand to be with them?”
“Yeah. Julie is going crazy at headquarters. I told her that she needed to switch jobs and get out while she can.” He had me question who Julie was. “She needs to stop sleeping around within that family.”
“Here you go.” Kelly handed them the lattes. “Two macchiato lattes.”
“Nice costume.” The shorter of the two men pointed and winked at me. “Oh.” He picked up the jar with the Save the Bee Farm flyer next to it. “You’re not going to save the Bee Farm unless Ron Harvey is dead. And he just had his physical. That man has the body of a thirty year old.”
The other guy laughed. “Yeah. He has to keep up with them young girls.”
“Look over there.” He pointed to Ron and his daughter having a fierce argument near the apple bobbing bucket. Poor Jimmer and Bev were looking back and forth between them before the daughter stormed off towards the Cocoon Inn with Ron running after her.
“What was that about?” Kelly asked as we watched them walk off.
“Not sure, but can you take their order? I need to write something down.” I pulled my phone out from my pocket and walked over to the side of the tent for some privacy.
I quickly used the notes app in my phone to write down Julie’s name and how they’d made it seem like Ron wasn’t faithful, which didn’t surprise me. I also noted how they asked me about the weather and talked about how Ron wasn’t a family man plus the man saying he didn’t want his shares going towards this resort. Bedrock. I made a note of that too. These were things I could give Aunt Maxi to check out for her article. After all, she was standing right there watching the entire argument unfold.
If we couldn’t save the Bee Farm with donations, at least we might be able to dig up dirt that’d get the citizens involved to stop the town council for letting them build.
“What are you doing, Mrs. Cane?” Patrick walked over with Crissy. He was so handsome that I swear if it weren’t so cold I’da melted right there.
“I was going to go check out my nephew and sister-in-law over at the apple bobbing buckets.” I nodded and when he looked away, I slipped my phone into my bra. It was the only place to stick it in this dress. The v-neck provided quick access.
“Shall I accompany you?” He stuck his arm out for me to take hold of his elbow.
“Yes, Mr. Cane, you shall.” We giggled and kissed before we made our way over to them.
“I could just sop him up with a biscuit.” Crissy gave a few mmmhmms and pointed to Spencer. He was walking along the beach and handing out sheriff badge stickers to the kids.
“You are killing me.” I laughed and dodged several little ones trying to get a piece of candy from Loretta Bebe.
“I done told you one per customer,” she fussed with the Batman who had a handful. “One per customer!”
“Aww, come on.” Patrick teased when we passed her. “Batman needs the energy.”
“Nice costume,” she said.
“Not a costume.” I held up my finger. “We got hitched.”
“You. . .what. . .wait!” Loretta yelled. She jumped up and put her bowl of candy on her chair. She ran up alongside of us. “What do you mean you got married?”
“Low-retta Bebe, I swear. You ain’t that silly acting.” Aunt Maxi scolded her, even though they were adults. “They got married today.”
“Did my invitation get lost in the mail?” Loretta drew back with the most offensive look on her face.
“Aunt Roxy, will you bob for apples?” Timmy tugged on my dress, leaving a little dirty fingerprint.
“Don’t touch Aunt Roxy.” Debbie stood in sheer horror.
“Of course, I’ll bob for apples.” I patted his head and got down on my knees. I looked up at Patrick and he smiled, joining me.
“I will too.” He gave me a kiss while T
immy did the 3-2-1-go countdown. Pepper yipped in delight, but Sassy sat there like she couldn’t believe we were doing this. Truth be told, I felt like Sassy was Low-retta in dog form, only a little warmer.
Patrick and I plunged our faces into the cold water and all I could think about was one of my pumpkin spiced lattes to warm me back up. And I wanted to take advantage of the suite Camey and Walker had given us in the Cocoon Inn.
A shrill scream echoed off the trees, vibrating in my ears. I jerked my head out of the water just as the screaming carried out of the Cocoon Inn. Aunt Maxi had her cell phone out, taking photos of me and Patrick.
“Did you hear that?” I asked Patrick, both of us soaking wet.
Everyone went running up to the inn. I wasn’t far behind them and Spencer Shepard was right by my side.
When we got closer to the inn, we noticed someone running away from the inn in the opposite direction from the festival.
“Stop right there!” Spencer yelled. “Police! I said stop!”
The figure continued to run and disappeared around the back of the inn.
“Did you see that?” Aunt Maxi grabbed my arm. “The hair was long and blonde. It sure did look like the woman who was fighting with Ron Harvey near the apple bobbing.”
Aunt Maxi said exactly what I was thinking. Why was Ron’s daughter running away?
Ten
Ron Harvey’s dead body was found in the hospitality room beneath the archway Jean Hill had decorated for my wedding. A thick candlestick with blood on it lay next to his head.
I glanced from the candlestick to his head and saw where the two had met with force.
Patrick must’ve known my thoughts because he rubbed his hand up and down my back. I even felt sorry for Bev. She was kneeling down, kissing his face, her tears dropping on his body.
Spencer had roped off the crime scene once the backup deputies arrived. Apparently, he hadn’t had any luck finding Ron’s daughter.
“Are you sure it was the daughter?” Spencer asked Aunt Maxi.
“As sure as I’m standing right here.” She stomped a foot. “She’s got that long hair and is pretty tall. Plus, they were having an argument not ten minutes before she killed him.”
“Those are some mighty big allegations, Maxi.” Spencer was taking notes on his little notepad.
“I’ve got me one of them.” She tugged her notebook out of her bag. “See here. I’ve been taking notes on this guy. And Roxy has been too. Ain’t that right?” She turned her head over towards me.
“Is that right? Roxanne Bloom, sticking her nose in other people’s business. Shocker,” he said flatly. “You two stay right here.” He dragged his pen between me and Aunt Maxi.
“Do you mind if I change back into the clothes I wore here?” Patrick asked me.
“No. Go on. I’m fine.” I assured him and gave him a goodbye kiss. The dogs rushed off with him, although Pepper did linger a little, looking at me with his big eyes. “This sure wasn’t the way I figured I’d spend my wedding night,” I said to Aunt Maxi and watched as Spencer cleared the entire foyer of the hotel.
He said a few things to Camey and Walker.
“This is going to be good for Sticky Situations. I took photos you know.” Aunt Maxi straightened up with Spencer came back over to us.
“You two comparing notes and gossiping?” He asked.
“We aren’t gossiping.” I shrugged. He didn’t need to know what we were saying.
“That’s right.” Aunt Maxi drew her chin real high up in the air and gave one big nod. “We were discussing ours prayers and concerns right now,” Aunt Maxi’s lips curled together and we all bent our heads when the coroner took Ron’s body out of the room on a church cart.
“Daddy,” Sharon whined. “Daddy! Daddy!” She screamed so loud, goose bumps crawled along my spine.
Spencer held up a finger for us to hold on.
“What did you do?” Sharon screamed at Bev.
Spencer walked alongside Sharon, talking so low I couldn’t hear him. She continued to nod and when they met Camey at the door of the hospitality room, Camey took Bev and Jimmer out into the hallway.
“I didn’t kill my father!” Sharon screamed at Spencer. “I’ve been in a bar having a stiff drink,” she said through clenched teeth. “You better find out who killed my father.”
“I’m going to have to ask you to stay here for a few minutes until I can check out your alibi.” Spencer walked back over to us.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because people tell you things.” He squinted and asked, “Why do they tell you things?”
“Because I’m nice and I have good coffee to talk over.” I nodded towards the coffee station in the room. “Would you like some?” I joked.
“I’m good, thanks.” He huffed a long sigh. “I’m going to regret this, but why don’t you tell me everything you know about this family. The daughter said she’s got an alibi and I’m going to check it out with the bartender.”
“You want me to tell you everything?” I asked, looking over at Sharon, who definitely had a motive. Especially since she’d told me about that policy only her and her father knew about. “It’s going to take a while.”
Spencer ran a hand through his hair and looked as though he were considering something.
“Why don’t I finish getting Kelly set up to work the rest of the festival tonight? I’ll go back to the coffeehouse, put on some fresh coffee, and change my clothes.” I was happy to see through the windows that the festival was still going on. “You can come on down after you get the crime scene cleaned up.”
“It won’t be cleaned up for a while, but I can still process a few things while you go do all of that.” He moved his attention to Aunt Maxi. “Are you going to go with her?”
“Yes, I am.” There was no getting rid of Aunt Maxi. She was stuck to me like a booger.
“Then we will see you soon.” I had to get Aunt Maxi out of there so we could compare notes. Plus I wanted to know what she’d heard while Ron and his daughter were fighting.
Aunt Maxi and I slipped out of the inn and scurried towards the boardwalk. There were some noises behind us. When I turned around, Mom and Crissy were hurrying after us.
“We’ve got company,” I whispered to Aunt Maxi. We stopped and let them catch up.
“I know what you’re doing, Roxy Bloom…um…Cane.” Crissy giggled. “If you two think we are going to let you investigate this crazy situation, you’re nuttier than a fruitcake.”
“What we say between us and what we share is just between us.” Aunt Maxi gave each one of us a square look in the eyes. “Got it?”
“Got it,” we said in unison.
“Pinky swear.” Aunt Maxi lifted her little crooked pinky.
We all held up our pinkies and joined them in our little circle. There was dead silence between us. The moon was peeking over the trees and that told me it was almost eight p.m. My phoned chirped with a text from Patrick right as we got to the coffeehouse door. I handed Mom the key and texted Patrick back.
He wanted to know where I’d gone because he was waiting for me. I sighed, closed my eyes, and pinched my lips trying to figure out what to tell him. It wasn’t like I could say that I was at the coffeehouse trying to come up with clues to where Ron’s daughter had been or why she killed him. I also couldn’t lie to my husband on our first night of marriage. Or lie to him ever.
This marriage thing had really put a crimp in my sleuthing and this was just the beginning. Instead of texting back, I called him.
“Hey, honey.” I tried to sound really upbeat.
“Roxy, you are going to die when you see this suite. We won’t ever want to leave.” He was so excited.
“Give me an hour or so and I’ll be right there.” The more vague I could be, the better.
“That doesn’t sound good. Where are you?” He asked.
“I’m at the coffeehouse with Mom and Aunt Maxi.” I eased down on one of the stools along the front of the sho
p and continued to look down the boardwalk towards the festival. “Spencer needs to interview us and I thought I just come down here, change, and clean up a little until he comes here to get my statement.”
“Statement? You didn’t see him get killed. Besides, I thought you’d just change here.” I could picture him now with a bottle of wine open, the dogs lounging. Our first night as a married couple wasn’t going as I’d pictured in my head. “Roxanne Cane, are you putting your nose where it doesn’t belong?”
“Let’s just say I’ve got a few things I can tell Spencer to help with his investigation.” I didn’t want to outright tell him that I was definitely sticking my nose in it, but he knew. It wasn’t like he was stupid.
“Just as long as you’re honest with me.” He was making it so hard. “I’ll see you in an hour.”
“Yes.” I looked at the time and made a note of it. “As long as Spencer has come down here by then.”
“An hour, Roxy.” His words were stern. “It’s our wedding night.”
“I love you, Mr. Cane.” I turned the phone off before he could make me feel any worse and rejoined my co-sleuths.
They’d already grabbed one of the whiteboards I used in the kitchen to write down recipes I made up as I went along. Aunt Maxi had the coffee brewing and she’d already pulled brownies out of the bakery case that were supposed to be for the next day.
“These are delicious, Roxy.” Crissy moaned and groaned with each bite.
“They are perfect for getting our juices flowing.” I popped off the top of the dry erase marker. “We’ve got to get to it before Spencer gets down here and tries to stop us.”
“Why are we doing this?” Mom asked and picked up another brownie.
“Because Ron Harvey, dead or alive, still has a company that wants to build a big resort on the Bee Farm’s island. There’s a reason his daughter - well, we think his daughter - killed him and it can’t all be about the volatile relationship they had.”
I took that moment to write Ron’s name at the top of the board and Sharon’s name under it.
“I do know her name is Sharon because two men that are employed by Ron came by the booth.” I made bullet points under Sharon’s name to list all the reasons. “Sharon told me that her father and her hadn’t spoken in years. She hates Bev. There’s an insurance policy Ron put in Sharon’s name. He has to be dead for her to collect on the policy.”