by Tonya Kappes
“Brrrr, it’s cold out there,” Bunny Bowowski said as she pulled the full length shawl from around her shoulders, her pocketbook swinging from the crook of her elbow.
She waddled over to the coat hooks, hanging up her shawl. She had a smaller shawl on underneath, which she put overtop her apron after she secured it around her neck and waist. She vigorously rubbed her arms to get the chill off.
“Good morning. I’ve got a real treat for you.” I wiggled my brows and poured her a nice cup of coffee to help ward off the cold. While I was behind the counter, I switched out the coffeehouse’s carafes for the ones I used for the Cocoon Inn’s hospitality room. “I have some of my strudel in the oven and I’d be honored if you tried the first one.”
“I’ve been waiting all week to see when you were going to offer those things.” Bunny had stood over me last weekend while I was making them. She begged to have one, but I knew there’d be a time when we really need them. That time was now.
“You sit down and have that coffee first. I can’t have you getting sick before the real flu season hits.” I pulled a stool up to the counter. “I’ve got to get the sign.”
I picked up the sidewalk sign and chalk.
“After I get this outside,” I said and pushed through the door, “I’ve got to get the hospitality treats down to the inn.”
“I’ll be fine. But I do have a favor to ask.” Bunny sipped her coffee. “Can you drive me to Lexington this afternoon when Kelly gets here? I have to return the costumes me and Mae Belle wore last night. They don’t let you keep them too long or they charge you extra.”
“Of course I will.” Now my mind was recalculating how I was going to manage my day. To Bunny, it seemed like I was just running the coffeehouse, but in my head, I was a bloodhound, sniffing out clues in this murder.
I had planned where I needed to go and who I needed to see, with coffeehouse work as a front. Now that I had to take Bunny to Lexington, that was a full hour and half I’d lose in my day. Forty minutes each way and that was driving a bit over the speed limit.
“Kelly will be here around three I believe,” I noted, just as the carafes for the Cocoon beeped.
I wrote the specials on the sign and stuck it out on the boardwalk even though we weren’t open yet. Bunny walked around the coffeehouse and made sure the coffee and tea bars were stocked.
When I was here last night, I noticed Kelly had done a great job of filling up the bars before she’d closed. But Bunny still made sure everything was ready before she headed back to the kitchen to get the pastries out of the oven. She took pride in arranging the morning’s items on the cute trays and various platters. She liked to clean up the bakery cases, wiping away any little handprints.
“You’ve outdone yourself, Roxy.” Bunny had streusel topping and icing on her chin.
“Thank you.” I helped myself to one of them before we finished getting ready to open just in time for the morning crowd.
As much as I had hoped the yummy goodness would help me forget about Ron Harvey, it only made me want to find out more.
Thirteen
The news of Ron Harvey’s murder was the talk of the Bean Hive. When I left Bunny to drop off the Cocoon Inn’s goodies, she was already gossiping with Mae Belle Donovan.
The wind had picked up and blown off what was left of the leaves on the trees. They danced in mini whirlwinds along the boardwalk and skittered across the lake. I wasn’t sure if the eerie feeling I had was the haunted vibe of the season or if the murder lingered in the air. But I did know that the thought of Ron sent chills along my spine.
The beach in front of the Cocoon Inn was bare. All the tents and festival games had been put away for next year. If there was going to be a festival next year. I wasn’t sure if the events that’d taken place had changed anyone’s minds. I sure hoped not. According to the note Kelly had left about the bank deposit, which I’d told her to take home to her father so he could put it in the bank, the Bean Hive had had a good night. The Bean Hive always did good. We were the only coffeehouse on the boardwalk, just like the Cocoon Inn was the only place to stay down on the lake other than the rentable cabins.
When I walked into the inn, there wasn’t anyone at the desk. The police tape had been removed from the doorway to the hospitality room and all the wedding things had been cleaned up.
“What a memorable wedding that was,” I groaned, heaving the coffee carafe up on the buffet-style table. I took out the to-go box and arranged the pastries on the platters already put there by Camey.
I walked over to the mantle where the wedding had taken place. Images of Patrick taking me as his wife were burned into my memory. I couldn’t wait to see the photos Walker had taken of us. They would be the first thing I’d get framed and put into our house.
Our house.
Was it going to be my cabin or the house Patrick had bought from Aunt Maxi? Both were beautiful, but the cabin was where my heart was. But as long as I was with Patrick, I was also home. Maybe I’d just run up to the suite and check on him and the fur babies.
Shuffling behind me caused me to come out of my thoughts. When I turned around, there were already guests getting their complimentary coffee and goodies. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Newton skedaddle out the front door, making me forget about going to see Patrick.
When I pushed the door open and stepped out onto the porch, Newton had just rounded the right corner of the inn.
“Newton,” I called.
He turned around. He had on a pair of overalls with brown gardening gloves in his back pocket.
“Good morning, Roxy. I’m gonna need some of your good coffee today. It’s going to be a cold one.” He pulled the gloves out of his back pocket and put them on.
“You can have as much coffee as you want. On the house.” I glanced down at where he’d already replaced the summer landscaping with a long row of colorful mums.
“Ah, oh. Are you trying to butter me up?” He grinned, narrowing his eyes.
“Yes, I am.” There was no sense in sugarcoating it like I did my blueberry muffins or specialty coffee drinks. “I noticed you were planting mums yesterday, right outside the window of the hospitality room where Ron Harvey was killed.”
“I sure was. Darndest thing I ever saw.” He shook his head.
“Can you tell me about it?” I asked.
“Well, like I told the sheriff, I didn’t hear a thing. I had my earphones in, but I felt it.” He nodded.
“Felt what?” I wasn’t sure what he was talking about.
“The person nearly knocked me down when they went running past. I thought for sure it was a woman, but when I went around the corner to see what on earth was wrong with her, I found the wig.”
Not only did my jaw drop, but a frigid breeze caused me to clutch the top of my coat around my neck.
“Did you say a wig?” I wanted to make sure I’d heard him correctly.
“Yep. Just like the color hair of that girl the sheriff took in.” He grabbed the spade sticking out of the earth and started to dig.
“Did you see her running away?” I asked.
“I’m not sure if it was a her or not. I did see someone running towards town.” He pointed the spade the opposite way of my cabin. “It was a dark figure with dark clothing. I’d say it was the killer.”
“Did you happen to know where Camey was?” I asked.
“Nah. I guess she was inside. Just a few minutes earlier, I was digging around, planting these darn mums, when I heard her and that man fussing like the dickens.” He dug a little bit more before he reached over and grabbed one of the potted mums.
He knocked it loose from the pot and used his hand to break up the roots before he put it in the hole he’d made.
“Her and Ron?” I wanted to make sure Newton and I were on the same page.
“The dead man.” He brushed the dirt he’d unearthed around the mum and patted it down. “He told her that he didn’t care how much she tried to fix the landscaping by pl
anting all this stuff, that he was going to open the resort whether she liked it or not. She spouted off about our small community and how there was a fundraiser to save the bees. He laughed at her and called her a hillbilly and that’s when she smacked him, telling him that she’d never let him open that resort.”
“Camey smacked him?” I gulped. If she could slap him, she could definitely been mad enough to kill him. Out of anger.
“Yes, ma’am. She sure did.” He dug another hole, repeating the same process with the next mum. “I stood up after she smacked him. He took a look at me and told her that he’d have to be six feet under before she could stop him.”
“Oh, my.” I gnawed on the inside of my cheek. “Do you remember anything else about the person you saw running away?”
“Nope. Just what I told you I saw.” His lips pinched.
“Where is the wig?” I asked in case he still had it, which was a long shot.
“Spencer took it. He said it was evidence.” He shrugged. “I say it was someone pretending to be that man’s daughter.”
“I’ll let you get back to work.” I shoved my hands in my coat pocket. I had to agree with Newton about someone wanting us to think it was Sharon who killed her father. “Be sure to grab some coffee.”
“Will do.” He went back to landscaping and I walked around the inn to face the beach.
Patrick, Sassy, and Pepper were taking a walk down by the lake. The sunrise over Honey Springs Lake was hard to compete with, but they were the best thing I’d seen all morning.
Pepper heard my footsteps and ran up to greet me, followed by Patrick and Sassy.
“Good morning, my wife.” Patrick smiled and kissed me. “Are you finished for the day?”
“Actually, I didn’t plan this whole day after the wedding thing too good.” I wasn’t lying, but if we got technical, we both knew I could’ve taken the day off with barely little notice. “Bunny is down there now while I came to deliver the hospitality room treats. Kelly will be in after school. How did you sleep?”
“Fantastic.” He stood behind me with his arms holding me, both of us looking over at the Bee Farm. Sassy put her nose between us. She didn’t like not having Patrick to herself. She was in for a rude awakening.
Although we were looking at the same thing, I was sure we weren’t thinking the same thing. He’d continued to talk about how great it was that I’d planned the impromptu wedding, while I continued to think about that wig.
“You didn’t answer my question about today. Are you off?” He asked, not getting the hint when I dodged the question.
“No,” I sighed and turned around to find Patrick with a frown on his face. “You know how it is to run a business.”
“Yeah, but Debbie has it covered since I just got married. Weren’t you there?” He stepped away from me.
“Patrick, what if we meet up for an early supper after I get back from Lexington?” I slipped it in there hoping he’d not heard.
“Lexington?” He heard.
“Bunny needs me to drive her to Lexington to drop off her and Mae Belle’s costumes from last night.” I gave him sad, puppy dog eyes. “I probably should’ve thought the whole wedding thing through a little better.”
“Are you kidding me?” He reached for my hand and ran his finger over my ring. “I love how you did it without even thinking.”
“I thought,” I corrected him.
“You might’ve thought about the wedding, but not the days after.” He finally smiled, making me feel a little better. “I’d love to take you to a nice supper, then you’re all mine for our last night in the suite before we go home.”
Home. There’s that word again.
“What about the Watershed?” he asked.
“Pick me up at the coffeehouse. I have a change of clothes there and I’ll be ready.” I patted my leg and whistled for the dogs. They loved coming down to the lake where they found a lot of different things to sniff. “I’ll take them with me. You can go back to the suite and rest for the day.”
“Roxy,” he pulled me close to him. “If you don’t think I’m onto you about this murder, you’re wrong. I know that if Ron hadn’t been killed, you’d be off work in a minute.”
“Am I that transparent?” I asked, knowing I needed to be a little less so in case Spencer could sense it when he showed up to do my interview as he’d promised last night.
“No. You’re Roxanne Bloom Cane and I know you better than anyone. You can’t stand to let it go unsolved. Especially now that I do think Camey is a suspect.” He heaved in a deep breath. “I saw Spencer put her in his car. She was cuffed.”
“What?” My jaw dropped. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I figured you knew. You always know before anyone. Maybe she needs a lawyer.” Was that his way of making it seem better that I wasn’t at all going to stop now?
“She for sure needs a lawyer.” I whistled louder. The dogs came running. “Don’t worry. I’ll still be ready for supper.”
We kissed.
“I’ll walk you back to the coffeehouse. I need a coffee.” We strolled hand in hand. This was something I was really looking forward to when all this mess with Ron was over and the Harvey Company was run out of town.
Sassy and Pepper knew exactly where to go. There was a leash law in Honey Springs and I probably should’ve had one on them, but no one cared. At the moment, I didn’t care. I had to get back to the Bean Hive and see if Bunny’d heard anything about this so called arrest. If that’s what Spencer had done.
“Pepper!”
I turned towards the pier before I went into the coffeehouse.
Jimmer and Sharon were walking from the pier towards the coffeehouse, which was at the intersection of the pier and boardwalk.
“Sharon.” I wanted to give her my sincerest condolences. Her eyes were sunken in and dark underneath. Her hair looked like a cat had been chewing on it. “I’m so sorry to hear about your dad.”
“Hey, squirt.” She rubbed Jimmer’s hair. “Why don’t you head back to the Bait and Tackle Shop and pick out a piece of candy.”
“Why don’t I take you to fish off the pier?” Patrick suggested. He knew I was going to be snooping. He could read me like a book.
“I’ve never fished off a pier.” Jimmer bounced on his toes. “Can I, Mama?”
“Sure, squirt.” She gave Patrick a slight smile of gratitude. “You’ve got yourself a good one, Roxy,” she said while we watched Patrick take Jimmer down to the Bait and Tackle at the end of the pier where Patrick would rent a couple of poles and buy some worms.
Sassy and Pepper were happily at their sides. Pepper loved to walk the pier. Sassy just loved being with Patrick. I knew how she felt.
“I’m not sure how many fish they’ll catch, but I did catch a good one.” I fiddled with my ring. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Do you really want to help?” she asked.
“Yes. Anything.” I sure wasn’t expecting a real answer. Boy, was I surprised.
“Help us find out who killed my dad.” She was dead serious. This really perked me up, almost as fast as my dark roast. “I heard you were a lawyer and I’m afraid the police aren’t going to find out who killed him. At first they thought it was me. It wasn’t. I have a very tight alibi.” She lifted her hand to her head. “If you haven’t noticed, I’ve got a very bad hangover.”
“Do you have any idea who might have done it?” I asked.
“Everyone I know that could’ve done it has been cleared. The police dragged all of us down last night to give our statements. If it weren’t for Jimmer, I’d still be in bed. Bev is zoned out on some sort of sleeping medication, so she’s no help right now.” Her eyes teared up, shocking me a smidgen. “I hate that I took Jimmer and went to explore the town. My dad wanted to keep him for the day. He wanted to rent a boat and let Jimmer have fun on the lake. Although it was cold out, Jimmer wouldn’t’ve cared.”
We both looked down the pier. Jimmer and Patrick e
ntered the Bait and Tackle Shop. It was so cute watching Patrick with kids. We definitely wanted children of our own one day.
“Jimmer has had a really good time with them while they’ve been here.” I tried to offer some words of comfort. “I’ve seen them all week. Your dad really loved him.”
“Thanks, Roxy.” The sound of laughter filtering down the pier caused us to turn.
Jimmer was proudly holding his own fishing pole while Patrick was explaining each part. Patrick loved explaining the details of everything, but Jimmer was too excited to listen. He was too busy fiddling with the pole.
“At least your dad set you up with an insurance policy even though your relationship was on shaky ground.” I wanted to get a little nosey.
“It was all because of Jimmer. My dad married Bev and it seemed like he cut me off. Yeah. I was in my thirties and I had Jimmer, but still, he’d always paid for everything. I swear it was Bev who wanted to blow through his money with her expensive taste in clothes and purses and lavish vacations.” There was more of a deep-set hurt in her words than anger. She put her elbows on top of the boardwalk’s railing and leaned over, looking out at Lake Honey Springs. “When I told him I knew it was all Bev, he kept denying it.”
“Didn’t you have a job?” I was having a hard time siding with her. If she was in her thirties didn’t she already have a career established on her own?
“I’ve had various jobs. But still, he’s my father and I should’ve been taken care of.” There was the temper I’d heard Bev speak of. She felt entitled to it, if you were to ask me. “He just cut me off. No warning. I was stuck with bills that needed to be paid. It wasn’t until my marriage started to fall apart and I filed for bankruptcy that my dad came around.”
I’d remember the two businessmen commenting how Julie needed to stop sleeping around within the family.
“After your split with your husband, is that when your dad came back?” I asked.