by Tonya Kappes
“Yeah. Apparently, Dad didn’t like him and he figured I needed help now that I didn’t have a husband to take care of me. We met up and I let him see Jimmer. They’d not seen each other for a couple of years. We talked and he asked me about my financial situation. It was then that he told me he had a spot for me at the company and how he’d made me the beneficiary in a life insurance policy for my later years.” She waved to Jimmer after he yelled her name and pointed to the fishing pole.
“Do you like working for the company?” I asked.
“Yeah. I mean, I get to make all the decisions on the interior decorations and I love that. But when I hear Bev’s voice, it just brings me right back to the couple of years of hell I had when she cut me off.” There was no way, not even after her dad’s death, that was she going to accept the fact it was her father who’d cut her off and not Bev.
“Where do you and Bev stand now?” I asked.
“Bev has old money. She’s taken care of and she’s got no stock in the company, so I’m sure she’ll just drop out of our lives, which is fine with me. They live in her house, so there’s no reason for her to move.” Sharon pushed off the railing and stood up. “I’m sure we won’t ever speak again after the funeral.”
If Bev didn’t have any stock in his company, she had no motive to kill Ron. Why would she? She had her own money.
“No matter how I felt about my dad at this time yesterday, he’s still my dad and I will always regret how I yelled at him last night.” Her voice trailed off. A frown appeared on her face.
“I saw that. What happened?” I asked.
“Like I told you, he was mad that I didn’t meet him to let him take Jimmer for the day on the lake. It was selfish of me and I wanted to punish him for letting Bev spend so much time with Jimmer while they were here. He promised me that he’d spend the days with Jimmer and the nights looking into the resort.” She had regret in her voice. “Jimmer told me that he spent his days with Bev and that he had to listen to her fuss about my dad like I did.”
It was clear that Sharon had realized how much they had put Jimmer in the middle.
“Will you still work for the company?” I really wanted to know if I was going to have to butt heads with this woman once they realized how far I was willing to go to stop them from building the resort.
“Oh, yeah. I’m going to have to recommend that I take over now.” Sharon’s eyes brushed past my shoulder. “Honey!” she screamed and flailed her arms, practically knocking me down to get to the man coming towards us.
He had short brown hair. He was wearing a very wrinkled overcoat and held a suitcase in one hand. He set it down to wrap both arms around Sharon.
I took my time walking back towards them.
“Mike Hogan.” He stuck his hand out. He had a firm grip.
“Roxy, this is my husband Mike.” Husband? I forced a smile. This family was so messed up. “Mike, this is Roxy. The lawyer-turned-coffeehouse-owner that I was telling you about. I really think she can help us. I’ve heard things, you know.”
I laughed.
“Sure. I just got off the redeye and really need to get out of these clothes.” He brushed his hand down Sharon’s face. “You okay, baby?”
“I’m fine. I just hope that no one ruins what’s coming to me.” It didn’t go unnoticed how Sharon was more worried about her inheritance than her father getting killed.
“Where’s my boy?” Mike asked.
“He’s fishing with Roxy’s husband, Patrick.” She snuggled up on his arm. “They just got married in the same room where daddy was. . .”
“Honey.” He curled her head to him as she started to cry. “Baby, you know I can’t stand when you cry.”
Sharon muffled a few words I couldn’t make out. It was time for me to leave and let them console one another. Plus, I had to hurry inside to read over what Bev had told me about Sharon’s husband.
“Roxy,” Sharon called after me before I opened the door to the coffeehouse. “Spencer Shepard asked me the same thing about who I thought might’ve done it. I told him my dad’s goonies that are here, but they seem to have alibis. Still, I can’t help but think they had a hand in it.”
“We’ll talk later.” I gave a slight wave and headed into the coffeehouse.
“What was that about?” Bunny was standing at the bar along the window wiping it down with a rag. There were a couple of people in deep conversation on the couches by the fire, sipping their coffees.
“I’m not sure.” I noodled the thought in the back of my head that told me Sharon wasn’t as innocent as she wanted me to believe. “But I have some things to write down. I’ll be right back.”
“We are out of ham and bean soup.” It was Bunny’s way of telling me to make more. “And your chai tea,” she trilled.
I exchanged my coat for an apron on my way into the kitchen. Norman was in there sleeping next to the steel workstation. He popped his head up when he heard the door swinging.
“Hey, Norman.” I grabbed a pumpkin dog treat from one of the cooling racks and bent down. “How are you?” I pinched piece of the treat off and gave it to him bite by bite so he’d engage with me.
He grunted and gobbled up the treat.
“If you stay in here all day, no one will see you to take you to your forever home.” I was beginning to doubt anyone who came into the coffeehouse was going to adopt Norman. “Don’t you want to live in a warm house and be petted and loved on all the time?”
I put my nose in the air and sniffed around. There were no lingering effects of Norman’s uncanny scent.
“I think you’re cured.” I rubbed him a couple of times before I walked over to the sink to wash my hands and grab my whiteboard on my way back.
I looked over what I’d written so far. There was so much to write under Camey that I felt bad and took my time walking over to the freezer to get out the premade ham and bean soup.
“There’s just no way that Camey killed Ron and Spencer is crazy to even think so,” I said to Norman. “She loves that inn. She just got married and she’d never do that to Amelia.” I popped open the lid of one of the two large containers I had taken out of the freezer.
“She’s truly very happy. I can understand her frustration and it doesn’t look good that she slapped him, but kill him?” I grabbed one of the larger pots hanging above the island and put it on the stove. “I don’t think so.” I bent down, pushing the button, and watched as the gas came to life on the burner. “Then there’s the man Sharon was talking about. What man? One of the men in the suits? The man at the bank with Ron?” I dumped the soup into the pot, leaving it there until it thawed enough to stir.
“Who do you think did it?” Spencer shoved through the door. “If you don’t think it’s Camey.”
“Were you listening to me?” I couldn’t believe he’d been standing outside of the door.
“Sometimes I think you hold back on me a little, so I do what I need to do to keep Honey Springs safe and the investigation going the way I want it to go. But I have a feeling you’ve got some information for me.” He dragged the whiteboard across the table.
“Good thing you weren’t here a few minutes ago because I was cursing you for even thinking Camey Montgomery could even hurt Ron, never mind hauling her down to the station in handcuffs.” I wasn’t going to let him think he could waltz into my coffeehouse and not get a piece of my mind. “Which makes me think that you aren’t sure Camey did kill him or you wouldn’t be wasting your time here or on the investigation.”
Norman walked around the table and stared at Spencer.
“Who’s this little guy?” Spencer bent down, completely ignoring my very lawyery comment.
“That’s Norman.” A light bulb went off in my head. “I know you must make good money and Norman needs a good home. Aren’t you lonely at night?”
“No way no how can I take care of a dog.” He pushed that brilliant idea I’d had right on out of the way. “I can barely take care of myself.”
“Oh, c
ome on. You need to soften up a little and Norman can do that.” I grabbed one of the silicone spoons and sat it next to the pot.
“The man at the bank?” He laughed. “Who’s the man at the bank?”
“You think I’m not good at this, but I am.” I leaned against the island, crossing my arms. “I’ve been replaying last night over and over in my head. So much so, I couldn’t sleep. The two men that talked about Ron and his affair with Julie…” I started to say.
“Affair?” He cocked a brow.
“You didn’t know?” I asked. He took out his little notepad and flipped through it.
“No one said anything about an affair.” He didn’t look up. He kept thumbing through it. “There’s a Julie that’s his secretary.”
“Are you sure you were awake when you woke all of them up in the middle of the night to get their statements?” I asked on my way over to the dry ingredient shelf. The chai tea was a customer favorite.
My special blend consisted of cinnamon powder, star anise, fennel seed, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, peppercorns, and Assam loose leaf tea plus a little sugar to taste and a cinnamon stick to stir. It was delicious and perfect for a cold day for my non-coffee drinkers.
“I have to serve warrants to get this information and you just serve them coffee.” He threw his hands up. “I don’t get it.”
“Well, I do.” I held up a finger. “I’ll grab us a couple of coffees. I need a little pick me up.”
My brain was already tired and we weren’t even halfway through the day.
“Everything OK in there?” Bunny lifted her chin and looked down her nose. “I don’t like how he just waltzes in here now that you’re a married woman and all.”
“It’s fine.” I grabbed a couple of strudels and a couple of cups of coffee, placing them on one of the silver trays I’d gotten from Wild and Whimsy. “I’ve got the soup on and I’m getting ready to mix the chai tea blend.”
I took pride in making my own coffees and teas. It was an artistic outlet for me and helped me think. It’d been a lot better if Spencer wasn’t here so I could talk out loud and formulate different theories in my head.
“Debbie Cane told me how Ron Harvey came to see them at Cane Construction, wanting to know about all the committees and permits he needed to go through. I went to all the planning and zoning committee members. I went to the Bee Farm. I’ve gotten all the warrant information to the judge.” He picked up the treat and took a bite. “When will I learn to just come to see what you know first?”
“I don’t know. After four times of me helping, you’d think you’d learned.” I laughed, making a mental note to call Debbie. “There were two men at the booth last night. They worked for Ron and didn’t have a lot of nice things to say about him. Ron was having an affair with the secretary, the daughter tried to hit him with a two by four on a Rocky Mountain project, and Ron was trying to pretend to be some sort of family man.”
“People can fool you. Take you for instance.” He pointed to me. “Lawyer.” He pointed to the coffee cup. “Coffeeshop owner.” He pointed to the whiteboard. “Detective. See, you’ve transitioned into three people since you’ve been here.”
“Why, Spencer Shepard, if I didn’t know better I’d think that was a slight dig at me.” I stirred the bean and ham soup, then turned it down to simmer. “Again, if you didn’t see some value in what I had to offer, you wouldn’t be here. By the way, that’s the lawyer in me.”
“Fine. You win.” He adjusted himself on the stool and took a sip of his coffee.
I made my way back over to the island and made some chai tea bags for the tea bar. If I didn’t have some out in the coffeehouse soon, Bunny would be in here giving me the stink eye.
“Here’s the deal. Camey has no alibi,” said Spencer with a sigh. She had a couple of arguments with Ron Harvey out in the open and in some of them he made remarks about over my dead body. Those are pretty harsh words. Then she slaps him. It got physical.”
“Out in the open.” I smacked my hand on the island. “Someone saw her having these conversations and knew she’d be a good person to frame for the murder.”
Spencer sighed again
“What? That makes total sense. I mean, if I were to kill someone, I’d definitely find someone who hated that person as much as I did and make it appear like they had the motive. She slapped him. Someone had to have seen it.” I put the bags in a bowl to carry out to the coffeehouse, but enjoyed some of my coffee first.
“You could be right, but the facts are the facts. He was killed with that big candlestick on the mantel.” He looked down at my ring.
“Oh, so if I hadn’t gotten married the candlestick wouldn’t’ve been there?” “Nope. But I do want you to know that I am happy for you and Patrick. All in all he’s a good guy.” His comment was one to be ignored.
“Thanks, but what about the wig?” I asked, bringing the conversation back to the investigation.
“How did you know about that?” He looked surprised.
“Newton told me.” I leaned my elbow on my hip, my coffee cup in my grip. “That makes you think Sharon didn’t do it? Maybe she did. Maybe she wore a wig and threw it down to throw you off.”
I could see on Spencer’s face he was noodling the idea.
“Besides, she’s still with the husband, who also had an affair with Julie the secretary according to Bev. Who you can’t leave out either. Did she have an accomplice who killed her husband?” I took a sip. “See, your evidence doesn’t hold water right now. And you wouldn’t be here to get a statement from me if you didn’t have doubts. That is why you’re here, right?”
“Did you see anything?” He clicked his pen and put it down by the notebook.
“Not a thing. I was bobbing for apples when I heard the scream. We took off for the inn and that’s when we found Ron like everyone else. Candlestick and all.” My brows rose. “Any prints on the candlestick?”
“There were some prints lifted that didn’t match Camey’s or Babette’s. Their prints make sense because Camey got it for the wedding from All About The Details, which is Babette’s business. When I asked Babette about the candlestick, she gave me a list of weddings she’s used it in and we are having to go through all of those people to get their prints and rule them out.” He had his work cut out for him. “Then I wondered about your mom.”
“My mom? Are you nuts?” A huge sigh of frustration escaped me. “Again, not a murderer.”
“Before you get on that high horse of yours, hear me out.” He put his hand out in front of him. “She also was overheard having words with Ron. She wasn’t at the inn at the time of the murder.”
I thought back and realized he was right. I didn’t see her after she and Aunt Maxi had fussed about my reception they were planning when Debbie was there.
“She said she went back to the real estate office and starting getting together some ideas for your reception before Maxine could beat her to it.” He smiled, probably thanking the Lord he wasn’t the man I married. It was going to be a challenge having Aunt Maxi and mom for in-laws. Poor Patrick. “From Penny’s internet history and the security cameras from the various downtown businesses, we can tell she was exactly where she said she was until way up into the night.”
That gave me a huge relief since I knew Mom couldn’t stand to even look at Ron Harvey after he’d told her she had no knowledge of Honey Springs. I wasn’t so sure mom could hold back like I knew Camey could.
“So, you can erase her name from this whiteboard.” He laughed and stood up. “About that wig.” He bent down and petted Norman. “Again, not real sure where it come from, but there’s a lot of hair inside of it. We sent it off hoping to get some DNA from the hair fibers. If we only knew where it’d come from, then we’d have a leg up.”
There was a moment of silence. A tactical strategy I’d learned in law school was to say nothing because sometimes silence was golden. I was sure Spencer had learned the same thing at the police academy. When there was silence, th
e other person felt as though they needed to talk. It was something used by the police in interrogation rooms and by lawyers with their clients. It was when things were said just to end an uncomfortable silence that the juiciest details were spoken.
Neither of us fell for it. But I did tell him I’d be down at the station to see Camey today.
Fourteen
After Spencer left, I was relieved my mom wasn’t a suspect because her mouth had gotten her in trouble a lot over the years. I didn’t have my mom’s urgent need to become angry, but I did get my curiosity from her. Otherwise known as sticking my nose where it didn’t belong. It certainly didn’t belong in this murder investigation, but Camey was my friend. She’d helped me out more than I could ever thank her for.
My business tripled after she suggested I put treats in her hospitality room. Her guests would be walking around all the little shops on the boardwalk or enjoying festivities put on by the Beautification Committee and they would stop by for a cup of joe or a sweet treat since they already knew my coffee and pastries from Camey’s inn.
Plus it made me feel better about myself to think my nosiness about Ron’s death was helping to prove Camey’s innocence.
“You haven’t been yourself since Spencer left.” Bunny was putting away the bowls and cups from the lunch crowd and late afternoon customers.
“I’m fine. I just hate that Camey is down at that station when I know she didn’t have anything to do with it.” We both looked up when Kelly came through the door. “I keep playing different scenarios over in my head.”
“Are you talking about the murder?” Kelly asked and put her backpack behind the counter. She hung her coat up on the hook in exchange for an apron. “I heard Camey was the main suspect. Do they have solid evidence?”
“Not really. I mean she did smack Ron across the face after he’d insulted her several times.” I shrugged and untied my apron. Bunny also took off her apron and retrieved her heavier shawl and pocketbook. “Her fingerprints are on the candlestick, which is the murder weapon, but there are also a lot of other prints on it since Babette used it in a lot of weddings.”