“Maybe she got called away for a family emergency?” Ryan suggested.
“Mona was right that we haven't seen her for a while," Heather said. "And the delay in starting the exit music makes me think that she wasn't there to cue it to start on time. If she knew she wasn't going to be there for the ceremony, she would have made arrangements for it to go on without her."
“This is an old house with lots of rooms,” Ryan said. “Maybe she accidentally got locked in one. We shouldn’t assume the worst.”
“You’re right,” Heather said. “But we’ve checked all the rooms up here.”
“Maybe Amy and Jamie are having more luck,” Ryan said.
They walked down the stairs and found their friends stuffing their faces with wedding donuts.
“We did check the whole area,” Jamie said. “With no luck.”
"We did find Talia's cell phone number, but she's not responding to calls," Amy added.
“And so then, we decided we needed a quick snack break,” Jamie said.
“To keep our energy up,” Amy agreed. “For searching. Or dancing. Or sleuthing.”
Heather stopped looking so stern and smiled. She took a donut from a passing caterer too but then noticed the champagne glasses. A thought occurred to her.
“There’s another place we can look,” Heather said. “Did anyone check the wine cellar?”
The others shook their heads.
“It’s not on the ground floor,” Amy said. “So technically we didn’t miss it. I just didn’t think about it.”
“I thought it was off-limits to guests,” Jamie said.
“It might be,” Heather said. “But Talia isn’t a guest.”
They hurried towards the wine cellar and ignored the velvet rope designating it off-limits. Heather opened the door and started down the wooden steps.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Amy said. “Can’t we just stay upstairs? Have some cake? Join a conga line?”
“Catch the bouquet?” Heather suggested.
“Don’t tease me,” Amy said. “Fine. I’ll go down into the creepy basement with you.”
Ryan and Jamie were right on their heels. Ryan clenched his hand. Heather could tell that he missed his police equipment. Now that he was a detective on the Key West Police Force, he had no jurisdiction in Hillside. He was dressed as a groomsman and not as an officer.
“Talia,” Heather called. “Are you down here?”
“The bride is looking for you,” Amy called. “You don’t want to let down the bride.”
"Miss Pinster," Ryan called. "Can you hear us?”
Feeling that he should add something to the calls too, Jamie said, “We have donuts if you come.”
They reached the floor and looked around the staked bottles of wine and large casks.
“Maybe she’s not down here?” Amy said.
“Oh, no,” Heather said as she walked around a cask. “She is here.”
“You’re not moving towards her,” Amy said. “Is she dead?”
Amy opted to turn away, rather than look at the body.
“She is dead,” Heather said. “And it looks like she was hit on the back of the head.”
“Which means murder,” Ryan said.
“I can’t believe it,” Heather said. “I thought everyone was using gallows’ humor and making jokes. Why did this have to happen at Mona’s wedding? Why did it have to happen at all? Poor Talia.”
They were all silent for a moment and then Amy asked, “So, what are we going to do?”
“What do you mean?” Ryan asked.
“Well, we can’t ruin Mona’s wedding,” Amy said.
“But we can’t ignore a murder,” Ryan said. “And we can’t let a killer get away.”
“I don’t want either of those things either,” Amy said. “But if Mona finds out about this, she’ll be devastated.”
“She’ll think her marriage is cursed,” Jamie agreed.
“I hate the timing of this as much as anyone,” Ryan said. “But a woman was killed. That takes precedence over everything. We need to call the police, and we need to do everything we can to solve this. Even if it means stopping the wedding reception.”
“That might not be necessary,” Heather said.
“I know she’s your friend,” Ryan began.
Heather ignored him and asked Jamie, “You said that the security to get into the building was very tight?”
“That’s right,” said Jamie. “I had to prove I was me and that I was supposed to be here.”
“Then I don’t think the killer could have snuck inside,” Heather said. “And that means that it’s either a guest or someone who works here who committed the crime.”
“And you’re proposing that if we let the party continue, we can question potential suspects without them knowing we’re on to them?” Ryan asked.
“Exactly,” Heather said “But you were right about something. We do need to contact the police. Luckily, one’s already here.”
The Detectives
“Let me get this straight,” Detective Hoskins said. "You just arrived back in town, and you already found a crime scene before I did? I thought I was handling things since you left.”
“I’m sure you’re doing admirably,” Ryan assured him.
Heather and Detective Hoskins had never been great friends. When she first began investigating he had made some sexist comments, and for a long time she thought that he was an inept officer. He had always seemed more interested in chocolate than clues. While she loved donuts as much as the next person (probably more!), she still knew when to be respectful and when to buckle down during an investigation. For a long time, Heather thought that Hoskins didn’t know these times. However, shortly before they moved, he had started making more of an effort and was becoming a better officer.
In fact, he looked disappointed that a crime was able to happen so close to where he was. Heather felt a small wave of affection for Ryan's former partner. Amy wasn't as forgiving.
“How good was security around here if somebody was able to get knocked off?” Amy asked.
“I wasn’t a bodyguard,” Hoskins said, defensively. “I was supposed to keep unauthorized people from entering the grounds. And I did that.”
“That’s what I thought,” Heather said. “And if no one that wasn’t involved with the wedding was allowed in, then it had to be one of those people who committed the murder.”
“Great,” Amy said, not relishing the fact. “We can use the guest list as a suspect list.”
"Were you checking people as they left too?” Heather asked.
“I wasn’t going to mark them off a list or anything,” Detective Hoskins said. “But I would have seen if anybody left the grounds. Nobody did so far.”
“That makes sense,” Amy said. “Why would you leave before cake?”
Heather nodded too. “If you didn’t want to arouse suspicion of what you did, you might want to stay with the crowd. Especially if you knew there was a guard outside.”
“And a real police detective as a guard at that,” Hoskins said.
They heard movement at the top of the stairs and turned. Jamie, who had been guarding Hoskins’s post until relief arrived, was coming down the stairs followed by two people. Heather recognized the older man grumbling about the stairs as the medical examiner who often came to Hillside crime scenes. Heather didn't recognize the female officer but guessed that it was Hoskins's new partner.
“They have some officers as the guards outside now,” Jamie said.
“That’s right,” the female officer said. “Now, Hoskins, what is going on here? It sounded like you said there was a murder that happened here, but there’s still a party going on upstairs?”
The medical examiner grumbled about how there had better be a crime that was committed to justify his walking down the stairs.
“Did you tell anyone why you were here?” Heather asked quickly, hoping that she hadn’t spilled the beans to the bride.
<
br /> “I don’t know what’s going on here,” she responded. “Would someone mind telling me?”
“This is my partner, Detective Pauline Pearson,” Hoskins said. “This is my former partner, Detective Ryan Shepherd. Now stationed in Key West. This is his wife and a private investigator, Heather. Her loud friend and partner, Amy. And Amy’s boyfriend, Jamie. I think he washes dogs.”
Amy looked like she had something to say about these introductions, but Detective Pearson spoke first, “I’ve heard a lot about you all, actually. You’ve solved many crimes here before.”
“That’s right,” Ryan said. “And we’d like to offer our help with this one too.”
“Who is the victim?” Detective Pearson asked.
“Her name is Talia Pinster,” Heather said. “She was the curator here at Hillside Hovel since it opened up. She was helping with the wedding taking place today too.”
“Based on how you’re dressed, I’m guessing you were involved in the wedding?” Detective Pearson asked.
“Co-Maids of Honor,” Amy said.
"A fill-in groomsman," said Ryan.
“I was a guest,” said Jamie. “And a wedding date.”
"I think I see what's happening here," Detective Pearson said. "You uncover a murder, and you don't want it to ruin your friend's party."
“It is a wedding,” Amy pointed out. “It is a bit of a bigger deal than a party.”
"And so you asked your old friend on the force to see if he could keep it quiet so the party could go on,” Detective Pearson said.
"No," Heather said. "Look, I don't want anything to ruin Mona's happiness, and I'd prefer she doesn't find out until after we catch the killer or until she returns from her honeymoon. But the main reason we didn't stop the reception is that we're sure that the killer is still here. I think we have a better chance of catching him if he doesn't know that we're on to him."
“And it is true that the other bridesmaids might try and beat us up if they found out we stumbled upon a murder here after they asked us not to find any trouble,” Amy muttered.
Detective Pearson narrowed her eyes, but then turned to Hoskins. “What do you think?”
“As much as I hated it at the time, their instincts were always spot on,” Hoskins admitted.
“All right,” Detective Pearson said. “We’ll continue with your plan. The officers outside will stop guests from leaving for now. We can blame a traffic accident or something. That will keep all the suspects inside the building.”
The medical examiner began to study the body, as Pearson continued with her plan. “Since the guests here know you, you can mingle and ask questions about their whereabouts.”
“The last time we saw her was before the ceremony began,” Heather said. “And she missed giving the cue for the music to start when it ended. She must have been dead at that time.”
“Hoskins and I can start asking questions too,” Detective Pearson said. “But if we want to keep the murder quiet for now, we’ll have to come up with another reason for us being there.”
“We could be searching for a wedding crasher,” Hoskins suggested. “The guests already know that’s what I was checking for when they came in.”
“Good idea,” Heather said, impressed at Hoskins’s initiative.
"Do you know anyone who would want this woman dead?” Detective Pearson asked.
“So far, no,” Heather admitted. “But with all of us working on this, I’m sure we can figure it out. But we’ll have to hurry. We need to solve the case before the guests start wanting to leave.”
“And before Mona finds out!” Amy added.
Keeping Secrets from the Bride
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Amy said, as she and Heather moved back towards the reception. “Hillside Hovel was supposed to be an exciting wedding venue. Not a murder scene.”
"I know what you mean," Heather said. "And everyone here was supposed to be celebrating Col and Mona's love. But one of them is a cold-blooded murderer."
“Do you think we can find the murder weapon?” Amy asked. “I didn’t notice anything bloody when I was looking for Talia the first time around.”
“Me neither,” Heather said. “But I’m sure we can find it. If the killer didn’t leave, then the weapon didn’t leave either. Now that we know what to look for, we might be able to find it.”
“What did the medical examiner say?” Amy asked. “I don’t have my tablet to take notes on for this case. Should I take notes on wedding napkins? Is that tacky?”
“The medical examiner said that she was hit with a cylindrical object,” Heather said.
“Right,” Amy said. “I kept assuming that because we were in the wine cellar and it was cylindrical that she was killed with a bottle of wine. But then he said that it had to be something wider. I couldn’t remember the exact words he said at first because I was so focused on thinking that it was a killer bottle of wine.”
“That can be a problem with murder investigations,” Heather said. “You can become so focused on one interpretation of a clue that you blind yourself to other possibilities, and possibly the correct answer.”
“Are you saying it could be absolutely anyone?” Amy asked. “Are you suggesting that we shouldn’t even be blind to Mona?”
“No,” Heather said. “There are a few people we know couldn’t have done it, both because we know them and because of the timeline. The bridesmaids were all with the bride from the last time we saw Talia Pinster until after the wedding ceremony. Ryan said it was the same with the groomsman. None of them had the opportunity to commit the murder.”
“Is there anyone else we can eliminate as a suspect?” Amy asked. “Besides Jamie? I'll vouch for him. And besides, he never met Talia Pinster until the rehearsal dinner."
“We can also dismiss Nicolas as a suspect,” Heather said with a bit of a smile. “That little boy is too short to hit an adult over the head.”
"It feels weird to be thinking of the other guests as suspects," Amy said. “How do we proceed?”
“We need to find out more about the victim,” Heather said. “And we need to find out what she was doing in the wine cellar at that time.”
“You’re right,” Amy said. “That is a good question. What was she doing down there?”
“Did you find Talia?” Mona asked, coming up to them.
“Oh, we found her all right,” Amy muttered.
“Where was she?” Mona asked.
“In the wine cellar,” Heather admitted.
“What has she been doing all this time?”
Heather and Amy exchanged a look.
"Laying down on the job,” Amy finally said. Heather elbowed her.
“That doesn’t sound like Talia at all,” Mona said. “Is she all right?”
“There’s a medical professional with her now,” Heather said, hating herself for stretching the truth by referring to the coroner that way.
"That's good," Mona said.
“Do you know her well?” Heather asked, making sure to use the present tense.
Mona shrugged. "I guess we mostly talk about Hillside Hovel and the wedding. I don’t know too much about her, but she’s been very sweet to me.”
“Was there anyone that she wasn’t sweet to?” asked Heather.
"I guess anyone who doesn't appreciate Hillside Hovel isn't in her good graces," said Mona. "She loves this place. Some people in town might think she's a little stuck up. But it's because she loves this place."
“Anyone in particular?” Amy asked.
“I’m not sure,” Mona said.
“She seemed to be having troubles with the heirs to the house too,” Heather commented.
“That’s true,” Mona said. “You saw some of the disagreements they had. She wanted everyone to see the grandeur of Hillside Hovel, but the Greyanders were more reticent.”
“Does she have a boyfriend?” asked Heather. “Maybe someone who works here?”
“No,” Mona said. “She men
tioned it because we kept talking wedding stuff. Why? Does she need to be taken home?”
“No,” Amy said. “That won’t be necessary.”
"Do you know why she might have been down in the cellar?" Heather asked. "It was the last place we thought to look."
“She didn’t tell you?” Mona asked.
“We didn’t think to ask,” Amy said quickly.
“I guess it might have been to get some more wine or champagne,” Mona said. “I don’t know why else she would be there.”
“Does she get along with everyone who works here?” Heather asked. “And the caterers for the wedding?”
“It’s funny you should ask that,” Mona said. “Because I think I heard her arguing with Glenn last night.”
“The man in charge of catering?” Amy asked.
"That's right," Mona said. "I couldn't make out what they were saying, and I didn't want to pry, but it sounded heated. Did he do something to her? Serve her something that made her sick?”
“We’re probably being paranoid,” Heather said.
“You know us,” Amy joked. “Murder on the brain.”
“You go and enjoy the reception,” Heather said. “We’ll take care of everything. We promise.”
The Wine Cellar
“They must be suspicious.”
“I don’t think so,” Heather said. “We were just catching up.”
“Nah,” Amy continued. “They know us too well. They didn’t forget how many cases we solved. You even cleared some of them on murder charges themselves!”
Heather frowned. She and Amy had just checked in with her Donut Delights employees. She didn’t think it was possible that any one of them could have committed the crime, but she knew it was her due diligence to question them. She wanted to talk to them early in the investigation to discount them as suspects, and because she knew it would be easy to get them talking about what they had seen.
“I hope it just seemed like I was checking in on them to see how they were doing and not sleuthing,” Heather said. “Though I wish I really was just checking in on them to see how they were doing. I miss them all.”
Mimosa Cream & Murder: An Oceanside Cozy Mystery - Book 16 Page 3