Jasper’s chest widens. And here we go. Done with Leo, huh? I don’t care to know the details. His lips contort just this side of a frown.
Great. That must mean Jasper isn’t interested in picking up where they left off.
Jasper nods. “I figured you woke up.” Woke up? “Leo applied for the Seaview Sherriff’s Department. Rumor has it, he got the position, too.”
Camila chortles as if it were hilarious. “It seems all my exes head to Seaview.” She looks my way. “Be sure to book me in a room near Jasper’s. We’ve always been close.” She bats her lashes up at him. And I predict we’re about to get a whole lot closer.
I swallow hard. I don’t wait for Jasper to reply, or God forbid have a single positive thought about the two of them getting back together. Instead, I nod over at her.
“I’ll get on that right away.” I shoot Jasper a look without meaning to. “Excuse me.” I head off into the crowd, embarrassed and enraged that I could be so ridiculous. If she wasn’t already making inroads with Jasper, I sure as heck assisted.
I bump into a body, a man with dirty blond hair and a determined look on his face.
“Sorry,” he says as he threads his way past me and pulls Shelby Harris to the side.
I bet he’s with that organization of men Ginger threatened us with. I glance up, and sure enough Carter O’Riley and the boy brigade stride into the room. Not that I know which one is Carter, but I do know a herd of decent-looking men when I see them.
Here’s hoping Camila spots one or ten she’s far more interested in than she is Jasper. But that nagging feeling in my gut tells me that won’t be happening. Face it, I’m not that lucky. And I’ve never been lucky in love. And with Camila on the opposing team? I don’t stand a chance.
I’m about to head for the kitchen when Nessa heads straight for me, snaps me up by the hand, and soon we’re sailing toward the front of the room with me trailing behind her like a kite.
“Bizzy, please tell my friends that I am simply working at the inn while I wait for some very important endeavors to fall into place for me.”
Not this again.
Both Nessa and Grady are convinced their stint here at the inn is something beneath them.
Shelby Harris, the girl with an open face and strawberry blonde hair, shoots a look to her blonde counterpart, Chelsea. If I remember correctly, they have some influencer superpowers that have cast a spell over the world.
The copper-haired girl who walked in with them strides up. “Please, Nessa. You don’t owe anyone an explanation of what you’re doing with your life.” She shoots both Shelby and Chelsea with death rays. “In fact, if I were you, I’d stay away from toxic people lest they drown you with their good intentions.”
Shelby gags. “Nobody drowned you, Scout. You sank on your own. Besides, you’re doing PR now for Ginger. You should be penning us a thank you note.”
The blond man with the determined look on his face plucks Shelby by the elbow.
“Shel, please, this will only take a second.”
“Don’t you touch me, Luke.” She yanks her elbow back and elicits a gasp among us.
A dark-haired man enters our midst, tall and strapping. His eyes glow like green orbs, and I could swear I just heard a collective sigh break out around him.
“Shel.” He nods her way. “Chelsea.” He offers the two of them amicable smiles before turning to the rest of the women who seem to be hypnotized by him. “I’m Carter O’Riley. If you’re wondering where all the healthy, wealthy, and wise men are, they’re currently at the refreshment table. I hear the muffins are to die for.”
Shelby shoots him a look that could kill. “And here’s another one that can thank me for the best career move he’s ever made.” And to think he’s begged to have me back every day since I walked away. Teaches him to cheat on me.
“You’ve got a face that could launch a thousand ships, babe,” Carter says it sweetly, and there’s a tenderness in his eyes that lets me know he means it. You’ve still got my heart, Shel. Please, just give me a minute of your time, he pleads silently, and it’s hard to listen to—even if I am prying into his mind to hear it.
Nessa scoffs. “More like the face that could sink a thousand mortgages. I’ve never been sorrier that I’ve ever met anyone before. If you’re done with your dog and pony show, I’d like to ask you to leave now.”
“Nessa!” I practically jump back, affronted that she’s speaking to a guest that way. It’s clear we’ll have to revisit every golden rule of hospitality. I’m sorry that she doesn’t care for the girl, but she’s going to have to shelf it. Lord knows I’ve done it a dozen times myself whenever Mack shows her queen of mean face—and with Jasper hanging around, she seems to do it twice as often. Now there’s one boyfriend of mine she won’t get to steal—Camila just might beat her to it first.
Chelsea steps in, her eyes wide as a vicious smile expands over her face. “Yes, Nessa. Get back to the front desk where you’re needed for important things like pointing people to the restroom.”
Both Chelsea and Shelby indulge in a robust laugh, and Nessa looks as if she’s ready to strangle them both.
“Oh, come on.” Shelby waves Nessa off. “You’re being ridiculous. And I’m certainly not talking mortgages with you. It’s not my fault your father got in over his head.”
Her father?
Nessa’s face turns red as a pomegranate. “And no thanks to people like my father, your family is living high on the hog. You don’t care. You’re heartless, Shelby. Oh, I could just kill you.” Nessa stalks off just as the blond man tries to pluck Shelby to the side once again, but Shelby snatches back her wrist as she growls at him.
“And I could just kill you,” Shelby riots in his face before storming out of the ballroom herself.
I’m about to do the same when Ginger heads this way. “Where did Shel go?” she snips, that faux plastered smile finally dissipating from her face. “I can’t hold this ugly mutt another second.”
“Ugly mutt?” I balk at how brazenly rotten she’s being. “He’s adorable. Here, let me take him.” I hold out my arms and she practically tosses the sweet angel at me. I drop a quick kiss over the pudgy little pooch’s head and press his warm body to mine.
Ginger grunts, “I’d better wash up. He slobbered all over me. My God, I probably have rabies.” She takes off and I can’t help but scoff at her.
“How could she say those things about this precious little dumpling?” I sink another kiss right between his ears and his soft fur tickles my nose.
“Easy.” Chelsea smirks. “She doesn’t want anything to do with pets or babies.” She shoots Scout a disparaging look. “Ginger’s PR girl gave her brilliant advice and told her to steal a pet and pretend it’s hers.”
Scout straightens. “It was brilliant. That woman needs all the help she can to make her more likeable. She’s a walking, talking nightmare. I didn’t realize she would ask to borrow Shelby’s poor puppy.”
Chelsea glowers at the rear exit. “I better find Shelby.” But that dog will be the last thing we talk about. She takes off for the rear of the room like a woman on a mission.
Scout smirks in her wake. “Good luck with that,” she shouts in her wake. She won’t talk to Shel if I find her first. She takes off into the crowd as music filters through the speakers and the din of conversations picks up a notch in octave.
I try to pry into the sweet pooch’s mind, but he’s practically shivering right out of his skin.
“I’d better get you somewhere quiet,” I whisper to him as I head toward the door, but before I get there, I spot Jasper with a whole new, tall, beautiful brunette stapled to his side. Mack Woods.
And there she is. Boy, Mack never misses a boyfriend beat.
Just what I needed. A little competition for Camila. My heart sinks at the prospect of losing Jasper to either one of them.
A part of me is beginning to wonder if this relationship has been one-sided all along.
But I’m
not sticking around to find out. Instead, I speed out the door and head right out of the ballroom where it’s dead silent compared to the boisterous crowd roaring to life in there. An explosive rattle goes off and I stop dead in my tracks. Hopefully, that refreshment table didn’t collapse on itself. I take a quick peek back inside, but everything looks as if it survived. I have a feeling that with this crowd that won’t be the last explosive sound I’ll hear tonight.
I pull Peanut up and drop a warm kiss to his forehead. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to drop you off at the Critter Corner daycare. It’s still staffed for another couple of hours, and I’ll make sure to tell Shelby where to find you. I promise you’ll be safe and comfortable.”
The tiny ball of fur shivers in my arms. Thank you.
“Hey?” I give him a playful jostle. “You’re welcome. I can hear your thoughts, by the way. Don’t you listen to a thing that mean woman said. You’re beautiful and sweet, and you don’t have rabies.”
He lets out a yelp that mimics a laugh. You can hear me! And you’re right. She is mean. A mean witch. I’d give anything not to be held by her again. Next time I think I’ll resort to biting.
“I wouldn’t sink to her level. I’ll talk to Shelby for you and see what I can do.”
I’d appreciate that.
I speed us down a lone hall that leads to the rear of the building and note the back door is opened.
Odd. It’s a staff only exit that leads to a dark courtyard. I’ve been meaning to string some lights up around there to give it a cozy appeal, but if anyone heads out there now they’ll be met with a cobbled pathway that leads to Critter Corner and the forest that butts up to it.
Outside, the autumn sky is dark, save for a burnt orange glow signifying a spectacular sunset that just settled. The air is crisp and the maples are already shedding their papery leaves to the ground in colors of red and orange. There is no prettier sight than fall in Cider Cove.
An owl coos from high in the evergreens. A coyote howls into the night, and a mean shiver rides through me once again. It’s as if something evil has descended on Cider Cove this October, and I shake my head at the thought.
Halloween will be here in just a few weeks, and that spooky night always gets the darker half of my imagination going.
I’m about to head to Critter Corner when I spot something along the cobbled path and I take a quick step back, holding onto Peanut tightly.
“Oh my God.”
Lying on the ground with a bloom of crimson over her chest is Shelby Harris.
It looks like I won’t be telling her a thing about Peanut.
Shelby Harris is dead.
Chapter 3
A knife-sharp scream evicts from me, so bloodcurdling, poor Peanut howls right along with me.
“Shelby,” her name rips from me so riotously loud my bones vibrate from the effort.
Not my Shelby. Peanut howls all the louder. Shelby! Come back to me!
In what feels like a blur, footsteps quicken from behind and a dark-haired man runs up panting. It takes a moment for it to register that it’s Carter O’Riley.
“What’s happened?” he barks it out with a marked aggression, and it takes everything in me to point to the ground. Lying on the cobbled path with her limbs splayed over red and yellow foliage is Shelby Harris, her eyes still opened to the navy sky above.
“Shelby!” Carter falls over her, doing his best to shake her to life as a barrage of footsteps hustle this way.
A pair of strong arms grips me from behind.
“Bizzy?” Jasper pulls me in momentarily, the stubble of his cheek brushing roughly over my face. “My God, are you okay?”
“Yes.” And before I can say another word, Jasper is on the ground checking Shelby’s vitals, shouting at someone on his phone. A crowd blooms around us in a moment’s notice, and Jasper bellows for everyone to take a step back.
“This is a crime scene.” His silver eyes meet with mine. “There’s been a homicide.”
A gasp circles the crowd, followed by a series of screams.
Nessa runs up looking frazzled, her hair wild, her shirt slightly askew.
“Oh my goodness. Who did this?” She looks into the crowd with wide eyes, the look of fear streaming from her as if it were palpable. My God, she’s dead. She’s really dead.
A swarm of sheriff’s deputies arrive, and soon enough they cordon off the area with caution tape that glows as bright as the sun. Chaos ensues as the crowd thickens. It’s as if the entire state of Maine has flocked into the vicinity.
“Bizzy!” Georgie runs up and locks both poor Peanut and me in a crushing embrace. “Tell me you didn’t do it. You killed Jasper’s ex, didn’t you?”
“Georgie,” I say, plucking her off me. “Please, get to your cottage. It’s too chaotic for you to be here—for anyone to be here.”
“What am I supposed to do in my cottage with a killer on the loose?”
“I don’t know. Break glass or something. We might need all the shards we can get to protect ourselves.”
“Good thinking!” She’s about to take off just as that blonde man who was trying to get Shelby to speak to him rushes the scene and bursts right through the barrier.
“Shelby,” he riots as he blasts through a couple of deputies, but before he can get to poor Shelby, a trio of men wrestles him to the ground.
Macy runs up and threads her arm through mine. “Bizzy, what just happened?”
Mom appears next to her, looking as if she were about to jump out of her skin.
“I don’t know what happened,” I say, glancing up at the worried faces surrounding me. “Look, I’m going to need your help wrangling everyone away from the area. Macy, why don’t you and Mom usher everyone back inside?” I turn to Georgie. “I’m going to give you Peanut. Do me a favor—find Fish and take them both back to my place. This poor thing hasn’t stopped shaking.” I pull his furry face close to mine. “Don’t you worry. I’ll be back soon enough. You’ll be safe. I promise.”
Bizzy—his large brown eyes bulge my way—I won’t go with that woman. I won’t go with Ginger. You can’t make me.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I say, pressing a quick kiss to his nose and handing him off to Georgie.
In less than a minute, my iron-handed mother and wonderfully bossy sister exert their superior powers of persuasion and the crowd quickly drains back inside the inn.
I turn to head toward the gaggle of deputies when I spot Jasper being accosted by Mayor Woods, and I can’t help but glower at her. Mack clearly knows no bounds.
Jasper looks my way and squints before glowering himself. He’s been known to be ornery, but there’s something about that look I can’t quite put my finger on.
I’m about to duck past the caution tape and put an end to Mack’s barbarism when a hand falls softly over my shoulder, and I turn to find the real reason for Jasper’s disdain. A tall deputy with dark, wavy hair and eyes laced with mystery and cockiness forces a smile my way.
“Bizzy.” He nods. “Leo Granger. We met a few weeks ago in the café.”
“I remember.” I try my hardest to put my mind on lockdown. It was Leo, here, who all but accused me of reading minds.
Bizzy, I have a feeling you can hear me. His eyes search both of mine with a fiery intensity. It’s okay. I share your gift. There are others like us, too.
“Others?” My fingers slap over my mouth and I turn to dash anywhere but here and end up smacking right into an all too familiar rock hard chest.
“What’s going on?” Jasper grunts it out as he does his best to stare Leo down. “If you have anything at all that concerns this case, you come to me.” Jasper blows out a breath before redirecting his attention my way. He pulls me in, those steely eyes bearing hard into mine. “Bizzy, I’ve got the inn on lockdown.” His voice softens as he searches my features. “Why don’t you get inside and make sure the guests are okay? The poor girl was shot. That means there’s a gunman on the loose. I’ll handle thin
gs out here.” His eyes flash to Leo. I’ll make sure Leo steers clear. Just because he’s got a beef with me doesn’t mean it’s open season on Bizzy. She’s off limits and I’ll make sure he knows it.
Every last bit of me warms just hearing the quasi-threat.
Leo lifts a brow. Someone is feeling insecure. He tips his head my way. I’m guessing he doesn’t know about your neat little party trick. His expression sours. Only it’s not a party trick, is it?
I shake my head at him. “I’ll gladly get inside, Jasper.”
No sooner do I step away than Camila Ryder shoots out of the inn and into our midst like a missile. Her flowy long hair seems to have taken a life of its own as it sails behind her as if she were being chased by a dark cloud.
“Leo? Jasper?” she pants out their names. “Is it true? Is it Shelby?”
I take a step back. “Did you know her?” My adrenaline surges because a very small shallow part of me would love to pin her with the crime.
She nods while attempting to catch her breath. “I knew her. A little too well.” And as horrible as it is to admit, I’m not all that sorry she’s gone.
My mouth falls open as Leo and I exchange a quick glance.
I clear my throat. “Can I ask how you knew her?”
“Oh”—she shudders as a crisp breeze whistles by—“I don’t remember. It’s been a long time.” She looks to Leo. Some secrets are better dead and buried. Isn’t that right, sweetheart? “I’d better get inside.” Her gaze hooks to Jasper. “It was really nice seeing you again. I’d say you were the highlight of my evening.” She glances over to where the coroner’s office is taking pictures of the crime scene. The highlight of my evening until right about now.
She offers a sly smile before speeding back into the small crowd still lingering behind us.
My heart thumps wildly at the strange exchange.
Someone calls for Jasper from the thick of the crime scene and he gently pulls me into his arms.
Country Cottage Mysteries Boxed Set Page 21