Country Cottage Mysteries Boxed Set

by Addison Moore

  Leo shrugs. I don’t think he’s too interested in getting into the details of his grisly love life. I get it. The guy is grieving. He’s probably not thinking straight.

  “Here you go.” Luke sets a stack of applications in front of Leo. All right, time to get the message across. We’re done here. He offers an affable grin our way.

  There’s an all-around frat boy vibe about him. I don’t like to say it, but he sort of has a face people love to hate. The perpetual bad boy. And it makes me wonder exactly how bad he can be.

  Leo lifts a brow my way. This is your moment, kid. Do or die.

  I bite down over my lower lip when Leo calls me kid. He can’t be more than a few years older than me. It seems silly and adorable all at the same time.

  “You know”—I tip my head over at Luke—“there’s something very familiar about you.”

  Luke’s suit jacket splits as his chest expands with pride. “I get that all the time. Everyone I meet wonders if they went to high school with me. I must have that kind of face.” He slaps his cheek playfully.

  “No, that’s not it.” I pause just long enough to look as if I’m trying to place him. “Oh, I remember. You were at that women’s conference at the Country Cottage Inn—the one featuring Ginger King on how to land a rich man.”

  Luke tips his head back a notch, his face quickly bleaching out. “Right. I wasn’t there trying to pick up on any pointers, though.”

  The three of us share a warm laugh.

  Luke sniffs hard. “I was actually there with my girlfriend.” His affect dims quickly. “She was—um”—he slaps the back of his neck—“Shelby was the one that was killed that night.”

  My hand clutches at my chest. “I’m so very sorry.” I lean. “You know, I was a follower of hers—on her social media sites. I’ve seen almost all of her pictures. I don’t remember seeing you.”

  His chest pumps with the idea of a laugh. “No, you won’t find any. I didn’t want to be a part of her overexposed world.”

  “Don’t blame you. And I’m sorry for your loss as well.” Leo nods as he offers his sympathy. “What happened? I mean, that was a terrible thing. Was it a robbery gone wrong? Was she assaulted?”

  “No.” His brows dip down in the middle as he grows visibly upset. “It wasn’t anything like that. I don’t know what happened. I was trying to get her alone, and no matter how hard I tried, she kept evading me. Eventually, I followed her out of the ballroom and she bolted out of sight.”

  I glance to Leo. He told Jasper he saw Nessa arguing with Shelby in the courtyard.

  Leo shakes his head. Maybe that’s as far as he wants to take the conversation with us. Give him something to think about.

  “I can’t imagine what you must be going through,” I say, studying his face as if I were trying to determine whether a word coming out of his mouth were the truth. “It must be agonizing for you.”

  He shakes his head. You don’t know the half of it, lady.

  “Were you the one who found her body?” I can feel my own body growing hot, because I’m not entirely sure Luke doesn’t realize that I’m the one that found the body.

  “No. I don’t know who did. The entire thing was a nightmare from the moment I heard the gunshot.”

  “You heard the gunshot?”

  “It was powerful. I wasn’t sure what direction it came from, so initially I went the other way. But it only took a few minutes for me to find her. There was already a crowd around her at that point.”

  “So, you were never in the courtyard?” It comes out incredulous, partly because I can’t wrap my head around this. He’s either lying to Jasper or me.

  Leo takes a breath. My guess is you. He owes you nothing.

  “Nope.” Luke leans back in his seat. I’m not admitting anything. It’s bad enough I told the cops what I did. Nessa—arrested for murder one. I’m not sure if it’s a blessing or a curse at this point. For all I know, she didn’t say anything about Sarah to anyone. From now on, I know nothing about nothing. I can’t lose this job. I can’t rock the boat any more than I have. One more unsteady step and I’ll be overboard and eaten by sharks.

  Leo lands a hand on the table and pats it. “I just hope the last memory you had together was a good one.” He hitches his head my way. “All this one and I do is bicker. With our luck, we’d have a major blowout right before something tragic like that happened.”

  Luke flinches as if Leo had struck him. “You guessed it. And it wasn’t pretty. But I’m keeping my mouth shut about it. Her dad runs this place. The last thing he needs to know is that she was at her wits’ end with me.” That it was over. Sarah contacted her in the middle of that stupid seminar and Shelby flipped her lid—of course, nosey Nessa heard us arguing about her. Shelby was about to blow my cover sky-high. Honestly, if she weren’t dead, I would be. It couldn’t have been pretty. I guess in that sense, one of us had to go.

  Leo and I exchange a brief glance.

  My phone buzzes in my hand and it’s a text from Jasper. Stopped by the inn to say hello. Emmie mentioned you went to Seaview with some guy. Granger is missing. Please tell me he hasn’t hijacked you this afternoon.

  Every last part of me freezes in horror.

  Just a second. I text back and slip the phone into my purse because I don’t have it in me to lie to Jasper.

  Leo leans his elbow onto Luke’s desk. “You knew your girlfriend pretty well. Did she have any enemies? Anybody at all who would want to hurt her? If there wasn’t a robbery and she wasn’t assaulted, it must have been personal.”

  Luke glances out the window. “Oh, it was personal. I know that for a fact. I wasn’t the only one in a heated argument with her that night. In fact, I saw the woman who was speaking that night have it out with her. A couple of others, too.”

  “Ginger King?” I ask, surprised to hear her name mentioned in an unfavorable light—not that there’s much favorable about her.

  “Yup. That’s the one. The rich hubby chaser. Shelby said they used to be close—real close. In fact, Ginger was using Shelby’s new dog at her seminars to make herself more likable. Trust me. There’s not a dog on the planet who can achieve that feat.”

  I’d have to agree with him there.

  A part of me is afraid he’ll ask to have Peanut. Not that I’d ever comply. I don’t have a good feeling about this guy in general. Besides, he’s a big fake, sitting in here all day playing video games, collecting a paycheck for essentially dating the boss’ daughter. And I suppose that’s all about to crash to an end for him.

  Leo shakes his head. “What would Ginger and your girlfriend have to argue about?”

  “The dog?” I offer and immediately regret it.

  Leo thumps my knee with his. Never give the suspect a way out.

  Luke looks to the ceiling. I should just go with it and say the dog. “Not the dog.” He grimaces as if he were in pain. “There was something going on between the two of them. Shelby never wanted to talk about it, but whatever it was, it steamed her. She said something a few days before she died that the truth was about to come out and Ginger wouldn’t like it.” He pinches his eyes shut a moment. “I’m sorry. It’s all upsetting me. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” I need to think about my next move. The only truth I care about is the truth she had on me. Had that gotten out, it would be my funeral next week. Not hers.

  Luke walks us to the door, and Leo and I head for the safety of the elevator.

  “Well, Detective Baker?” He presses out a short-lived grin. “What’s the verdict?”

  “He has a secret, so he could be guilty. He could have done it. I’ll make notes once I get home and cross-check everything I’ve learned so far.” I pull out my phone. “But first, I gotta deal with a little guilt myself.” I flash Jasper’s text at Leo and he cringes.

  “Squash that bug, Bizzy. Before your relationship ends up getting squashed instead.”

  Leo and I drive back to Cider Cove in silence.

  And the both
of us feel as if we’re about to see the heel of Jasper’s shoe.

  Chapter 14

  “Protection?” Jasper is unfairly handsome while conducting his interrogation of me. Okay, fine. He’s not exactly patting me down—not that I would object to the endeavor.

  “Yes. Protection,” I say, cinching my arms around him.

  Fish huffs and it sounds like a sneeze. You don’t need protection, Bizzy, she yowls it out so Sherlock and Peanut can hear. You’re a strong girl. You can take care of yourself.

  Peanut whimpers as he walks in a small circle before burying his face in his tail. My poor Shelby needed protection. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.

  Sherlock takes a seat next to Peanut. All Bizzy needs is Jasper. It comes out just shy of a howl.

  Fish hops over and yowls again. You mean, all Jasper needs is Bizzy.

  As soon as I got back, I asked Jasper to meet me at my cottage and he met me at the door before I could get the key into the lock. And now we’re standing smack in the middle of it with our arms wrapped around one another while I try to dance my way out of a Leo Granger pothole I inadvertently fell in.

  His lips purse to the side, and something about the action makes my insides bisect with heat.

  It’s not fair that Jasper Wilder has the power to bring me to my knees with just a simple facial gesture.

  “Bizzy.” Jasper closes his eyes as a sigh depresses from him. “You know I can’t with a clear conscience encourage you to go after a suspect.”

  “Believe me, I don’t need your encouragement.” I feel terrible just saying it. “How about you build a fire and I’ll get us some hot cider? Meet you on the sofa in a minute.”

  And we do just that. Jasper has the fire crackling with life as we settle in close with a cup of steaming cider in each of our hands. Georgie gave me half a dozen of her flannel, toilet paper pumpkins and I lined them in a row across the coffee table.

  I happened to have a plateful of Emmie’s pumpkin spice mini muffins in the kitchen, and so I hand-feed one to Jasper and he does the same for me. I bite down gently on his finger and hold him hostage for a moment.

  A crooked smile glides up the side of his face.

  “So, what did you glean?” Jasper watches me as he takes a careful sip from his mug. What I really wanted to ask was why Leo? What’s going on with him? Between the two of them? I blame Leo for whatever it is.

  Here we go. “First, I want to talk about Leo.” Leo was right. I need to squash this bug before it squashes all the good things I’m fighting to have with Jasper. “I thought since I was headed out to Luke’s office, I needed a good cover. We told him we were shopping for a boat. We needed a loan.”

  We. His lids lower a notch, and I can feel his rage against Leo percolating.

  “And I’m sorry. I probably should have brought Georgie with me, or Macy or Emmie. But Macy and Emmie were swamped, and all Leo does is hang around the inn. He said the department stationed him here.”

  Jasper gives a slow blink. “And that would be because I requested it.” Of all the deputies to send. Come to think of it, I bet Leo volunteered. He shakes his head as if just coming to this conclusion. “I’ll be honest. I’m glad he was with you.”

  “What?” My heart gives an unnatural thump, half-afraid he’s going to dump me and head straight to Camila’s room.

  “Yes.” He sets down his cider and I do the same. “Leo may have been in plain clothes, but he was armed. I’d hate to think if you went out with Georgie and things went south. But”—he lands his lips to mine—“the last thing I want is you teaming up with Leo and the two of you running around interrogating suspects together.”

  “It won’t happen again.” I’m quick to shake my head.

  “I know it won’t.” Jasper’s tone is serious to the bone. “I’ll have him removed from the force if he pulls that stunt again.”

  I suck in a quick breath. “Jasper. That’s terrible.” My mind reels at the thought of putting Leo’s career in jeopardy. “Please don’t threaten him. I’ll leave him be. I won’t ask him for any more favors.”

  I’m glad about it. But I’m not saying a word. A thought comes to me. “You’re going back to utilizing Macy and Emmie, aren’t you?”

  “You forgot Georgie.”

  “Bizzy.” He’s right back to closing his eyes. “Okay. Fine. That just means I need to solve the case quicker. Let’s crack this nut.” He wraps his arms around me. “What happened with Luke today?”

  “The guy is a character.” I quickly fill him in on the fact Luke implied that Ginger and Shelby had something they were hiding. “He said he really didn’t want to admit to anything—that it was bad enough that he told the cops what he did. He said he felt terrible for Nessa. Oh, and he also said that if Shelby wasn’t dead, he would be. He made it sound as if whatever Shelby was furious with him about that night was enough to end him.”

  Jasper blinks as if he were surprised. “You got him to say all that? You’re pretty good at getting people to open up.”

  As much as I want to smile, my lips knot up instead. The truth is, Luke didn’t share half of that with me. I took it right from his mind.

  “Ginger and Shelby had a secret.” Jasper jots it down into his phone. “Luke has a secret, and he’s glad Shelby isn’t around to tell it.” He looks my way. “Is there anything else you can remember? Anything at all?”

  I think on it a moment.

  “Yes, actually.” I lift a finger with the memory. “He mentioned someone named Sarah. He said Sarah contacted Shelby in the middle of Ginger’s seminar, and that’s what made Shelby flip out.”

  Jasper’s eyes widen a notch. “Boy, you really cast a spell.” He picks up another mini muffin. “You didn’t feed him one of these, did you? Are you lacing them with truth serum?”

  “Very funny.”

  “I’m serious. It’s as if you strolled into Luke Parker’s office and read his mind or something.”

  My stomach rolls at the thought of being exposed. Although, in truth, I’d love nothing more than to fill Jasper in on my secret. It’s always felt heavy keeping my lips sealed. But now with Leo in the know, it suddenly feels as if I’ve got a battleship on my shoulders.

  Fish, Sherlock, and Peanut all scuttle forward and sit in a line as they watch with bated breath.

  Fish lets out a fierce meow. Are you going to do it, Bizzy? Are you going to tell him he’s right?

  Sherlock lets out a little bark. This is exciting. Jasper will know! Jasper will know!

  Peanut whines, What will happen when he finds out? What will happen to you, Bizzy? What will happen to us?

  Peanut has me giving some serious pause—or should I say paws to the situation.

  “What do we do with this information, Jasper? How do you make heads or tails out of the pieces?”

  He furrows his brows. “Do you have your laptop handy?”

  “I sure do.” I pluck it from the sofa table and open it up. “Now what?”

  “Let’s do a quick search on Luke Parker.”

  I type in his name and nothing.

  “Wow,” I say. “I’ve never seen anyone with such a small cyber footprint.”

  “Huh.” Jasper leans in. “Okay, so we’ll mark him off as a dead end for now. Type in Shelby Harris.”

  “That will be a contrast. She was basically the queen of the internet.” I look her up, and sure enough she’s everywhere.

  “Head over a few pages. I find the deeper I dig, the more interesting things get.”

  The first few pages are all links that lead back to her social media sites. That is, until we stumble upon something out of the ordinary.

  “Jasper, look at this,” I say, clicking the link that says Whaler’s Cove Community College. “It lists Shelby Harris as an English TA about five years ago.”

  Jasper leans in. “Now there’s something new.” He jots it down into his phone.

  “Do you think it’s important?”

  “One thing I
have learned after doing this for nearly a decade is that you never know what little detail can turn the whole case on its ear.”

  “Then I’ll tuck it in the back of my mind.” We do a quick search on Ginger and yield nothing. “Do you see the irony here between Luke and Ginger? Luke has zero info out there compared to Ginger who has at least fifty pages, and yet we yield just about as much on her as we did on Luke. It’s just a bunch of selfies and info on that gold digger’s guide she’s pushing. I can’t believe she’s making a killing off telling girls how to marry a rich man.”

  “Evidently, it’s information some women are willing to pay for. At the end of the day, Ginger King is a businesswoman.”

  “Yeah, and a darn good one.” Chelsea comes to mind. “I’ll look up Chelsea Ashley.” I input her name, and both Jasper and I hold our breath at what the first page exposes. “Jasper, is this a real mug shot?”

  “Sure as heck looks like it. What was she arrested for?”

  I click into the article. “Top millennial influencer busted for shoplifting fine jewelry.” My mouth falls open. “Do you think this is the dark secret she was keeping for Shelby?” Another thought comes to me. “Ginger mentioned that Shelby stole from the open houses Scout was conducting. But when they got busted, it was Scout who took the rap. Shelby was vindictive in making sure she kept her secret. I bet she did the same thing to Chelsea. Would that be a big enough motive for murder?”

  “Sure. Revenge. Damaging a reputation. It all fits. But with so many different motives, we need to somehow winnow it down to who really did it. I’ll tell you right now, it makes things tough when there was so much strife between Shelby and her friends.”

  The name Luke was thinking about comes back to me. “What about that Sarah woman Luke mentioned? How do we find anything on her?”

  “That’s a tough one. Maybe type their names in together.”

  “Sarah and Luke Parker,” I say as I input their names and a group of images pop up just above a scant number of links. “Jasper, that’s Luke.” My adrenaline spikes as I click into the picture, and just like that my mouth falls open. “Oh my God, Jasper. This is why Luke Parker has no cyber footprint.”