Country Cottage Mysteries Boxed Set

by Addison Moore

  He takes a deep breath. “And now we know exactly who Sarah is.”

  Chapter 15

  Luke Parker isn’t Luke Parker at all. He’s Luke Abernathy—a very much in debt, very much married, father to four-year-old twin boys. No wonder he didn’t want his picture anywhere near Shelby’s social media. It would have been a dead giveaway.

  “Wow.” Georgie shudders as I run all this by her. “You and Detective Hot Stuff felt all this out last night?” Her left brow hooks into her forehead. “What else did you happen to feel out?” She elbows me in the ribs as she tries her best to find out if we moved the needle on our relationship.

  “Don’t get too excited, Georgie. We’re still firmly planted on first base.”

  Georgie makes a face just as a small crowd moves over toward the register in the Country Cottage Café and we step aside so that they can put in their orders. Emmie is at the helm and the entire café holds the hypnotic scent of fresh pumpkin spice mini muffins.

  Georgie grunts, “Okay, so first base isn’t a bad place to be. But get busy, would you, Bizzy?” She howls with laughter. “See what I did there?” She steps in close. “What do we do now?”

  Fish wraps herself around my ankles and I pick her up. “Right now, I want to track down his wife, Sarah Abernathy, and grill her a bit. You know, get into Luke’s psyche from another angle.”

  Fish licks her lips as she looks up at me. Good thinking, Bizzy. I’ve met my fair share of fat cats who like to run around. And he sounds like one of them.

  I nod down at her. Fish has always been wise beyond her years—or months, considering she’s just a kitten.

  “I wasn’t talking about the killer.” Georgie scoffs as she tucks her fists into her hips. “What do we do about you and Detective Kisses-a-Lot? Macy’s already scored three home runs in the past week alone. You’re down three, and next up at bat, Biz. I say we spruce up your nighttime accouterments and slam one out of the park.”

  I make a face as I look past her at the crowd. “Never mind about Jasper and me. He still needs to call off his ex. And maybe his mother. Until then, we’re still not officially official, so the people in the grandstands can put away their mitts. I’m not knocking anything out of the park anytime soon.” And every cell in my body is protesting the idea.

  “You’re no fun,” she grunts as she pulls out her phone. “I’ll do a little digging and find out where to find this Sarah chick.” She strays off to an empty table just as Emmie’s brother, Jordy, heads this way. Both his flannel and jeans look as if he was rolling around in the grass. His face looks as if it has just enough grime on it to make his blue eyes glow like lanterns.

  “Hey, Bizzy. I just cut back the hedges, mowed the lawn, and fixed the fountain out front. The Montgomerys sent another truck full of pumpkins. They said they had a surplus and thought you could use them. Where do you want them?”

  Fish smacks me with her tail. Put them in front of our cottage. I do like to hide and give the dogs a decent fright every now and again. I need the cover.

  “Another truck full? We’ve already blanketed the front and the back of the inn. Not to mention I’ve dotted them everywhere I can inside. Aside from putting a few big ones in front of my cottage”—I land a kiss to Fish’s furry head—“what do you think we should do with them?”

  Jordy thinks about it. “You’re having that party in a couple of days, right?”

  “The mixer. I almost forgot all about it. Ginger King invited all her fans, and Carter O’ Riley is coming in strong with his testosterone brigade. It’s a costume party. I have a feeling things are going to get wild. I just hope the ballroom can contain them all.”

  This is going to be fun, Bizzy. Good luck trying to lock me up in the cottage for that one. I’ll be front and center. I’ll keep an eye out for a madman with a gun in the event they come back to claim another victim. You never know. It could be you.

  I wrinkle my nose at Fish before setting her down.

  Jordy shakes his head. “The ballroom might get stuffy by the end of the night. How about we open the back doors and have the party flood out into the courtyard? We can use the pumpkins to decorate it. I’ll fill the planter beds and as many empty baskets as I can. I’ll call some friends and we’ll carve the rest and have them lit that night. If you let me get really creative, I’ll turn the forest that butts up to the courtyard into a haunted woods for the night. I’ve got a fog machine and purple twinkle lights. It’ll look like magic. Black magic.”

  “Sounds terrifyingly perfect. Do it,” I say.

  Jordy takes off and I spot Camila just finishing up a conversation on her phone before hanging up and walking this way.

  “Camila.” I try my best to sound perky. “Can I speak with you a minute?”

  She shakes out her long dark hair as if trying to ward off a gnat. Why do I get the feeling I’m a gnat?

  “What?” she snaps in annoyance.

  “It’s just, I, uh—my brother, Huxley, subscribes to Gear Head magazine, and he’s such a good customer they’ve already sent him a calendar for next year.”

  She sucks in a quick breath and drags me off into the quiet hush of the hallway.

  “You know, don’t you?” Her eyes sparkle like shards of glass, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say they were tears. God, I wish I never met Shelby Harris. If she wasn’t already dead, I’d—I’d… She sags as if she couldn’t possibly finish the thought.

  “I know.” I give a guilty shrug. “But I won’t say anything to Jasper.”

  “You bet you won’t.” The words come out like a threat, and somehow I think she means it just that way. “Look, I made a huge mistake. It could cost me everything. I’ll lose my position at the school. I’ll have nowhere to turn.”

  “You have my word. Your secret is safe with me.” As safe as it can be until February. “Camila, can I ask why you would do something like this? I mean, you said yourself it could cost you your career.”

  She closes her eyes a moment. “Would you believe me if I said I had no idea the picture would be published?”

  “Did you sign a release? Are they using your image illegally? My brother, Huxley, is a lawyer. I’m sure he can—”

  “Yes, I signed a release,” she snips. “And I don’t care very much for your brother, Huxley, at the moment. He can shove his legal degree. Those pictures were taken after a very long day of shooting very demure pictures for a women’s catalog. At the end of the day, the photographer asked if I wanted to have a little fun and I said yes. The release was for all images. I didn’t realize that at the time. And ironically, none of the demure pictures made it into any catalog.”

  “Camila, you were taken advantage of.”

  She glares at me a moment. “Thank you for pointing that out. And now, I would like to forget it. In the meantime, I’ll be running scared for the rest of my time as a high school guidance counselor because obviously my days are numbered.”

  “And Shelby Harris was the one to connect you with the photographer.” I nod as all the pieces come in crystal clear.

  “Don’t get any funny ideas, busy bee. I didn’t kill anybody. And if you so much as whisper the idea to anyone, I’ll make sure that on the day I lose my job—you lose yours.” You’ll lose Jasper regardless. “Whoever killed Shelby is still out there.” And if she cost them as much as she cost me, I just might be rooting for them to get away with murder.

  She stalks past me and heads back upstairs in a flurry.

  Camila sounds innocent. But that doesn’t mean I’m so willing to wipe her off my suspect list.

  As much as I’d like to gnaw on everything that just happened, I spot my not-so-sweet floozy of a sister talking to Emmie, so I head on over.

  “Heard you hit a triple header,” I say before making a face at this older, questionably wiser blonde-haired version of me. “Wait, that’s not right. I meant, I heard you hit three homers.”

  Macy tugs a lock of her short hair. “You had it right the first time. But I�
��m done with him now.” She flicks her wrist as if it were a passing faze.

  “What? You can’t be done with him. That’s Jasper’s brother. You can’t use him and lose him. It’s going to make Thanksgiving dinner really, really awkward.”

  Macy blinks back. “Relax. We were having a good time. It’s not like we have twelve kids and I’m kicking him to the curb.”

  Emmie leans in. “He’s the lawyer, right? Kick him my way. I saw him at the Haunted Harvest Festival. I wouldn’t mind sinking my fangs into him.”

  “That’s because he looks exactly like Jasper,” I’m quick to point out. “And we’ve always liked the same thing.”

  “You want him?” Macy tips her head to Emmie and coos as if she were giving a puppy away to a good home. “He’s all yours. Just remember, don’t feed him after midnight. Unless, of course, you don’t have an early schedule.”

  Emmie claps like a seal. “Hear that, Bizzy? I’ve got me a Wilder.”

  My eyes widen a notch. “Emmie, you don’t want Macy’s sloppy seconds. And Macy, what if he’s still into you? You’re going to break his heart.” I’d like to break her neck, but I leave that fun little homicidal fact out of it for now. “A part of me wishes you never threw your unmentionables at Jasper’s brother.”

  Macy rolls her eyes. “Clam down, panty patrol. Besides, Emmie deserves to have a little fun.” She turns to Emmie. “And Jamison is all about making sure you have a very good time.”

  Emmie squeals at the racy revelation. “Invite him to the party this Saturday night. The inn is hosting its first Halloween rager.”

  A fountain of words tries to bubble up my throat all at once. “I seriously doubt this will be a rager. And it’s not our party to invite people to.”

  Look who’s here, Bizzy! Fish says from somewhere below. She tried on the witch’s hat in front and it fit! Peanut says she’s the real deal. He said I should watch my furry back before she makes me her familiar.

  A sugary breeze catches my attention as Ginger King with all her fiery redheaded glory pops up next to me.

  “Are you talking about my party?” Ginger spikes a black glossy fingernail into her chest. “Please, invite whomever you want.”

  Fish claws at my boot and I quickly pick her up.

  “Thank you, Ginger,” I say. “That’s kind of you to offer.”

  “I mean it.” She makes a sour face at Fish. “I’m having the café cater the event. Just add whatever you think we’ll need. Carter is bringing the boys. So I don’t expect any one of you to be single by the end of the night.” She gives a sly wink to Emmie and Macy, both of whom gurgle with titillation at the prospect.

  Wonderful.

  Macy plucks out her phone. “I’ll invite all the Wilders since we’re pretty close now. Plus, that way I can try out Dalton. A man who specializes in touchdowns should never be underestimated.” She takes off toward Georgie. “I’ll invite Mom, too!”

  Good Lord. Jasper will never speak to me again after Macy runs his brothers over with her unstoppable libido.

  Emmie leans in. “How about you, Ginger? How’s your love life? I bet you’ve got a line of rich men a mile long all waiting to make you their own.”

  “I’ve got my sights set on someone in particular, and I’m about to head over to the Seaview Sherriff’s Department to extend a personal invite to the party.”

  Emmie gasps, “Is it that hot deputy that’s been hanging around? Leo Granger?”

  Ginger looks as if she’s been offended. “What’s a Granger? Anyway, no. It’s Detective Wilder.”

  Emmie and I exchange a quick glance, and Fish yowls right at Ginger for even thinking of conducting the malfeasance.

  Don’t let her near him, Bizzy. She’s bound to cast a spell on him.

  Ginger purrs, “He’s got that naughty haughty gleam in his eyes every time he looks at me, and I just melt right into a puddle.”

  I know exactly what she’s talking about because he happens to melt me the same way. But what Ginger doesn’t realize is that Jasper is simply being himself. He can’t help it if he’s arrestingly handsome. Ironic, since he does walk around with a set of shiny bracelets to do just that—arrest.

  “Anyway”—she points to Emmie—“two dozen of those pumpkin spell mini muffins, please.”

  Spell? Fish perks an ear up. I knew it. She’s trying to cast a pox over your man. Don’t give her anything delicious to take with her.

  Emmie shrugs over at me. “Two dozen mini muffins coming right up.” She takes off.

  “I spoke to Nessa this morning.” I offer a forlorn smile.

  “You did?” Ginger looks aghast as if I just told her I went to the morgue and spoke to Shelby herself.

  I nod. “She sounded absolutely miserable. She’s convinced she’s going to spend the rest of her life behind bars.”

  Ginger scoffs. “As she should. People can’t just get away with murder these days.”

  Especially not Nessa. Nope. That little beanpole is going to fry for this one.

  I feel terrible that she thinks Nessa did this. That just about everyone thinks Nessa did this. I seem to be the only one that’s not convinced. But I decide to drop it for now.

  “Back to the party,” I start. “Since you’ve kindly opened the doors, how about you write up a cute little invite that I can share with the guests of the inn? I know a lot of them are your fans and they’d appreciate having you personally invite them to the party. Maybe you could start it off with it will be a dark and stormy night. Or once upon a cursed night in Cider Cove, or—”

  She waves me off. “Please. I couldn’t write my way out of a paper bag. Just send a mass text with the time and place. That’s all I’ve done so far, and all of my fans will be there. We can call it something cute like the Monster Mash. Can’t wait until Detective Wilder sees me in my barely-there bunny costume. I have a feeling my night is going to be a real scream, if you know what I mean.”

  Emmie pops up with a box of those mini muffins, and Ginger is quick to pay her.

  She leans my way. “Wish me luck.” She takes off before I can say another word.

  Fish swipes the air in her direction. Let me go, Bizzy. I’ll have Sherlock bite her ankles on the way out.

  “How very catty,” I say. “I think I like this side of you,” I whisper to my sweet kitten just as she jumps out of my arms and scampers for the reception area.

  Georgie crops up, wagging my phone. “I found her, Bizzy. I found her!”

  “Found who?”

  “The girl with the twins. She’s a part of some moms group. Mama Bears of Edison. I joined the group and they just let me in. They’re having a play date at the Haunted Harvest Festival today. They’ve already been there for an hour. We need to leave pronto!” She pulls me toward the door.

  “Emmie, will you keep an eye on things? I’ll be right back!”

  “You bet. Just go!” Emmie waves us off just as Macy catches up to us.

  My sister links her arm to mine. “The two of you aren’t having fun without me. Georgie and I will go on one of those haunted hayrides while you wrestle with the perpetrator.”

  “I’ve been dying to go on that haunted hayride,” I say.

  Macy shrugs. “Well, if you’re lucky, she’ll kill you and you can haunt the ride yourself.”

  “You’re not funny.”

  I’m pretty sure Sarah Abernathy isn’t the killer.

  But her husband?

  He’s another haunted story altogether.

  Chapter 16

  A canopy of thick, dark clouds hangs heavy over the Haunted Harvest Festival.

  Both Macy and Georgie pull their coats tight as we brave the chill while making our way into the thick of the festival. There’s a midway rife with games and adorable stuffed pumpkins of every shape and size as prizes, along with stuffed ghosts and witches and goblins and scarecrows. The line for hot apple cider is long enough to make you think twice, and I note the pumpkin patch is beginning to look scarce of its cheery o
range globes as the month wears on.

  I’ve brought both Sherlock and Peanut with me, as a sort of double-barreled ammunition. Dogs are typically considered to be chick magnets—and that will be great if I can get one chick in particular to magnetize toward me—Sarah, and if not her, I’m really hoping her boys will be drawn to them, and perfectly distracted while I grill their mother on whether or not their father could be a killer.

  Sherlock tugs at the leash. There’s a giant cat over there, and it’s grinning at me, Bizzy! I think it’s eating children by the dozen.

  I glance to where his nose is pointed, and sure enough there just so happens to be a giant bounce house in the shape of a black cat currently being enjoyed by what looks like far too many children.

  Peanut barks at the oversized balloon. Kids are screaming and trying to hop on out! We need to rescue them, Bizzy. Let’s go now.

  “Now that’s quite a bounce house,” I say to the paranoid pooches while trying not to sound like an insane person to my sister. Georgie knows all about my so-called insanity, and she often begs me to tell her what the animals are thinking.

  Macy moans as a kid walks by holding a candy apple that looks as if it were rolled in marshmallows and chocolate covered candies in a rainbow of colors.

  “I need one of those devilish treats in my stomach like yesterday.” Macy plucks off her white knit gloves. “Who’s in?”

  “Me!” Georgie wails while raising her hand to the sky. “Oh, I want twelve. They’re so adorable. And that way I can have a few for later.” She winks my way. “I’m hoping a very special trick-or-treater will haunt my halls on Halloween Eve. I plan on picking me up one of those rich hotties at the party Saturday night and taking him home with me. And all I have to feed company is broken glass.”

  Macy grunts, “I’ve met the men you’ve brought back to your place, Georgie. I’m pretty sure they survive off a steady diet of broken glass.”

  Georgie makes a face. “More like broken hearts.”