Chapter 18
The next morning, it was business as usual at Grove Park. Star and I arrived at the Burger She Wrote food truck at 8:30am. Like any other day, Star and I began prepping for the day.
The events from the night before clouded my mind. I couldn’t shake the disappointing feeling of being clueless. So I took off my apron and decided to take a walk.
I walked through Grove Park and onto the pier. I stopped in front of the collection box and just stared. A flock of annoying seagulls were swarming around. I waved my hands back and forth to shoo them away.
Suddenly a voice called out behind me, causing me to jump.
“Whatcha doing,” Star said as she snuck up behind me.
“I needed some fresh air, so I decided to take a walk…alone,” I said as my heart rate continued to climb from being scared half to death.
“Nonsense,” she replied. “You look like someone who needs someone to talk to.”
“I appreciate you trying to lift my mood, but I can’t stop thinking about the case. I thought we had everything figured out. Now we’re nowhere closer to finding the suspect than when we started. It’s frustrating.”
“You’ll figure it out, Kara,” Star said, trying to console me. “You figured the other two cases out. What’s stopping you from doing it yet again?”
“I can’t even figure out the silly donation box case,” I said as I tapped my finger on the collection box in front of us. “Maybe I should stick to baking and leave the serious work to the police?”
“Cheer up, Kara,” Star said as she noticed my gloomy mood right away. “At least we know that Ray Robins isn’t the killer. If you hadn’t noticed the mismatched signatures, you know the cops would’ve closed the case. The real person who tried to kill Bonnie May would be free.”
“In case you didn’t notice, Star, the suspect is still free as a bird,” I said before a light bulb went off in my head. “Free as a bird…”
“Uh oh,” Star said before cautiously stepping back. “You’re getting that crazy look on your face.”
I started to look around and examine the donation box. At first, I didn’t find anything unusual. Nothing appeared out of place. This changed when I reached behind the box and felt something.
“What is it?” Star asked as she looked on, confused. “What did you find?”
“It feels like a small hole, but I can’t see around the back,” I replied as I tried to lean over the rail and look behind the box. There was no way to see behind it.
“I have an idea,” Star said as she reached into her pocket. She pulled out her phone and stretched her arms as far as she could behind the box. “If I drop this in the ocean, you’re either diving in after it or buying me a new one.”
She reached as far back as she could. Once her hand steadied, she took a photo with her phone. She then showed me the photo. Sure enough, the box contained a small hole in the back.
“Looks like you solved this one after all,” Star said as she waved her phone in my face.
“Not exactly,” I replied as I looked at the photo on her phone. “We know how the money was taken, but not who did it. But I have an idea.”
I didn’t realize how late it was until I noticed the time on Star’s phone. We both realized we needed to get back and finish up our opening duties. The forecast called for sunny skies all day long. It was the first day that week no rain was expected. So I figured the park would be busy.
When we approached the Burger She Wrote food truck, a delivery van from Fresh Market Food Supply was waiting outside. In all the commotion from the last few days, I almost forgot that I was due another delivery.
When he noticed our arrival, a man stepped out from the inside of the van to greet us. He was an older gentleman with short grey hair. He stood tall and lanky. He didn’t fit the description of someone you’d think of as a delivery person.
“Are you Kara, the owner of this food truck?” the man asked as he flipped through this clipboard.
“That’s me,” I said as I approached him. “I’m sorry to hear about Ray.”
The man took a deep breath before responding. “Ray was a good man and an even better worker. We’re really going to miss him. It’s really a shame.”
“Are you the new driver for the route?” I asked.
“Just until a replacement can be found,” he replied before shaking his head. “Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Antonio Washington. I own Fresh Market Food Supply.”
“You’re the owner,” I said, surprised. “How come you’re having to run a route?”
“Someone has to do it,” he said as he shrugged. “We were short-staffed as it is. Now with Ray gone, we’re struggling. He performed the work of two men.”
“That’s strange. Ray told me he’d been training a new guy. Did that not work out?”
“Don’t get me started on Mr. Bell. I should have known better than to hire him,” he said as he turned red. “I would have never hired him in the first place if I knew he was already working a full-time job. Showed up late almost every day. Not to mention, the jerk hasn’t showed up for work in the last two days.”
“Bell? That last name seems familiar,” I said, as I thought the name rang a bell.
“I’d hope not,” he replied. “You shouldn’t associate yourself with jerks like Kevin.”
“Oh no,” I said as it became clear.
“What’s wrong”? Star asked.
Before I could explain, Ty drove up and parked beside my food truck. It slipped my mind that Ty volunteered to help us out. I immediately rushed to him.
“Ty, can you give me a ride?” I quickly spouted out. “It’s an emergency.”
“Wait just a minute,” Star replied. “You can’t leave me here alone.”
“Ty will drop me off and come back and help. Won’t you, Ty?”
“Sure…” Ty responded, still clueless to what was going on.
Ty and I wasted no time in getting into his truck. He put the truck in gear and began to drive off. Before he drove off, Star ran towards the truck screaming and waving her hands. So I rolled down the window to see what she wanted.
“Before you race out of here, can you please tell me what’s going on?”
“I know who did it. And it’s time to confront him.”
Ty turned to me, stunned. “Wait…what?”
Chapter 19
“Take me to the Sunny Shores Country Club,” I said we drove out of the Grove Park parking lot.
“So, let me get this straight,” Ty replied. “You want me to take you to where you believe a murderer is? And you’re going to confront him. Does none of this sound crazy to you?”
Ty served as the voice of reason. Any person with half an ounce of logic would listen to him, as he made a good point. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of those people. My determination for justice overpowered my reasonable sensibilities.
“I’m not going alone,” I replied.
“Of course not. I wouldn’t let you face someone capable of murder alone.”
I smiled, as I felt flattered by his chivalrousness. “I’m talking about Beaux.”
“Beaux?” he asked as he seemed surprised. “Are you talking about the police detective?”
“Yes. He’s actually a really nice guy. I mean…once you get past his crude arrogance.”
“Oh,” Ty said, as he didn’t seem too convinced. In fact, I thought I detected a bit of jealousy in his voice.
“I sent him a text a second ago, and he’s meeting us there.”
“If you say so.”
When we arrived in the parking lot in front of the country club a few minutes later, Detective Beaux sat is his car waiting for me. As Ty parked his truck, I noticed a grave look of concern on his face.
“Don’t worry about me, Ty. I’ll be fine,” I said as I unbuckled my seatbelt. “Besides, Star needs you more than I do right now.”
I could tell he was worried, but I was a big girl and could take care of
myself. Well…at least I thought I could. Having Beaux there eased a lot of my nervous feelings.
“You know you can call me if you need me,” Ty said. “Anytime.”
“I know,” I said as I smiled. “I’ll call you later, ok?”
As he drove off, Beaux approached me and said, “I hope you’re right about this, Miss Summers.”
“Me too.”
We walked inside the building and to the main dining room. One of the country club employees in the front told us Kevin would be there. Sure enough, they were correct.
As we entered the room, Kevin was behind the bar stocking it for the next shift. He didn’t notice us at first. He was fully focused on his work.
“Listen, Miss Summers,” Beaux whispered into my ear. “Stay back and let me handle this. I’m a trained professional, you know. Follow my lead.”
I’m usually a good listener and follow instructions. Promise. However, seeing that man in the distance sparked anger inside of me. All I could think about was Bonnie May lying unconscious in her hospital bed. I reacted without thinking.
“Why did you do it?” I screamed as I rushed through the dining room in his direction.
“What the heck. Seriously,” Detective Beaux said as he sprinted behind me to catch up. “What part of follow my lead did you not understand?”
“Excuse me?” Kevin said, as he looked shocked at seeing us appear out of nowhere. “What did you say?”
“You heard me,” I proclaimed, not backing down. “Why did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Murder Ray Robins. Attempt to murder Bonnie May Calloway,” I replied.
Kevin completely ignored me and turned his attention to Detective Beaux. “What is this about, Detective? I’m very busy right now, if you can’t tell. We have two parties tonight, and I’m already behind.”
“The only thing you’re going to be behind is bars,” I said, trying to sound cool like one of those quippy cops on television. Instead, they both looked at me like I was an idiot.
“You don’t believe all this bull, do you?” he turned and said to Detective Beaux.
Beaux stood silent for a second before responding. “We need to ask you a few questions about your relationship to Mr. Robins.”
“You can’t be serious,” Kevin said as he started to fidget. “This is ridiculous. What proof do you have?”
“Where to begin,” I replied. There was no doubt in my mind that he was guilty. I wasn’t falling for his act.
“You failed to mention that you were working part-time with Fresh Market Food Supply. Not only that, you were working directly with Ray Robins. You were training with him at the time, riding with him on part of his route.”
“So, what? We worked together. How’s that a crime?” he asked as he became more and more defensive.
“You’re right. It’s usually not a crime for most people,” I said. “But most people don’t attempt framing and murdering their co-workers.”
“Get to the point, Miss Summers,” Beaux said as he started to become impatient. “Focus.”
“Anyway, it wasn’t until I heard your last name that it all clicked,” I continued. “I recalled my conversation with a few ladies at the beauty salon the other night. When Bonnie May’s name came up, a list of names was rattled off. A hit list, so to speak. A list of women whose husbands cheated with Bonnie May. One name was Jennifer Bell.”
When I spoke the name of Jennifer Bell, I instantly struck a nerve with Kevin. His dumbfounded look shifted to one of anger. He squinted his eyes at me and started breathing heavily.
“Jennifer Bell,” I said as I leaned over the bar. “That’s your mother’s name, isn’t it?”
“You leave my mother out of this.”
Beaux, still trying to put the pieces together, turned to me. “What are you getting at?”
“On the way over here, I did a Google search on Jennifer Bell. Unfortunately, I learned of her demise,” I turned to Kevin. “She took her life, didn’t she?”
He sighed heavily before responding. “Yes.”
“My regards, Kevin. I’m sure losing your mother was tough. You took it hard, didn’t you?”
Kevin stood behind the bar, quiet. I could tell it was making him upset, and I felt bad. However, the truth needed to come out, no matter how harsh.
“I realized that the note we found in the hotel room wasn’t addressed to Ray Robins. Sure, Bonnie May and his father had a relationship as well. But the note was for you. The person behind the note knew the anger you held inside all those years. However, you didn’t know the identity of your father’s mistress. At least, not until the letter, did you?”
“I don’t have to answer that,” Kevin Bell said as he crossed his arms. “You can’t prove anything.”
“So when you matched with Bonnie May on Tinder, you saw your opportunity arise.”
“That’s stupid. I wouldn’t match myself with an old lady like her.”
I reached into my purse and pulled out Bonnie May’s phone. I opened her Tinder app and sent a message to the mysterious person we couldn’t identify earlier. Sure enough, Kevin’s phone beeped. Notifying him of a new message.
“That doesn’t prove anything,” he said as he turned off his phone.
I smiled. “I don’t have to prove anything. We have your fingerprints on the bottle of extract.”
“That’s impossible,” he said frantically. “Because I wore gloves…”
He stopped as soon as he realized his slip. The room fell silent. At least until I blurted out…
“Busted.”
He began to sweat and nervously shake.
“You want the truth? I did try to kill her. Why did that woman deserve to live when my mother took her life? It was that woman’s fault I don’t have my mother right now. She didn’t deserve to live.”
“What about Ray Robins?” Beaux responded. “What did he do to deserve being murdered?”
“Small price to pay,” Kevin said. “Was it fair, of course not. When he started asking too many questions, I knew what I had to do. Just like I know what I have to do now.”
“Now?” I asked, confused to what he meant.
Before I could react, Kevin grabbed me by the shoulders. He pushed me away from the bar as I fell to the floor.
Detective Beaux tried to react quickly and reached for his gun. Before he could retaliate, Kevin grabbed a bottle of whisky and slammed it against his head. Beaux stumbled back, dazed.
With Beaux and I out of the way, Kevin quickly left the bar. He ran toward the door as he tried to escape. Before he was in the clear, he tripped and fell as he stumbled out the door.
I looked up and to my surprise, Ty tripped Kevin as he tried to escape. Ty, who wrestled in middle school for two years, trapped Kevin in a headlock. Luckily, he didn’t have to hold him long as the police showed up. Fortunately for us, Ty had apparently called the police when he overheard the conversation.
Ty rushed over to my side. He reached out his hand and helped me up. I’d never been happier to see anyone in my life. I wasted no time in putting my arms around him to thank him.
“Thank you so much,” I said as I squeezed him as hard as I could. “But I thought you left.”
He looked at me and smiled. “I told you I wouldn’t leave you alone.”
“Boy, Star’s going to be mad at you,” I said as we both began to laugh. I couldn’t help but picture Star cursing Ty’s name under her breath as she dealt with all the customers alone.
Once things calmed down, Beaux walked over to me. He held an ice pack over his head, where Kevin hit him over the head with a bottle.
“Are you going to be ok?” I asked.
“I’ll survive,” he said. “Good work. Although I don’t know where you came up with that story about having his fingerprints.”
“It’s called a bluff,” I said, feeling proud. “My father taught me that when we would play cards when I was a kid.”
“Well, it worked.”
“I’d say so,” Beaux said as he pulled a voice recorder out of his pocket. “When you’ve been in this line of work as long as I have, you learn to always carry one of these.”
Chapter 20
I won’t lie, the next day I barely dragged myself out of bed. I felt exhausted, but the summer vacation season expired soon. Days off were a luxury I couldn’t afford. But on the bright side, at least I worked a job I loved.
As I walked up to the back door of my truck, I noticed an envelope hanging from the door. On the outside of the envelope, the logo for the City of Sunny Shores Government was printed. I pulled the envelope off the door and thought to myself, What now?
I walked into the truck and tossed the keys on the counter. I sat on the stool and opened the letter.
Attn: Kara Summers
This letter is to alert you of your upcoming inspection from the City of Sunny Shores Health Department. Your follow-up inspection is scheduled for the first week in August. Please be available and accommodating during all hours of business that week. We look forward to our visit.
Sincerely,
Dustin Coltrain
Interim County Health Inspector
Oh great, I thought to myself.
With all the excitement from the last week, I’d almost forgotten about the upcoming re-inspection. The previous health inspector for the city was murdered a few weeks back. The major appointed an interim replacement, Dustin Coltrain, his son and my ex-boyfriend.
I wadded up the note as Star walked through the back door. She watched me as I threw the crumpled paper in the trash.
“What was that?” she asked as she put on her apron.
Before responding, I took a second to
“It’s nothing to worry about at the moment.”
“Shoot, I’m running late,” I said as I noticed the clock on the wall in the corner of my eye. “I’ll be back in a few.”
Blueberry Pie White Lie - a Cozy Mystery: Sunny Shores Mysteries Book 3 Page 9