Murder at the Mall: (A Madeline Shore Cozy Curvy Mystery)

by Lynn Cooper

  “That was very sweet of you to be concerned for her,” I say, looking into my coffee, “when your own wife’s infidelity is still so obviously raw and fresh.”

  Zeke smiles half-heartedly. “Am I that transparent?” He shakes his head. “You don’t need to answer that. I guess I’m not as forgiving as Vince Ellsworth. Peggy always said I held people to too high a standard. That I didn’t allow them to be human beings. That everybody makes mistakes.” He takes a sip of coffee. “Maybe she was right. I guess my anger at her is why I went after Yvonne so hard. Chief Wexler was right to send me down here. He said three months, but it may take longer than he figured for me to get my head on straight.”

  “May I ask what prompted him to do that?”

  “Sheriff Rice didn’t tell you? I thought you guys were thick as thieves.”

  “Archie said I’d have to get the story from you.”

  Zeke thoughtfully twirls his spoon in a puddle of melting ice cream and chocolate sauce. “One week into our marriage, Peggy told me that she was a confidential informant for one of the other detectives at the police department. I was furious. First off, it was something either she or somebody in the precinct should have told me before we tied the knot. Second, I didn’t want her putting herself in danger if she was going to be the mother of my children someday. She said she kept quiet because she didn’t want to lose me or the job. And she promised she’d quit after the case she was currently working was finished. So I reluctantly agreed.”

  “Mobsters?”

  “No. This one had to do with trying to bust drug dealers at Milford, the small, community college. Peggy was already taking graduate courses there. It seemed like a natural.”

  “How old is she?” I ask.

  “Twenty-four. I guess that should have been a red flag for me as to her maturity level. Half our dates before we got engaged involved going to basketball games and watching plays at the campus. But when someone’s as smart and beautiful and funny as Peggy and you’re head-over-heels in love with her, you tend to overlook a lot of flags.”

  “The heart wants what the heart wants.”

  “Long story short, in what she later claimed was ‘my zeal to get close to this drug dealer we were trying to nail,’ she wound up sampling a little cocaine herself. None of us in the department knew about this until afterward. Nor did anyone suspect she had slept with the guy.”

  I wince. “Major ouch.”

  “Yeah. In her own, inimitable fashion, Peggy claimed she decided on her own to make the switch from CI to full-blown undercover agent. Undercover was right,” he says bitterly. “She also claimed she was under the influence of the cocaine when she slept with him. I asked her, point-blank, if that was all it was. Peggy swore to me she felt nothing for the guy. She said it was one, stupid mistake born of a combination of drugs and getting caught up in the excitement of the sting.” Zeke looks me straight in the eye. “She said she loved me. She said she wanted to stay married to me.”

  The words of Yvonne Ellsworth echo in my head. “What did you do?”

  He shrugs. “I forgave her. I loved her. I was in love with her. She stopped being a CI for the department. I was the cop bringing home the bacon, and she was the dutiful housewife who had supper on the table when I got home.”

  I cringe. “I’m afraid to ask what happened next.”

  “Two weeks later, the SWAT team and I raided the drug house on the edge of campus. I burst through a door, and there was Peggy, all curled up in bed with the dealer.”

  It’s more than a wince I make this time. I shut my eyes, feeling a whole slew of hurt crystals in my heart for Zeke.

  I also remember what Luisa told me: “The word is, Detective Worthy was involved in some sort of shooting up north. How do they say it—it wasn’t a rightful shoot.”

  “Please tell me you didn’t kill him, Detective.”

  He shakes his head. “Joey Slattern is still with us. To be honest, I don’t know if I jerked the barrel of my .38 to the left at the last moment on purpose or if the sucker was so skinny I just flat-out missed his heart. But it tore a hunk out of the jagged bone he calls a shoulder blade.” He gives a sarcastic half-laugh. “Fool me once, you know? I had the marriage annulled in a New York minute.”

  I shut my eyes and breathe a sigh of relief. I was already rehearsing what I was going to have to tell our unborn children. “I imagine Internal Affairs thought you were shooting with your heart instead of your head.”

  “They would have had my head, too—if Joey hadn’t been pulling a Glock out from under his pillow just as I fired. To tell you the truth, I never saw it. I was so angry, I literally wasn’t seeing straight.”

  For a few moments, we sit in a very comfortable silence, eating the banana split. Zeke starts to eat one of the cherries, but I stop him. “Unh-uh. You have to wait and eat them last.”

  He laughs and leans back. “Alright, Miss Shore. You now know more about me than anyone else in Slocomb. Time for you to come clean.”

  “Moi?”

  “You ran quite a bluff in the interrogation room. That fiction about a Gates Thompson making out in the back of the car and seeing Tom come back to Bluff’s house after the poker game broke up.”

  I shrug. “It coulda happened.”

  “I asked Perk if he could find Bluff’s DNA embedded in Tom’s belt. He said there was no real reason to, but he’d have somebody in the lab look into it in a few weeks.”

  “The wheels of justice grind slowly, especially in Graham’s hands.”

  “He also said to say hello to you. Hello.”

  “Hello,” I say, smiling at him.

  “Now,” Zeke says, “how the devil did you know Tom was cooking the books for his own gain?”

  “A couple of things. Delores Huntsinger, one of my customers, was telling me how angry she got when the manager at The Crafty Crafter shafted her on the 40% discount. Losing money has a way of making people mad enough to murder. Then, Todd told us that story about sneaking money out of his college savings account.”

  Zeke nods. “He didn’t want his mother to catch on to what he was doing.”

  “Right. So I just started looking at the McCraven brothers a little more closely. Tom in particular, especially after he implied he had been sort of a gambling addict at one time. Millions of dollars, gambling, nobody minding the store—it all sounded like a table Bluff would love to sit down at.” I wave my hand. “But wasn’t it great the way Archie picked it up and ran with it? In fact, both you boys were terrific. The way you speculated how Tom persuaded Bluff to go to Missy’s was wonderful.”

  “Thanks. But all either of us did was follow your lead. As it turned out, it happened exactly the way we laid it out. Tom’s signed confession corroborated everything.” He picks up his coffee. “Until he did, you realize he was right. We had nada proof. All we had was your theory.”

  I swallow ice cream too fast and get a flash headache. “Well, that’s all we had on Kuberov and Gandalon, too,” I say, massaging my forehead. “But, it worked out, didn’t it? McCraven will soon be keeping them company up at the state pen.”

  “Speaking of which,” Zeke says, looking at his watch, “Mayor Kwan requires the pleasure of mine in her office in ten minutes.”

  I feel a slight but sharp pang of jealousy. “I didn’t know you guys were an item.”

  He grins. “It’s a feature-and-photo op for The Slocomb Guardian. She wants to publicly thank the police department for, and I quote, ‘bringing a swift conclusion to the tragic murder of our beloved councilman and friend, Stafford ‘Bluff’ Burrows.’ Specifically, she’s giving citations to me and Sheriff Rice for our tireless efforts in solving the case.”

  “That’s wonderful,” I say. “Congratulations.”

  He arches one brow at me, which sends my stomach into full flip-flop mode. “I like accolades as well as the next person, Miss Shore. It’s just when I get them, I want to actually deserve them.”

  “But, you do, Detective. Both of y
ou do.”

  He shakes his head. “I, uh, asked her secretary to inquire if I could, you know, bring you over there as well. I told Sadie to remind her that, just as you did on the Gandalon case—and also, Sheriff Rice told me, on the Kuberov case before I got here—you made several suggestions and observations that were integral in bringing Tom McCraven to justice.”

  My heart skips a tiny beat. “You’re very sweet to do that, Detective. But, I think I can guess what Patsy’s answer was.”

  He sighs. “According to Sadie, the mayor’s exact words were, ‘You may bring her only if she confesses to killing Kuberov and Gandalon alone and in conspiracy with McCraven to kill Bluff Burrows.’”

  What can I say? The woman’s stubborn tenacity makes me smile. “On the advice of counsel—Bear—tell her I’m not prepared to do that at this time. But, again, the fact you thought of me makes me happy.”

  Nodding, Zeke starts to slide out of the booth. I reach out to put my hand on his arm but stop short of it. “Now is when we get to eat the cherries.”

  “Oh. Sorry.” Taking up his spoon, he slides one of the ice cream-garnished cherries between his firm, luscious lips. “You’re right. It is better if you wait. I’ll remember for next time. Goodnight, Miss Shore.”

  “Goodnight, Detective Worthy.”

  As he rises and walks out of the parlor, I sit there, literally vibrating.

  Next time.

  Still holding my breath, I watch him sprint across Merridien Avenue to his car with that uber-attractive, athletic, balletic grace that showcases every single movement of his toned, taut body. It’s only when he’s driven out of sight I allow the pent-up air scorching my lungs to gush out in a dizzying whoosh.

  Smitty Shingleheimer, that man looks good.

  OTHER BOOKS BY LYNN COOPER

  Shortbread Sweetums

  Joanie Meade is a curvy, foul-mouthed, shortbread-making spitfire who believes in doing whatever it takes to get what and who she wants.

  Aidan Powell is off-limits to the buxom blonde who’s trying to steal his heart and seduce his body at every turn. When both of them end up serving at the Sisters of Sacred Heart Convent, it will take more than divine intervention to keep them apart.

  Shortbread Sweetums is part of the Plus Size Romance Series. Each book is a standalone with no overlapping characters, storylines or cliffhangers. This series is a perfect combination of romance, steamy love scenes and humor. The stories are sensual and romantic, uplifting and lighthearted. Feel-good reads that leave you feeling great!

  Brownie Boo

  Gina Wilde has her sights set on her hot psychology professor, Dr. Trey Stanton. Despite giving him her most seductive come-hither looks in class and sitting on the front row in skimpy outfits, he doesn’t seem to notice she’s alive. Heck, he probably wouldn’t bat an eyelash even if she balanced a brownie—the scrumptious kind she’s been baking for him all semester—on the tip of her nose while spinning around in a tutu. Nonetheless, she will not be deterred. With a relentless stubbornness, she’s determined to crack his stuffy, stoic exterior and worm her way into his heart.

  It kills Trey Stanton to rebuff the beautiful, bubbly sophomore sitting in the front row lustily eyeballing him as if he was her favorite dessert. Although he’s flattered and, in another reality might reciprocate, there’s only one bone-crushingly painful reality. One where he can never again risk his damaged heart. So, no matter how she looks at him with those dark-brown, sultry eyes or how much she crosses and uncrosses those shapely legs or leans forward and reveals the swell of her creamy breasts, he must diligently resist her and her delectable, mouthwatering brownies.

  Brownie Boo is part of the Plus Size Romance Series. Each book is a standalone with no overlapping characters, storylines or cliffhangers. This series is a perfect combination of romance, steamy love scenes and humor. The stories are sensual and romantic, uplifting and lighthearted. Feel-good reads that leave you feeling great!

  Licorice Lass

  Lola Westlock is obsessed with sexy, kilt-wearing Scotsmen. In her imagination, these ruggedly-handsome heroes always take center stage and play prominent roles in all of her romantic fantasies. When a real-life highlander shows up at her favorite candy store, she wonders if her daydreaming has gotten way out of hand. But soon a cold dose of reality tells her she is wide awake.

  Nigel Lachlan has made a long trip to the United States in hopes of fetching himself a bride. His becoming Laird of Lachlan Castle hinges on him bringing home an American wife. Within a few moments of his arrival, he encounters a cute, curvy, caution-to-the-wind spitfire who takes his breath and tents his kilt. Unfortunately, the licorice-loving lass who has quickly caught his eye isn’t the woman he crossed the ocean for.

  Can a promise etched in stone be broken in order for true love to be realized? Or, are Nigel and Lola destined to be brokenhearted for all eternity?

  Lemon Meringue Lover

  Roxy Addison is a spunky, lemon-meringue-loving truck driver. Ward Buck is a rough-and-tough, dirty-talking enigma—a puzzle that Roxy can’t figure out. When happenstance turns them into traveling companions, their road to happiness proves to be a rocky one. For them, danger-filled days and passion-filled nights become the norm. Who knew falling in love while trying to stay alive could be so much fun?

  Crazy Curvy Christmas

  Things always get a little crazy at the holidays, but Tima Bentley’s world is about to turn bat-crap crazy. Between all the nuts hanging from her family tree and her chaotic, demanding job as a psychiatric nurse, the last thing she needs is a gorgeous fighter pilot crashing into her orbit. Or, is he what she needs most?

  Ace Hamel is supposed to be meeting his fiancée at Black Oak Baptist Church on Christmas Eve to tie the proverbial knot. But, fate or destiny or some higher power has changed his course, intersecting his path with Tima’s. Will the curvy nurse with the face of an angel and the body of a goddess steer him back home, or will she become his destiny instead?

  Crazy Curvy Christmas is a funny, heartwarming holiday romance. This love story is sweet and sexy and inspirational all at once.

  CINNAMON

  Stripping wasn’t a part of my five-year plan. But one night I saw something I wasn’t supposed to see. Now I’m on the run, and I’ve landed smack dab in front of the Honeypot Strip Club. It’s where I’ll stay hidden in the shadows until I can figure things out. With dangerous men lurking around every corner, a stranger with a killer body and dark, piercing eyes is the most dangerous one of all. Why? Because he’s the only one who can touch my heart and see all the way to my soul.

  Cinnamon is part of the Spicy Romance Series where the plots are woven with intrigue and suspense, and the love scenes are sensual and intense. Each book is a standalone with no overlapping characters, storylines or cliffhangers.

  Grace But No Mercy

  My name is Father Troy Hampton. From the time I was old enough to talk, my words came out as prayers. My life belongs to the church. It’s true that I’m nothing more than a mortal man made up of all the same parts as other men. However, through my devotion and unwavering commitment to Christ, I have been able to resist that which is carnal. I never succumb to the natural, sometimes overpowering yearnings and desires that rampantly pulse through the veins of all mankind. Daily, I rebuke all that is unholy. I cling to my vestments, resisting all fleshly pleasures. Forsaking all others for Him.

  Until her…

  Grace But No Mercy is part of the Fallen Priest Romance Series. Each book is a standalone with a happily-ever-after ending and no cliffhanger.

  Biscotti Baby

  Teagan Byers is an out-of-work interior designer, wanting to be an actress. When she sets her sights on the lead role in Brock Wolfram’s latest production of Romeo and Juliet, she isn’t expecting the director’s brand of gruffness. Or, his distaste for her acting methods. Or, the undeniable sparks of desire arcing between them.

  Brock isn’t expecting a curvy, spunky spitfire whose temper matches his. He
’s accustomed to men cringing and women crying beneath his well-delivered scowls. Not Teagan. Every emotional barrier he erects, she breaks down. But he doesn’t trust her; he doesn’t trust any woman. No matter how tempting Teagan is, he won’t let her worm her way into his life and most definitely not into his heart.

  Biscotti Baby is part of the Plus Size Romance Series. Each book is a standalone with no overlapping characters, storylines or cliffhangers. This series is a perfect combination of romance, steamy love scenes and humor. The stories are sensual and romantic, uplifting and lighthearted. Feel-good reads that leave you feeling great!

  When Love Calls

  Despite her sexy, seductive-sounding name, Velvet Rouser is a painfully-shy introvert. She has zero romantic experience with the opposite sex. Loneliness is her closest companion.

  Braeden Stone is a rough-and-ready cowboy who knows his way around women. But, an unfortunate accident has kept him out of the saddle, literally and metaphorically, for a long while.

  Both are destined to be alone unless they can find the strength and courage to answer when love calls.

  When Love Calls is part of the Raining Romance Series. Each book is a standalone where unexpected storms of passion rage and love strikes faster than lightning.

  Puff Pastry Princess

  In her wildest dreams, Honor Snowhill—a sassy, sharp-tongued socialite—never imagines her parents would send her away to a weight-reduction ranch. So, along with her clothes, she packs a bad attitude and a secret that will leave her snooty mother reeling in her Louboutin heels.

  Unfortunately, there is nothing in her suitcases to help her deal with the sexy, smooth-talking, tuxedo-wearing rancher—Maxwell London. She only has her wits, charm and humor which she gladly wields as weapons against him.

  When it’s all said and done, can Honor and Maxwell lose emotional baggage while gaining something extraordinarily special? Or will they simply kill each other on day one?

  Puff Pastry Princess is part of the Plus Size Romance Series. Each book is a standalone with no overlapping characters, storylines or cliffhangers. This series is a perfect combination of romance, steamy love scenes and humor. The stories are sensual and romantic, uplifting and lighthearted. Feel-good reads that leave you feeling great!