Sage Gardens Cozy Mystery Series Box Set Volume 1 (Books 1 - 4)

by Cindy Bell

  “Why not?” Eddy asked.

  “Because I would prefer if you act casual and keep a lookout in case someone is coming as opposed to drawing attention to me breaking into the shed.” She eyed them both sternly.

  “Look, we don't have a lot of time,” Samantha said sharply. “Just do what she asks, please.”

  Eddy looked at Samantha as if he might argue with her. When she narrowed her eyes he pressed his lips together. “Fine.” He hit Walt lightly on his arm, then turned away from the shed. Walt nodded and turned his back to the shed as well. Jo waited until she was sure that they weren't looking. Then she walked around behind the shed. There were no windows, and the front door was too exposed to enter through. She needed to find an alternate entrance.

  Jo found a loose seam in the metal shed. She frowned. Climbing through a window or breaking through a lock would be easier than prying open the metal. But it was what she had to do. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out what looked like a thin, metal rectangle. It was made of incredibly strong material. Jo used it to loosen the rest of the metal. Then she eased the metal away. If she pulled it too far she knew that the whole shed would collapse. That would not be very stealthy. She pulled it apart just enough to slip through. The shed snapped closed behind her.

  Jo could hear Samantha talking quietly with Eddy and Walt outside the shed. It was good that they were keeping up appearances so that no one would wonder why there was a bunch of people standing around the garden shed. Jo slid the metal rectangle back into her pocket and pulled out a penlight. She used it to look around inside the dim shed. There were plenty of tools, garden supplies, and even a few old tires. She was about to give up looking for the shoes, when she saw a pair tucked behind a large wheelbarrow.

  Jo crouched down to get a closer look. They were very worn and caked with dirt. Jo picked them up and grimaced. Not only were they filthy, but they carried a horrid smell. She recognized it as the scent that shoes took on when they had been immersed in water. She did her best not to breathe in the scent and made her way back out of the garden shed. The break-in had gone smoothly, but she still regretted ever having to smell those shoes.

  Jo stepped around the side of the shed with the shoes dangling from her fingers. Eddy, Samantha, and Walt were all eagerly waiting for her. Jo refrained from pointing out that their attention was a sure way to get them all caught. “This, is very beneath me.” She scrunched up her nose at having to touch the cruddy shoes.

  “Sorry it isn't a prettier crime,” Eddy quipped.

  Jo pursed her lips and handed the shoes to Samantha. Eddy compared the sole of the shoe to the photographs of the footprints on his phone.

  “It looks like a perfect match.” Eddy offered the phone to Walt so that he could double check. Walt's attention to detail would catch even the smallest difference. When Samantha offered the shoe to him, Walt recoiled.

  “I don't have to touch it to look at it. I don't have to smell it either.” He pinched his nose as he studied the shoes.

  “Yes, everything matches, it seems.” Walt nodded. His voice sounded strange with his nose pinched.

  “There we go, now we have our proof,” Samantha said proudly.

  “But not enough to involve the police.” Eddy frowned. “We still can't connect Jacob directly to the murder. I think we're going to need a confession to do that.”

  “How are you going to manage that?” Jo asked.

  “Like I said, we can set a trap.” Samantha smiled. “I think it's the best way to get this taken care of quickly.”

  “It could get messy.” Walt frowned.

  “Maybe. But I think if Eddy and I are the ones executing it, it will be fine,” Samantha nodded with confidence.

  “I don't think so.” Eddy laughed. “You're not going to be there.”

  “Yes, I am.” Samantha looked at him sternly. “It was my idea.”

  “That doesn't mean that you can put yourself in danger on my watch, Samantha.” Eddy narrowed his eyes.

  “Oh yes, Samantha. Don't forget, women must never be daring.” Jo rolled her eyes.

  “Don't start that, this is not a women's lib thing,” Eddy growled.

  “Well, it doesn't matter what it is,” Samantha declared. “I am going to be there. So, we can either work together, or we can just both be there waiting to get in each other's way.”

  “Fine. Fine!” Eddy threw his hands in the air. “We can call it a party.”

  “Don't be difficult.” Samantha grinned.

  “I'm not getting involved.” Walt turned and walked away from the group. Samantha couldn't blame him, with all of the arguing things seemed very chaotic. She knew that Eddy meant well but she wished he would get it through his head that she was capable of investigating crime.

  “I'm not getting in the middle of this either,” Jo stated. “I promised to break into a garden shed. My job is done.” She glanced sympathetically at Samantha and then walked off towards her villa.

  Eddy sighed and looked at Samantha. “I guess that just leaves us.”

  “I guess so,” Samantha agreed. “We should have Bill speak about going out tonight in front of Jacob. Then we can hide out in Bill's villa and wait for Jacob to show.”

  “And what if he shows up with guns or other guys?” Eddy asked.

  “We'll just have to figure it out as we go,” Samantha suggested. “I'm quick on my feet.”

  Eddy didn't look pleased, but he reluctantly nodded. He knew a good plan when he heard one.

  Chapter 16

  That night after Bill had placed the bait by speaking about dinner plans in front of Jacob, Samantha and Eddy slipped into his villa through the back door. Eddy locked it behind them.

  “I just want to go on record that I don't agree with you being here,” Eddy said.

  “You can go on record all you want.” Samantha rolled her eyes. “Eddy, you know I can do this. You think you're being protective, but really you're just insulting me.”

  Eddy paused and turned to look at her. “I didn't realize you took it that way. I'm sorry, Sam.”

  “Thank you.” She felt a little better, but she could still tell that he was uneasy with her being there.

  “Let's get in position,” Eddy suggested. “I think you should be behind the kitchen island. I'm going to get down behind the couch so that I am close to the table. Please Samantha, if he comes in, let me take care of it. Okay?”

  Samantha grimaced and nodded. She felt Eddy was better prepared to handle a physical altercation. She got down behind the kitchen island and watched the door. Then the waiting began. Waiting that seemed like forever. After some time had passed, Samantha whispered to Eddy, “Maybe he's not going to show.”

  “He'll show. He wants that money,” Eddy whispered back.

  “But what if he doesn't?” Samantha fretted. “Then all of this will have been for nothing.”

  “Quiet,” Eddy said in a sharp voice. “I hear someone coming.”

  Samantha nodded. She couldn't see much from behind the kitchen island, but she could hear the footsteps approaching the front door. She held her breath as she heard a key slide into the lock. It was either Jacob using the key from the office, or Bill coming back for something. Samantha's heart began to pound as she heard the door push open. Eddy looked over at her from the couch where he was crouched. Samantha met his eyes briefly and nodded.

  A figure walked through the shadows in the living room. It walked right up to the table beneath the attic access. When he started to climb up on top of it, Eddy moved silently forward from behind the couch. In the same moment that the figure pushed the attic entrance open, Eddy tackled him from behind. Samantha stayed down as she had been instructed. She could hear the scuffle of the two men struggling. When she peeked around the edge of the island, she saw that Eddy had Jacob pinned down against the floor. Then Eddy spoke.

  “What are you doing in here?”

  “I could ask the same about you!” Jacob's voice carried through the villa.r />
  “Bill gave me permission to be here,” Eddy growled. “I doubt he gave you permission to be here.”

  “I don't need permission, I work here,” Jacob shot back.

  “That gives you the right to enter a resident's home without permission in the middle of the evening?” Eddy asked. “What are you doing here, Jacob, really?” He twisted the man's arm behind his back until it was painful enough for Jacob to cry out.

  There wasn't much that Jacob could do to get out of the hold that Eddy had put him in. Eddy left him enough leeway to lift his head to breathe and speak, but he kept his grip firm. He straddled Jacob's back on one knee with the other foot firmly planted.

  “What did you do, Jacob?” Eddy growled.

  “Vince was your friend!” Samantha added. She felt secure enough to move out from behind the kitchen island.

  “You guys are crazy. Let me go right now!” Jacob squirmed in Eddy's grasp. Eddy pushed Jacob's arm up further along his back. Jacob shrieked in pain and then fell quiet. Jacob grew very still. Samantha was stunned by how strong Eddy was. To look at him he didn't seem very intimidating, but it was obvious that he had kept in shape over the years.

  “We know you were involved in Vince's death.” Samantha locked eyes with Jacob. His eyes were wide as he tried to gulp down every trace of air that he could. “Why else would you be here?” Samantha asked.

  “Look, I don't know what you two have gotten into your heads, but it's not true. I'm here because I left something in the attic up there.” He gritted his teeth.

  “Oh, three bags of money?” Eddy asked. “That's not up there anymore.”

  Jacob pushed his forehead down against the carpeted floor. Eddy ensured that his control over Jacob was still in place. Jacob shuddered in his grip. “You took it?” Jacob asked.

  “What we want to know is why did you kill Vince? Wasn't he your friend, Jacob? Isn't he the one who got you this job?” Samantha asked firmly. “Murder doesn't seem like a good way to pay him back.”

  “He deserved more than that,” Jacob bit out each word in a hateful tone. “I could have forgiven him once, he took some money from me to settle his girlfriend's debt. We settled that, and I warned him, if he ever stole from me again he was going to pay the price.”

  “So, he was stealing the money you were earning from selling illegal drugs?” Eddy asked. “Are we supposed to feel some kind of sympathy about a criminal being double crossed?”

  “I loved Vince.” Jacob's expression grew solemn. “I loved him like he was my own brother. But he wouldn't stop stealing from me. If I didn't get rid of him, then my boss would have gotten rid of both of us. What was I supposed to do? I warned him, he didn't listen. Was I supposed to die, too?”

  Samantha swallowed back her opinion about that. She had researched many crimes over the years. She had found that the ones that involved drugs could be the most ruthless. It churned her stomach to think that a friendship could be turned into homicide over some white powder.

  “I think it's time we call in the police,” Samantha said quietly. She had gotten caught up in the excitement of the sting and catching a criminal. It seemed like an adventure. However, Jacob's confession had brought her back to reality. She had lost sight of what they were really doing. They had caught a murderer, and even though he would go to prison for his crime, that wouldn't clean up the blood that had been spilled.

  “Go ahead and call the police. I'm not afraid. You have no evidence against me. It's just a couple of old feeble memories against me. Who is going to believe you over me?” Jacob laughed a little, but Samantha could see the panic in his eyes.

  Eddy chuckled. “Oh, it's much more than that, Jacob. It's those times you got busted for dealing drugs with Vince's brother, Carl. It's your work shoes that match the footprints at the crime scene. Not to mention the bags of money we found in the attic with your fingerprints all over them. So, it'll be our word against a drug dealer, Jacob. Who do you think they will believe?” He released Jacob and took a step back from him. “You have two choices, Jacob, you can let this go to trial, or you can turn yourself in tonight. If you offer up some information about your drug connections I'm sure that you'll be able to cut a deal. If you let it go to trial, well, I don't know how kindly a jury is going to look upon someone who was willing to murder his best friend. What do you think?”

  Jacob looked from Eddy to Samantha and back again. It was clear that he was trying to decide whether to run or not. Samantha knew that wasn't an option. Eddy had his exit blocked.

  “There's no escape, Jacob. It's time to pay the price for what you did,” Eddy said.

  “I didn't have a choice!” Jacob shouted. “He was like a brother to me, but it was him or me. What could I do?”

  “You could have gone to the police. You could have done anything other than take the life of someone who trusted you.” Samantha glared at him. “Vince was only stealing that money to try to protect someone that he cared about. It doesn't seem right that he had to die for it”

  “It's not my fault,” Jacob muttered.

  “Who was that man you were with last night?” Samantha asked.

  “He was an enforcer. He was there to make sure that I had the money and that Vince had been handled. If one thing had been wrong he would have killed me without the slightest hesitation. These are the people I'm dealing with,” he spoke anxiously. “I didn't have a choice.”

  “You made the choice when you began dealing with people like this.” Eddy looked at him with some disgust. “You took that risk by getting involved in illegal behavior, and now your friend is dead because of it. Now, you're a murderer, because of it.”

  Jacob could no longer speak. His expression had gone cold. He stared emptily into the space in front of him. Samantha had seen that look before. It was a look of defeat, Jacob had broken. He wasn't going to fight any more.

  “Go ahead and call Detective Brunner,” Samantha said.

  Eddy pulled out his phone and dialed the detective's number. Detective Brunner answered just before Eddy was about to give up and hang up.

  “Eddy, how are interfering in the case now?” he asked.

  “It's a good thing I am interfering in your case,” Eddy replied. “Why don't you come out to Sage Gardens and pick up the real murderer?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I said, we have the right suspect here waiting for you.” Eddy frowned.

  “We already have a suspect in jail,” Detective Brunner sounded argumentative.

  “I think that you need to wise up. I just said I have the actual killer here. Get a car out here if you're too lazy to come out yourself,” Eddy's voice had raised slightly. It was plain to see that he was fed up with Detective Brunner.

  “All right, all right. I'll come right over.”

  “You do that.” Eddy hung up the phone. As he turned to look at Samantha he could see the strain in her expression. Despite the fact that the man standing before her was a confessed murderer, she had sympathy for him. Eddy found that fascinating about her.

  “We're going to have to turn over the money, too,” Eddy pointed out. “I'll give Walt a call and let him know to get it ready.”

  Samantha flinched at the mention of the money. She was still the only one that knew that there was money missing from the bags that they had found. She had been putting off the decision about whether to reveal this fact to Eddy or Walt. Now she had to make a choice. Was she going to turn on Jo when their friendship was just starting to strengthen? She met Eddy's eyes. She knew that if she didn't tell him the truth and he found out about it later, he would not forgive her easily. She felt stuck in a bad position. She valued Eddy's friendship, as well as Walt's. But when it came to her friendship with Jo, it wasn't just about herself, it was about Jo, too.

  Samantha was fairly certain that she was the only friend Jo had made in a very long time. Samantha could only imagine the devastation that Jo might feel if she finally began to trust someone and was betrayed. Eddy held her gaze fo
r a long moment. Too long. She looked away quickly and focused on Jacob again. He still looked very dazed.

  “The more you help the prosecutors the more leniency you'll get,” Samantha said. He was a murderer, but the way he looked made her feel a bit sorry for him.

  Eddy dialed Walt's phone number, but his gaze lingered on Samantha. He had been sensing it for some time, but now he was sure of it. She was hiding something from him. He didn't know why she would. He thought he had given her every reason to trust him. But apparently it hadn't been enough. Now he was going to have to figure out what it was. He couldn't just ignore it. He needed to know. He could only hope that it wasn't something he didn't want to find out. Eddy was a little startled when Walt answered the phone as he had been lost in thought.

  “Hi Eddy, how did it go?” Walt asked.

  “It's still going. We're waiting for the police to arrive to take Jacob into custody. I just wanted to make sure that the money was ready.”

  “Uh, yes, it is,” Walt's voice wavered slightly.

  “Good, we're going to need to turn it into the police.”

  “Okay, just meet me over here, I'm not walking anywhere with this much cash.”

  “No problem. I'll come to get it.”

  Samantha's heart sank. She knew that time was running out to tell the truth. As Eddy hung up the phone she turned back to look at him.

  “Eddy, I need to tell you something.”

  “I thought you might.” He settled his gaze on hers. “What is it?”

  Samantha opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, the front door of Bill's villa opened. Detective Brunner walked in with an annoyed frown. “Now, what is all of this about?” he asked.

  “Why don't you tell him, Jacob?” Eddy asked. He looked over at the man who had started to tremble a little.

  “I want a deal,” Jacob spoke in a flat, determined tone.

  “A deal for what?” Detective Brunner laughed.

  “I want protection. I want a reduced sentence,” Jacob insisted.

  “Are you offering a confession?” Detective Brunner asked. Now his tone was very stern and interested.