by Leona Fox
Unfortunate Demise
A Seagrove Mystery Series
Book 7
Leona Fox
Copyright © 2016 Leona Fox
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher
Chapter One
“See you tomorrow.”
Sadie Barnett, the owner/operator of the best junk and rare treasures store in five states, and her diminutive terrier Mr. Bradshaw, said goodbye to John Baker, the owner of the bakery where she purchased her daily shot of caffeine, sugar, and fat – better known as coffee and a donut. They’d had a nice discussion this morning about the merits of hiring high school and college students to help with the more mundane tasks of a business.
Sadie was thinking how pleasant it was to live next door to a bakery when Mr. Bradshaw started behaving very strangely. He was standing in front of her shop door, facing out and barking. Sadie tried stepping around him to open the door, but he leaped to the right, putting his body between Sadie and the shop once again.
“What in the world? Mr. Bradshaw, you behave yourself!”
When he thwarted her again by leaping on the spot and knocking her hand away from the door, Sadie took matters into her own hands and picked up Mr. Bradshaw. That was the advantage of such a small dog, when all else failed she could just pick him up.
She turned the key, pushed the door open and carried Mr. Bradshaw into the shop. When she put him down he started up again; baring his teeth at her and impeding her from moving further into the shop. But Sadie had seen the cause of Mr. Bradshaw’s unease. Cutis Beaudry, the young man she hired during school holidays, was laying on the floor, his limbs all akimbo, dead as a doornail. His eyes were wide open but not seeing a thing.
“Oh, Curtis.”
Sadie choked back tears and knelt down to check for vital signs but he was cold to the touch. Mr. Bradshaw wiggled from her arms and stood barking at the dead boy. Sadie corralled Mr. Bradshaw in the office and called 9-1-1 with a heavy heart. Curtis had been such a nice boy.
As she was hanging up from the 9-1-1 call, Sadie heard the bell above the door ring and a gasp from Betty. Sadie ran up to her.
“Betty,” Sadie said. “It’s an awful day for you to come in early.”
“That’s Curtis,” Betty said, pointing. “He’s…”
“I know. I think you should go back outside. Wait for the police.” Sadie nodded toward the door. “We’re contaminating the crime scene.”
“Oh.” Betty stared a few moments more. “Right. Outside.” She backed up to the door, opened it without turning around, and backed out onto the sidewalk.
“He’s not going bite you,” Sadie said, but the door had closed and Betty didn’t hear her.
Just as well, Sadie thought. It didn’t sound the way she intended. She went behind the counter and sat on the stool. Conflicting emotions roiled around inside her. That Curtis was gone seemed unreal, and it would be even more devastating for his family. She was embarrassed that she was uncomfortable being alone in the shop with his body. She had known him most of his life, she should be honored to maintain a vigil with his body. But mostly, she was angry. Actually, full of rage was more like it. That Curtis was murdered seemed clear, and then he was brought to her shop and left unceremoniously on the floor. Her shop. Where Curtis happily had helped her for so many years. It was most unfair.
Then the door banged open, sending the chimes jangling, and several police officers filled the room. Zack Woodstone, the chief of police and Sadie’s fiancé, broke away from the pack and came to stand at the checkout counter facing Sadie.
“How are you doing?” he asked with concern. “This has to be very hard for you.”
He stood blocking Sadie’s view of the body. She could hear cameras clicking and a lot of copspeak going on behind him. She shuffled to the right a couple of steps, but he moved right along with her. Sadie frowned at him.
She shuffled to the left. He shuffled left and blocked her view. “What is up with you?” she asked, exasperated. “It’s not like I haven’t been sitting here with him for the last fifteen minutes.”
“I thought all the clinical stuff might upset you,” he said.
“Of course, it upsets me,” she said. “He’s dead when he should be alive. But that doesn’t mean your guys doing their job will upset me more.”
“All right then.” He stepped away.
She immediately regretted her curiosity. It wasn’t that they were doing anything particularly gruesome, it was just the impersonal way they were treating Curtis. It was as if he wasn’t there, which of course, he wasn’t. Sadie burst into tears.
She turned and left the store, stopping to grab a box of tissues and Mr. Bradshaw from the office. She exited the rear door and sat on the step at the back of her shop with Mr. B in her lap. He licked her face and her tears turned to laughter when he stuck his nose in her ear and snuffled.
Zack came out and sat beside her on the step, sliding an arm around her shoulder. “I thought you might take it that way,” he said. “It’s an impersonal business, collecting evidence at a crime scene.”
“But is it a crime scene?” Sadie asked. “There’s no blood, no sign of a struggle, and by all rights, Curtis should be in college, not down here in the town. He had no business being in my shop this morning.”
“Tell me how you found him,” Zack said.
“I was next door talking with John Baker and having my morning coffee,” she said.
“Your first coffee of the morning?” Zack asked.
“Yes, my first morning coffee and a muffin and discussing life with John – you know all this. It’s what I do every day.”
“I know. Go on.” Zack scratched Mr. Bradshaw’s head and the dog climbed out of Sadie’s lap and into his.
“Traitor,” Sadie said. “Anyway Mr. B didn’t want me to go in the shop. He stood in front of the door growling at me, and you know that thing he does where he bounces his paws off my shins? He was doing that, trying to push me away from the door.”
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “So I picked him up, unlocked the door and went in. Curtis was lying on the floor in the China aisle.” She sniffed. “I could see he was dead. And when I felt for a pulse he was cold to the touch. You know the rest.”
“When did Betty get here?” Zack asked.
"Five minutes after I did," she said. "And I made her back right out the door. She didn't go anywhere near Curtis."
"And you didn't see anyone hanging around the shop when you left? No one hurrying away when you stepped out of the bakery?"
"No one. Not a single person. Not even through the window while I was drinking my coffee." She snuggled her head into his shoulder and closed her eyes. "This is not a very good day."
"No, babe, it's not." He dropped a kiss on her forehead and held her close.
They sat on the steps until an officer came out the back door to tell them it was safe to come back in. Betty was standing in the doorway staring at the spot where Curtis had been. There were tears in her eyes and her lower lip was quivering. Sadie took her arm and led her outside to the sidewalk.
"Go home, Betty," she said. "The store won't be open today, and maybe not tomorrow either."
"Will they be collecting evidence?" Betty asked.
"I don’t think so," Sadie said, uncertain if this was true. "He wasn't killed in the shop."
"I feel like I'm abandoning you." Betty's eyes filled with tears again.
"I've got the Chief. You go home and call Mr. Big and Tall. I'm sure he could use
some cheering up."
Betty's boyfriend was going to the police academy, and it was proving to be a grueling experience.
"If he knew you call him Mr. Big and Tall he'd just die," Betty said. "He's got a name, you know."
"But Mr. Big and Tall suits him so much better than Silvester," Sadie said. "I mean, have you ever seen a bigger man than Sil? And Sil sounds too much like silly--and that's just not right."
"Sadie! For heaven's sake don't let him hear you say that. How would you like it if someone called you Ms. Short and Round?"
"At least it would be accurate," Sadie said. "But don't worry, I won't call him that when he's around. Now, do you want me to walk you home? Mr. Bradshaw could use some exercise."
Sadie kept her cheerful face on for the six blocks to Betty's house, and sobbed all the way home. She avoided Main Street so she could cry in peace, but Mr. Bradshaw kept turning around to put his paws on Sadie's shins with a quiet whine. He was worried.
"It's okay, Mr. B," Sadie sniffed. "I'll be alright." But she didn't feel alright, she felt as if the middle of her had been burnt right out.
She wiped her face on her sleeve before she reached Main Street again and quickly ran the block to her shop. She knew evidence of her crying jag was all over her face and she really, really didn't want to talk about it. When she passed someone on the sidewalk, she turned her face away and pulled Mr. Bradshaw along when he wanted to say hello.
She was relieved when she reached the shop and Zack was there waiting for her. He'd found her sign that said 'Closed for the day' and hung it on the outside of the door. She stopped inside the door to gaze at the spot where Curtis had been, but there was nothing there to remind her of his being there.
"Ugh," Sadie said. "I'm going to have to avoid that spot forever. It's that or switch the shelves around."
"Give it a couple of days," Zack said. "You may feel better about it."
"I'm going upstairs, I need to lie down," she said.
"Do you want company?" he asked.
"I don't want to pull you away from work," she said.
"It's okay. I've put in a lot of overtime lately. They can live without me for a day."
He slid an arm around her shoulders and guided her toward the door that led to the stairs up to her apartment. He'd just opened it when there was a rap at the front of the shop.
"I'll get it," he said. "You go on upstairs."
Sadie let Mr. Bradshaw off his leash and he ran up the steps, as lively as ever. Her feet felt heavy and she dragged herself up the steps. They never seemed more insurmountable than today. She thought maybe her heart was leaden, too, and that wasn't helping at all. It took everything she had to reach the landing. Mr. B already had pushed the upper door open and she followed him in, heading straight for her bed.
Sadie was curled up on her quilt when Zack came in a moment later carrying a small package. "I don't know why I'm so tired," she said, "I just got out of bed a couple of hours ago."
"It's the shock," Zack said. "It's okay for you to sleep if you want to."
"Who was at the door?" she asked, but she was having trouble keeping her eyes open.
"It can wait," he said. "I'm not going anywhere."
Sadie awoke confused. The sunlight was shining in through her bedroom window. Why was she in bed in the middle of the day? The memory of the morning hit her hard and she had to suck in a breath. She blinked hard and bit her lip to keep from crying. Poor Curtis. Poor Curtis' parents. Such a blow to the heart for a young person to die.
She got out of bed and wandered out into the living area where Zack was sitting at the dining table surrounded by paperwork. He looked up over his glasses as she shuffled in and sat across from him.
"How are you feeling?" Zack took off his glasses and set them on the table.
"Like someone hit me in the gut," she said. "But I'm trying to keep moving anyway."
"I made sandwiches, do you want one?"
He pulled the foil-covered plate from the end of the table and unwrapped one side, exposing an assortment. Sadie shook her head no, but he pulled a couple of sandwiches out, put them on a napkin and slid them in front of her.
"You need to eat," he said. "And I'm not giving you the box that was delivered until you do."
"That's blackmail," she said and picked up one of the sandwiches.
It was cucumber and cream cheese. "Yum. My favorite."
She bit into it and realized she was desperately hungry. How had she not known she needed to eat? She finished a cucumber and cream cheese and then ate a turkey and cheese, gulping down a glass of milk.
"Got anything else in there?" she asked, nodding to the plate.
"Tomato and watercress or ham and cheese," he said and pulled off the foil.
"Oh, and bacon, lettuce, and tomato." She grabbed the BLT.
"Where did you get all this food?" she asked through a mouthful of bacon and bread. "Not from my house."
"Mitchell's delivers, I called them." He grinned at her. "Actually, I'm not sure they deliver for normal citizens, but they do for the police chief. And probably the mayor."
"Thank God," Sadie said. "Or I'd be eating dry toast."
She wiped her face on a napkin and looked up expectantly. "Where's my package?"
Zack picked up an envelope and handed it to her. "The envelope was addressed to me, but it concerns you, so take a look."
Sadie took the envelope and slid two photographs onto the table. The first was a reproduction of a group photograph. It was a bunch of twenty-something women standing in front of a sorority house. Sadie was there, much younger, of course, but entirely recognizable. The second was a picture of a necklace--a sorority key on a chain. It looked exactly like Sadie's and, in fact, when she looked closely she could see the key around her neck in the photo. She looked at Zack, confused.
"The photo and the necklace were on Curtis' body," he said.
"Huh," Sadie said, getting up and going into her bedroom.
On the top of her dresser was a little girl's jewelry box. She opened the lid and the ballerina twirled as the music box played. She pulled her sorority key from a compartment, the chain dangling. She took it and placed it on the table in front of Zack.
"This one's mine," she said and then tapped on the photo of the necklace.
“I don't know whose this is. Are you telling me Curtis had both the necklace and that photo on him when he died? That's weird."
"Why would he have that exact necklace?" Zack asked, the furrow between his brows deepening.
"It's a sorority key," Sadie said. "You get them when you join a college sorority. At least at my sorority."
"And you still have it after all this time?" Zack asked, his eyebrows making half-moons on his forehead.
"My sorority sisters are still very much a part of my life," she said.
"I'd say more than half my business consists of sales to members of the sorority. Not all my year, of course, but you become connected to the network and word gets around." She picked up the key and smiled at the silver letters in her hand.
"Not only that, but those were some of the best years of my life. We had such fun." She smiled up at him. "Not as much fun as I have with you, but still pretty fun."
She took her necklace back to her jewelry box and closed the lid gently. She didn't want her ballerina to break off.
Back at the dining room table, they examined the photos. Zack set aside the one of the necklace and held up the photograph of Sadie in college. "Why would a college student have this in his pocket?" he asked. "Clearly you are all very attractive, but this picture is at least fifteen years old."
"Thirty," Sadie said.
"What?" he asked.
"The picture. It's thirty years old," she said. "You have to know that."
"I keep forgetting you are nearly my age,” he said, smiling at her. “I feel like I’m robbing the cradle when I’m with you.”
“I know, I’m immature. It’s how I disguise my decrepitude from the
world,” she said.
She sounded crabbier than she felt, her age didn’t bother her at all, but considering she’d found one of her favorite young people dead this morning she felt a little crabbiness probably was to be expected.
“Don’t mind me,” she said, “this whole thing has put me out of sorts.”
“Me too,” he said. “But the question remains, why did he have a picture of you in his pocket?” She shrugged.
“Maybe he found it at college and was going to return it to me? I don’t know. It’s all so bizarre.”
She picked up another sandwich and shoved the entire thing in her mouth. It was a good thing it was cream cheese and watercress, as she gulped it down without chewing and cucumbers would have become stuck in her throat.