Home Sweet Homicide: A Cozy Mystery (A Gemma Stone Murder Mystery Book 5)

by Willow Monroe

  “Ha, they would never have made it back in the day when I started out,” Peggy boasted. “And you’d be surprised how many of them I’ve had to teach how to use that technology.”

  “Really?” Gemma asked, knowing it wouldn’t take much to get Peggy going.

  She was right. Peggy launched into all the stories Gemma had heard before plus a few new ones in which Peggy was always the hero.

  “So how long have you had that orange logo?” Gemma asked.

  “At least ten years. It’s distinctive isn’t it?” Peggy asked.

  “Oh, yes. And everything is color coordinated right down to your office,” Gemma said.

  “Yep. Even the Paracord that I use to anchor the signs matches the color. That’s how I found that color. I bought that spool about ten years ago and things just took off from there.

  “So you anchor your signs,” Gemma said. She was thirsty and really wanted that tea but something held her back.

  “Yeah, they’re so big, I have to. I just drive a small wooden stake in the ground close by and tie it off. Keeps the wind from blowing the sign around. You have to be careful with everything nowadays.”

  Gemma finally relented and took a sip of the cold, sweet tea.

  “I put an extra large sign in the yard over on Elm Street,” Peggy said. “You know, where Katie was killed.”

  “You did? I didn’t see it there,” Gemma said.

  “That’s because the bitch took it down before I could get over there and take care of it myself,” Peggy snapped.

  “She took your sign down? I didn’t think you could do that.”

  “She did. Katie thought she could get away with anything just because she was sleeping with everyone in town, including that detective. I guess she wanted to make sure she had control of everyone just in case,” Peggy continued her rant.

  “Just in case what?”

  “In case I came after her,” Peggy said, hands on her hips now, pacing back and forth in the big kitchen. Her anger rolled off of her in great waves, almost visible in the bright lighting.

  “You mean in court?”

  “I mean anywhere. That bitch needed to be put in her place and I was the one to do it,” Peggy snarled.

  At that moment, Gemma knew she was talking to Katie’s killer. She made a show of looking at her watch and then stood up.

  “I’m sorry, Peggy, I have to go,” she said.

  It took a few moments for Peggy to calm down but she finally did and smiled sweetly at Gemma. “Okay, have you thought about joining the Chamber?”

  “Yes, ma’am, as soon as we’re up and running, we’ll give you a call,” Gemma said, moving slowly toward the back door.

  “You won’t be sorry. I know your little business will grow twice as fast with my help and guidance,” Peggy said, getting between Gemma and the back door but not blocking the way.

  “Thank you,” Gemma said, her heartrate speeding up.

  “You have no idea how many young entrepreneurs I’ve tried to help in this town and they refuse to listen to me,” Peggy continued. “But you’re a smart girl.”

  She was just about to launch into a story when Gemma spotted something resting on a table just inside the back door. She had to look twice to make sure she wasn’t imagining it but there it was complete with a gold buckle, wide brim, coming to a point at the top.

  A witch’s hat.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Like it?” Peggy asked.

  “From Halloween?” Gemma asked, praying that was the case.

  “Hell no,” Peggy said, her voice deafening in the small room.

  Gemma watched, stunned as Peggy reached for the hat. She pushed it aside and grabbed what looked like a rubbery green face. Once that was on, she smashed the hat on her head and then reached for the black cloak hanging on a hook. Fully dressed in her costume, Peggy waved her arms around and cackled wildly.

  “When the little monsters that live in this neighborhood come into my back yard, I put this on, run outside and scare the living daylights out of them,” Peggy boasted.

  “So you dress up like a witch to scare the children away?” Gemma asked.

  “Yep. And it works like a charm. You can hear them screaming all the way home,” Peggy cackled again for effect.

  Gemma forced a smile and hurried past Peggy out into the sun drenched back yard. She was pretty sure Peggy didn’t have to wear a witch costume to terrify all the children in the area. But all she could really think about was one of the neighbors telling the police they had seen a witch on the street the night before.

  Peggy.

  She climbed into her car, her mind spinning. Peggy had dressed like a witch so no one would know who she was. She somehow lured Katie to that house, killed her and hung her in the closet. Gemma was sure that was the way it went down. She had to tell Ross and then they could go to Gilmore with what they knew and clear his name. With shaking hands, she pulled her phone out of her purse and punched in Ross’s number.

  “You really shouldn’t be using your cell phone while driving.”

  Gemma gasped, nearly dropped her phone and turned to find Detective Gilmore leaning in the passenger side window, his hot pink shirt looking florescent in the sunshine.

  “I’m not driving,” she said.

  “You were about to be. Going to meet Ross?”

  “No,” Gemma lied, wondering why she felt she had to answer him at all.

  “Is he even in town?” Gilmore asked.

  “He’s at his apartment, I guess,” Gemma told him.

  Ross’s phone had gone straight to voice mail and she remembered he had turned it off to keep them from tracking him that way.

  Gilmore studied her for a moment and then said. “Well, when you see him, and I know you’re going to see him, give him a message for me.” He leaned further into the window.

  His cologne filled the vehicle and Gemma fought to keep from putting her hand over her mouth.

  “Tell your boyfriend that we’ll have the DNA results back in a day or so. They’re putting a rush on it for me. Tell him I’m going to put him in a cage where he belongs,” Gilmore said, dark eyes flashing anger. “And then I’m going to see what other dirt I can dig up on the golden boy. I don’t think Katie was his first.”

  “Don’t be so sure of yourself,” Gemma managed to squeak.

  Gilmore laughed. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t kill you first. That man is dangerous, Miss Stone. I’d hate to see you end up like Katie Mack.”

  “He’s not... He didn’t...”

  “Tell him he’s got about twenty-four hours of freedom left,” Gilmore said. “And then I’m taking him down.” He turned and walked away.

  Gemma hoped all of that was recorded on Ross’s voice mail. She ended the call and sat there quietly watching Gilmore slowly circle his car, take out that cloth and lovingly buff more shine into the driver’s side door. She waited until he climbed into the car and drove away and then she headed for home, hands shaking not with fear but with anger. Gemma knew what she had to do.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard,” Ross said.

  They were sitting at the table, sharing another delicious dinner prepared by Aunt Maisy. Gemma had laid out the whole case against Peggy. She was sure Peggy had dressed in her witch costume so no one would know who she was, lured Katie to that house and killed her. Perhaps they had fought, wrestled on the bed. Katie ran downstairs trying to escape but Peggy chased her and finished the job. Then she used the hand truck to haul Katie’s body back upstairs and hang her in the closet to try and make it look like suicide.

  “She had means, motive and opportunity,” Gemma finished.

  “It makes sense to me,” Aunt Maisy said, munching on her salad. “That Peggy woman hated Katie, from what I understand.”

  “Enough to kill her?” Ross asked, looking from one to the other.

  “Emotions will make a woman do unspeakable and irrational things,” Maisy tol
d him.

  “Katie was hung with that orange cord. Peggy uses that cord to stake her signs down and hold the trunk of her car closed.”

  “Okay,” Ross said.

  “A witch was spotted on that street the night before. Peggy has a witch costume that she wears to frighten the children,” Gemma continued.

  It occurred to her that her aunt was wearing a witch hat when she showed up at Gemma’s door, but she hadn’t seen it since. Aunt Maisy didn’t even know Katie and she wasn’t a killer.

  “Is she strong enough to strangle someone?” Ross asked.

  “If not, maybe she enlisted someone to help her kill Katie. I’m sure plenty of people would have lined up for that job.”

  “DNA on the bed,” Ross argued.

  “A married couple lived in that house up until right before the murder,” Gemma shot back. “Duh.”

  “Blood. They found some blood evidence as well,” Ross put in. His arguments were growing weaker.

  “Maybe someone had a bloody nose. Who knows, but I’m pretty sure none of that blood evidence or DNA will link you to that murder,” Gemma told him.

  “Do you think you can pull it off? I mean just getting everyone there at the same time and on such short notice will be a miracle,” Ross said.

  “Let me handle that,” Gemma told him. “Are you in or not?”

  “Okay, I’m in,” Ross said, after a few minutes. “But only to keep you from getting yourself killed.”

  “Good.”

  Now that Gemma had a plan, she felt much better about the whole thing. The first person she called was Peggy. Gemma told her that she was interested in seeing the house again and when Peggy hesitated Gemma added. “My aunt has come to stay with me for a while and I realize I need a bigger place.”

  “So you’ll be putting your old place on the market?” Peggy asked. “You’ll need an agent.”

  “Yes,” Gemma said.

  “Well, good. This is going to work out perfectly.”

  They agreed on a time. Just before dark. Perfect.

  Her next call was to Nick. “Are you busy tonight?” she asked when he answered.

  “Natalie and I were going out,” he said. “What’s up?”

  “If you want to know who killed Katie Mack, get the scoop on this story, you’ll be at the murder scene tonight just before dark,” Gemma told him.

  “What?”

  “I know who did it and I’m going to make them confess, just like in the movies,” Gemma said.

  Nick took a deep breath. “Okay but if this ends up badly...”

  “It won’t. And you’ll get a great story out of it.”

  “I can picture the headline now. ‘Amateur Sleuth Solves Local Murder’. Gemma, you’re going to get in so much trouble.”

  “Nope. I got this nailed,” Gemma assured him.

  Gemma called Essie and left a message asking her to please meet her at the house on Elm Street just before dark. She prayed Essie would be there when the killer of her cousin was revealed.

  Holly put up a little argument but promised she and Mitch would be there. “You’re probably going to need a lawyer anyway when this is over,” Holly told her.

  “I don’t think so,” Gemma told her. “But someone else is.”

  “Miss Stone, you finally came to your senses,” Gilmore said when Gemma called him. “Ready to tell me where Ross is so we can bring him in?”

  “I don’t know where Ross is,” Gemma said, even though he was standing right in front of her. “But I do know who killed Katie Mack.”

  “Yeah, did he confess...?”

  “He didn’t do it and you know it. If you would take off your blinders and pay attention to the evidence you’d know that,” Gemma argued.

  Gilmore laughed.

  “If you want to know who really killed Katie Mack, you’ll be at the murder scene tonight just before dark. The killer will be there.”

  “And how do you know this?”

  “Because I invited her.”

  Gilmore laughed again. “Oh, I’ll be there for this show. This is going to be good. It’d be nice if Ross would show up as well. That way I can make the arrest and we can get that over with.”

  “Ross will be there but you won’t be arresting him,” Gemma snapped.

  “We’ll just have to see about that, Miss Stone.”

  “Gemma, I’m coming, too,” Maisy said when Gemma ended her last call.

  “No, Aunt Maisy, this could be dangerous and...”

  Aunt Maisy, hands on hips, black cat circling her ankles looked more determined than Gemma wanted to admit. She shook her head back and forth. “Like you, I don’t think our killer was dangerous to anyone but Katie Mack. I’ve heard all the details on the case and it’s only fair I should be involved in the outcome.”

  “It could be dangerous when we confront her. She might have a gun or...”

  “I’m coming with you,” Maisy said and left the room.

  “Well, I guess that settles it,” Gemma said with a smile at her spunky aunt. “Now, you know how I got to be so stubborn.”

  “Runs in the family, I guess,” Ross said.

  Gemma was a bundle of nerves when she and her aunt climbed into the Subaru. Turning the key, she silently gave Rosie a little pep talk to make sure her car was going to cooperate. Nothing worse than arriving at the scene of the crime in reverse.

  “Rosie’s been doing pretty well lately,” Gemma told her aunt.

  “Rosie is the car?”

  “Yes, for a while I had a hard time getting her to go into drive. There haven’t been any problems lately,” Gemma explained.

  “I had a talk with her,” Maisy said with a little smile.

  “With who?”

  “Rosie.”

  “Oh,” Gemma said, noting that her aunt was fingering the little leather pouch that always hung around her neck.

  “I’m thinking you probably have a lot of questions that you haven’t asked me,” Maisy said.

  “I have a few, “Gemma confessed.

  “But you didn’t want to seem rude or uncaring. You’re a sweet girl, Gemma, just like your mama,” Maisy said, giving Gemma’s fingers a light squeeze. “And smart, too.”

  Gemma was having her doubts about that as they drew closer to the neighborhood where Katie had been killed.

  “So ask away.”

  “Um, well, why the witch hat?” Gemma asked.

  “For years and years I tried to fit in but I always felt kind of lost and out of place. Like I should have been born at a different time. Anyway, I decided that if you can’t fit in, you might as well stand out. So, when I travel around, I sort of develop different personas. Hence, the witch hat and cape when I came here.”

  Strangely enough that made sense to Gemma. “But you’re not really a witch.”

  Maisy shrugged. “Shall we say that I’ve dabbled a bit? Nothing serious, though.”

  “The black cat.”

  “What about him?”

  “Is he your familiar?”

  “One would think so, the way he follows me around but, really, he’s your cat.”

  “What?”

  “Isn’t he your cat?” Maisy said.

  Gemma felt laughter bubbling up in her throat. “He’s not my cat.”

  “Well, he’s not mine either.”

  The two of them burst into giggles at the thought of this stray cat just adopting them both without either of them realizing it.

  Their laughter died and Gemma’s nerves returned when she pulled up in front of the house. Peggy’s car was already in the driveway. Holly’s SUV was parked behind Peggy and Ross’s car was there as well. Nick arrived, taking the last spot in the wide driveway. He had Natalie with him and held onto her hand as if he would never let go.

  Gemma looked away quickly. “Looks like we have a full house,” she said, pulling as far into the drive as she could, part of her car blocking the sidewalk.

  Holly and Mitch got out as well and Ross strolled toward the
m. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he said.

  “I do,” Gemma told them. “Let’s go inside. Our killer is waiting.”

  “Well, I didn’t know we were having an open house tonight,” Peggy said when Gemma led the crowd inside.

  “You know how much I depend on my friends,” Gemma told her. “I think you know everyone, except maybe my Aunt Maisy.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Peggy said and turned to the empty house. “If you decide not to buy the place, I’ll have to get it staged. Looks like the owners have moved out. Luckily you’ve seen it dressed up.”

  “Can’t say as I blame them,” Holly said.

  “Me either,” Peggy agreed and shook her head sadly. “After what happened to poor Katie up in that bedroom.”

  Gemma thought the woman should get an academy award for that performance.

  Peggy led them through the house, giving them the grand tour. She spent a great deal of time in the kitchen and Gemma asked about the door leading out to the pantry and the garage. Peggy explained what that was and Gemma asked if she could see it.

  “Of course,” Peggy said, leading them toward the door.

  Gemma followed her out into the garage, noting that a few boxes remained as well as the hand truck.

  “What’s this all over the floor?” Peggy asked, stomping over to the cocoa powder Gemma and Ross had used to lift prints earlier.

  “I don’t know,” Gemma said. How she wanted to confront Peggy then and there but she held back.

  “Looks like cocoa powder,” Peggy said. “Someone must have dropped a box or something out here and spilled it. I’ll have to get that cleaned up.”

  They all trooped back inside while Peggy ranted about how people expected you to sell something and then didn’t help at all with keeping it clean. She was going to tack on a cleaning bill to their fees when she sold this place.

  “How many bedrooms?” Gemma asked, trying to change the subject.

  “Three,” Peggy told her.

  “All upstairs?”

  “Yes but you could turn that office into a bedroom for your aunt if you needed to,” Peggy explained and led the way up the stairs.

  Everyone followed, with Ross bringing up the rear. Peggy continued to talk as she led them from room to room, spending a while longer in the hall bathroom. The master bedroom loomed before them, one of the double doors slightly ajar. Gemma held her breath as they moved in that direction, praying that Gilmore would get there soon. She really wanted to see the look on his face when Peggy confessed. Gemma was sad that Essie had not gotten her message. The woman deserved to be there when the truth was revealed.