Kari Lee Townsend - Sunny Meadows 04 - Perish in the Palm

by Kari Lee Townsend

  I stopped the next man passing by. Frank Lalone, the maintenance man. “Miss Meadows, isn’t it?” he asked.

  “Yes.” I smiled.

  “What can I help you with?” He returned my smile with a pleasant one of his own. I couldn’t help liking him as well. It appeared as though Mr. Theodore had surrounded himself with a reliable, competent staff, which made me feel better since that feeling of doom deep in my gut still lingered.

  “I’m just checking to make sure everything is okay.”

  “All systems are a go at full capacity, and the backup generator is working if anything breaks.” He stood a bit straighter. “No worries, Miss Meadows. I’ve got your back. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to speak to Mr. Theodore.”

  “Of course.” I tipped my head and watched him walk away, or more like waddle.

  Frank was a short, stocky man with a pot belly, but his apple cheeks and rosy disposition made him somehow adorable. Like a cuddly teddy bear you wanted to curl up with every night. And it didn’t hurt that he was a genius when it came to fixing things, an admirable trait to say the least. Word around town was that the inn couldn’t run without him.

  “We’re all set,” Zoe came up to me and said with pride and satisfaction. She was Jo’s cousin—a shorter, softer replica of her—and the only woman who had ever made Sean O’Malley tongue tied.

  Sean was one of my best friends and Cole’s best man. He was the one used to flustering women with his blond movie star good looks and killer dimples, not the other way around. He’d gotten Zoe to agree to be his date to the wedding, but she still didn’t buy everything he was selling, which made me like her even more. I adored Sean, but Zoe was good for him, whether he realized it or not. He would soon, though. It was only a matter of time.

  I took my place in line, right before Jo, and stared out at the audience. They stood and faced us as the music began to play. Between Jo’s guest list and Cole’s, pretty much everyone in town was there. The groom and his men were beneath the tent at the makeshift altar, waiting for the bride and her maids. We walked down the aisle one by one, smiling and nodding to our friends and loved ones. When it was my turn, my parents beamed. My father looked proud, my mother had hope in her eyes, and Granny Gert was a blubbering mess. But I only had eyes for one person.

  Detective Mitch Stone.

  The men all wore gray tuxedoes, the women wore burgundy dresses, and the bride and groom were adorned in white. Mitch had such a fierce, possessive look on his face. When his gaze settled on my eyes, a secret thrill shot through me. I smiled tenderly at him, and everything about him softened, giving me hope that this too could one day be mine.

  Father Moody performed the ceremony, with several readings by friends and family, and when the bride and groom read their vows, not a dry eye was left beneath the tent. Finally Cole and Jo were pronounced man and wife. He didn’t have to be asked to kiss his bride as he bent her over backward and planted a big one on her. I swiped a tear away, so happy for them. Cheers broke out, and the reception was underway.

  “Hey,” Mitch said, as he came to a stop beside me, standing tall and strong and oh-so-handsome.

  “Hey there, yourself.” I smiled up at him, my heart skipping a beat. “You clean up nice.” His thick black wavy hair had been tamed, his face clean-shaven but shadowed already from his heavy beard, his tux precisely cut, he smelled amazing, and…

  He was all mine.

  “You look beautiful.” He stared down at me with equally dark eyes, and a muscle in his square jaw bulged, pulsing the jagged scar that ran across it.

  “Rough, rugged, and oh so right,” I mumbled more to myself, but he heard judging from the twitch of his lips.

  The DJ began to play, and Jo and Cole danced their first dance as husband and wife. My mother had suggested a string quartet from the city that was all the rage, but I knew Jo. I’d overruled my mother on that one and gave Jo the name of a fantastic DJ I had heard of when I still lived in the Big Apple. Luckily he had been available, and Jo had sided with me on this one, much to my mother’s displeasure and my glee.

  “So, um, do you want to dance? You don’t have to or anything, it’s just, you know, I mean, we’re here,” Mitch said, and I found my lips twitching at him this time. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Dangerous so wasn’t good at the whole courting/romance thing, but I had to give him credit. At least he was trying, and it was adorable.

  “Sure.” I took his hand, letting him lead me onto the dance floor. I slipped into his waiting arms, and it was like coming home. We fit together so perfectly, it brought out my longing for something more.

  “I’m proud of you.” His soft tone broke into my thoughts.

  I couldn’t stop the warmth from spreading through me over his words of praise, especially having grown up without much of it in my life. My gaze met his as I breathlessly asked, “For what?”

  “You did it.” Pride and something more filled the deep timber of his voice. “You pulled off Jo’s wedding in record time.”

  “Well, Zoe planned it, and my mother butted her nose in every step of the way, so I can’t really take much credit.”

  He stilled me with his intense gaze and his big hand tipping up my jaw until I looked at him. “Don’t sell yourself short, Tink.” I loved when he referred to me by the nickname he’d chosen after we’d first met. Tink for Tinkerbell since he said I was a petite little pixie with way too much attitude and gumption for my own good.

  “What you did was much more important,” he went on. “You helped Jo keep it together, and as one of her best friends, I know for a fact that’s not easy. Not to mention you entertained everyone at the rehearsal dinner. And you kept your mother and Theodore from killing each other, which was no easy feat. All in all, I’d say you’re the real hero of the day.”

  I felt my smile before I even realized I was doing it. “Thank you.” I filled those two words with all the tenderness I felt. “That means more than you know.”

  “So do you.” His voice came across soft and husky.

  My heart skipped a beat. “So do I what?” I knew what he meant, but I needed to hear the words.

  He stared at me for an intense beat. “Mean more than you know.”

  My lips parted in pleasure. He’d only said he loved me once when he’d asked me to marry him, and of course I’d freaked out. After getting him to compromise on taking a step back, slowing things down, and trying living together first, he hadn’t said the words since. I hadn’t realized how much I wanted to hear those words again until this very moment.

  He stared at my mouth, groaned, and then tore his gaze back up to mine as if what he had to say was more important than any desire to kiss me that he might be feeling. I tamped down my disappointment and smiled at him in an encouraging way.

  “Sunny, I’m sorry for the way I’ve been behaving lately. I love living with you, but it’s not easy. I mean, living with you is easy, but living with you in that house is damned hard. I’m trying, but the other ‘man’ in your life isn’t making things easy on me.”

  “I know, and I appreciate that, but you are both so important to me. I can’t imagine my life without either of you in it.” I stroked his cheeks with my fingertips, studying every inch of his face, realizing just how much I absolutely loved this man. “Please don’t make me choose,” I whispered.

  “Baby, I would never make you choose.” He cupped my face in his palms and stared deep into my eyes, the gray surrounding his pupils swirling into thunderous storm clouds that matched the ever darkening sky. “Whatever it takes. I will do whatever it takes to make this work.”

  “Why?” I sucked in a breath, realizing I’d spoken out loud and now terrified of what his response might be.

  “Because you’re that important to me,” he said. It wasn’t, I love you, but it was a definite step in the right direction.

  I exhaled a huge sigh of relief. “You’re important to me too, Mitch. More than you know.”

  Finally, blessedly, his head lower
ed until his lips claimed mine.

  I was in heaven, feeling him, tasting him, reveling in just being with him…until voices raised and shouts rang out over by the buffet line. With reluctance, Mitch and I broke apart, and I groaned. Back to reality.

  “Duty calls,” I said.

  “You get her, I’ll get him,” Mitch responded.

  “Deal.” I led the way over to the food table where my mother was wielding a kitchen knife over the fruit tray.

  Peirce held the plastic serving spoon as if it were a sword and he were about to shout, En garde! “Back off, Mrs. Meadows. The fruit is perfectly fine,” he growled.

  “Perfectly fine isn’t good enough,” she snapped back. “Kind of like your inn. It has the potential to be spectacular, but you won’t allow it to be. You settle, and today settling isn’t good enough. Jo and Cole deserve spectacular, and spectacular is what they are going to get so long as I live and breathe.”

  “Over my dead body!” he shouted.

  “Don’t tempt me,” she ground out.

  “Mother!” I stepped forward and placed myself between them. “I do believe Jo needs you. She’s about to cut the cake.”

  My mother brightened just like I knew she would. “Oh, well then, I mustn’t keep her waiting. That cake isn’t just any cake, you know. It’s from Cake Masters in the city, upon my recommendation, of course. One of their best bakers even personally volunteered to deliver it all the way here. Now that’s class. A certain someone could take lessons. Did you try the punch? It’s downright awful.” With one final glare at Peirce, she set the knife on the table and scurried away.

  I let out a sigh of relief as Mitch started talking to Pierce about the fish in the river that fed the lake behind the inn. The fruit looked fine to me. I tried the punch and puckered my face. She was right about the punch, though. Setting down my glass, I hurried after her before she stirred up any more trouble. I wound up watching as she stole the show with Jo once more, pulling off the perfect assistant in cutting the cake, which was pretty spectacular, I had to admit. It was a replica of Smokey Jo’s with Cole on his Harley right out front, their Great Dane puppy Biff standing by his side, and Jo welcoming them both to cross the threshold through her open door.

  Sam, our local baker, wasn’t too pleased Jo hadn’t gone with him, but even he grudgingly admitted he couldn’t create a theme cake the likes of that one. I did my part by telling each table they could help themselves.

  “Nicely done, Cat Woman.” Mitch came to a stop beside me a while later.

  I grinned up at him. “Ditto, Batman.”

  “Not sure how much longer we can keep the peace in Tent City.”

  “I’d settle for just keeping dry.” I stared out at the now black clouds as a streak of lightning lit up the evening sky, and the first fat raindrops began to fall.

  “Good thing this tent comes with sides. You go left, I’ll go right.”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  He winked. “See, I knew we would make a pretty good team.”

  “There was never any doubt.” I winked back.

  Ten minutes later, we’d lowered the sides and the entire wedding reception and staff were enclosed inside the confines of the tent. The wind howled and pushed against the canvas, causing the ropes to strain. Seconds later, the loudest crack of thunder I’d ever heard boomed overhead, shaking the ground beneath our feet. Tables toppled, dishes crashed, and guests screamed and suddenly the tent tumbled to the ground.

  Tent City was dark, and all chaos broke out.

  After much scuffling and panicked conversations and what felt like forever, the yard flooded with spotlights powered from a generator operated by the maintenance man while the groundskeeper and staff pitched in to help raise the tent once more. Tables were righted as people scurried about to pick up broken dishes and make sure everyone was okay.

  “What’s going on?” someone asked.

  “Yeah, what happened?” someone else chimed in.

  “Sounded like lightning hit,” a third person responded.

  “Knocked the power right out,” a fourth person added. “Funny thing is, the forecast didn’t call for rain.”

  “This can’t be happening.” Jo looked like an Amazon queen who’d just lost the most important battle of her life.

  “I was afraid that something would go wrong.” Cole stood proud and tall with his tattoos covered by an immaculate tux—except for the chain link fence around his neck peeking above his collar defiantly—but his buzz cut and five-o’clock shadow remained firmly in place.

  “It’s okay, man.” Sean clapped Cole on the back. “Every wedding experiences a few glitches. Most people just don’t get to see them, laddy. That’s all.”

  “That’s not all,” Cole said. “Every time I’m finally happy, something goes wrong.” The look on his face said everything.

  The feeling of doom I’d had the entire day intensified, but I pasted on my best maid-of-honor smile at Jo and tried to reassure Cole. “It’s okay. No harm no foul. The party has just begun.”

  An ear piercing scream came from the other end of the tent, and we all broke into a run in that direction.

  Mitch held up his hands as he whirled around to face us. “Don’t move,” he said, his voice serious and full of authority.

  “Why?” I asked, pretty sure I wasn’t going to like the answer.

  “Because everything’s not okay. There’s definitely harm and plenty of foul…play, that is.”

  “What does that even mean?” Jo wrung her hands.

  “That this is no longer a wedding reception.”

  “Then what the hell is it?” Sean held his hands up in the air.

  Mitch’s face turned to granite. “A crime scene.”

  “I knew it.” Cole hung his head. “I’m cursed.”

  “And Pierce Theodore is dead.”

  Gasps rang out among the guests as Detective Mitch Stone stepped aside. The innkeeper lay sprawled on his back beneath the buffet table with the kitchen knife buried deep into his chest and my mother standing over his dead body, looking more than tempted. She looked downright guilty as sin.

  Party officially over.

  Chapter 4

  Hours later, what had started out as the best day of Jo and Cole’s lives was quickly turning into the worst. The beautiful wedding reception was now covered in crime scene tape, and law enforcement individuals scoured the grounds. No one was allowed to leave until everyone was accounted for. Mayor Cromwell had his troll like, flaming red head bent in an intense conversation with Chief Spencer who was a slicked back older version of Mitch. Meanwhile a distinguished, bald, goatee sporting Captain Grady Walker was doing his best to keep the peace.

  “Please, everyone.” Captain Walker held his hands up high. “Calm down. I promise we won’t keep you here all night. We just have to make sure that everyone who was here tonight has been accounted for. It’s for your own good. The last thing we want is for a murderer to run around on the loose in Divinity.”

  People grumbled amongst themselves, but the noise level had lessoned considerably from one of hostility to one of fear. With the storm still raging outside, the tension in the air beneath the tent was tangible. It was clear Peirce Theodore didn’t die by accident. There was a killer among them.

  “What a nightmare.” Jo dabbed the tears from her eyes. “I thought cold feet were supposed to strike before a person said I do. Cole had no problem marrying me, but now that he is married, he’s freaking out. Just because his wife died on the back of his bike and now this happens after marrying me, he believes he’s cursed. He doesn’t want to consummate the wedding, and he offered me an annulment as a way out. Can you believe it? Um, hello, we’ve already consummated our union and then some! After all he went through to get me to say yes, he’s going to wimp out now? I can’t take it, Sunny, I just can’t.”

  I grabbed her hands and squeezed them tight with my own. “You won’t have to. We’ll catch whoever is responsible. I can promise you
that.”

  “I sure hope so.” She sniffled. “Because this is not the way I intended to spend my honeymoon.”

  “Land sakes, child. You poor, poor dear. And on your wedding day, no less. Here honey.” Granny Gert came to a stop beside Jo, sporting her standard apron over her formal wedding attire. “Have a cookie. It’ll fix you right up.” She held out a tray of an assortment of her famous cookies. “There really is a cookie for everything, and don’t you worry. These things always have a way of working themselves out.”

  Sean came to a stop beside Jo, with a flustered Zoe. “What the hell just happened?” he asked, loosening his tie and unbuttoning the top button of his shirt.

  “My life is ruined,” Jo wailed around a bit of Granny’s double-chocolate cookie, but even that didn’t help.

  “Your life isn’t ruined, it’s just delayed.” Zoe tried to keep the calm, but I caught the worried look she shot Sean.

  “Tell that to the groom.” Jo stabbed a finger in Cole’s direction, but he stubbornly refused to look at her for her own good.

  I grabbed Mitch’s arm and pulled him aside. “We have to do something.”

  “What exactly do you want me to do, Tink? Wave a magic wand?” He crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Oh, gee, I don’t know…your job, maybe?” I poked him, not liking that Grumpy Pants had inhabited his body once more.

  He rubbed his chest and frowned at me. “You’re not gonna like what that entails.”

  “Why?” I had a feeling I knew what he was going to say, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to actually believe he would do that.

  “Because it involves questioning your mother.”

  My stomach dropped, and a feeling of dread washed over me. I pushed back the acid in my throat and forced the words out. “Why would you do that?”

  “Just doing my job like you asked. I have no choice, Sunny. She has motive and incriminating evidence against her. You know as well as I do that she was the last person seen holding the knife now buried in Peirce Theodore’s chest. Not to mention she’s made it clear she can’t stand him and would love to take over his inn if only to show him how to run it the right way.” The detective grabbed my shoulders and stilled me so I would look at him. “Do I think your mother is the killer? Hell, no. But if you want me to find the real killer, then I have to treat this as a real case. Do you understand what that means?”