Maybe it was a good thing Clarissa was a bit on the pudgy side. Her extra pounds had allowed her to perform a tackle that would make any football coach proud! Her love affair with cookies and all things sweet just may have saved her boyfriend’s life!
Jo made a second attempt to run them over, but she wasn’t very good at driving in reverse. She hit the gas much too hard and managed to run her car right off the road. When she landed in the ditch, a sickening crunch of metal could be heard.
Thick black smoke erupted from the engine, billowing up into the sky.
Jo climbed out of the car and began to curse. Then the train’s whistle drowned her out.
Shaken but unharmed, Clarissa and Parker climbed to their feet. He stared at her with such gratitude and adoration that she had to look away. She was afraid that if she didn’t, she would be overcome with emotion. The thought of losing the man she loved was unbearable.
Sirens blared in the distance, and they were getting closer by the second.
The police – and perhaps even the fire department – were on their way.
A sense of calm came over Clarissa.
She knew in that moment that everything was going to be okay.
Chapter 23
“I still can’t believe Jo murdered her father!” Liana exclaimed the next day.
She, Clarissa and Parker were at the coffee shop, seated in their usual booth in the back corner. The entire town was abuzz with the shocking news that Al Moreno’s own daughter had killed him, running him down with her car.
News that Jo had later attempted to murder Clarissa also had everyone talking.
“Clarissa!” Max Daniels exclaimed as he walked past her table. “I heard about what happened. You caught a killer! You’re a hero! Are you okay?” he asked anxiously, scrutinizing the angry bruises on her neck.
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “And I’m no hero.”
“You’re my hero,” Parker corrected her once Max had walked away. “You saved my life.”
“You would have done the same for me,” she said modestly.
“I never should have left you alone,” Parker said guiltily.
“I told you to,” Clarissa reminded him.
“Yes, but I should have known better than to listen to you! I should have insisted on staying with you. How did you end up at Jo Moreno’s house anyway?” he asked. “I thought you were, uh, you know, going to your school friend’s house?”
“It uh…just sort of happened,” Clarissa said lamely.
“Which school friend lives by Jo’s house?” Liana asked curiously.
“Um…”
Thankfully, Clarissa didn’t have to dig herself in any deeper. At that moment, the conversation was interrupted by Cathy Peterson. The coffee shop owner seemed to be in an upbeat, chipper mood, as evidenced by the bounce in her step.
Her transformation was incredible. Though it was difficult to pinpoint what was different about her appearance, she looked at least ten years younger. It was as though the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders.
“Would anyone like more coffee?” Cathy asked, holding up a pot. “It’s freshly-brewed.”
“Sure, I’ll have some more,” Clarissa said, pushing her cup over to the edge of the table. After all the excitement over the past little while, caffeine sounded fabulous. It was exactly the sort of pick-me-up Clarissa needed.
“Me too,” Liana chimed in, because she never passed up coffee.
“You’re the talk of the town today,” Cathy told Clarissa as she filled her cup.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Clarissa protested.
“I do,” Cathy insisted. “I work here. I hear what people are talking about! And today, my dear, everyone is talking about you. You’re basically a local celebrity now.”
“Only until something more exciting happens,” Clarissa grinned.
“In this town, it could be decades!” Liana joked.
Cathy threw her head back and laughed. It was a joyous, carefree sort of sound. And since Liana hadn’t said anything particularly hilarious, Clarissa could only assume that Cathy was a in a very good mood.
Her white apron was tied neatly around her waist and her hair was pulled back in a tidy bun. Cathy looked well rested and happier than she had in weeks. It was no wonder, considering she was now officially off the hook as a suspect in Al Moreno’s murder!
When Cathy finally regained her composure, she looked at Clarissa.
“Seriously though,” she said with gratitude in her eyes, “I think you’re incredible. You caught a killer and helped me clear my name! I can never thank you enough for that. I thought I was up a creek without a paddle for a while there.”
“I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, that’s all,” Clarissa said bashfully. Everyone kept heaping praise on her, but to be honest she was a bit embarrassed by all the attention. She was no hero. She was just lucky!
“Don’t be so modest!” Cathy insisted. “I heard what you did. You figured out Josie Moreno killed her father and you kept her from fleeing town. You should be proud of yourself! You’re a hero, and a fine detective.”
“She is,” Parker agreed.
“I hope we’re going to see a front-page article about your heroism in this week’s newspaper,” Cathy said, looking at Clarissa expectantly. “I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to try to tell me it would be vain to feature yourself in your newspaper. But that’s nonsense!”
“If you won’t write an article about how awesome you are, then I will,” Parker threatened.
“Okay,” Clarissa smiled. “I’ll mention my involvement in the newspaper.”
“Write all about it in a giant, front-page article!” Cathy insisted. “And mail me a copy!”
“Mail it to you?” Clarissa asked. “Are you going on vacation?”
“No,” Cathy replied, setting her pot of coffee down. “I’m moving.”
Clarissa’s jaw dropped. “You are? Where? Why?”
Untying her apron, Cathy folded it up and stared at it thoughtfully. “For a long time, running this coffee shop has been my passion. But when the police thought I was involved in a murder and my freedom was hanging in the balance, I realized there’s more to life than work.”
“Here, here!” Parker agreed, holding up his coffee cup in a toast.
“So you’re retiring?” Clarissa asked in dismay.
“Yes,” Cathy smiled. “I’m really excited about it. I’m closing up shop and moving closer to my grandchildren. I can’t wait! In fact, I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner. I guess sometimes you just need a kick in the pants before you recognize what’s important, you know?”
Clarissa was dumbfounded.
For as long as she could remember, the coffee shop had always been there. She had never imagined it not being there. It was a staple in Sugarcomb Lake. In fact, it was the meeting point for all the local residents.
It was hard to imagine what the town would be like without the quaint little business.
“Congratulations,” Parker said, oblivious to the huge loss the town was about to suffer.
“Thank you!” Cathy smiled.
“More coffee please?” a man called from a nearby table.
“Oops, gotta go,” Cathy said, grabbing the coffee pot.
“I can’t believe she’s closing up shop,” Clarissa sighed with a shake of her head. “I mean, don’t get me wrong: I’m happy for her. But I’m sad for Sugarcomb Lake. This is the only coffee shop in town. It’s going to be such a huge loss.”
“It sounds like Sugarcomb Lake could use a community center or something,” Parker said.
“Yeah, good luck raising the money for that,” Clarissa replied. “Pretty much every street in town is full of potholes and needs repairing. Residents are already up in arms over the fact that their property taxes are going up to help pay for all that roadwork! No one is going to want to pitch in to build a community center right now.”
“Oh. Well, maybe next year then,” Parker shrugged. He just didn’t get it, but that wasn’t surprising. He was a city boy. He had no concept of small town life or how important it was to have a sense of community in a place the size of Sugarcomb Lake.
A group of teenagers came into the coffee shop then, skateboards tucked under their arms. They sat down at the booth directly behind Clarissa’s. Almost immediately, she heard whispers. Then she felt eyes burning into the back of her head.
She turned around and came face-to-face with Justin Brown. His baseball cap was on sideways, his too-long brown hair sticking out from under it. A small, bratty smirk played over his lips. His chocolate brown eyes bore into Clarissa’s.
He met her gaze fearlessly, staring her down. Gone was the young man who had been terrified when Clarissa had confronted him over going joyriding in Morris Norman’s jeep. He seemed a whole lot braver now that he was surrounded by his snickering, smart-mouthed buddies.
“Can I help you?” Clarissa asked, unwilling to let some teenage hooligan intimidate her.
“I heard you stole Mr. Norman’s jeep,” Justin said matter-of-factly.
“I didn’t steal it,” Clarissa said defensively. “I borrowed it.”
“How is that different than what I did?” Justin demanded.
“I uh…” Clarissa stared at him blankly, unsure of how to respond. The little troublemaker kind of had a point. She supposed that was why he was so smug. He had backed her into a corner and she knew it.
Parker turned to look at Justin. “Hey you little punk,” he boomed in a deep, scary voice.
Justin’s eyes widened. “Yes s-sir?” he stuttered.
“Clarissa here caught a killer,” Parker informed him gruffly. “Did you catch a killer?”
Justin shook his head, looking terrified. Parker really wasn’t a frightening guy – at least Clarissa didn’t think so. Her boyfriend was the sweetest, kindest, gentlest man she knew. But he was doing a very good job of pretending to be scary.
Poor Justin looked like he might wet himself.
Clarissa didn’t feel bad for him. He had brought Parker’s wrath on himself.
“Do you have something to say to Clarissa?” Parker prodded.
Justin glanced over at his friends, who were all watching and listening intently. His face was bright red – clearly he was humiliated at being undermined in front of them. “I – I’m sorry for bothering you, ma’am,” Justin stuttered.
“It’s okay,” Clarissa told him.
“We should go,” Justin told his friends, who were all snickering at him.
“Ma’am,” Liana chortled as soon as Justin had slunk away. “That makes you sound so old!”
“Hey,” Clarissa protested. “You’re the same age as me!”
“Humph,” Liana grumbled.
“I’m staying out of this one,” Parker joked before taking a sip of coffee.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but here come Barbara and Patricia,” Liana whispered.
Cringing, Clarissa turned around. Sure enough, the two busybodies were making a beeline straight for her. Worse yet, they had a herd of middle aged gossipy Pearl Clutchers in tow.
Oh no. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide!
Gritting her teeth, Clarissa steeled herself for a stern talking to.
“There she is!” Barbara trilled.
Clarissa looked around in confusion. Then she realized Barbara was talking about her.
“Is it true?” Patricia Porter demanded breathlessly. “Did you really use Morris’s jeep to catch a killer? I was on the phone with Barbara the whole time, but I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing! You caught a murderer!”
“She did, and she used my Morris’s jeep!” Barbara announced proudly.
A look of absolute horror came over Patricia’s face. She clutched at her heart and gasped. “I still can’t believe a murderer was living right across the street from me! I could have been next!”
“Oh you poor thing,” Barbara gushed. Then she stood up tall and puffed out her chest proudly. “It’s a good thing my Morris’s jeep saved the day!” she gushed. Then she stared at the other women expectantly, clearly waiting for them to murmur in agreement.
“I think I need to sit down,” Patricia moaned, clearly loving all the attention.
As the group of women retreated to an empty table, Parker began to chuckle.
Clarissa looked at him curiously.
“I thought Barbara was coming over here to berate you,” he admitted.
“I thought the same thing!” Clarissa told him with a smirk. “I was sure she was going to scream at me for borrowing her husband’s jeep! But instead she’s acting like the whole thing was her idea – that’s too funny!”
“Forget about you…Barbara Norman is the real hero in all this,” Liana giggled.
“At least she doesn’t have it out for you like we thought she would,” Parker pointed out.
“That’s true,” Clarissa nodded.
The door of the coffee shop jingled then, signalling that another customer had arrived. Parker glanced over. When he saw who had entered the building, his eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Look who’s still in town,” he whispered, nodding toward the door.
Clarissa followed his gaze. There, looking rather out of place with all his tattoos was none other than Vinnie Moreno. And standing on either side of him were his aunt and uncle, Cecily and Artie Amara.
When Vinnie spotted Clarissa and Parker, he hurried over.
“Hey,” he said. “I just wanted to say thank you for what you did.”
“I’m sorry about your dad…and your sister,” Clarissa replied.
She had no idea if that was the appropriate thing to say. Vinnie had been estranged from both his father and his sister. Clarissa couldn’t even begin to guess how he might be feeling about the news that his sister had been charged with murdering their dad.
“Thanks,” Vinnie replied. “It’s a weird situation for sure. I’m just glad the truth came out, you know? I always knew my sister was hotheaded like my dad, but I never imagined she’d actually snap and kill him!”
“You’re the young lady from the drugstore,” Cecily exclaimed, stepping forward.
“Yes, I am,” Clarissa replied. “You decided to stay in town a bit longer, did you?”
Cecily lit up at that. “I had the chance to reconnect with my nephew here,” she beamed, grabbing his hand and squeezing it affectionately. “Artie and I are taking him back east with us. He’s going to move into our guest house and help us with some home renovation projects.”
“We’re not spring chickens anymore, you know!” Artie added.
“Speak for yourself, dear!” Cecily retorted.
“Coffee is on me, everyone,” Vinnie announced. “It’s the least I can do after you helped clear my name. I’m gonna go see if we can get a plate of pastries, too. Uncle Artie, want to come help me order?”
The two men walked over to the counter.
Cecily looked incredibly happy. She leaned in close and whispered to Clarissa, “Artie and I never had children of our own, you know. I’m so grateful we’ve had this chance to reconnect with Vinnie. He’s a good boy who made some mistakes in his youth, but he’s ready to turn his life around.”
“I’m glad you were able to mend your relationship with your nephew,” Clarissa smiled.
“So am I!” Cecily exclaimed. Then she frowned. “I don’t know what came over my niece. My brother probably had it coming – in fact, I’m quite sure he did. But I’m very disappointed in her. I told her that last night when I went to visit her in jail.”
“Did she say why she killed her father?” Clarissa asked carefully.
She didn’t want to cause offence, but she wondered if her suspicions were right.
At first it had seemed plausible that Jo had killed her father in a moment of blind rage. But after Jo had tried to strangle Clarissa and run over Parker, all signs pointed to her being
a cold blooded, homicidal maniac.
“Money,” Cecily said bitterly. “Jo killed my brother for money.”
“I’m sorry,” Clarissa said, thinking that was all Cecily was going to say.
But it seemed the older woman was as eager as ever to talk. Maybe in a way it was therapeutic.
“My brother was a cheapskate,” Cecily said scornfully. “He was using Jo to fund his retirement. He wanted her to do all the work at the donut shop, but he wanted to reap all the benefits. He took advantage. And he threatened to cut Jo out of his will if she ever defied him.”
“I see,” Clarissa murmured. She was secretly thinking to herself that it sounded like Al Moreno had a fair bit in common with Parker’s father. Ugh!
“Eventually Jo decided enough was enough,” Cecily said. “She figured if my brother was out of the picture, she would inherit all his assets. He wrote Vinnie out of his will years ago, you see. So Jo stood to inherit everything. Poor Vinnie – my brother was always so hard on him.”
“Oh,” Clarissa grimaced. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s okay,” Cecily reassured her. “Artie and I are very comfortable. We don’t actually need Vinnie to do odd jobs for us – we could easily afford to hire someone. But we like the thought of him being around more. And we haven’t told him, but one day everything we own will be his.”
“Oh!” Clarissa didn’t know what to say to that. Apparently Cecily liked to overshare.
“We’re hoping he’ll settle down and meet a nice girl,” Cecily confided. “He’s really a very caring person. He’d make someone a great husband someday. Ooh, and maybe there will be babies at some point!” Cecily clapped her hands eagerly. “I could babysit! Ooh!”
Clarissa smiled. It was clear Cecily really loved her nephew and wanted the best for him. And judging by the way Vinnie was smiling from ear to ear, he was pretty happy too.
Something ugly had actually ended up rather beautiful.
A life had been lost, and another would be spent behind bars…but three other lives had been improved immeasurably. Vinnie would finally have loving parental figures in his life. And Cecily and Artie were clearly excited about reconnecting with their nephew.
A Sprinkle of Magic (A Sugarcomb Lake Cozy Mystery Book 4) Page 14