Cozy Mystery Box Set: Murder Mysteries in the Mountains

by Liz Turner

  “I don’t think so,” Victoria said. “Matt mentioned you had a startup in Brazil. Why Brazil?”

  “Well, that particular startup was to utilize clean energy in Brazil,” Clay said. “I was trying to promote solar-powered water filters for entire villages and cities. Unfortunately… business is a very tough game to break into.”

  “A start-up with a heart,” Victoria commented. “You were out for more than just money?”

  “Well, I was out to make money, believe me,” Clay said with a slashing smile. “I just didn’t want to make money while ruining the world. This business was a win-win situation for me. Until I lost.”

  “Did it hurt you badly, financially?”

  Clay shrugged. “I’m not going to lie; I came out penniless, but I’m a happy man. I tried something; I failed, and now I’m going to get up and try again.”

  He spoke lightly, but Victoria saw the brief flash of shame in his eyes. No, it wasn’t so casual for him. Clay hated failing, Victoria thought. Losing a business didn’t just give you financial issues, it gave you self-esteem issues too. It can plague a person with doubts about whether you were competent enough and smart enough.

  “Well, to answer your question about why I chose Brazil, my mother was Brazilian,” Clay said. “I’m Gray’s half brother. Gray’s father was a very aristocratic Brit. He was also a complete scumbag who took great pleasure in treating us badly. I guess Gray reacted by developing a sense of humor. Personally, I used to take every chance I got to show him I couldn’t be hurt.”

  “Did it work?” Victoria asked.

  “Did it?” Clay laughed. “Gray was twenty by the time his dad died. I was fifteen. I got sent away to foster care, and as for Gray. I think he developed a nasty alcohol addiction soon after. We both were heavy drinkers. I decided to quit one night after I blacked out. Haven’t touched a drop since that day more than ten years ago. But as for Gray, at the time, he was drinking himself to death. Thankfully, he met Leo and though I hate Leo, I do admit that initially, he was good to Gray. He gave him self-confidence, and helped him break out of his dependencies.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Leo was no saint, though he liked to pretend he was one,” Clay said. “Matt, Gray, Jim, all of them had a lot of money, which they would willingly lend Leo to help him “market” his book.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “Oh, do you have any idea how tough marketing a book is?” Clay asked.

  “I know something about it.” Victoria shrugged.

  “Well, one sure-shot way to get onto the bestsellers list is to buy a whole bunch of your books yourself,” Clay said. “Now, Leo was helping these guys, no doubt about it, but he also used their money to buy his way into morning news programs, create ads, and buy enough of his books that they temporarily became bestsellers. Once something is a bestseller, other people start buying. I guess the money he put in was a good investment, but it wasn’t his money. The problem was that everyone was too devoted to him to see that. The guys lost a lot of money, and Leo gained a lot of money.”

  “How about you? When did you meet Leo?”

  “I ran away from my foster family to go live with Gray when I was seventeen,” Clay said.

  “Deedee was only fifteen years old then. I lived there for three years.”

  “You were in a relationship with Deedee.” It wasn’t a question.

  Clay sighed. “I suppose you guessed. Yes. I loved her. Then Leo found out. She was eighteen, and…” He winced. “This is painful. Why are we even talking about this?”

  “Passes the time,” Victoria said. “Do you think he committed suicide, Clay?”

  Clay shrugged. “I don’t know.” He said. “I think it’s a possibility. But even if he didn't, well, everyone here has a reason to kill him.”

  Victoria thought about this and agreed with Clay privately. That each person there had some motive was obvious. Tess had loved Leo, but she tended to emphasize that a little too much. Jim and Gray had lost a lot of their money because of Leo and Gray, especially, spoke with a lot of feeling when he spoke of Leo. What about Matt? Matt was the quiet one or at least that’s what Victoria had thought; until he reacted fiercely to Clay’s criticism of Tess. Did he secretly love Tess? Had he been jealous of Leo? It was possible. She remembered the malice in his face as he told Clay there would be no money for him.

  Money. Somehow, Victoria was convinced that money had a role to play here.

  Clay was looking at her with a curious expression on his face. “Where are you?” He asked. “Your mind is far away.”

  “I was just thinking about love,” Victoria said. “People kill for love, they die for love; they hurt the ones they love. I’d say that love, and not hate, has caused more pain in this world.”

  “I agree.” Clay laughed. “I’m a good case of someone who was...”

  “Victoria!” The door flew open, and Simon rushed in. His eyes were wide, and his chest was heaving as he gulped in air. “Victoria, I need...” He took another gasping breath. “I need you in the kitchen. Please?”

  “What is it?” she asked, surprised.

  “Now,” Simon said and walked back out of the door.

  Clay shrugged at her, and with a nod, Victoria left.

  Simon was holding the elevator doors open, and ushered her in. As soon as the doors shut behind them, he collapsed against a wall. “Victoria, we have big trouble.” He said.

  “What happened?”

  “Another murder.” He said.

  Victoria hissed. “No!”

  “Yes,” Simon said. “Whatever fantasy I had about this being a suicide is gone now. We found one of our maids in a room on the top floor. She was, well, she was stabbed with a broken beer bottle.”

  “This is horrible,” Victoria said.

  “You put it lightly,” Simon replied. “This is catastrophic.”

  They reached the room. Two staff members were guarding it, talking animatedly to each other. Simon pushed them aside, took a key out of his pocket, and opened the door.

  “I don’t know what to do, so we’ve decided just to keep her here.”

  Victoria wrinkled her nose. She took one look at the bed, on which the maid lay, and turned her face away. A broken bottle lay at the foot of the bed, and Victoria bent down to get a closer look.

  “Poor Ava,” Simon said. “Her family is in another country, but they will be devastated.”

  “I’ve met her,” Victoria said as they exited the room, and Simon locked it again. “She was on the fourth floor this morning when Leo died.” Now, Victoria remembered the one thing the maid had done. She had shuddered, and said, “Evil.” A harbinger of what was to come.

  “Ava was the maid for the fourth floor,” Simon said. “From the state of her body, I’d venture to say that whoever killed her did it soon after they killed Leo. No one has seen her since the morning.”

  “Did Ava clean all the rooms today?” Victoria asked.

  “No,” Simon said. “She spoke to me after Leo’s death. She said she had only finished Gray’s room. Everyone else was still asleep. I told her to leave the fourth floor alone. I didn’t know what to do, but I guessed no one would care if she didn’t clean it that day.”

  “What time did she start her rounds, then?”

  “Ava? At about 8:30 a.m.”

  “So she was cleaning Gray’s room when Leo died. She was in the room right opposite of the murder.” Victoria nodded. “Yes, I remember seeing her cart when I went up to Leo’s. I think she was fiddling around in the broom closet at the time. What a pity! She was a valuable witness.

  But apart from that, she was a human being, and she didn’t deserve this.”

  “This is terrible,” Simon said. “My hotel will be ruined at this rate.”

  “Simon. Relax.” Victoria tried to calm him down. Unfortunately for her, telling people to relax often results in them doing the opposite.

  “I can’t believe the nerve this murderer has,”
Simon exclaimed. “It’s broad daylight! He killed two people in broad daylight and nobody has even seen him!”

  “That’s a good point,” Victoria said. “I should have thought of it before. We need to ask everyone where they were. Even if everyone else was asleep that early, someone might have seen something.”

  Simon shrugged.

  Victoria asked him, suddenly. “If it was one of Leo’s group who killed her, why would they be on this floor?” With a gasp, she asked. “Simon, what guest is registered to this room? Why was Ava even here if she was the maid for the fourth floor?”

  “I don’t know,” Simon said. “I’ll phone the front desk and check.”

  “Mr. Simon!” An excited bellboy ran up to him.

  “I’m busy.” Simon said shortly, “If it’s the barman again, tell him...”

  “Someone’s come!” The boy said. “The RCMP is here!”

  Victoria’s heart lifted as the elevator dinged and a flushed looking Corporal Randolf Jager emerged.

  “Victoria.” Randolf nodded at her. To his surprise, she rushed over and gave him a hug. He looked down at her for a second, then allowed his arms to close around her. In town, every time he had felt that they shared a spark, something would disturb the moment or Victoria herself would pull away. This was the first time, she had given him any indication that she cared.

  “You fool!” she said, sounding angry. “How did you make it out here in this horrible weather?”

  “Snowmobile,” Randolf smiled. “Took us some time, but we managed.”

  “Randolf, it’s dangerous weather. Something could have happened to you!” She protested.

  “Danger doesn’t just lurk outside anymore, does it?” He asked. “I think there was more danger here in this hotel today than out in that storm.”

  Victoria drew away from him, and he knew she agreed. She bit her lip. “Things are complicated here.”

  “We’ve had two deaths now, Corporal,” Simon said, stepping forward. “I’m at my wit’s end. It has to be one of the people on the fourth floor, but I don’t know who it is. I don’t know what to do.”

  Jager nodded. “I’ll tell you what. Let’s go down there.”

  There was a ring on Simon’s phone, and he picked it up. After listening for two minutes, his face turned pale. “Victoria, that was the front desk. That room the dead maid is in is registered to Clayton Grimes. It’s Clay.”

  Chapter 14

  Corporal Jager decided not to tell anyone about the maid’s death yet. “We don’t want everyone to know that we know.” He had said to Simon and Victoria. Further, he had instructed Simon to put two staff members near the elevator on the fourth floor and monitor people’s movements.

  They found Clay still in the conference room; he claimed he hadn’t moved from it. His shirt was still wet, though he’d taken it off and hung it on a hook near the fire to dry. He’d been dozing on a chair when they entered, with an open newspaper crumpled on his chest.

  After introducing himself as Corporal Jager of the local RCMP, he asked Clay, “We’re curious about what happened here. Why don’t we start with where you were all day today.”

  “Where I was. Well, I checked in yesterday and had dinner in my room. Afterward, I met Deedee.”

  “You went down to her room?” Jager asked.

  “She came up to mine,” Clay said. “She said she had to talk about our past. Well, we did.” He grimaced. “It wasn’t very pleasant for either of us.”

  “What then?”

  “We parted amicably, and I went to sleep,” Clay said. “I didn’t wake up until about 9 a.m. I took a shower, went down to breakfast, and heard about what had happened. I realized that it was Leo and went up to the fourth floor to see Deedee.”

  “How did you know she was on the fourth floor?” Victoria asked. “She came up to see you yesterday, didn’t she? Did she tell you her room number?”

  “First of all, I guessed she would be staying next door to Leo, and heard he had jumped from the fourth floor. So I put two and two together.” Clay said “Second of all, who are you to be asking me questions? You’re just a caterer. Is this even legal?”

  “Hey, no one is interrogating you.” Jager put his hand up. “We’re just having a conversation.”

  “Great. In that case, I’m leaving.” Clay said. “I want a dry shirt and I want to go back to my room.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” Simon said. “I’ll instruct the staff to send you a clean shirt, or a bathrobe, but I won’t let you out of this room.”

  “You can't keep me here,” Clay said. “I can go where I please!”

  “This hotel belongs to me,” Simon said. “So you can either stay in this room until I tell you otherwise, or you can go out in the blizzard. Your choice.”

  With a look of disbelief, Clay stood up. “You’re mad.” He said.

  Jager raised his hand in a calming gesture. “Stop.” He said. “Sit back down.” Such was the power of his voice that Clay did as he was told.

  Briefly, Jager told him about the maid’s murder. “You see now?” He said.

  Clay’s face had turned very pale. “I see.” He said. “But, I haven’t left this room. I haven’t.”

  “We think the maid was killed less than an hour after Leo died,” Jager said.

  “Where were you this morning at 9:00 a.m?”

  “I… I don’t know,” Clay said. “I was in my room, I think. Or maybe I was having breakfast. I haven’t been back to my room since. I was with the group all along!” He buried his head in his hands. “Who could be out to get me?”

  “You had a fight with Leo, is that right?” Jager asked.

  “Seven years ago!” Clay exclaimed. “It was, it was silly. It wasn’t the kind of thing I’d murder someone over!”

  “What was it about?”

  Clay took a deep breath. “I was twenty. I’d gotten Leo’s daughter, Deedee, pregnant. She was only 18 then.”

  Victoria took a deep breath.

  “I wanted to do the right thing. I wanted to marry her. But Leo didn’t allow me to.” He said. “I fought about it with him. As for Deedee, she was so meek, all she would do is obey her father. They sent me away in disgrace.” Clay shook his head. “I’ll admit, I was furious at them both. But I got over it. Deedee had planned to give the baby up for adoption, but I heard later that the baby hadn’t survived. She had a miscarriage.”

  Jager nodded.

  Clay’s fist clenched and unclenched. “What can I say? Bad stuff happened. I wasn’t very close to Leo, but I got over it.”

  “So why come here?” Jager asked. “Why now?”

  “Gray told me about this reunion, and asked me to come,” Clay said. “I… to be honest, part of me wanted to meet Deedee and Leo one last time; to maybe get some closure. Seeing Deedee again, I realized that everything I’d felt about her back then, I felt it still. But she’s moved on, so I guess that gave me the closure I needed.”

  With a sigh, Clay turned to Victoria. “Victoria, I’m sorry I yelled at you before. But I think you believe me now when I say that I had no need to kill Leo. What possible motive could I have?”

  “How about money?” Jager asked.

  Clay shrugged. “Well, none of us have done very well. Jim started a gym, which went bust. Gray’s real estate agency is struggling. Matt is a lawyer who’s just scraping along. Tess’ online business will go bust soon, I believe. As for Cara, well, an ex-supermodel doesn’t have too many career prospects. So yes, I needed money too. I suppose I came here hoping to get some. No one else will admit it, but that’s the real reason they bothered to come here too. Money. Sure, you may think I’m pathetic, coming back to beg for money, but like I said, Leo got rich off us all. He took Gray’s money, which Gray would have lent me, to start his business. Now he owed me some, by proxy.”

  “I thought you said he took Jim’s money, and Matt’s,” Victoria said.

  “Well, he took Matt’s ranch house,” Clay said. “Mat
t didn’t have much money, though that house is worth a lot and Matt doesn’t even live in it anymore since he works in Cincinnati. I think he signed it over to Leo a long time ago. As for Gray, Gray had some money, but not as much as Jim did. I suppose Leo owed Jim a lot more than he owed Gray.”

  “Ok. One more question.” Jager said. “Where is your room key?”

  “My room key?” Clay looked surprised. “Well, it’s…” He fumbled about in his pocket and produced it. “It’s gone!” He exclaimed.

  Chapter 15

  They went down the elevator, each silently wondering what would happen next. Clay had agreed not to move from the conference room, and a waiter was guarding the door. Of course, he would say his room key was gone, they had found it, after all, on the floor next to the dead maid.

  “Who do we talk to next?” Simon asked as the elevator opened its doors. They stepped out on the fourth floor.

  “We’ll start with this room,” Jager said, pointing to the room on his immediate left.

  “Yeah, that’s Jim’s,” Simon said.

  The door opened at the first knock, and Jim looked up, rather surprised.

  “Oh.” He said, looking from Victoria to Simon to Jager, but not inviting them in.

  “May we come in?” Simon asked.

  “Yes. Yes, of course.” Jim nodded, moving aside. “Sorry about the mess, the maid didn’t do my room yet.”

  Simon colored but said nothing.

  Jim hurriedly grabbed the clothes that were laying around his room and shoved them in a duffel bag. He pulled the covers of his bed so that it looked less messy, and then sat on the bed. Simon sat on the opposite edge of the bed while Victoria and Jager took the two chairs near the oak desk.

  “Fancy, isn’t it?” Jim smiled. “I live in the garden cottage at Leo’s ranch house. My room isn’t half this nice. I’ve got a bunk bed, and a small stove, and that’s about it. But I’m glad to have my private space. Leo was really good to me. He tried to get me started in business, but I’m not very smart. I never got a regular job either, so Leo kept me as his handyman.”