Strawberry Shortcake to Die For (A Liana Campbell Cozy Mystery Book 2)

by Alaine Allister

  “You leave that to me,” Anne said confidently. “I’ve got a knack for these things, you know. I could charm a snake oil salesman.” She gave the end of her leopard print headscarf a dramatic flip and pulled her massive sunglasses back down.

  “Mom, why are you dressed like a spy from an old movie?” Liana asked.

  “I want to blend in,” Anne replied, pulling the belt of her beige trench coat tighter.

  “Wouldn’t dressing like a normal person make more sense?”

  “Shhh!” Anne hissed as she and Liana approached the front entrance to the school. “You’re going to draw attention to us!” Then she waved to the security guard who was standing beside the metal detector. “Yoohoo! Yoohoo!”

  “Crap. What is she doing?” Liana whispered to herself, mortified. She froze in her tracks, hanging back as she watched her mother rush over to the security guard. She didn’t know what her mother had up her sleeve - and she was afraid to find out.

  “Liana! Liana, dear, come over here!” Anne trilled.

  Liana reluctantly trudged over.

  “This is my daughter, Liana. She used to go to high school here!” Anne told the security guard. “She had to drop out three months before graduation because she got pregnant.” Anne lowered her voice and confided, “Liana was a teenage single mother. She was a statistic!”

  Liana’s head whipped around and gawked at Anne in disbelief. Exactly what did her mother think she was doing? And when had she become such a good liar? The entire debacle was disturbing on multiple levels.

  “Liana got her life together once the baby was born,” Anne continued, sparing no detail even though the security guard hadn’t asked a single question. “She has a job with regular hours, and the little one is happy and healthy. But Liana never did finish high school.”

  Enough was enough. This was absurd. “Mom, let’s go,” Liana said through gritted teeth.

  Anne grabbed onto Liana’s arm to keep her from making a hasty exit. Then she smiled sweetly at the security guard. “Liana’s dream is to finish high school! Little Elroy would be so proud to know his mama followed her dreams. Maybe she could re-enroll. That’s what we’re here for. We want to talk to the principal about re-enrolling Liana in high school.”

  “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to make an appointment for that,” the security guard said.

  “Can we make one for right now?” Anne asked charmingly.

  “I’m afraid not. The principal is out of the office all afternoon.”

  “Well how about the guidance counselor, then?” Anne asked, undeterred. “Is he or she in?”

  “I think so. But again, you need an appointment.”

  “Really?” Anne asked, wide-eyed. “Are you sure this is a high school and not a prison? Back in my day, a person didn’t need to jump through all these hoops just to talk to school staff.” Then she put a hand on the security guard’s arm. “You remind me so much of my son,” she smiled.

  “Oh. Thanks,” the security guard replied with a lopsided grin.

  “Oh my. The muscles you have! You must work out,” Anne said, slathering the flattery on thick. “My son works out too. Would you like to see a photo of him?” she asked, reaching into her purse. “I have a few dozen photos of little Elroy in here, too.”

  “Uh, that’s okay ma’am. I really need to get back to work,” the security guard said.

  “Right. Right! Silly me,” Anne smiled as she zipped her purse back up. She leaned in close and whispered, “I would appreciate it so much if you could buzz us through. Maybe the guidance counselor could find five minutes to speak with us? We only need five minutes, darling.”

  “I suppose I could do that,” the young man agreed.

  Liana’s jaw was on the floor. Her mother had told more lies in the past two minutes than she could even keep track of. What was that about? Liana wasn’t a high school dropout, she didn’t have a child and she didn’t have a brother.

  Liana was even more shocked that the naive security guard seemed to be falling for Anne’s rambling string of lies. He buzzed them in and cheerfully pointed them in the direction of the office.

  He seemed relieved to not have to look at baby pictures.

  Little did he know there were no baby pictures - nor was there a baby.

  “What in the world was that?” Liana whispered as she and her mother hurried down the hallway. “Did you hear yourself back there, Mom? I...I don’t even know what to say. Elroy? Really, Mom? Elroy?”

  Anne smiled and pulled off her sunglasses. “I should have been an actress,” she said proudly. “Maybe I should take an improv class.”

  “Maybe you should get your head checked,” Liana shot back. “You just told that poor security guard that he reminds you of your non-existent son!”

  “I would have liked to have a son. Hopefully someday I’ll get a son-in-law.”

  Liana groaned in response. Her mother’s idea of hinting wasn’t exactly subtle.

  Anne looked at Liana thoughtfully. “That security guard was cute, don’t you think? He couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, but I hear that dating younger men is a thing these days. Hang on, I’m going to go ask him if he’s single.”

  “You will do no such thing!” Liana said sternly. “I don’t need you trying to fix me up with every random stranger you meet, Mom. And besides, the security guard thinks you have a son and grandson who don’t actually exist!”

  “That’s right,” Anne sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Little Elroy isn’t real. I miss him.”

  “Mom! He doesn’t exist. How can you miss someone you made up?!”

  “For a minute there, it was almost like I had a grandchild,” Anne explained. “I got to brag about how happy Elroy is and offer to show off photos of him. I got a little taste of what being a grandma would be like! And then it got taken away.”

  “Mom, please. You’re so dramatic.”

  “Thank you. Like I told you, I should have been an actress.”

  Liana rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t a compliment.” Then she looked at her mother curiously. “What would you have done if the security guard had wanted to see the non-existent baby pictures you lied about having in your purse?” she asked.

  “Run,” Anne grinned.

  “Ah. And what’s our game plan now?” Liana asked. She crossed her fingers, hoping that her mother had actually thought her zany plot through. Otherwise, they were about to make huge fools of themselves in approximately thirty seconds.

  “You’ll see,” Anne said.

  As they stepped into the office, Liana’s heart was pounding.

  Her mother, however, was calm, cool and collected.

  “Hello,” Anne said, approaching the secretary. “We’re the exterminators.”

  The secretary looked alarmed. “Exterminators?” she asked, eyes wide.

  Anne nodded, her expression grave. “The principal didn’t tell you before stepping out for the afternoon?” She lowered her voice and then confided, “I understand you have a rodent infestation here in the office. But don’t worry, that’s what we’re here for. We’ll have it taken care of in no time.”

  All the color drained from the secretary’s face. “Rodents?” she gasped, looking ill.

  “Mice. They’re in the principal’s office,” Anne explained. “Right now the situation is contained. But the longer we wait, the more likely it is that the mice will spread throughout the rest of the school. We need to act fast.”

  “Y - yes, of course,” the secretary stuttered. “Ohh,” she moaned. “I hate mice!”

  “Things are going to get ugly in here. Why, we will probably have panicked mice scurrying everywhere once we start our extermination process. Why don’t you step out and spare yourself the stress of witnessing it?” Anne suggested kindly. “Give us twenty minutes.”

  “Okay,” the secretary agreed quickly. She was clearly grateful for an excuse to flee the office.

  “Mom!” Liana exclaimed once they were alone in the office.
“That was evil. And brilliant.”

  “Your mother’s still go it,” Anne bragged. She motioned for Liana to take a seat at the secretary’s desk. “You see if you can pull Mikey Atkins’ attendance records up on the computer. I’m going to see if I can find anything useful in the principal’s office.”

  Had Liana’s life been a movie, she would have located the attendance records with ease. Then she would have solved the mystery, kissed her dream guy, skipped off into the sunset and lived happily ever after.

  But Liana’s life was not a movie.

  “Argh!” she groaned in frustration. “There’s a password on the computer! I can’t log in!”

  “It’s fine,” Anne assured her, sauntering out of the principal’s office. “I’ve got what we need.”

  “You found Mikey Atkins’ attendance records?” Liana asked hopefully.

  “Better,” Anne said, handing over a newspaper clipping from The Green City Chronicle.

  Liana glanced at the caption. Then she zeroed in on the grainy black and white photo. It was a picture of the high school football team celebrating their victory over Sugarcomb Lake’s team in a charity tournament. And Mikey Atkins was in it.

  “This picture was taken on the same day Chester died!” Liana exclaimed excitedly. She jumped to her feet, unable to contain her emotions. “Mom, do you know what this means? Mikey was in Sugarcomb Lake the day his father was murdered!”

  By all accounts, Chester had made some terrible decisions. He had alienated a lot of people - including his son. Mikey was full of pent up rage. In fact, he barely seemed able to contain his anger. And Chester had certainly given Mikey plenty of reasons to despise him.

  Chester had abandoned his family. He had up and left his wife. He had bullied his son to lose weight. He may have even stopped paying child support for Mikey. The teenager’s fury was more than understandable.

  Had Mikey been angry enough to slowly and methodically poison his father and then dump the body by the lake? It was such a deranged, calculated act. It seemed unfathomable that a teenager would do such a thing to his own flesh and blood.

  But then again, Chester’s abhorrent behavior seemed unfathomable, too. It made sense that Mikey would react with rage. Maybe it even made sense that Mikey would seek revenge after being wronged.

  Had the teenager been driven to murder?

  Liana was determined to find out.

  Chapter 12

  “Excuse me! Are you Coach Warner?”

  It seemed Liana was asking a fairly obvious question. The middle aged man getting a drink from the water fountain was wearing gym shorts and a ball cap. He had a bright red whistle hanging around his neck. Either he was the most casually dressed math teacher ever or he was Green City High’s football coach.

  He smacked his gum loudly. “Yeah, that’s me. Who are you?”

  “My name is Liana Campbell. I’m, er...working on a piece for Sugarcomb Lake’s newspaper,” she said. Technically that wasn’t exactly true, but it was close enough.

  “Ah, you want to write an article about Green City’s win, do you?” Coach Warner asked smugly. “I’d like to say the other team put up a good fight, but...let’s be honest. We had the game in the bag the whole time.”

  Modesty apparently wasn’t one of the coach’s strong points. It was scary to think that a braggart like Coach Warner was responsible for teaching young, impressionable students about good sportsmanship. But on the plus side, he seemed more than willing to talk.

  “I’m interested in doing an in-depth profile on one or two of your players,” Liana fibbed. “Rather than focus on your star player, I’d like to shine the spotlight on someone who doesn’t usually get the glory. How about...I don’t know...maybe Mikey Atkins?”

  Coach Warner made a face. “You’re sure that’s who you want to concentrate on? I mean, he’s definitely not our star player, I’ll give you that. The kid is average at best.”

  “Tell me about his personality,” Liana said, pulling out a notebook and pen. “I want all the details, Coach. I want to know who this kid is. Is he good at motivating his teammates? Does he get along with them well?”

  Coach Warner shrugged. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

  “I have an idea. Why don’t you walk me through the day you beat Sugarcomb Lake’s team?” Liana suggested. “What was Mikey’s role in that? Start at the beginning. What time did the bus leave Green City?”

  “Early,” Coach Warner replied. “We left the city before the crack of dawn. When we got to Sugarcomb Lake, I had the players do a full warm-up.”

  “Including Mikey?”

  “Yes.”

  “What sort of mood was he in?” Liana asked. Then, to make her question seem relevant to her non-existent newspaper article, she added, “I mean, did he boost morale? Did he help get his teammates motivated? Was he in the zone?”

  Coach Warner made a face. “Are you writing a piece about a football player or a cheerleader?”

  “Hmm, you’re right. Maybe I should focus on the cheer squad instead,” Liana mused.

  “Hang on,” Coach Warner said. Clearly he wanted his team to bask in the glory of winning. “Mikey was okay. Like I said, he’s never our strongest player. He showed up, participated and helped get the job done.”

  “That’s very helpful,” Liana lied. She was glad she wasn’t really a journalist trying to do an interview, because with Coach Warner it was like pulling teeth. “Does Mikey have a strong support system?” she asked. “Were his parents in the stands?”

  “I don’t know. I was busy coaching the game,” Coach Warner reminded her.

  “Right. Well were Mikey’s parents usually supportive? Did they come to his games?”

  “His mother definitely did,” the coach chuckled. “Once time, she nearly got in a fight with a referee over a call he made. That woman is a helicopter parent, always hovering over that kid of hers. She’s gonna smother him if she’s not careful.”

  “Interesting,” Liana murmured. “And Mikey’s father? What about him?”

  “Frankly, I’d be surprised if he actually showed up to anything. I can’t remember the last time he came to a game or practice,” the coach replied. Then, offhandedly, he mentioned, “Mikey’s father died the other day, you know.”

  “Yes, I heard about that,” Liana replied.

  “I feel for the kid, but I don’t understand why you want to write a newspaper article about him,” the coach said. “If you want to focus on an underrated player who deserves recognition, I’d choose someone else.”

  “Maybe I didn’t think this through,” Liana admitted. “Maybe I should approach my article from a different angle. I’m going to go back to the drawing board. One more question before I go: how did the team celebrate their big win?”

  “They boarded the bus and came straight back to Green City after the game,” Coach Warner replied. “Then they went out for pizza.”

  “Thank you for your time,” Liana said, reaching out to shake the coach’s hand. “I’ll be in touch if I have any further questions for the, er, article I’m writing. And again, congratulations on your team’s impressive win.”

  “Did you get what you need?” Coach Warner asked.

  “Oh yes,” Liana replied. “You’ve been more helpful than you know.”

  ***

  That evening, Fluffy sauntered into the living room. He was doing what Liana liked to call The Cat Strut. He had his eyes half shut and his nose stuck in the air. He was being snooty, and yet somehow it was still adorable.

  “Hi Fluffy,” Liana greeted him from where she sat on the sofa.

  He ignored her.

  While he was normally affectionate and sweet, every so often he seemed to remember he was a cat. That was when he got weird. He would act standoffish and stuck up, parading around the house like he thought he was royalty.

  Thankfully, Fluffy’s silly little moods were usually short-lived. As soon as he remembered he couldn’t operate a can opener, he wou
ld revert back to his friendly, loveable self. One thing was for sure: Fluffy certainly kept life interesting.

  Liana watched with amusement as Fluffy leapt onto the armchair. He sat there demurely, looking rather regal. She desperately wanted to know what was going on inside that furry head of his. If only he could speak…

  “Do you want to come sit with me?” Liana offered, patting her lap. “Here, Fluffy!”

  The little stinker completely ignored her. He was acting like she didn’t even exist. Rather than take her up on the invitation, he began to slowly and methodically wash his face. Apparently tonight he thought he was far too busy and important for cuddles.

  “Fine, don’t come sit with me. You’re acting like such a cat,” Liana chuckled. She grabbed the TV remote and turned off the awful reality show she had been watching. Then she picked up her phone and gave Clarissa a call.

  “Liana?” Clarissa picked up on the fifth ring. She sounded out of breath.

  “Hi! How is your vacation going? Are you and your aunt having a good time?”

  “Don’t ask,” Clarissa groaned. “It was all fine until yesterday. Then my aunt decided it would be a good idea to stage a protest in the middle of a supermarket. It was...well, let’s just say we’re both lucky we didn’t get arrested.”

  “What was your aunt protesting?” Liana asked curiously.

  “She was upset that they didn’t carry the brand of peanut butter she likes. Let’s just say things escalated quickly. I still can’t believe it,” Clarissa said with amazement. “It was every bit as stupid and petty as it sounds.”

  “Yikes!”

  “On the bright side, my parents are having a blast cat-sitting for me. They’ve started referring to the little beast as their grandcat. It was cute at first. Now it’s weird. Anyway, what’s new with you?” Clarissa asked.

  “My parents finally went back to their house,” Liana replied. The relief in her voice was evident. “Don’t get me wrong - it’s been great having them back in town. But living under my roof? There’s such a thing as too much togetherness, you know?”