Death Takes the Stage (A Rose Harbor Cozy Mystery Book 2)
Page 7
“You should have taken my warning,” a hoarse voice whispered.
Lydia's heart stopped. She hadn't heard anyone come in. Suddenly, she was laying at the mercy of a deranged killer.
“Now you too have to die,” the voice continued.
Lydia open her eyes and found Jenny holding a pillow above her. Before she could bring it down, Lydia rolled to the other side of the bed and kicked her in the side. Jenny looked both surprised and stunned. She looked down at the bed the same time as Lydia to see the radio blinking.
“You, you set me up!” Jenny screamed, launching herself at Lydia.
Lydia dodged her and realized that she was too off balance in her attacks to be fully sober.
Instead of waiting for her to throw another attack, Lydia grabbed both of Jenny’s hands and flipped her over into the bed, pinning her down so the only thing she could do was kick. Just then, the door burst open and the chief and a few officers walked in.
“We figured you might be in trouble,” he said, taking a good look at the way she had pinned Jenny down, “but I take it you are capable of taking care of yourself.”
Lydia hopped off of Jenny, who immediately took to rubbing her wrists.
“I wouldn’t get too comfortable doing that,” the chief smirked, holding up a pair of handcuffs.
“How could you have figured it out?” Jenny asked, frustrated that she had been caught by a flower girl.
“Well, we figured you out. You've always had an obsession with ridding the stage of bad actors, just like you did in Massachusetts. You messed up this time when you left the note on my car. Our other two suspects had been accounted for at that time, which left only you. The final detail came when we figured out you used our shop to buy flowers, which you used to make the fake arrangements.”
Lydia watched as the officers took her away. Gwen appeared in the doorway, smiling from ear to ear.
“We got her!” she cried, throwing her hands around Lydia. Lydia smile and hugged her back. Her mother came in with a cup of tea and handed it to Lydia.
“For your nerves,” she said reassuringly.
Lydia couldn't help but laugh. According to her mother, there wasn’t any situation that couldn’t be solved with tea.
The chief and a few officers strolled in looking very pleased with themselves.
“We did well today, boys,” he said grinning proudly.
“We? You mean we did well today,” Lydia said, gesturing towards herself, her mother, and Gwen.
“Good job, you three,” he grumbled, avoiding eye contact with them. “Just don't make interfering with my investigations into a hobby, okay?”
They all laughed.
“How did you guys know she would show up here tonight?” the chief asked. “By the way, my detectives went to Jenny's apartment and found a section in her closet dedicated to Delilah that dates back a number of years. I guess she was obsessed with her director, so Tim’s behavior towards her hero made him a prime target. We also found this tape showing that she had bought the dinner a few hours before she said she did and had saved it so her friend would not be suspicious of her late arrival home.”
“All this time, she was right there,” Barbara exclaimed.
“There was one thing I wanted to ask you,” the chief said before walking out. “What's the Melvin method?”
Barbara and Gwen laughed.
“Oh, poor little Lydia,” Barbara said giggling. “She had gotten the role of Melvin in the play “Sherlock Holmes”, but instead of being the sidekick, she created an elaborate ruse to trap the other character and make herself the star.”
The chief looked at her and smiled.
“When you're good, you're just good,” he commented before opening the door. He stopped momentarily and turned to face the women. “But this is my town, so be careful to not make this a habit.”
Lydia turned to her mother, and Gwen and smiled.
Once the chief had left the building, Lydia turned to face her mother and her best friend.
“We did it, guys! “Let's just hope that the next one will be this interesting.”
“The next one?” Barbara and Gwen groaned in unison.
Chapter 9
The next day the flower store was overrun by an army of media personnel. They wanted to know who the flower shop owners were and how they had come to solve the mystery, even when the cops had been wrong. Lydia did her best to keep them at bay, but she realized that she would eventually have to speak to someone or they would never stop coming.
Lydia had been surprised by the wave of interest her store was getting, but she was also aware of the ones out there who were only there to make her and her band of sleuths out to be a band of misfits.
“Why not give a general statement and get them off your back?” her mother suggested for the fifteenth time that day.
“I will, Mom. I just want Gwen to be able to put the full story out first.”
Gwen had insisted that Lydia speak to no one until the Gazette released the full story on their investigation. As she waited, she called up Jason, who was more than relieved the killer had been found but highly surprised it had been Jenny.
“Do you think she might get off?” he had asked her.
“It’s unlikely,” Lydia responded. “She killed two people, and she attempted to kill me. She’ll be serving charges until the end of her days.”
“You know once the fame begins it never goes away, right?” Jason asked sensing her apprehension about the increase in publicity for her store.
“I tend to believe a flame only grows, if you spend time feeding it,” she replied.
She could hear Jason laughing on the other end of the line.
“That’s true,” he replied sincerely. “I’ve got to go now. I owe you everything for clearing my name and for catching that crazy woman. Had I known she was that dangerous, I never would have lifted that restraining order! If there is anything I can ever do for you, don’t hesitate to ask.”
Lydia hung up and walked over to the main floor where Gwen had just walked in. The article was published!” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “You’re now officially a local super hero.”
“Nothing like that, I hope,” Lydia said smiling. “I’m just a flower girl.”
“Oh yes, that’s what I should have called you: the wonderful, interesting sleuth flower girl.”
They all laughed.
“So I hear you think it’s a good idea to set me up with Charles,” Gwen whispered to her friend. “I think that would be a great idea.”
Lydia’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Wow, I’m glad you think so. I thought you were about to beat me to death for setting you up with him.”
“I felt like doing that the first time I realized your mother was pushing him on me, but after a few dates, I realized that he is a great guy. I also realized how awful and cold your heart must have been to reject him.”
Lydia laughed.
“Well, all’s well that ends well,” she said wrapping her hand around her friend and embracing her.
“To being great sleuths and even greater friends,” Lydia said releasing Gwen.
“Yup. Now, let’s go hunt down our next victims.”’
~~~
Find out what is discovers in book 3 of The Rose Harbor Mysteries! Coming Soon!