The Dana Potter Cozy Mystery Collection

by Liz Turner

  “All right, I’m off to bed,” Angela said. “It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Cleveland. And thanks again for the pie.”

  “Sure, dear. I think I’ll tidy up in the kitchen a bit before I join your aunt on the porch for a nice evening chat. She’s always good for those.”

  “I bet she is. I’m hoping to get one of those with her tomorrow night.”

  “Well, I wish you the best. And be sure to visit me before you leave town! I’ll cook you up something nice that you ain’t ever tried anywhere else!” Mrs. Cleveland said. “Good night. Sleep well, my dear.”

  “Thank you! Good night.”

  Dana listened to Angela’s fading footsteps before she got up and returned inside. She wasn’t about to let a guest wash her dishes for her, but she didn’t want them to know she’d been eavesdropping either.

  As soon as the door creaked open, Mrs. Cleveland popped her head through the dining-room door. “You’ve sure got a sixth sense for these things, don’t you, Miss Potter?”

  Dana blinked innocently. “What do you mean?”

  “The second I picked up the washrag, I heard that door creaking open. I know how you hate letting your guests work in the kitchen, but I thought if you didn’t know I was doing it, it would be a nice surprise.”

  “You know me. I can smell a person doing something they’re not supposed to from any place in my home! Probably should’ve told the kids that, huh?”

  Mrs. Cleveland laughed. “Oh, I’m sure they’ll figure that out! That niece of yours though—something’s going on with her and her mother that needs to be resolved. I presume you’ve already got plans on fixing it…?”

  “Oh, yes. I’ve got some things in mind.”

  “Really?” Mrs. Cleveland said, clearing wanting Dana to elaborate.

  Dana waved her hand. “Now, don’t worry your pretty little head, dear. I sowed the seeds of resolve already. Thanks for your concern, but I can manage my family’s affairs on my own from here on out.”

  Mrs. Cleveland stared at Dana, but refrained from questioning her further, knowing better than to ask too much. She sighed. “Well then, it’s getting late. Thanks for the invite to dinner, but I should be getting home. Mr. Cleveland will be wondering where I’ve been!”

  “Of course. Go on then. Safe travels!” Dana said.

  ***

  Having a gut feeling whatever was going on between Angela and Clementine would become clear when she was there, Dana convinced Roger and Angela it would be best for them to spend the last few days of their vacation at home—with Dana accompanying them.

  She’d had a pleasant several days getting to know her niece and showing the young couple around her hometown, and by Wednesday morning, they were exhausted. As simple as the town was, Dana knew how stressful it could be to meet so many new people all at once. Plus, she knew how tiring it could be to sleep in an unfamiliar bed.

  “All right, this is gonna be the best day for travel, I’d say,” Dana said from the breakfast table. “How would you feel about heading back to Atlanta tonight? I’ve still got friends from when I lived there, so I could stay with them if it’s any trouble for you.”

  “Oh no, I don’t think it should be any trouble,” Angela said. “I managed to get myself an apartment with a spare room that I rent out through this bed-and-breakfast thing that a lot of people do these days, for a little extra cash. Of course, no one’s booked in the room for it this week, so you’re welcome to stay, Auntie.”

  Dana raised an eyebrow. “You welcome complete strangers into your home for extra cash? That can’t be safe for a young lady!”

  “Well, most people who stay are from out-of-town, so they have a lot of safety precautions in place through the company. I’ve never felt threatened by any of my guests. I think it’s safe.”

  Dana huffed. “They always think it’s safe until it’s not…”

  ***

  Dana drove her own car for the several hours to Atlanta, following behind Roger and Angela in their rental. By the time they arrived at Angela’s apartment, night had already fallen. Roger helped Dana unload her things and Angela led the way up the steps to her apartment.

  Something doesn’t feel right, Dana thought, noting the eerie chill in the air.

  “Something wrong with the locking mechanism on your door, sweetheart?” Dana asked, noticing the door didn’t appear properly latched.

  “What? No… um… what…?” Angela gaped. “Did someone really break into my apartment?!”

  “Better check to see if anything’s missing,” Roger stepped forward to push the door open.

  “No!” Dana exclaimed. “Never go into the house after it’s obviously been broken into! We don’t wanna tamper with the crime scene, and the thief could still be in there! Who knows if he’s armed!”

  “Oh, right,” Roger said. “Sorry...”

  “Don’t worry, honey,” Dana said. “It was probably one of those strangers staying in the guest room. I told you, there’s no telling what strangers will do. He probably came into a desperate situation and saw something nice in your home, so he had the key copied.”

  “I’ve never thought about that…” Angela said, her voice filled with anxiety.

  “These are hard times we’re living in. No surprise young folks gotta do desperate things to make ends meet.”

  “Assuming it was actually one of them who did it,” Angela said.

  “Well, no use in speculating who done it yet,” Dana said. “Let’s go back and sit in the cars for a bit. I’ve still got my connections to law enforcement out here. In fact, I’ll give my good friend, Inspector Allister, a call. He should be good to come check this out. He owes me for helping him solve one of his cases free of charge. In the meantime, let’s keep a bit of distance from the crime scene.”

  “Sure…” Angela said. “Man, I’m so hungry! I was looking forward to getting something to eat!”

  “How about we drive down the street and get something from the diner?” Roger suggested. “Though, I don’t feel comfortable leaving the apartment unattended, knowing the door’s unlocked and someone may be inside…How about you ladies go ahead, and I’ll stay behind?”

  “No, no, that won’t be necessary,” Dana said. “Honestly, I’m not hungry just yet. And since I’ve gotta meet the inspector if he’s available to come check this out now, you two can go have yourself a little dinner date. I’ll keep watch over the apartment.”

  “Okay. Thank you so much, Auntie,” Angela said.

  “Sure,” Dana said. “Take care, now!”

  Holding her hands to her hips, she watched the couple’s vehicle disappear down the street. Although she hadn’t outright said it, she didn’t believe this break-in was as random as she’d let on.

  Once seated back in her car, Dana called Inspector Allister.

  “Why hello, Miss Potter!” he exclaimed as soon as he answered the phone. “What a pleasant surprise! How’s life treating you now that you’ve moved back to your roots?”

  “Hey there, inspector. It’s good to talk with you. I’d love to catch up a bit, but I’m afraid the nature of my call isn’t under the most pleasant circumstances this time around. As it happens, I’m calling in that favor you owe me.”

  “Really? Did something happen?”

  “Yeah. I’m here in Atlanta visiting with my niece, and it seems that someone broke into her apartment while she was away in Pippin with me.”

  “Oh, dear! Did they take anything of value?”

  “We haven’t gone inside yet. The door was ajar when we arrived, so I told Angela not to go inside until we were sure it was safe. I’m here watching the apartment from my car now, and I wondered if you were available to come give it a look?”

  “Unfortunately, I’m already on the clock, and this isn’t my department. I can report the crime for you, but I wouldn’t be able to personally investigate until tomorrow when I’m on my own time. Sorry, is that okay?”

  Dana sighed. “Yeah, I suppose it’s what we have
to work with, so we’ve got no choice but to make it work.”

  “Sounds like you’re worried about more than just the break-in,” Inspector Allister said.

  “Well, you know how I am, and how I don’t believe in coincidences…”

  “Sure do. If there’s anything I know about you, it’s that! Come to think of it, I don’t think you would have helped me solve that case if it weren’t for the fact you refused to believe in coincidences.”

  “You got that right!” Dana said. “It’s the same thing with this break-in. This morning at breakfast while I was still back in Pippin—here I am, talking with my niece about how she sometimes rents out her spare room with some kind of bed-and-breakfast service. I told her that was dangerous and warned her that you never know what a stranger’s gonna do when you let them in your personal space, especially as a young woman.

  “Now, at first, I wanted to believe this break in was related to that. I thought perhaps one of her guests saw something he wanted in that apartment and somehow managed to keep a spare key so that he could easily walk in and take it. But then, thinking about it, someone who stayed in that apartment for any length of time would know, at the very least, how to be sure the front door was closed behind them! And what’s more—I can’t shake the feeling that whoever did it knew Angela wouldn’t be home. How would a onetime guest in her apartment know that?

  “But here’s where things get more interesting… I just learned that my sister, Angela’s mom, started dating a new fellow. Neither my niece nor her boyfriend are very fond of him. They both think he’s too flashy and there’s something suspicious about him. Anyhow, Angela hasn’t talked to her mom in a couple weeks, but I talked with some old friends about her before Angela came out to visit me, and I know for a fact her mother was aware she was coming down to Pippin this week.

  “Now, as it happens, I decided to come back to Atlanta with my niece because I found out my sister is in Atlanta with her new man for a couple weeks. I wanted to come out here and meet this flashy Italian to get a read on him for myself, and to talk with my sister about resolving the conflict she’s having with her daughter over this man. So this just makes the conflict more concerning, because Roger told me that my sister often begs Angela for money. which she’s been recently declining. My sister’s been desperate…

  “The point is, I just find her presence in Atlanta at the same time this happened to be an uncomfortably convenient coincidence. Both Roger and Angela were nervous about this man. Angela’s mother frequently asks Angela for money, not to mention that she hates Georgia and would never come here for no reason. And then this all just happens to be at the same time her daughter was out of town. Her home just happens to be broken into while she’s gone? You see what I’m saying?”

  “I do,” the inspector said. “Sounds to me like there are an awful lot of leads to follow.”

  “There sure is. So I’m just thinking, maybe it really is time that I reunite with my sister, and while I’m at it, talk to this new man of hers.”

  “Sure. In the meantime, it’s probably best that Angela files a breaking-and-entering report through the online police reporting tool. I guarantee there won’t be an officer on the case for a few days, unless a violent crime took place while they were in the apartment. But tell her not to worry about that because I’ll be there in the morning to help expedite the process.”

  “Thank you, sir!” Dana said. “I sure do appreciate your help on this. Now, first thing first—I need to figure out where Angela and I should stay until morning.”

  “No worries there. With this being a property crime and not a violent crime, it’s not as important to maintain the crime scene. You should both be fine to stay there, unless you just don’t feel comfortable. As far as what I recommend—go inside and do a thorough search for exactly what she thinks is missing. Include all that in the online report and keep a list as well.

  “Often times, thieves will take something that’s at least partially trackable. If you find what’s missing, that could lead us to the thief. On the other hand, if it’s her mother or this new boyfriend who did it, finding what they took will provide a lot more leads as far as finding a motive for stealing it or connecting them to the item in some other way. For example, perhaps they so happened to take something of sentimental value. Warrants are a lot easier to get when we have connections like that between the suspect and the items.”

  “I’m sorry, inspector, but are you suggesting it’s likely my sister was involved in this?”

  “I’m not suggesting one way or another because there’s not much to follow until I know what’s missing. For all we know, your niece might have failed to close the door all the way herself, and anything stolen was simply a crime of opportunity.”

  “No, I don’t think it was that. You’d have to see the place to understand my reasons, but with how the door was left, I don’t think anyone not looking to walk in would have noticed it wasn’t fully secured. I didn’t even recognize it was left open at a first glance.”

  “All right. If that’s the case, just go through the apartment and keep me updated on what you find. Or what you don’t find, rather…”

  “Perfect! Thank you so much! Have a good and safe shift, and I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

  Chapter 4

  Inspector Allister

  When Inspector Allister arrived, he was surprised to see that Angela Carter’s apartment wasn’t in the bad part of town, as he’d been presuming. Additionally, he was glad to see that she had decided to stay in her own apartment overnight, for it was easier to work with people who weren’t scared out of their minds by a simple break-in.

  “Hello there,” he said, approaching Dana.

  “Morning!” she said. “Now, I know it’s not a good look, but we don’t have a list to go over with you. Reason being—Angela is almost certain nothing was taken.”

  “Interesting… So what are we looking at then, just a door left ajar?”

  “If that was the case, I’d say Angela is very lucky no one noticed her apartment wide open for long! But unfortunately, I don’t think that’s the case. In fact, I’d still like to pursue investigation because it appears the lock to the door has been broken. So it was indeed a breaking-and-entering. A building employee will be coming by to fix it sometime today, but the lock was broken to a point that it could no longer be locked from the inside. This concerns me, because it makes me think perhaps Angela was the target, and the criminal will be back…”

  “I’m not gonna rule it out,” Inspector Allister said, “but it’s not difficult to ruin a lock when breaking into an apartment. It’s much more likely the offender broke in and couldn’t find what they were looking for. Before we get to that though, I did a little digging on your sister and her boyfriend for you…You’re welcome.” He tore a piece of paper from his notebook and handed it to Dana. It appeared to be the most basics about Clementine and Mr. Renaldo, such as their addresses and phone numbers.

  Dana looked the paper over and furrowed her brow. “What significance does her address and phone number have in this situation?”

  “Ah, that’s what I thought was weird,” he said. “Your sister hasn’t updated her address in fifteen years, but do you notice something odd about the one listed?”

  “Oh! It’s in Pippin! She hasn’t lived in Pippin for well over fifteen years!”

  “Yeah, that was just an odd tidbit I caught while looking into her background. It’s almost like she didn’t wanna be found. I thought I’d throw in her phone number to check whether you found anything unusual about that too.”

  Dana shook her head. “No, this is the last phone number I had for her. Speaking of which—I tried calling and her phone is either turned off, or she’s blocked my number for some reason.”

  “You haven’t heard from her?”

  “No. And what’s worse, I came out to Atlanta to talk to her, but no one I’ve talked to—you know, the ones who said they were in contact with her in the last c
ouple of days—has any idea where she’s gone off to. Nobody’s heard from her since yesterday morning, and she’s not answering her phone.”

  The inspector frowned. “That’s not good. It may not be evidence, but it sure makes her appear a lot more suspect.”

  “And judging from this information you’ve gotten for me, it looks like Roger was right about Mr. Renaldo too. He was born and raised in New York.”

  “Yeah, this Renaldo character—he’s something else! I can’t even be sure the company he works for is legit. Where does he say he’s from, again?”

  “Where any flashy Italian would say. Italy.”

  “Sounds like this investigation is gonna get real hard real fast if Renaldo gets involved. If he lies about where he’s from and can’t even give a straight answer for where he works, there’s a good chance interviewing him will take us around in a lot of circles.” Inspector Allister rolled his eyes. “Yay.”

  “Auntie!” Angela yelled through the apartment’s open door. “What’s so long? I thought you said he was here?”

  “Sorry, sweetheart, we’re coming!” Dana yelled back.

  “So you left everything as it was, correct?” the inspector said as he entered the apartment.

  “Yep.” Angela jumped up from the sofa. “I like coming home to a clean apartment after a trip, so anything that’s out of place was moved by whoever broke in. I’ll admit, I moved a few things back where they go in my room because they were irritating me too bad to sleep. Other than that, the shower’s been used in the bathroom, and Auntie only touched her bed in her room. Anything else wasn’t us.”

  “All right. For the time being, I don’t have my usual resources, so forgive me, but we’re gonna have to record this conversation the old-fashioned way. Inspector Allister placed a recorder on the coffee table and looked around the room. The kitchen was connected to the living room, so he could see straight away that several drawers were pulled open; the offender hadn’t taken the time to close the drawers again before moving on to the next. The floor around the coffee table was littered with drink coasters and opened mail, as if someone had knocked everything off and left in a hurry.