Gingerbread Murder: A Frosted Love Cozy Mystery - Book 21 (Frosted Love Cozy Mysteries)

by Summer Prescott

  “I met our one and only guest on my way in. I held the front door open because he was carrying a pretty large box up to his room. He said he was in insurance, so I didn’t stay long. Those guys usually try to sell everyone they meet a policy,” he chuckled.

  “Yeah, but he’s actually very nice. He’s trying to decide whether or not to move here.”

  “Well, then, he and Echo should have a lot to talk about, since she just recently made the decision to make our little paradise town her permanent home.”

  “I never thought of that,” she pursed her lips, then shook her head. “Nahhh…I don’t think he’s her type. He’s just a bit…” she trailed off, not knowing how to say what she meant in a way that didn’t sound mean.

  “Boring?” her irrepressible husband tried to help her out.

  “Normal is more like what I was going for,” she giggled.

  “Potato, potahto,” Chas mumbled around a mouthful of cornbread. His wife gazed at him tenderly.

  “Hey, sweetie…I know you can’t always tell me things about your work, but…I have a question,” Missy asked, twirling her fingers into the soft black curls of her husband’s hair.

  Chas smiled knowingly at his wife and put down his fork. “Yes,” he sighed ruefully. “Lane Scoggins brought Spencer in for questioning.”

  “But, why? What’s going on that Spencer could possibly be involved in?” her eyes were wide.

  The detective grimaced. “The Bielman murder,” he said reluctantly.

  “What?” Missy gasped in disbelief. “That’s impossible. He wouldn’t have any reason to steal, much less kill,” she protested.

  “Honey, I can’t get into the specifics, but there are some clues at the scene that seem to be pointing in his direction,” Chas said gently.

  “But…Spencer…” she said, tears filling her eyes.

  “I know. It’s difficult for me to believe too,” he replied, muscles in his jaw flexing. “But I have to look at every possible angle of the case, and unfortunately, this is one of them.”

  “That’s just too awful to even think about,” Missy shook her head.

  “Then don’t think about it. Why don’t you go run a nice warm bath, with bubbles and candles and the works, while I finish up here, and I’ll bring up some wine for us when I’m done,” he suggested.

  “Okay,” she said softly, her eyes clouded with worry.

  “I won’t be long,” he promised.

  Chapter 11

  “They suspect Spencer?” Echo demanded, the next morning at coffee.

  “Well, they’ve questioned him. Right now, Chas says he’s just a “person of interest,” Missy explained.

  “I don’t believe it for an instant,” Kel said with a frown. “I have good instincts when it comes to people, and I just can’t fathom that our upstanding young veteran would have anything to do with such nonsense.”

  “That’s what I’m thinking too,” Missy nodded, her hands wrapped around her coffee mug. “I texted him before you guys got here, so he should be here any minute. We’re going to get to the bottom of this. If he actually is guilty, then, so be it, but if he isn’t, we’re going to do everything we can to clear his name,” she vowed.

  At that moment, Spencer came in the front door, and was clearly not himself.

  “Hey, Spencer. Come have a seat with us. I’m going to get you some coffee and a cupcake,” Missy directed the morose young man to a chair. He looked as though he hadn’t slept well.

  “Thanks,” he said dully, with a ghost of a smile, when Missy put his mug and cupcake down in front of him.

  “Darlin,’ I’ll just say right now that we don’t think you had anything to do with that horrible thing that happened,” she began, patting his hand.

  “Well, I’m glad that you don’t, because I didn’t have anything to do with it, but the police seem to think otherwise,” he muttered.

  “Young man, tell us what they asked you. If we know what they’re thinking, we may be able to do some sleuthing of our own and help you prove your innocence,” Kel leaned forward, as serious as they’d ever seen him.

  The Marine looked torn. “I don’t know if I’m actually supposed to talk about it,” he said.

  “Well, it’s not like they’re going to choose any of us to serve on a jury anyway, so I don’t see why it would be a problem,” Echo remarked.

  “We just want to help,” Missy encouraged the listless young man.

  “It’s not like I have anything to lose at this point,” Spencer sighed. “When Officer Scoggins picked me up to take me to the station for questioning, he said that I had to give him my shoes, so I had to go back to the apartment to get one of my new pairs and put them on,” he began.

  “Why on earth would they take your shoes?” Echo was mystified.

  “Footprints at the scene, I’d presume,” Kel waved her off. “Go on.”

  “They asked me why I had been taking care of Moose, so I told them that I had offered to do it to help you out,” he told Missy.

  “They asked a lot of questions about how long I’d been in town, what I’d been doing two nights ago, if I had any plans for my future. You know, a bunch of stuff that made me feel like a total loser,” he shrugged.

  “That must’ve been awful for you,” Echo murmured, getting up to get him another double chocolate cupcake after he polished off the first one.

  “Anything else?” Kel demanded.

  “They took my fingerprints, a saliva sample, and asked to look at my hands.”

  “Your hands? Why?” Missy asked, puzzled.

  “No idea. I gave them everything they asked for, because I know I didn’t do anything, and I figured that the more information they had, the easier it would be for them to determine that I wasn’t the thief or the killer.”

  Echo gasped suddenly, her hands going to her throat in what looked like horror, and the other three stared at her, waiting for an explanation.

  “What is it?” Missy asked, eyes wide with trepidation.

  “When is the last time that any of you saw Beau?” the redhead’s voice trembled slightly.

  Missy and Kel merely shrugged and shook their heads. Beau’s eyes narrowed and he sat up straighter.

  “Not since yesterday…why?” he demanded.

  “He was doing some work at my house yesterday, and he was wearing his duct-taped rubber flip flops again instead of the shoes that you gave him. I asked him why, and he said that he had ruined those shoes by getting paint all over them when the two of you painted the fence, so he had thrown them out.”

  “Did he say where?” Kel asked, rising from his seat. The rest followed suit.

  “No, but we can check here and at my house and anywhere that he might have stopped along the way if he walked over from here,” she suggested, heading for the door.

  “He didn’t walk from here,” Spencer said. “I gave him a ride before Officer Scoggins came in. He was wearing my old shoes when he left, which means he must have thrown them out at your house,” he deduced.

  “I’m driving, let’s go,” Kel directed, and they all moved toward the door.

  “Spencer, honey, since you might have police watching you, I don’t want them to catch onto what we’re doing. You should probably stay here and mind the shop while we go, okay?” Missy said gently, squeezing the Marine’s arm.

  “Yes ma’am, I think that’s a better idea,” he nodded. “You’ll let me know?”

  “Of course. Help yourself to coffee and cupcakes, and if you’re really hungry, my lunch is in the fridge. Just go ahead and eat it, there’s plenty for me at home,” she assured him on her way out the door.

  Chapter 12

  “The shoes aren’t in my inside trash, or the bin outside,” Echo said, frustrated.

  “Well then, my dears, it’s time to go dumpster diving in the houses next door,” Kel said with a most distasteful expression.

  “Oh my,” Missy made a face. “Do we have to?”

  “It’s for Spencer,”
Echo insisted. “You come with me, we’ll take the yellow house. Kel, you take the grey one,” she directed, grabbing Missy’s hand and dragging her to the empty house next door.

  The two friends had to search for a bit to find the trash bin at the abandoned house. It was tucked into a corner of the unlocked garage, and aside from some very unpleasant-looking scraps of food from days gone by, it was empty. Leaving the garage, they heard what sounded like a very agitated male voice coming from the direction that Kel had gone, and they hurried over to the rather run-down grey house with white trim.

  “You’re a dang thief, even if what you’re stealing is in the trash can. It’s my personal property, and I won’t have you…” a tall, beer-bellied, belligerent man was haranguing Kel as the well-dressed gent stood by and over-stuffed trash can, holding Beau’s missing pair of running shoes.

  “Actually, those are my personal property,” Echo raised her voice to be heard over the neighbor’s rant. The scruffy bearded man pushed his baseball cap back further on his head and regarded her suspiciously through narrowed eyes. When he saw that he had been interrupted by a very attractive redhead, his grimace turned into more of a leer, and he looked Echo up and down.

  “What’re you talkin’ ‘bout lil lady,” he lowered his tone significantly, still eyeballing the statuesque woman who was at least a decade older than he.

  “I threatened to throw away this man’s shoes,” she pointed to Kel, “if he wore them with his suit on our date, so when I went to his house the next day to drop off his casserole dish, I saw them sitting in his entryway, and I stole them and put them in your trash. I apologize for that, I shouldn’t have done it, but he was just retrieving them because I was too embarrassed to come get them,” she lied, sounding almost convincing.

  “Well, ain’t you a feisty little filly?” the corner of the man’s mouth quirked up in a leering smile.

  “That she is,” Kel agreed, stonefaced. The neighbor shot him a warning look.

  “Tell you what…next time you wanna git your property back from my trash, you just come on over and we’ll set down and talk about it, alright sweetheart?” the man made a sad attempt at flirting.

  “Deal,” Echo smiled tightly, fighting the bile rising in the back of her throat. “Thanks for your understanding, we’ll be on our way now. Have a lovely day,” she said quickly, grabbing Kel by the arm and dragging him away, with Missy trailing behind. The neighbor stood, blatantly enjoying the view of both women from behind, not going back into his ill-kept home until they had disappeared from sight.

  “Casserole dish? Really?” Kel said dryly. “I don’t know anyone who would believe that I actually owned such a thing,” he rolled his eyes as Missy chuckled.

  “Hey, I had to say something. There was only so much Neanderthal drool that I could take,” she shuddered.

  “Well, mission accomplished,” Missy interjected. “We have the shoes, and we can take them to Chas. In the meantime, we can try to do some investigating to see what we can find out about Mr. Beau Garrity,” she said, determined.

  “Not so fast,” Kel replied. “I don’t know that taking the shoes to Chas at this point will be our best course of action.”

  “But why?” Missy was baffled. “He’s the detective. He’ll be able to start looking into the person who actually committed the crime, rather than trying to find evidence against someone who is innocent.”

  “Have you ever considered the possibility that if we turn the shoes over and they determine that Beau didn’t do it, it could make Spencer look worse? Let me do some checking around and see if I can get some background on this homeless kid before we go to Chas,” he suggested.

  “We also don’t want it to look like we’re trying to frame Beau just to save Spencer either,” Echo pointed out.

  Missy chewed her bottom lip, thinking. “Okay,” she nodded finally. “Then, Kel, you take the shoes home with you, because Beau and Spencer both have access to my house and Echo’s.”

  “Good call,” the artist agreed. “I’ll drop you ladies back at the shop and get started on my snooping,” he proposed, and they headed to his car.

  Chapter 13

  “Will you be needing a ride to the airport today, sir?” Spencer asked Allen Perkins when he saw him at breakfast.

  “Oh, yes, please,” the man smiled, arranging his napkin in his lap. “And, would it be too much trouble to stop by the parcel store? I have some items that I’d like to ship home, if you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all. Just give me about a fifteen minute heads up and I’ll help you with your parcels and your luggage,” the Marine replied.

  “Thank you so much.”

  “My pleasure.”

  Spencer headed for his apartment, wondering where Beau had gone. The homeless young man hadn’t come back last night, which made him a bit unsettled, but he hadn’t given him a key to his place, so he wasn’t terribly worried.

  He unlocked his front door and was shocked to see Beau sitting on his couch, playing video games. “Hey man,” he paused the game to greet Spencer.

  Years of practice allowed the Marine to keep his countenance neutral so that Beau couldn’t see his surprise. “Hey,” he returned the greeting. “How did you get in here?”

  “Maggie let me in. I couldn’t find you, so I asked her,” he shrugged.

  Spencer nodded, thinking. “Okay. Well, we have a bunch of stuff to do today, so let’s get started.”

  Beau turned off the video game and rose from the couch to follow him out the door. As they headed toward the shed that held the lawn care tools, Spencer received a text from Maggie, letting him know that Allen Perkins was almost ready to leave.

  “Our first job is to get a guest to the parcel store and the airport,” he told Beau, changing course and heading toward the Shuttle.

  “Do you want me to stay here and work on the gardens while you do that? That way we could kill two birds with one stone,” the young man suggested.

  “Nah, I think I’ll need some muscle for this trip, so you better come with me,” Spencer said easily.

  Beau looked at the ripped and cut Marine, and then at his own thin and wiry form, and smiled ironically. “You’re the boss,” he said, falling into step.

  Allen Perkins apparently was not a man who traveled lightly. He had three large suitcases, a sizable carry-on bag, a computer case, and a brown leather over-the-shoulder bag that could only be thought of as a murse, or man-purse. He had eight heavy cardboard boxes of varying size and shape that he wanted to ship, and his combined belongings took up a sizable amount of space in the cargo area under the shuttle. Beau, trying his best to provide good customer service, engaged Mr. Perkins in conversation as the two young men loaded the cargo.

  “Wow, these are heavy. Whatcha got in here, bricks?” he chuckled.

  Allen Perkins raised an eyebrow and attempted a polite smile. “Office supplies,” he said briefly.

  “They don’t sell office supplies in Illinois?” he teased. Spencer shot him a warning look.

  “My supplier is here, they give me wholesale pricing,” Allen replied, without even a ghost of a smile.

  “Man, you’d think they’d throw in free shipping for you too.”

  “Beau!” Spencer interrupted. “Why don’t you go take one more look through Mr. Perkins’ room to make certain that he didn’t leave anything behind,” the Marine ordered.

  “I’m sorry about that,” he extended his hand to shake Allen’s, apologizing for Beau’s inappropriate questions. “He’s new.”

  “Not a problem,” the guest smiled politely, shaking Spencer’s hand.

  The Marine handled it gently, noting a large bandage.

  “Yikes, are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Just a scratch. I was loading some things into one of the boxes and got a wicked cut from the cardboard edge,” Allen replied, moving toward the shuttle.

  “Ouch, those are the worst,” Spencer commiserated.

  “Indeed.” />
  “Room’s clear,” Beau announced, taking a seat across the aisle from Mr. Perkins on the shuttle.

  “Next stop, The Marvelous Mailer,” Spencer called out, closing the shuttle doors.

  Chapter 14

  Echo loved her sweet little cottage. It wasn’t much now, but she’d been working on it inside and out, and had a vision of it as her perfect homey nest. Buying in a neighborhood that was essentially abandoned and run-down had been a bit of a risk, but her purchase had seemed to spur the beginnings of a flood of fixer-upper types into the dilapidated area, and there were many homes that were undergoing significant renovations now.

  Beau had done a great job of tearing out bushes, weeds and runaway vines and grasses, so that now the house was more visible. The only section that he hadn’t gotten to, was the stand of ornamental grasses that were located right outside her bedroom window. Echo planned to eventually refinish the hardwood floors, repaint all of the heavy woodwork in a bright, clean shade of white, and completely renovate the kitchen and bathrooms.

  She had drawn the shades, locked the doors, and was headed to bed with her giant mug of herbal tea. Glancing at her watch, she groaned when she noticed that it was nearly one o’clock in the morning. She had promised Missy that she’d be at Cupcakes in Paradise early the next morning to help bake her latest creations before the shop opened. Crawling under the covers, she switched on her bedside lamp, grabbed her IPad and caught up on the news while she sipped her tea, which was a special blend designed to help her sleep.

  Echo was immersed in an article on how to most effectively protect her home against insects, humidity and drafts, when she thought she heard a soft scraping sound against her windowpane. Pausing a moment to listen, and hearing nothing, she shook it off, thinking that it must be the tall grasses blowing against it. She went back to her article, and a few minutes later, heard the sound again. Switching off her lamp and IPad, she slid out of bed and started toward the window, seeing a shadow pass in front of it, through her translucent privacy shade.