“I guess you’re right,” Lydia said. “What about people who might have visited him?”
“Well, I told you that he and his wife didn’t get along. The few times I saw her come by there was yelling.”
“Anyone else?”
“I think he might have had some patients visit him at home. I heard Cora mention that when she talked about how nice he was,” said Mona. “But I don’t know who they were. And I don’t think they’d have a reason to kill Dr. Statler.”
“No one would have a reason to kill Dr. Statler,” Aunt Edie said, reentering the room with the wine. She began pouring it as she lamented. “He was a good man. Just like my Edgar. Why is it that we always lose the good ones too soon? Then again, maybe your Daniel is a good one too. Hopefully, he’ll stick around.”
“Hopefully,” Lydia agreed.
“And what about your Carl?” Aunt Edie asked Trina.
“Well, I don’t want him to die,” Trina said in between bites of the extra food she had used as an excuse to leave the room. Now that it was in a bowl in front of her, she couldn’t resist it. “But I’m not certain about him romantically anymore.”
“I think you should kiss him,” Aunt Edie said. “A nice, big one. And how you feel after sharing that kiss will tell you what you need to know.”
“You really think so?”
Aunt Edie nodded. She set her wine glass down and looked around the room.
“I’m going to miss this house,” she said. “I do want to start over in a new home. I think missing Edgar would be overwhelming if I stayed here alone. But I do love this house. I had to see it one more time. I’m really glad that this place never exploded.”
“If you don’t want us to sell it,” Lydia began.
“No. That’s what needs to be done,” Aunt Edie said. “And I think the other thing that needs to be done – is that I need some water.”
She stood up again. Mona joined her.
“Let me come with you, Aunt Edie.”
“I’m glad she’s here,” Trina said.
“Me too,” Lydia agreed. “Both because I love her and because she made me realize something about the case.”
“What?” Trina asked, looking intrigued. Even Sunny sat up and looked at her.
“Well, the method that the murderer used was rather dramatic,” Lydia said. “I think based on what Leo let slip that Dr. Statler was hit on the head before the explosion, but why did the killer decide to use fireworks to cover up the crime?”
“It was very thorough,” Trina said. “And it almost looked like an accident.”
“That’s true, but there might have been safer ways to do the same thing. The killer needed to make the fireworks explode without getting killed himself.”
“I suppose there is a huge ocean in town where he could have disposed of the body,” Trina agreed. “So, why did he use fireworks?”
“I’m wondering if it wasn’t just the doctor that the killer wanted to destroy,” Lydia said slowly. “What if he also wanted to destroy the condo? Or something in it?”
“That’s really a way to get rid of it,” Trina said.
“It would destroy the physical item, and if anyone ever wanted to track it, it would be plausible to say it was destroyed in the fire.”
“What could it be that was destroyed?”
“I’m not exactly sure,” Lydia admitted. “But maybe it was something related to his divorce.”
“Soon-to-be ex-wives make great suspects.”
“Or maybe it was a medical file. Mona said that he treated some patients in his home. Maybe there was something that a patient didn’t want anyone else to know.”
“And he was willing to kill for it?” asked Trina. “Creepy.”
“I think it might be worth looking into,” Lydia said.
Then, Aunt Edie and Mona returned to them with a large glass of water.
“I really have had too much to drink tonight,” Aunt Edie said. “Mona here was trying to tell me how you regularly track down killers. And I almost believed her!”
Lydia tried to look innocent as she laughed at this comment.
9
Taffy and Troubles
The next day, Lydia still couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being tailed on her way to the taffy shop. She felt nervous leaving Aunt Edie at home while she went to work. She hoped that if someone really was after her, they would continue following her and leave her aunt alone. Aunt Edie might even be safer without her, and Mona and Sunny were still at the house.
She contemplated whether she really was being shadowed all morning as she made more firework taffy because it was a flavor that was blasting off her shelves. She wondered if she was imagining the feeling of being followed or if someone really was there. And if she was – who the person could be? Was it related to Dr. Statler’s murder? She really hadn’t done much with this case because of all her houseguests. All she had done was find something that felt off about the scene to determine that it wasn’t an accident and then become very suspicious of Stella Statler when she spoke to her. She also thought that she might be on to something with the idea that the killer wanted to destroy something in the doctor’s house, but that really didn’t warrant having someone follow her.
“Trouble with the taffy?”
Lydia looked up and saw Aunt Edie had entered the shop. She was looking at her niece with concern. All the thoughts of the murder must have put a serious look on Lydia’s face. However, it soon turned to surprise.
“What are you doing here?” Lydia asked.
“I know I had a good deal of wine last night, but you didn’t expect me to sleep all day, did you?” Aunt Edie asked. “And I wanted to have some more of your delicious taffy, and I hoped that I might meet your Daniel friend before the fireworks.”
“You’re in luck,” Lydia said, pleased that she could follow this line of discussion instead of what had been on her mind when her aunt walked in. “He said he was going to bring me coffee this morning. And I think I see him approaching.”
Aunt Edie twirled around to face the door. “Oh, sweetie. He really is a handsome man.”
Daniel walked inside, holding two travel cups of coffee. He smiled at Lydia.
“Is this your charming aunt?” he asked as soon as he saw her.
“That’s right,” Lydia said, putting an arm around her. “This is my Aunt Edie.”
“I’ve heard so much about you,” Daniel said. “It’s a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.”
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you as well,” she replied.
“Would you like a coffee?” he asked, holding one cup out to her and the other to Lydia.
“You really are a kind man,” Aunt Edie said. “I imagine you really got that coffee for yourself, but you don’t want me to go without.”
“I didn’t know that you would be here this morning or I would have gotten three.”
Aunt Edie assured him that she had already had coffee with her breakfast and didn’t need anymore – despite the wine from the night before. They fell into an easy conversation about the Ocean Point beach. Daniel didn’t tease her about New Jersey’s bad reputation like he sometimes did with Lydia. Instead, he spoke about how he liked his job because he could help people by the water. Then, he asked about Aunt Edie’s travels, and she told some amusing stories.
Lydia was glad that they were hitting it off so well. She hadn’t realized how important this meeting was to her, but she was relieved that the two people she cared so much about liked one another.
When a woman that Aunt Edie used to work with entered the shop, she excused herself to say hello and to give the couple a moment alone.
“She’s wonderful,” Daniel said. “It’s nice to get to know her more than in the few lines on her postcards.”
“I think she likes you too,” Lydia said.
“I’m glad. Because I think it might be a deal breaker for you if she didn’t.”
“Possibly,” Lydia
admitted. “Of course, she doesn’t know how often you’ve saved my life when we’re working on cases.”
“You haven’t told her?” Daniel asked, surprised.
“I’m sorry. I know you deserve credit for rescuing me from drowning and stopping a killer from attacking me. You were very heroic. Maybe she does deserve to know.”
“Thank you, but I wasn’t referring to my part in these events,” said Daniel. “I was just surprised that you didn’t tell her all about your involvement in the cases. The work you did made sure that several killers are behind bars. That’s something you can be proud of. And it has been an important part of your life. I thought that was something you would share with your aunt.”
“When you say it like that, it does sound bad that I didn’t tell her,” Lydia said with a frown. “But I didn’t want to tell her while she was away because I didn’t want to worry her. I told her some snippets, but never the full stories. Because if I told her everything, I’d also have to tell her about the troubles that Leo and I had, and how my shop nearly failed when people thought I was a murderer, and how Trina was almost arrested. Plus, there was that whole ordeal with the phantom at the theater and several near-death experiences.”
“I understand where you’re coming from, but I bet she would like to know. What you’ve done has been very impressive.”
Lydia smiled at him. “You think so?”
“Definitely. I’m very impressed with it all – running a shop, creating new recipes, and solving crime. I guess I’m just very impressed with you, Lydia.”
They stared at one another, and Lydia felt the connection between them. She was just as impressed with him: the way he had saved her life and the way he had been at her side at dangerous moments. Then, there were also the smaller things that impressed her, such as how he brought her coffee and was willing to give his own away to her aunt.
They leaned toward each other about to kiss, but then Lydia heard something that completely ruined the romantic mood.
“Lydia,” Leo said, storming up to her. “What have you been up to?”
10
Sibling Advice
Lydia jumped back. For a moment, she was afraid that Leo was scolding her because she was about to kiss someone. However, she quickly realized that this must somehow be related to his case. He might tease her for romance because she did the same to him brother, but he wouldn’t have sounded angry about it. This tone of voice was reserved for his detective mode.
“Excuse me,” Lydia said to Daniel. Then, she turned to her brother. “Do you want to go to my office?”
He glanced around and must have noticed Aunt Edie talking to her friend. Leo nodded and followed Lydia to the other room. Lydia sat down, but he remained standing. She awkwardly rose back to her feet.
“Lydia, we need to talk,” he said a little too calmly.
“About what?” she asked. “About how you don’t want to tell Aunt Edie about Suzanne? I thought she was special to you.”
“She is special,” Leo said defensively. “And that’s why I haven’t mentioned her.”
“That makes sense,” Lydia said sarcastically.
“It does. I don’t want to do anything to ruin the relationship. I don’t want Suzanne to feel pressured to meet my family right away. And I think meeting Aunt Edie will put pressure on us. She’ll be bound to realize that Uncle Edgar orchestrated our reunion. Aunt Edie might think that this guarantees that we’re supposed to be together and start talking about marriage and freak Suzanne out. It’s still very new. We haven’t been together a full month yet.”
“I guess I can understand that,” Lydia said, leaning against her chair and thinking. “Daniel just pointed out that I’ve been hiding things from Aunt Edie too. I think part of me is regressing back to the little girl that never wanted to disappoint her. Maybe you’re feeling something similar.”
“You’re trying to distract me,” he grumbled.
“What?”
“I didn’t come here to talk about relationships or our family,” Leo said. “I came here to tell you that you shouldn’t be questioning suspects in my case.”
“What do you mean?” Lydia asked. She had been thinking about tracking down Dr. Statler’s patients, but she hadn’t had a chance to act on it yet.
“Stella Statler.”
“Oh, right. But she came into my taffy shop. I didn’t track her down or anything.”
“When we questioned her at the station, she said that you were asking her about her alibi,” Leo said. “You have to know that’s not allowed.”
“I expressed my condolences, and she said she was nervous about talking to the police. I just told her that you would want to know her alibi. And did you have any luck with that? She told me that she was home alone, but she seemed very skittish when she said that. Do you think she is the killer?”
“Why do you think I’d answer that?”
“Because I have taffy,” Lydia joked. She lifted up the seashell-shaped candy bowl that she had on her desk and offered him a piece of firework taffy.
Leo took a piece but refused to answer her question. Instead, he said, “You have to butt out of my case.”
His order was undermined a little when he reacted to the popping sensation of the candy with a laugh.
“I don’t mean to get involved with these things,” Lydia said.
“If you keep poking around, I won’t just have to worry about you getting hurt, but I’ll also be afraid that Aunt Edie will be dragged into this.”
Lydia wanted to protest that she would never do anything to put her aunt in danger, but then she thought about how she might be being followed. Could that affect her aunt’s safety? Should she mention this to Leo, or would this only further aggravate him? She wasn’t even completely sure that it was happening.
“And I don’t think either of us wants Aunt Edie to know what you’ve been up to,” Leo continued. “I think you avoided mentioning all the danger you needlessly put yourself in because you don’t want to scare her.”
“I wouldn’t say needlessly,” Lydia muttered. “I did catch some killers and help justice be served.”
“And I don’t want her to know because it will make me seem like I’m failing to protect my little sister. And that I’m not a great detective if people are meddling with my cases.”
“Neither of those things are true. You’ve saved my life before, and you’re a great detective,” Lydia said, moving closer to her brother. “But I do see your point. I don’t want Aunt Edie to know all the details of the crazy cases we’ve had. I want her to have a relaxing visit home.”
“So, you’ll take her to the beach instead of looking into the doctor’s death?”
“There is one idea I want to share first,” Lydia began. “I’ve been thinking about why the killer decided to use fireworks.”
“Because the doctor had them in his home. It was opportunistic. Thank you. We already figured that out.”
“Not just that. I was thinking that the killer wanted to destroy the condo or something inside…”
“Lydia, I mean it. Stop.”
“Can you just listen to my thought about the fireworks?”
“No. I need to focus on the evidence and not your wild theories. And I need to work fast so that the mayor doesn’t cancel the 4th of July celebrations, thinking they are in bad taste.”
“Would he do that?”
“He’s considering it. So, I need to solve this quickly. And I will be able to work better if you stay out of my way.”
“Well, you’re in my taffy shop right now,” Lydia retorted.
Leo took another piece of taffy for the road and made his departure. Lydia crossed her arms. She didn’t like that Leo hadn’t listened to her idea about why the crime happened the way it did. This made her think that she couldn’t stop investigating quite yet – especially if the 4th of July fireworks were going to be canceled if the crime wasn’t solved quickly.
11
More Condo Conversatio
n
Lydia left her office, trying to think of a reason she could tell Aunt Edie why she wanted to visit Cora’s Coral Condos again that wouldn’t look like she was snooping into the circumstances of Dr. Statler’s death. Could she say that she was trying to find out more information about when repairs would be done for Mona? Or maybe she could say that she wanted to support Cora in these troubled times? She didn’t know Cora well, but they weren’t strangers.
Fireworks and Felonies Page 5