Stormy Day Mysteries 5-Book Cozy Murder Mystery Series Bundle

by Angela Pepper

  He shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe she’ll knock a few bucks off the rent if I do things right.” He leaned toward me, as though asking for a punch in the stomach or at least a verbal response. When he didn’t get either, he added, “I bet you the cost of your cat’s treatment that after one night on my side of the house, Miss Spinster Type A Landlady will start ripping up my rent checks.”

  Logan was good at pushing buttons, but he didn’t realize I was onto him. Logan was a lawyer and not the studious type who loved poring over contracts. He was a fighter who relished conflict, loved going head-to-head. He knew exactly who I was and was toying with me. Even now, his breathing was twice as rapid as mine, his pupils dilating to make his blue eyes appear black. I allowed myself the delicious pleasure of knowing he considered me a worthy adversary.

  I waved my hand across him and said, “They say you ought to dress for the job you want, not the one you have. If you fancy yourself as a skillful rent boy, you ought to dress in a manner that reveals more assets or implies more class.” I bit my lip and leaned back dramatically. “Or both.”

  He was mentally preparing his next missive when our conversation was interrupted by the veterinarian’s assistant returning. I jumped to my feet, feeling light as helium from the rush of my exchange with Logan.

  Natasha laid some papers on the counter between us. “Jeffrey’s all checked in,” she said. “His bachelor urges will soon be curbed. You’ll still see the external appearance of his furry boy-parts after the surgery, but it’s only skin that’ll shrivel up because the insides have been scooped out.”

  Behind me, Logan said, “Ouch.” I heard a chair squeak and imagined him crossing his legs in sympathy for the cat.

  Natasha collected payment from me, and I filled in the paperwork for the cat’s day surgery. I was signing the bottom of the form when the front door opened behind me. Someone came in, noisily stomping snow off heavy boots. It was another man, by the sound of him. He cleared his throat.

  I turned to find a man bearing his Italian father’s black hair and brown eyes, and his Mexican mother’s bronze coloring. I knew his heritage and much more because I’d practically grown up with the guy. Officer Tony Milano had gone straight to the police academy after college and become my father’s protégé not long after that. He’d acted like a protective older brother to me and my sister, except for when he hadn’t.

  “Tony Baloney,” I said, using the nickname I knew he hated. “You’ve got a little something in your hair at the sides. Is that snow? It’s really white, or is that gray? My mistake. That’s not snow at all.”

  “Very funny,” he said with no sign of mirth. “Get in my car. Now.”

  Logan, who’d been leafing through a cat magazine, got to his feet, looking concerned. “Is everything okay?”

  Tony gave him a withering look. “Go about your business, citizen.”

  Logan stuck out his chest. “Citizen? I’m an attorney.”

  Tony snorted derisively. “Not with that beard, you aren’t.”

  He took me by the elbow and firmly escorted me toward the door of the vet clinic. The air around him was cold, his hand like ice on my arm, even through my jacket.

  On my way out, I gave Logan a quick wink. “See you around.”

  Logan said, “Do you need a lawyer? I can come with if you’re being taken in for questioning.” He held out a business card.

  I didn’t take the card. It was only Tony, and I could handle him fine on my own. However, as Tony jerked my arm and dragged me toward his car, I wondered if I hadn’t misjudged the situation.

  Chapter 6

  Ctenocephalides felis, also known as the common cat flea, has no wings, so it must use its legs to jump a staggering two hundred times its height to find a new host.

  You’d think Officer Tony Milano would have appreciated some fun flea facts to brighten his day, but he did not. He barely acknowledged me as I described how newly-hatched fleas have only seven days to find a home or die. “And they can’t exactly peruse the rental ads in the newspaper,” I said.

  He held open the passenger door of an unmarked police car. “Enough with the fun facts about fleas.”

  “You admit my facts are fun?”

  “Get in the car, and stop talking about fleas. You’re making my skin crawl.”

  I climbed in, buckled my belt, and tried to wait without fidgeting. From the grim set of his mouth to the unwavering edge of his voice, I could tell he was in the darkest of moods. He had good reason to be, considering that morning’s events, yet his rigid manner bothered me, the way a scab you’re not supposed to touch begs to be picked at, itching the more you try to ignore it. I wanted him to smile. I needed him to smile at me, the urge coming from somewhere deep and primal.

  He slid into the driver’s side. I immediately picked at his sore mood, saying in an upbeat, singsong tone, “Surprise, Tony Baloney. I’m back in town.”

  “So it would appear,” he said. “I knew you were back. I heard all about it even before this morning.”

  “Did you hear the juicy rumor I was practically a big-city billionaire before I had a nervous breakdown?”

  “What happens outside of this town doesn’t concern me,” he said, avoiding my question.

  I glanced around the vehicle looking for any personal items of Tony’s but found none. The vehicle wasn’t marked, but had a steel and plastic barrier between us and the empty rear seat. The piercing scent of Pine-Sol wafted up from the back.

  Tony hadn’t started the engine yet. He checked his hair in the rearview mirror. “Never turn forty, Stormy. Your hair gets scared about the next milestone and turns white.”

  “I think it might be your two children doing that. Dad always blamed me and my sister for his white hairs.”

  “Three children,” he corrected. “The baby should be sleeping through the night soon.”

  “Congratulations.”

  “You didn’t know about the newest one, did you?”

  I could have answered honestly and said no, but I said, “Adult fleas live four to twenty-five days.”

  He started the vehicle and steered toward the police station.

  I crossed my arms and turned to the window, suddenly feeling younger than I had in a long time. Being around Tony did that to me. My dad started mentoring him when I was sixteen. Tony had been twenty-three, with cropped black hair and big brown eyes, always flexing those muscles he’d started building at the academy. To me, in his tight black T-shirts that showed off his powerful physique, Tony was bigger and better than every cute actor and singer rolled into one. I lived for those nights he came over to see my father because he’d always spend a few minutes chatting with me. I loved how he treated me like an adult, like an equal.

  I had dreamed of dating him for ages, but when I finally had a chance at twenty-three, it was pretty much too late. I had my job offer in the city and was leaving the next week. We made the most of those five days, which were extra thrilling because we didn’t want my father to find out. When the day came for me to leave, Tony was the one who drove me to the airport. I put on a brave face, but I couldn’t wait to get out of the car and away from him, to cry in private. We promised to stay in touch, but then he got his new girlfriend pregnant and got married, and we didn’t talk after that. I’d seen him over the last ten years, whenever I came home for the holidays, but only by accident.

  “How old is Tony Junior?” I asked. “He must be about nine by now.”

  Tony grunted in response. After a moment, he said, “We’ll have you over for dinner soon, I promise.” He tapped the steering wheel in rhythm to a song only he could hear. Tony always drummed his fingers when he was thinking. My father used to give him a hard time over it, saying it was the outward sign of an undisciplined mind.

  After a few more minutes, he said, “Why did you run from the crime scene?”

  “Obviously because I’m the murderer, Detective Baloney.”

  “Don’t call me that,” he barked. “We’re not
kids anymore.”

  “Sorry.” I crossed my arms tighter.

  We drove for a few blocks in silence before he said, “I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have come to that party at your dad’s house when you got here. I meant to drop by, but I fell asleep on the couch.” He stifled a yawn, which drew my attention to the dark circles under his brown eyes.

  “You probably needed the sleep, what with having a new baby. I’m sure you’ve got your hands full.”

  “You have no idea,” he said ominously.

  “How did you know I was at the vet clinic? That was some good detective work.”

  He frowned and kept his eyes on the road. “I came from Warbler Street just now, where the mailman told me you were lugging a pet carrier. There are only two vets in town, so do me a favor and save the flattery for when I close this case.”

  “Will that be soon? I mean, you guys have a good idea who did it, right?”

  “Sure,” he said flippantly. “We’ll just round up the usual suspects, the ones who are known to kill old geezers and stuff them inside lawn decorations.”

  I chewed my lip. Tony’s sarcasm was not a good sign.

  We reached the town’s police station, where he pulled into a reserved parking spot. He turned off the engine and rested his forehead in his hands as though he had a terrible headache.

  “Tony?” I reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. He wasn’t wearing a jacket, and his dark blue uniform shirt was damp from the snow. I wanted to say something reassuring, but what came out was, “Where’s your jacket?”

  He rubbed his face and glanced back at my hand but didn’t shrug it off.

  “This is bad,” I said. “I’m sorry if my running off from the scene has made things more difficult for you. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

  He let out a hopeless laugh. “Tell me who killed Murray Michaels, and I’ll owe you one.”

  Brightly, I said, “I’ll get right on that.” I squeezed his shoulder. “You don’t need me, Tony. You’re a brilliant detective.”

  “Am I?” He shook his head and avoided my eyes. “Some citizens reported Mr. Michaels missing five days ago. It was the waitresses from his regular restaurant, concerned that he hadn’t been around in a while.”

  “And you didn’t do anything?”

  “I went out with a locksmith to check the property. There were no signs of forced entry at his house, and I searched inside, expecting to find the old geezer in bed, or slumped over dead. He wasn’t there, and the place appeared to be undisturbed, though it was hard to tell because he was a level one hoarder. The rooms were packed full, but pathways were clear and all the appliances were functional. I figured he must have gone on a trip, maybe a doctor appointment in the city. I told the waitresses he would turn up eventually, but I never expected anything like this.”

  “He was there at his house the whole time.”

  Tony let out a heavy-sounding breath. “Hidden in plain sight. In that damn snowman.”

  I squeezed his shoulder again. “You couldn’t have known.”

  “But you knew, Stormy. You’re a better detective than me. You’re better than your father, but don’t tell him I said that. He and I would both be the laughing stock of the whole town if they knew you were the one who cracked the Donut Heaven case. And you were only eighteen.”

  “Seventeen.”

  Groaning, he opened his door and got out of the car. My hand hovered in the air for a moment, where his shoulder had been.

  “C’mon, kiddo,” he said. “Let’s get your statement.”

  I didn’t want to get out of the car, let alone spend my afternoon in an interview room. I got out of the car slowly, closed the door, and leaned against the vehicle feigning exhaustion as I joked, “Can we hook ourselves up to the polygraph and ask each other a bunch of embarrassing questions?”

  I watched his dour expression change to amusement. Victory. I could still put a smile on Tony’s face, even if it was only a small one.

  Two other uniformed officers, a man and a woman, walked slowly past, all eyes on me. The man, who had a thick mustache covering his upper lip, said something to the woman. She studied me with interest. He spoke quietly, but I heard him say, “That’s her, Wiggles. I told you so. Don’t skimp on the sugar when you make my cookies.”

  Tony followed my gaze and barked at the two officers, “You two see something amusing?”

  In unison, they said, “No, sir.”

  “How about my jacket? Did one of you think to bring that back?”

  The woman answered, “I’ll drive over and get it now.”

  Tony shook his head and pointed at the man. “Gomez, you go. Wiggles, I want you on this interrogation.” He pointed right at me, caught the look of shock on my face, and corrected, “Interview, I mean. Wiggles, you’re in charge of Stormy.”

  Then he barked at me to quit stalling and get my butt into the station.

  Chapter 7

  The red brick exterior of the police station hadn’t changed since its construction, seventy years earlier. The inside, however, had bravely withstood many rounds of upgrades, including a few since the days I used to come in after school and help my father type reports. I had no clerical training at the time, but could type ninety words a minute without errors. I signed the same privacy agreements as the other secretaries, and my work was good enough that the captain offered to hire me straight out of high school if I chose not to follow through on my college plans. I didn’t realize it at the time, but typing those reports and finding out what people were really like was the best education about life I could have gotten. My friends weren’t impressed when I warned them away from activities I’d learned were dangerous, such as cramming too many people into a car, but at least we all lived to see graduation.

  Tony walked me through the station, glancing around and frowning, as though seeing the interior through judging eyes.

  “This old carpet’s got to go,” he said, referring to the swirling floor covering with the pattern that hid a multitude of sins. “Lots of old things around here have got to go.”

  The other officer lagged behind us, stopping to say something to a secretary. Tony snapped his fingers impatiently. “Rookie! Look lively.”

  She jerked to attention and brought up the rear so fast, the toes of her boots kicked the heels of mine. I felt her breath on the back of my neck as we reached an interview room. Tony flicked on the lights and waved us in ahead of him.

  He caught the elbow of my coat as I walked by, and slipped me a business card as though he was giving me something secret. It was just his standard card, with a cell phone number written in blue pen. He’d crossed out the line reading In Case of Emergency, Always Call 9-1-1.

  And then he was gone.

  The woman stood by the door, awaiting his return. The fluorescent tube lights reached their full brightness, draping the windowless room in a sickly gray light.

  “He’s not coming back,” I said. “You’re stuck dealing with me.”

  She gave me a wary look as she made her way to one of the utilitarian plastic and metal chairs next to the equally plain interview room table. Like Tony, she wore a dark blue uniform under the matching winter jacket she shrugged off onto the back of the chair. She looked around fifty, or maybe older, but very fit, with angular facial features that made her cheeks appear hollow and gave the impression of her being thinner than she was. Her movements communicated strength and resiliency. Her eyelids, creped with delicate gathers at the edges, were the only feature that gave away her age. As I took my seat, her wide-set cobalt blue eyes made me feel watched and ignored at the same time.

  She hadn’t introduced herself but wore a brass nametag: Peggy Wiggles. The four lower-case g’s created a distinctive, eye-catching pattern, mimicking the effect of seeing double. The name sounded as cartoonish in my head as it looked on the tag. Was it her real name, or a nametag one of the other officers had gotten her to wear as a prank? They did that sometimes, to initiate people
. The brass tag looked new, with a single faint scratch on the diagonal, and not at all like an object kept around for games. It had to be her actual name.

  Like I had with the nameless cat, I felt a surge of solidarity with Peggy Wiggles. We oddly-named people had to stick together. I was tempted to point out our commonality but held my tongue. I’d learned the hard way that some people with unusual names don’t appreciate having that fact pointed out, and yet others are in complete denial, having never experienced their name through the ears of a stranger.

  Her dark, cool blue eyes looked at me, through me, and then past me. The silence in the small room was intruded upon by male laughter coming from elsewhere in the building. “Gomez,” she muttered under her breath, rising to close the door to the interview room.

  As she returned to her seat, I asked, “Did I hear Tony say you’re a rookie?”

  She volleyed back, “Were you expecting someone younger?”

  I was pretty sure that question didn’t have a right answer. “I like your haircut,” I said.

  Her white-flecked brown hair was cut in the same short style as mine. At my compliment, she reached up and fluffed the back. “I used to wear it long. Only got it cut maybe once a year.” She spoke as though answering questions about a case, her voice flat and her face betraying no emotion. She concluded, “Then I went for the buzz at the Academy and decided I like short hair.”

  “Me, too,” I said. “Not the Police Academy part, but I recently went through some major life changes as well.”

  “Interesting,” she said, her passive tone one degree shy of sarcasm. Apparently, the fifty-year-old rookie wasn’t as interested as I was in finding points of commonality. She picked up a pen and clicked out the nib. “What led you to believe the body was inside the snowman?”

  “Mainly the frozen head sticking out of the top.”

  She clicked the pen again and set it down on her blank notepad.

  I added, “Really, you should ask the cat. He’s the one who found it.”