Stormy Day Mysteries 5-Book Cozy Murder Mystery Series Bundle

by Angela Pepper

  Franco turned around slowly, amused by Jessica’s feistiness. “Typical redhead,” he said with a lascivious grin. He grabbed her hand and raised it to his chest. “Now do the front. Rat-a-tat-tat. I kinda like it.”

  “You’re gross.” She yanked her hand away.

  I signaled for Christopher to grab her arm before she upgraded to punching him. He nodded and gently corralled her outside of the circle.

  Della left Franco’s side to stand beside Jessica. “She’s right, Franco. Sometimes you go too far. Your friend Benji has enough problems without you two picking on him. You think you’re so funny, but your jokes are mean.”

  Franco grabbed her wrist and tugged her back toward him roughly. He growled, “You love it when I’m mean.”

  Della just rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone, ignoring him but remaining at his side.

  Christopher walked Jessica over to me. He said, “Keep her away from Franco, will you?”

  “For his safety, sure.”

  The group divided, and Benji came over to join us.

  With his head hanging, Benji said to Jessica, “I am so very, truly, deeply sorry. I apologize for Franco, but most importantly, I apologize for the Rainforest Delight.”

  “Stuff happens,” she said calmly. “I’m no worse for wear, and neither’s Christopher. He had the other smoothie.”

  Benji looked from Jessica to Christopher and back again. His body swayed unsteadily. He looked as if he might faint, or fall to his knees before them to beg forgiveness.

  “We’re both okay,” Christopher said. “No need for any more problems. We’re all up here as friends of Butch and Marie. I don’t speak for Jessica, but, personally, I can get over a few hallucinations. When I was growing up, my parents didn’t let me off the leash that much, so it was actually an interesting experience.”

  Jessica chimed in, “I’m over it as well. You seem like a nice enough guy, so I’m sure you didn’t do it on purpose.”

  Benji choked out, “I didn’t. I swear.”

  Franco called out from the other half of the divided group, “What’s next? A sloppy group hug? Benji seems nice to you, so he’s off the hook? No drama? No hair-pulling?”

  Della reached up and tugged on Franco’s dark hair, where it fell over his eye like a wild horse’s forelock. “I’ll pull your hair, baby.”

  He growled, “Is that so?”

  “Sure, baby. But first you have to stop being a jerk to the other guests.”

  “Or what?”

  She made a spanking gesture.

  Dion said to Franco, “Would you mind toning it down with my baby sister when you’re right in front of me?”

  Franco stuck out his chest. “Get used to it.”

  Dion glared at his business partner. “No need. It’s not going to last.”

  “If you think that, then you don’t know your sister.”

  “I know her better than you do. And I care about what’s best for her.”

  Just then, Butch returned to the dining room to announce that dinner would be served as soon as we sat down. Between the news about Biggs Foods and all the bickering, I’d almost forgotten we were there to eat.

  Christopher caught my eye. “Are you and I okay?”

  “Of course we are. I’m sorry if I overreacted in the cave.”

  “Good,” he said. “The three of us need to form a strong alliance if we’re going to make it through this dinner, let alone the whole three days.”

  “Agreed,” Jessica said.

  “Agreed,” I said, and we shook on it.

  Butch clapped his hands and called out like a circus barker, “Places, everyone. Mind the place cards my wife has set out. Please take your assigned seat, and keep your arms and legs inside the ride until it comes to a complete stop.”

  The central round table had been set with a gleaming white cloth and sparkling place settings. Overhead was a smaller version of the candy-colored glass chandelier we’d seen in the lobby.

  We took our seats, adhering to the handwritten place cards. With five men and four women, the seating was mostly boy-girl-boy-girl, with me between two men, Franco and Benji.

  Marie circled the round table, setting out individual plates of green salad decorated with citrus chunks, toasted almonds, and pomegranate jewels.

  We began eating, and I angled my body away from Franco so I could talk to Benji. He seemed skittish, so if I wanted to get to the truth about the Rainforest Delight, I would need to bide my time and build up a rapport.

  “So far, so good,” I said. “The salad, anyway. I’ve always loved pomegranates.”

  Benji replied, “I guess this is the part of dinner where I ask you what you do for a living and pretend to be interested.”

  “We don’t have to talk about our careers.”

  “No, I think we should. I may be strange and geeky, but I can roleplay being a normal businessman, visiting a mountainside resort. That is what Marie wants.” He gave me a quick robotic smile before returning his attention to separating his salad into its different components—citrus in one pile, pomegranate seeds in another. In a sing-song voice, he said, “Tell me, what do you do for a living?”

  “I run a gift shop, Glorious Gifts. The place has been around for years and years. I bought it from a woman who’s on a world cruise right about now.”

  He replied, “What a fascinating coincidence. I don’t regret this conversation after all.”

  I waited, unsure whether he was sarcastically mocking me, or genuinely interested.

  He continued, “In my teen years, I had a part-time job working at Glorious Gifts. The pay was twelve percent better than working for my aunt and uncle at the B-Mart Stop and Shop, plus I enjoyed the diverse retail activities.” He finished sorting the salad and glanced up at me, his eyes trained on my mouth. “Tell me something. Did the store ever sell the last of those tiki heads with the red eyes, or are they still lurking in the stock room?”

  “You know about the tiki heads?” I laughed, happy to be finding things in common. “Benji, give me your address and I’ll gladly put them in a box and ship them to you.”

  He shied away from me. “Certainly not.” He turned his shoulder, signaling our conversation was over, and went back to sorting his salad.

  I looked across the table, at Christopher and Jessica, who were both happily chatting with Della about her singing career.

  For the next few minutes, I focused on eating my salad. The pomegranate seeds were tricky, and I had to chase them around the plate with my fork.

  Marie came around to clear the salad plates. Butch was right behind her, dropping off plates with man-sized T-bone steaks, accompanied by double-baked stuffed potatoes.

  The men let out a chorus of appreciative sounds. Even Jessica, who kept to a vegetarian diet except for occasional indulgences, made cavewoman grunts over the seared beef.

  “You can thank Cousin Butch for the T-bones,” Butch said.

  In unison, Jessica and I said, “Thank you, Cousin Butch.”

  He beamed proudly. “This lodge is going to be a success. I can feel the love in the air. Now, dig in, everyone.”

  Marie warned the group, “But not too fast. We’re a long way from any medical help, and we don’t want anyone choking.”

  Jessica said, “Don’t worry, Marie. With the way my brothers used to wolf down their food, I was doing the Heimlich maneuver once a week.”

  My T-bone steak was delicious to the last morsel. I’d worried it was too much dinner for me, but a good portion was bone, plus I snuck a few bits into my purse for my cat.

  After Butch and Marie had cleared the dinner plates and left for the kitchen, Franco leaned back in his chair and reached around me to poke Benji on the shoulder.

  “I know your secret,” Franco said.

  At the mention of a secret, my ears couldn’t help but tune in.

  “It’s not a secret anymore,” Benji said. “The whole Biggs Foods empire went from a valuation of five million to zero, ov
ernight. I’m broke. If you want to kick me while I’m down, get in line.”

  Franco said, “Not about that, genius. I know about the fender bender with your Plymouth, and why you swore me to secrecy. I just put it all together.”

  His voice cold and hard, Benji said, “Stay out of that matter. Trust me.”

  “You’re bluffing, and you were never a good bluffer. That’s why we loved playing poker with you.”

  “Let this one go,” Benji said. “Can’t we make one last memory with the gang all together without you ruining it?”

  “One last memory? What do you mean? Is someone dying? Are you dying?”

  “I’m not exactly living,” Benji replied.

  The sadness in his voice alarmed me, so I turned to him, concerned. He hunkered down over his perfect cubes of carved beef, avoiding my eyes.

  After our dessert of miniature no-crust cheesecakes with three different fruit toppings, we enjoyed specialty hot drinks with our favorite liqueurs. Jessica and I both chose the deceptively-named blueberry tea, with amaretto, orange liqueur, and not a blueberry in sight.

  The conversation had faded into silence when Jessica proudly announced, “Stormy is working toward getting her private investigator’s license.”

  Christopher said, “Tell us more about that. I’m curious to hear what led you to this new career path. It can’t possibly be the compensation, so what is it?”

  The others leaned in, equally curious, except for Franco, who said, “Bah! Who needs a detective these days? All you need is an internet connection.”

  I gave him a sweet smile. “Care for a demonstration?”

  “For free? Sure. Hit me with your best shot.” He crossed his arms.

  “You didn’t have wine, and Marie brought you beer in the bottle, so you could read the label. Most commercial beers contain trace amounts of gluten, but that particular brand is popular with people who have celiac disease, because it’s made without wheat. You have a serious gluten allergy, and trust issues when it comes to your food. Your friend Marie knows that about you, and she also cared enough to prepare this entire meal without gluten—except for the bread rolls, which you haven’t touched.”

  Franco started clapping a sarcastic, slow clap.

  “Too easy,” he said. “And who cares about someone’s food allergies? Show me something useful. A genuine secret.”

  “A genuine secret? You would have to check your friend Benji’s inner suit pocket, on the left. The room’s gotten quite warm, and he’s the only man who hasn’t removed his jacket. Plus he keeps touching that area of his suit. See? He’s doing it right now.”

  All eyes turned to Benji, who jumped up so fast, he toppled his chair over.

  “Not cool,” he said to me, scowling. “Extremely not cool.”

  Franco stood. “What’s in your pocket, Benji? Are you going to show us, or do I have to make you?”

  “Mind your own business.”

  “Show us what you’ve got,” Franco said. “We’re all friends here. How bad could it be?”

  While the two of them squared off, I gave Jessica a wide-eyed, innocent look. I hadn’t been sure of either of those things until I’d said them, and I honestly hadn’t expected Benji to be hiding anything other than his cell phone.

  Christopher caught my eye. In a judgmental tone that echoed his mother’s voice, he said, “Stormy-Lou, you never could back down. This is how you’re always getting yourself in trouble.”

  I answered him by quoting Shakespeare. “Thou poisonous, bunch-back’d toad.”

  He had no response for that.

  Behind me, Benji let out an exasperated sigh.

  “Fine,” he said. “Everyone wants to see what’s in my pocket? Here you go. Take a good look.”

  He pulled a zipper-sealed plastic bag, sandwich-sized, from his jacket pocket and dropped it in the center of the table. The bag contained about a quarter of a cup’s worth of fine, white powder.

  Chapter 13

  Dion lunged forward and grabbed the bag from the center of the table. His effort caused a button to pop off the chest of his too-tight purple shirt.

  Grinning, he said, “Benji, you sly dog. Cocaine? The Peruvian Marching Powder has been the downfall of many. Since when did you take up the booger sugar?”

  As everyone else looked around in confusion, Dion opened the seal on the bag, licked his finger, and stuck it into the white powder.

  Benji let out a startled cry and ran around the table. He grabbed Dion by the wrist before he could lick all the dust from his finger, then plunged Dion’s hand into a nearby pitcher of ice water. Dion howled and yanked his hand free, their movements knocking over the pitcher.

  Dion lunged for the plastic bag again, and Benji tackled him bodily. The two wrestled, rolling around on the gleaming new hardwood until Butch and Christopher separated them.

  Franco didn’t bother getting up from his chair until the end of the scuffle, to take a photo.

  Meanwhile, Marie had seized the plastic bag, using two cloth napkins as gloves. She re-sealed the bag, then held it gingerly.

  She scolded Benji. “How dare you bring a bag of coke to my beautiful resort?”

  “That’s not coke,” he said.

  “Then what is it? And why did you jump all over Dion for trying to taste it?”

  “Because he could have died.” Benji pulled himself away from Christopher’s hold on him.

  “That’s the contaminant,” I said.

  Everyone turned to face me. I almost laughed at the trusting looks on their faces. Suddenly, I was the expert on whatever Benji had in his pockets, all because of a few keen observations I’d made earlier.

  Since I had the stage, so to speak, I stood and continued, “That’s the same substance that poisoned a batch of Rainforest Delight. Marie, you hang onto that bag. Make sure it’s sealed and don’t inhale any of the dust. Benji, we’ll give it back to you, but first you need to answer a few questions. First of all, why did you bring the powder here?”

  “For safekeeping.”

  I nodded. “Fair enough. Second question: How did the powder get into the Rainforest Delight?”

  Benji circled around the table and took his seat again, next to me. “By accident,” he said. “One of the workers at the plant spilled a bag of vitamin mix and decided to replace it with one of the bags in my office, rather than get in trouble with the shift supervisor.” He put his face in his hands. “I was so stupid, leaving my office unlocked.”

  I glanced around at the others, who looked stunned and curious, as well as more than happy to let me continue the questioning.

  “Third question: What is it?”

  Benji crossed his arms. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “Try me.”

  He held out his hand and gestured for Marie to return the bag. She looked to me for guidance.

  Benji said, “I’ll answer your third question, but that’s all, and only if you give it back to me for safekeeping.”

  Christopher jumped in. “Speaking of safekeeping, we could call the police and get them up here.”

  “No,” Marie said. “Benji’s too soft for prison. I’ll dump this whole bag down the sink if anyone so much as dials the number nine.”

  Butch walked over to stand next to his wife. “We don’t want any controversy associated with the resort. Do you have any idea what a scandal would do to our opening?”

  Christopher made a face. He looked as if he had a lot to say and was fighting to keep it down.

  Marie leaned across the table and placed the bag in Benji’s hand. “Answer the third question,” she said softly. “What’s the white powder?”

  Benji tucked the bag into his pocket, licked his lips, and said, “Toadanhydrotetrodotoxin.”

  Jessica stared across the table at him with her blue eyes wide open. “Toad-and-hydro-tet-tet-what now?”

  “Toadanhydrotetrodotoxin,” Benji said. “I’ve been calling it TDX for short.”

  Dion said,
“I know that drug. It’s used for a variety of treatments, from psychotropic therapy to painless euthanasia. It’s extracted from the venom of animals… who live on the planet Toadonx.”

  Everyone looked around the table and began talking at once.

  Planet Toadonx?

  “You geek,” Dion said, laughing. He picked up the button that had popped off his purple shirt and tucked it into a pocket.

  Jessica said, “I don’t understand what’s happening.”

  Dion explained, “We all loved reading this one sci-fi series, Tales from Planet Toadonx. I remember reading the paperbacks in the treehouse.” He laughed some more. “Good one, Benji. You totally got me. If that had been actual TDX, and you’d let me eat it, I’d be in big trouble right now.”

  Franco said, “You would try to steal someone’s spaceship and get yourself shot with a phase pistol.”

  Marie said, “Was that the one with the big worms, in the sand?”

  Dion said, “You’re thinking of Dune, which was more focused on politics and betrayal, and not nearly enough space battles and explosions.”

  I returned to my seat and turned to Benji. “Why are you messing with us? This isn’t funny.”

  “Actually, this is quite funny,” Benji said as he patted his pocket. “It’s just icing sugar. I was hoping to trick Dion into snorting a line of it later, but this was so much better.”

  “You’re a bigger jerk than Franco,” I said.

  He pretended to be hurt.

  Once everyone had settled down from Benji’s prank with the bag of icing sugar, Marie invited us to the lodge’s recreation room. We were slow to rise from our chairs, full from our meal, but she promised us hand-made chocolates, so that got us moving.

  Compared to the dining room, with its high ceiling and huge windows, the recreation room was a cave, with its low ceiling and dark, windowless walls. Even the smell was different—musty and ancient.

  “We’re in the original hunting lodge,” Marie said. “This room’s next on the renovation list.”