Last Chance for Murder (Lisa Chance Cozy Mysteries Book 1)

by Estelle Richards

  Inside the house, Lisa took another run at the guacamole. Carly made the good kind, with fresh avocados and spicy salsa with New Mexico green chile. She was enjoying the contrast of creamy and spicy on crunchy and salty, when she saw Olivia approach Penny and try to hug her. Penny’s normally stiff and formal demeanor ratcheted all the way up to ramrod straight and meeting the Queen of England as her sister’s flowing sleeves fluttered around her.

  Lisa put her plate down and went over to try to separate the two before Penny’s composure cracked and she did something embarrassing like take a swing at her sister.

  “We’re still family, after all,” Olivia said in a pleading tone.

  “A blood relationship obviously means less to you than it does to me,” Penny said. “Otherwise you would never have interfered in my marriage.”

  “Your marriage was already over,” Olivia objected.

  “We were separated, which is not the same thing as over.” Penny yanked herself out of Olivia’s grasp.

  “That’s not what Lou said.”

  “Whatever he may or may not have said, you are supposed to be my sister.”

  “Mom? Maybe we should go out and get some air,” Lisa said, putting a gentle hand on her mother’s arm.

  Penny whirled to face her, hurt and anger showing on her face. “Air? I don’t need air. I need someone with a shred of loyalty to me.”

  “Mom, please—”

  “You started a business with her.”

  “I didn’t find out about,” Lisa cringed and waved a hand at her aunt, “all that until today. This afternoon.”

  “Then you’re in the process of severing that business relationship now that you know?”

  “Mom, it’s complicated.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Penny’s eyes searched around the room, then returned to Lisa. “Please give my regards to the host and hostess. Goodnight.”

  She turned on her heel and marched toward the door. Lisa started to follow after her, but Brett materialized at Penny’s side and shook his head at Lisa. He gave Penny his arm, and she leaned on him as they went out the front door.

  For a second, Lisa wondered if Brett actually wanted to take Penny to dinner, not her.

  *

  Carly came up next to her and nudged her side. “You appear to have left a plate with perfectly good guacamole all alone in the kitchen. Unless you remedy this post haste, I may have to call party foul.”

  Lisa looped her arm through her friend’s. “We can’t have that. Lead the way.”

  Her phone chimed with a message alert.

  “Let me just check that.” She looked. “Hey, it’s Toby. Wait, why isn’t he here? Didn’t you invite Toby to my surprise party?”

  Carly looked mock-offended. “Of course I did. He said he had to work until,” she looked at her watch, “about now.”

  “He says he’s out front and I should come outside to see him. Carly, did you have something to do with this? Is this another surprise?”

  Carly held up her hands. “Nope, not me.”

  “Oh, guess I’ll go see what’s up. Can you keep that guac company for me?”

  Out front, Toby’s cruiser was parked behind Lisa’s car at the curb. The moon, nearing its darkest phase, left the yard dim, almost untouched by the orange glow of the street light across the street. The interior light in the cruiser was on, and she could see Toby sitting inside, looking down into his lap. Lisa strode through the shadows and knocked on the glass.

  Inside the car, Toby startled for a second, then rolled down the window.

  “Don’t you know how dangerous that is? Cops carry guns, cuz.”

  “Toby, you texted me to come out here and meet you. What are you doing in there?”

  “Paperwork, always more paperwork.”

  “You missed most of the party,” she said, watching as a few people exited through the front door and straggled down the block to retrieve their vehicles. “It was a doozy. My debut as a star of stage and film. Or of TV commercials for embarrassing medications.”

  “Mm-hm.”

  “Ok, what’s going on?”

  Toby grimaced. “Want to get in the car? You might want to be sitting down.”

  “Do I have to get in the back?”

  “No, just sit right here.” He moved an empty food container off and patted the front passenger seat.

  “Ok.” She got in and turned to face him. “Now, please. What is up?”

  “That tip you called in before turned something up.”

  “Tip?”

  “About the car. Jim Johnson’s rental?”

  “Oh, yeah. You found him? And my money?”

  “We found the car. And we found him.”

  She deflated a little. “No money, though. Of course not.”

  “It’s worse than that.”

  “The lawyer lawyered up and won’t talk?”

  “He’s dead.”

  The blood drained from her face and she felt woozy. “Dead?” she whispered.

  “He was just outside Kingman. Went off the road on one of the downslopes.”

  “That’s a dangerous road,” she said, remembering times she’d felt less than safe on the same stretch.

  “It was outside the county, so we didn’t hear of it until we sent out the alert. Once they got the alert, they looked again. His brake line was cut.”

  “Cut? Wait, that means…”

  “It was no accident. Someone wanted him to crash.”

  She leaned her head on the dashboard and took some deep breaths. Things like murder weren’t supposed to happen in a place like Moss Creek.

  “That poor man.”

  “Cuz, I’m worried about you. Why did you want me to look for this guy?”

  “He was my last suspect.”

  “Your suspect? Have you been trying to investigate this case, even after you got me yanked off it?”

  “What else was I supposed to do? A man was dead, my money was gone, and the chief of police suspected me of the murder!”

  “You’re still not a cop, Lisa.”

  “I’m not a killer, either!”

  Toby sighed heavily. “I know that. And I’m not going to let you go down for this. I promise. But you can’t keep doing this amateur investigation. Johnson’s car shows that there’s still a killer out there. Who knows how far he’ll go?”

  Chapter 26

  Lisa came out to her car in the morning and spent several minutes staring at it, looking for any sign that someone had been there, done anything to it. Finally, the need to get moving on her morning coffee deliveries forced her to take a deep breath and trust that the vehicle was as it appeared.

  The idea of the brakes failing was extra frightening to a girl who’d grown up in the mountains. She’d known plenty of people who’d been in serious accidents in icy conditions, where braking did nothing to stop the car from sliding.

  After heading to the gallery to load up, she made her first stop the veterinary office. If the mama cat was ready to be released early, she wanted to know as soon as possible. Would the kittens remember their mother after being separated since the accident?

  She pulled into the space in front of the veterinary and went in with the coffee and muffins in hand.

  “Hello? Dr. Morris?”

  The swinging door to the back opened, and Shelby came out to the lobby.

  “Good morning.”

  “Oh, hi, Shelby. Is Dr. Morris in?”

  “No, but I can take his coffee into his office for him.”

  “Thanks. Um, he left me a voicemail last night. Is the mama cat ready to come home?”

  Shelby cocked her head. “I’ll have to check the record, but no, I don’t think so.”

  Lisa made an exasperated sound. “I wish he would just leave the information in the message like a normal person. Especially when it’s not a matter of hiding the goodness or badness of an outcome.”

  Shelby smiled. “Maybe he wanted to ask you out.”

  Lisa blus
hed. “What? Me? I didn’t even think he saw me that way.”

  “Then you haven’t looked in a mirror lately.” Shelby laughed. “Would you like to leave him a note? You can model the kind of message you think he should leave.”

  Lisa nodded and took the pen and paper Shelby offered. She stood for a moment, trying to think what to say.

  She wrote, “Hi, Dr. Morris. I got your voicemail and stopped by the office. Shelby says it’s not about Mama Cat’s treatment. I’m on pins and needles to know what you wanted to say. Please call me and leave a detailed message. Yours, Lisa Chance.”

  She showed the message to Shelby, who nodded.

  “Let’s hope he gets it,” Shelby said.

  *

  Her next stop was the real estate office. Penny had been so angry the night before, but Lisa hoped she had cooled down a bit. If things were wrong between them, it was going to get very uncomfortable living at her mother’s house.

  She went in with a conciliatory vanilla latte. Nodding at Tess, she walked right into her mother’s office.

  Penny was sitting at her desk. Her mouth thinned to a straight line as she looked at her daughter. Lisa put the drink on the desk.

  “Mom, we should talk.”

  “I don’t know if that’s true. I suppose it depends on what you’re going to say.”

  Lisa’s temper flared. “I’m not here to say I was wrong to go into business with my aunt when everyone knew what was going on except me. If you wanted me to know, you could have told me yourself.”

  Penny laughed. “Isn’t that one of the big no-nos of divorce? Turning your child against the other parent?”

  “I don’t think that’s the rule when the so-called child is a fully grown adult.”

  “Pardon me. I guess I don’t have much practice at this.”

  “Mom, I don’t, either!” Lisa shoved the drink across the table. “Would you at least drink this? Coffee is a good thing even in a world that’s coming down around you.”

  Penny let a little smile peek out. “I guess you really are my child.”

  Lisa let her mother take a sip before speaking again. “I’m not in a position to quit being in business with her.”

  Penny frowned and said nothing.

  “You know I put all my money into the down payment for the Folly. She’s the one who put up the money for the equipment and supplies.”

  “After she’s taken money from me for years. I guess I should be glad she has something to show for it.”

  “Mom.”

  The door flew open behind her and Jake Peterman marched into Penny’s office. He pointed a finger in Lisa’s face.

  “You! I have been looking for you, and I’m going to give you a piece of my mind.”

  Lisa tried to stand up, but Peterman moved into the space, keeping her in her chair.

  “You have some nerve, going around town insinuating that I had anything to do with a murder. I am an upstanding citizen. A pillar of the community,” he yelled.

  “I never said that you murdered—”

  “I am not about to stand idle while my name is dragged through the mud by the likes of you!”

  Penny stood up. “Now you hold on one minute, Jake Peterman! I will not have you barging into my office and insulting my daughter.”

  Peterman opened his mouth to retort, and Penny threw a memo pad at him.

  “Out! Out! Out! You’re not welcome in this office!”

  Lisa stared, wide-eyed, as her mother chased the big man out of the office and through the lobby. The bell on the door jingled as he hustled out onto the sidewalk.

  Penny came back into the office and sat heavily in her chair. She reached for the coffee cup, and Lisa saw that her hand had a slight tremor.

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  Penny looked her right in the eye. “Family is family. No one gets to come into my business and talk to you that way, no matter who he is.”

  Lisa felt a surge of guilt at her mother’s display of loyalty when she herself hadn’t been as loyal to Penny. She felt even guiltier as she remembered Peterman’s business.

  “Isn’t he an important client?” she said.

  Penny turned away. “If you think a client matters more than my daughter, then I don’t know what to tell you.”

  “Mom, please. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I just didn’t want to hurt you any more than I have by being such a screw-up.”

  “You’re not a screw-up. Don’t ever say that. You could probably do more with your wardrobe, and I still think you’d be better off working here than starting some coffee thing, but you are not a screw-up.”

  Lisa put her head in her hand. “Do you want me to figure out a way to do the business without Aunt Olivia? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “I’m not saying anything.”

  “Mom, I’ll probably go under if I have to buy the equipment and supplies back from her right now. So if you want me to do something, I need you to at least say so out loud and in so many words.”

  “You think this is easy for me? You think I can just start talking about this kind of thing? Do you know how embarrassed I am? Or how alone?”

  “Plenty of people are alone, Mom. It doesn’t make you a martyr.”

  “How many people have their husband leave them for their sister?”

  “Ok, that part is a little unusual, but—”

  “But maybe she did me a favor by taking him from me. Maybe it’s better to go to every function by myself than have a partner who’s always obviously wishing he was somewhere else, anywhere else but with me. Maybe I should be grateful to go to every party, every networking event, every business function, every social function alone. So here’s to Olivia.” Penny slammed back the rest of the coffee and threw the cup down.

  “Mom,” Lisa started, not knowing what to say, always feeling like she said the wrong thing to her mother.

  “You should go. Do what you like.”

  Chapter 27

  Getting ready for her date, Lisa tried on outfit after outfit. A suit, a dress, a pair of jeans and a sweater, a different dress. What was the right thing to wear on a date set up by her mother? She settled on a skirt and blouse combo that went well with a particularly cute pair of heels.

  Dr. Morris hadn’t called back yet. Lisa felt a pang of disappointment. She wanted to tell him about the kittens’ progress and their latest antics. They were starting to show individual personalities rather than being identical lumps of furry cuteness. Larry was the climber, always looking for a way to go up and over any obstacle. Curly was the snuggler, wiggling into her lap at every opportunity. Moe was the talker, paying attention to everything going on around him and giving little mews of commentary on it.

  She thought of the vet’s smile, his warm brown eyes. But he didn’t seem like he was interested in her. Why else would he not show up to her party, not call her back today?

  Anyway, maybe her mother was right. Maybe someone like Brett was a better choice for her. She had to admit that Brett was also a handsome man, even if he seemed a little too slick for a small town. Then again, an uncharitable observer might say the same about her mother’s perfectly put together at all times look. And Brett was driven in his professional life. She frowned, thinking of how his eagerness to make the sale happen had helped her get conned by Roland. It wasn’t Brett’s fault, not exactly. But she didn’t think Penny would have let something like that happen. She would have made sure to cross every T and dot every I. Then again, maybe Lisa should have been looking into the details herself, especially given that she was handing over every cent she had.

  Brett rang the doorbell at 7:30 on the dot. When Lisa opened the door, he smiled and took in her outfit.

  “You look great.”

  “Thanks,” she said, thinking suddenly of how much this outfit made her look like her mother. “So, Nero’s?”

  “Let’s go.”

  Nero’s was lit up with twinkling lights and candles at every table. It was one of the last ni
ghts of the season when it would be warm enough to sit outside, and the outdoor tables were packed with people determined to enjoy it. Lisa could hear violin music coming from inside as they approached the door.

  The hostess whisked them to a table in between a young couple making goo-goo eyes at each other over breadsticks and an elderly couple holding hands over a shared dessert.

  Lisa laughed nervously. “I guess Nero’s is the premier spot for romance in Moss Creek tonight,” she said, nodding at the two lovey-dovey couples.

  Brett smiled his shiny white smile. “Are you in the mood for premier romance?”

  “I think I’m in the mood for Nero’s spaghettini with lemon. I’ve been craving it since I got back.”

  He laughed and nodded. “It is good, their spaghettini with lemon. A client favorite, actually.”

  “That’s right. You come here a lot, don’t you? I saw some reimbursement forms lying on Tess’s desk and it really seems like—”

  “What were you doing looking at those? Reimbursement forms are confidential documents.”

  “Um, just looking for a phone number?” Lisa was surprised by how angry Brett looked. “Tess is a nice girl, but her receptionist skills are a little lacking.”

  “You need to respect people’s privacy. What else did you snoop through in the office?”

  “What? Why are you being weird?”

  “There are a lot of confidential documents in there, and letting just anyone look through them could put Penny’s real estate brokerage license at risk.”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t think about that,” Lisa said. “The last thing I’d ever want is to mess up Mom’s business. Especially now.”