Boxed Set: Darling Valley Cozy Mystery Series featuring amateur female sleuth Olivia M. Granville

by Cassie Page

  Olivia’s expression was non-committal. “Yes, it would have been nice if I’d had a heads up.”

  Matt looked at her intently. She was still standing at the island while he sat abject in the chair. She felt herself moved by the sad lines of regret around his mouth.

  “I don’t know what to say, Olivia. How to say how sorry I am.”

  What to say, what to do to bridge this gap between them? Olivia didn’t know. “I wouldn’t have done that to you, you know. Let an outside party cut us off like that.”

  Matt studied his hands, picked at a fingernail as if the right answer might be hidden there.

  The doorbell rang again. “That must be Pete,” she said. “We’ve ordered dinner from Victor’s. Will you stay?” she asked, instantly regretting the invitation. How awkward it would be for Tuesday who was angry with him for neglecting Olivia.

  But she couldn’t snatch the words back, and added, “I’m sure Tuesday and Cody are freezing in the garage by now. They’ve given us enough privacy. I’ll text Cody that the coast is clear.”

  Matt said, “Does that mean we’re okay?”

  “I don’t know what it means,” she said, sending the text before looking up. “What is your status? Are you still off the case? Is the department insisting you stay away from me?”

  “No, it’s not, though I’m still off the case. That was my lawyer’s idea, to put distance between us. I only hired him because the texts and pictures implicated me. But even if the department said to stay away, I wouldn’t care. You are the only one who can make me stay away. You’re more important to me than the job. It’s all up to you. I know I’ve hurt you and I’m asking you to forgive me.”

  Before she could answer, the doorbell buzzed. She texted Cody again to come up with Pete.

  To break the awkward silence while they waited, Olivia asked, “By the way, what’s up with Taz? I’ve wanted to contact her to have a girls’ lunch while Tuesday’s here, but I don’t know if she’d want to hear from me right now.”

  Matt let out a long breath. “My sister. Who knows? She always has a lot of irons in the fire. It’s hard to pin her down. But now that she has this new guy on her radar, good luck trying to get her attention. I think they have a getaway planned to some resort in South America. Buzios it’s called. They live on different coasts or something and are going to meet in a neutral corner.”

  “Lucky Taz,” Olivia said mournfully.

  With shards of pizza crust on the platter, Pete was unaware of the tension among his friends. He was telling a silly joke before he went back to work about two rabbits that walked into a bar. Olivia sat quietly and recalled her recent and distant past with the people at the table.

  In the early days when Olivia was feeling lost in her new town so far from her tight circle in LA, Pete, the cheerful freckle-faced adolescent delivered an easy good nature with her orders from Victor’s. Since then, he had become one of the family. He applied for the weekend home delivery slot as soon as he got his driver’s license. Tonight, with high school graduation behind him, he’d announced that he wanted to go to culinary school and open his own restaurant some day.

  Amid their applause his phone buzzed. He checked the text and said, “Another delivery on deck. Got to hustle.”

  He pulled down his Victor’s ball cap. Matt said, “If Victor gives you any grief because you stayed for a slice of pizza with us, tell him I’ll get the health inspectors over there in the morning.”

  Pete grinned. “Oh, I’ll tell him, Detective. Thanks. And thanks for the pizza, Olivia. And don’t forget to tell me when you’re moving out Cody, because I’m moving in. I have more fun here than at my parents’ house.”

  Olivia walked him downstairs and ended up paying the bill herself, penance she decided for locking Cody out in the chilly night while she settled things with Matt. She cocked her ear to see if Mrs. Harmon was in, a habit now. She wasn’t nosy; she just wanted to be sure her aging tenant was okay. She heard sounds out by the recycling cans. Mrs. Harmon didn’t like clutter and was disposing of her trash.

  Back upstairs Olivia wasn’t fussy about tidying up. She was more interested in sitting down and picking Matt’s brain, something she couldn’t do in front of Pete. Did he have any news for them? Any ideas about what had happened to Jocelyn?

  Matt chewed on his lip, ruminating. “You all know more than I do. They have really kept the firewall up at work. I only know what I hear on the news.”

  Cody said, “So you don’t read that dumb ass, excuse me Olivia, that jerk’s blog?”

  “Nah. Not so far. I’m usually not interested in that kind of thing, but now that you tell me he was at the Payne house, I’m going to have to check him out. As a private citizen of course. After all, he found out about Jocelyn almost as soon as we did. Like before I’d had a chance to call it in. If he didn’t get it from a police scanner, how did that happen? What was he doing at the house today? Why is he hanging around the edges of this case, that’s what I want to know?”

  Tuesday asked the hot button question. “What do you make of Brooks Baker cozying up to JR Payne?”

  Matt finished his drink, a diet soda. “I don’t know. Smells fishy to me, but I can’t access any of the case files at work, so I don’t have any inside information. Olivia, you know him better than I do, what’s your take on Baker? Why would he kneecap you like that?”

  Olivia remained quiet, thinking how to answer. “Don’t ask me. I’ve seen him do a lot of sleazy things, but they always involved other women or embarrassing me just to get himself in front of the nearest camera. As far as business is concerned, I’d trust him with my life. Like, if there was a job here in Darling Valley that I had my eye on first, and he knew about it, he’d steer clear.”

  When she heard herself say the words she once believed, Olivia immediately knew she was fooling herself.

  And then Matt chimed in. “But I thought you said he was trying to muscle in on the Fredericks’s big remodel?”

  And it was true. Lately, she lived in fear that Marguerite Fredericks would award the remodeling job to Brooks. After all, Brooks Baker was almost a household name. A playboy as well as a gifted and influential architect, he appeared on both the red carpet and international design conference podiums. Yet, knowing Olivia was in the running for the job, why didn’t he step away? She had gotten there first and he knew it. Plus, she was trying to make her name as the head of a boutique firm. He had Hall of Fame status in the design world. Why not give a friend a break? Marguerite had been her client. She should have been hands off, except to the greedy.

  Olivia shrugged, “No honor among thieves, I guess,” grinning away the pain in her gut that her history with Brooks kept alive.

  Once again, the back doorbell rang.

  Cody jumped up. “I’ll get it.” He shivered slightly. “That’s my buddy. We’re going to hang out with the guys for a while. Are we good here, OMG, or do you want me to help clean up?”

  “Of course not,” Olivia said, mothering him. The evening had mellowed her. She had more thinking to do about Matt, but she was beginning to see that he was caught in this mess as much as she was. “Go. Have fun, Cody.”

  “Thanks, I’ll just grab a sweatshirt and see you all later.” He waved goodbye over his shoulder and disappeared down the stairs.

  Olivia filled Matt in on her suspicions about Jocelyn’s boyfriends and their possible motives for killing her. He frowned as she gave her side of the story about how she and Tuesday found themselves in the Payne’s garden and overheard JR’s admission that his father had murdered Jocelyn.

  Matt threw a scowl at Olivia, then at Tuesday. “No, no, no. Olivia, you and Tuesday shouldn’t be tracking down these clowns. If you suspect anyone of being mixed up in Jocelyn Payne’s murder, steer clear. What’s to stop them from coming after you two if they think you are on to something? Call Johnson if you have a lead.”

  Olivia began stacking the dishes. “But what was I supposed to do? Everybody in town is thin
king I’m a murderer. I need to find the real culprit fast. I won’t exactly say Johnson is dragging his feet, but why wouldn’t he at least check out my claim about JR? He completely ignored me. And after what Brooks said on TV, I’m waiting for Johnson to come calling any minute and haul me off to jail.”

  Matt said wryly, “He tried that this afternoon, but it didn’t work.”

  They could hear Cody chatting with the visitor at the bottom of the stairs. Olivia strained her ears, thinking she recognized the voice. She knew several of Cody’s friends by now. Since he’d been bunking on her floor, she would occasionally walk in on the guys sharing a sandwich and a beer in the kitchen. They always invited her to join them, and often she did. Listening to their jokes and adventures had become her favorite way of unwinding at the end of the day. Though she saw Cody almost every working day, having him as a temporary roommate was more fun that she expected.

  “I think I know who that is,” she said. “Cody’s friend. He’s hilarious. I keep telling him he should do standup. Cody,” she called out, “why don’t you bring Jason upstairs to meet Tuesday? Matt, you met him at the movies last week. Cody and Jason sat in front of us.”

  Olivia got up to grab a beer for Jason. She set it on the table, then turned to the sound of footsteps on the landing. Her face darkened and her voice became a low growl.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Tuesday added, “You’ve got some nerve showing up here, Brooks. That’s all I have to say.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: You Should Have Seen The Other Guy

  “Sweetheart, I’m so glad to see you. I’ve needed to talk to you all day. Did you get my flowers?”

  Ignoring Tuesday, Brooks walked straight toward Olivia with his arms wide open, missing Matt sitting at the table off to the side by the window.

  Olivia backed up against the island, but Brooks kept coming, cooing, “Olivia, Olivia.”

  She glanced over his shoulder at Matt, who quickly sprang to his feet, his chair scraping along the floor as it fell backwards. “What are you doing here, Baker?”

  Brooks spun around startled, not recognizing Matt. But he saw the pizza scraps from dinner with the empty glasses and put two and two together. He squared his shoulders and stuck out his hand with no attempt at a smile. “I don’t believe we’ve met. Brooks Baker.”

  Matt just stood there, hands on his hips, eying Brooks coldly. “Oh, I know who you are. You’re the guy who slandered Olivia today on TV.”

  Brooks turned to Olivia. “Well, that’s why I’m here. To explain about that.” He turned to Cody, behind him. “I was telling Cody here that it was a huge misunderstanding.”

  Cody was on the top step, not quite inside the kitchen yet. He leaned against the wall, alert, eyes on Olivia. From his black look, Brooks hadn’t won him over.

  Matt moved in on Brooks, now an arm’s length away, listening to his excuse.

  Brooks gave Matt an oily smile as he explained himself. “Of course, I know how she is, quick to jump to conclusions, so I thought I’d better get over here and calm her down.”

  Matt’s sport coat hung open, his weapon in plain sight. “What do you mean, you know how she is? Just exactly how is she?” His eyes were narrow slits; his voice carried a threat. He moved closer.

  Cody stepped up so that he was just at the top of the stairs, squaring his shoulders, bracing himself, near enough to the two men to hear their breathing.

  Brooks shrugged and answered Matt with false cheer, “Oh, you know, predictably female about these things.” He seemed to forget that Olivia was standing right there. “I mean, we love her to death, but . . . ”

  Without warning, Matt leaned into Brooks’s face and said, “You arrogant . . . ” He swung his arms wide in a gesture of exasperation.

  Before he could finish his sentence the back of his hand connected hard with Cody standing to the side. Cody didn't see it coming. Open-mouthed surprise lit up his face as his arms, frantically windmilling, tried to find something to grab onto. With nothing but air at his fingertips, he fell backwards, somersaulting down the stairs.

  “Matt!” Olivia screamed, running after Cody, “stop!”

  Tuesday, Brooks and Matt stared, not believing what they were seeing as Cody rocketed down feet first, his chin on the stairs sounding like knuckles on a washboard before he came to rest. Tuesday was the first of the trio to move. She ran to the freezer and grabbed one of Cody’s ribeyes and dashed after Olivia, the men now shocked out of their paralysis and rushing to help.

  Someone called, “Is he all right,” but with everyone crowding around Cody in the narrow stairwell, it was hard to tell who spoke.

  Even Mrs. Harmon in her soundproofed apartment heard the ruckus and came running. “What is going on up there?” she called from the bottom of the stairs.

  She caught a glimpse of Cody and snapped, “Get up off there, Cody. Are you drunk?”

  Olivia tried to help Cody roll over, but he was a dead weight. Brooks reached for him, but she pushed him away.

  “What are you mad at me for,” he said. “Your boyfriend here slugged him.”

  Frantic, Matt said, “I didn’t,” pushing Brooks against the wall so he could get to Cody. “It was an accident.”

  He tried to lift Cody to his feet, repeating “Sorry, man. I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” Cody sagged in his arms like a sack of potatoes.

  Cody raised his head like a cobra and looked around. Blood dripped down his chin and already his eye was twice its size. His puffy mouth looked like he’d had lip enhancement surgery. Finally, Olivia helped him straighten out until he was sitting upright with his back against the wall. He tested his teeth to see if any were loose, but none came away in his hand. Tuesday pushed forward and handed Cody the steak. “Put this on your eye.”

  Matt saw a perfect imprint of his school insignia at the top of the young man’s cheek. “Oh, no,” he said. “I caught him with my ring.”

  He had intended to leave his school ring with Xavier for resizing, but all that was forgotten when Jocelyn came sailing out of the second floor.

  Cody had not spoken yet, but did as he was told, pressing the steak to his eye.

  “Yow,” he screamed, throwing it down. “It’s freezing, Tues.”

  Tuesday retrieved it, all the while shooing the men upstairs. “Get away, you two. You’ve done enough damage. Give him some air. Go. You’re in the way.”

  Olivia ran back up to get a towel for the steak, hurried back down making an ice pack of the beef. “It’ll thaw soon enough.”

  Cody protested the attention. “I’m okay, man,” he said to no one in particular. Holding on to the wall, he clawed his way to his feet. Still very wobbly, he turned around, facing upstairs now. Olivia and Tuesday each took an arm and got him into the kitchen and down onto a chair.

  Mrs. Harmon marched up behind them and unceremoniously nudged Olivia out of the way. She took Cody’s face in her hands and inspected his head and facial wounds. “And what were you up to that made you tumble down those stairs? Don’t you watch your feet? Lord knows, they’re big enough.”

  Tuesday handed her the steak again, but Mrs. Harmon pushed it away. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Tuesday, this isn’t the movies. Put some ice in a plastic bag and put this back in the freezer.”

  Tuesday was back in a flash. Mrs. Harmon held the new and improved ice pack to Cody’s face, Olivia’s kitchen towel buffering the cold.

  Olivia insisted. “You don’t have to trouble yourself. I’ll take over.”

  Mrs. Harmon snapped, “Don’t be ridiculous, young woman. Clearly you don’t know what you’re doing. My late husband won an Olympic gold medal in boxing when he was a student. I know how to put him back together.”

  Cody winced and pushed her age-spotted hand away. “You’re hurting me, Mrs. Harmon.”

  His eyes pleaded with Olivia. She tried to rescue him from her tenant who was suddenly Florence Nightingale on steroids. “Really, Mrs. Harmon. We can manage now.”

/>   Mrs. Harmon ignored her, still intent on chastising the patient. “If you’d watch where you’re going Cody, you wouldn’t go falling all over hell and gone.”

  Olivia said, “I’m sure he’ll be more careful in the future, won’t you Cody?”

  She glared at Cody, signaling for him to go along with her and act contrite. She didn’t want to get into a long explanation to Mrs. Harmon about the two men fighting over her.

  “Sorry, Mrs. Harmon,” he said. “It won’t happen again.”

  Mrs. Harmon appraised Brooks, hovering over the patient. Once she recognized him, she snapped, “What are you doing here? I thought she dumped you long ago.”

  Olivia quickly broke up that scene. “Why don’t you go back to your apartment, Mrs. Harmon? I’m going to have Cody lie down for a few minutes. So we should all just give him some peace and quiet.”

  Mrs. Harmon glared at her. “You’ll do no such thing. Don’t you know how to take care of a possible concussion? This boy will end up in the ICU if I leave him in your hands. Stand up, Cody. We’re going to go for a little walk.”

  She hissed at Olivia. “You can’t let him sleep until you know he doesn’t have a concussion. I’ll walk him around a bit and then we need to take him to the ER to get him checked out.”

  Cody threw down the ice pack. “I’m not going to the hospital. I’m fine.”

  “Don’t argue with me, young man.” Mrs. Harmon’s voice, so loud coming from the petite woman, took Olivia by surprise.

  Cody whispered to Olivia, “My mother doesn’t even give me orders like that.”

  Olivia took Mrs. Harmon’s arm and walked her to the stairs. Very determined, she said, “Don’t worry yourself. He looks fine. You know how resilient young folks are. Like rubber balls. He’s already bouncing back.”