Caramels with a Side of Murder
Meredith Potts
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter One
“Your sister will be found,” Miss Terri said.
I had to keep my jaw from hitting the floor. Terri hadn’t just made a bold prediction. She had just made the kind of statement that could change the direction of my life.
Before I could respond to her statement, I needed to get my bearings back. That was easier said than done. Especially since I had so many questions swirling through my head. At the top of the list was how Terri even knew about Jessica. I hadn’t mentioned my sister’s name to Terri. As a matter of fact, as I had sat down for this reading, I had purposefully given Terri very little to work with.
Maybe she truly was psychic. That thought gave me some serious pause, mostly because I had spent my entire life being skeptical of psychics and their so-called abilities.
The only reason I had ever come here in the first place was to support my friend Shannon. She was the one who wanted to see Miss Terri. It was only after Shannon finished getting her reading that she told me she had paid Miss Terri to give me a psychic reading of my own. I was going to decline, but Shannon told me that Miss Terri didn’t offer refunds.
I had entered Miss Terri’s parlor, not expecting much, only to have my mind blown. Now as I sat back in a plushy red chair in front of a wooden table with a New Age tablecloth on top of it, neither the red walls of the parlor, the dark mood lighting, nor even Miss Terri’s long, sparkling, ankle-length red dress distracted me from the issue at hand.
I stared deep into Miss Terri’s blue eyes as she cupped my right hand and looked at my palm.
“What did you just say?” I asked.
“You heard me. Your sister will be found.”
It was no less shocking hearing those words a second time as it had been the first. There was a good reason for that. Ten and a half years ago, my sister had gone out for a jog and had never come back. After months of investigating, the police weren’t able to turn up a single clue to determine what had happened to her. Even now, all these years later, Jessica still hasn’t been found. I still had no idea what happened to her.
My eyebrows arched. “Is Jessica alive?”
Miss Terri shrugged. “I can’t tell you that.”
“You can’t tell me, or you don’t know?”
She exhaled. “It’s murky.”
“What happened to her? How can I find her? Where is she?”
She shook her head. “I don’t have the answers to those questions.”
Desperation came to my voice. “But those are the most important questions.”
“I can only tell you what I see.”
“And you see that she will be found?” I asked.
She nodded.
“But nothing else?” I said.
Miss Terri shook her head. “Not at the moment.”
“Please, look harder. I need to know if she’s still alive.”
Miss Terri grimaced. “I wish I could tell you that, but there’s a limit to what I can see.”
“I’m begging you to try harder. If you could just give me a little more—anything more—”
“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.”
I pulled out my wallet and grabbed all the cash that I had on me. “Do you want more money? Is that what this is about? Because you can have it all. Take it.”
Amazingly enough, she didn’t reach for the cash. “This isn’t about money.”
My forehead wrinkled. “What are you talking about? Don’t you want my money?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to take your money.”
“Then why won’t you?”
“Because I wouldn’t be able to give you your money’s worth.”
“Look, this isn’t about the money. I would trade every penny I have to find out what happened to my sister,” I said.
Miss Terri gave me the most sympathetic look that she could muster. “I know. But like I already told you, I can only see so much.”
Chapter Two
I walked out of Miss Terri’s parlor feeling more baffled than ever. It was so difficult to wrap my head around what I had just heard. Not just her bold prediction, but her behavior in general. I had practically thrown money at her, and she had refused to take it. What kind of a psychic did that? Apparently, the kind who made a prediction that was bold enough to turn my life upside down.
I was in a daze when I reached the sidewalk where my friend Shannon waited for me. As I approached her, she was staring out into the distance. She was so deep in thought that she didn’t even notice me standing next to her. Clearly, I was not the only one who had been at the receiving end of a mind-blowing reading.
I reached out and put my hand on her shoulder, which startled her. Shannon placed her hand over her chest and turned to me with wide eyes.
“Sabrina, you scared me half to death,” Shannon said.
“Sorry. Are you ready to go?” I asked.
Shannon nodded. “Yeah. So how did it go?”
My thoughts were too jumbled to give her an answer to that question. I was still trying to process everything I had just been told. As much of a skeptic as I was about psychics, my gut was telling me not to dismiss what Terri had said.
“Sabrina.”
I pulled my head out of the clouds and glanced at my friend. “It wasn’t at all like I expected.”
“I know, right? I came here looking for answers. Instead, I’m leaving with a whole new set of questions.”
I saw a deeply troubled look in Shannon’s eyes. Unlike me, she seemed ready to talk about what was bothering her.
“What did Miss Terri tell you?” I asked.
“That I am going to choose the wrong guy.”
A shiver went down my spine. I took a moment to myself before replying. “What?”
“She told me that my love triangle would be coming to an end. At first, I was excited. Then she pulled the rug out from under my feet by telling me that I’m going to choose the wrong guy.”
I grimaced. “That’s awful.”
Shannon ran her fingers through her hair nervously. “That’s not even the worst of it.”
I scrunched my nose. “How could it get worse?”
“I asked her who the wrong guy was.”
“And?”
“She couldn’t tell me.”
I bit the corner of my lip. “So wait. She is convinced that you are going to choose the wrong guy, but she couldn’t tell you which guy that is?”
“Exactly. Crazy, huh?”
I nodded. “That’s maddening.”
“I don’t know what to do. I begged her to look deeper. To do everything in her power to give me a little more to work with.”
“What did she say to that?”
Shannon looked down at the ground. “That she had already told me everything that she knew.”
Shannon didn’t realize it, but I was in the same boat as her. I just kept my frustration bottled up. That was probably for the best. I had already pressed Miss Terri all that I could. Besides, Shannon was already enough of a mess without me adding fuel to the fire.
At least now I knew that Miss Terri was consistent. Apparently, bold predictions with jaw-dropping loose ends were her calling card. Unfortunately, professionally speaking, it was not the best thing to be known for. Very few businesses succeeded by frustrating their customers.
As I glanced at Shannon, she looked like she needed a hug. I opened my arms and wrapped them around her. “I’m sorry that you weren’t able to get the answers that you were looking for.”
She pulled back from the hug and sighed. “What am I supposed to do?”
I mustered the most comforting look that I could manage. “You’ll figure it out.”
“Sabrina, you’re a great friend,” she said. “I know you’re doing your best to try and cheer me up, but I’m really afraid that I won’t be able to figure this out.”
“Trust me. I know you will.”
Shannon winced. “I could just scream.”
I stared out into the distance. “You know, on second thought, maybe her prediction isn’t such a bad thing after all.”
Her eyebrows arched. “How do you figure that?”
“Maybe by knowing your future, you can change it.”
“But that’s the problem. I don’t know the whole future, just that I’m going to choose the wrong guy.”
“But maybe by receiving that warning ahead of time it will help you choose the right guy.”
“Or maybe her prediction just managed to confuse me even more. I mean, I’m questioning myself more than ever. I feel like I can’t trust my instincts now.” She groaned. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Neither do I, but I know what you shouldn’t do.”
“What’s that?”
“Worry so much that you give yourself a migraine.”
“It’s too late for that. I feel the monster of all headaches coming on.” She looked down at the ground. “What if I’m just destined to choose the wrong guy?”
“Shannon, don’t talk like that,” I said.
My friend threw her arms out. “It’s hard not to.”
“Let’s get you home. I have a feeling that a good night of sleep will do wonders for you,” I said.
Chapter Three
Very few words were exchanged as I drove Shannon back to her house. That wasn’t because we didn’t have anything to say. It was more that we were wrestling quietly with our thoughts. A war was going on inside my head, and panic was winning out. I couldn’t stop thinking about my sister’s disappearance and what I could do to find her. Unfortunately, no answers came to me.
The north side of Treasure Cove was especially quiet during that time of night. That was fine by me. I loved the peace and quiet. Then again, I wasn’t much of a partier to begin with.
Some of the twentysomething residents in town complained that there wasn’t much to do in Treasure Cove. They made fun of the fact that the town had a reputation for going to bed early. If I wanted to experience a rowdy nightlife, I could always take a weekend trip to San Francisco. In the meantime, I was happy with the tranquil evenings that my hometown generously provided.
Now if only I could calm my mind. I drove down Evergreen Avenue, where my car passed street after street of Victorian-style houses. I tried to solely focus on the road, but my mind kept lingering on thoughts of my sister.
So when Shannon broke the silence, it came as a welcome reprieve from the storm cloud that was forming inside my head.
“Sabrina, why are you being so quiet?” Shannon asked.
I had wondered if I would be able to drop Shannon off without her noticing how distracted I had become. The problem was, I didn’t really want to discuss my concerns at the moment. At the same time, I had to give Shannon something. She wasn’t going to accept silence as an answer.
“There’s just a lot on my mind,” I said.
Shannon stared deep into my eyes. “Such as?”
I grimaced and remained quiet.
A few moments later, Shannon opened her mouth again. “Sabrina—”
“The psychic told me that my sister would be found,” I said.
Shannon sat straight up in her seat. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers. “Are you serious?”
I nodded. “Dead serious.”
Shannon’s responses were rapid-fire. “Did she say where your sister would be found? Or when? And how? Not to mention if Jessica is still alive?”
I groaned. “No.”
“To which question?”
“All of them,” I said. “She wasn’t able to give me anything else to work with.”
“I’m so sorry. No wonder you have been so quiet.”
“I’m trying to hold myself together, but I’m worried that I’m going to fall apart here.”
“I’m here for you. Do you want to talk about it?”
“No. What I want is answers. Unfortunately, there’s a shortage of those.”
“Yeah, it just seems to be one of those nights when we’re haunted by deep, dark questions.”
I let out a sigh. “Don’t remind me. The last thing I expected to do tonight was obsess about my sister’s disappearance.”
Shannon’s brow furrowed. “Wait. Did you bring up Jessica, or did—?”
“That’s the crazy part. I didn’t mention a word to her about Jessica.”
“Then how did your sister get brought up?”
“Miss Terri just got this somber look on her face the moment I sat down at the table. Before I had the chance to ask her why, she reached out to me and told me that she was sorry about my sister’s disappearance.”
Shannon’s eyes widened. “Talk about crazy psychic powers.”
I grimaced. “I’m not a hundred percent sure of that.”
She bit the corner of her lip. “If you’re not sure about it, then why do you look so rattled?”
“Here’s the thing. I don’t know how psychic Miss Terri is or isn’t. All I know is that she’s frustrating.”
Shannon stared at me. “Sabrina, what aren’t you telling me?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m your best friend. You don’t have to hold things back from me.”
So much for bottling my feelings up. There was no use hiding them now. “I offered Miss Terri more money to dig deeper. I was willing to give her every penny in my wallet if she could give me answers.”
“That sounds familiar. And let me guess—she turned you down.”
I nodded. “She said that she couldn’t tell me anything else.”
“That’s how I know she’s not just some con artist.”
“She’s definitely not a great businesswoman. Who turns down money?” I deadpanned.
“I’m being serious here. It would have been easy to just tell us what we wanted to hear. Instead, she told us as much of the truth as she was able to.”
“I don’t know. I have this nagging doubt at the back of my mind.”
“About what?”
“When my sister disappeared, it was the biggest news story in town. The only way Miss Terri wouldn’t have heard about it is if she had been living under a rock.”
“True. But you said she offered her condolences before you even sat down. Had you even told her your last name at that p
oint?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“See? There you go.”
“I’m still not sure—”
“Want proof? I’ll give you some.”
“I’m all ears,” I said.
“When I sat down to get my reading, I didn’t tell Miss Terri that I was there about the love triangle. She just came out and told me, without preface, that I would choose the wrong man.”
I squinted. “Are you serious?”
Shannon nodded. “I hadn’t even told her my full name, much less my romantic situation. So if you still doubt her psychic abilities, I think it’s time that you reconsider that.”
I exhaled. “Honestly, I’m not sure what to believe.”
“I may not know the answer to my questions, but I do know this—that woman can predict at least part of the future.”
I groaned. “Let’s say that you’re right. It still doesn’t change the fact that she wasn’t able to give me the answers that I was looking for.”
Shannon’s face was filled with sympathy. “I’m sorry she wasn’t able to tell you more.”
A faraway look came to my eyes. “After all these years, I just want to know the truth about what happened to Jessica.”
“One day, I think you will,” Shannon replied. “You just have to keep praying.”
Chapter Four
“Did you see that?” I asked.
A blank look was on Shannon’s face. “See what?”
I cringed. Was I seeing things? My brain didn’t seem to think so.
Frantic thoughts swirled through my head as my pulse raced. I could feel my heart nearly beating out of my chest.
In a panic, I peered into the rearview mirror of my car. Unfortunately, I only saw the dark stretch of road that was behind us. It was exactly as I feared—my car was too far down the road to get a second glimpse of what had originally caught my attention.
I began to worry if my eyes had betrayed me.
Suddenly, a panic came over me. “So you didn’t see the light on at the old Watterson estate?”
Shannon looked down at the floor mat.
Was that a yes or a no? My nerves were too rattled to settle for anything less than a definitive answer. The night had already been filled with enough surprises. If I was seeing things that weren’t actually there, I wanted to know the truth.
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