Murder at Pawprint Creek

by Cindy Bell

  “Hello.”

  “Hi, Nikki. It’s Jackson.”

  “Hi, Jackson. How are you?” Nikki’s heart skipped a beat.

  “I’m fine, thanks. I just want to check in on Sunny and Stormy.”

  “They’re doing well.” Nikki bit into her bottom lip as she considered how to reveal the news about Rocky to him. “Did you make your flight okay? You left here in such a rush.”

  “Yes, just in time.” Jackson sighed. “I cut it pretty close there.”

  “I’m sorry if I caused you any delay. I was under the impression that your flight was a little later.”

  “Something came up and things just got a little mixed up at the last minute. Are you sure everything’s okay?”

  “The dogs are just fine, we’ve been having a nice time together. But something did happen that I think you should know about.” Nikki took a deep breath. “Your neighbor Rocky has been killed.”

  “Killed?” Jackson chuckled. “Did someone put you up to this?”

  “No, it’s true, Jackson. And there’s a police detective, Detective Spade, who is very eager to talk with you about it.” She frowned as she heard him take a sharp breath.

  “You’re serious? He’s really dead?” His tone shifted from amused to shocked.

  “Yes, I’m afraid so. They found his body behind the farmers market, and now the murder investigation is in full swing.” Nikki settled back against the couch as the dogs climbed into her lap. “Didn’t you get any messages from the detective? He said he was trying to reach you.”

  “No, I lost my phone in the airport just after I landed, and it was just returned to me. I haven’t had a chance to check the messages. I wanted to check on the pups straight away. Wow, I can’t believe Rocky’s gone. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving man.”

  “Jackson.” Nikki narrowed her eyes. “You don’t mean that.”

  “I absolutely do. He had it coming. Sorry if that upsets you, but you didn’t know him, I did.” He cleared his throat. “He came into the area as if he was determined to wipe Pawprint Creek out, and now he won’t have the chance to with his reckless actions.”

  “Well, I’m just warning you that if you keep talking like that it’s not going to make things easy for you.” Nikki bristled as she considered the fact that Jackson might really be involved in the murder. “I think the detective already suspects you.”

  “Suspects me?” Jackson laughed loudly. “There’s no way I could be involved, I’m not even there.”

  “The murder took place before I even arrived, Jackson. You were still in Pawprint Creek when it happened. I’m not implying anything, I just know that Detective Spade was very determined to speak to you. He wanted to know where you are staying, and I couldn’t tell him because I don’t even know.”

  “I should hope you wouldn’t tell him even if you did. No one needs to know where I am staying.” His tone grew sharp. “We’re going to keep things just like that. Got it, Nikki?”

  She hesitated.

  “Nikki?”

  “Got it.” Nikki released a heavy breath. There was no benefit to antagonizing Jackson. If he was the killer it would only upset him, and if he wasn’t, she didn’t want to accuse him of something he didn’t do, alienate him and get a bad name for herself. “I just thought you should know. Don’t you think it would be better to clear all of this up?”

  “Like you said, Nikki, I look pretty guilty right now. I’m not going to give them the chance to make a false accusation. I’m glad you told me. I’d also like you to update me when the police make an arrest. I can’t imagine who did this, but whoever did, I want to be sure that I have the chance to shake their hand.”

  “Jackson—” She was horrified by the comment.

  “Good night, Nikki.” He hung up the phone.

  Nikki stared at the screen for some time. It seemed unusual the way so many people were reacting to Rocky’s death. But then Jackson made a good point, she didn’t know Rocky. Not at all. She thought speaking to Shawn would reveal some things about him, but it appeared as if Shawn didn’t know him any better than anyone else. She decided she would find out what she could about Rocky through some web searches.

  It wasn’t hard to find comments online about him. Apparently, Rocky had a reputation for coming into small towns, making his restaurants the main attraction, and then damaging the other local businesses in one way or another. Even bankrupting some. By the time she was done reading some of the rants about him and the impact he had on different communities, Jackson’s comment actually seemed kind. She crawled into bed with her heart heavy, and her mind filled with concern. It seemed to her that there was an unending number of people that wanted to see Rocky dead, but that didn’t get her any closer to finding out who actually did it.

  Nikki woke up a few hours later with a sore neck. She went to the linen closet in the hallway and began to sort through it in search of an extra pillow. She found one on the bottom shelf. Then she began to search for a pillowcase. As she got to the middle of a pile of sheets, her hand struck something. Some paper. She lifted the sheets to take a closer look. What she found was a pile of photographs. It seemed quite odd to her that they would be stored in the closet. Clearly, Jackson had intended for them to be hidden. She was about to turn away when she noticed that the top one was of Rocky’s Farm Kitchen. For a moment she considered just putting it back and pretending that she never saw the photographs. However, her curiosity was too strong not to take a look at what the other pictures might be of. She flicked through them. It took her a few moments to recognize that they were pictures of Rocky’s property, of him building the dam, and of him walking along his property. There were also some pictures of what appeared to be the inside of a restaurant. She guessed that it was Rocky’s Farm Kitchen. Not only was Jackson tracking Rocky’s activity at home, he appeared to be paying special attention to his restaurant as well.

  Nikki noticed that some of the pictures were of the office in the restaurant. Some were of shelves. There was an assortment of gourmet food on them. Some pictures were of the tables. She stared at them. Why had Jackson taken so many pictures of the restaurant? As she flipped back through the pictures again to see if she had missed anything she realized that the photos could be more evidence against Jackson. He was stalking Rocky. No matter his reason for doing it, it would certainly support a motive for the murder.

  It was late, and she was exhausted. She tucked the pictures back into the linen closet and headed back to bed.

  When Nikki woke the next morning, she checked the linen closet again to make sure that the pictures were still there. Though she wasn’t sure where else they would be. She was tempted to turn them over to Detective Spade, but knew that it would only put more focus on Jackson as a suspect. For now, she felt they were safest exactly where they were. After she fed the dogs she turned on the news to see if there were any updates about Rocky’s case. Instead, there was a report about a tour through Phil Ferra’s honey farm.

  “Some are calling it the sweetest journey they’ve ever taken.” The cheerful reporter beamed into the camera. “So, come on out and support a local farmer, the tours go on all day. Oh, and don’t be afraid to bring your pooches, the farm is animal friendly!”

  Nikki’s mouth watered at the thought. She had been dying for some honey ever since she dropped the jar on the ground. She decided it might be a good distraction to head out to the farm. In the back of her mind she knew that she should call Detective Spade and let him know that she had spoken to Jackson, but she wanted to put it off for just a little longer. She and the dogs could use a little exploration time. Once they had their breakfast she piled them into her car and followed the directions on her GPS.

  Chapter 8

  Ferra’s Farm was larger than the ones that bordered the creek. When Nikki approached it, she saw that it was set far back from the road on a huge piece of property. There were several cars lined up in a makeshift parking lot. She pulled into an empty spot beside t
hem and helped the dogs out of the car. They immediately began to sniff and explore the ground.

  “Yes, new grass.” Nikki grinned, though her amusement faded as she noticed how brown the grass was. The drought was taking its toll, even though Phil’s farm couldn’t have been affected by Rocky’s diversion of water to his own property. She recalled the faraway look in Phil’s eyes at the farmers market when he didn’t know she was looking at him. Perhaps he was facing the reality that his farm was suffering due to the drought. She decided she would buy a jar of honey for herself, and a few friends back home. She couldn’t do much to support him, but she assumed every little bit would help. As she joined a crowd of people that walked towards a small, yellow farmhouse she took in a breath of the fresh air. She thought she could smell the sweetness of honey.

  The crowd stopped in front of the house, where Phil stood. He smiled at the group.

  “Welcome everyone, you’re just in time for another full tour. If you’ll join me, I think you’ll find that honey farming can be pretty exciting.”

  Nikki smiled in return, then looked through the crowd. She didn’t expect to see anyone that she knew since she’d only been in town a short time. However, she recognized the silver braid that hung down a petite woman’s back, right away. It was Jean. Nikki took a step back the moment she saw her. After their encounter the evening before she wasn’t sure that she wanted to be associated with the woman. Sure, she had reason to be upset with Rocky, but the way she spoke about his death concerned her. She decided to do her best to avoid her. Luckily, the crowd was large enough that she could.

  Phil started off by revealing the different tools he used while beekeeping. Then he displayed his beekeeping suit. He explained each step as he put the suit on. A woman in the front of the crowd waved her hand.

  “Don’t we need those, too? I don’t want to get stung!”

  “Ah, not to worry.” Phil smiled through the mesh netting that hung in front of his face. “This is just to show you what I would wear if I opened a hive, but I’m not actually going to open one during this tour as it isn’t necessary. Opening the hives can be stressful for the bees. But even if I did open it, you wouldn’t be at any risk. In fact, I don’t really need to wear this suit, I wear it as an extra precaution. The smoke subdues the bees and that allows me easy access to the hives. However, we still like to be extra cautious, so when we do this tour, you will not be close enough for the bees to cause you any harm. I feel it’s best for everyone to keep their distance, as some people can be allergic to beestings. You may not even be aware of it until you receive your first sting. Better to be safe than sorry. Are there any more questions before we start the tour?”

  When no hands shot up, he nodded, and walked off in the direction of a path that led into a field filled with beehives. Nikki kept the dogs close as they walked towards the apiary. Even though Phil promised they wouldn’t be near the bees she didn’t want to risk one of them getting stung. She wasn’t the only one with dogs, several of the other people in the group had dogs with them as well. A few trotted over to say hello. As the tour continued, Phil mentioned that several of the beehives were inactive. She waited for him to explain why they were, but he never did. She would have asked, but she didn’t want to draw attention to herself.

  “All right, everyone, now I want to show you how the honey gets into the jar.” Phil grinned as he waved them towards a long building. “The actual process goes on in another room due to food safety regulations, but we will be able to see it through a large glass window.”

  As they filed inside, the scent of honey filled the air. There was no question now, the sweetness was so strong that Nikki imagined if she stuck out her tongue she could taste it. The pugs seemed happy to do just that as they lapped at the air with their tongues. Phil shared details about the process of scraping the honey, spinning it, and straining it. Nikki found herself wondering how hard it might be to have a beehive of her own. She lingered near the back of the group in an attempt to avoid Jean.

  As Nikki and the dogs padded along, she peered through the window and thought the entire process looked like an assembly line. She’d never really thought much about how honey got into a jar. Sure, she knew where it came from and a bit about how it was harvested, but there was a lot more to the process than she realized. She leaned over a table to peek through the window at what was inside a bucket. As she looked at the wax covering of the honey that had been scraped off, the dogs wanted to investigate, too. She didn’t realize that they’d gotten into a shelf under the table until she heard something fall to the floor.

  “Oh no, what are you two up to?” Nikki crouched down to see what they had knocked over. She found a small box of labels spilled over. As she picked them up and put them back in the box she realized that she had seen the labels before. They were the same labels that were on the jars of honey at Rocky’s Farm Kitchen. They had the restaurant’s name on them.

  “Keep up, please!” Phil called from the front of the group. She wasn’t sure that he actually saw her, but presumed that if he did, he wouldn’t like it. She piled the labels back into the box, then set the box back on the shelf.

  “Let’s go, we need to catch up.” Nikki tugged the dogs along as there was so much for them to be curious about that it was hard to get them moving. When the group emerged from the long building Nikki expected they would move on to the barn, but instead Phil led them back towards the parking lot.

  Curious, she wandered towards the barn while the others gathered close to Phil for his final speech. She had just reached the door and was about to push it open, when his sharp voice carried across the distance between them.

  “Stop there! The barn is not part of the tour!”

  Nikki turned back in time to see the entire crowd looking in her direction. She noticed that Jean stared at her, but she made no motion to greet her.

  “Oh, sorry about that.” Nikki walked back over to the group as her heart raced. Why was he so worried about her looking inside the barn? It seemed like a strange overreaction. Whatever anger he felt a moment before seemed to disperse as he turned back towards the crowd and continued his speech.

  “Thank you all for coming. I hope you will pick up some literature on the way out. It lists ways to support your local bees to keep our town thriving. I know it’s tough right now because of the drought, but try not to lose faith. We can all be part of the solution.” He smiled as he looked between each of their faces. “Thanks for supporting your local farmers.”

  As the crowd dispersed, Nikki hung back. She noticed Jean disappear with another group of people. Nikki then turned her attention to Phil.

  “Excuse me, Phil?”

  “The tour is over.” Phil gestured to the parking area. “Thanks for coming.”

  “Actually, I’d like to buy some honey if you have some ready to go.” Nikki smiled. She thought he would have told the crowd where to buy some. Maybe he was low on supply. “I bought some from you, yesterday, but unfortunately I dropped it and the jar broke. I’d like to buy a few more. I know my friends back home would enjoy it.”

  “Oh sure, okay.” Phil looked towards the driveway, then turned back in her direction. “It’s over near the barn.” He led her to a table where several jars of honey were set up. She noticed that the jars had the same label on them that the ones at the farmers market did.

  “Phil, can I ask you a question?” Nikki kept the dogs close.

  “Sure. How many did you want?” He put a box on the table that had slotted sections inside to keep the jars from banging together.

  “Oh, six would be good, thanks.” She cleared her throat. “Someone told me that the honey sold at Rocky’s Farm Kitchen is your honey. Or at least it was, when they were still selling it. Is that true?”

  “Yes.” Phil grunted the answer as he tucked the bottles into the slots in the box. “That will be forty-eight dollars.”

  “Of course.” Nikki pulled out her wallet and began to count out the money. “How co
me they don’t sell it there anymore? I was also really hoping to try the famous baked honey peaches and ice cream.”

  “They just don’t.” Phil snatched the money from her hand.

  “Oh.” Nikki blinked as his entire demeanor shifted from mildly annoyed to downright angry.

  “Anything else you want?”

  “No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Nikki took the box from him while holding the dogs’ leashes in one hand.

  “I’m not upset, there’s just no point in talking about it. Rocky’s Farm Kitchen doesn’t sell my honey anymore. I’m sure they’ll find some other local honey farmer to underpay.” Phil tipped his head towards another crowd that gathered near the farmhouse. “I have another tour.”

  As Nikki watched him walk away she couldn’t help but wonder why he had reacted so strongly. Clearly, she had touched a nerve. Had Rocky been cheating him out of payment for his honey? She studied Phil as he moved. He was not a frail man. He came across as mild-mannered most of the time, but he had just proven that was not the case all of the time. As she walked with the dogs back towards her car she wondered what might have been in the barn that he didn’t want her to see. She was tempted to try to take another look, but she knew that the dogs would likely give her away, and with Phil already upset with her, she didn’t want to push things.

  Chapter 9

  As Nikki walked towards her car, she kept her gaze focused on the ground beneath her feet. She didn’t notice the presence of another person until the dogs began to offer a friendly greeting. Their barks caused her to look up and right into the eyes of Detective Spade. She froze at the sight of him. She had yet to call him to let him know that she had heard from Jackson, and now here he was, right in front of her, with an expression that made her think he already knew that she was avoiding him.

  “Hello, Detective.” Nikki paused in front of him.