“Now you’ve cost yourself your freedom. Even more, you bought our little act. I was never interested in Tyler. I have a wonderful boyfriend at home. It’s ironic, isn’t it?” Meg said.
“What is?” Phoebe barked.
“Only in a place like Hollywood would you have fallen for this drama,” Meg replied.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Take her away,” Detective Brees said.
Relief washed over Meg like a refreshing breeze on a hot summer’s day. Tyler opted to stay in his apartment in hopes of getting over his shock as two deputies dragged Phoebe away and loaded her into the back of their squad car. That left the detective and Meg with a minute alone in front of the apartment complex.
Who knew that would be the longest sixty seconds of Meg’s life? What started out as a regular pause to catch their breaths turned to an awkward silence with each second that passed. She wondered why the detective was suddenly so tongue-tied. He hadn’t been short of words throughout the rest of the case. If anything, he’d been blunt and in a hurry to get in the first word.
The silence was particularly odd to her as she was busy basking in the relief of finally putting a lid on this case. She was just happy that the killer was headed off to jail. Her gut was right again, and even though catching the killer wouldn’t bring Paige back, she could at least get some closure.
The detective clearly had something else on his mind. He looked tense, even more so than usual. During their previous interactions, he’d been full of bluster. All of a sudden, he looked indecisive and cautious.
He was a man with a serious ego who had just been upstaged. A hit like that was hard to recover from.
She became fascinated watching Brees. The gears were spinning in his head. It was as if he was trying to find a way to admit fault while holding onto as much pride as he could. Meg wished him all the luck in the world. There couldn’t be two things more diametrically opposed than that.
During times like this, she was glad that ego played such a little part in her life. That was a heavy and mischievous monkey to carry on a person’s back, and she was already weighed down by her racing thoughts.
Finally, after too long of a pause for its own good, Detective Brees broke the silence.
“It turns out humble pie isn’t nearly as delicious as apple pie.”
The detective was a master at stating the obvious. He also seemed to have a Ph.D. in deadpan humor. Then again, what else should Meg have expected from a grizzled detective? Still, if she were in his position, she would have just said a simple “sorry.” That was only one word, instead of eleven. At the same time, sorry might be the hardest single word in the English language to say, especially for a big, burly guy like that. Given the grief Detective Brees had given her throughout this case, she’d take whatever concession he was willing to give.
Meg joined in with a zinger of her own. “If you think humble pie tastes bad, you should try eating crow. It’s really gamey.”
The detective laughed. Wow, there really was a first time for everything.
She decided to try out another one-liner. “I guess you could say this case wasn’t as much of a breeze as you thought.”
Detective Brees did not react the way Meg was hoping for. He immediately tensed up. Uh oh. Did she push her luck?
“Say what?” he barked.
So much for the goodwill she’d earned. It seemed to be flushed right down the drain with one ill-timed pun. That would teach her to get verbally adventurous with a detective.
Surprisingly, a few seconds later, he began laughing. “I was just kidding.”
Meg breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, good.”
“I do have one more question for you,” he said.
“What is it?”
“How did you do that?”
“What do you mean?”
“How did you figure out who the killer was?” he clarified.
There were a number of ways she could go with this. The truth was the most obvious of choices. She just wasn’t sure the detective would be able to accept it.
“I just got lucky.”
The detective stared her down. “You really expect me to believe that?”
She regrouped and came back with a different answer. “Ok. I uh, watch a lot of detective shows on TV.”
He laughed. “Don’t believe everything you see on those shows. We’re not all donut-loving goofballs.”
“Come on, detective, who do you think you’re fooling?”
Detective Brees gave her a stern look.
She continued. “Do you really expect me to believe you don’t love donuts?”
He cracked a smile. “All right, you got me there. Speaking of, all this talk about donuts is making me hungry.”
“Who says you can’t believe what you see on TV?” Meg joked.
Detective Brees got serious again. “Hey, there’s more to being a cop than eating donuts—unfortunately.”
Brees was so deadpan; it was hard to tell when he was joking or being serious.
“Still, I’ll bet you’re glad to have this case closed,” Meg said.
“I am, but there are another ninety-nine cases on my desk waiting for me. Speaking of, have you ever considered becoming a detective?”
“Actually, baking is kind of my thing.”
“You don’t plan on opening a shop here, do you?”
“No, I think I’ll stay in Enchanted Bay,” Meg replied.
The detective became deflated. “Guess I’ll just have to stick with the donuts shops we have in town.”
“I thought you had ninety-nine other cases to work on?”
“See, this is what separates the professional sleuths from the amateurs. A real detective never starts investigating on an empty stomach.”
Meg laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind from now on.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Before Meg headed back home, there was one more person she needed to see. Paige’s mother breathed a huge sigh of relief when Meg told her the killer had been caught. At the same time, a smile was far from her face. Like Meg, Hillary Martin was glad to have closure. She still found herself wrestling with a series of bittersweet feelings. The knowledge that justice had been served made her feel good. That was not enough to outweigh the heavy sense of loss that her only daughter was gone forever.
They shared a hug that lingered much longer than Meg thought it would. Ms. Martin seemed like she didn’t want to let go. Meg couldn’t tell if she was about to cry. Ultimately, her eyes stayed dry but just barely. Throughout the time she’d known her, Hillary had always been the one to do the comforting. This time, the roles were reversed. As Meg looked into her eyes, she looked like a scared little kid. She tried her best to soothe Hillary’s soul.
“Thank you so much,” Hillary said.
“It was the least I could do,” Meg replied.
Hillary disagreed. “No, this was much more than that. You went above and beyond, and for that, I can’t thank you enough.”
“I just wish there was something I could do to bring her back. I’m going to miss her so much.”
“I just keep telling myself that even though she’s gone, we have to make sure she’s never forgotten.”
“I promise I won’t ever forget her.”
“May she live on in our memories.”
Meg nodded. “And what good memories they are.”
“I’ll never forget that time you and Paige drove halfway across the state to pick me up that surprise birthday cake,” Hillary said.
“What can I say? It’s amazing the things we’d do for good chocolate.”
“More like it’s amazing the things you’d do to make other people happy. That’s why you two were so rare; you cared more about others than yourselves.”
“Let me tell you, I’d drive halfway across the state to get that cake for you right now if I thought it would make you feel better.”
“I know, and that’s why you’re special.”
“I
could say the same thing about you. I’m really going to miss you,” Meg said.
“Stay in touch now, you hear?” Hillary replied.
Meg smiled. “Of course.”
The conversation was even more heart wrenching than Meg thought. Saying goodbye was never easy, but this time, it was especially difficult. Words could only say so much. Besides, with a situation like this, there were no easy answers. Still, despite all that occurred, they had to move on with our lives. That’s what Paige would have wanted. She believed in living life to the fullest, so that’s what Meg was going to try and do.
Before departing, Meg gave Hillary one more hug, and then went on her way.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Many hours later, Meg returned home to Enchanted Bay and the welcoming arms of her boyfriend, Connor. More than ever before it felt good to be home. During the entire drive back, the events of the last several days bounced around in her head. She was reminded how easy it was to lose sight of what was important and take for granted all the good things in life. She didn’t ever want to fall into that trap again.
Judging by the look in Connor’s eyes, he felt the same way. He was a naturally affectionate man but was especially open with his emotions now. She was pretty sure she knew why, mostly because she was swept up in the same sentiment. Meg never used to believe that absence made the heart grow fonder. It was hard to deny that now. Throughout their year-long relationship, she’d never been further apart from him, in distance, or in length of time. Now that they were back together, she felt closer to him than ever before.
Connor had picked up a fresh bouquet of daisies and a delicious apple tart on his way over to her house. She wasn’t sure what made her happier. That’s why it made it all the more difficult to explain the wild events that had unfolded to Connor. He deserved the truth, which she knew would unsettle him. No man wanted to hear that his girlfriend had been in danger.
Equally shocking was the fact that she had gone to L.A. for a funeral and returned a successful sleuth. He certainly never expected those last two words to be attached to her name. To be fair neither did Meg. As was so often the case, life had other plans.
After a moment of silence, while Connor absorbed the initial shock of the news, he wrapped his arms around Meg and pulled her in close. “I’ve never been happier to have you home.”
She smiled. “Trust me, the feeling is mutual.”
“It’s a shame you had such a boring trip to Los Angeles,” he joked.
Connor was a master of deadpan humor. He believed laughter was the best medicine…well, other than actual medicine. Laughter was a close second, though. After a time of high stress, Meg loved a good joke to lighten the mood.
She couldn’t help but laugh at her boyfriend’s massive understatement. “It turns out there are plenty of devils in the City of Angels.”
“Why does that not surprise me?”
“Would anything I could tell you about L.A. surprise you?”
“Probably not. It turns out Los Angeles is a little different than Enchanted Bay,” he said.
“I take it you don’t want to move to Hollywood anytime soon then?”
He shook his head. “There’s no danger of that happening.” He then quickly switched gears. “Speaking of danger, you should have called me before you started sleuthing around.”
“I didn’t want to worry you at first.”
“I’m your boyfriend. It’s my job to take care of you.”
“I was trying to take care of myself.”
“Trust me, I know you can take care of yourself,” he replied. “Still, I don’t like hearing about how much danger you were in. You should have told me what you were doing. I would have driven down to L.A.”
“I actually tried to tell you after the first day. You said you were going to call me back, remember? Then it seemed that you were too busy with whatever was going on here to get a hold of.”
“I’m so sorry. I was really busy. And I didn’t think that all of this was going on.”
He looked distressed. “I don’t ever want anything bad to happen to you. I love you and never want us to be apart,” he blurted out.
That statement stopped her cold. Part of the reason was because it had come out of the blue. The other part was because it felt so wonderful to hear.
If the last few days had proven anything, it was that things rarely ever went according to plan. The truth had a way of coming out when emotions ran high. She learned that from questioning suspects. And it had carried over into her personal life. Regardless of how it all went down, his feelings for her were deeper than ever. His heart was on his sleeve. Suddenly, the ball was in her court.
With all the revelations she’d dealt with during the case, she figured she’d be able to take things in better stride. That was far from the case.
“You never want us to be apart?” Meg replied.
Connor was equally confused by her incredulous reply. He decided it was time to square things away and make his feelings abundantly clear.
Connor gazed at her with a smoldering look in his eyes. “Never.”
That was more like it. Meg’s heart began beating nearly out of her chest. Her knees got weak. A rush of adrenaline coursed through her body.
“I feel the same,” Meg replied.
“That’s why it’s so hard being away from you. And then to find out you were in danger on top of it, well, it drives me crazy.”
“You don’t have to worry about me anymore. I’m right here and don’t plan on going anywhere.”
“Good, because I couldn’t imagine my life without you.”
Just when Meg didn’t think her boyfriend could get any sweeter, Connor leaned in and gave her a kiss that took her breath away.
Meg smiled. “I know the feeling.”
The End.
A Riddle Of A Murder
Chapter One
Meg Walton was seeing an unexpected side of her mother that foggy Saturday morning. Penelope Walton, Meg’s grandma, was the comedian of the Walton clan. She relished in dishing out one-liners with razor sharp wit. Meg was no stranger to zingers herself, cutting loose whenever possible. By contrast, Meg’s mother, Beth, held a different place in the family.
Beth Walton was known as the stern one; the worrier. Her reputation was well-earned. Beth wouldn’t deny that. To her, being a mother was the most serious of matters, and a responsibility that was not meant to be taken lightly. When Meg’s father ran out on the family decades before, Beth found herself unexpectedly on her own, forced to juggle trying to mend a broken heart while taking care of a toddler all by her lonesome.
Raising a child was no easy task even with two parents at home. To do it as a single mother was daunting. So often she was focused on just making it from day-to-day. Now that Meg was all grown up and well into her thirties, she figured her mother would have loosened up. Unfortunately, old habits didn’t die easily.
“A mother never stops worrying.”
Meg had heard her mom repeat that phrase nonstop over the years. To Beth, age was irrelevant. A mother’s job was never done. Mostly, because children never stopped having problems.
Meg appreciated how much her mother cared about her. She just wished her mom would lighten up every once in a while. The more murder cases Meg investigated, the less likely that was of happening. If anything, when Meg began sleuthing, her mother became a bigger worry wart than she had been in a long time, and that was even taking into account the fact that Meg had her witch powers to protect her. Luckily, nearly half a dozen cases in, Meg had managed to make it through her gumshoe career without a scratch.
It also helped that Enchanted Bay had returned to its natural state of relative peace recently. Five months had passed since the last murder in town. All the locals hoped they’d go the rest of their lives without seeing another one.
With the newfound tranquility, Beth Walton finally found herself lightening up a little. Of course, that was only partly due to the crime rate evapor
ating. Meg noticed the biggest change when Hope Riddle entered her mom’s life.
Hope was Beth’s newest friend. She was a free spirit, in every sense of the word. The kind of woman that talked about chakras, auras, and finding a sense of Zen. It was no surprise to Meg that Beth had met Hope in a yoga class.
The two immediately hit it off and had become close friends ever since. Meg noticed a sizable and refreshing difference in her mother’s attitude ever since she began hanging out with Hope. The worry lines had started to disappear from Beth’s face, replaced by plenty of smiles. Slowly but surely, Beth began cutting loose and even threw around some zingers from time to time.
Meg wanted to encourage her mother’s new carefree side. It was important for her mom to have an active social life, especially since she didn’t have a romantic one. Beth had never remarried after her husband left her. It seemed that she had given up on love completely and instead poured her attention into her friends and family.
Either way, Beth’s new friendship with Hope was sure keeping her busy. Over the past few months, Beth and Hope had gone to a number of ladies nights, threw back a generous amount of cocktails, and laughed a lot, which had done a great deal to bring Beth out of her shell. Their latest adventure was going wine tasting. This time, they invited Meg to join in on the fun.
Meg was really looking forward to this. She’d spoken to Hope a few times in passing, but this would be the first time she’d spent any significant amount of time with her. She was excited to be getting to know this new friend her mother had spoken so much about. For her to be doing so while going wine tasting was just an added bonus.
Meg and Beth were on their way to pick Hope up before leaving town to the vineyards an hour away.
“If you’re not having fun, what’s the point?” Beth said.
Meg gave her mom a big grin. So much so that Beth wondered why her daughter was staring at her so hard.
The Witches Of Enchanted Bay Seven Book Cozy Mystery Series Bundle Page 25