“Okay,” Paige said. “I’ll make some calls and get everyone here by closing tonight.”
*****
By 9pm, everyone, except Sam, was assembled at the store, including Teresa Parker who looked rattled. Her normally combed hair appeared tousled and she seemed out of it. Who could blame her? Her husband had been accused and arrested for murder. It had to be upsetting. Colton set up the laptop on one of the Shoppe’s tables and we gathered around. I had Teresa sit down next to Colton.
We explained to her that I remembered having surveillance cameras in the Shoppe and that the images from the tape showed Mr. Brooks peering in the store shop window.
“That’s strange isn’t it?” Teresa asked as she fidgeted in her chair.
“That’s what we thought,” Stormi answered. “And then he came by the Shoppe today.”
“He did?” Teresa sat looking at the blank computer screen.
“Yes, kind of scared us, but he said he was thinking of renting out the space next door,” Stormi continued.
“Is that right.” Teresa seemed a million miles away. She sat slumped in the chair. Maybe she was on anxiety medicine and it was making her loopy headed? We weren’t sure what was going on.
Colton loaded the video and we watched transfixed to the screen. He fast-forwarded the video until it showed Mr. Brooks staring in the front window. This time, instead of just clearing the image of Mr. Brooks’ face, Colton attempted to make the entire frame clearer. It took some time, but we all watched in silence.
Suddenly Paige exclaimed, “What’s that he’s holding in his hand?”
Sure enough, Mr. Brooks was holding something. Colton sectioned off that part of the image and zeroed in on it. With each click, the image of Mr. Brooks’ hand became clearer and clearer until we all saw it.
A pill bottle.
How could we have missed it before? Likely because we were more interested in determining whom the person was and never noticed he was holding something in his hand.
“Oh lawdy…we got the smoking gun,” Stormi muttered.
At that moment, the door chimed and for the second time today we girls jumped, except for Teresa who remained staring at the monitor. To our relief it was Sam walking through the door.
“Sorry I’m late,” she replied as she walked over to her Mother’s side.
“Honey, I don’t believe you’ve met Mrs. Parker,” Paige said as she introduced her daughter. Teresa continued to stare at the laptop screen.
“Nice to meet you,” Sam said. Teresa paid no attention to her.
We all looked at one another wondering what was wrong with her. I knew she’d been through a lot the last few days, but she was starting to freak us out.
“Teresa…are you okay?” I asked.
“What a minute,” Sam interjected. “I saw you…the night of the murder. I saw you standing in the shadows watching what was going on inside the store.”
Finally, Teresa turned her head slowly to stare at Sam. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was at home with my husband.”
“I’m sure it was you,” Sam countered. “We almost bumped into one another. You were leaving and I was just getting here. I asked if you knew what was going on and you said no and left in a hurry.”
Now we were all confused. First, we discover Mr. Brooks holding a pill bottle and now Mrs. Parker was also at the scene of the crime? What was going on?
“Teresa,” Paige began, “Were you here that night?”
Teresa looked at Paige and then to the rest of us.
“Yes I was,” she finally mumbled. “I received an anonymous phone call close to 9pm. The caller told me to come down to The Frozen Scoop Ice Cream Shoppe immediately if I wanted to end this lawsuit against my husband and me. But the caller also told me not to tell my husband. We were in such a sad state that I was desperate to do anything, even lie to my husband as I left the house that night. By the time I arrived, I noticed Mr. Jenkins’ car parked in front of the Shoppe. I didn’t want to go in so I sat in my vehicle across the way and waited. Suddenly I saw movement within the Shoppe and I got out of my car to get a better look.”
We hung on every word, just like this afternoon with Mr. Brooks.
Teresa continued her story, speaking slowly. “I stayed back out of the light of the street lamp and I saw a man approach the window of your store. He had his back to me so I didn’t recognize him. I moved back as the police cars and ambulance arrived and as other people gathered. That’s when I saw you,” she said pointing to Sam.
I shifted in my chair. “So someone called you to come here in the hopes of ending the lawsuit, correct?”
“Yes, but I never knew who called.” Teresa’s eyes were glazed.
“Why didn’t you tell the police?” Stormi asked.
“I was afraid they’d think I was lying,” Teresa slowly swept a lose hair away from her forehead. “Here I was at the crime scene with no good explanation. I just thought it better to keep quiet.”
She remained lucid despite the slow speech.
Teresa then turned and looked at me. “I think maybe I was late. I had a difficult time coming up with a reason to leave the house that night. Finally, I told my husband I needed to go to the drugstore to get something to help me sleep. Since I hadn’t been sleeping because of the lawsuit, he didn’t become suspicious. But it took me some time to get out of the house. I now think I was supposed to be inside this Shoppe when Mr. Jenkins took his pills. It would place me at the scene of the crime.”
“BRAVO!!”
All of us jumped and several let out a squeal. We all turned around to see Mr. Brooks standing behind my ice cream counter. He apparently snuck in through my back door that I neglected to lock when I shut down the Shoppe for the night. He stood clapping his hands as he looked out over us.
“What the hell!” Stormi stood up from her chair with daggers in her eyes. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Well ladies, and gentleman,” he said nodding to Colton. “I saw your little get together as I passed by and thought I should listen in.”
He walked around the ice cream counter. Tonight he was wearing a tan overcoat and a crazy look in his eye. “I knew it was only a matter of time before someone noticed the pill bottle in my hand. I was shocked you hadn’t noticed it the first time you viewed the tape. Perhaps you all aren’t as brilliant at solving crimes as you thought.”
Paige put an arm around Sam. “But why would you poison Mr. Jenkins?”
“He threatened to expose me, the dumb twit. The Landry Department store case was all a sham, but he convinced me to go in with him and stick it to the big guy. My law practice was slow and a nice payday sounded like a good idea. But then Mr. Jenkins decided to get greedy. For some unknown reason he decided to go after the small Mom and Pop store, the Parker’s Tractor and Supply. The thing was, he actually did hurt himself at the store, so this time his injuries were real.”
Mr. Brooks leaned back against the counter, seemingly making himself comfortable as he regaled us with his tale. I looked around the room at Paige, Stormi, the kids and Teresa. She was still out of it; with her lids drooping, I was afraid she’d fall to the floor any instant. Stormi looked like she wanted to dive across the table at Mr. Brooks, while Paige was understandably nervous, what with her child involved in such a precarious state of affairs. I sat still in my chair listening as Mr. Brooks continued.
“But I didn’t want to pursue it…tried to talk him out of it. However he became belligerent, said he’d expose me for the fraudulent case against the Landry Department store. I told him he would be cutting his nose off to spite his face, but he didn’t care. He said he’d pull me right down into the gutter with him.”
Mr. Brooks folded his arms across his chest. “There was no talking to the man. He wanted to sue and there was no way around it. I could have gone ahead with the lawsuit, but it was eating at me that this little pig of a man could hold such power over me. Then I knew.”
He
snapped his fingers and we jumped again. “I knew that it would never end. He would continue to pull my strings, hold the Landry case over my head. So I had to get rid of him, but how?”
“That’s when it came to me…a brilliant idea. Everyone knows that poison is a woman’s choice of murder weapon and with this lawsuit hanging over their heads, what better motive. I knew I could lure Mrs. Parker to the Shoppe and not her husband. She was weak whereas he would be more suspicious. Only I hadn’t counted on her taking so damn long to get here!”
Mr. Brooks became agitated. “I wanted her in the Shoppe, on the property, when he dropped over, but no…she had to take her sweet time getting here.”
I put my hand on top of Teresa’s as Mr. Brooks glared at her. She remained in a daze.
“So you switched the bottle of pills?” I asked attempting to take his focus off Teresa.
He looked at me. “Of course. My plan was to switch pill bottles while I conferred with him at his home. Then I would take his normal bottle of pills and plant them in Mrs. Parker’s car when she entered the Shoppe, but as we all know she never did!”
“But why did you walk up to the window and look in?” Again, I was trying to refocus his attention.
“Because I was mesmerized by what was happening. With all you chickens scurrying and clucking around him…well, it was quite the show.”
“Glad you liked it,” Stormi said sarcastically.
“But now it’s time for me to go. I have a one-way flight to South America but first I need to take ownership of that video. After that, I will confiscate your cell phones and lock you all into the back room. And then I might or might not burn this place to the ground.”
“And how do you propose to get all of us to cooperate with your little plan?” Stormi wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
Mr. Brooks pulled a gun out of his coat pocket.
“You had to ask,” Paige replied.
Right at that moment the Shoppe went dark. I grabbed Teresa’s arms and yelled for everyone to get down where we flew under the tables. A shot rang out, screams, and then scuffling and groans erupted behind the ice cream counter. Stormi crawled over to where I hid with Mrs. Parker and grabbed my arm. “Who’s back there?” She whispered.
“I don’t know, but I think they’re on our side!” I whispered back as we continued to hear the struggle from behind the counter.
Stormi was determined to help. “I’ve got to find my ice cream scoop!”
“We both will,” I said, grabbing her hand as we crept behind the counter. Our eyes had adjusted to the darkness and the light from the street lamp gave us enough illumination so we could see the two men struggling on the floor. Mr. Brooks was on top as the two men fought over the gun. Stormi grabbed the stainless steel ice cream scoop and held it high over her head. But before she could crash it down on the back of Mr. Brooks’ head, she tripped over their legs and went flailing to the floor.
All of a sudden, another shot rang out, this time flying towards the ceiling. The ice cream scoop went sailing when Stormi fell. I raced over and grabbed one of my chairs. As the men continued to struggle, I watched out for their legs. I brought the chair high over my head and sent it crashing down on Mr. Brooks’ back and head. The hit only stunned him but it was enough for the man under him to gain control of the gun.
By this time, Paige moved from under the table to the light switch and turned it on. That’s when we could finally see our hero who was no other than Brandon, Stormi’s younger brother! He held the gun on Mr. Brooks and told him to remain seated on the floor. Paige grabbed her cell phone from her purse and dialed 911.
Stormi was beside herself as she looked at her brother. “How did you know what was going on?”
Brandon kept the small handgun trained on Mr. Brooks. “I came by to see if you wanted to grab a bite after work. But then I saw this meeting going on and decided to hang back. I was sitting in my truck listening to the radio when I noticed this guy lurking around the store. I saw him go in the alleyway towards the back of the store and decided I better follow him.”
By this time, Paige joined the rest of us as we listened to Brandon. “Once I got to the back of the Shoppe I noticed the back door was ajar and no sign of the creep.” He gestured towards Mr. Brooks with the gun. “So I stepped in through the door and heard him talking. I crept through the back room and listened as he ranted on. I wasn’t sure what to do to gain the upper hand, and then I noticed the light switch. I figured I could cut the light, grab him from behind, and pull him across the counter away from you guys.”
“You almost got yourself killed!” Stormi exclaimed. “Why didn’t you just call the police?”
“I left my phone in the truck and I knew I needed to act fast. The guy was losing it. And what happened to you? I thought you were going to clock him with that ice cream scoop like you did Trixie’s daughter.”
“I tried,” Stormy moaned. “But my feet got tangled in your legs! Instead Tara got him.”
“I learn from the best,” I replied smiling.
“Thanks Tara. He almost had me until you clocked him with the chair,” Brandon said.
Paige stood between Sam and Colton. “I think you all did a wonderful job. Now could we stop having murderers confess in the Frozen Scoop Ice Cream Shoppe. It’s wearing on my nerves!”
We all agreed to that. How in the world had two murders occurred and both times the culprit was unmasked in my store? While I loved mysteries, I didn’t really want to be in the middle of them.
Soon we heard the sirens of approaching police cars. We discovered later that Teresa Parker was on a strong anti-anxiety medicine by her doctor and that was the reason behind her dazed appearance and behavior.
Mr. Brooks took a plea deal and got 20 years to life. Since he was 60, it was likely he’d spend his retirement behind bars.
Sam and Colton are still dating with Paige and Bruce’s approval. Although we all feel as though Colton is only the first of many beaus for the beautiful Samantha.
Stormi and I continue our days at The Frozen Scoop Ice Cream Shoppe. While she hasn’t heard from Officer Manning yet, word is he was quite smitten with her.
As for my own love life, nothing seems to be on the horizon yet. As far as mysteries go, I’m always ready to tackle one.
*****
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Death by Chocolate Sundae: A Cozy Mystery (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book 2) Page 5