Costa Rica Beach Cozy Mysteries Box Set: Books 1 to 3

by K C Ames

  They debated on that for a bit. “At the very least let me drive you. I’ll wait in the car,” Benny said.

  “Me too,” Courtney added.

  “No, thank you, I don’t want to give that jerk any more ammunition to hate on me more than he already does. I’ll just run down there and do as he asks. It won’t take me long. I have everything cataloged and entered into my database, so if any books were taken, I’ll know rather quickly thanks to Bucky’s software.”

  Benny and Courtney acquiesced. “I have some of my ceviche you like so much at home. I made it fresh last night, so it should be perfect right now, so I’ll run out to get it, and we can have a little feast when you get back,” Benny said.

  Dana smiled. “That would be wonderful.”

  She headed outside and fired up Big Red.

  Dana pulled into Ark Row’s small parking lot. Tomás, the security guard, was there, and he greeted her sheepishly as he began to apologize profusely for not being there when she needed him.

  “Don’t worry, Tomás, you can’t stay here twenty-four seven. Stuff happens.”

  She walked slowly towards her bookstore. Can I even refer it to as my bookstore if it’s never been open for business?

  She saw an old, beat-up white pickup parked in front. She wasn’t sure if that was an OIJ unmarked vehicle or not. Usually Picado and Rojas drove around in a sedan.

  There wasn’t any police presence out front. She expected to see a uniformed police officer like Freddy Sanchez guarding the entrance, but no one was there. It was eerily quiet.

  The yellow tape was still there, but some of it had been cut in order to access the front door. She looked around, and there was no one there. She reached for the front door, and just as she was about to turn the knob, the door flung open, making her flinch.

  Detective Gabriela Rojas popped out from inside and smiled. “Hi, sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “It’s fine. I’m just a bit jumpy since all this started.”

  “That’s completely understandable. Thank you for coming.”

  “Your partner made it sound like I didn’t have a choice.”

  Rojas shrugged. She knew the senior detective was a handful. “Come on, he’s waiting inside.”

  Dana went inside and looked around her baby. She hadn’t been inside since she had discovered Barry Shy’s body.

  Seeing Picado standing there behind her counter, next to the covered-up cash register, made her angry. That’s supposed to be my spot behind the counter, not anyone else’s—even you, Mr. Hotshot detective.

  Dana was soon distracted from her dislike of the detective when an eerie feeling took over, causing the small hairs on her arms to stand up and for her to shiver even though it was warm inside. A man was killed in her bookstore. Right down there where Picado was standing is where she found the body. Right there.

  “Ms. Kirkpatrick,” Picado barked as Rojas nudged her, causing her to snap out of her trance. It dawned on her that she must have drifted away and hadn’t heard Picado speaking to her the first time.

  “Sorry, what did you say?”

  Picado sighed and rolled his eyes. “Do you have your inventory computerized?”

  “Um…” She looked at Picado’s face, which in her mind was coming in and out of focus, something she chalked up to the stress of everything that was going on.

  “Well, do you? Yes or no. It’s a simple question,” Picado barked out.

  “Um, yes, I do have everything catalogued in my bookselling software.”

  “Can you print or email your inventory to me?” Rojas asked.

  “Sure. Why?”

  Rojas explained, “We need to determine if anything has been stolen, which is why you’re here, but if you have your inventory in the computer, then it will make sure we don’t overlook something.”

  “You think Barry was stealing books?”

  “What was the value of these books?” Picado asked.

  “It’s a used-book store. Cheap. Definitely nothing to get killed over.”

  “Any computers or electronic equipment you kept here?” Rojas asked.

  “No. Just that cash register, which only works when I dock my iPad to it, so it’s useless in that state.”

  Picado and Rojas exchanged acknowledging glances as if they had been trying to figure out how the modern-looking point-of-sale cash register worked.

  “And there is no money inside?”

  Dana nodded as she began to look around her store. “No. As you’re aware, I haven’t even opened for business yet.”

  “So there is nothing that would be of value to a burglar.”

  “No…” Dana replied, trailing off as she looked around.

  She looked at the beautiful bookshelves Benny and Rodri had made and began to go through the books on them. She took out her iPad from her purse and flicked it on and tapped on Bucky’s bookselling app. A graphic of a closed book loaded, then the book opened as a blue morpho butterfly flew out from between the pages of the book and floated across the screen before vanishing.

  It made her want to cry, thinking about her bookstore and its now doomed grand opening.

  Dana checked all the books on the shelf against her bookselling software under the watchful eye of Detective Picado.

  She would scan the barcode on the spine of the book with her iPhone’s camera and a second later there would be a bleep and all the pertinent information about that book would get pulled up.

  “What’s the name of the software program?” Picado asked, sounding impressed.

  “It’s custom software a friend of mine from Silicon Valley created for me.”

  “Is the data stored in the cloud?” Rojas asked.

  Dana nodded, not saying anything as she scanned another book.

  “We’ll need access to it as well as a full copy of your product database so we can check what’s here to pin down what was stolen.”

  “I already told you, I don’t think anything is missing.”

  “We still need that data.”

  “Okay, I’ll email it to you,” Dana said, looking at Detective Rojas.

  Dana arrived back home to Casa Verde about an hour later. It was dark out.

  Benny and Courtney greeted her with hugs and smiles.

  “That was a long fifteen minutes,” Courtney said.

  “Once I got there, he seemed to be a bit more relaxed, and he wanted me to be thorough, so I guess he changed his mind about only letting me be there for fifteen minutes.”

  “Anything missing?” Benny asked.

  “Nada. And after an hour with Picado, I need a drink,” Dana said as she beelined to the kitchen.

  On the kitchen center island was a large white bowl filled with homemade ceviche that Benny had made.

  He explained that his ceviche was made using raw corvina—a firm white fish popular in Costa Rica, like sea bass back in the states—and small shrimp.

  The fish was diced into cubes then tossed into a bowl with the shrimp, where it was marinated in lime juice, which cooked it. He also included chopped red bell peppers, onions, cilantro, minced jalapeños, salt, pepper, and the secret ingredient which Benny insisted made it a tico ceviche: ginger ale.

  The bowl was then tightly sealed with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator overnight.

  It was then served with saltine crackers, sliced avocado, and splashed with Salsa Lizano and hot sauce in case the jalapeños didn’t provide enough of a kick.

  Dana smiled at the sight. “Oh, yum, thank you,” she said, scooping a spoonful of ceviche onto a soda cracker. She splashed Salsa Lizano onto the ceviche to make it even more of a Costa Rican dish. She skipped the hot sauce, since she thought the jalapeños made the dish hot enough for her palate.

  After a few soda crackers loaded with ceviche and a few sips of chilled Sauvignon blanc, she was feeling much better and ready to tell them about her meeting with the OIJ detectives.

  “There isn’t that much to tell, really. Nothing was missing. L
ike Freddy told us, Barry broke in through the back window. It had those metal bars and was high enough that I figured it was foolproof against burglary. The police say that Barry parked his trike out back, used a ladder to climb up to the window and hacksawed the metal bars so he could break the window and climb inside,” Dana said.

  “You know, Barry Shy was a sanctimonious twit, but the man was honest as the day is long. He’s lived down here for over thirty years and he’s never been known to steal anything. I can’t imagine he would break into your bookstore to burglarize it. Besides, he weighs like a buck fifty, and he’s in his sixties and frail. That takes some serious burglar skills, and I don’t see Barry possessing that skillset,” Benny commented.

  “That’s why the police suspect he had an accomplice, and it’s that person that killed Barry for reasons unknown,” Dana said.

  “To steal used books. Doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I told Picado that he was going on and on about how he wanted to shut me down, so perhaps he was there to sabotage my grand opening.”

  “I still can’t see him going through all that work. If he were going to shut anything down, he would target the real estate office or one of the McMansions being built around here recently. Not a bookstore. He was all bark and no bite. He threatened just about everyone in town all the time. Myself included,” Benny said.

  “Every dog has his day,” Dana said. She laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” Courtney asked.

  “Well, it’s ironic. Regardless of what he was up to, he did succeed in shutting me down.”

  Seventeen

  Dana knew it was going to be a rough day. It was the day of her planned grand opening of the bookstore, which was put on hold by the police.

  Instead of the planned balloons and streamers, the front door had yellow police tape forbidding entry. And to top it off, she hadn’t been given any indication on when she might be able to open. Tomorrow? A few days? Next month? If Detective Picado knew, he wasn’t sharing that tidbit of information with her.

  The only thing that was certain was that all the planning, promotions, and advertisements she had prepared for the big day would be going to waste.

  She shuddered at the thought of people showing up for the grand opening only to be met by crime scene tape. News traveled fast in the coastal rumor vine, but not everyone was part of it. Perhaps someone came across one of her ads or flyers and hadn’t heard about the dead man found in the bookstore, so they made the trip down to find the bookstore closed and being labeled as a crime scene.

  Dana had called Detective Picado several times, asking him if she couldn’t open her bookstore as planned, if he would allow her five minutes to hang up a sign on the front door explaining what was going on. He didn’t return her call, and she didn’t have her key, so she was locked out of her own business.

  Dana was happy Courtney was in town, because she would have probably spent all day in bed with Wally if not for her friend being there.

  Well, since she wasn’t going to hide under the covers in bed all day, she came up with a Plan B. She got out of bed as Wally scattered away. She showered and got dressed, then went downstairs and began to pack some items into a box.

  “What are you up to?” Courtney asked as she came down the stairs, yawning.

  “I can’t just sit here all day thinking about potential customers that are planning to attend the grand opening only to be greeted by yellow police tape. So I’m going to have a little sidewalk sale.”

  “I’m sure Picado is going to love that,” Courtney said facetiously.

  “I’ll set up right across from the bookstore on the sidewalk. I’ll make sure not to block the walkway. I already spoke with Big Mike and the other merchants, and they’re okay with it. Big Mike loved the idea, since it would bring people to Ark Row. It’s a public sidewalk. I have the okay of my Ark Row neighbors, and I’ll make sure to keep the sidewalk clear, so Picado can go fly a kite.”

  “Oh jeez, Dana, you’re poking the bear again. But well, let’s do this.”

  Dana appreciated her support because she knew Courtney had reservations about what Dana was doing—heck, so did she, but the reason was that Picado scared the living daylights out of Courtney ever since he threatened Dana and Courtney with preventive detention arrest during the investigation of Dana’s cousin’s murder. They both had seen enough episodes of Locked up Abroad to be terrified about what could happen, but Dana was going through with it as she put the final touches to the signage for the event that she was calling a “Pop-up Bookstore.”

  Courtney put her excellent drawing skills to use and she put together a beautiful signage indicating that bookstore’s new grand opening was in a TBD status. She made sure to express condolences for the well-known expat that was killed in Dana’s bookstore, a thought that didn’t fail to send shivers up and down Dana’s spine.

  Bless her, Dana thought as she stopped at Mindy’s Coffee and Bagels to pick up a special order that Mindy had whipped up for Dana’s impromptu pop-up.

  She had contributed two dozen banana-walnut muffins and a one-hundred-ounce carafe of her freshly brewed dark roast coffee. Light coffee and decaf drinkers were out of luck.

  “You are wonderful,” Dana said, hugging Mindy and waving at Leo, who was in the kitchen.

  “I’m so glad you’re here for her, Courtney,” Mindy said, smiling at Courtney.

  “The plan was to be here for the special day, so I wish that were still the case, but I’m glad to be here for her nevertheless.”

  “What’s the word?” Dana asked Mindy, since her coffee shop was like Grand Central Station when it came to gossip and innuendo.

  Mindy gave her a stiff look as she bit the inside of her cheek.

  “That bad, huh?”

  “Oh, honey, don’t worry about those folks flapping their gums about things they have no clue about.”

  “What are they saying?”

  “Just about the odds of two murders happening so close to each other.”

  “And how I’m at the center of both, I suppose.”

  “Ignore it, honey!”

  “Bunch of superstitious mumbo jumbo,” Leo shouted from the kitchen.

  Dana and Courtney loaded up the muffins and coffee carafe into Big Red, and Dana drove as slowly as a blue-haired lady to avoid the dips and potholes in the road while they drove the short distance between the coffee shop and the bookstore crime scene.

  Dana and Courtney were setting up their table with a plate of muffins, coffee cups, and the dozen paperbacks Dana brought along to sell. It wasn’t about making money—she wouldn’t—but just to show people she was around and the bookstore would eventually open.

  “Hey, Courtney, you’re back in town, pura vida,” Big Mike said, smiling. He had met Courtney and Dana when they were hanging out on the beach the first time Courtney had been to Costa Rica, and he gave them surfing lessons.

  He turned his attention towards Dana. “This is a great idea, girl.”

  “I just couldn’t sit home, being that today was supposed to be the grand opening.”

  “Yeah, that’s a real bummer, man,” Big Mike said, eyeing the goodies. “Are these free?”

  Dana smiled and said they were.

  “Awesome, thanks,” Big Mike said as he grabbed a muffin and poured himself a cup of coffee.

  “You’re in your store all day, have you seen or heard anything about what’s been going on here with the police?” Dana asked.

  Big Mike shook his head as he took a bite of the muffin.

  “Man, Mindy makes good muffins,” he said, swallowing. “Detective Rojas asked me some questions, if I had seen or heard anything suspicious, but I told her I hadn’t. They did ask for the video from my security cameras on the day of the murder, so I gave them that. But haven’t heard anything since then. All I can tell you is what I’ve seen. The forensics people were in your bookstore for hours. Then Picado dropped by and asked me more questions. That dude is wound tight.”
/>
  “What kind of questions was Picado asking?”

  “Oh, about you, your store, and if I’d ever seen you and Barry Shy together and if you two had a beef.”

  Dana bit her lip. Big Mike picked up on the worry that flashed across her face.

  “Oh, man, don’t worry, Dana. I told Picado straight up that Barry Shy had a beef with everyone in town, myself included. The list of suspects that had motive to kill him could fill an Agatha Christie novel.”

  Dana laughed. “Murder On The Orient Express is one of the books I’ll have for sale today, and in that book, spoiler alert, every one of the passengers was the killer.”

  Big Mike chuckled. “Well I’m right next door if you need anything,” he said as he made his way back to his store.

  Eighteen

  Dana and Courtney spent three hours manning the table. It seemed just about everyone that stopped by knew what had happened to Barry Shy in her store, but there were a few folks that arrived from out of town because of her flyers. They were surprised to find the bookstore closed and its front gate adorned with yellow police tape and a paper notice with OIJ signage posted up on the front gate, indicating that the bookstore was a crime scene and anyone entering would be subject to arrest. They were the reason she set up her pop-up store.

  The OIJ verbiage alone was enough to make people think that Dana had done something criminal. She wanted to be out there smiling, handing out free muffins and coffee, selling used books like it was a garage sale. She wanted to show them she wasn’t locked up away in jail or mixed up in some shady dealings.

  So she manned her table, handing out cups of coffee and muffins, shaking hands like a politician and accepting hugs from concerned locals, and even talking about books with a few of them.

  At one point there were several people hovering around the table and a few others loitering nearby, trying hard to look like they were not eavesdropping or trying to peek inside the store.

  She hadn’t gotten the chance to remove the tarp she had hung up to cover the windows, which she had planned to remove during the grand-opening reveal, so that added to an aura of mystery as to what was going on inside.