"You look like you ran here, did you find the offer?" Brett began to stand, but I held my hand up to stop him.
"offer? Are you serious right now? You know there was never any offer!"
"I don't—"
"Don't you dare lie to me!"
My face felt like it was on fire. Every fiber of my being called out for vengeance. I wanted to jump over the desk and strangle him with my bare hands. But I also knew that Aunt Tona would never have wanted that fate for me.
Instead I held out my fist, and opened it to reveal the cufflink.
"It was you."
"You don't understand," his voice shook. "It was an accident."
"Funny how the police said the 911 call came from some skateboarders" I spat. "I mean, decent people call when there has been an accident Brett. Murderers flee the scene."
"You've got it all wrong, it wasn't murder," he said, he sat back down and fumbled threw his desk. "We were arguing about the price and she tripped."
"You mean you pushed her."
"It was a mistake," he said. "I never meant to—"
"We'll let William settle this."
He pulled his hand up out of his desk, holding a gun. I was going to die. I was such a tea-tart. What had I been thinking? Confronting a murderer, real smart Hailey.
"William won't be deciding anything," he said, and gestured with his gun for me to sit down.
I did as he wanted. My only hope now was to buy time and hope for help.
"Help," I transmitted to Azure. "It's Brett. He has a gun."
He did not respond. I must have been too far away from him. My chest tightened, as my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest. I just needed to breathe. I could talk myself out of this. Aubrey knew I was here, well, somewhere. TEA!
"I never meant for her to die," Brett pleaded.
"I get it," I said in the most reassuring voice I could muster. "You're not a killer."
"Exactly. It was a giant misunderstanding. She was playing hardball and we started to argue. . . And she just fell."
"You left her there to die," I said, tears streaming down my face. "How could you walk away from her like that?"
"It wasn't like that," he said. "There was someone out back, and I panicked. I meant to call 911, but how would I explain what happened? I'm too pretty for prison."
"Brett," I raised my hands, as the gun wavered. "Focus"
His eyes were staring at the wall. He could not bring himself to look at me. The gun in his hand trembled.
There was a loud cracking sound at the front door, and Barry Bear burst into the room gun drawn. Out of instinct Brett swung his gun away from me, and to the doorway.
For a moment neither of the men moved. The sheriff's office had not been forced to use their guns in the line of duty in my lifetime. No doubt Barry wanted any other option than to shoot Brett.
"Put the gun down slowly," Barry said in his most commanding voice. He sounded an awful lot like our high school football coach.
Brett looked to Barry, and for a split moment I feared there would be a shootout—like in the old westerns where the sheriff is forced to kill the bad guy—but Brett took a deep breath and slid the gun across the desk. He broke down in tears right there before us. Full blown water works, the kind I thought only existed in old Hollywood films.
"You have the right to remain silent..." Barry read Brett his rights as he holstered his gun, and retrieved his handcuffs.
The relief flooded out of me in a wave, and I took the distraction to use my shirt and wipe my face clean. I needed to pull myself together. Thank the bean it was Barry and not William.
"Barry Bear," I gushed in an effort to hide my fears, "You just saved my life!"
I batted my eyes at him and tried to give him my best innocent pose but he saw right through it.
"Do you fancy yourself a member of the force Ms. Morton?"
"No Mr. Bear," I smiled deeper, "I was just taking out the trash."
He blushed then cleared his throat. "You know full well that my last name isn't bear."
"And you know full well I would never pose as an officer of the law. I don't think I would look near as good in a uniform."
His blush deepened but our stare down was interrupted by Brett, pleading for his innocence. The man sure could ruin a moment.
Barry cuffed Brett and led him out of the office, but not before stopping to place his muscular hands on my shoulder, "Are you going to be okay?"
"I think so," I lied. "I have to find Aubrey. I ran—"
"She's at the cafe. She's the one who called it in. You're lucky William and I were close by."
"Thank you."
"Only doing my job," Barry said. "But you're welcome. We can discuss the sensibility of your actions later."
Brett cried the whole way out. Hopefully the sleazeballs company, Lake Front Real Estate, would be closed down for good.
I did not even bother to lock the door behind me as I left.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Friday, February 21st
Late that night we all gathered back in the cafe. There were so many questions, and my second biggest pet peeve was to explain myself twenty different times. Plus I needed a decent soak in the tub to calm down. Barry and William had thankfully agreed to write up a statement then.
I made sure everyone had a hot drink—Aunt Tona would have been proud—and then I took a seat with Azure in my lap.
"First," I looked at William, "I just want you guys to know that I don't blame you for miss handling my aunt's death.
"If I hadn't been so focused on trying to come to terms with it, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about her cause of death. Barry, I'm so grateful."
"The tea you wouldn't have." Azure transmitted
I cuddled him deeper in response.
"This is why you should leave legal matters to the—" William was cut off by Aubrey elbowing him in the ribs.
"I'm glad to see you're safe," Barry said, "but I've told you a hundred times. It's Barry or Deputy West."
I held out my wrists to him, "Would you like to handcuff me over it?" I said with a smile on my face that made him blush.
"Anyway?" Aubrey asked, watching her squirm with anticipations made my evening.
"Right," I said, still smiling at Barry. "Aunt Tona practically raised me in this cafe. I've seen her maneuver around the roaster thousands of times. I just had a hard time believing that she fell with enough force to cause her death. She was a graceful woman."
I gave Azure a scratch behind the ear. While his original theory had been completely wrong, it was truly because of his insights into Aunt Tona that I ever began to look into the matter. Not that I could tell them that I started investigating because my pet cat told me to.
"But the coroner said—" William began.
"That is what I kept telling myself," I said. "It was really just a gut feeling. So many of my encounters this week put up red flags regarding her death. But in the end, it was cleaning out the roaster that solved it for me."
I shifted in my chair. Azure's fat belly was making my leg go numb. He meowed. His way of telling me to sit still.
"Sam and I had a run in at the market, and he was worse for wear. Tanner told me that him and Tona had been lovers. So my original theory was that he did it in a fit of jealous rage."
"Tanner tried to sneak rats in here the other night," Aubrey interjected.
I gave her a look to shut up, but it was too late.
"He did what?" William asked.
"Don't worry about it," I said. "It's under control."
"If you say so."
"Anyway, Brett wasn't actually on my list as a suspect really, I thought his pushy visits were to entice me into selling. But when I found a realtor association cufflink in the roaster, I realized what had happened."
I waited for them to jump in with the solution, but they did not.
"What did a cuff link prove?" Barry asked.
"That he fought with Aunt
Tona that night," I said, slightly annoyed. It was clear as day to me. "I knew she had cleaned out the roaster the night of her death."
"I see," Barry said, deep in thought.
"Brett approached me twice this week regarding the cafe. I can only imagine how many times he had hassled Aunt Tona. Now I can't be one hundred percent sure on exactly what happened, you'll have to ask him, but I think it went something like this.
"Brett upped the offer, and Aunt Tona was tired of arguing with him, and being polite the way she was. So, she offered to sell, but for a price that was outrageous. Probably enough for us to retire, or open a brand new, larger location. That's just how she was. Always trying to resolve issues with wit instead of arguments.
"I think Brett lost it and started yelling. Aunt Tona being her, wouldn't stand for him yelling, and tried to push him out the door, to leave. They got into a scuffle over there," I pointed to the roaster in the front.
Aubrey and William had to turn their heads to look behind them. Barry Bear nodded his head, as if he could see it all going down in front of his eyes.
"One thing led to another, and Brett pushed back. But as she fell, Aunt Tona grabbed hold of his wrist, and that's how the cuff link flew into the roaster."
Everyone awed at the clue.
"That's tragic," Aubrey said.
"I know," I said. "The saddest part is I believed Brett when he said he never meant to hurt her. We've known him our whole lives. Sure, he acts like he is still one of the frat boys, and can be pushy when trying to make a sale, but the man has never so much as been in a bar fight. I do think the whole thing was an accident."
"Why did he run then?" William asked. "Why not call for an ambulance?"
"I think he panicked," I said. "He said at that exact moment there was a sound out back and feared being caught in a compromising position. He didn't want to go to jail."
"Too late for that," Barry said.
"That was probably me," Azure transmitted, and I could hear the tears in his voice. He curled up tight into my lap.
"So, what happens now?" Aubrey asked.
"Justice," William said.
"It'll be up to the jury and a judge," Barry said. "But I expect Brett will spend a few years in jail."
"Think he'll come back after?" Aubrey asked.
"I sure hope not," I said. "I don't ever want to see him again."
Hill Country Mysteries
A Fresh Brew: A Dragon Cozy Mystery (Hill Country Mysteries Book 1)
A Bitter Cup: A Dragon Cozy Mystery (Hill Country Mysteries Book 2)
Rainbow Mocha: A Dragon Cozy Mystery (Hill Country Mysteries Book 3)
Purr-fect Roast: A Dragon Cozy Mystery (Hill Country Mysteries Book 4)
Bury the Cups: A Dragon Cozy Mystery (Hill Country Mysteries Book 5)
Author's Biography
Verena DeLuca is a pen name for the life partner duo Sabetha Danes & Nicholi Baldron. When we're not homeschooling our artistic daughter, we spend our afternoons arguing the finer details of books. Failing that, we can be found walking the many nature trails around our home.
Marble Falls is an actually tourist destination an hour west of Austin, Texas, that we're proud to call home. While Aconite Cafe isn't an actual coffee shop in the town, it is the name of our publishing company. We love coffee nearly as much as Hailey, though we've been known to break the cardinal rule and drink tea.
Azure is based on our cat James, who's just as snarky.
A Fresh Brew Page 8