Maple Hills Mystery Box Set 3

by Wendy Meadows

  “We will need to get some more flour and sugar this morning.”

  “I’ll be happy to pick it up in a bit,” said Lidia. “I guess this does put a damper on the whole milkshake fountain idea.”

  “No,” said Nikki determinedly. “I’m going to make that happen.” Lidia smiled at her, and Nikki smiled back.

  The front door opened, and a man walked in. Nikki flinched, but it was not Andrew. Will I be like this all day, she thought. The man walked over to Nikki and introduced himself.

  “Hawk sent me over to hang around inside the shop. I’m an undercover detective. Would that be convenient for you?” he asked, showing Nikki his badge.

  “That will be fine,” said Nikki. “Why don’t you sit in this corner table? It offers a good view of the shop and the front door.”

  “Okay. Are there any back doors?” he asked.

  “Yes, but it’s kept locked and dead-bolted during the day.”

  “Okay. I’ll sit here and stay out of your way,” the detective said. Nikki smiled. She felt quite reassured by the presence of the detective, and she was glad Hawk had thought to send him. She grabbed the detective some coffee and a muffin. He thanked her.

  The door opened, and a familiar customer walked in. The detective sat up, but Nikki told him she knew this customer. It was the mother of the young boy who had run through the shop the other day.

  “Hi, I wanted to apologize for my child’s behavior the other day,” she said to Nikki.

  “It’s no problem. I have a son, although he’s a lot older now, and I know how wound up they can be at that age. Add sugar to the mix, and they’ll be running for hours.”

  “Thank you for understanding,” the woman said. “I would like to get a pound of chocolate for my mother. It’s her birthday today. Do you gift wrap?”

  “Yes, we do,” said Lidia coming over from behind the counter. “Let me show you what we have today.” Lidia led the woman to the counter, and Nikki went into the kitchen. There were a few special orders to be made, but Tori could handle them when she and Seth came in. Nikki sat down and put her head in her hands. I’ll just shut my eyes for a bit, she thought. A few minutes later, she heard Lidia calling her. She got up and went into the front of the store. Hawk was there.

  “Why are you here so early?”

  “Early?” asked Hawk. “It’s 11:30.”

  “What?” asked Nikki. She was shocked. She looked at Lidia.

  “You fell asleep. I didn’t have the heart to wake you up. Tori and Seth are here early, and we handled the customers. I picked up the sugar and flour after they got here.”

  “Thank you, Lidia,” said Nikki. “I guess the stress has gotten to me.”

  “Seth filled us in about Andrew. I will keep an eye on Seth and Tori when you go to meet him,” Lidia promised.

  “And, my detective will be here the whole time,” reassured Hawk.

  “Thank you, both,” replied Nikki getting two mugs of coffee. “Would you like to sit down while we wait?” she asked Hawk.

  “Sure,” he replied, pulling out a chair for Nikki. They sat down together and Hawk filled her in on his morning. “We canvassed the neighborhood, and no other buildings were broken into. We believe this was targeted at you.”

  Nikki shivered and then stopped. She did not want Hawk to worry about her. He had too much else on his mind. And, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She had been doing it for many years. Still, Nikki was worried. She could not figure out who would want to break into her shop. There were some suspects but no motives or evidence. That woman could have been scoping the shop, she thought. What if Andrew had done this? She sighed. The door opened, and another customer walked in. She waved to Nikki. Nikki waved back. Seth greeted her and helped her at the counter. Nikki looked at the clock. It was almost noon.

  “Well, are you ready to do this?” Hawk asked.

  Nikki nodded, but she doubted herself. Nope, she thought. “Sure,” she told Hawk out loud. Hawk helped her out of her chair and took her hand. They walked toward the door.

  “Mom, are you sure you don’t want me there?” Seth asked.

  “Yes. Whatever he wants, I don’t want you to be involved. I’ve known him long enough. This might be something small, but it could also be something that could rock our world.”

  Seth nodded. She knew he understood. Andrew had made their lives miserable. Nikki was not too excited to see him again. However, she had Hawk with her, and that almost made everything okay. Nikki squeezed Hawk’s hand, and they walked out of the chocolate shop.

  5

  Nikki and Hawk walked out into the sunshine and cool breeze. Nikki looked across at the park and squinted to try to see the bench. She knew the bench was too far away for her to see, but she wanted to try anyway. There were a few people in the park but not too many. Some mothers were gathered with their children having a picnic. A couple walked along the trail holding hands. A father threw a football with his son. That’s something Seth missed out on thanks to Andrew, Nikki thought. Hawk took Nikki’s hand as they walked across the street. Nikki scanned people’s faces as they walked, bracing herself for her first glimpse of Andrew. People she knew said hello to her. Hawk said hello to someone he worked with. Nikki kept looking around. They crossed the park and looked toward the bench. There was no one there. Nikki breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe he’s not coming, she hoped. Then she looked at a nearby table. There was a man sitting on the table looking at his cell phone. He had dark wavy hair. The man looked up, and his blue eyes pierced Nikki’s heart. She gasped. Hawk looked at her and then glanced over at the table.

  “Is that him?” he asked.

  “Yes,” said Nikki. Her mind was suddenly flooded with memories. She remembered her first date with Andrew. They had gone to the movies and ended up making out in the parking lot afterwards. Her mind raced forward, and she remembered when Seth was born. Andrew had rushed her in Atlanta traffic to the hospital. He got her there just in time for Seth to be born. The look on his face when he first held Seth was priceless. Nikki felt tears coming to her eyes. Then she remembered the last time she saw him. He had waved goodbye and vanished into the night. He had told her he was going out for drinks with the guys, and she never saw him again until now. She had raised Seth to be the man he was despite Andrew leaving them. Nikki had struggled and had finally made something of herself in Maple Hills. She had a house and her son was in college. She had a wonderful man in her life. It angered her that Andrew would show up here in this place she now called home. She could feel her anger mounting as she approached the table. Hawk held her hand and gave it a squeeze. The small gesture was enough to help Nikki calm down a bit.

  Andrew stood up. His hair was still dark and wavy like she remembered, and he was dressed in a suit. He had a gold chain around his neck and some rings on his fingers. Nikki recognized his high school ring. She noticed there was no wedding band.

  “Hello, Nikki. It’s been a long time,” he said as he started to move towards her. Nikki stopped, and Hawk moved a bit in front of her. He did not block her entirely, but he made it known that Andrew was not going to get close to her. Hawk held out his hand to Andrew.

  “I’m Hawk. You must be Andrew,” he said, halting Andrew in his tracks. Andrew was not as tall as Hawk, and Nikki found it amusing that Andrew had to look up at Hawk when he was talking to him. She smiled.

  “I am Andrew,” he replied, obviously uncomfortable around Hawk. Andrew reluctantly shook Hawk’s hand.

  “Nikki invited me to be here today,” said Hawk. “I hope there won’t be any trouble.”

  “I won’t start any trouble,” Andrew said, backing up.

  “Good,” said Hawk. “Now, what did you want?”

  “Well, I would like to talk to Nikki if you don’t mind,” said Andrew, trying to sidestep Hawk and reach Nikki.

  Hawk put his hand on Andrew’s chest, stopping him again. “I do mind,” Hawk said. Andrew started to protest.

  “Watch the
suit,” Andrew said.

  “It’s okay, Hawk. Let him go,” Nikki said.

  Hawk dropped his hand and stepped back but not too far. Andrew straightened out his jacket. He walked up to Nikki. He held out his hand.

  “Please do not touch me,” she said.

  Andrew held up his hands and stepped back. “Okay.”

  “Now, what do you want?” asked Nikki.

  “What, no hey, how’s it going? Or what have you been up to?” Nikki glared at Andrew. He continued. “Okay, okay. I was wondering if anything strange had been happening to you lately. Specifically, has a tall woman with dark hair talked to you?”

  Nikki was taken aback. “Wait. You don’t see me for all these years, and the first thing you ask is if anything weird has happened to me? Something did happen, but to lead with that? And, no, I don’t care where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing,” she replied. She did not want to go into any detail about yesterday. Whatever Andrew wanted he could tell her, but she would not help him along with this uncomfortable meeting. She looked in his eyes; he seemed to be genuinely concerned, but then it had been a while. Who knows what he is thinking now, she thought.

  “Why is this any of your business? What does it matter if a tall, dark-haired woman talked to Nikki?” Hawk asked Andrew, stepping forward again.

  “Why is it yours?” Andrew sneered.

  Hawk took another step forward.

  “Stop it,” Nikki said to Andrew. She remembered this side of him and hated it. “We were done the minute you left my house that night. What I am doing now and who I am doing it with is none of your business. I asked Hawk to be here. You just need to deal with that.” Andrew arched his brow but stepped back.

  Andrew cleared his throat and said, “The reason I’m asking about strange things is because of a woman I recently broke up with.”

  “Of course, it has to do with another woman. Did you walk out on her, too?” Nikki jeered.

  Andrew flinched, “I deserve that.”

  Nikki was going to say he deserved even more, but she decided to hear him out.

  “We were in a bad relationship,” Andrew continued. “I had to leave her. She was becoming obsessed with me. She was constantly asking where I was and who I was with. I had to leave her. She was smothering me. Also, she blames you for our breakup.” Andrew had been avoiding Nikki’s gaze until he looked right at Nikki at the end of his sentence. He stared at her as if he wanted to apologize but could not say the words.

  Nikki was stunned. “Is that some kind of a joke?”

  “Well, I might have twisted some things around when I told her about you. I wanted to be with Karissa, and I thought I should let her know about my past relationships, especially since we have a son together.” Andrew was staring at the ground again.

  “Is Karissa the name of your other ex-girlfriend? Why would she blame me for anything concerning you?” Nikki asked.

  Andrew looked up. “Yes, Karissa is the name of the woman I was talking about. I fell for her hard when I met her. She was going to be the one. I knew I loved her, so I had to tell her about you. We have a son together. Karissa deserved to know about my past. I may have told her that you were abusive toward me. She blames you for scarring me and making it impossible for me to commit to any other woman.”

  Nikki felt her blood pressure rising. “Did I hear you correctly? She thinks I scarred you? Does she know you walked out on us? Does she know why? I don’t even know why. I sure as hell didn’t do anything abusive towards you.” Nikki was shouting by this time. She was right in Andrew’s face. Hawk was standing back, letting Nikki go.

  “Well, I wanted to be with her, and I didn’t want her to know how awful I was to you,” Andrew said.

  “You were awful to me. You would be out with your buddies until all hours drinking. I would smell the beer on you the next morning. I never did anything to hurt you. I loved you up until the day you left. Looking back, I was wrong. I should have left you before you walked out on me. Do you know what you put Seth and me through? I had to sell the house. I had to raise our son. I had to do everything. You left. You hurt me. To tell someone else I hurt you is a flat out lie. To say that I hurt you…”

  Nikki’s arm moved, and she felt Hawk grab her. “He’s not worth it,” Hawk murmured into her ear. Nikki realized Hawk was right. She put down her arm and unclenched her fist. Nikki was glad there weren’t too many people in the park.

  “You need to leave now,” Hawk told Andrew.

  “But I need to talk to Nikki some more,” Andrew protested.

  “You’re done talking to her,” Hawk said.

  Andrew reached into his pocket and handed Nikki a folded-up piece of paper. “This is my number, please call me,” he said, leaning towards Nikki.

  He was close enough that Nikki could smell his aftershave. She looked right at him and spit in his face. He flinched and backed away.

  Andrew wiped the spit off his mouth, turned, and walked away. Nikki felt herself burning with hatred. She wanted to scream. Hawk moved toward her and put his hands on her shoulders. He turned her around and hugged her. Nikki felt safe in his embrace. She sighed and looked up.

  “You should have let me slap him,” she said. Hawk laughed, and they started back to the chocolate shop.

  Hawk asked Nikki for the slip of paper. He entered the number into his cell phone. When Nikki asked why, he said he was going to run it when he got back to his desk.

  “I want to know how true his story is,” said Hawk. “Do you think he actually told Karissa that lie about you? Maybe he said that just to rile you up.”

  “I think he is telling the truth. That would explain her glare. And, it would give her a reason to tear up my shop. He knows that just being here is going to get me riled; he does not need to make anything up to accomplish that.”

  “That makes sense,” said Hawk. Hawk told Nikki to put the number in her phone in case Andrew tried to call her.

  “I don’t want to talk to him,” said Nikki.

  “You don’t have to. Just let me know if he bothers you or Seth anymore.”

  Nikki thanked him and put the number in her phone. She asked Hawk if he wanted to grab some lunch. He said yes as they walked toward the street. The park was filling up with people out for picnic lunches. Nikki loved living in a small town where people felt safe letting their children run around in a park.

  “Are you sure you’ll be able to eat?” Hawk asked.

  “No, but I could sure use the company,” Nikki said. “Maybe we should go back to the shop first and let Seth know what happened. I want to fill him in on what Andrew said. I would also like to let the officer who is stationed outside know what Andrew looks like so he can stop Andrew from coming in the shop to bother Seth while we’re at lunch.”

  “Okay,” said Hawk. “I’m sure your guard will keep Andrew away from you. They love you at the department. Maybe it’s the candy you send in with Seth,” Hawk joked. Nikki smiled. They turned around and started walking towards the shop.

  6

  Nikki and Hawk walked towards the street. Suddenly they heard a scream. It was loud and close. Nikki broke out in a run, and Hawk was right behind her. The scream had come from the area of the chocolate shop. Nikki ran over and saw the detective Hawk had assigned to the shop standing by the alley next to the shop. He was on his phone when Nikki and Hawk arrived.

  “What is going on?” Hawk asked.

  “What was that noise?” Nikki asked.

  “There’s a body in the alley,” said the detective. “I’ve just notified the chief. He said no one is to go down the alley. The officer you had by the door is still there.”

  The alley was located between Nikki’s chocolate store and the business next door. It was generally well kept. Nikki used one end of the alley for her garbage bins. The other end, further from the street, led to a back parking lot. The alley was well lit by the sun, which allowed Nikki and Hawk to see the body from where they were standing. Nikki and Hawk looked
at each other and nodded.

  “We’re going in,” said Hawk.

  “But the chief...” started the detective.

  Hawk and Nikki pushed past the detective and walked quickly to the body in the alley. There were garbage bins around the halfway point and the body was in front of them. There was a bag of trash nearby. Even from a distance, Nikki could tell the person had dark hair. Hawk got to the body first and put on gloves. He lifted the head and nodded to Nikki. She came over, looked, and turned away.

  “It’s Karissa,” she said to Hawk as she started walking back up the alley towards her shop. Nikki felt fear rising up in her. Even though she had seen her fair share of bodies, it never got easier, especially when she knew the person who had died. Nikki was running through the conversation she had had with Andrew in the park. Andrew had certainly been wound up when he left. Hawk caught up with her. He looked at her and she nodded. She knew Hawk was thinking the same thing. Was Andrew capable of this? Had Karissa pushed him to the edge? Nikki was scared. Hawk ran towards the park. Nikki waited by the alley opening, and Hawk reappeared a few minutes later.

  “There’s no sign of him,” he said to Nikki. “I tried to call the number that he gave you, but there was no answer. Please go into the shop and stay there. I will put out an APB on him.” Nikki watched as Hawk took out his phone and called the station. He put an APB out on Andrew. Nikki thanked him and went into the shop.

  Once inside, Nikki saw Lidia, Tori, and Seth sitting at a table. Tori was encouraging Lidia to sip on a glass of water. Lidia did not look well. Seth saw Nikki and hurried over to her. He hugged her and led her to the table. Hawk walked in and sat down next to Nikki. Blue flashing lights appeared a few minutes later, and the detective walked in. He sat down at the table and let Hawk and Nikki know what was going on.

  “Your employee, Lidia, walked down the alley to take out the trash,” said the detective to Nikki. “I heard her scream, and I ran outside. The guard by the door had started running down the street. I told him to get back to the door and that I would handle the situation. He ran back to the door as I ran to the alley. Your employee was in the alley next to the body. I called the police and led her back inside.” He turned to Hawk. “I waited by the alley for the police to come. That’s when you and Nikki showed up. I think it was a gunshot. I’m not sure.” The detective looked a little green. Hawk thanked him and told him to get some water. He and Nikki went back outside. They walked back down the alley while the first police arrivals cordoned off the area.